a hybrid meeting. >> Oh no, that's go back. >> That's okay. Do the head. Was it? Mindy Harington. I think we're muted if I do if I don't have this on. So, I'm going to turn down the volume on the TV
so we don't have to hear it. >> You're welcome. >> There you go. Okay. So, uh, reminders for hybrid meetings, which we're in the middle of. I did get some feedback at our last meetings
that we were a little bit difficult to hear and it was difficult to know who was speaking. Uh, so we've adjusted the angle of the camera this week. I hope that's an improvement for public. And just another
reminder to uh wait to be recognized because that helps the public. It also helps Sandy when she's doing the meeting minutes if there's someone they name before. So if I say so and so yes um
that helps and let's try and keep the cross talk minimalized. Okay. So we're going to move into our housekeeping approval of the minutes. Uh so for August 13 the afternoon session there was just a small detail there uh
because Vicki came in late and there was some confusion about that. So everyone has received that corrected version and we didn't have any content issues with it the last time it was presented. So if I could have a motion to accept the August
13 minutes as corrected. Motion to accept. >> Thank you. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh and again we have to do a roll call vote. Um Tom >> I. >> Don >> Hi. >> Dandy. >> Hi.
>> Vicky. >> And Doris. >> Hi. >> Interesting. U. So then moving on to September 11, our last meeting. And I know I had a couple of things and I think John had a couple of things.
And mine were little. They might duplicate fonts. >> I did correct those. >> Okay. I don't remember what they were now. So on page two of the Did you get extensive? >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. I sent them on to Sandy. Um, did you get this one? Page two. >> And I think that's D up. And then this one. >> Fourth.
They're all just tiny things. No real content issues. Um Sandy, do you want people to submit them to you ahead of the meeting or do you want to get them here? Well, I'm supposed to get them here and note them. Um
Once once it's sent out, >> then you get the correct. >> Okay. All right. So, we'll make that our practice. Uh, so I need a motion to accept these minutes as corrected. They're all just spelling yours.
>> Motion to approve September 11th minutes as corrected. >> Thank you, Tom. Second. >> Second. >> Okay. Again, roll call. Tom. >> Hi, >> Don. >> Sandy. >> Hi, >> Vicki. >> Which one?
>> September 11, our last meeting. >> These were the ones that got sent out with the agenda. >> Yeah, I read this. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Do we live with those? >> Yeah.
>> Okay. Dorcas I will play with other fields you understand because I don't mean high regard >> okay >> and do we have anybody from the public
do we have anybody from the public Okay. >> There um there are six people there. Okay, >> including Matt. So, okay, >> we have Jane Kaine, Libby Coutur, um Matt Odin, Odin, Ellis
Architecture, Tim Arnold, and the town of Yarma. >> Okay, nobody has their hand up the street. >> Nobody has their hand up to speak. Okay. Anyone in the room? >> Okay. >> All righty. So, no public comment. Uh,
we do have an update about our There we go. >> Everybody good? >> Yes. >> Okay. um about our town hall liaison which was something
that was very important to me and I met with Jay last week. So Jay Brandy's here at the table with us. He was at our last meeting too and we've kind of uh gelled up the relationship between Jay and this
group. So he is sitting at Bill's desk but um has a defined set of roles within >> that's correct >> and we are under that umbrella.
>> Okay. So um so he's going to be monitoring things like the financial processes and that was one of the things we talked about. Uh, so Jay, you're going to be that interim person between like when the OPM
submits the invoice and with Jennifer Mullen, >> right? I I I have received an invoices bills payable package from EOPN. >> Mhm. >> Your and other consulting services
>> and those were reviewed in the field and if you know offer some commentary back but it's all starting to move forward. >> Yes. Okay. And then the other big piece that we talked about was
uh the library site and access for information uh for the public and how that is going to be linked and um I'm going to hand that over to you as far as what you found out when you went exploring.
>> Well, I I'll just talk plainly about it being a newbie relative newbie. Um uh I did try to navigate and find certain information and um you have a project page. It's at
the top. It takes you a couple of clicks to get in there. But um one of the things I found u as a gap in my opinion was the lack of a tech library building committee which linked back to that project page.
uh your charge and purpose is buried in a heading that you wouldn't intuitively >> grasp as and and I think it's important to have the people involved with the project highlighted there and so um I
had some preliminary discussions with Judy about it just to see get her a sense of how she viewed it and whether there was room for improvement and um it. So I think in the coming weeks, not way
out, we need to uh put some new headings in, update the information, bring some of the more relevant information forward as to the current project that's being reviewed by you as a committee. >> And uh equally important, communicate
more effectively as the funding opportunity here in the state. uh not just in the current phase but in the phases going forward. And so I think there's a lot of uh of that kind of information that is
there. It's just hard to navigate and and highlight it. And I think that's more important to citizens of the town to see some of that information uh right up front. Mhm. >> So obviously I'll work with your
consulting team as well and your library staff and the new director uh and uh make sure that whatever we put up there uh is acceptable as the content and form of the committee and the staff
and members. >> Okay. And then we still have more linking kinds of questions and the outreach committee is also concerned with that as far as the links between the library site and um
the back structure that you have ready to go >> right and how that's going to play in. So somewhere and I'm not sure if that's Paul or who will be in Paul Chaffy or who will be involved with making that
link because it's quiet now. It just needs to be activated at their end. So when I want to go in I I tend to go to department's library and then the yellow band. Is that how you do it too? just
because it seems the most familiar road to me and it just gets me where I want to go. So that's the route I've been using. You can get there other ways. Jay and I were looking at all the different routes that you can use. Um but
intuitive some of them are not. So >> and I think it's critically important at this stage. I mean, this is a highly visible project that if the town doesn't get, you know, adequate and good information, it's going to it's going to open the
doors up for innuendo and rumor. So, we need to make sure that >> this site is easily and readily available on the site so that people can go and get the information that they absolutely [Music]
>> All right. And let's see while we have you here Jay. But any anybody have any questions for Jay on those topics so far? Okay. Uh another thing >> people online can't hear anything.
>> Oh, I asked a question. Can people hear us? All right. >> Matt says he can't hear anything. >> Okay. Says the microphone is connected. I can see it moving up and down. connected mic audio 100%. >> I can hear now. >> Oh, okay. Okay. Can you guys hear me?
>> Great. Okay. Yes. Thanks. Uh, another uh question that came up for you, Jay, was are there other parts of the town that have emails? Um,
so that if people were interested, they went on the site and they said, "Wait, I don't understand this." And they wanted to send an email um to the committee or Yeah. How do how would that how might that work? I
>> I think there should be that type of link so you can see what some of the questions are and then eventually obviously there'll be some repetitive questions and have frequently asked questions. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I I think that as you said, it's a
it's a critical point in the project timeline to make sure the information is correct and consistent so forth, but hearing from the public is critically important to know what
questions are lingering out there. And I I think that's the only way other than a phone call, it'd be nice to be able to document the questions and be able to respond. >> Uhhuh. Yes. Yes. >> In writing >> and you know somebody's
like taking 10 minutes to poke around and they say, "Oh, what's this project?" Yeah. Oh, but I have a question. >> You know, they're not going to make an appointment with themselves to do that. Um, so that would be something that we'd
ask you maybe to explore for us. >> Yeah. And then the last one was, and this came up, oh, I'm sorry, I did look at it from our end in our website. They do put a comment section on there. It will get emailed to, um, the web page
host, which is the library. I'm not sure exactly right now what email it took to, so I'd have to look that back up. But um any if we set up a comments page on our website, it would go to the library which then we can forward on to you and
to whoever needs that information. >> Yeah. So is that another burden for somebody on staff to be monitoring that? >> It's an email with the forward. So it shouldn't be too bad, but um yeah, it's easy enough to get in there and see
them. shouldn't take more than 10 minutes a morning to check it and forward any information to others. >> Okay. Do you want to weigh in on that, Shay? >> No, I I think it's it's a followup. Where where are the uh have we received
comments? Where have they gone and um who's monitoring those questions and providing response? >> Okay. Thank you. And then another issue we had, I think this might have been at the last meeting, um,
is is it appropriate for us to have a placeholder warrant article? um might be a little too early for fall, but for spring just so that we're there,
even though we might not be ready even for Springtown meeting, >> we're really going to be reviewing those in January. So, we figure that you're going to have time to be able to do that. Like, we start looking at the Springtown meeting more January,
>> right? But we don't know. They have from January to June to respond to us. NBLC. >> So, we might be right down to the wire. That's why we're >> right. But, I mean, you could in January say you want to put in a placeholder for the >> I see. Premature,
>> right? >> Okay. >> We're we're focused right now on the fall. >> On fall. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Okay. That's what I had for that item. All right. And Our
outreach committee met last week. Linda's not here to give a report. Um, but we did uh review Mindy's graphs that we distributed last
time and she has worked on them. Losing sleep again. We can make other copies for people if you want to take one and pass it. >> So, uh again, these are what we are looking to use for our outreach
sessions. Um pending our report to the select board on October 7. Uh these would be the model to be distributed at seaside
festival two days there and uh at our information session on October 14 again depending on the direction from uh flight board on October 7th. Uh so
we move pieces around. You talked about uh what catches your eye. Who's the audience for these anyway? You know who you pick it up in the library and you open it. We wanted this yellow page to
kind of pocket at you and then um the big question on the left and then when you open it up, you know, some people are going to look at this and go, "Yum, I love this data." And other people are going to go, "Oh, too much to read. Um,
but they can go back here and say, "Ah, a QR code." And that's where I can get my info. So, we try to hit a bunch of different audiences with this one. I really want
>> So, a lot of the info is similar to what you saw last time. Um, and we did have a version where this side, these two panels were just texted.
And that's a possibility. Um, I was the advocate for the data, but we could trim that down or we could do that because I think bar graphs are a good flash. People can look at them quickly and see what's happening. Um,
we also don't want everybody to get their red pens up. So, so if you have something >> is that too >> it's a living document. Yeah. >> And it will be updated because it's so
important to make sure the current information >> is always updated. So, >> right. >> It's not going to remain static. That's not being tested. >> No. Wendy um Olga and Alice um we just have that now because a lot of patrons are asking about the architect. So I put
their website on there and then once we have our email and web page up and running that will take that place and replace you. I'm sorry and then and we holding and then um but they will find you Matt
on the website. Um, all right. So, quick reactions. I'm just going to go around the table then. >> I like the bar graphs. >> Yeah. >> I I like because a lot of people that's, you know, when you talk about too much
information. I think a lot of people are just going to go to the bar graphs. >> Yeah. >> And take a look at that and it kind of says it all >> in that. I Good job, Mindy. I know that. And I want to give credit to Rebecca too because I do it and then she looks at me
and goes gh and then it fixes it and so she did do that for us and um yeah >> great >> I think this looks great. Um this is just the right amount of graphs and you know it I don't think it's too
much text at all. It's important to have a narrative >> you know especially in bullet points. >> Yeah. So yeah, no complaints here. >> Okay, thank you Vicki. >> Yeah, I'm reading it right now. I really like the bar graphs and I also like the
information uh because it's to the point. I didn't get to see it last time, but I love this big why the new library question. I guess that's his question I was seeing out on social media.
>> I also like the timeline on how we thought we're right now. Good job, >> John. >> I think it's great an incredible first step to to be able to get people the information that's that's needed. So, yeah, great job.
>> Thank you, Tom. >> I I think it's great. I love the the high percentage increase. I wish we could make them pop a little bit more. I that's >> want to draw people's attention. But I love it. I think it's great. >> So, one of the things I learned is that
we're limited to three color. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Well, we're just trying to keep it to the branding colors. We could put other ones in there, but >> No, >> that will. Yeah. Draw the eye there and they might miss the other information if it's too bold.
>> No, I think it's great >> and everybody's able to read. This is the language. the font is accessible to everybody. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um I also wanted to hand this to Stevie. >> Um yeah, I I saw the earlier version of this and I think it looks good. Um you
didn't want typo corrections? >> I do want typo corrections. We want those. >> Yes, >> I will give you those. >> Thank you. >> David, anything? No, I think um it's actually really helpful to uh as someone who has just pulled his head out of Paris um seeing
numbers like this is really really helpful. I mean we are data driven so that that stuff like that I think people can very easily understand. So um I think that's very effective. So >> okay um and then I want to go to our I
can't see our online people. Um, I can see them this because this is playing the meeting while I have control of this. So, you can see them here if you'd like. >> We can see them in your screen. >> Yeah. Okay. So, Matt, uh, you had
uh suggested that we clean up like the variations on the color barraphs and we actually left off one of the columns. So, that was easily done. Um, did you have anything else? I know you can't you can't see this. Oh, never mind. I can't see it, but it sounds like everybody
loves it, so I'm sure we will, too. >> Well, you we did take that color suggestion and I will I can email. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> Okay. All right. That's a disadvantage of this.
>> All right. Do we have anything else from outreach to bring back 30 people use it last time? The meeting room like in 2023. in 2023 it only had um 30 bookings. Yes. And so >> now 435.
>> Yes. So it was a 1350% increase which >> Yeah, that looks like a tight world. >> Yeah, it's it's not 30 people though. It's 30 bookings. >> 30 booking. >> Okay, got it. Yeah. Okay. >> For meeting rooms. Yeah, it could have been more people. So 432 meetings is way
>> if I huge. >> It's huge. That's great. >> Room five. 455 to be correct. >> So, Linda's continuing to work on her stuff outside of this committee with uh fundraising and um getting proono legal
work and she's always got something going. Um but I will let her speak for that at our next session. Do we have anything else? >> I think that was it. That's all. >> Good. >> All right. Uh so site update. Uh I think around this table folks are
pretty familiar with where we are as far as the site, but just to back up a smidge. Um, I did pull up our charge and the this is
as as Jay said, this is on that website, but it's labeled kind of funny. And our general purpose is to guide the programmatic analysis, plan development, site selection, financing options while
working in concert with Commonwealth staff and consultants toward establishing site locations, building programs, financing options, and plans for the development of a library to the applicable standards and needs required
by the town. And then when you get into the specific charges, it does say that we are required to take specific steps such as those outlined by a scope of work and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts funding programs. Uh so if
you want to pull that up at your leisure and just refresh yourself on what you're doing here, um those are the constraints of our appointments. That's that's what we're here to do. So along with what we
were appointed to do. Um we've done uh reviewed the assessment of the sites, brought those to the select board, presented the sites. The site was voted on
June 24 by the select board and we um then later found out about the constraints of the article 97. We weren't really sure what that was. Um and it was kind of floating. We've been
told multiple times that the legal people will not be able to uh render a a clear opinion until December, which we know is really conflicting with our um
our deadlines. So, I just wanted to let you know that um Joseph Rulo, who is one of the town council firm members um did render this opinion and I I did refer to it last time but I
wanted to actually read it and this is a quote from him to Barbara now there is no specific verbiage required to invoke article 97 protection I think from the language in the article to lay out and
construct a playground and that it has been used as a playground is enough to invoke article 97 7 protection. And then when we here talked about that um we decided that even though it wasn't a
firm legal written position that uh we would respect that uh we had people come and speak to us and that by respecting that issue. Um we were very very
fortunate that that applied to only one of our parcels and that we could still within the site approval moved the U parcel to the east. Um so have I captured that for everybody? Is that a common understanding for everyone?
>> Okay. So um given that um and we are hearing feedback I think we have expanded our responsiveness beyond our charge which I want to commend everybody on but I also want you
to recognize that it's beyond our charge. So when um we are looking at the grant that we applied for it was approved for new construction. New construction could include uh demo and
rebuild on that the same site. Um but we all know the costliness of pickings up and down especially something that was built when asbestous was still being used. Uh so Um, I I do commend everybody for being
willing to respond to other questions and I think as a committee we need to be sensitive to those issues out in the community. um just as we were very sensitive, my own estimation, um from when the West Yarmouth folks came and
spoke to us and I thought people were um really understanding about what was going on there and that this building is very special to that community. And we were not saying close it or sell it or
anything like that. We were just saying that's beyond our scope. That is beyond our scope. Um so along with that we have had um questions and the select
board the other night um had a kind of a side conversation. I don't know what to call it. Um there was a review of agenda items with us being on one of the next agenda. seventh meeting.
>> Um, so it was just a review of agenda items, but it it digressed a little bit into like a 20-minute conversation about the project. So, um, certainly no decisions were made and and, uh, no votes were taken or anything like that.
Um but uh it it was very revealing in light of what other issues are still out in the community regarding um reuse of the MacArthur building um and their
uh residents understanding of where we are in the process and what our role is that we don't have any role in reuse of buildings and we don't have any role and those kinds of future things that our charge is fairly limited. But again, I
want to say um it's very practical and pragmatic for us to respond to some of these questions. So we have asked Owenello to look at what would it take to do an
initial assessment of the building and they have contacted their structural engineers and um there is a possibility this could be done post haste so that we could have the results to take to the
select board. Um, but that's really kind of pulling in a lot of favors and asking a lot of people to um be moving quickly. Uh, so Tom and I have been involved in this today. Jay's been involved in this today
and um just just so you know, we're not really taking on another whole thing, but um we need to be responsive to that so that we can uh answer questions. And it appears like we're the only ones to take the
point on that um comments. >> Have you talked to um Patrick Murphy? He's the um administrator for the school. >> Um that would be your person. Yeah, because he took us on a lovely tour last year, showed us the improvements and some of the deficiencies in the
building. >> Oh, >> yes. So, um I we formed a relationship with the school through the Renaissance Fair and I met with him and the secretary and they are very warm and welcoming and very proud of the work
they've done, but also still highlight some of the deficiencies. >> So, is he the administrator on site? >> He's the administrator on site. as a school principal. >> Okay. So, if you can get with Jay afterwards and share that contact info, that would be wonderful. Um,
>> Judy, >> yes. >> It may be worthwhile for everybody to hear what Matt said at the last meeting. I was just going to turn reuse of a school building to a different thing and that really needs to be understood by everybody as to what happens when you do
reuse. >> Right. So, you have in front of you, I'm sorry I couldn't get this, but it hot off the press. This uh memo, the Odinello. Okay. So, you read at your leisure, but this really puts out very
very concretely and I think some of us who've been in these conversations have now lost track of who knows what, but um this is a really comprehensive list of the issues that will arise. Yes, here's an extra one.
>> I don't think I have one. Oh, okay. Um, >> Judy, I would just add to that that it's it is detailed, but it is not entirely comprehensive because we haven't undertaken an assessment of that
building with a full consultant team, which is what would be required to have a complete understanding of what would be required to renovate that building, turn it into a library. So it is missing some key ingredients, but it tries to
hit the the kind of big points. >> Yes. Um so and if we dial that back a little at this point, um we're looking at a much smaller assessment of the
building. Um so Matt, would you like to talk about that because Yes. I I didn't mean to imply that this was comprehensive. >> Yeah. So, what we have been authorized to do by the town is engage our structural engineer. It's the same structural engineer that we have on our
team for this study. Um, and so we've got an authorization from the town to have them do a visual assessment of the existing building to understand the existing construction uh and and weigh in at a at a high level. Not this is not
a you know superdetailed structural analysis of the building. It's a it's a quick visual observation and review of any existing documentation that we have which is not a lot but we do have drawings from the 2022
renovation that was done. And so we can we can draw some conclusions. the building, as far as we can tell, we actually don't know the year it was built, but somewhere in the 30s to 50s time frame. And we do know, and I think
even before our engineer does her site visit, which we're we're scrambling to try to make happen uh next Tuesday. Um, you know, it was it was designed as a classroom building. Classrooms typically classroom buildings typically were designed to 50 pounds per square foot
live load. um for you know typical school building the MBLC requires 150 pounds per square foot live load um designed for public libraries because of the stack loading even code requirements
for assembly occupancy are higher than 50 pounds a square foot. So, we know even without looking at it that that given the type of building that it is and given the age that it is, it will most likely require pretty significant structural upgrades. Um, we also know
just from looking at the existing drawings that the column spacing, the wall locations that are fine for a school that's made up of a lot of smaller spaces. As soon as you try to open that up and make it into a public library which has much more um you know
requirements for much more openness for accommodation of of larger areas of program for easy visual supervision you know by a relatively small staff. All of those things are kind of at odds with the way the building is laid out. And in
order to to undo some of those structural elements in order to make it work as a library will require like the the um you know increased capacity of the structure will require some pretty significant structural upgrades. We also
know to John's point earlier that that renovating this building and turning it from a school into a library would trigger a change of use which then triggers a whole series of other code required upgrades. We will have to do seismic upgrades for structural. We'll
have to do energy code compliance for the exterior envelope. We'll need to make sure that all of the Massachusetts accessibility uh requirements are met. life safety requirements are met. Um,
and there's a in terms of accessibility and and actually egress. Um, this is a two-story building with uh the the lower level halfway below grade. It's it's effectively a basement and it's not a
walkout basement. There is a a ramp, I think, that gets you from the basement up to grade, but the basement is a half a level down. The upper level is a half a level up. So as soon as you walk into the building, you're confront either side, you're confronted with half a
level of stairs either up or down and a lift to try to make that accessible there. Only one of the two entrances has a lift to make that accessible. But it makes for a very difficult um building to solve for both
accessibility and for emergency egress. Not to mention the fact that for a public building, an important civic building like a public library to have the main level or or or any level not universally accessible I think is is
problematic. Um so those are kind of the highlights of some of the considerations that we see. Um that you know there there's more to talk about. Uh, I don't know how far you want to go with this, Judy, but um, you know,
>> I think that's a good for >> for today. Um, and I think a lot of this will be repetitive to you all. Um, but it's just spelled out nicely and um, you
know, you can mark it up and see where those those items fall for you. So, um, continuing on the site update though, um, last time we looked at Oh,
I'm sorry. Does anybody have anything they would like to ask Matt? Okay. Um, last time we uh were talking with Matt about possibilities and opportunities
with the mo movement to parcel 60 again to the east. I think one of the big things it it resolves is it just takes uh conflict with seaside festival right off the table. it t in addition to take
the playground conflicts right off the table. So, they're gone and that's that's another accomplishment. So, um Matt, if you would like to go ahead and um share with us what other developments
you have on the site. >> Yes. Uh let me just go to full screen. Can you all see my screen? >> Yes. >> All right. So, I I apologize to some of
you who this this preamble will be um a recap of what you saw last week, but I know that there were a couple of people that weren't at the meeting or sorry, two weeks ago. Um and so I wanted to give and I'll do it as quickly as I can a recap of where we were two weeks ago
before we get into uh the new material that that we want to share with you tonight. Um so there we go. So everybody's familiar with the site. Um this site is comprised of parcel 50 and 60. Uh parcel 50 being
the open space. Parcel 60 where the MacArthur school building is located. Um I'll skip over this. This was just a summary of some of the bullet points that that were in that memo um Judy that we sent you. Um, so when we first started looking at this and looking at
possible locations for a library not taking into consideration in the Carthur school for for this the reasons that we just went through in terms of the structural requirements there are a whole host of reasons not least of which is the fact that the MBLC grant will not
fund a renovation project and so you know somewhere in the order of 10 or 9.6 6 million to 12 million 40 to 50% of the construction costs of this project um would be forfeited uh if if this was a a
renovation of the MacArthur school building. So, taking uh this the stand that this is a new building on this parcel, looking for places that could accommodate that building, we pretty quickly ruled out this uh this portion
of the site that's between the access road and the boundary between parcels 50 and 60 for two simple reasons. One, the open space straddles that line. You know, you don't know that that line is there when you're out there. So this little triangle of open space is
contiguous with the rest of the field. It is unclear based on the available information if that open space would be considered protected under the same article 97 protections as the rest of the open space that's on parial 50. Um
but in addition to that we think that this area is too small to accommodate a 24,000t building and parking. Um, so we then looked behind the MacArthur School building. While there's ample room there, it's level. Um, we don't think
that that's an appropriate place to put a new public library. It's marginalized by its location behind the MacArthur School building. It's not particularly visible. It's confusing in terms of how you access it. Um and uh so while we
think there's enough room to do it there, we didn't think that that was the appropriate place for an important civic building to kind of tuck it at the back of the site behind another building. So that left this northeast corner, which is the preferred area of focus. Um when
we look at that a little more closely, we understand why it's still wooded and why it has not been developed. Um there's a decent amount of topography in that area. the access road actually filled um in between the you know now there's a
a slight uh depression on the left side there's a larger depression on the right side and this highlighted area is is roughly the flat area before you get to the edge of that um that that topography. This is about a 14 foot drop
uh from top to bottom but it it's rather gentle. It's not it it isn't as dramatic as it looks in the in the topography. And so we we thought that there was an opportunity potentially to organize the building knowing that we are going to
break the building down anyway into discrete wings. Um organize the building around this topographic feature. Have it located forward of the MacArthur School building. Have it located close to Route 28. So it's visible from 28. It's
accessible from Route 28 both for pedestrians and for vehicles. Um but it also kind of celebrates this context and makes something out of that. And I think um has experientially I think would be a really wonderful spot for the library.
Um we do think there are opportunities to connect uh to have pedestrian connections from the library straight across to a future town common on parcel 50. Um, we don't think it's at odds with the MacArthur school building. In fact,
I think that there are some really nice programmatic synergies between a school and a public library. And sort of taking that one step further, you know, if we think about parking, we know that we have parking needs for the school and
for the library. I think there's ample space to accommodate that. Um, we're showing here um a parking lot that doubles the size. We could we could add more parking. We still have to do a parking analysis to understand how much we need for the library, but we think that there's
plenty of room to accommodate even one more, you know, a sort of tripling of what's there now. Um, and accommodate both the school's needs and the library's needs, but also potentially create a kind of shared open space between the school and the library. And
if we rethink the way that the access vehicular access circulates fully around the MacArthur school building, we could improve access from the school and the library to this kind of central green space, which is really quite lovely. I
mean, there's, you know, just adjacent to the parking lot. Now, if you walk out there, there's some lawn and some mature trees. Um, and that could be a nice kind of forcourt to, uh, from parking as you arrive. um and enter the lobby uh of the
library. The way that the library is set up, it's arranged in a kind of pin wheel arrangement with a central lobby and then the wings ra radiating out from that. Children to one side, adults straight ahead of you, community kind of on the more public side, um close to
entry, easily accessible off hours. Um just quickly, this is an aerial of of that area. This is for scale kind of roughly superimposing that diagram on this aerial photo so you understand uh roughly how big this is on the site you
know how its size relative to the MacArthur school um etc. And we think that there's there's plenty of room to to get it to fit in terms of the character of that space. This is the the wooded area in the northeast corner of parcel 60. This is the wooded area
that's just opposite the access road. So, it's that same kind of topographic feature that I mentioned, but on the left side of the road, all of the kind of understory brush has been cleared out. Um, I don't think that there's much maintenance here. It doesn't look like there is, but um it's it's actually
quite a lovely space. Um, this would be, you know, if you imagine that ravine looked like this if there was a little bit of clearing done, that could be a really fantastic kind of focal point for this for this important public building. and yet ha you know having it right on
route 28 um with ped you know strong pedestrian connections I think um it's kind of the best of both worlds so we were pretty excited about the the potential here um and and so we've taken this diagram and we have started to to
take it to the level that we had uh begun to look at over on parcel 50 which is trying to test fit the program the library building program that we have into a building in this general arrangement. So, that's what this diagram is. And I apologize if you
cannot read the labels, but I'll I'll try to walk you through um the layout. And and I will say this is a first pass at trying to take that detailed building program and get it to fit into a site diagram. There will be I'm sure there
are um and there will be some some some adjacencies to work out. We're we're sure that not everything works the way that it needs to, but we feel good about the general arrangement of things. We feel like as an example, you know, you
come into covered entry, you enter into a central lobby, the service desk is uh immediately there with good supervision of entry, but also great sight lines all the way down into the adult wing, down into the community wing, across over to
the children and teen wing. Um, so really strong visual control of this entire building. And it's a it's a big building, 24,000 square ft on a single level. Um, now there will be staff in the children's wing there. We have a librarian office and a staff workroom.
We have a reference desk in the adult wing. And so those will help kind of extend that range of visual supervision, but we feel that generally that this arrangement works pretty well. Um the we have staff behind the circ desk. So
staff work room, director's office, break room, uh meeting room, friends room, tech services, all of that is located close to the service desk, centrally located um close to the business center. Um th this whole community wing would be able to be
closed off or or sorry available off hours with the children's wing and adult wing closed off. Um, so that there's access to from the same front door into a central lobby, access to this entire wing, including the bathrooms, a
multi-purpose room, a classroom, and an auditorium. So, three different scale uh community meeting spaces available to the public off hours. Um, plus access still to outdoor space in front of the building, potentially outdoor space um,
from the lobby out into this kind of central uh, o overlooking the central landscape. So, I think a a decent amount of flexibility. Um, we've tried to organize the program in both adult and children wings so that
the the kind of larger spaces are overlooking um what could be a very nice uh and simple wooded landscape uh at the center of this site. Um potentially with places to get outdoors. You know, we've found
that in in our public library work, those have been incredibly wellused, popular spaces. I know some of you have seen the Norwell public library. Um, those kinds of porches. We at Norwell, we have uh two porches. We have a screen porch and we have a
covered open porch overlooking the surrounding woods. And those are incredibly wellused. Um, and the nice thing about them is they're totally secure. You can be out there with books. you can't you can't leave from them, you know, it's still part of the library. You have to come back through the
library. Um, so they're they're secure, but they're an outdoor extension of of library programming, which is a really nice thing we we have found. Um, in in terms of specifics, you know, that
there's probably more to talk about here than we have time for tonight. And I think this warrants a conversation with staff directly to talk about some of the specific um, adjacencies. And as I said, I'm sure that there's any number of things that aren't quite where they
should be, but but we feel like as a first pass, things fit. the general strategy seems to work. Um, and from here, assuming people are comfortable with this, we would continue to iterate this and and with the staff and with the
MBLC kind of work through revisions to get to to make sure that things are in the right place, um, and that we're we're thinking about how they're accessed, how they're supervised, etc. Um, so as preliminary as this is, we
also wanted to share with you some preliminary 3D images. And again, I will heavily qualify these. >> Um, they are not final. They're incredibly >> um they're incredibly >> Yeah,
>> can we just wait? Does um are there any responses to Matt on this presentation? Katie, >> I just am excited to see it where I can see it more. >> I'm excited for the conversation. There's some things I'm seeing in children's I would love to talk to Matt
about. >> Sure. So, again, >> moving from the concept in into the early designs and this is a a time to make sure there's enough room for the green blocks and enough room for the yellow blocks and and then looking at
contingencies is the finetuning. So, we just want to make sure that the outline is is adequate for what we what we're seeing. Um, I do have a question on um I've seen this question from Kathy
Williams a couple of times. What is the size of the auditorium roughly? >> Um, I'm going to have to defer to MA on on that. Ma, do you know the exact size? >> Yeah, it's um called out as 1500 square
feet. Um, but it also specifically lists 130 seats. Um, I I personally don't think it's possible to get 130 seats in 1500 square ft. Um, so something has to change either. >> You know,
>> if you're if you're if you're comfortable with the number of seats and it's necessary, um, then the room will have to grow. Um, but if if you're if you don't think that 130 seats is absolutely necessary, that's a a way we can tweak the size a little bit.
>> What would you be comfortable with >> if we're saying that you have 1500 square feet? What would you be comfortable with then as the number of seats in the auditorium? >> Uh, I have to look at it. I'm looking at a plan right now to see if I could I
think uh you could get closer to 120 or um something like that. I think you'd have to lose 10 to 15 seats, something like that. Not something significant, just a little bit. >> This is what I was wondering. I mean, when you started like does it mean seven
to five? I mean, >> no, no, no. I mean, I think it's it's somewhere between 10 and 20 seats. >> Okay. So, does this mean that we would be scheduling another programmatic meeting with the staff like we did before? I think I just sat in on that,
but where we went through everything. >> Well, I mean, I I should say that I I have a quite a few questions about children's, which now I know Mindy also has some comments about children's um and some layouts. So whether you want to deal with it um here on the call or have
a separate call, um I have I have several questions I'd like to get to you. >> I I think it makes sense as a separate call for two reasons. One, I think it it will very quickly turn into a very long meeting for everybody. Um but also the NBLC
has a copy of this um and will review it pretty quickly. They've been very good about getting comments back to us um quickly. So, I shared this with Andrea Bunker at the NBLC. I'm sure that in the next couple of days, we'll get comments from the NBLC. And I think it probably
well, we'll we'll see what the comments are, but it might make sense to have Andrea participate in that uh discussion with staff about uh some of the specifics. So, um so Judy, I do think it should be a separate meeting.
>> Oh, definitely. Yes, totally agree. Okay. All right. So, Matt, back to 3D. >> Right. So, as I said, heavily qualifying these, but we wanted to start to get a a general sense of the scale of this and
the the kind of feeling of it in on this site. And so, we we took this very quickly into a 3D modeling program. Um, and we started looking at it from a couple of different views. This is an aerial view, which obviously you'll you'll never get. Um, but it gives you a
general sense of of scale. You kind of see how close the adult wing is, you know, this end of the adult wing to the road. One one nice thing I think about the building is it presents itself to the road but there's also it's not right
along Route 28 which is a busy road and so it has both visibility but also a little bit of protection from Route 28. I think good pedestrian access there is actually a sidewalk that comes in along the access road and turns left. it stops
kind of halfway down this this leg, but you know, there's already a a pedestrian connection that's sort of teed up for future uh connectivity. I think it's possible to imagine another way of approaching more directly from Route 28
along the building this way back to the kind of centralized lobby. So, I think that those are those I think are appealing aspects to us. So this is a view from kind of from parking to again to give you just a sense of scale. These
are these are very preliminary but it's a one-story building. We're imagining this as a wood uh construction wood structural system. Um the community wing is on the right here with the main community room uh closest to you. there
would be covered entry porch to get you from parking uh back to entrance. We don't want parking. We want parking to be close enough but not right on top of the building. And and obviously we've got to consider where accessible spaces
are. Um but but we think this is not an unreasonable distance from uh from parking to front entry. And if it's covered, it it facilitates access. Um, from the other side, this is a view
kind of from the ravine looking up towards the building. So, again, really just for scale, um, you're seeing the adult wing, sort of the furthest away from you. The children's wing is kind of in the foreground to the right. Um, lobby would be, uh, connecting the two
in the middle. And then a view from Route 28 looking kind of through the trees, you would get a glimpse of the that kind of central area and the children's wing beyond. This is the adult wing, the end of the
adult wing that you're seeing along Route 28. Um, and I think at night having that building lit up and, you know, seeing that through the trees I think would really be quite lovely. So again, these are super preliminary, but it's our first attempt at trying to
understand the scale of this and putting it into the context of of the site. So that's where we are with with the the development over the last couple of weeks since our last meeting. >> Okay. Reactions, question.
I will just highlight what Matt was saying about the school. I do think it's a wonderful opportunity to offer them support. I have visited all the schools. This is the one school without an art program, without a library, and without programming. So this is a wonderful
opportunity to be able to work with a school that doesn't have those in place yet to provide a enrichment to these children where that's not provided for them. >> This has been very helpful. Thank you
Matt. Um I'm someone who when you say 24,000 square feet I don't really know what that means fraction. So, um, and this is more encouraging than I thought it would be. This is a
really ingenious use of the space. >> Okay. More encouraging that it would actually fit on that site? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Anyone else? >> Yeah. Hey, Matt. Tom, this is um I just
want to commend you and your team. I think these initial renderings are are just, you know, you can really see some really great potential here and I just want to thank you guys for >> Okay. Um I'm just going to try and reflect some things we have heard from
the community in our past sessions and um it's kind of globally there is a concern about uh not too modern and sure it looks like it's on the cake. Um, so whatever that
means to various folks, um, could mean, you know, bricks to fit in with that neighborhood of brick buildings. It could mean classic cave gray, you know, shingles clap. Um, but
but we have heard that and uh I just want to represent that from what we've heard from the community. >> I can add two one or two more of that. Um there was a concern with parking at one of our outreach meetings to the community space. >> Yes. >> Um
>> we have had somebody drive down our sidewalk here to get better access to this building. >> So um that is something to keep in mind. And regularly um people are parking
closer so that they have closer access to this building currently. So, um, there was a concern about that from the P from our outreach. Um, and there was also I forgot to mention this, Linda Callahan was concerned that there would
not be a um, book sale area. Um, because that is I saw a friend's room, but I don't know what that includes because they expressed wanting a work space and a book sale space. No. >> Well, um they may Yes, they got a room.
Um well, actually, thank you because I uh another uh comment I had was in looking at those 3Ds was if there was a drive up drop off at the main door and I think that's
related to or was that all pedestrian? Th so this area as as laid out in this diagram is all pedestrian. That's not to say that you couldn't get, you know, some vehicular drop off close to the entrance. I think you you definitely
could. And and this this is a first pass at this. This is also without um much if any engagement yet from our civil engineer and our landscape architect on on this. We've had some preliminary conversations with them to make sure
that that what we're doing seems to to be reasonable from their perspective. But in terms of actual layouts, site layouts, vehicular circulation strategies, um we still have work to do there. But but I do think that there's the
possibility to get vehicles closer to the front entry and and not lose um the potential for some some open green space here uh that that provides some separation between the two buildings and and also to parking. Um I
will say so the existing parking roughly is this. We've added this and I think you could very easily add another row of parking and you know kind of triple what's there now in in fact it could it could grow
even beyond this a little bit. So from the standpoint of parking I feel like we're in pretty good shape. The the nice thing about this and this by the way is all townowned property as well down here these two lots. Um,
so you know, from the standpoint of parking, I think this affords us a pretty good bit of flexibility. You know, when we were looking at buildings kind of over in this area and thinking where is parking going to go? Are we going to have to fit it at the end of the field or somewhere along the access
road? It was it was more at odds with the, you know, the kind of preservation of this large open space for uh for common town common. So here I think that the parking, you know, sort of behind
the built behind the macarthur building um not too close to the new library, I think makes a lot of sense. And I think we've got a pretty good bit of flexibility there. It's all flat. Um so I think we're in good shape.
>> Okay. And last time, um I was talking about maybe moving the access road to the east of the MacArthur building. I'm going to I want to retract that. >> I I think we need to look at I I think
we need to look at different options. I mean, this is one way of looking at it. getting this this eliminates that the driveway along the east side so that we're not, you know, creating an island here surrounded by asphalt. >> Um, which is a trap that a lot of public
buildings fall into. Um, we see it all the time. And instead, you know, thinking is there a way to have a drop off that's dedicated for the school that gets you right up close to this the main entrance is on that east side. Um
there's a there's a covered entry porch uh on that side. So having drop off that gets you close to that, but u but not having vehicles circulating around the building I think will make it easier. Especially I mean I think about school pickup at my daughter's school and you know kids come out of the school and
they're kind of all over the place and when they're penned in by a road it's much more difficult to police that with kids. the ability to come out and have them spill out into open space without that conflict of vehicular and and pedestrian circulation I think would be
a benefit um to them as a as a school just kind of operationally. >> Okay. Anything else? >> Okay. All right. So, next on our agenda was programming update, but I think
we've just covered that for where we are. Um, so if Ma, if you could initiate that programming review with Andrea and I would say Mindy, Joe, and Stevie and David, who we're going to
get to David, too. Um, um, and I would like to just be a fly on the wall. So, uh, however that can be set up, the only thing I would ask is that it not be until maybe the week
after next, I don't know. Uh David just doesn't start until Monday. So >> I'll be here Saturday. >> Well, what's my next announcement? >> Could the staff get or at least the department had an image of that breakdown so that I can prepare
questions >> to get clarification? >> Yeah, Matt. So Matt's um presentation will be attached to the minutes, >> right? He I'm sure he hasn't sent it yet. So, um, when
you know after tonight, Matt will send that >> to me and Sandy and Tom, right? And then we'll make sure it gets where it needs to. >> Okay. Um, and then you'll get it. >> Thank you. >> All righty. >> And let's see. So along with that
programming update was there's a little program Saturday to say hello to David um Aronson as he starts with us. Actually he's not even starting. He's just giving us all this extra time which is lovely. Thank you.
Uh so he will be at West 11 to 1 and here 2 to 4 believe cookies. There there will be um there will be refreshments um at this location. Leslie Callahan from Sila is
um has got a plan and she is the cookie stroll maven. So I'm sure it's going to be a great plan. >> Okay. >> Um and then Wa is providing refreshments. >> Well, and if anybody goes to the morning meeting and then wants to stay for a ghost hunt, it's National Ghost Hunting Day and I will give you a black light
flashlight to come look for ghosts and you can do a ghost craft. So you can basically spend your Saturday with libraries. >> All right. >> The whole day there. All right. And then
>> NBLC update. I was happy to hear that um Andrea's been in on this. I just wanted to give everybody a reminder of what was said to us a few chapters ago that the MBLC is in the business of building
libraries. So they want to do this. So they want, you know, they have parameters that we need to work in, but these folks have been very uh generous with their time and advice and counsel. Um, and so it it sounds like everybody's
making use of that counsel, which makes me happy. Um, uh, Matt, did you have anything else about MBLC? >> Nope. Um, as I said, we we've shared this presentation with Andrea. We expect
we'll get comments from her fairly soon and we can make sure that we're addressing those as as we move forward. Um, we're we're going to be sharing every presentation with them. Um, we've we've sent Andrea copies of the past
presentations, so she's up to speed up to our last meeting. Um, but this will be the first time that she's looking at actual program layouts. Thank you. Um I missed one piece of uh housekeeping. I didn't put it on this
week's agenda because I hadn't forewarned you. But next agenda uh we will have executive session because we still need to take care of the minutes from our executive session from
May. I'm not sure what the date was but when we did the interviews. Um so as part of that in order to do minutes from executive session you have to go back into executive session um for the same stated reason
uh review the minutes uh close out the executive session and return to regular session. So um that's what we'll be doing next time just so everyone's prepared. It's not a a surprise. [Music] >> Okay. >> Can I bring up something?
>> Sure thing. Uh that isn't on the agenda, but um there's a select board meeting that's going to be coming up on October 7th. I really think we need to speak to that. Uh Matt, are there going to be any figures available for us on um the MacArthur
School for our select board meeting in two weeks? >> When you say figures, what do you mean, Dorcas? >> I mean just your analysis, your structural analysis of the building, you know, like is it a I'm assuming that part of what we're going to get is you're coming back to us
and saying this is either possible or impossible. >> Uh yes, I mean we we'll have we'll have the structural engineers initial take on what would be required. We won't know what the costs are associated with that but but we'll have a general sense of
the >> level of difficulty. And I mean look, anything is possible, right? It's just a question of how much it's going to cost you to do it. >> Um, and at what point does it make sense to spend that money on on a building like that that is of a certain vintage
and has certain physical limitations versus spending new. So, um, I I will try between now and the October 7th meeting to have a conversation with our cost estimator. Um, it won't be a cost
estimate of the structural report because I think we'll be I if we're able to get our structural engineer in there on Tuesday of next week, which is the only day she's available, that will give us just enough time for her to present a report to us by the 7th that summarizes
her initial findings. So we won't have time to have any cost information based on that report but we can probably have you know a general sense of you know renovation costs for a building of this
vintage you know for the the kind for this kind of project is probably going to be in the range of x to y and >> right >> um you know I I I want to I want to be careful about that because I don't anytime you put numbers out there they they tend to stick And it's it's very
difficult at this stage with without anything concrete to base numbers on and every building is different. Every site is different. Um but I do want to try to get an order of magnitude so that you know when somebody says, "Oh, we could
renovate this for $8 million and turn it into a library." That that's, you know, I think we want to be able to comfortably say, "No, that's not accurate. you're looking at more like you know this number and I don't know
what that number is yet. Um but you know if we can get a range of cost per square foot uh renovation of a building of this vintage and type um I think that might be helpful in terms of thinking about the calculus. you know, in in order to
make the numbers work, if you were to renovate that building and forfeit a $10 million grant from the state, you you know, the the cost of a of of new construction, assuming it's $1,000 a square foot for a 24,000t building,
that's a $24 million project. If the state pays 10, the town's looking at 14. And so you would have to be able to renovate that building for $14 million or less to have it be a kind of costneutral proposition, right? And I
and and I I don't I mean, so I want to try to see if I can get a sense from our estimator of of how far off we are from that number. And I suspect we're pretty far off, frankly. I mean it's generally our experience is it's not cheaper to
renovate buildings especially you know with the extent to which renovation of this particular building would be required to turn it from something into something else you know from a school into a library. Um,
>> I hear you, Matt, but I'm just letting you know that I I think the direction that the board is going is they want to be able to make a somewhat informed decision about whether or not MacArthur is still on the table or off the table. >> So, you know what you can come in with
for us on October 7th. And at the same point, you know, um I I would see that we're going to have a presentation of the new proposed site, you know, all of that. I mean, this will all be part of the discussion. Um I also highly
recommend, you know, putting in all this kind of material into the select board pad um packet as well. But just so that you know the thought process of the board is not looking at only uh staying within the purview of the
library grant. They are looking at the possibility of going forward with this without the library grant. And on behalf of the board, I commend all of you and the work that you've done and your ability to be
a little flexible, a lot flexible, let's just say, on this whole thing. But it it's kind of important. We're going we're trying to accommodate what the people want and um it's amazing the
ground swell that has started over all of this. And um so we're we're just looking at you know when people hear new building you know they immediately start thinking
>> and you know they think rehab oh you know it's not going to be so we just need to look at the alternatives. It's not to say that one or the other has been decided, but we just need to have a little bit of information. And Matt, it sounds like, you know, the the square footage would be excellent for us to
have, you know, a rough guesstimate of that available to see what we're going to do. >> And the cost per square foot that and let me just say that I'm very impressed with the what you've come up with for um for this location. Me personally, I I
think that it's excellent work and um I could really see a library like that there. Um but we need to uh have the opportunity, I think, to allow the voice to hear from the board and they're also asking that
you come back on November 4th. Currently on our agenda for the 4th, it's kind of like wide open. So the talk has been I know that you've got a public meeting on the 14th but if you think about it >> in town there isn't anything more public
except for town meeting to a select board meeting. >> So to be able to really you know say okay this isn't just going to get 20 minutes of your time. This is going to get you know good lengthy input from the public. Mhm. >> Um I think we I know I personally would
need that and I'm sure all the other select board members need it as well. >> Well, I think well well I think then that we'll need to get that direction on October. Um because the October 14th was just a
re reservation of the room because you know we can't just like go off and do a public hearing particularly when we had no person at town hall to help us with that right >> so um not that I'm an unknown up there
but um but so that was one thing and my understanding from listening uh to the meeting was that they wanted November 4 to be a public hearing at the selection meeting. So that could be that could be the direction we receive on the 7th. We
could also do another public meeting ourselves as we've done before. Um yeah, but to what end? >> Personally, right? I mean I Okay, >> I think you've all been so >> Never question Tim online. I I think that you've all been just so generous with your time that I don't want to see
you >> using your time not wisely. And >> I think you can't get more public than November 4th. And by having a date like November 4th, it's putting enough time out there >> for us to have a fullerfledged
presentation and get these out. Okay. So, John's been waiting. So going back to our seven books like you were saying I I think Matt and even the teams really need to know expectations from the board because again you want apples to apples
Matt could come up with a cost but I'm assuming and don't want to talk to Matt what he can do new is going to be way more efficient than recon converting that and there's a there's something that has to be understood as to what you
lose in converting And then and the initial cost is maybe what Matt's coming up with is the initial cost coming up with all the other things. Even at the the select board, Bob talked about $100,000 the town saves because there's
people residents are able to go to a a school in town. Right. >> So those are savings that need to be counted if you're counting up a whole thing. >> Right. And and that I think should all be part of your presentation. You know, like you're you're making a presentation
to us and we have to hear what what's been missing for us up to now is what Matt is going to be able to provide for us. There's been nothing. It's like the mystery building over there. MacArthur, you know, at least now we'll have a little something to understand. I mean,
we Yes. I mean, codewise. I mean we don't meet earthquake now or hurricane or I mean like there's so many different things we envelope oh >> so many things but we need to at least hear it okay >> and and that I want everyone to feel
extremely comfortable >> on the seventh of voicing your opinions that's why I'm bringing this up now you know give it all to us why why you think you know like that that's what we're asking for is just the information.
>> Well, the other thing though is that our charge was the new building and I think people have broadened their scope to include these questions just because we understand >> the temperature in town but but every
time we ask to do ask Matt I don't think change order is exactly an addition of service >> but he's being paid for this >> but not by the grant then that's If the town is taking care of it though, we're not asking him to do something.
>> Yes. No, I understand. >> Understand that. >> We understand that. But but everybody needs to understand that it is an outflow. Okay. Mindy has >> Tim also has had his hand up. So I also have one, but Tim. >> Okay. Yeah,
>> I was just going to chime in and say that yes, I think that it is valuable to gather this information about MacArthur um to again present it to the select board and present it to the public, but I think ultimately we need to be looking at these as two lanes running in
parallel, right? you know, whether there's, you know, no matter what the decision is made on the MacArthur building, whether we want to reuse that or not, we still have the looming December deadline, right? So, I don't think we can lose focus on moving
forward with the kind of design that we, you know, are progressing with to get to that point in December while also looking at, you know, the MacArthur building. Um, so again, I I just want to make sure that we're not losing focus on that and I think we need to address the MacArthur building, but again, you know,
it's kind of as Judy was hinting at, right? You know, it's with this committee and what Odin Eello is currently tasked with. We need to make sure we're going to be hitting those milestones so we're not losing out on the grant if that is the direction we end up going. >> I totally agree. I'm just saying that
the select board wants to have a a a more detailed information before them. Go ahead, >> M. We've got I have gotten many questions about using the MacArthur school and I don't answer them. I say did you I do
you know it's a school. 98% of my answers is no. Right? >> So my question is are the people asking for the reuse of the school are they informed that this is a working viable school with children in it because they think it's abandoned.
>> Great point. >> Well and and we're asking for information on the MacArthur school as well. It's not like I mean we're we're looking for a whole lot of information, >> right? >> And and let me just say that >> out of the wild blue, let let's just say
that we went with the MacArthur school. All right. Let let's just say and that's way beyond the purview. >> Yes. >> I think you would find that the select board would like to see this committee continue. We would change
their charge. I mean, what what you've done up to this point, you know, I mean, this we we got so far in 2004 and then it just died. And what we're trying to make sure is that now in 2025,
it it comes to fruition one way or the other. >> Um, and we're juggling an awful lot of things. I mean, you know, the the amount of money that we're spending in town right now, >> yeah, >> know the priorities. I'm sorry. That's fine, Tom. I just want to make a kind of
a nitpicky comment, but it would have been I think helpful, and I'm not trying to throw anybody under the bus here, that if we if the charge would have been >> find a new site and take a look at the MacArthur building at the same time, and we could have done that. >> Yeah.
>> And it would have been if we had if we had been instructed to go that route at the beginning, >> this would have been a much easier process. >> And I hear you and I agree with you. I think. >> Yeah, I do. Thanks. I do. >> Can I can I add something to Tim's
comment? Um and and Dorcas, this is sort of um a little bit in response to to your request to be prepared on the 7th to talk about MacArthur. I I want to make sure that everybody understands that um that the process here is we are
submitting to the NBLC at the end of December. The MBLC then reviews the our proposal, which has to be for a new building, right? That's what the planning and design grant is funding. So, that's what we're charged with doing. Um, there's time between that
submission at the end of December, their review of it, our then cost estimate of it, because they don't want us to do a cost estimate until they've reviewed it in the event that they have changes that they want made. So, we're we're talking about several months of time from the time it gets submitted to the time that
it is possibly reworked, it's estimated um and and before it even then would go to the next step, which is going to town meeting to ask for the town to vote to support the the project. So, submitting it at the end of December isn't a
guarantee that this is a done deal. it still has to be approved by the town at town meeting. My point is that that if we keep our eye on the ball here and we submit, we work on this deadline to submit by the end of December, there's time there to then
once once the decks are cleared, focus on the MacArthur building, do a full assessment of it, understand the kind of full range of the full condition of the building, the full range of cost of what that would look like, um, and not have that sort of impact the the charge
that's before us right now, which is trying to get to the submission by the end of December. We we could try to do it concurrently. Um but but there isn't I guess my point is there isn't the pressure to have that by the end of December like there is the the NBLC
submission. And I think there's time to still do that exploratory work, have that part of the mix for consideration before it it any decisions are made before it goes to the town and and obviously before it goes to town meeting, it's going to go back to the
select board. I imagine it's probably going to be, you know, a number of different opportunities for community engagement along the way. So I just want to put it into that larger context so that you know we're not thinking that at the end of December a decision a final decision is being made about this project.
>> For an assessment you know full comprehensive assessment of the building you know how long would you say that would take kind of from start to actual report in hand with you know kind of concrete findings? >> I mean I think we could probably do it in two two to three months. No no more
than three months I think. Um but but we could probably get it done in a couple of months. So where I'm >> where I'm going with it is if we start that in January immediately after the
>> you know uh MLP MLC you know submission we would still have that by >> March April you know >> in theory before a May town meeting before you know we need to to go to you know any before we're asking anybody for
money. Yeah, my guess is that >> right and I think that that should also be stated at the select board meeting. >> So to Matt's point, >> what we're trying to do here is leave two doors open. We don't want to shut any door at this point. >> No, I I agree. I agree. I personally
agree. >> Okay, that's I just wanted to make sure that's where we're going. that I you know what what comes out of the select board I'm just you know we'll have at least a I agree that the charge and I think a lot of the select board members are saying that they didn't really give
you you know as much detail as there should have been in the charge >> okay >> um but and it's great to hear that there's still time you know to to have that kind of decision made you know I think that that that all has to be
explained at the select board meeting on October 7th. >> Okay. >> So, I would ask who's going to be able to come to the select board meeting on October 7th? >> I'll be there. >> Yeah, I'll be there. Great. >> Matt, are you available? >> Yeah, I'm planning on being there.
>> Great. Are you coming in person or you going to be on Zoom? Doesn't really matter. >> I will. I I am planning to be there in person. Um I had hoped to be there in person tonight, but the weather and traffic was not cooperating. >> No, I hear you. No, I think that would
be great and and um I think just put it all out there for them. And um I think there's a lot of sense, Tim, in what you were saying that you still have that that time, you know, like we are on a fast track for the the grant.
We have fixed parameters on that grant. I mean, it doesn't make any sense that we'd stop that at this point and not finish it in my, you know, and I I'm very personally am very excited about what I saw tonight for the plans. >> Question, please. Um, would it be
advantageous to the select board and to us to invite Patrick Murphy to the meeting >> already? Okay. >> Already being done in the background. >> Uh, to which meeting? >> Blackboard. slack forward. We're already looking into the Cape Patel development
that, you know, becomes part of our decision making obviously. I mean, it has to be part of our >> Okay. So, then Jay needs a little >> Well, I I think we need an owner's project manager to supplement the architect and >> Yeah. So, that's Tim. >> All right.
>> Um, you might see Jen Dunovan's name. Um, but Tim is the Okay. So I I would think with their experience of this consulting team in particular >> uh that following this structural
assessment they will provide some very valuable information that I think should be uh helpful to the decision making process. So I I I I would hope if it's
not ready on the 7th, you know, 100% that >> right, >> you know, we would uh bring it forward. Uh I I don't think at this point we should get much beyond that information,
>> the preliminary, right? >> And then make decisions regarding >> what else we need to know later. >> Understood. >> Yeah. I I I think they're too experienced, they're too knowledgeable, >> and they should be able to give us a good sense of the world
relative to the building. >> So, um, but I think still up in the air is the structural engineer um getting into the building Tuesday and that part of getting in touch with Patrick Murphy would be
>> right. And that that we'll break through this evening. >> Yeah. So that's that's secondary or whatever aside from your >> that will really drive time. >> Okay. Um also so I just wanted to get to
calendar and Dorcas just thank you. Um so um typically we have these two weekek intervals which would put us out to October 9. Um, but are we feeling like uh we want to get together
next Thursday prior to the presentation on the 7th, give ourselves a break on the 9th? Um, what do we think? >> I'm I'm actually not available next Thursday. Um, >> okay.
>> But I could find time on >> Wednesday or Friday. Actually, not Friday. Wednesday. Okay. What um what I feel a need for is someone to help me or some folks to help
me um just do the structure. I've done a um I have a draft of the presentation. Um, I haven't done a PowerPoint in a long time, so that would be helpful if I could have somebody work with me on that
and um kind of just organized slides and the and the sequence. Um, >> do you have the slides ready? >> Oh, no, no, no, no. I have a draft of like my presentation. That would be like an 18point font. PowerPoint. >> If you if you have a draft, we can work
on it. I'll send it back to you and you can send it back to me. Okay. >> All right. Okay. Uh, so no meeting next week, but I also don't see us meeting the 7th and the 9th. >> Oh, okay. And then we will be um going
forward to >> Wait, on the 7th, don't we have the meeting? >> No. >> Yes. The 7th, we're going to the select board meeting. >> Do we know when we when in the select board meeting we are? >> We're way down. We're way down. Oh man. >> Yeah, we're way down. But as I learned,
it could all of a sudden be really early by like an hour. >> Well, you never know. Some of the things that we give time for ends up whipping through and it's >> Yeah, >> they give you an opportunity to see what a selective word in your life, >> right? You don't want a single person.
>> So, um yeah, we're we're down ways. Um, >> I wanted to ask you soon, Faith, you yourself, um, that we will be at this fair October 11th, Seaside Festival.
>> Yeah, 11th and 12th. >> It says that we're going to have three two-hour shifts from 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. Yes. >> Well, what time? >> Oh, >> will be will we be there? >> Thank you. >> I should send her on a piece of paper and everyone can sign up. can't leave
the building until you sign off. You're there anyway. >> I am not there, but I work on Saturday, so I'm unable to Saturday and >> just the two days. It's not three days. >> Well, there are more days, but they are
going to do they're not there like like uh >> Saturday, Sunday, Monday's the kayak race and the sand castles and none of that. Um all right. I was hoping to get um two
people for each shift. So the first one will be 10 to 12, 12 to two, 2 to 4. >> I'm passing this around. I'm nerving down your name.
>> And then Sunday, uh same thing. And then if something comes up or you're able to do extra time, that would be nice, too. So, there you go. Thank you. All right. Thank you for reminding me of that. We've had >> Can someone just be on Saturday for two shows?
>> Sure. If you want to be there for four hours, sure. >> I don't mind. >> Okay. I think it would be nice to have two people there. It's kind of nice to keep company, but Kathy Williams will be there. I think only on Saturday. Um, >> all right. Anything else for the good of the order? Indy.
>> No, I was just wondering if um they have to the our people have to stay here or if this is just kind of boring stuff if Matt >> No, we're gonna take it out. I'm taking for adjournment. >> Okay. >> Motion to adjourn. >> Thank you, Tom. Second, John. Thank you.
>> We'll just do this as a voice vote. All in favor? >> Opposed? >> Hey, motion carries. >> Thank you. >> Thank you everyone. Thank you everyone. So be >> thanks everybody. Have a good night.