##VIDEO ID:s4C_POsa_pA## appreciate oh that's good better light I'm sorry yeah I don't hear you guys oh you don't hear us no now I do now you do okay a little soft sa I had handed the Baton off to you Fran to talk about the uh five-year contract extension and also if it's in your perview to discuss the open first the fiveyear contract extension sure um and I have Mike archbald here to who's been taking the lead on the opio settlement stuff we can both talk but I think I'll let him lead that um in regards to the five-year contract extension at the murf there really is no um other option for dual stream recycling uh no other place to take it so I think unfortunately it's prices are going up they're going up everywhere costs are going up we can at least count out five years of um same rate increase at 3.5 actually it's 2 and a half plus 1% extra that they are going to take off the average market value so we we can sometimes if Market ever goes back up beyond what it costs the towns get money back from the murf that that hasn't happened in a couple years so okay but that's in a nutshell what's going on C you can ask me and but and what what specifically do we currently pay pay it's uh I think aund something a ton I'm not sure um I could look it up in the yeah it's just a little over a 100 yeah then next year it'll be 105 right yeah so probably around 102 103 right now mhm yeah yeah now remember they they do subtract the average market value of whatever we send down there so it hasn't been all that high late lately but sometimes 28 bucks a ton 30 bucks a ton from that uh cost okay but no particular questions especially given that we don't really have an alternative we don't really have an alternative I don't either Joyce do you have any questions or thoughts about this contract um no and and you know in spite of the fact we don't have a lot of choice we're probably getting a pretty good deal from the murf um overall it's and then nobody is um uh yeah I don't know they're not driving a lot of Cadillacs around the parking lot down there okay it's I I think they're they're doing a reasonable job so okay well I would accept a motion to accept the contract I move that we accept the contract second all those in favor Joyce hi people on Zoom yes you need need to yeah yes Julie yes all right so accepted on that one item Joyce is it possible for you to come by the town offices tomorrow to sign this oh sure sure leave it out on the table then and I'll u i mean well I'll tell Nat we need to stop by for signatures that will double the chance that I remember it but not sure it doubles it all the way up to 100% this over here next item on the agenda Board of Health discussion of the opioid settlement funds potential uses and pooling collaboration with other communities or agencies Michael so um I've been um attending a lot of different um sessions over time but there hasn't been a whole lot getting done in in most towns to dat uh part of it is the confusion about what can uh but also what can what the money can be spent on but also um you know who's available to provide you know what you know kinds of um you know whe there's a full list um available of allowable expenses so from support for criminal justice uh invol people support for uh pregnant and parenting uh people with uh UD prevent or use misuse uh Implement prevention um connections to care so there's a long list of possibilities but not a whole lot of providers um but yeah one important thing we were thinking though is that considering you know it is a a fairly Hefty amount of money over the 18 years between um you know for weight alone it's looking at you know I've gotten a couple of different numbers from 108,000 to 118,000 um and so I'm not sure exactly why there's a difference in those numbers but um but pulling that with the uh Foothills health district um is what um a lot of the communities are doing is you know staying within their ssas um and uh for us and the other three towns in the Foothills uh you know over 18 years this is going to be be $300,000 um that's going to be challenging to figure out how to spend all that um all um you know all weight Le portion of it is just a 118 but um anyway um I would I would advocate for um creating agreements with the other uh with Williamsburg Goan and Westampton and uh exploring with them um you know ways to spend this money that is very specifically aimed at the uh those most affected and is there anything in process to bring in more providers or seek out more providers yes we've got several now um that are in the Franklin County area that are providing just the kind of things I was talking about uh connections to care opioid use disorder treatment harm reduction Etc so there's different groups that are willing to come in and they've attached price tags to it and uh that was one of the um uh things I forwarded over to people um I can do it and um you know I can isolate that out if if people would want to see those specific numbers of the three recommendations from Phoebe Walker so the furog has been you know the the main driver for us uh in terms of you know what's happening throughout the county um Phoebe Walker and Morin or Riley um are the main contacts uh and um ones who are doing most of the work uh that opioid task force for for for this spending and I I also wanted to say we were kind of waiting to see um when the money actually got moved to the reeven um out of the stabilization yes out of stabilization so we could you know talk about this how to spend it but we've talked in the foots about pooling it and obviously there's there's Hampshire County agencies that could and do deal directly with uh UDS so-called and that the money has to really be targeted to people who have are directly affected so so you can't really um you know just throw it out there to some agency say go go do this or provide education around opioids or something it it has to really be targeted well yeah would there be any issue with the fact because we keep referencing Hampshire County Franklin County and the providers within those counties and the fact that we're within a SSA that's dual county is there going to be any issue there with ping the funds where we're the one town that's in Franklin will the providers still provide assist us no no that won't be a problem because that is our uh service agreement for both not just the the Foothills but also the public Excellence Grant and and the focus across the state has been to stay within your ssas and so while Northampton has this um you know ideally it would be smart for Williamsburg Goan and West Hampton to stick within the Foothills but I think we've you know I think we need to gather the horses yeah so what are next steps and what do you need from us I'm sorry did you have okay I I think just um uh um you reaching out to the four towns formally and and asking you know um you know that we would like to meet together um and proceed on with some you know options for you know getting this getting this money out there to you know it's not a you've seen the numbers we don't it's not a huge population so um you know for any of the four towns but um uh so and that's going to be CH that'll be the more challenging part is how to spend it but the but the three uh vendors that say for instance have Phoebe uh recommended the all three of them would um service West Hampton you know Williamsburg and kosan as well yeah yeah and likewise uh uh an agency like tapestry probably would do the same it's it doesn't stop at the county borders no not for those kinds of services right yeah right so the board would like to do this what I could do is I could reach out to the town administrators in the other towns and let them know our board is interested in ping the funs through the Foothills and then see what we we should do as next steps yeah yeah and I'll I'll copy um CLK as well thank you CLK uh he's the director for the yeah yes yes Mar there may be a a template for a kind of uh IMA inter Municipal agreement on this I don't know if we need one since Foothills already exist by virtue of bylaws and all that but um if you wanted something like that just to make sure it's all the towns are together on it we probably can work on that too okay yeah sounds good you thank you happy to help yeah we'll be back oh yeah oh yeah we look forward to uh old business ARA clf review discuss and vote on potential project obligations I have a few updates on this okay yeah the larer one yes um we have now received that rebate money from the Mini Splits which now puts our unobligated funds at 2,16 $168 that is based on you already previously obligating 2,000 to the tabulator so with that OB that obligation we're at 25 over 25,000 there are two existing projects that you've obligated that I need to ask to bump up their budget slightly so the first one is the door opener project which is putting in automatic door openers at the Town Office town hall and the library um we originally scoped that at being $31,500 e has gotten quotes it now looks like it actually be 34,000 so I'm just asking the board if you will amend the original obligation and increase it to 34,000 that would be the first one if you do that we bring the unobligated dollar amount to 22668 then there is a second appropriation adjustment um this is with the EMS Ambulance originally you obligated $ 46,9 no $ 45,253 however we did get I was able to get the invoice um from South County it was just a little bit higher than what was obligated the actual dollar amount is $ 46,9 so we need to up that by a little over $1,000 if you do that increase that'll reduce our unobligated to 21597 42 which then brings me to the last request which is how do we use that last that last bucket of money um Fred had raised the point that the highway department had sought out a capital request to do a highway mower that mower we have confirmed is still quoted and available at $26,995 th000 in it there is enough money within that fund that has not been touched in 20 years that could offer that could act as the Gap in the funding in there um that fund does require a town meeting appropriation agreement or uh vote so Keith would use his operating budget in the interim until town meeting authorizes that money and then he would backfill his operating budget with the the Machinery Road fund um so that would mean that we would appropriate the remaining 2,597 42 to the mower and that would fully obligate all of our our B hunds all right sorry that was a lot that good any questions or discussion on the only instruction I would say is on the door opener project should it by some chance come in a little under budget that that the money be refunded to the highway mow well no some place where not coming back to arpa where you can't we have to scramble if if there's another source is this all out of arpa funds or is there any other is there any other funding source going into this the door opener yeah it's only AR it's only arund okay so it comes in under we we do about it correct other than yeah other than if we take up a vote on December 17th because he would get um an invoice at the beginning of December so that that way by the time we have our December 17th we know definitively if there is a slight difference the one thing I will know on that door opener project this is only for the doors and the installation of them not the electrical wiring we don't know what that cost will be we can't use ARA funds because of that we'll have to do that in the spring um thankfully these doors are operable without them being electrified just as a safety precaution so they'll still be operable they just won't be usable as automatic until we um we need to get them installed before we can get a firm quote from an electrician and we can't get invoice from an electrician until they're installed so unfortunately timing wise there's no way for us to ask the PO to fund the electrical work through arpa money so we will have to do that as a capital item okay okay and then the you know if there's any discrepancy if there's you know a minor amount comes in slightly less than 34,000 I say our next meeting we can allocate that towards the mower yeah that'll just be a little bit less yeah the highway yeah any further discussion questions why don't we do why don't we move these three items time I would move that the board uh amend the obligated arpa funds for the door opener project to $34,000 that all those in favor Joyce I FR I Julie I I will move the board amend the obligated ARA funds for the new ambulance for South County EMS to $46,000 96 second yay Joyce how do you vote yay FR I Julie I and I will move that the board obligate the remaining ARA funds 21,900 sorry 2,597 42 where is the purchase of a new highway mower second Joyce how do you vote hi BR I Julie hi all right next is to review discuss and vote on an amendment to the service recognition policy which we had discussed agre at the last meeting and we've got some red lines to it so in your py you have the original 2016 version with that there's a Redline version based on Joyce's recommended edit from the last meeting and then the final page is what it would look like and read if you implement those revisions 25 25 years a little hard to reach yeah want to honor after 254 okay well I think with that amendment I I don't think I don't have any more to say I'm ready to make a motion yep I don't have any else to say either okay then I move the board approve the changes as outlined to the distinguished service to weightly policy and that the policy be shared with the Town Clerk and treasure collector as they keep the employee and board member records second Joyce how do you vote I BR I jie I all right next item C under five policy review discuss and vote on an amendment to the flag policy we again had discussed previously and made some changes to and then I believe it came back from Town Council yeah this red line is from Town Council yeah okay so you did adopt the policy a couple ago um but then with that adoption you asked that it go to council yeah um Dave David did get back to me with these suggestions okay okay so he it looks like he changed a little bit of the wording about flag poles versus maintained properties yeah include the Massachusetts General law citation because a lot of towns do that um and then uh more specific about us governmental entities that all seems reasonable um I guess what I don't understand on the the biggest comment recommend against this local provision does that mean he's recommending not having that third uh bullet point at all or recommend changing it so it says as authorized by law or order of a governmental authority of competent jurisdiction yeah he's suggesting striking what we originally had for the third point because of so that is the new wording there yeah okay well I just hope we're considered a competent jurisdiction I admit that I am a I don't recall items four or six being in our amended one uh for being flag of United States governmental entity or subdivisions there of military or civilian that seems to broaden the scope a little bit more than the official flag of the United States government I I don't I don't recall that being in our in our initial it was in the final one it's it but we could always strike it yeah um it it was specific to governmental entities so that it could include [Music] some other uh governmental that's not identified by state country or town I assume governmental entities is largely cover if you want a you army or marine or you know Navy flag yeah yeah sorry postard could fly the flag of the Department of energy or even if like we had a DCR funded project this would allow you to fly a DCR flag because it funded some type of projects at the like at the early heat Park okay military or civilian civilian explain that that the same an EPA flag yes that's got it thank you uh any flag Town sponsored event leg holiday Town recognition from prob just my aging memory we did have a discussion on it but then that's when we got rid of the um what was that other word that we were using and it was struck from the document Struck from my head yeah yeah yeah there was something else we got rid of that whole language and yeah um but this allows you if you were to do like a 300th anniversary oh I see that would be a flag that you approve because it's a an event that you're doing as the town okay essentially because you are setting limitations you want to not limit yourself too much so you still want to give your ability if it is a town sponsored event a legal holiday or a town Rec yeah okay any further discussion other than my verifications or any other questions I would move we approve the flag policy as amended I would uh second that okay Joyce how do you vote I I Julie I do new business Frontier Regional review discuss and vote on the request from the school district to amend the fiscal year 25 budget with use of excess and deficiency funds in the amount of 202,000 to fully fund the replacement of the school's fire alarm panel system I'll give a quick un left Darius mentioned that you might be able to also speak to it uh he mentioned it but if he been talk to you about it more recently no no okay well essentially School access efficiency funds act for the schools as free cash does for us uh so there's been a need to replace the school's fire alarm panel which is apparently ancient and they need the approval of the towns to use that fund to pay for it I would like the fire system to work properly at the school were an assessment for the same in their budget and come up at town meeting and it would just be delayed yeah and to follow on Julie you had a question earlier yeah the total un the total certified end for the school is 6781 199 so this constitutes less than a third of the budet oh okay said 300 it that's a much smaller portion of okay BR though to you similar to the question do you know what they're they typically try to keep in their e and d i they they well they're sort of the size of a town right yeah yeah um I think they try to keep about 150 but just oh okay so then well they're doing they they don't like to run it down to zero yeah but they like to have yeah a healthy balance to cover things exactly like this okay so as one of the schools in the district or one of the towns in the district we need to vote on this I'll accept a motion I the board approve the request for the frontier Regional School District to amend the fiscal year 25 budget by reallocating to $200,000 of the excess and deficiency funds to fully fund the replacement of the school's fire alarm panel system second Joyce how do you vote i r i Julie I okay board and committee appointments uh appointing Matt Fortune the cultural Council currently has a a vacancy and Matt Fortune submitted a request to serve on the council to the council chair who moved that request forward to us discussion more questions I I would I would move that we accept Matt Fortune as a member of the cultural Council I will s Joyce how do you vote oh I I don't know if the um the law requires I abstain from that one I might abstain just to be on the safe side yeah let's do that okay Fred i i two Burk hog memor memorandum of understanding for the next phase of the comprehensive plan project Pete you want to talk about that yes uh so um earlier this well last month earlier this month we successfully uh received funding for through the One-Stop um program to fund our next phase of the comprehensive plan um with that 75,000 town meeting also appropriated matching funds that brings us to 834268-010 can explain thatou um and what we're looking at for our scope for that project sure yeah hi everybody so I worked with Sylvia over um the last year and a half we concluded the phase one um I guess now is last March but for over a year and a half we worked on doing Outreach and engagement a lot of surveys we got great response rates uh open hous is trying to get a better understanding of what the town wants um we have collected that information and now we're excited to do phase two which is the actual writing of the comprehensive plan so theou is to undertake that the writing of the comprehensive plan um that will uh involve some public Outreach some engagement U just to make sure that as we write each of the draft chapters um we're reflecting what the town residents uh really want for the future of of weightly um there are draft CH there'll be chapters covering topics such as housing transportation econom iicc development um open space kind of the the basics of what it what goes on in a town that contract will start as soon as it's signed and go through till June 2026 so we have a year and a half to do this project um so and uh so we will usually we have a steering committee that helps us guide the comprehensive plan effort you know who should we be contacting making sure we're talking to the right people you know the uh who those people who might be interested particularly in housing making sure we get to those people to reflect the housing chapter um we also will need us the steering committee to help provide input on the level of detail that should be included in the comprehensive plan how it should be structured kind of a basic overview steering of the project um when we last worked with Sylvie the committee was small so we would love to have some new members um a comprehensive plan is usually it's run through the planning board usually all that's required per Massachusetts state law is that the planning board um approves a comprehensive plan um it would be great though if the select board and other committees could also have representation on that steering committee just so we can make sure we have Buy in from a broader spectrum of the Town um in this plan to make sure that it really does reflect what the town's wants and needs are just I I don't know if you're aware we've got a new Community Development person starting next Monday oh great no I didn't know that fantastic Erica roer and uh I'm sure you'll be working with her on this great that's that's that's great and how many other folks do you currently have on the steering committee and who are they uh good question there were I think around two uh let me see if I can pull up that list um there was gosh it was a year ago uh Katherine wtz from the housing committee was active Amy Ross who uh works at the school and then Ruth Fairman also was involved along with Sylvie we would love to have some new people or additional people with uh Erica getting her started is to do Outreach there are any new res not new residents but any residents that would like to be appointed to this as well as to to specific boards like Megan mentioned to see if we could get representation from be good for one of our first yeah that's great you do need to approve and sign off on the memorandum if we're happy with it do I have any discussion or questions I'm ready to move it if there no other discussion no discussion from me I move at the board of approve and sign off on the memorandum of understanding with the burog for the next days of the comprehensive plan second how do you vot I FR I Julie I all right thank you Megan thank you thank you have a good evening you too thank you you too yeah okay our annual voting And discussing discussing and voting on winter parking regulations effective immediately until April 15 [Music] 2025 something that we do every year and it looks like they have not changed the winter parking restrictions at all I move that we adopt the winter parking restrictions second Joyce how do you hi Julie hi we'll get those posted yeah uh to discuss next item to discuss the results of the national election and the role of the select board um I had put together a statement that the select board can discuss and decide whether we want to agree on or amend in any way uh just because I realized that this was a pretty um significant election nationally and that it might have some ramifications that we that are as yet un unknown so I can read it out or we can discuss it it's in your packets I'm just reading through it again on my screen here it might make sense if I just read it out if anybody's watching or wants to watch it yeah so my proposed statement is as your elected select board members for the town of Whitley we want to address the recent national election we realize that some residents of weightly are happy with the results of the national election While others are sad or even fearful no matter the outcome of any national election the weightly select board works for and cares about the residents of our town we will continue to work for you to listen to your needs and to honor the fundamental principle of democracy we believe in the ideals at the heart of this American Nation we believe in Freedom opportunity fairness and dignity for all people weightly residents have a long history of helping each other to grow and Thrive and of taking care of our beautiful town and its surroundings and we anticipate that this will continue the incoming Administration has been publicizing plans to significantly change the structure and services of the federal government this may have impacts on citizens at the state and local levels as the select board we will work with Massachusetts legislators to be proactive in identifying any potential changes that the new Administration will be implementing to help address immediate needs where we have the ability to do so and we will work to provide stability for our community within the context of national politics we ask that the residents of Wadley also work together to continue to grow and Thrive and take care of each other and to respect one another and engage in respectful dialogue about any issues facing the town we have that history and we know we can continue we are as always the one and only way [Music] well um I might start with a a question um and because I know this will come up and I'd like be interested in what um since you wrote this Julie what your um what your idea is on this um why uh issue this kind of statement I don't remember this kind of statement being issued in the past on any uh national elections um I'm not saying that we shouldn't do it but it does sort of break with past practice and um so I'm wondering what the what do you think we gain from putting out a statement like this my thought in putting out a statement like this is that well one two three four the fifth paragraph the incoming Administration has been publicizing plans to significantly change the structure and services of the federal government this may have impacts on citizens at the state and local levels we may not have ever done anything like this but this is also a situation uh on the national level that we haven't necessarily seen previously and um year to the ground people feel a wide variety of uh responses to this and I do want to I want to assure perhaps our most vulnerable residents that we work for everybody and the question is should we be doing this preemptively based on campaign statements or see what actually transpires well this is not a particularly focused statement it simply says that they've been publicizing plans and it may have impacts and we will work to protect our citizens and take care of each other um and I think we also already know based on nominations that have been made yeah there are actions already occurring yeah that you don't have to just look at campaign statements right now when Pete and I were discussing this ahead of time uh he said that the select board's job is protecting the health safety and wellness of the inhabitants of weightly and um suggested uh we we talked about saying that we will not Institute or remove anything from our actions uh or our governing of weight Le that results in threatening the health safety or Wellness of our inhabitants and I do know that some folks have some concerns about that and I I'm inclined to be preemptive and yet I would agree that it's not necessarily preemptive at this point that we can see what might be coming down the pike and it makes sense to um to say who we are and what we stand for and what we believe and that we um we have a really wonderful little Community here and we want to take care of it and continue to do so and Fred and Joyce bring up good questions like has this happened before or even is this the role of the board um you do you do represent your residents the inhabitants of the Town um and the reality is we can look at history and there are plenty of times in history where elected officials did not speak beforehand and waited until afterwards and at that point it was hindsight and it was a two two reactionary that you you want to we have other legislators including the governor herself making statements of protections of the citizen so um but it's totally within your domain to make that decision whether or not you want to and when I when I initially brought this idea up with Pete several weeks ago I said I don't know if we can say this and he said you're elected officials and you can set the tone and so this is in a way setting expectations and the tone for this is who we are this is who we intend to continue to be um we work for everybody uh there's there was a wide variety of voting but we work for everybody and we want to preserve that yeah I got no problem with it as I stated you know my own [Music] question yeah I mean it doesn't particularly indicate any change I think it may be perceived that you know this may be perceived by one side or the other as like you didn't do this when so and so is elected and so on so it might be that we we just start having a um put out a statement like this every so often I mean it's a statement I feel like we could make every day of the year right there's nothing in here that isn't stuff that we already do if the election had gone the other way uh would we have felt like we need to make this statement I don't know but I'm going to say probably not because the incoming government would not be saying plan to significant we we are consider dismantling the Department of Education we are considering dismantling Head Start it's possible that we'll go after gay marriage we we're going to deport hundreds of thousands of people millions of people that is our that is what we're responding to we're responding to something that has actually been put out by an poent by an incoming Administration as their intention yeah and that would not be the case previously and has not been the case previously no no government has come in nationally saying we're going to dismantle things that people depend on for their Health and [Music] Welfare well actually sort of did 1980 yeah educ educate I want hear about it uh Raiden had made many not as extreme but statements about severely scaling back the role of the Federal Government yeah but this for on the board in 1980 right I don't even if I can vote in 198 I could just barely I was that was my first election that I could vote in was 1980 well were I would have no [Music] but um I would have no objection to uh putting out the statement as written it's very um I mean that well you know there's one sentence in the middle about the reason why this is being made now right that the the two-line paragraph 1 2 3 4 5 um and every other thing is just reinforcing hey this is what our job is you know and uh and that uh I think that's not a bad thing to reaffirm to the public this is what we think our job is yeah yeah um so does this go out like a press release or is this just U Get posted at the website or what is the yeah we post it on the website on the head then Chris is on yeah yeah so it's a press release essentially hi Chris we can send you a copy if you don't have one please do thank you okay Pete you cool to do that all right do we need to uh move and vote on this so that it's official all right I'll accept a motion he it's yours oh it's mine you drafted it then I get to put it forward and move on it okay I move that we accept the statement of the select board as uh presented this evening second Joyce how do you vote hi BR you vote Julie hi thank you uh Grant review and discuss and vote on the contract for Emer the Emergency Management grant program um this is an annual grant that our Emergency Management director ly SII applies for um the grant amount is 2700 she intends to use that to purchase portable voltage meters for the police Highway and fire departments um and so we just need the board to agree to submit and request that grant money well I moved that we um submit and okay all right I can't find the page where the Motions are written Dam it all right finding that page right now four of six we actually don't have a cheat Che no cheat motion oh all right Fred's gonna have to do it then sorry I move that we approve approve the contract for the Emergency grant program Emergency Management I'll second that uh Joyce how do you vote hi Fred hi Julie I moving along to select board liaison updates Joyce you want to tell us all about the boo the boo oh yeah we just had a brief meeting with the uh the um people who are doing the feasibility study um they showed mostly some like layouts on property with parking for um like several different possibilities on the Deerfield campus uh depending on whether they want that ball field or not um at the end they decided to um uh oh and then of course one with weightly um and it looks like either site could have adequate parking and adequate square footage um and U so they're going to go forward and do the layout within the building um in the main decision was really not made by the boo but the folks from Deerfield had to decide whether they want to keep that ball field or not and they want to keep the ball field of course um and so they're going to they kind of uh just kind of discuss the exterior stuff and they're going to have some more stuff in two weeks where're going to meet again so it um uh but not on a Tuesday so it won't uh be right up against this meeting um and we'll uh have some idea of what kind of layouts on the interior and a little more I think specific price information or cost information I should say I I've been C I'm a little concerned about the parking so you've got the police department there which I assume not moving oh I I suppose since it was just at a public meeting if I'm allowed to um share my screen I can show you some of the different things they considered there they're definitely eting into the ball field though in order to get enough parking yeah currently there's not doesn't look like sufficient parking oh oh yeah the drawings they they because they're also redoing um some of the other buildings around there and the parking that's around them um they would end up with uh under at least the plan we want to them to go forward with you know to pursue a little bit more they would have for the whole campus like 187 parking places and about 100 of them within 300 ft of the senior center entrance and that was sort of the criteria that you want to have a 100 of them within about 300 ft of the entrance and that's true of the site in weightly as well although the total number of parking in both places is greater than 100 because the buildings in the area have other uses right so so that was the uh that was kind of the the trick there and so there's a I mean there's a trade-off between parking and Green Space and that's true in weightly and that's true in Deerfield and um keeping the ball field means the ball field is the Green Space if you don't have the ground the ball field then you have a different kind of green space so they showed a few different options uh like that and it just uh the folks in Deerfield said I think we want to keep the ball field um and you know I I think they're the best judge of that we want to put forward the best possible option in uh in the Deerfield campus and uh in weightly as well so that's uh that's that's a little nugget of progress that we've had since last time y for nuggets of progress you actually were made a co-host if you wanted to share your screen briefly show us okay oh yeah I see the share is there now um let's see there we go I am screen sharing and so do you see that now there's do you see like the Sandy Lane existing I really love how like every crack in that parking lot shows on the aerial photo right uh we uh what they are proposing is something like this uh where um like pretty much every bit of flat space has some kind of parking but there's little green nooks and crannies uh in different places and a little additional parking uh out in front um that can be for like staff presumably for um I mean folks who are not seniors in you know little Walkers those folks um they have a uh they would I think they're still thinking of kind of um uh so I'm not sure backfill is the right word but fill up the um the the dock area the down the the loading dock so that it's all on one level so you're not having to have stairs and things um but that and expanding that building so that's not the size of the current building it is expanded out um and so that's what they had several different things look looking at in Deerfield like putting a building on this place there where there used to be a ball field maybe I should start at the at the beginning like the existing uh ball field and and D is the building that they would uh take down and rebuild um and uh sorry that seems to be the same thing again uh if you build right on where that town hall is and expand a little bit to get the 15,000 square ft uh they would need to do that with a twostory or what I call one and a half so it's one story mostly but half of it twostory um and you don't quite get enough parking this way but you keep the ball field um uh here's one where you lose the ball field but you get all kinds of parking yeah because well you've lost the ball field and you can put little bits of Green Space here and there but you don't have a ball field right here's another place oh yeah you could put the senior center back further from the road and have even more little green spaces um uh this one is the one actually if you weren't going to have a ball field this one seems the most attractive to me because you have a nice little kind of a public park here um less trees in your parking lot but you know in the end they they really wanted to keep the ball field so that we'd be looking at uh trying for a um story and a half what they say a two-story building here uh oh and then that might be a little bit reduced the total is more like 160 uh something uh parking spaces among the whole campus with 73 of them within uh 300 ft of the front door so I think this is the one that they're going to do a building layup out and they give us more information in two weeks so that was really what was what was that it's my five minute version thank you FR I got nothing new and I also have nothing new but you can wait until the end because Pete has managed to Wrangle a whole lot of information from the water department it okay we are on to Town Administrator updates okay first item is in regards to the annual licenses which you'll be doing on December 17th um but um you might recall last year you held a public Hearing in order to transfer the license held by the weightly in from Kevin Clark to Steven Clark the board did approve that transfer but they never uh finalized their application um now that they're doing annual renewal they're realizing that they need to make finalize that transfer the abcc said that you do not need to hold another public hearing the transfer is exactly the same no details are changing it's up to the board if you want to hold another public hearing to to revote on transferring from uh Kevin to Stephen or we can say that no the previous hearing holds go ahead and finalize your paperwork so that then on DEC 17th you're looking at it with uh Steven's name instead of well it would still be Kevin um you got yes the renewal signed by Kevin um if you guys say that it's okay to go ahead without um another hearing I would then upload all of those documents to the abcc portal and then the abcc would take over from there yeah um but the renewal will still stand just be with um Kevin instead of Stephen so essentially I just need that informal is the board okay with keeping the original Vote or do you want to hold another public hearing no reason to hold another public hearing I see no reason either it just got a little confused it'll it'll be with Kevin instead of stepen so because technically the transfer um has not gone through yet renewals need to be signed in November so since they want to renew all of their licenses Uh Kevin will have to sign off on it and then the transfer will take place after after that after that thank you yeah I agree I see no reason to yeah hold it up okay awesome um with regards to the EV Chargers that we wanted to do unfortunately we found out last week that other source closed their Make Ready program and has discontinued that incentive which means that third party provider that was going to do the install that would donate the remaining also cancel their program because there's no longer a funding mechanism so we will not move forward right now though because of the board's the EV committee and the board's original intention of doing those installations at the library and at the Town Offices we'll continue to look for new grant opportunities or watch the utilities to see if they uh re start these programs again but um some of this may possibly be dependent on federal funding which we we at this point we don't know what's going to happen so we're going to have to look at other opportunities but I wanted to let you know we did not thankfully we did not commit ourselves prior to the cancelling of the program um but we also weren't able to secure it before it got cancelled either so um it's kind of on hold at this point um earlier in the month we received uh from the state the certification on our free cash for FY 24 that came in at $999,900 reviewed our previous year's numbers against the FY 24 and found uh what likely contributed to this higher than normal value for free cash were normally around 600,000 um last year motor vehicle excise receipts were 104,000 higher than they were in 23 the bhog also had returned a surplus permit fee of 64,000 our earnings on investment uh were higher due to higher interest rates and that was at 6 1,000 and then there was an overlay surplus of 150,000 so all of these contributed to a higher a healthier free cash than what we typically um have in town uh the fire department in the middle of November November 12th we had a rush fire out on Christian Lane by the trash TR the train tracks um thankfully the response was very quick um weightly fire department was assisted by the state DCR South Deerfield and Deerfield fire districts Sunderland South County EMS pfield and Irving um it allowed or ensured that that fire did not spread Beyond just a few Acres though it was still impactful the fire department then returned a few times as well to just ensure that it had fully stopped because of course there is some smoldering that does tend to happen uh related to this we did have a fire ban um outdoor fire ban in in place for most of the month that was that was removed yesterday it was removed yesterday yeah oh today okay well the email I got said it's starting today but okay yeah so the ban has now been lifted um sweet the library is completing a couple of their arpa funded projects so with the library computer replacement PR project they have now received the two Chromebooks the two hotpots are still in the processing those will go into circulation for patrons and then with the electrical system safety upgrade project they have now installed that alarm pole station at the front door um Cindy also wanted to note that they recently completed a 5-year strategic plan that's been approved by their trustees it's now been submitted to the Mass Department the mass Board of Library Commissioners for their approval and it is available on the the libraryies website if anybody would like to read um through that strategic plan the police department received their hybrid the new hybrid Cruiser last week and it's already gone into service it actually helped with the food pantry Drive uh delivery yesterday um Recreation we have a lot of updates from Recreation uh the Double batting cage has been delivered they're looking to get the groundwork and upgrades in before Frost happens so that at least the groundwork can be completed before the winter the building's going to be closed down and winterized in the next couple weeks work on the small baseball field and Dugout repairs will start soon the plan is to build the new dugouts with storage and repairing the existing ones as well as moving them to the softball field the boards that the birds had put holes through the Pavilion will be replaced and they'll also be restaining that building they're looking into line a line painting machine instead of um doing it by hand that'll help to cut down on their time and cost of buying the spray cans to paint the lines on the fields uh the Chris is also reaching out to adjacent Property Owners regarding the potential of expanding the park to see if any of them are interested in possible s so that we can expand the park further lights have now been installed on the parking lot that are on a timer and they are planning on installing the skating rink at hurle he for this year they're going to install new rims on the backboards at the elementary school they'll be rehabbing the small field and the large Diamond to fix the Mounds and whs on the infield they're currently looking into what types of trees are going to be best to plant at Hur around the fields that based on that soil over there and the fact that it's um you got a lot of water the gap on the bottom of the softball field fence is going to be fixed next season guard ra is being repaired and hopefully funds allow it they want to install it across the parking lot um and then they are also getting quotes right now to install off fence by the River Bank um just wanted to note it has been reported in the news but there was a train track incident last Thursday um it occurred near the El Street crossing in South Deerfield unfortunately an individual was struck by the train um it was a southbound train so the train stopped in weightly which and it meant that the weightly PD um responded to the train while South deer F fire oversaw the incident due to the accident actually occurring in Deerfield the water department also has a number of updates um with regards to the Egypt Road l Loop closure they are in they finished the design in per in and they're now looking at the funding for that project they've also received quotes and now looking into funding for the treatment plant generator the hydrant flushing should be completed in the next week they've completed the lead in Copper survey and that's been submitted to D they're currently working on getting quotes for new fencing around the treatment building and the water storage tank they're working with mass rule to GPS and and identify locations for all map out all of the hydrants hydrant gate valves and curb stops um they finished the hydrant Hydra Gates and the main gates so far and finally they also um noted that the last meter read went very well and they're still waiting on a part uh for the new handheld receivers that will help with that meter read and that is all of my updates thank you lastly items not anticipated the cumington finance committee is seeking support from Western Mass communities Municipal and education leaders in seeking support seeking support and seeking support to obtain Equitable reimbursement for vocational Transportation expenditures as they noted many western Mass towns struggle to obtain transportation to the vocational schools with some towns sending students to three different schools to meet their educational requirements the promise of up to 100% reimbursement is dependent on appropriation it has never been met with an average of 16% over the last 15 years and the sample support letter is included in the packet materials I say we sign it I say we sign it all right I'm going to consider that a motion in a second I move that we sign this nice all right Joyce how do you vote I I I all right we sign it and uh I think Amy Sher yeah we have one other unanticipated okay um Amy I'll introduce it and then if you want to kind of explain so Amy has made a request uh for the board to consider possible relocation of the treasur collector office um I need I don't know if you want to go into um high level the idea or the the reason um and then I'm happy to talk about the idea of how we could meet what you want to do yeah so um as you all know previously the Town Clerk and treasure collector position was a combined position um and which Lyn sibl held um so it was appropriate at that time to have the treasure collector and the town clerk share an office since it was one one person holding that position uh those positions so um now that we have um two different people I'm I'm obviously The treasur Collector and then we have a separate town clerk um some of the the scope scope of work in the Treasure collector position um really should be held um in its own office um I since we don't have a human resource director the HR part um for the town defaults to the treasure collector position um for which I answer a lot of so excuse me answer a lot of HR questions um and um I just sometimes feel that those conversations should be held in private um and I don't necessarily think stepping out of the office into the conference room um every time those come about um is um very efficient um also I have a new um assistant treasur collector who also does payroll um and then though payroll conversations questions come up often um and that I just feel that I don't necessarily want to step out of the office every time to answer um any type of of payroll question or deduction or HR question that comes up uh so part of me feels that this is um it would be appropriate to separate the opposites so I I have an idea it requires a little bit of maneuvering um so the thought was the thought is that we would move Community Development to the conference room here um that is primarily the land use conference room so moving Community Development the staff member which also includes the shared conservation agent because the shared conservation agent that we have with Ashfield and you other two towns um has to have a space and so we have it with Erica right now in that room but we would move them in here into the next conference room freeing of that office that would allow Amy to move into that office I believe there's been discussions in the past of actually adding a window to that office that is towards that hallway that shared hallway there so that when a person walks in they have a a window right to their left and then the town clks window to their right so from the resident experience there's they're getting the option right there at the front door they're not having to go too far um and we would properly sign them but they can obviously direct one way to the other um it does bring up the question well what do you do with the water department because they have they have furniture and stuff in there um I believe and they hold their meetings in there they do yeah um that doesn't mean that they can't still still a meeting it's still a meeting room yeah yeah we would still keep it as a a functioning conference room um but um it it was brought up that the water department may have at one time been paying the town to rent that space I don't know if that's true or if that's still happening but um as staff they're rarely ever here we could remove their their materials either into the hallway I've thought about also moving our copy and mailing um equipment into that Hall that hallway there and moving water department into that area next to the assessor so that it's more of an office space even if they're not there and then now we have easier access to our our copy machines and our mailing machines we do have the outlets we do have the the internet lines there so it wouldn't be a problem it's just moving around a bunch of stuff but um as far as the resident experience when they I feel that we'd still be achieving their ability to interact with the two primary ones where you're doing transactional type of actions um and it's still what it does is it also provides Amy that private space to have those Personnel conversations that happen um that right now have to happen within the shared space that probably not best location for that's that's an idea that I thought of but I don't know if the board has any thought or concern I'm curious what it would be like for somebody to have an office in what's a functioning conference um will the community development person be working full-time yes so they'll they'll be there fulltime and who else uses that space as a conference room the planning board but mostly in the in even in the evening the water department is the only one that uses it during the day during the day but this conference room is usually open during the day yeah so that would just be something that we would have to be communicative about yeah we could have the Commissioners meet and here instead oh okay they don't they don't have to meet in that room they're they're just used to they're used to meeting in there but this room is available oh yes oh well that makes a lot of sense for the most part I would say 85% of the day our conference rooms are not used okay yeah okay that was my curiosity question uh is there an urgency to this to get it like something decided tonight because I'd like to be able to like see what you're talking about and I don't know that we need to selectboard vote on it but sounds like some of the things will take some funds you know putting a putting a window in yeah stuff like that so I mean is there an urgency why this has to be decided tonight I mean I think we're all in favor of finding a way to to uh take care of the privacy issues and moving folks around the way you say kind of makes sense but so the question about urgency I would say since we have Erica starting it would be very awkward to have her start in that for her within a couple weeks or a month into another space um it's basically like uprooting somebody soon after they try to situate themselves so that's the only thing that I'm thinking about is as far as urgency I would say that am doesn't necessarily have like we aren't holding open enrollment next month um so we're not going to have you know people trying to do health care or health insurance benefit changes um not for a little while at least so um as far as Personnel type of things it's just we have a new person starting she'll have a new person take through things well and that I think that also is where Amy is kind of speaking to is that we Erica did come in this week to do her paperwork and it had to be done in the conversations had happen in the share office I think freder CL should certainly move out of where that office is now um Amy are you okay with that with this plan do you think that will give you adequate space privacy yeah Pete Pete and I had a great conversation um this morning about it and um he came up with this this other idea which I I support and I think it um would definitely um give the Privacy factor that I'm I'm looking for for that position um and I also do agree with him about how it could be a little awkward with Erica U moving in and then all of a sudden having to relocate her but at the same time I mean um you know transition where could just let her know that this could be a spot due to that um you know we are making some changes in the office but um I in regard to a rush I wouldn't I wouldn't say there is there is a rush no but um just I conversation I wanted to have and to try to move forward with I think it becomes less awkward for Erica if she knows that this is coming yeah yes and the reality is I can't get everything moved tomorrow even if we agreed I did wonder about that how fast can we move it no I think people will come like Thursday and Friday Jess and I tomorrow so we'll be quiet yeah yeah um I one last question in principle then at least let every know okay you're starting here but this will not be your home cu the first thing I need to do is let Wayne know that we need to move their stuff back um so that and we need to cost out everything that yeah to thankfully the only costing is going to be the window everything else we have the infrastructure in place it's really just the window installation yeah which you know it's cutting into yes that be fun hopefully it's done on a weekend Rich Enterprises is very good um who's going to get Amy's really boss desk out there in the common area so the as you know Jess is also the assistant Town Clerk and so on Thursdays that's when she holds that role and so she relocates into a she use essentially uses Marines but she'll be able to use Amy's um Des the assistant so it's gonna kind of go into the rotation of people who yeah who used that room okay so it didn't didn't make sense to put somebody else of of you know the multiple this person's going here and it didn't make any sense to to actually put somebody in that place yeah because right now in that shared space we actually have the two am Moren and Lynn SII uh when Lynn comes in she also works up there and then Jess works there mostly on Thursdays cuz she does try to be up front and working with am Valley so essentially up to five people at some times um but it it's rare that we hit the five but still it all helps us create a little more space um and fluid oh okay sounds good sounds good plan is there a motion to adure Just note our next meeting yes I think it's next Thursday isn't it assessors meeting right I've got it as the um December 5th right December 5th 6 PM Tax is that the tax meeting the meting yep I will be sending you the agenda and my report tomorrow okay um essentially right after this one just because we have the back to back meetings um my report won't go too heavy into the tax element only because the board of assessors will we do have a couple other items on that agenda we have a couple board appointments that have to happen and then um oh I put together the scope of work for the old landfill which is the that D wanted us it's essentially mimics DP um and then there was one other item that oh you'll think of it you'll put it on the agenda and we'll see it oh oh Urban grown they were one of the companies that we were doing or you had an HCA they were going through a renewal they never opened they never operated uh they're currently in their renewal process they have requested an HCA waiver which you can do either in a uh host Community agreement or you can wave that agreement their request is to get that waiver from the town so that he can then go and sell his license to some other entity I'll go into more detail on it on the fifth but we discuss that request okay I have a quick question I have two papers here uh one Mima standard contract form you you just sign it that was the that was the grant for I was like it looks familiar I think I signed it but I'm not sure why I've got it here yeah it was just for your thank what you knew move to a j second Joyce I I Julie I righty all right good night everybody