stand. I was waiting for him. >> Recording in progress. >> Think we need one of those action. >> Ready? Go. >> We are on the air. >> Okay. Good evening everybody and welcome back to the Yarmmer Select Board meeting of January 13, 2026. If we could please
start with the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Thank you. We're going to start our 6 pm agenda item with announcements. Mark, do you have any announcements? >> No. No. Thank you. >> No announcements. >> I'd just like to let everybody know that office hours at the senior center with yours truly will be Thursday, this
coming Thursday at 3:00. And I also know that the library um building committee has made sure that the plans for the library are there now for your perusal. Thank you.
Joyce, do you have any Is Joyce back with us? >> Not yet. >> Not back yet, I guess. >> Bob, do you have any announcements? >> No announcements this evening. >> Okay, we going to move on to public. I
see that Mr. Garin has his hand up from the public. >> Yes. Good evening. >> Good evening. How are you? >> I Brian, thanks. How are you? I respectfully ask this board to not reschedule or reconsider its December 2nd, 2025 decision denying the proposed
immigration resolution because if passed, this board will risk appearing to endorse the lawless public comment made by a resolution activist predicting violence and the expectation that Yarmas Police Department will physically interfere with federal immigration
authorities, which would violate federal and Yarmouth laws. To summarize, Yarmouth Police Chief Lenin clearly states on the department's immigration facts FAQs website in accordance with federal law that the officers will not interfere with federal immigration
enforcement and officers may assist ICE agents to maintain public safety while specifically not enforcing immigration laws. Speaker number eight during public comment directly contradicts Chief Lennon at the 1 hour and 25 second mark of the YouTube video meeting that if ICE
comes to town, quote, it may come to a fight. It may come to a situation where we expect our police department to interfere with ICE arrests. Yes, I believe that may actually happen. End quote. Any appearance by this board of endorsing speaker number eight's lawless
statement would put this board directly at odds with the federal government and police chief Lennon's publicly posted ICE engagement policy. Appearances can be reality in politics. It is concerning that no one from the activist group who drafted and spoke in support of this
resolution condemned speaker number eight statement. Even though the law-abiding opponents of the resolution raised the issue during the meeting, these activists pledged to this board that this resolution would not affect police enforcement and that they met with Chief Lennon to discuss it. Yet,
the YouTube video shows speaker number eight received applause and handshakes from the resolution activists when he finished. By words and actions, this activist group appears to believe breaking the law is necessary to maintain Yarmouth's morals and values. Symbolism can be powerful. If ICE comes
to town, this symbolic and legally powerless resolution may be used as a wedge to publicly divide this board and Chief Lenon. Because to the general public, the board would appear to be enacting a legally enforcable bylaw allowing police interference with ICE.
The Plymouth Select Board faced a similar situation last week. On January 6th, Plymouth activists essentially demanded the Select Board pass a strict governmentwide non-ooperation policy with ICE. The Plymouth Select Board voted unanimously, however, to endorse
Plymouth Police Chief Flynn's ICE engagement policy after listening to him professionally and thoroughly explain that cooperation with ICE is necessary to maintain public safety based on federal and Massachusetts law, which also also echoes Chief Lennon's no interference and maintaining public
safety directives. The plebus select board chair said he firmly stands with Chief Flynn, which conflicted with many public comment activists who harshly criticized Chief Flynn's ICE engagement policy for allowing any cooperation at all with ICE. In addition, the Plymouth Town attorney indicated in support of
the police chief's policy, one having one single ICE engagement policy provides clarity to the public as opposed to a separate select board policy and a separate police department policy. Two, this clarity avoids for future lawsuits. And three, the federal
government may withhold funding grants if it determines that a town or city has interfered with ICE enforcement based on pending lawsuits. Yarmouth cannot risk losing federal funding grants because this board is relying on federal money to avoid a 2027 budget shortfall, as
discussed during last week's select board meeting. In conclusion, this resolution is a dangerous distraction that causes public confusion about the police department's legal authority and role if ICE comes to town that may cause unintended consequences, especially if
this board passes the resolution with a divided 3 to2 vote. Instead, this board should follow Plymouth's lead and fully endorse Chief Lennon's publicly posted ICE engagement policy and explain the legal requirements and expectations that the people of Yarmouth must follow
should ICE come to town and the penalties for violating them. Therefore, this board should deny rescheduling or reconsidering its December 2nd, 2025 decision because if passed, this board will appear to endorse the lawless statement predicting and expecting Chief
Lennon to risk his officer's lives by legally, illegally interfering and fighting with ICE agents should they come to town. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. >> Thank you, Chris. Is there anybody else from the public that would like to address the board?
Mr. Wolf. Good. Can Can Lesie go first? >> I don't know. >> Please, somebody please come to the microphone. >> Good evening. Uh, my name is Leslie Dey and I'm from Precinct 8 and I've lived
in Yarmouth for 25 years. First part-time then year round. My late husband Kevin and I always loved the beauty, friendliness, and safety of our beloved town. However, over the past year, the emotional climate on the Cape and nationwide has changed. Our
immigrant neighbors have been targeted by ICE and have had disruptive intrusions into their homes and workplaces and aggressive removal, imprisonment, and deportation to foreign countries. Children have been abruptly separated from their parents.
Most recently, ICE does not need to obtain a warrant to arrest people within their own homes. This unprecedented assault on people's privacy and civil liberties and rights escalated, resulting in the violent behavior by ICE that killed an American
citizen, Renee Nicole Good, as well as two other shootings in Portland, Oregon. Due to the escalation of violent and assaultive behavior by ICE to capture immigrants, many of whom have green cards, work and raise families, and are
working diligently towards citizenship, no one can assume that they are safe. There have been at least 60 such assaults on people who are have been working since the last year and even more remain unreported. If an American citizen can be shot and
killed by ICE, this could happen anywhere, even our beloved Cape Cod. We can no longer consider ourselves safe as a community. I am urging the select board and the residents of Yarmouth to follow through with putting the Yarmouth
resolution back on the agenda for adoption. The resolution has already been examined by the legal department and no legal problems were found. I ask you to look deep into your hearts and consciences and remember that we are all
human beings who deserve to live safe and productive lives and to be treated with basic civil liberties and dignity. Thank you. >> Thank you, Leslie. Hi everybody. Um gonna speak on the on the uh hot topic I guess. Um I don't
know if that guy was a lawyer. >> By yourself for the people at home. >> Yeah. I'm Jim Wolf. I've been in uh Yarmouthport for 13 years and um I don't know. I guess I'm an activist. Um I didn't think we were supposed to
speak about um other people but I will just go ahead and try to keep my comments for you select board members. Yes. Um things are difficult and I don't know whether I was the eighth speaker. I have no idea. He didn't identify the person. But I did make a comment about
our police and basically what my comment is actually it becomes more important given what's happening now which is we are seeing a lot of communities struggling with the fact that they did not prepare themselves for how far our
federal government was willing to go in this situation. There doesn't appear to be any stop. And although I'm not going to talk about whether the Yarmouth police have a necessity to interfere with federal actions, I am going to say
that if a Minneapolis police officer had been standing right next to the guy who took three pot shots into a woman's head, I would like to think that that person would have done something. So, I'm not looking this this resolution is not looking for a policy change from the
uh department. It's been cleared by legal and I guess um I believe that this is a time that our select board needs to make a statement as opposed to a warrant article that is uh petitioned and gotten onto the town. Uh you know, it's not a
bylaw and I actually am here to talk to our selectman which is I know we have two people who are dead set against it. I want it to be agendaized again so that with involvements that are happening across the nation, those people will
again have to state that they don't want to um the reason from both of you ladies uh is basically that it doesn't have any teeth. It doesn't have any impact. The the lawyer said we don't you know there's there's no negative connotations
of it but you guys need to do it again. agendaize it just like you promised. And we need to hear you say it again because if things come down the way they could come down. If you think you're avoiding taking a stand on this, you're wrong.
And people will remember. And even though there were 13 speakers, there were 13 for and 13 against this petition last meeting. I think you'll find that out there in the town there is a great prepoundonderance of people and I talk about that as a majority
that will remember people walking away from making a commitment to this town stating where it stands relative to possible illegal actions happening in our town where you're not willing to as a select board
get together unanimously and say we don't want that to happen in our town. There's no teeth in it, but it's a statement of intent. And I'd like to think that I live in a town where if what was happening in Minneapolis last time happened, if I was there, I would
do something. And I hate to think that the our police would point all their actions and their prosecutotorial powers on me for stopping somebody getting shot to death. So I I asked uh and Mark,
you're included in this, too, because you know, you're you're you've taken a stand that we need to hear. Well, we've heard from the lawyer. I know we're not going to vote tonight, but I definitely need think we need to get in front of you guys again. You guys need to discuss
this again in light of what has been happening out there in the world. And this is something that we ask of our select board members. If our select board members are not willing to take a unanimous stand about this, well, you
know, it becomes a campaign issue. I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. It definitely does. There is no issue that is bigger in this land than this right now. So, do not think that you're not going to get a bunch of people who are
unfriendly to immigrants to put you back into office. the majority in this town doesn't have any problem with such a, you know, legally approved statement on behalf of our town. And I
just don't want to see us like Minneapolis and like a lot of other places, what should we do? What should we do? If I if there was good press on the Cape, I would call all of the police departments together and ask them hypothetical questions such as if this happened and if that happened.
>> Yeah. my time. I'm winding up. I'm sounding like very accusatory, but I'm asking three of you to consider this. It it's it's absolutely essential that our town come together on this. You know, we're friendly towards immigrants. And
frankly, the three of you, if you can't, will will consider you not to be friendly towards them. It's not don't don't >> don't make those accusations. You don't know anything about me. Okay? I know what you said in the last meeting, Miss Post. >> I know what you said in the last
meeting. >> You said you didn't want to vote for it because it doesn't have any intent. >> It has an intent. And that intent is that if you can't find your way to it, well, guess what? People are going to campaign against you. >> Let them. >> Okay. Have a great night. >> Thank you very much. And you, too.
>> Anybody else would like to address the board? >> Okay. Seeing nobody, we're going to go to our 6:15 item. If our IT team would like to move come forward, that would be great.
Thank you, Paul. All right. >> Anywhere you feel comfortable. I would just like for you all to be seen by the public. So, um, we had the opportunity before to recognize a lot of our partners in
public safety due to, um, a terrible incident that happened in our community with a trench collapse and somebody losing their life. And, um, what a lot of people don't know is there's a lot of communication and a lot of coordination that go on behind
the scenes as well. And um keeping people informed I think when something terrible happens is um really critical and it keeping people informed when something terrible doesn't happen is also critical as well. Um but having
said that we have an official citation that I'd like to read to the public. Um the town of Yarmouth Select Board official citation. Be it known that the town of Yarmouth hereby recognizes the Yarmouth communication team, Lori
Sullivan, which is our communications director, Marcel Longo, which is our communications assistant, and Paul Coffee Chaffy. I always say it wrong. Coffee. I want to say coffee. I don't know why. Paul Chaffy, which is our director of information technology, for
their exemplary actions in managing crisis communications. And be it further known that the town of Yarmath extends its sincere thanks and gratitude for their comprehensive coordination and leadership of the town messaging in preparing and delivering crisis
communications during the November 18th tragic trench collapse on Southshore Drive in South Yarmouth by additionally managing highly professional interactions with local and statewide media throughout the dayong event and communicate the communication ations
team brought honor to the town of Yarmmouth under the most difficult circumstances and reflected very positively on our community. This citation is approved by the Yarmouth Select Board and duly signed by the chair on this 13th day of January in the
year of our Lord 2026. And we have one here for all three of you. So like to give two Thank you. Thank you for all. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Does anybody from the board want to say
anything before they leave? >> Just a heartfelt thank you. Well done. much very much appreciated. Sorry and delay in your recognition, but you had your own night, which is nice. >> I I'll add a a big thank you because I
know how important it is that all of the media get the right information. So, it's so important and you did it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And a big thank you from me miles away.
We count on you to get our message out. >> Thank you, Joyce. Okay, our 6:30 item is um our second hearing for golfies and I see the director of golf here.
>> Good evening. Thank you for joining us again. Um we will we had continued our hearing our first hearing and have we received any uh
written or public comment at all Bob since our last Nothing. I haven't we didn't receive any emails. That's amazing. >> Really amazing. I didn't see anything. Are there anything that's changed since our our last I don't know if we need to go over this again? >> No. I mean,
>> anybody need to be refreshed or are we good with >> No, I think what we have to do is open the public hearing, right? And give the public another opened. Yep. >> Still open. So, >> yep, it's open. We continued it. So, we will see if anybody from the public has
anything to offer on the public on the on the golf fees. Is there anybody here that would like to speak relating to the golf fees? Yes, sir. Please come to the mic. >> Yep. just go to the right if you go to
the podium and >> identify yourself that'd be great. >> Peter Dumbar, South Yarmouth resident. Um I just really have a couple questions, not just mine, but I know I've talked to a lot of people who
golf uh and who are members. Um there's there's a couple things like the senior annual uh fee to play golf. Um, while that's a great benefit, you know, to get it cut down like that, uh, considering the
average male lives to be 78 and this pass doesn't start till you're 80. Um, and also the year you turn 80, if you turn 80 in November, that pass doesn't even go into effect until November. And so I don't even think you get uh much
out of it. Uh a lot of other people are talking about the under 35 uh rate. We we just don't know why they aren't at the full membership price. You know, it doesn't make any sense. There's so many people uh who are making a great
living, you know, and get a really really big discount. >> Um you know, a lot of us can't really figure that out. Uh and another one another one that a lot of people were talking about
was uh tea times uh for the members. Um, I know Scott mentioned last week that there was a an hour to an hour and a half a few days a week for the white te's which which start on the back non at Bayberry and
then goes go over to the links course which is great but it's not that's not a whole lot of tea times considering there's about 1400 members and so I don't really know why uh the tea times can't do what some other courses do not all of them But and that's alternate tea
times and it doesn't have to be an all day alternate but I don't know why alternate can't be an hour first thing in the morning go over to the public for the next hour come back to the members for an hour you know at both courses you know I just you know don't understand
it's and this is really what we're talking about mostly for July and August it's next to impossible to get a tea time uh when you're a member because non-members can uh book three four five days a week a month in advance and uh members can't until 7 o'clock 2 and a
half days before and by that time they're the time of the tea times are gone you know unless it's 2 3 4 in the afternoon which cuts into everybody's day so we're not looking for a freefor-all but we're just looking for a fair shake at some tea times not all of
them and I and I know tea times are really the only way um golf courses make money you know now I understand that that's you know that's the one thing they do have to sell is time, you know. So, we're not asking for a lot, but just
uh a little bit more consideration. That's just from a lot of people I've talked to, you know. So, thank you very much for your time. Appreciate >> Mr. Dumbar very much for coming. Scott, do you want to address any of his concerns? >> Yeah. Um first off, uh thanks for his
comments. Um we've had um this is not set just by us. We set the rates and then come to you with the golf committee and all these are taken up with golf committee and how we operate as much um
their say as as we chose to run as much as we can. We offer many different ways for members get te times. We do not do the every other as other courses do like you said but we reserve many times for them through leagues through other days
and stuff like that. Um, yes, we are a busy place, but um, member tea times took up 466% of all the tea times. So, there's been plenty of member play. It's just, you know, we can't always say that
you can play whenever you want. Sometimes you may end up at a 2:00 time rather than an 8:30 time, but there's always availability on the courses. We do reserve four days a week for them on certain courses. So, um, we do
everything we can to help them play just like we're trying to get the public out there as well. So, something this year we're trying to do is as we extended Saturday and Sunday for another half an hour in the morning to get more members out there as well. So, everything we are
looking at every year is to to help everybody get out there and play golf. But all this is taken up through the golf committee as well. >> Is the um is it typical that the senior annual pass starts at 80? The senior anal does start at 80. Um that was something that we put in a few years back. Um it's something we can
definitely look and do. Um but I did want to share this. This is the member total and how it works around. So the senior only represents 108 of our members. So yes, they do get a discount,
but there is only 108 of them. >> Well, because there's so there 80. >> Yeah. I mean we are a retirement based community and we do have to understand that it is you know it's something we can look at with the golf committee whether we want to change the age
restriction further down but um as well as the under 35 that also doesn't um represent a big percentage of our membership. So we do like to provide those discounts for the ones that probably do need it more than others.
So >> may I madam chair may I ask just one quick question? So if I get this correctly if a member wants to play golf today there's always at least a tea time available. May not be the one they want but they will be able to play golf that
day. >> Yep. So they have the ability to book three days out in advance. >> Mhm. >> Um starting at 7:00. So it's a it's a first come first serve and then there's always availability on the courses. They may not love the time they get, but we always have
availability on the courses. >> Okay. Thank you. >> It's not the prime time, >> correct? >> But they could play. >> All right. And I again, you know, unfortunately, we've been through some tough times with golf that made them
forced them to make a lot of these changes to make them profitable again. And as Mr. Dumbar has stated it's um you know it's it's a it's a busy course and um there's a lot of members and we're we're fortunate for that.
>> Um >> although I'm sorry the one thing you did ask is you wanted to see the links and what that would look like back below the 5%. So it's currently at 375 and it would be at 390 >> 390. So that's in ter that's something that the the
>> that was recommended by the golf enterprise committee after our last meeting. So that's the only change to the advertised um just for the people at home. So the advertised amount for the link's annual pass was at 400 and they're making a
recommendation now that we approve it at 390 which stays within the um that's at 4% actually. Perfect. Great. Does anybody else from the public have any comments on the golf? Yes sir.
I I did forget to ask the question. Um I know there's a golf committee you folks work work with and that you know that's great. Uh the problem I've talked with other people we never know when the golf committee meets. I you know and it might be on the website or something but I I don't know
I think uh some kind of signage in both pro shops to let people let members know there are certain meetings on certain days and that way if people want to show up and contribute they can and if they don't want to then they don't have to you know I just think most people I
talked to uh just don't know when the the meetings are okay so >> and that that's very well taken you we had our communications team here earlier. We're working um to improve our communications. So hopefully they hear that and um maybe we can blast it
somehow in a in a different manner. >> It is posted at both pro shops in advance and it's the second Monday of every month that we meet. So we will do also >> every month. At what time and where do you meet? We meet at Barrier Hills in
the maintenance facility at 5:00 pm. >> 5:00 pm. >> But we will do a better job of getting out there through our email system and through help with uh Paul and and his team as well. >> Great. Yeah, because that that's our recommendation is we we um we have the golf enterprise committee which has done
yman's work in terms of piling through all this before they get to us. Unfortunately, the tea time thing is not really an issue that's on our agenda for discussion tonight, but it's certainly something that um is good feedback that should be brought to the golf enterprise committee.
>> I have one question, Trace. >> Yep. >> Can you introduce yourself? I'm sorry. >> Hi, I'm Ashley De Arman. I'm golf supervisor at Bass River. >> Thank you. >> Joyce, did you have a question? Joyce, your hands up. >> In the meantime, I I I'm very grateful
that you are hearing the and and will consider what you've heard because when I was first running, that was a big concern was not feeling like the get the visitors to the Cape got preferential
treatment. So, thank you, Scott. Okay, I will take a motion to close the public hearing. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? We have to roll call. >> Mark >> I. >> Dorcas >> I. >> Argoly I.
>> Joyce >> then. I >> vote I. The public hearing part of it is closed. Joyce, did you have any questions that you wanted to ask? Your hand was up before. >> Uh, yes. I just wanted to mention for the gentleman who was wondering when the golf committee meetings were um he can
get on a list for that or any other committee um through on the town site to be notified every time there is a meeting. >> That's a good point. >> Perfect. Okay. Um is anybody ready to
make a motion that we approve the updated January 6 membership? I >> as outlined. >> I make a motion that we approve the the January 6th uh uh fee golf fees as outlined.
>> Second. >> Second. >> Okay. All those in favor? Roll call vote. Joyce >> I. >> Mark >> I. >> Dorcas. >> I. >> Liz >> Argo. I >> I thank you very much for your work. >> Thank you. >> Hopefully you have a wonderful season. >> Thank you very much. Let's hope the rain
gods don't come too often this summer. And again, >> we need rain guns. >> Thank you. >> Night nighttime rain. >> Nighttime rain. Yep. There you go. >> That'll even save us money.
>> All right. Well, because we need to conserve. So, can't forget that. No. >> True. >> Next, we have a discussion on vote for a representative to the Emmy Small Building Committee. >> Don't you have um >> fees review hearing?
I was just checked that off already. >> I'm excited to move on. >> Sorry. I was ready to move on. >> Back up. Slow down. >> All right. Annual fees 645. I'm going to read the I know we continued it, but we didn't really have a a
>> full discussion. So, uh we're going to reopen the annual fees discussion. in the public works has reviewed the fees at disposal area after recent budget hearing and do we have a public advertise hold on
agenda items increases. Okay. Notice is hereby given that two public hearings will be held at the Yarmouth Select Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 6th and Tuesday, January 13th concerning fee increases
for the following departments: fire, public works, which and waste management. The select board meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the hearing room at Yarmouth Town Hall, 11:46 Route 28 South Yarmouth. Written comments will be accepted by the select board via email
at selectboardyarmmouth. us until 4:30 p.m. on January 2nd. Verbal comments will be accepted at the public hearing. Persons interested in the changes are encouraged to attend. And what we have are 2026 proposed fee increases.
For fire, we have ambulance fees. Basic life support. Existing fee is 1,200. The proposed fee is 1,500. We have advanced life support currently at $1,800 proposed to be at 2,000. And
we have a mileage fee at $30 which is proposed to be at $30. I'm not sure why we had to advertise that. We also have public works here. Uh waste management compost. Currently there is no fee and the proposed would be no fee for residents only, no
commercial vehicles. and mattress disposal currently is at 25 and we are requesting uh $35 per mattress. With that, we will open the public hearing. Good evening, Chief. If you'd like to
>> discuss the requested >> Sure. Uh so just uh basically uh it's an update. Obviously uh we haven't increased ambulance fees since 2021. Um and our costs to run the ambulance obviously increase every year. Uh so I
just wanted to address that. The uh we we can kind of just a little background. Do you do I have it? >> Uh so for for us for the town of Yarmouth, our ambulance receipts result approximately in about $2.5 million net revenue every year. Uh we obviously bill
a lot more than that, but we write off uh the difference in that. Uh a portion of that revenue is used to offset some firefighter salaries. Um and also we use that account to uh use our fund our capital purchases when uh when possible. Uh and the last increase like I said was
in 2021, four years ago. Um the important piece for us uh is our payer mix. Um the Medicare Medicaid portion makes up 67% of our payer mix. The rest of it is insurance whether it be commercial insurance, motor vehicle
insurance or others. Um and then 6 and a half% is a private pay. uh and I'll you'll see why that's important later as the uh fee increases don't really affect the Medicare or Medicaid portion of our payer mix. So 67% of our increase
doesn't of our payer mix doesn't really get affected by the increases that we make. Um, so like you had stated, we uh we're looking at making an adjustment at the uh so BLS and ALS. Uh BLS is basic life
support. Uh ALS is advanced life support. Um and those billing determinations are based on what care is provided during those ambulance transports. Um BLS is typically uh like a basic first aid, splinting, uh monitoring, that type of type of work,
vital signs. ALS is advanced life support. So we do cardiac monitoring, pushing uh any kind of medications that we push uh uh airway support and uh and other interventions. And once we get into those, that's when the billing rates go up for that. Uh and we did not
propose an increase in the uh in the mileage the mileage rate. U these are comparables based on uh neighboring communities that uh our billing company uses uh that also services. So you can see we are kind of
at the lower end or have been based on our comparables on ALS and BLS. Um so we're looking to just make an adjustment there. >> Can I ask you a question why we're not changing ALS2? >> Um ALS2 is more of a excuse me. It's a
uh it's an intervention that doesn't happen for us too often based on our geographical distance to the hospital. um that's more of something that happens for our further for the departments from the hospital where they're have time to actually get into those interventions.
So it doesn't happen for us too often. Um these are obviously a little hard to see um but just to give you some perspective the uh the Medicare and Medicaid rates uh are what they reimburse us for on on ambulance
transports. Uh so a basic life support Medicare transport is in the neighborhood of about $520. So uh even if we bill um even if we build the $1,500 we actually receive $500 because that's that's what they allow
>> um on and uh on the ALS uh and I apologize on the uh insurance uh other ones are about $1,200 on under the HMO. So we uh we don't we write off that difference on all our ambulance transports. Um and this these fees were
based on uh like a a conservative historical average of 3648 transports which uh will will probably do more than that but it's more of just uh so you can see the actual percentage in uh in change which shows um
I apologize I had it in front of me. basically uh an 18% increase average between BLS and ALS. Uh 18% increase in fees results in about a 4.5% increase in net revenue. >> You guys have these in front of you. I
think >> um so based on those uh just under 4,000 transports uh you know the hard numbers uh like I said it shows almost a 90 $93,000 increase in revenue based on uh on a on 4,000 transports and about an
18% average increase in fees. >> What percentage of that do you pay to collections the collection company? Is it 3%. >> Uh the that exact amount. I don't know. Tracy, I'm sorry. >> I always feel like we're chasing our
tail here. We never catch up, but we get a little bit on the We get a little bit more on the on the private sector. I When was the last time that um Medicaid increased their rate? >> Um if anything, they've gone the other way. uh or working hard to to avoid that
from happening. But they're reimbursements are, you know, they typically push to go the opposite direction. >> Is there anybody in the public that would like to talk about the fees here? Seeing nobody, does anybody on the board
have any questions, Mark? >> No, I have no questions. Thanks, Chief. >> No questions, Chief. Thanks. >> No, I just I I think um it's all reasonable. And so, um thank you for um keeping up with it. After 2021 being the
last fee increase, it's time. >> Thank you, >> Joyce. I I think I'm fine with the fee rate race as proposed. Thank you, Chief. >> Thank you. >> Thank you to Roby. >> So, because we didn't have this at our
January 6th, are we considering this our first reading? And so, we will continue this until >> February 3 with a new advertisement. >> So, additional advertisement continue to February 3. We need to make a motion to continue
this hearing to February 3rd. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. All All is in favor. >> Joyce. I >> Mark >> I. >> Dorcas. >> Mer and I. >> Marggo. I >> Right. So we'll see you again on
February 3rd. >> Thank you. >> Um but wait a minute. We got to still deal with this part of it. We're going to still deal with the other part of it, the waste management part. >> Oh, I thought it was all together.
>> Yes. Thank you. Good evening. Uh Jeff Colby, public works director and Roby White House, the assistant public works director here to talk about fees. There were two that were advertised that were read that Roby can explain in a little bit more detail that we were
recommending in order to make sure we're covering the cost that of doing business at least for the disposal area. But at uh last week's meeting there was some questions about some other fees, parking and that type of thing. And so I felt like we would address the ones that are advertised first and then we have a response to some of the others for you
as well. >> Great. Yeah, let's talk about the let's talk about the advertised ones first. >> Great. Thank you so much again, Roby White House. Thank you, Jeff. Uh there's not a lot to cover on that except for the fact that currently the town of
Yarmouth is contracting with um LLC Green Mattress or also known as GM Framingham. Uh they have been a great vendor and they are currently charging us $35 per mattress. Uh this proposal is
to separate the mattresses out from the bulky items to create a exclusive fee for mattresses of $35. So currently the way the fee system is set up, our mattresses are lumped in with our sofas
and chairs and box springsings and all of these individual items at $25. those other items outside of mattresses all go to the construction and demolition and it is an adequate price for that for those items. But because of
the Department of Environmental Protections regulations to recycle mattresses, this increased fee is something that we're seeing across the boards for all of our communities because Yarmouth is one of the central repositories for the Cape taking in over
3,000 mattresses annually. uh they this company is very grateful to have a central location to pick up and so they're giving us a favorable price. So they are charging us $35. uh included in the memo gives you kind of an idea of
what other communities for example mattresses are charged at $55 a piece in our neighbor in Barnstable and um $30 in in Dennis but I don't think that they're necessarily collecting a large amount from non-residents as you'll note uh
their commercial fee is $50 for mattresses in the town of Dennis so our proposal is to increase the rate by $10 uh with an understanding that um we may come back to again if FM decides to go
up on their rate because we want to stay competitive, but we also want to make sure that we're covering our costs. >> Is that rate locked in with them for the year? >> It is. >> So, we wouldn't be talking about it again then until next January. >> Well, their price came to us on July
1st. So, we would potentially look to recoup again. So, we'll keep you all informed as we look forward. and I will be in continued communications with the company in hopes of keeping that rate. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> You said these are p they're picked up so there so there's not a cost to
>> it includes transportation. >> Oh, that's great. >> Excellent question. >> Yeah. Okay. Mark, did you have any questions? >> Um, no. I I I I have something unrelated to this and I'm just going to ask the board to indulge me. Um, my dog loves going to
the transfer station and I just >> about the biscuits. >> And I just want to say I just want to say I have to do this because I neglected the last time. >> The do my dog loves going to the transfer station. When he goes there, he's always looking for the women on the
staff. They're the ones that seem to be very dog friendly. And I just want to commend you and please pass along uh because I hear this from other friends of mine who are who have dogs who love to take their dog to the transfer station. The staff does a wonderful job.
They really do. And it's it's it's the only thing my dog gets excited about on weekends. So, thanks for uh making him happy. So, they do a wonderful job. But in terms of this, no, I appreciate you're bringing this to us and I I fully support what you're trying to do. >> Thank you. I will say there are a lot of
residents who drop off those dog treats to us and our team loves to get them. So, u >> very good. So, they're up to taking donations. That's good to know. So, I'm I'm happy to uh help out in that regard. >> Thank you. It's great. It's funny when they turn the corner, they know. And the
funny thing is is if they see the they know even the people Yeah. >> that hand them out. >> Oh, exactly. My dog is actually Max uh is actually searching out the staff and checking on everybody. And when he sees
the right ones, he gets so excited. >> It really is. It's unbelievable. I would recommend bringing Coco to the transfer station door cuz that might be a good >> I have to tell you, I do bring Coco and unfortunately he got so excited a couple of weeks ago that he literally jumped
out the window and we had quite an interesting time. Everybody scrambling to get Coco back in the park. >> Oh wow. >> Oh no. Oh, the town. >> But they did a great job and all is well and he's very happy to get his treats. >> Next time I won't open the window for
him. >> I just wondered when you say mattress, does it include a box spring? >> Box springs will stay under the other bulky items which would be the $25. So a sofa, a chair, a stuff upholstered chair, a box spring will stay under the
$25. >> So it's literally just the top mattress. >> Literally just the top mattress. >> Very good. I just can't even stand the thought of a recycled mattress. I mean, every time you say they want the D wants you to recycle mattresses, I just
>> Well, there's a little bit more to it. Get a new sheet. >> That's how he's making all the money here at the >> company that we had before would not accept dirty mattresses, wet mattresses, soiled in any way. They wouldn't accept foam mattresses. What's great about this
company is they take them all. >> But what do they do with them? You don't want to know. >> I don't want to know. You're right. Joyce, do you have any questions? >> I do not. Just keep those mattresses going. >> Okay. >> Rather than coming. >> All right. So, we are also going to
continue this for a >> Do you want to talk about the other half of my ask on the residentonly portion of the compost, grass, and leaf area? I believe that back when Robbie Angel was here, I'm sorry to interrupt you, Madam
Chair. >> No, that's all right. I just I just saw no fee, no fee. So, >> yeah, it it is no fee, but I wanted to clarify it because I think it's a point of interest. Back when Robbie Angel was the superintendent, he tells me that there was a a board approval to not
accept any commercial vehicles in the compost area. And we've really struggled. The team has worked really hard not to have anyone in there who is commercial. And we are finding more and more that we're getting landscapers to come in there and drop off their grass and leaves. And during CO we really
struggled to keep that area a manageable capacity and we again are struggling and we're looking to have your approval to say just residents. >> So what are the options for the commercial vehicles? They they >> they can go to private entities such as
SNJ, Robert Hour, uh child's. can take those things and they have to pay for that. It is not something that we don't charge for it at our facility. And what we're finding is they're bringing in much larger quantities than those who are just doing their own lawn.
>> So why wouldn't we charge for it? Just out of curiosity. >> We don't we don't have the capacity for it. I think that's really what the issue is that the Department of Environmental Protection is also restricting our capacity and the amount of material that's on site. They're requiring that
we file a general permit, which means we can only have a limited amount per acre and we're over capacity. So, we're working really hard to get within that >> limit >> square footage. Gotcha. Okay. Does anybody have any questions about that? Thank you for clarifying.
>> I just say that I'm sorry. Do you Did I jump in? >> Yeah. Mark, do you have any questions? >> No, I'm good. Thanks again on the treats, Doris. >> No, I don't. Um I I'm sorry to that we don't have the
capacity because again we're trying to support our commercial entities and our landscapers are a big part of that but it's just a fact that that is getting so full and that's it's so sorry to hear it
but it's a reality. >> Joyce, do you have any questions? >> Clear report Roby. Thank you. >> Point of order. Do we need to u make a motion that um this be resident only for the compost? >> Well, that's how it's that's how how
it's written there. So that's okay. >> Proposed fees. No fee resident only. No commercial vehicles. >> Okay. >> So we are going to >> take a motion to continue this to the February 3rd meeting. >> I so move. >> Second.
>> All those in favor? Joyce >> I. >> Mark >> I. >> Dorcas. >> I go I >> I All right. So, we'll see you on February 3rd, but we want to talk about your letter, please.
>> Yeah. So, I'll introduce this by saying um based upon the bud budget presentation, there was definitely a a need to look at additional revenues to help support that challenging fiscal uh year that we have uh coming up. And
there's a couple of different ways that that can be done. uh one is through um increasing the sticker uh over at the disposal area. Uh so we wanted to provide some information for the board for what that looked like as far as a a magnitude and then whether there was an
interest to um to look at that or not. So, in the memo, um there were um approximately 10,365 uh disposal area stickers that were sold to residents in 2025.
And so, just to give a kind of order of magnitude there, a $10 increase on that. So, right now, we charge one uh $162 per uh sticker going up to 172 uh that would generateund approximately $103,000 worth
of revenue. So that's really the um if you're looking for additional revenue sources, that's really the primary location for that at least at the disposal area is is through the sticker. A relatively modest increase would generate that magnitude of revenue. And so you can do the math. If you're
looking for uh 200,000, it would be um roughly a $20 increase on that sticker. So that kind of gives you an idea looking at revenue what what that uh would do. So we wanted to provide that information to the board. Uh that's in here. Uh another item that came up at
your meeting last week was uh regard to the beach parking. Uh the board did approve a increase in u the sticker uh fee for residents last year, but that didn't doesn't kick in till this year. So we do do want to uh let you know that
it's already been approved, but there's revenue that we're not going to realize until this year as stickers go on sale. And in the memo, just to highlight that number, uh there were um 10,835
uh stickers sold for uh resident beach stickers in 2025 and the expected revenue is in the $54,000 uh range for this fiscal year. So that's not something that was realized last year, but you'll you'll see that in this
upcoming uh cycle. And then uh the other piece is with regards to the disposal area. Um a nonresident uh sticker uh went from 192 to 250 and we do
believe that uh of the 350 that were sold in 2025, we're going to realize that increase in this year in 2026. Uh so that's another approximately $20,000 that we didn't realize last year, but because of actions you've already approved, we we expect to see that this
year. So there are some additional revenues that uh we do expect to see without any additional uh increases. Uh but there are some options in there that I mentioned previously with regards to resident stickers that could be considered. Uh again I should mention that none of these have been no
additional fee increases have been advertised and so that would need to be done going forward if there is any interest in that. Uh is there anything else in the memo that you wanted to highlight Roby? >> No, you covered it all. The only thing that I would say is is there is a comparison to our neighboring towns in
terms of our residential disposal sticker. And you'll see that Yarmouth is neighbored by in right in the middle of two towns that have a substantially higher disposal residential disposal sticker with Dennis at 210 and Barnstable at 375. And the town of
Yarmouth uh facility is open seven days a week where we know at least one of our neighbors is not. >> Yeah, that's a biggie. And when is our CMS contract through now? When does that expire? >> We just did a five-year extension. I
believe we have three more years left on that particular extension. >> Supposed to see that you have um also outlined the possibility of abandoning the discount. >> It's just a just throwing the options out there
>> and that would could result in an increase of $20,000. I think that it was a great benefit when it was originally proposed to have people purchase stickers online or via mail and certainly cut down our lines here at town hall. I think it's done a
great job of that. I'm certainly not it's not something I'm advocating for. I'm just throwing it out there as options to things to consider. The the other item that Jeff um referenced in in that they didn't reference and I threw
it out there also is is the recycle only sticker was a great idea when recycling had value. Uh we have found that the cost of recycling plastic glass and tin has increased to well over $105 per ton. Um, and that's something that we're not
recouping at that $30, especially when we find that staff repeatedly have to mention to people that that sticker does not include the disposal of household rubbish. And that's something we are constantly educating people about. And
it is it's very frustrating for staff because we're repeatedly educating the same people and we're writing memos to those people as well, educating them on what their sticker is entitling them to. So, >> it's too bad we couldn't I know the way
the setup is, but we've talked about this before. It's, you know, the way they do it in Dennis is the recycling separate, so they don't need to go by. And it's unfortunate, but that's that's a lot of work for your staff to have to maintain people that aren't being basically honest.
Um, you know, because they have to drive right past the household goods and they go all the way down to the end where you probably can't see them and try to do it. If we had it separate, >> they're watching. >> I know they are. I know they are. And it's good, but it's unfortunate that
they have to do that. I'm not even sure what number would make up for that. I mean, you want to incentivize people to recycle, which is the nice benefit of having the having the low sticker, but not for them to be throwing their trash
away at the same time. So, that's that's a tough one. >> Daily beach sticker. Is that beach parking? You mean regular beach parking? That >> that's season also when someone comes just for the day, they're parking just for the day, >> right? So
it is going to $25 this year. >> Yes. >> Yeah, >> it did last year. It did last year. Realize on the dailies some additional revenue last year, >> right? So as it stands now at the um when you check in at the gate, it's
going to be $25 for this season. >> Correct. >> Daily parking >> for per day. Yes. >> As it is now. Okay. >> All right. And so we didn't set them into the future though, right? >> No. >> So maybe we do need to consider doing
something early like we did last time. So we have enough time to prepare for it because we we kind of said we wanted to do a review of all of them in January, but looks like we're already set for this upcoming year. So when do we want
to talk about potential for next year? Well, that's the interesting thing about stickers is we purchase them and we make arrangements for uh the advertisement of sticker printing usually between September and December so that we have them in this in that window so that
staff have them for spring. So, this is not a terrible time, but we're already there. We're already in it. So, we would be preparing for next year. So, same thing with the disposal. I sure would like to have a hearing at
least on on on abandoning the $5 discount and and the recycling sticker option. >> Abandoning it. >> Yeah. As it says here, the $5 discount based on using what most people are
using at this point. I don't know that we need it anymore. and the sticker option which as they're pointing out is more becomes more of a policing nightmare than Yeah. So I think we should look at those things. When do we look at them though?
September. So but there are a lot of people that have a service for their trash and still have a recycling sticker to come to the landfill. Not I mean there's a lot of people that utilize it properly. I don't
think I'd want to abandon it. >> Okay. >> I don't know. How does the board feel about that? >> I agree with you. I mean, um, there always going to be some that are going to test it as best they can, but we have a lot of,
uh, in good standing residents that are using it properly. >> I'm just trying to think how we can I don't I don't know. H maybe we need to increase it. But
>> Mark, >> I'd be interested in any recommendations that uh come from staff and our team. I'm I'm happy to deal with it. But >> yeah, that sounds like a good idea.
Okay. >> Well, what I would suggest is that uh you've heard already the ones that have been advertised, the fees, and September is probably a good time to look at the other uh fees. We can certainly make some recommendations after we get through this busy summer season around
the September time frame. I think that'd be the way to handle that >> to look at September for the following years. >> Yep. >> Okay, that sounds good. I think we're good for that. >> Have a good review of you're going to have a lot of information on what the current summer has brought for you,
>> right? >> I think that makes a lot of sense. >> I don't know. I I like the discount to not have to come into town hall. I mean, I >> I think a lot of people probably >> $20,000 though, that's a lot of money.
>> But then you also have to think of the staff time. Um, >> we added staff to the clerk's department this year for the >> for stickers specifically, right? >> Oh, I don't know. I'm not going to answer that. >> Transferred someone from treasur right
to the clerks that help with the sticker lines. I mean, there'll still be people lined up, but at least they won't be clashing with the people that are making >> Do we know how many utilize the $5 discount? Obviously, if there's $20,000, we can do the math. I could do the math, but seems like a lot of people take
advantage of it. >> Looks like about 4,000 Yeah. >> were discounted. >> Wow. >> That's 4,000 people that would be standing in the line. I don't know. I like I like it. I think it's an incentive >> to come in
>> to not come in. >> To not come in. >> To not come in. >> Okay. >> That's >> I think if the number is that big, I think that's a significant number. 4,000 people. Mhm. >> Um and I and these are people that are not coming to town hall and clogging up >> with I mean I'm not saying that in a
negative way, but I mean they're taking up space and taking up a lot of time >> and and it costs money to provide that support. So I I think there's a real value in having that. So I think we might want to give some second thoughts about doing away with that. >> That's good feedback. We can look at the overall sticker price and keep some of
these other things. >> Yeah, >> 4,000 is a huge number. >> All right. Thank you very much. So, we will see you on the continued um >> February 3rd. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Very much.
>> Okay. I won't jump ahead again. >> Now you can go and talk. >> Hi. >> All right. Next is a discussion and a vote for um the select board to have a representative to the Emmy Small School Building Committee. Mark, when when is it that they meet? Do
you know? >> Um, lately the schedule is on Thursdays, usually the second Thursday of the month. >> We have a meeting this Thursday, the 15th. >> Yep. >> 5 p.m. >> And it meets usually around 4:00, 4:30.
>> I was just trying to check the time um around there. I It may be five. Yeah, I think this one they might have posted for five, but in the past um what's problematic for me is I'm at I'm at I'm at the college >> you at that time.
>> Yeah. And you're on a school bus. So um so 4:30 is a bit tricky. Um but that's that's the time frame. >> And Bob, you you go out already. >> Yes. >> And the charge says there's a needs to
be a representative from this board as well, right? >> Correct. Okay. Do we have anyone that would volunteer? >> I'd volunteer, but I'm not sure that this body has that kind of support for my being on that that committee
or any committee. >> I nominate Liz to be on the uh uh the ME small committee. >> I'd second it. Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor? Roll call vote? Joyce >> I. Mark
>> I >> Dorcas >> I >> Liz >> O I >> I >> thanks Liz. >> Congratulations Liz. >> You're welcome. I will be returning with reports. >> Okay. Um next up is a discussion on our
community and economic development department reorganization recommendations and our uh the community and economic development committee. Good evening. >> Good evening. How are you all? >> How are you? Thank you for coming. >> Well, thank you for having me. see you. How's your time so far going?
>> So far so good. Yes. >> 90 days in and I'm still smiling, so I think it's good. >> Well, you're still here. >> I'm still here. I don't plan on going anywhere. >> That's great. Good to hear. I like it. >> Oh, thank you for having me.
>> So, we we got you at just the right time. we have a lot going on in that department and uh I think that you know we all agreed that this was a great opportunity to really uh take a second look at what was going on. So um I'm excited to hear uh you know what your
your thoughts and recommendations are. >> Well, thank you. I'm I'm happy to be here and happy to give you my thoughts on my first 90 days and where I I think we need to be for for creating those those select board goals.
Um, so this is for me, right? >> That's correct. That'll move you along. >> Okay. So, before I start, I do want to say thank you to the community development staff. They have been phenomenal um during my first few months
here, and they've they've been put through the ringer in 2025 um with less staff and and more work. and the c the muck and the LCP and the Parker's River Landing, all of these projects have been moving right along as if there was
wasn't a blip at all in staffing. So the our the staff here is is phenomenal and I'd love to to thank them for that before we get started. Okay, so for the people at home, my name is Megan Eldridge. I'm the new community
development director. And before I even started here, I was aware that the select board had a priority goal number one that was specifically related to my new department. Um priority to fill the
vacant positions and then reorganize the the department. Um and also secondly is to streamline the permitting functions for small businesses. So those those two areas of focus were the the priority goals. So
before I even started, I had been doing some research on what went right, what went wrong. And for these last few months, I've been really watching and learning and figuring out how to best move forward.
So it it all really settles down to the LCP. Um your goals and the LCP really tie into each other. Um, and these next few slides will show all of the goals and actions needed for for my department
specifically in the in the first three years. So, the first three years of a 10-year plan um include more than a dozen action items. So, that that in itself is a is a great feat for any department um never mind one with a
missing missing member. Uh the first I goal is is for the built system and that has to do with the town planner and the economic development program manager to look at the Yarmouth growth incentive zone. We go into transportation and
connectivity and this has an action of finalizing and collaborating with the commission on the route 6A visioning um the village center improvements. Those are big projects that will require a lot of thought um and input and
collaboration with other departments and other state agencies. Um and then we have the cultural heritage and community character goal and this not only has some historic goals which are also within my department um but it
does have spe some specific economic development pieces with public art and we have three members on the public art committee now and we're hoping to get that off the ground in the next month or so. Um, and this type of action requires
expertise and innovation from someone who has experience in economic development. And then finally, we go to the economy. And this is a a a very big goal and has
many many actions. Uh it's multi-layered and the next slide is very busy >> but that is intentional because it really shines a light on all of the actions that are needed to be taken in
the first three years to get um the LCP going. And some of them start out in year one and just continue on forever and ever. Um, but in order to get these off the ground, we really need to address the
vacant economic development position. So, as I said, I've been here and I've been looking at what's worked, what hasn't worked, what needs improvement. Um, originally, this job started out as an economic development planner. That was the title. and it was an
administrative support to the CEDC and also to the department and the town planner. Um, I'm not sure why it changed at that point, but in 2017 it was reimagined as the economic development coordinator,
and I'm going to refer to it as coordinator because economic development coordinator is a mouthful. Um, it was a very similar job description as the planner position was. Um and it directed it reported directly to the director of
community development. Um that position was successfully filled for for quite a few years and it seemed to complement the CEDC and the department and the town. Um it was a
resource for the business community and the chamber of commerce. in 203 2023 that position became vacant and I have been trying to figure out the reasons behind that but I believe it was
um career growth that position is is at an entry level salary um and there isn't really anywhere to go within the town once you have maxed out your your your tasks you are a vital part to community
and economic development but if you um are looking to be in economic development for a career, you're going to want to take the next step. And unfortunately, we we lost a um a staff member to a greater opportunity
somewhere else. Um but during that vacancy, we reimagined the position once again to a program manager. So, an economic development program manager. And that came with an elevated staff uh
salary. So that bumped up in salary, but it also bumped up in responsibilities. >> Um >> can you remind us what the bump in the salary was? >> Um I believe it was a grade eight to a grade 12. >> So it went up quite significantly. Um
>> otherwise >> I believe it was in the mid high to high 50s, low 60s to mid70s. Okay. So decent decent decent amount. Um
okay. So we have to look at the job descriptions of of these two positions that we once had and then we currently have. Um when it was switched to the program manager, the reporting structure
changed and the program manager job description has uh reporting to the assistant town administrator and it took away any administrative duties. So there the CEDC lost its staff person. there
was a loss of um someone to do their administrative work and someone to really guide them and be that connection between um the select board and the CEDC and the goals of the of the department and the town.
The type of work like I said very different highlevel professional technical planning in the manager position which is that big picture visioning type of person who you're looking for to fulfill your your big
goals your your big list of goals. Um you need someone with a little more expertise than what the coordinator position job description allows for. So with a coordinator, it was really great to have that connection with the
CEDC. Um, and they were really that that link and they were also responsible for maintaining the business relationships. They were that point person to that the town would send to them any new businesses that wanted to start in town.
and they this position really maintained the business permitting guide and um was the the go-between for zoning and planning and and building permits and um licensing with alcohol and um
entertainment sort of things. And then the program manager position was never officially filled. So we've never had a a a full-time person in that role. And that
comes to the challenges of why not why have we not been able to fill that that role. Um it's difficult to recruit for a position that is that should be at a um a department head salary level with
their their job functions, their essential job functions and duties. Um it's always a a problem for recruitment. When someone's looking for a new job, they're going to they're going to find one that's in their within their salary
needs. Um so it's been difficult to attract a a program manager at the salary that it's currently set at. Um we have had applicants and we put it out there a few times um with with nothing
no joy out of those applicants. And um we we need we need to to relook at the job description if that's if that's the goal of the town to have a program manager. So when I look at what do we really need?
If it was a perfect world, we would have both. We would have an economic development program manager and an economic development coordinator. But knowing that we can't fill a second or another position, we can't add a body to our staff. I have created a position
called a business relations specialist. Ideally, we would have another position separate from a licensing administrator. Um but knowing that we we need to look at our budget and make sure that we're doing things fiscally responsible. I
think um a business relations specialist with licensing as a shared resource between administration and community development could really solve our issues. Um
so in this situation with an economic development program manager, you would still have that big thinker, that big um the visionary uh department head level that can um rub elbows with the the
people that really need to make decisions on how the town should move forward. and a business specialist to do that handholding for businesses, for new businesses, for people who want are
interested in coming to town and don't know where to start. So, why haven't we done this? Money. Um, money is the first and foremost reason why we haven't done it yet. Um, secondary is physical office space. we we wouldn't be able to fit a second
whole person somewhere in our existing office space. So that's why I've I've come up with this shared resource. This um business relations specialist is is already a person in licensing called a licensing administrator whose job is um
very busy for about four months out of the year. Those are those renewal periods in the winter and in the spring for renewals. Um and although their time is well spent in those other eight months of the year, um I I think if we
can provide a focus on business relations and um being that coordination between Chamber of Commerce, businesses and the economic development division would be very helpful and
logistics of this. So, what would we need to do in order to make this happen? First would be job description changes. Those do take time. Um, the economic development program manager, I would propose to elevate their salary to a more department head level. So, it would
come out of SEIUA and into SEIUB, which has more of a um salary range rather than an hourly rate. Um, and I would have this person, this position have span of
control over the business relations specialist. So they would have a supervisory role. Um, that would make it um more of a department head level if they had someone to oversee. It would also take burden off of the the division
director, the department director as for for having another direct report. Um and then the business relations specialist would need a new job description created it. I envision it as
a um collaboration of the coordinator position and the licensing position. So they have overlapping functions as it is. Um, so we would need to create a new job description and I would propose to
elevate it from I believe it's an 8 to a nine in the SEIU schedule because of the added responsibilities of being um in the economic development role funding for this. I know everyone's wondering how are we going to pay for
this. The economic development program manager position currently is paid for 50% by the general fund and 50% by the tourism revenue fund. That's how it's currently in the operating budget. I wouldn't
change that whatsoever. Um but the licensing administrator position is paid 100% by the general fund right now and I would propose with the with the combination to pay it 50% out of the
tourism fund. So it's really a net zero effect on the general fund. It does draw down more on the tourism fund, but we are getting a part-time ad to staff
basically for it while we're using that that funding. So, where does the community and economic development committee come into all of this? Um, they are a vital link between the tourism revenue fund and the
town. and I've worked here without the benefit of a CEDC and I've come to learn the value of having one. Um they they they play a really great role in recommendations in doing the research
that there isn't enough time for staff to do. Um they can have that relationship with with the businesses and they're they're residents of the town. So they also have a great thumb on their their pulse of what the town
needs. The CEDC needs um an engaged staff person. So I am proposing also to have the program manager be appointed by the select board as the chair of that committee and that
will give continuity to the CEDC and it will guide programming so we can provide support in focusing the town's efforts and unite a common vision for economic development. This structure is used in other
committees and boards. The affordable housing trust has um our town administrator as the chair of that committee. Um and having a staff person directly involved in the fiduciary responsibilities ensures accountability
and transparency. Last slide. Um short-term goal. We need to ramp up the the CEDC. So, I would love for the board to put out there the um call for volunteers um to see if
there's people out there who are interested in being on the committee uh to please fill out the talent bank form so we can start doing some interviews and and filling the vacancies so that committee can get back up and running. Um midterm and long-term goals are to to
hire those two positions and to fill those two positions. Um, I know that was a lot of information and I am happy to talk about the um, tourism fund recommendations separately, separate
from the CEDC and I'm prepared to talk about those separately, but right now if you have questions about this reorganization or anything related to it, I'm I'm happy to answer them. >> Excellent. That was a great presentation. very a lot of information
but very succinct and um um I'm going to ask just a couple questions with our licensing person sitting right behind you. Is this something um that uh we have a we have a personnel board,
right? So any of the any of the um the step increases would have to be approved by that. It seems like an awful lot more work for one step. And are we going to lose our licensing um person or is this something that's going to be welcomed by staff?
>> Um it's been talked with talked about through administration and you're right there is a personnel board. I would be thrilled if it was more than a one-step um increase to attract someone to stay in the position. um current staff has expressed an
interest, but obviously there's a lot more that needs to happen before any decisions like that are made. Um, >> seems like a lot more work for >> and I I just want to add add to is I know Amy said sitting right here so you know um it's great I wouldn't say
anything we say right in front of her but obviously the licensing um administrator is critical position to our town and that that licensing piece um is is absolutely um you know paramount to you know the regulation of
business in our community and you know the select board knows with all of the hearings and and and all of those issues. So, our first priority is to stabilize that function. You know, we have had a lot of turnover and um Amy's been, you know, coming along real quick,
but you know, she's still brand new as well. And so, um long-term um you know, we need to completely nail the the licensing. And I I do see some overlap and you know based on the skill
set um I am very very open to working with the personnel board talking about what some of the differences are working with the staff and seeing if if there's a fit. I I personally believe that that overall business relations specialist to
have some of those duties expanded, maybe um getting involved in um special events and things like that could be a way of enriching that position to the extent that it's a more long-term position. One of the concerns I've had since I've been here, we've had four of them and and a lot of people have said,
"Well, there's not enough, you know, to do. it's not as you know so so it does need potentially some enrichment but I think it's something that we have to build into that we can't be you know having all new duties until we nail down the existing duties um and we also um
don't have the ability to hire an assistant to that person to do the duties that um you know are more wrote or not as fun um so you know we're going to have to try to factor in everything so what I'm saying at this point is that
there are some real interesting synergies, right, that exist between the licensing, the special events, and the economic development. And if if we can figure out a way to utilize existing staff to leverage that and not over, you
know, whelm, I'm all in favor of it. But we've got a little bit of work to do to get there. Um I I would say you know um maybe the the our our shorter term goal is to try to get in place the economic
development manager and then work towards expanding you know from from there and in that way um you know we can have more brain power at setting up the whole process. And I I I
do want to say the um the idea um of of having the economic development pro um program manager be a leader right on the CEDC I I think is a fabulous idea. Um and you know one of the key things that
we wanted to do is is is create that unity of vision. We don't need another select board telling the select board what to do and what to set goals at. we need these teams including the advisory committees in the functional areas to carry out the select board goals. And so
I think we saw a little bit of that that there was some competition in um what direction the entire town was going to go. And so um it's maybe a little above the advisory committee's pay grade. And I think that um if we keep the the staff
engagement there in establishing that agenda uh and moving it forward um that's how we retain that that unity the sense of common purpose and not have it fragmented. >> I like it. I like it. And I I I do agree that there's a lot of synergy. I mean
the licensing person inter interacts with the business community probably more than anybody else in town. So there's a lot of um really great things there. I think personally having an somebody who's the point person here in
town hall for the businesses has been something that I've been pushing for for years. You know, we talk about our tax rate. We talk about our declining uh commercial base and yet you nobody's really like helping businesses be
successful here, you know? But we need somebody that helps them when they come into town, >> what what they need to do. Um, you know, and and we've tried it before. We and and even that person had their responsibilities taken and given to something else. And I just I just feel
like if we're going to be serious about supporting the business community, this this role is part of that. Um, one of I I also like uh the program manager being the chair.
I've always had um a problem because I I think our goal has been economic development for a really long time. Obviously, a lot of what we're doing I feel is working uh backwards to us. We're seeing a lot of businesses struggling when we're really trying to
help them in the long run. Um but having a CEDC that all they do is tourism revenue preservation funds to me I know that legislatively it's their purview to do
it but when that committee was created that was not the intent of that committee. it was to really help our town uh find ways to help businesses. So, I'm excited to see the CEDC get back
together. I don't know how we do it, but I have had a problem from the beginning of the tourism revenue preservation fund that that is seems to be the only thing they're working on instead of you know when when it first came they wrote the motel bylaw. they were very instrumental
in in looking at actual things that could incentivize businesses coming to Yarmouth and we lost that. >> So to the extent that we're able to get them to refocus back on their initial charge and and do the tourism revenue
preservation fund at the same time or I you know I've been trying to talk about a subcommittee or some other way where they can really get their focus back on trying to help us keep businesses save businesses here. We've been talking about struggling businesses and trying to find funds for them. Like if we had a
committee that was able to really dig their, >> you know, dig their heels in and try to help us on that, that would be great. So anyway, um, a lot of really great a great things. Those are my initial thoughts. But Mark, do you have questions?
>> Yeah, I do. Um, first of all, I I want to uh commend you for tackling this. This is not an easy um discussion. Um and over the years I've attended a lot of the economic development committee meetings um and have tried to spend time
with the various people taking the position of the economic development staff. Um I have felt just from my own observations that the staff position was spread too thin. All right. When Kyle was here, he was the last one that we had here. Very talented, very gifted. uh
he was he made himself available to do almost anything and I I felt that we spread him way too thin. >> We also with the committee the uh the community economic development committee we kind of did the same thing to them. uh they complained that uh on a regular
basis that they did they wanted to do more than just tourism promotion fund decisions and work on that but they also wanted to be more involved in broader economic development but they complained that they didn't have enough time that so much of their time was committed uh
to their principal obligation of helping make decisions about how to use those dollars and then we went through this period where we had staff changes with Karen leaving and I think to some degree we we the committee um sort of I don't say they were abandoned but they were
kind of left on their own >> without adequate staff support and then we saw some real frictions and some real problems unfold. So it's good that you're trying to put the pieces together. Um I'm interested in seeing more details. I'm interested in see I
think you're going in the right direction. Mhm. >> The problem we're going to have is is we don't want to institutionalize spreading people too thin or the committees too thin. >> All right. >> And I think to some degree we have to have some more discussion about how to
allocate functions and responsibilities. Um I see having an economic development person as being critical to helping make more use of um the the CEDC. Uh I
think to some degree if there's if there's staff directed staff plays a more there is a staff person assigned to do a lot of that that can be very helpful and make the committee's time more productive while also having another person whose principal
responsibility is managing and helping administer the tourism promotion fund and staying on top of that. So um if we don't set it right, if we don't align the responsibilities right, we have I
think a perfect opportunity to maybe force one or more groups to be doing too much. >> Sure. So I honestly think that um if the licensing administrator or the licensing agent is also involved in this exercise,
I think that job description I would recommend be principally targeted towards the administration of the fund and I would be very cautious about adding too many other responsibilities to that position. And I think you have
to be really concerned particularly with that position with the licensing agent sort of being very busy during a part of the year. You want to make sure that the workloads are properly aligned that the process and the time frame involved in handling the grants and the funding and
the applications doesn't necessarily conflict or create a problem. And I'm not sure you can put those pieces together. It may very well be that we may want to try something on a probationary basis or an initial basis to try it out, see if see if it works.
>> Um, and that way, you know, you could do it for a period of time and then maybe reassess. So, I don't know if that's possible, but to the extent that it could be, I would recommend thinking that through because you might what you might want to do is you might come into
this with a certain set of ideas in terms of how it's going to work. But when you put it in practice, you realize, you know what, maybe there's some things we got to fine-tune here. Maybe there's some things that we shouldn't put over in this bucket or this workload for this group or this person, but maybe we want to separate
that out. So >> sure >> I would like to see more details in terms of the job descriptions. I would also be particularly interested in looking at a possibility of implementing this in phases trying let's do something let's try it out and then let's revisit
it after a period of time reassess and then make a decision if we want to institutionalize it sort of full-time. It's just that this work is so important. I I agree with Tracy. We spent a lot of time over the years talking about economic development. Um,
on the select board, I'm very big on heritage tourism. I think quite frankly, this has to be an important part of what we do, uh, both here in town hall and support, but also with the business community. Uh, the business community is engaged. Um, and so
those are some of my initial thoughts. I, like I said, this is not an easy thing to do, and I think your recommendations have a great deal of merit, but I think ultimately the success of this is going to be based on really fine-tuning this. how we fine-tune this. It won't take much to
overextend both the staff and the committees. So, there's got to be a correct balance because you're going to have two staff positions and then you're going to have the work of the committee. And I think quite frankly, there has to be a good alignment in terms of the workload for
each of these groups. They have to be in sync. They can't conflict with one another. Um, and the committee itself is going to get guidance from literally two people, right? They're they should be happy, >> right? They should be happy getting staff support from two people that
should in theory enable them to be even more productive and help them fulfill this dual mission of economic development, but also making decisions or recommendations to the select board on how to allocate those tourism promotion funds. Um, this has probably
been an area of town government and here in Yarmouth that's probably been the most challenging. And the way the last committee the way they left, I mean, it wasn't really on a on a on a good note. It really, you know, we have committees
that work incredibly hard and this committee did as well. And I honestly believe that the changes in staff, you know, help um make it difficult for them to do their job. And then we had some real tensions. So, um, you've got a tough job
in putting the pieces together on this and I like So, I like what I would say your first crack at this. All right. >> So, those are my just initial comments and uh thoughts. So, thank you. >> Very helpful. Thank you, >> Marcus.
>> Thank you. Thank you for pulling your sleeves up and getting right down and into the work. Um, I think there's a lot of merit in what you're talking about. Um, like Mark, um, like we've heard from
Tracy, too, we just want to make sure that people aren't being spread too thin. >> And as Bob said, it's very critically important that when it comes to the licensing that we get that correct.
>> Um, and then from that take a look at at others. But I like the idea of um not immediately just saying we need another person, but saying well let's look at what talent we have here in
town. And um having seen some nods coming from Amy in the back, I so far I'm seeing that um she's pretty agreeable to more discussion on this. Um so I will be very interested. Uh just a
couple of points that I particularly picked up on and liked was getting licensing involved. Um having the chair be a staff member. I I think that um will help to give direction to the committee. Um those things I think were
very important and it's a wonderful step a start. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Liz. >> I hi welcome to Yarmouth. I want to see if I've got this right because um you are uh relatively new to
us and you're taking to some degree stepping into the shoes of Karen Green and you're the your title is director of community development and under you you are proposing that we look at finding an economic
development program manager >> and under that person a hopefully the licensing uh person could expand job functions to include being somewhat of a business specialist.
So, I guess what I I would I'm curious to better understand where your strengths will lie as we add the economic development program manager. So that and I think that what we're hearing is that this is the first
effort at this and I'm I I look forward to in the next iteration including you as part of the community development economic development perhaps I'm mis misinterpreting >> I think well I think that her community
and economic development director so she's got she's got more than just economic development underneath her she has planning thing and there's a whole maybe maybe if we have the >> chart >> yeah the flowchart of all of her responsibilities it's not just economic >> development would be helpful
>> it will help you see what what else she >> yeah well I remember when we interviewed and all of the different um my old friends at the old Kings Highway historic for instance >> but I think not just >> not just the the fact that you're um in
you're the manager on top of them but What will you need to do as that person? Because certainly I know from Old King's Highway there's very little administration that you would need to do there. There's kind of self. So those
are my questions is is how the how everybody's your functions along with any additional staff where what their functions will be with you as well. So that's that's my question um about
adding staff at this point. Um although I I am hugely supportive of uh commercial development and I'm Bob and I have talked about a redevelopment authority fund down the road. So um I'm
I'm >> She had that up on the screen. I don't know if you read that. It's in your >> I didn't I missed it. It's one of the tasks that >> Very good. On the one that she said was very busy action. Yes. >> So, I'm I'm thoroughly um for it. I'm
just super sensitive as we all are about our financial position as we go forward knowing what we're about to try to achieve in 2026. Thank you, Joyce. Well, Megan, um I appreciate the clarity
of your reimagining the whole economic development team and I'm delighted to think that it will go beyond attracting tourists. I think in your position, you're uniquely uh uh qualified to bring
arts and uh historical uh interest to Yarmouth in ways that may be productive for yearround residents and and yearround employees uh who would be able to work in town but in in uh the private
sector. Uh, I I look forward to seeing how this develops and frankly I don't want to lose Amy. So although I'm not in the room, I'm delighted to hear that she's smiling through this. Um, thanks so much for thinking of the positions in
terms of um, compensation, retention, but also in terms of human satisfaction because that's huge. Thanks. >> Yeah, well said Joyce. Um, so I think the next steps would perhaps for us to look at some actual maybe a flowchart
and some job descriptions. Is that >> in in a in a memo sort of outlining the reorganization plan? >> So it's at a subsequent meeting we can take a vote because we as a board need to vote to uh act on this. >> Okay. >> Am I missing something, Bob?
>> Nope. >> Sounds great. Looking forward to it. Well, thank you feedback. Um I have also the um tourism res revenue
preservation fund without a CEDC. It's been put on my radar that we should really continue with allocating funds for public improvements and events and marketing visitor services. So, we have
put out an RFP and had responses for the marketing, visitor services, and events contract. Uh, as you know, the chamber has had it for many years. We put out an RFP because their contract expired. Um, and it couldn't be renewed uh uh because
of procurement laws. So, we did get five responses and we went through some interviews and we're finalizing a contract. So, I'm hopeful that on your February 3rd agenda, you will have a marketing contract before you for review and approval.
>> May I just interrupt? And that's for event specific. >> That is the marketing, visitor services, and event coordination. >> Very good. >> And you said that that's the first I've heard that because of a the chamber wasn't allowed to bid. >> They were allowed to bid. Yeah, they
were allowed to bid. They >> they were one of the five respondents. Um >> I thought you said that because back out. >> No, the procurement was their their contract expired and had been extended so many times that you can't keep extending it because it >> I misunderstood that.
>> They just had to rebid it and so we had that very strong participation from the chamber and they've been great throughout. >> Wow. All right. So, we're going to have a vote and discussion on special event funding recommendations here that have been I see
two different memos. >> Yeah. >> So, so just clarify for us if you could each of these memos has to be acted upon. >> The two that you have in your packet tonight, one for events and one for public improvements. Yes.
>> Okay. So, the events. So to move this along, Madam Chair, I'd like to at least make a motion that we approve um the recommendations for public improvements >> outlined in the memo that we >> public improvements. >> Yes, >> that'll be the first that's a
>> 285,210. Uh it involves a sign kiosk at Colonial Acres Beach. The residents there have been really urging us to take steps down there. Um they're very active in terms of the care and the upkeep of the property. uh down in that area. Um invasive
species management uh that $26,800. Spring and fall cleanup day, $2,50. Englewood Beach railing replacement and interpretive signs, $75,000. Irrigation at Parker's River Landing,
$157,000. And fencing around an upweller at the Parker River Landing for 19,000. So the grand total of improvements is at 285,210. So that's the overall amount.
>> Dor has seconded that motion. >> Second. >> So um the balance for this purpose after the 285 is still 189,000 remaining. >> So remaining after this. So, we would be
I'm also asking for a funding transfer to cover the shortfall. >> Um, so right now the economic development account, you're familiar with the buckets, I'm sure. Um, economic development bucket is overflowing. Um,
the last year has not had any um, economic development studies. So, it will be refilled July 1st, but right now I'm proposing to take um $95,585 to cover the shortfall.
In addition, there is an open project that is complete, but that project in economic development has a remaining balance of 40 of 24,717. >> What project is that? >> Um, it was several years old. um old
enough where there's no contract for it any longer. So I'm unfamiliar with what it was. >> So it's remaining not owed >> owed >> in the fund, >> right? Not owed. It was um an unused >> okay >> balance. Um
and even with those two transfers out of economic development bucket, that bucket will still have $122,769 in it. And then I for 2027 you'll see an article for gaining more money into that account so
we can continue with economic development studies. >> How many other applications were there that were not funded? >> These are all of the applications. So all applications that I received I'm proposing to fund. >> Do we need a separate vote madam chair
on the the transfers or should we uh make sure that it's clear in the motion? I just I think we need to definitely make a motion or add it to the motion as part of it. But my question is I guess a little deeper than that because this the
fund is set up to spend X amount on each um item so to speak. But does this still fall within the law? >> It does. The law um requires between 20
and 40% on public improvement. Um and the entire budget was 520,000. So it's just on that cusp of of falling within. >> Okay.
>> It's it's money left over from last year which we didn't spend we didn't spend any on public improvement. Um >> that's so odd. I mean, wasn't there a whole list of items that didn't get funded in the past? I'm just surprised to not see any of
>> public improvements. No, they they didn't fulfill in the past the obligation for public improvements. They did it at a very minimal and most of the funding was for special events. So now with the some funding left over, we're able to kind of put a couple of years
together and get some nice improvements done. and and I think all of these will reflect very well, you know, for local residents especially that use these. Um, >> so Mark, will you amend your motion to >> Yeah, I'm going to amend my motion, Madam Chair. Yeah, that the motion
includes uh the recommended uh transfers outlined in the January 7th memo that part >> second. >> So there's a motion and a second on that motion. Any discussion? All those in
favor roll call. Joyce >> I. >> Mark >> I. >> Argo. I >> I. >> Liz I. >> I. Passes unanimously. So, Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion regarding the uh
recommendations for funding for events outlined in the January 7th, 2026 memo to the board and that uh we approve those recommendations. And I'll just go through them real quick. Cape Cod Community Orchestra, Inc.
um at an amount of 3,000 YD Red Sox for marketing uh 8,000 Historical Society of Old Yarmouth uh for market or spring summer and fall events 6,000 Yarmouth Town Libraries Summer Reading Program
4,000 Taylor Bray Farm the sheep festival fall festival event 5,000 Seaside Festival 20,000 Yarmouth Historical Commission funds for the Patriot Monument and dedication celebration and activities 50,000 Cape
Islands Veterans Outreach Center the wall that heals 25,000 cultural center of Cape Cod marketing for 2026 25,000 and the second summer cycle annual charity bike ride 27,000 excuse
me 25,000 for a grand total of 171,000 Second. >> Okay. Is there anything you want to say about that? >> Um, all all the organizations were interviewed as part of the process. Uh,
some were fully funded and many were partially funded. We we did fund partially all organizations. So, there weren't any events that were completely denied funding. >> Is the St. Patrick's Day parade a separate funding? Yes,
>> that was already funded, right? >> That under the select board budget. Okay. And so much of the costs were the public safety related. >> Okay. >> Um and I am holding back about $10,000 in this bucket in case something were to
come up, especially with the the 250th anniversary of Yarmas independence. Um there may be some unexpected costs that I don't want to um have no funding for. So, >> so what will happen in that case? You have to come back to us or should we
>> perhaps we'll have a CEDC by that time. Um, and then it could go on a consent agenda. Um, but yes, you would need to review. >> Okay. >> Anybody have any questions? >> No. >> No. I and I and and I I appreciate your
the reserving the amount and being noteworthy being const, you know, aware of the the anniversary. Something else could happen. Something else could come up. Um I would love to see a lot more events on the Cape
>> uh to recognize the 25th the 250th anniversary. There's just so much history here >> on the Cape and there's just we're just not doing nearly enough >> and and we are we are very very fortunate to have the wall that heals
come to to the town of Yarmouth that that is a a major accomplishment for the Cape. the um Capeen Islands Veteran Outreach Center. When I interviewed them, they said they were um one of over 150 applicants to to get this um moving
wall to be a part of their organization and their their events for the year. So, Yarmouth Yarmouth got it, which is amazing. >> Well, we have the perfect space for it. >> We do. >> It's going to be great. Um all those in favor? Roll call. Joyce
>> I. Mark >> Icus >> Mcgar and I >> Margo I >> I >> great thank you for all your work on that. >> Thank you. You're welcome. And >> I'm in the hot seat. So if you have any questions I'm here.
>> Yeah. Great work Megan. She's a delight to work with too and a great leader. >> So thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Very nice. >> Thank you Amy in the back. >> All right. Our next item is a letter of support for the proposed legislation
related to the title five tax credit. >> Oh, I see. Yes. Yes. >> Madam Chair, I move that we endorse the letter of support for House Bill H 4082, an act relative to re a refundable Title 5 septic system tax credit as prepared
for the board in in our packet. And I noticed that the letter is addressed to the honorable Adrien Madaro, Attention Anest Calacetus, who used to work for me uh for many years. So, it's nice to see uh former employees in in the in the
right places. >> I second that. >> Okay. >> So, thanks, Liz, for draft. I'm assuming you drafted this. I I did one and I sent it and I was immediately told I was an
hour late for the uh Friday, >> but they were almost identical. So, >> okay, good. >> Thank you for the congratulations. >> Thanks. Thanks, team. >> All right, so people at home, they can look up the House Bill 4082.
And again, the legislation is designed to provide a refundable Title 5 septic system tax credit for those that um are of low to moderate income and are looking for a tax return. Uh uh and and a tax credit just isn't going to provide
enough relief. Having a refundable tax credit could be a huge help financially >> spread out over years, too. >> All those in favor to love, right? >> There you go. I like tax credits. Okay.
>> All those in favor? Joyce. >> I. >> Forest. Forest. I. >> McGarin. I >> Fargo. I >> I board and committee actions. Joyce, are you ready to roll? >> Um, well, they have been postponed until my return.
>> Okay. >> We we have we have a number of renewals coming up, but you don't want to hear those long distance. >> All right. So I I got it. I got it. >> Sorry. Sorry. >> Um we have February 25th, 2025
here. >> I move that we approve the minutes of February 25th, 2025. >> Second. >> Any discussion on those? All those in favor? Joyce >> I. >> I. >> Liz >> Fargo. I >> I Okay,
we have our upcoming agenda review, which is uh let's see, February 20th, we have no meeting. So, February 3rd, we just put the uh hearings back on there for the annual review.
>> Oh, liquor license. We have liquor license, annual fee hearings, uh, building committee with Dr. Smith. I think he said he was available that day. Correct. >> Presentation for conceptual design plan
for the muck, which is great. Recreation field study, Weston Samson. That's new. >> Is he night? >> I know that one. We must have just added hazardous mitigation plan.
Parker's River policy for managing park use and school feasibility. Okay. >> We're working on the Parker River landing. It's not a finished project. So if something if it gets too tight and we need to move something, we can move that one potentially. Yeah. For the next
meeting because I know that's a work in progress and everybody's straight out doing everything. But it's very important. So we wanted to keep it on there to kind of keep the pressure on it. But um if if we did the the next meeting, we'd still be in good shape. >> And I saw they put something about the
hazardous mitigation plan there on the table. I saw Kathy come in. And that's is there a timeline on that as well? I'm not sure how long each one of these these this looks like a lot. Hazard mitigation plan is very extensive.
I would have to say >> I just have to double check on the timing because one of the things is we need to make sure that we stay L. It's one of the ones that's tied to the eligibility for the grants and stuff that that we're very hitting hard. So, I just want to make sure that whatever we
do on that, we're in good shape. >> The liquor license hearings are probably going to be pushed to the 24th, too, just so you know. >> Okay. >> Bass River and Big Hills. >> Yes. >> Okay.
Then we're so we're off >> that February 10th is no longer a board meeting. >> So do we go to February 24th then? >> Yeah, that would be the next one. >> 24th. >> One thing that we had talked about
making sure that it we didn't lose term track of it was the seasonal community discussion. >> That's right. Well, we're waiting for the state to come up with the final regulations on it. So, I think it would be helpful to probably have that once the state >> towns just turned it down. Didn't I read
that? >> What's that? >> Thought one of the towns just rejected it. >> Um, that wouldn't surprise me. I think what's happened is I think there are a number of communities that are uh um concerned about the the heavy-handedness
of some of the state's regulatory actions and um but ultimately that we will have to make a decision about bringing this to town meeting. >> Town meeting. Exactly. So, I think it it's going to come up when we go over the town meeting stuff, >> right? When we when we do the warrant, it'll come up
>> because we'll have to talk about an article >> and what it all means. So that that there's there's no escaping that. So, but what we don't know is we don't know uh the final rules and regulations on it and and how it's going to be uh
governed. >> Okay. >> And also for anybody who's keeping track, Joyce, March 10th is no longer on our calendar, nor is March 24th. >> March 10th is right here. >> I'm sorry. March 3rd is no longer.
>> Oh, okay. Thank you. >> So, that means I could come back to California March 3rd, huh? Just stay >> and instead of March, >> long as you're back by the 10th, Joyce. >> Oh, okay. >> Dorcas, you killed George. >> No, I know. I'm sorry.
>> So, when's Joyce coming back? She'll be back for our next meeting on the third. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I I get back tomorrow night. >> Have a safe trip. >> Yeah. >> Oh, >> well, February. >> I will do my best. >> The pilots rarely take my advice, but
I'll I'll I'll I'll tell them that Dorcas requested. >> There's no room for anything on February 3rd. So, >> no. No. >> Anything else? Well, you can discuss it February 3rd for upcoming. That's what I would suggest.
>> I did notice though, Bob, just for the sake of bringing forward the same notes, we did talk last board meeting that we would talk about managing the parks on April 7th. >> It's on here. It's on for February 3rd.
>> Wait a minute. >> That's just um Parker's River, isn't it? done. >> Yeah. Park. That's the park. >> That was the one we moved to April 7, wasn't it? >> That managing using park the policies,
but but the idea of >> was a broader discussion, >> right? So that's why that would be on April 7th. See it somewhere else, but I read it. >> All of a sudden it dropped off somewhere. I don't saw it.
>> It was here. Yeah. We need to put that back on. >> Yep. >> Put on April 7th. April 7th. Parks. Parks. >> Okay. Okay. All right. Consent agenda.
Individual items. >> I have an individual item. Go ahead. Um, I've been trying to get the code read um to sign up for it with very little luck for months and apparently now it's
down. It's not functional. And that seems like the kind of information that would be on our website. So, um, I I guess I I would request some discussion on that when we have
things that aren't working or that's a notice that I would appreciate understanding why I keep trying to sign up for it and I can't. >> Well, actually, it's a bigger discussion than that. If it's down, does that mean it's not working? We we have no process
of which to notify our public emergency? >> I believe that's the problem. >> It's only temporary. >> It is temporary, but >> isn't it an IT issue? No, it's >> Yeah, they're just having a problem that they're updating some gear and it'll get back up. I don't know why Liz couldn't
sign up for it. Maybe that's something. >> It's a question for somebody smarter than me. >> And and when I asked Paul about it, he said it's a police department issue. >> Okay. Well, we can certainly check that. >> Yeah. It's just I I'm just trying to
make the website be a place where you get information and that would seem to me to be information. >> So, you're continuing to put it in and nowhere is saying it's down. It doesn't tell you. >> Correct. >> You just go to a broken link.
>> Gotcha. >> Thank you. >> Aren't they hacked? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Oh, Red was hacked. >> Yeah. I'm I'm glad we talk about the website. there there always need there's always a need to make sure that there's
stuff that's on it that's working. So I'm glad that >> Yeah. >> when there are problems that you keep flagging >> don't work. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And of course they they're going to attend the select person's page because according to this that page I'm out. I
didn't get reelected. So >> you had us pulled. >> Well that's all being updated. I think I'm surprised you didn't get your email yet requesting your um information. They're outreaching you to get a little more personal information to um you know
get the whole website redone for that part of it. >> It is much better. >> You guys have head shot too, right? We want to get a we want to get a head shot and some biographical information for each select board member. So, um I thought you already got your email. I
don't know why that was delayed, but but that's something that >> start thinking about because that'll be coming out any minute. I'm surprised it hasn't already. >> Oh, and for people going to MMA, we could get our head shots there.
>> Yeah, if you need a head shot, you can get >> All right. Uh, is any other items list? >> You have any items? >> No. >> Mark? >> No. >> Joyce? >> Yep. Okay, Bob. >> Okay, you want to do the consent first?
>> Yep. Consent agenda. We have one thing in our packet here for um a fire department donation totaling $30. >> I move the consent agenda. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I Joyce >> I. >> Mark
>> I. >> I. Okay. >> All right. Great. I had a couple of items I wanted to just call to your attention. and I spent last Thursday um along with um the other Cape Cod town managers getting a a briefing from the
Mass DOT officials on the bridge projects and it was really quite fascinating and I know they had a um a recent article in the newspaper that was um very helpful as well and one of the things that you know I I was real surprised to learn that that project's actually going out to bid by the end of
2026 so it's really fast track it is and What I wanted to say is that um so I met all of the key transportation officials that are responsible for uh managing that project over at the Mass DOT and if the select board likes I know you know
the next meeting or two are very very busy but um I can arrange to have a briefing on the bridges for the select board. it's something maybe think that over and and we can um if you'd like to do that we can outreach them and um you
know they've offered to um you know they like to have the public outreach and I thought this would be a nice >> um thing to get that on video so >> ju just so that you know Bob we at the Cape Islands Municipal Leaders Association we've had them in like every six months or 12 months >> to come in and brief
>> that's great the association and we've had managers show up at at those meetings. The last time we did it, I think it was about six months ago at the uh the center for active living in the town of Sandwich. They're renaming senior centers. I don't know if you know that. They're centers of active living.
>> Active living >> instead of senior citizens centers, >> especially if seniors are 80 years old. My god. So, while we're talking about the leadership um association there, the Cape managers and the superintendent of schools and the the select boards
leadership association um is working on an initiative to request from our legislative delegation an earmark of $250,000 uh dollars in the state budget for a comprehensive school enrollment
projection analysis. Um there's just so many issues that are um facing this enrollment. And I saw the article Mark had sent out. I thought it was real interesting. Statewide declines, but the declines on Cape Cod are >> Yeah. >> staggering. I mean, very steep declines
in educational enrollment in our public school systems um in just about everywhere except Yarmouth >> and except tech schools >> and and not not the tech school, but just the the overall schools. And so, um, these are critical issues and as we're all, you know, contemplating the
facilities. You've got towns closing facilities. You've got towns that are scared to close facilities. You've got towns that are looking to build new facilities. Um, there's a lot there. And so, um, I I think it would be great to have a real detailed analysis of what's
happening with school enrollment. Um, and maybe it will even spur some additional regional discussions. um about how to how to handle that regionally. Like if there's one town that's growing and one town that's declining and they're contiguous, you know, those are things that really
factor in and we've seen some of that um in our community. So >> So wanted to make you aware of that. >> Just curious though because the MSBA has its own process for determining. >> This came out of a talk that we had at our last Cape Islands Municipal Leaders
Association. the fact that the enrollment projections that the state's using for making decisions on school buildings appears to be at odds with some of the local generated information. Right? So the idea would be to find a
way to drill down into some of the more localized data to get more accurate projections because it's been at least experience of some of the managers that these numbers can be revised if
there's better better information better data. >> They will take that data from elsewhere. Okay. I was under the impression that that's the data that they that they use and that's kind of what they have. Michael Dutton, the county administrator, uh had mentioned at one of our meetings that um on the vineyard
in one community, they had revised the numbers based on some locally generated information. the at the Capeen Islands Selecman's Association or the Leadership Association meeting um there was an extensive discussion from most towns
represented that they're concerned about the state's data enrollment data not matching up with what we're seeing here on the Cape and I think we've mentioned that I've mentioned that we've talked about it as as an issue that we have to
address. So in any event the superintendent Yeah, the superintendent, uh, Cape Islands municipal leaders, the managers. So, it'll be a joint letter from all three groups calling on the legislators to help us have some money set aside.
>> But in terms of timing, I mean, >> not going to help us with this. >> I know. I mean >> maybe not immediately but the I I think one of the things this MSBA thing has really made very stark the realization that there's limitations to we don't have enough data to kind of act as a
region and deal with these problems. So number one, a study like this could do a deeper dive and get get better, more accurate assessments, but I think even more importantly and instead of just doing it for Yarmouth to do it as a region so that we can identify these
issues by town, I think will help us, you know, better address this kind of on a regional basis, too. So, so it's not going to solve all of your problems on the Emmy small school, but I I think a lot of us um you know, in different communities have had the same experience
that we've had that different projects, different decision points have sort of highlighted problems with the methodologies and data that we have in place that there really isn't uh significantly comprehensive analysis that's been done. And MSBA doesn't do
that. they do sort of a cursory methodology community by community based on project to meet their funding needs which is helpful but it's really not the demographic analysis that we need for like I don't know future policym beyond what's going to happen with the Emmy small school and and plus if this thing
could kick off that um you know maybe the data could come in time to you know do something >> well the thing to keep in mind is the county has spent a significant amount of money in developing an affordable housing a regional
affordable housing strategy and a lot of that money was spent creating generating data information on housing trends. So we have a we have a head start. We have a leg up. This is information that can be utilized for uh
this kind of work. So, um, and in fact, there are people here in Yarmouth that are already mining the county's data and looking at it and trying to make comparisons and reconcile things. So, there's already been some uh some
attempt to utilize some of that information, but we need to have a more um targeted and more robust effort to to do that rather than relying on individuals uh to sort of do their own analysis and their own calculations. So it may be that we work with UMass, the
Donahghue Institute, some of the groups that have already worked with the Cape Cod Commission on some of this stuff and colle help help collect this information. So as Bob said, I think we've got a we've got a this is definitely worth doing and uh we have a head start in terms of getting a lot of
this work done. >> Well, I'm not saying it's it's not worth doing. I definitely agree with that. I just I just don't I'm just worried about the timing. >> Yeah. And and again, it's not it's not geared specifically towards the Emmy small, but um it's, you know, one of
those um >> you know, light bulb moments when you see what the data is and then you you recognize, look, we really don't have a handle on this. >> Yeah. >> So, um thank you, Mark. Very much appreciated. Uh listen, I just want to make sure you guys are aware as sort of
that you know, you've indicated when we we had the initial muck report and um they're coming in again. I think the next meeting to really hone that down and and in the meantime, um Amy and I have been working very hard with
directly with mass development and we're um in the process now of interviewing potential candidates to kick off that market feasibility study for a potential recreational facility that will come in and implement um some of the
recommendations that are um in front of you now. So, we'll be reporting more uh on that at your next meeting, but I want to make sure you guys were aware of that we're not sitting on our laurels. We're lining up the economic analysis that's needed if we're going to pursue
potentially um these projects. So, the um the leadership between exactly like we described that the the MUK committee and moving to the implementation stages, we're you know making that a seamless process and working on it now. And um I'm not going to go into this now, but
um you know later you know we can talk a little more you know um you know we talk about the budget and um a lot of these issues and the um increases in the overhead items that are of particular concern and specifically the health insurance is a real key one. Um I just
want to for now let you know that um you know we're having a the big part of the um health insurance cost increases are involved in astronomical like historical increases in prescription drug costs and um I'm working personally very closely
with the um provider that Cape Cod Municipal Health Group to analyze comprehensively the um formularies and all of the details that a lot of people don't know that much about on the um the whole issue of the prescription drugs,
what the costs are. And um we've initiated one change already that we estimate will save between 10 and 13% in one year on total prescription drug costs by adjusting the formulary to um
push the same chemical drugs, right, that um have lower costs versus the ones that are higher costs. Um, and that's going to be um, very helpful. And and the the topic I just want to make you aware of is
the impacts specifically on that GLP1 class of drugs when they're used for weight loss only. These are the WGO and the Zepounds. >> It is astronomical. And there's a movement across the state to
not cover them just for weight loss only if there's underlying, you know, medical issues, but um it may be possible to establish um discount programs that if people want to have access to those for weight loss only that they'll be
available less than the um retail cost. And you know that may be a way to save up to 5% of of health insurance costs every year which for us you know that's like a million dollars and you know
almost and and so at any rate I just wanted to let you know that there there is a uh sort of a comprehensive analysis going on that's geared towards analyzing those costs. um your town has leadership in that um and I'm one of the key people that that helps study it and we'll bring
back the um you know the results. But but what I'm looking to do is preserve people's access to care and those specific drugs and every other drug, but to do so in a way that um doesn't shift the burden of cost onto every single
person um and make the towns go bankrupt at the same time. So, I I think there's a way of doing it all and and you know, helping people because I know there's a lot of people that taking those more and more. Um I hate to tell you this, but I'm looking at the data and within 10
years, 80% of us >> are going to be um eligible for those drugs because we're all so overweight. Isn't that crazy? It is. >> And so, it's something that needs to be managed, but I just want to make you aware of that. And we can do a deep dive on discussions like that at a more
appropriate time, but but I thought with all of the discussions you may be hearing about prescription drug changes, and I I just want to make it clear, no one's getting rid of prescript prescription drug coverages, but the management
>> of that um we never had to manage it that close, but but when they're going up 20 30% um and and it's millions of dollars. So that's all I had for >> I have a question for Bob if I may. >> Yes ma'am. >> It's the wonderful return to the
fairness resolution and can you just touch on that in terms of what you got back from legal? Do we need anything more from legal? Where are we? Because clearly there are people who are um hoping that it's going to be back on the
agenda. Well, we requested um the legal work and um so um I I I sent around all of the the legal information and you folks have that. So um I I think it's just a matter for um for the board. I
don't really have any any more input on it. >> What about Mark? Because Mark, you were the >> We can't discuss it. We can't It's not on our agenda. We can't >> agenda. Okay. >> But we could but We can uh
I mean >> address it offline perhaps because >> No, we definitely can't address it offline but at our next meeting >> could address it if if he has anything else he needs and I'll put it back on their list. >> Thank you.
>> Is there anybody else that has anything else? >> Right. Motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. We'll have to take a roll call. Joy. Joyce, you have a second. >> Oh, yeah. Second. >> I >> Liz seconded the motion to adjurnn. >> Are you in favor of it or would you like
to stay with us a little longer? >> I'm in favor of it. >> Okay. Mark. >> Hi. >> Dorcas. >> McGurn.