 for our meeting for Monday, December 8th. It is a little past 7.15. I do call this meeting to order. Just a reminder that ACMI is filming tonight. So please smile widely when you are on camera. We'll get right into it and we are getting started with a presentation from the Arlington High School Generation Citizens Project and they are discussing the, they have a parking proposal for the Arlington High School area. So please come to the microphone. Hi everyone. If you could all just introduce yourself and we'll get right into it. Thank you. So I'm Taylor. I'm here with my peers, Alana, Kendall, Tano, and Bella. As you said, we're from Arlington High School with a program called Generation Citizen through Tufts University. They're an active citizenship program that mentors a high school class to address a program in their area. So we chose over the last semester to address the parking problem around our school and we're here to present our proposal. Thank you. Okay, so right now we are passing out the proposal that we made. And I'm Bella. I'm a senior. So students will obtain a parking permit that will either be a sticker or a ticket that will go on the students car. You or the school administration can provide at a reasonable cost for target areas around and in front of the school. You, police and the school will be monitoring the designated parking areas where students will be to make sure everyone is abiding by these rules. You and administration can take parking permits away at any given time due to improper conduct that a student commits and these permits are a privilege, not a right. Students must be aware that these can be taken away at any given time. With the money that has been acquired from these permits, it is imperative that signs are put up in these designated areas for people to be aware that we can park at this time. The nearest available parking lot where students might be able to park is not your average Joe's, which is approximately a half mile away, 11 minutes on foot and with bad weather conditions, it's about 20 minutes away. Students have their own rights and privileges to drive their own vehicle that they have been given from their parents to school if they please, but having no place to park is an inconvenience. There are certain elements of the MBTA that make public buses an unreliable and inconvenience to us. Students should be able to attend extra curriculars, extra curriculars, sports or jobs after school without being worried that their car has been ticketed or towed. By having a definite parking area for students within the vicinity of the school, kids can attend school with greater advantages. Hi, my name is Alana and I'm a junior at Arlington High School and so what we did before drafting the proposal is we put together a survey and we sent it out to the student body to get their support. And a large number of students responded to a form that we sent out and there was a huge number of students saying of supporting it and saying there was 60% of the students said that they were 1 out of 10 satisfied with the current parking situation in Arlington High School. And there is, there are students parking in the areas that we have designated that is legal but there are no other places for the students to park. And this is an issue that has been prevalent for a while and before there was parking, there was parking on Mass Ave but that was given to teachers and the lots at Arlington High School are just for the teachers and administration. So there's really no place for the students and because it does only apply to the upperclassmen, there aren't that many spots that need to be given, just a reasonably small area. And it's something that the students really believe in and really feel is an issue that they would like to address. Hi, I'm Kendall and I'm a junior at Arlington High School and we talked to a few of the administrators at our school. We talked to our principal, Dr. Janger and two of our deans, Ms. Tivnin and Mr. DeLoretto. And Dr. Janger, he gave his full support of our proposal. He believes in what we're saying that students, if they're allowed to drive to school, should be able to park somewhere. Ms. Tivnin, she also agrees and thinks that, oh, she agrees and thinks that we should all have places to park, whether it be on side streets or in other parking lots such as like CVS parking lots, but that's a different idea which we didn't touch on. And Mr. DeLoretto, he gave input on how he has been working at our high school for like many years and throughout his whole time working here, parking for students has always been a problem. And he even went to the extent to say that if this proposal did not get passed, he would want to try to find a way to take about 20 spots from the teacher parking and give it to students like through a raffle or something. And I can read their letter, which they wrote for us and this is signed by our vice principal, our principal, our one, like, and both of the deans. And it says to whom it may concern, we are writing this letter in support of the students in Mr. Pay's symposium on current world issues class at Arlington High School. Students in this class take on real world issues in the Arlington High School community and work towards solutions. We recognize and support the effort put forth by this year's symposium students as they try to address the lack of student parking at Arlington High School. Arlington High School has limited space for parking that must be shared among faculty, central office administration, and the town offices housed at the high school. Accommodating parking for all has been a struggle for many years and the high school has not had the ability to offer any student parking spaces. The symposium students have worked diligently to develop a proposal to balance the needs of the community and students. This is the model of civic engagement that we hope for among our students. We encourage the town select men to engage with them on this issue to raise questions and problem solve with the students. We welcome the opportunity for further discussion and collaboration on this topic. We're going to hand out a map along with the streets that are going to be affected with this parking proposal. We're done with our formal speech. We're wondering if you guys had any questions about the proposal. Thank you very much for being here tonight. Once again, we had a group at our last meeting as well talking about Solobar. This is a really great program at high schools running in collaboration with Tufts. You guys and girls have definitely chosen an important and incredibly controversial subject. It's very clear that you put quite a bit of work into it and I do appreciate that. Is there any comments or questions from my colleagues? Joe? Well, thank you for all of the work that you put into this. I know that I think at least one of the students had actually contacted me on this project. I assume my colleagues as well. So thank you. I think that you definitely approached this well and surveying your fellow students, talking to your fellow administrators, talking to some of us. I was curious, did you by any chance survey any of the residents on those area streets to get a sense of what some of their concerns were with the parking situation in the area? Yes. We had been planning to and on the day that we chose, we were not able to get a significant turnout of people to go to the doors. So we did not end up being able to ask the residents that we had planned to. We apologize. Okay. I think that's certainly it's a key. My other question about the proposal is I think you lay out here, you know, one of the big needs is students who have jobs directly after school they need to get to immediately. It seems, and you mentioned the bus buses being unreliable or whatnot, but am I correct that the work required is a more important consideration for you? Yes. We think that it's more important for people to be able to get to work. Yeah. So given that, I'm just curious. I noticed that your proposal says that if there are more permit applications than the new system can cater to that the upper class would get the permits first. Was there any thought to maybe judging it based on who had job needs first and then opening it up? Well, normally it is the upperclassmen who have the jobs as underclassmen are usually under the age of 16 and aren't able to work. So because of that we understood that underclassmen would have more probability of having jobs and that because of that they would be the ones more in need of the permit. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you for the work. Oh, you want to go first? Well, you're more familiar with this than I am. Go ahead. You may cover some of my questions. A couple of points. I want to first of all compliment you. I hope you all are going to get A's because you've done an excellent job here. I would be curious if you had a guess how many permits you think are necessary. How many cars do you think you would need permits for? You have to come to the mic. Sorry. There's millions watching right now. On the survey that we sent out there were some questions pertaining to whether people plan on driving to school and she'll answer that. So I believe that there was 154 responses and 57 were seniors and 46 I believe were juniors and about 95% all said yes. They have a license slash JOL slash permit and would be planning on driving themselves to school when they obtain that. So we think about 40 or so because also we're trying to encourage carpooling especially for the environmental aspect of that. So when it's obviously legal for friends that they can carpool to school together. And then because we see in the mornings there's a huge line of traffic of parents trying to drop their kids off because there is no parking spaces and or the kids are underclassmen but it's just a huge toll of just all this gas coming up. But if we had parking spaces then we could eliminate this huge long line or decrease it and so that was kind of an aspect of our plan also. Well, well done. Thank you very much. You did ask one of my questions. I want to thank you Taylor, Bella, Alana, Kendall and was it Ben? Tano. Tano wasn't even close for coming in on this issue. As you probably know the reason the signs went up was we were contacted by the neighbors who live on the street who say the signs are there and for them the track the parking had gotten out of control and asked the board to enforce it. So that's where we got where we're at. I and my colleagues have had many discussions on this very issue. I can perhaps give you a couple of things that we can work in concert on. I have spoken along with the rest of the board with the town manager about this issue because a coach down at the high school I have to drop all my equipment get everything out and go find somewhere to park because there's only like three AD and two staff people. I definitely feel your pain there. There's a few solutions to try to think creatively and we've already had this discussion. One of them is the parking lot that has that rotary that takes up a ridiculous amount of space on Mill Street and the town manager has spoken with our public works director. I want to say back in September, August, September, having this conversation because I said barring any fire safety issue that seems like a big waste of space as well as, you know, with the high school and all of this would have to be done in concert with the high school school committee administration. They would have to sort of drive this. But we were trying to think of knowing that these signs were going up. What could we look at? So one of the things that I would encourage you all and through the town manager's office of the chairman to follow up on that because the DPW director thought had a few ideas of how to increase some spaces out there the other thing I think it's great that you go into the house Dean DeLoretto he's a fantastic person, worked for him previously as AD and I think part of the school's responsibility is sort of what he's saying that if we can't find some sort of solution perhaps he can get 10 or 20 spots that are designated to staff. I definitely would encourage, you know, talking to the school committee especially with the high school there's talk of renovating it maybe they can start looking at some spaces now. The other thing that I had discussed with the town manager and again please follow up with the chairman on this is to see if there's any way the Grove Street parking lot is filled to the max. It's parked there. But I believe it's town on land. The manager was going to look into this. Or it could be school committee land. Sort of the unofficial road that connects Grove Street parking lot all the way up to the high school. Perhaps we could in concert with the school committee and the administration redesign that and get some parking spaces there. And I had envisioned anywhere from 60 to 72 when I sat down. I think it's fantastic that you guys are doing this because we always have to be careful of, you know, there's a town side, there's a school side, but there's a town of Wellington. I think working also with the chairman and the town manager but also with the school committee and Dr. Bode would be a great way to go. And then the last thing that we were discussing is possibly if we could look at how many of the Russell Street parking lot, the little side street that comes right out onto Mill Street and it's right behind Buzzlefield. We do give out permits there to people who work there. It's a little bit more of a walk. But just trying to think of ways to kind of piecemeal together. And then the last thing you could do that would be really radical that I would do. When I was in high school, I got the high school clothes for two days on asbestos issue, but that's my heyday. You might want to approach with Dr. Bode or Dr. Jengar, possibly them looking at any of the adjacent land and see if there's any way, perhaps, eminent domain in order to, and you may have already started to do that and found out the answer is no. You did. The field in the back that's used for JV Lacrosse and football, there's like very, not biohazard, but very hazardous waste underneath the field. And so Mr. DeLoretto, he was looking to that land to try to create a parking lot, but he was told that it would not be a good idea and unsafe. But I mean, thinking outside of the box, sort of extending. I mean, it's just a way to go sometimes. Well, Ms. Tivenin, that was one of her hopes for how we could solve the student parking issue. And she hasn't figured out a way to buy out those lots. And also she's not sure how we would do it or how much it would cost. And whether the cost of buying out those lots would be cheaper than imposing this proposal that we just proposed. So I mean, we could look into the pricing differences. You know what, I would look into it because you'd certainly get everybody's attention. And then sometimes when you go down one road, you take a left or a right and you find the solution and you don't continue on down that road. But I think it's fantastic what you're doing. I don't want you to think that any of us are not concerned about this. We knew this was going to be an unintended consequence when the neighbors who asked us to enforce those signs. But I would encourage you to work with the chairman in terms of, you know, I believe Adam was going to have our public work director, Mr. Rademacher, make a report at the beginning of the year. But with the caveat that this board can't do anything unless the school committee and superintendent sort of in the driver's seat are at the forefront because, you know, it's, we can't tell them how to do their job. Not that we would want to, but it's definitely an issue I'm sensitive to and I'm thrilled that you guys are doing this. Thank you. Thanks, Ann. So thank you again very much. This is very cool what you're doing in this. This is how you, you know, kind of drive change in town and through public policy. And I think it's a really good experience, especially for high school students. So again, thank you. And please do. Move or save? Second. We have a move for a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Thank you. And again, please do follow up with me if you have any other questions. And good luck at Civic State, which is what I understand this is for. Thank you. Thank you very much. Moving on. Discussion and vote property tax classification. Mr. Tieng. Mr. Feely. Mr. Chairman. Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. We're here for our annual classification hearing. The board's annual classification hearing. But before we start, I'd like to introduce our new director of assessing, Paul Tieng, who joined us October 14th and get hit right in the middle of this certification. So he's been pretty busy since. He has received an awful lot of help from Mr. Robert Greeley, who really was a savior in this. Well, unfortunately, I think he spent so many hours on this that he's down sick tonight. So he's not with us this evening. He's afraid to come before me. I can understand that. Yes. Because you are the older brother. And Mary with Stanley O'Connor, my other board members with us also. So I'm going to ask Paul to go through the book that you got. We apologize again. We just got tentative approval Friday, noon time. So it didn't get out in time for your iPad. But hopefully you can get the information from this anyhow. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you, chairman. Again, I am Paul Terney, the director of assessments. Welcome. Thank you. I'll be a book that's the first page. Just breaks out the 2014 levy limit. Added to 1.5% plus new growth, which will give us a levy limit for 2015. If we get on to the next column, we add in the debt exclusion, the water and sewer debt. That will give us the maximum total to be raised for the town. But now one more. And it will give us the amount to be raised plus the total taxable value in the town, multiplied by 1,000, which gives us a tax rate to share of $13.55. If we go on to the next page, just spells out the minimum residential factor. Kevin, why don't we do questions at the end? Second page just breaks down the minimum residential factor. You can see we have 94% residential in the town. Third page just slips the national law, which allows the shift if we so decide to do it. The next page breaks down what would happen to the potential tax bills if we went to a shift. If we went to 5%, you could see the commercial industrial properties when increased by $339 and the residential only decreased by $16.74. That's just to give you an idea of what the breakdown would be if we did vote for a shift. The next page is just the LA-4. It breaks down different homes and what their values were, how many parcels throughout the town in each category, along with their value. Total taxable value is down at the bottom. That gives you the count of all the parcels in town. Next page just lists the tax rates throughout the years. Our proposed rate for 15 is at the bottom. Next page is the LA-13, which details the value throughout the year, the amount of growth that we had this year. The next page breaks down by category, how did we go to the tax rate, gives the average assessed value, what the average tax bill would be this year, the amount of growth. And the last page just gives some examples of neighboring towns, what their average tax bill would be this year. And we would like to recommend a residential option of one, which would leave the tax rate at $13.55 per assessed value. Thank you very much, Bob. Do we have questions from the board? Mr. Grayley. So this may be in here and I just missed it. So this year total property value is $7 billion, $7 million. Correct. Anybody know what that was last year? Well, we fragmented it with $7.37. Second to the last page. 2014. $7.37, $7.37. It's about $300. No, I say it. Okay, thank you. Thanks. Further questions? Stay in. I'd like to move that we set the, unless you wanted to hear from the audience first. Sorry, I wouldn't move anything. Further questions from the board? Joe. No, I just wanted to note that if we go forward with the recommendation, the actual tax rate we would be approving would be dropping from what it was last year. The rate per thousand. I also note the first time for several years in a row, we did have the Sims debt exclusion was added on to the tax rate and we've now apparently, this is apropos of something we'll be discussing later, but apparently that has now dropped off and we're, I guess we'll be discussing that on the balance policy later on. So. Thank you. And I thank you very much for this work Paulie and the Board of Assessors. I would like to draw everyone's attention to what our neighboring communities are paying. And I really think that we're very fortunate to have such great services, particularly I would say, I don't know firsthand, but I'm pretty sure they're better services than what our neighboring communities have. And we are paying less for our taxes and that's a good thing for Arlington. At this point I will open up to questions and comments from the audience that pertain to the tax classification. Gordon. Thank you. Hi. I'm Gordon Jamison. I'm a co-chair of the physical resource task group of vision 2020 here in Arlington. And I'm joined tonight with Pete Howard and Brian Houseback members of the group in the audience. As those of you on the boards, both boards recall we often come to this very important session, which is when you set the factor as well as received the report of the Board of Assessors. Over the years, my notes, over the years we have individually or as a group discussed many different issues, the debt shift, the split rate, overall commercial valuation in the town. And we think that this has been a constructive interaction with the Board and both boards. The handout provides a history of the revenues derived from residential and CIP beginning when the first operating override in the town of Arlington was approved in 1994. And over that 20-year period, obviously don't have I didn't put in this year's numbers, but through fiscal 2014, there's been a great increase in the amount of revenue generated in property taxes. Overall, it's gone up 136%. But if you look to the left at the bottom, you'll see that there's a big differential between the residential and the commercial. And we are concerned that you would think in a rising waters would lift all boats, hopefully somewhat evenly, and there seems to be a sort of a discrepancy there. And we've discussed this with the Board in our meetings and also in this public forum in the past. Currently, we're in the process of trying to attempt to do a, in the past we've been dismissed of there's options about how split rate might make sense if X, Y, or Z happened, which isn't going to happen. And also we've presented in the past only a couple items and those have been dismissed as being anecdotal. So in an attempt to be non-antic-dotal, we're in the process of trying to do an analysis of some of the commercial property along Mass Ave. and Broadway. And Mike Stern, who's a member of the group who I think has spoken to this Board during the assessor process earlier this year, did some work and we wanted to flush that out by looking at the, in particular the property, the land values of commercial properties along Mass Ave. and Broadway. We initiated our request for information when then Board Member Daugherty at the town meeting said all information that we have should be available to the public. And so we contacted Mary in the spring and she said we should be able to do this. And then when turmoil happened to the Board and the assessor proper, I wrote her and said we'll hold off on this. When fall came, I asked again and some information has been provided through the assessor's office recently. But the critical information, which is the, it's a large number of parcels and the data set online is not what it used to be. It's very difficult to manage. And we thought it would be simplest and most effective if we actually got the information from the assessor or Board of Assessors. And so we're looking for some clarifications on the initial data set and just thought this would be a good time to, without going into the details about what we need, which isn't much more than what we originally got. We thought this would be a good form to request for that publicly. You know Gordon, I think I respectfully disagree as we're here to, you know, talk about our property tax classification and tax rate. And I don't think this is the appropriate venue to request information from the Board. I think that that should be done directly with the Board of Assessors and the assessor as opposed to here. Yeah. Okay. So we can respectfully disagree. But at the same time, if the commercial property, let's say the land values were not assessed appropriately, then the commercial property might be a larger percentage in town and therefore after that the classification might be something that you would take more seriously. So indirectly I think this is directly related to the classification issue. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there a response from the Board? We have followed this over the years. As we can say, we're still not sure where they're going with it. We operate under the statute of Commonwealth Massachusetts and as far as we know our commercial and industrial personal properties are valued properly. Market-based, market-based value. I do know we're a little late in answering Mr. Jamison's request for some information and truthfully because we, huge staff in the office have been busy, two people, three people, busy getting the tax rate down and so we may, there may be some avenues that we can provide them some information. I'd be glad to talk to them about that in the near future, meet with them in the office and go through that issue. Thank you very much, Kevin. That would be great. Thank you. Is that it, Gordon? Yeah, that's pretty much what we came to do tonight. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you for your discussion. Yes. Keeping it consistent with past practice, which I think our committee has helped establish, will the information provided to the members of the board be posted online after accepted by the state? Absolutely. Yes, it will be. By the assessors. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Crystal Loretty, 56 Adams Street. I'd like to reiterate what Mr. Jameson just said about providing the data. I'm not a member of the fiscal resources task group. I've had some involvement with the past, but I would ask that the board do consider classification and I want to give you a couple of anecdotes about the way commercial property is valued. In the current valuation of the Brigham's property, $28.45 dollars, sale price at the end of 2013, $50,500,000. That gap represents additional taxes that the residents of this town are paying and to the extent that that property was not properly valued to begin with, it represents lost new growth. Another property that we have in town, another large parcel, is the Claremont Arlington Suites, the hotel near the Cambridge line. The current 2004 valuation of that property, $16.75 million, the sale price at the beginning of 2012, $22.1 million. So I don't agree that our commercial properties are being valued at their full fair market value. And I think one way you may address that, if the assessors really can't get them at their full fair market value, is to do a classification to bring them up so that the effective tax that they're paying is the same as what they would be paying if they were valued properly. And I have additional concerns particularly about the Claremont Suites. I know your board several years ago designated all of the members of the Board of Assessors as special municipal employees. I understand that the Arlington Suites had actually challenged the assessment that Board of Assessors made for its property. And therefore, I don't see how an attorney on the Board of Assessors can be representing that same owner in trying to get special permits for that property. I mean, irrespective of what state law says as a conflict of interest, I think just by common sense, you can't play two sides of the same card. And I would ask that U.S. Town counts to look into the possibility of rescinding the special municipal employee designation for the Board of Assessors. And also look at just as a matter of professionalism within the legal profession, whether that's even possible to represent a party for a particular property on two different sides of an issue. So I realize at this point you probably won't be able to do anything with classification this year, but I certainly do hope you'll consider it for future years. And I really hope you'll encourage the Board of Assessors to cooperate with Mr. Jamison so that the problem of under assessment of commercial properties can really be looked at in much more detail in town. Thank you. Thank you. I am very confident that the Board of Assessors will work with Mr. Jamison. And we, and I am also sure that we are following state law as is the Board of Assessors. So thank you for those comments. Further discussion? Seeing none. Do we have a motion from the Board? I'd like to make a motion that we set the rate at the residential option one as suggested by our Board of Assessors. Second. We have a motion and second. Any further discussion from the Board? Seeing none. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. Thank you, Paul. And thank you, Board. Thank you. My wife's name is Karen. My wife's name is Karen. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Today's date, Paul? Yes, please. Sorry. Thank you very much, everyone. Now that the fund stuff is out of the way, we can get to more fund stuff. Starting with the appointment to a, for a new treaty To a for a new tree committee member Emily Snyder, please come forward Thank you very much. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you want to be on the committee? I've been a resident of Arlington East Arlington for 24 years For the last two years. I've served on the board of the Arlington Garden Club Where I'm one of the vice presidents and last year I completed the nine month Massachusetts master gardeners course and it was one of the people one of my master gardener mentors Who asked if I was would be interested in joining the tree committee? So I have attended three meetings. I went in September October November I also helped at the booth for town day and Now my official appointment. Yeah, thank you. I guess I will just have to make it official It sounds like you're already doing that quite a bit of work Greatly appreciate that. Mr. Grayley move approval and thank you very much for the service. You've already provided and what you will Continue to provide as well. Thank you We have a motion a second all those in favor, please say aye opposed, thank you very much. Thank you Moving on an appointment to the Arlington Commission on Arts and Culture Jonathan Hyde Hey Jonathan Again, could you please I'd tell us a little bit about yourself? Why you want to be on a cake? I've been so I have a personal interest in arts and culture and a professional interest. I Was previously the deputy Director for the tourism office for the state and now I'm Working part-time there on several issues one assistive. I'm just sort of the arts and culture person at the tourism office I'm currently on the Board of Old South Meeting House I've served on the master start Commission and I sort of worked I've worked extensively with the mass cultural council So I think I'm sort of at the stage my life where I've got some time I'd like to get involved in some aspect of the town And I think my experience Will be a you know an asset to the to the cultural Commission. Thank you very much I did see a resume and I agree with you that I do think you will be an asset to the cultural The Commission on Arts and Culture right sorry call it now, of course So please any discussion from the board questions Joe. Well, thank you very much for putting your resume for you come Kind of an auspicious time, you know, you may know may or may not know that a number of members of the The Commission are meeting with some representatives of the Tourism and Economic Development Committee here Which is a board of select when committee and we're discussing among other things The potential of applying for a cultural district designation, which is you said you've worked with the MCC so Yes, the mass cultural council. So you're familiar with that So I really look forward to getting know you a little bit better and and hope that maybe you can help with that effort Yes, I do. I mean I I think I think collectively when I think about this I think of Sort of how residents or people outside Arlington might Identify the town, you know good school system friendly town great soccer town those kinds of things I think we should all sort of our goal should be that We add the arts and we do have a vibrant arts and culture in the town I think we have a lot more we can do and grow and I'd like to see all of us Identify that as being an important part of that of Arlington Thank you Kevin and a lot with all those other good things you've noticed spectacular leadership in the town of Yes, absolutely. Yes, great government. Sorry. I admitted that I You know, thank you for the kind of experience you have and bringing that to us And I know I for one have a lot to learn and look forward to learning it from you and the Commission Thank you Second, but did you already do that? We have a motion in a second for the discussion seeing none all those in favor of please say aye Those have nothing. Thank you very much Moving forward the an appointment to the Arlington cultural council Renee Cameron. Hi Renee Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Why you want to be on the Commission? Sure? I moved Arlington a couple years ago and Around the same time I I left a long career in a biotech pharma industry to pursue my love of photography and start Photography business and at that time I started exploring ways to be involved in my local community So at town day, I was looking at all the tents and talking to people and then I met with Eliza personally and Realize that that would be a great fit for me. So excellent. Yeah. Thank you very much questions comments Thank you first. I'd like to move approval and say thank you I know you know what you're doing because I looked at All the equipment you have an experience and I know next to nothing I know how the anything so you obviously know what you're doing and I do appreciate hearing from you and others that you were sort of and Kind of stepped into the role and started volunteering before even yes officially recognizing you and I think town day is a fantastic Yeah, I really enjoyed the first my first experience and I hope to be involved through the ACC in the future And that's one of the positive offshoots of town day is yeah We get to show what the town's about and then we find these great gems you and the previous appointee That we didn't know we're out there. So it's sort of a unique marketing tool So I look forward to seeing your service in the future. Thanks. I look forward to as well. Thank you Thank you very much for your service We have a second. Thank you. We have a motion in a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Thank you very much Thank you And not finally our last appointment for the evening to the Equal Opportunity Advisory Committee Sarah Elizabeth Hirshan Hmm, I don't see Sarah here Do you want to move approval subject to the condition that I've heard next opportunity she comes at her convenience That sounds good. Do we have a second second? We have a motion in a second all those in favor, please say aye Close nothing Thank you all um, so I think that is it's pretty special to have so many appointments on one night. I'm Incredibly grateful that so many individuals are you know reaching out to the town and thinking how they can get involved And that really is what makes our you know Arlington a special place And I'm also happy to hear that we're picking up volunteers at town day Which is a very nice So with that being said we will move on licenses and permits a request for from Tango restaurant for a late-night event Yeah, we're just looking to see if we can stay open a little bit later on that night till about one Just so people can bring in the new year and then have a little lag time in between Second and I just want to be clear that What you're asking for I believe is to stay open until 1 a.m. On January 1st 2015 not what we have right? Yeah, I just want to make sure I just want to make sure that that was clear in terms of It's a silly little thing, but you never know I understand okay, so it as amended Move approval that Tango can stay open until 1 a.m. On January 1st, 2015 We have a motion second for the discussion from the board any discussion from the audience Seeing none all those in favor, please say aye. I opposed. Thank you. Thank you. Good night a new year Moving forward a request for a common victoria license for Jimmy's pizzeria at 1508 Mass Ave Mr. Maher Hello, how are you? My name is weather Mara. I live in native for 25 years around the place in in on the place in a dick for 16 years We tell a restaurant and then I asked her for permit for run the place and Jimmy's pizzeria Questions from the board Did you bring any samples? No, yeah Still gonna move approval subject to conditions are set forth Second further discussion seeing none any discussion from the audience seeing none all those in favor, please say aye opposed Congratulations. Thank you for choosing Arlington Moving forward requests public entertainment license for acetrone at 473 Mass Ave Mr. Hul Evening board. Good evening. How are you? so We want to do a little mariachi thing, you know Couple guys coming there with their with their dress and the guitars and everything, you know So normally a mariachi band is a big thing, you know, they're like Goes up to like 10 people. We don't have the space for that But you know, we can do it like, you know, maybe two or I think they do like a duo Or maybe like four people or something something some some entertainment for the people over here, you know They all come dressed up and everything I want to do this a long time ago But Mary Ann wouldn't let me But I mean we got the okay for Michael at the Building he wanted to see we have sprinklers and stuff. So we have all that. It's good. Thank you Questions discussion from the board Yes, I'll move approval Second and how often are you looking to to have the entertainment? You know, these guys are tough to get you know, there are a lot of Mexican restaurants in Boston Booked up, you know So as often as we can, you know, especially for special events, you know Like Cinco de Mayo or like some kind of Mexican cultural stuff, you know We're doing a lot of stuff with the state house right now. Yeah, and the Mexican consulate, you know So every time they have an event, you know, we can coordinate something where we can, you know Brings this entertainment into Arlington so that they come to Arlington too, you know, so that was a main thing So we get it ready, you know, so I'm very happy because a number of our restaurants are starting to incorporate some Music as part of the program and yeah, it's not a it's not a weekly thing Yeah, but you know, whenever we can we want it has to be quality. That's the main thing Thank you very much I just have a question and I know we went through extensive conversations with the common ground Which is a business a blocker to walk away And I think we had at the time some input from the board of health. Do you know, I think you said mariachi bands. Yeah What kind of amplification is it just acoustic guitar or is it amplification and the reason I say that is when we The same conversation with common ground there were sort of stipulations in terms of in my remembering it correctly sort of stipulations in terms of Level and volume and possibly some sound remediation I don't know if town council or Marianne Kim. Yes, actually on common ground is still yet to come back We kind of stopped the discussion on that way back when but they will be coming back and they've been working with the Board of Health on Different things in the neighbors there I'm sorry to cut you off it would be do you know in terms of what they're going to use for you know I don't know technically what they you know different bands are different, but it's definitely not like you know You don't like pierce systems or you know major amplification. I mean the place is so small But I think sometimes, you know, just when the crowd kind of talks These guys use like a very small like amplification just so that they're above that crowd You know, but nothing major, you know, there's no pyrotechnics I'm just thinking of the what we told the common ground They might be there might be some amplification But then that depends on like from band to band I think I don't know the technical side of you know Well, I'm in favor of this I would just say that Perhaps you when you do know what your bands are and if it's just sure acoustic and really no amplification that's fine, but if it's anything beyond that I think it would endeavor you to speak with probably the board of health just to make sure sure because we have to hold everybody to the same Standards absolutely, you know with that caveat. Thank you very much. Joe. Thanks. I think just as another caveat to that I do if I'm not if I'm recalling correctly I think with common ground one of the one of the differences was that they have the windows that open and How close they are to the residences and you don't you're not going to have the doors or windows? No, we don't have open windows So everything is going to be contained in the space, you know, thank you. Thank you very much We have a motion in a second and please if you are using amplification talk to the board of health Any discussion from the audience Seeing none all those all those in favor, please say aye Thank you very much. Good luck Moving forward citizens open forum Except an unusual circumstances any matter presented for consideration of the board shall neither be acted upon nor decision made the night of the Presentation in accordance with the policy under which the open forum was established should be noted that there is a three minute time limit To present a concern or request Anyone here for citizens open forum? Thank you very much Moving on traffic rules and orders A vote for special municipal employees for the conservation commission Nathaniel Stevens Good evening. Good evening Nathaniel Stevens from the conservation Commission We have the I submitted a request to have the board designated a special municipal employees As you know the board consists of volunteer members We have all paid jobs to be able to support our volunteer habit per se and I think that having us I have this designation allows us to pursue more opportunities in town. We have Engineers we have other attorneys. I'm an attorney with other attorneys on the board a And Public health specialist and things like that So I think that there are Excuse me our opportunities in town that perhaps come up for individuals their families their business partners That they're precluded from doing because of we're not designated special municipal employees That's why we make that request. Thank you very much questions from the board Dan well just sort of a comment and then if it's appropriate to make a motion I think the situation that we're in is ideal because we have so many members If not all the members of the conservation Commission that come with such varied expertise And that really live and breathe this 24-7 with the occasional time you get some family time in there I know having worked with it as my colleagues have with conservation Commission on many issues That the town has been assisted with the experience that the members of concom bring to the table Similar to other committees and commissions But especially with the conservation Commission where we have so many varying issues that you all have to deal with Including my shutting off all the CSO's in the alloy, but I won't go on that So what I'd like to do is move that the members of the town of Arlington conservation Commission are Designated a special municipal Municipal employees in accordance with mass general law chapter 268 a subpart one Thank you second. We have a motion a second further discussion Kevin If Nathaniel wants this I want to give it to him 100% how long have you been there on the commission now yourself? almost 15 years You know I served on the conservation Commission for about three meetings And I wanted to get involved in the town of stuff and I run for town meeting and he told me they met once a month, right? I Go to the first meeting and then they had three meetings more that week You are a special municipal employee in so many ways I support this 100% Further discussion. Yeah. Yeah, thank you This is actually for town council. I read the former town council's memo Is it my understanding that by making these designations that we in addition to increasing the pool of potential candidates that we're providing some protection to Both the those who are serving as well as to the town It would that be fair? I think that's a fair Mr.. Curie, I think that's a fair characterization The critical piece here is that by the accident doesn't mean miss special municipal employees It affords them an appropriate additional amount of flexibility under state ethics laws Which is valuable not only for those individuals, but also for the town the two chief areas that It would impact or their ability to appear before town boards and commissions Yeah, it doesn't obviate the need for certain disclosures But also allows them to have very limited interest in something like a town contract as appropriate It would not in any way ship or form Suggest that conservation commission members should be Participating in a matter of interest before the conservation, of course. So yes, it does afford a significant Protection for the town and those individuals in terms of making sure that we're complying with state ethics law I'm just wondering like annually when we send out. I know the typically council will send out a reminder to members of different boards and commissions in the in the the town of you know the requirements of ethics training or and Reminders about the open meeting lot as it makes sense to remind them that this designation does exist if they choose to come and excess and ask us to to approve it just in terms of making sure they realize that that protection is available and Should be availed of sure. So the reason the the previous town council miss rice's memo was right on point and Perfect didn't really need to be amended anyway. We should perform that was transmitted some years ago to all the committees and commissions and With this year's annual reminder to do your state ethics By annual training or for new members the first training I'd be happy to attach that along with it to remind folks that if it's appropriate for their committee and commission Or board that they can come before the board of selectmen to seek that status. It sounds great Because I think before I joined select, but I don't think I was even aware of this designation So it's great to have a reminder. There's a fairly limited number that have the designation right now I think that's primarily a function of The fact that some committees is probably not necessary There's probably a lot of committees that it's not necessary, but there's also probably some that aren't aware of that option Thank you Thank you very much, and thank you for bringing this to our attention Daniel Um, it does seem like that. This is a simple win-win for the town So and for the conservation commission. So that being said, we have motion a second all those in favor, please say aye Thank you. Thanks very much Moving forward to request One overnight parking space at 57 Milton Street from Dave and Ellen Set sir Mr. Set sir that is me Please say a few remarks. Okay. Thanks 57 Milton Street is downstairs condo and a two-family two condo house My wife and I are leasing it From the condo owner when we leased it back in June We weren't made aware of any parking restrictions in the condo agreement with the upstairs owner About two months ago the upstairs unit was sold to a new couple and Subsequently their Real estate agent and they decided to enforce a restriction that's in the condo agreement that limits each tenant to one car We have to the space that exists as a two-car garage and then a driveway leading up to that our Landlord spoke to the town about the options that we have one of which is applying for a non-street exemption and We also looked at the option of just Parking other places and we decided the best thing because my wife and I both work we go in different directions The best thing to do is to try to ask for the exemption. I understand that they're not lightly given But I'm making a request anyway, and I appreciate your consideration Thank you very much Discussion questions from the board Joe. Thank you very much. Thank you for bringing this first. I'll say, you know, I sympathize with the The play but you are correct. We haven't been traditionally lightly giving them especially The last couple of years, you know, we've recognized that, you know, so many people have come to the board with right Special situations that we did vote to put this before the voters and overwhelmingly they did come back to us and say that they supported the the restrictions on an overnight parking in the town We also as part of the process we we do nevertheless consult with public safety and both the police fire department have also come back to us with Concerns so unfortunately, I won't be able to support the the the request of light. I sympathize with the The the plight. I think it's really unfortunate that your landlord didn't Where we actually We were told we had to be the ones to make the application the landlord is really the person He you know, there's nothing in our leases as we can't have two cars But here we are so I understand and I appreciate your time I really I'm sorry that that I won't be able to support understand I guess I'll move no action and then Just a couple of things we do give out overnight parking permits At hearty school As a possible. I'm sorry, which school party. Okay the elementary school there You can that's through the treasure. I can't even talk through the treasurer's office. I think it's a dollar a day dollar night There's that option for you and then something that's unfortunately Caught before the horse you kind of passed this already But I know an increasing number of homes in Arlington to and three family have gone condoized And my neighbor across the street It took him probably an extra three months to sell his two family is two condos because one of the things He was doing is a lot of times you get to condos you get to completely different own people living there and A lot of the times they're calling the police whether it's somebody likes music all night long So he put a caveat in the sale of his two condo units where he set up sort of this association It was like a CAA I forget what it said for that both of the condo Residents condo owners agree to a process that if there was an issue You already set up sort of a mediation vehicle for them to sit down with the third party To iron out these things now that's not something that's available to you right now I don't know if you can speak to the landlord of the unit to see if that could possibly be negotiated But that's one of the things and I'm amazed by how many calls the police department gets where they're asking us to enforce them It's really out of our hands and similar to this So I so I would put the hearty school option before you as well as maybe in the future I have a conversation with you landlord if you can come up with that process. We'll be moving as soon as we can Hope that you stay in Arlington. Oh, well, I've been here for 15 years. I'm not going anywhere So if you go to the next one make sure there's one So yeah, I agree with my colleagues. See these are our tough votes for us understood and I understood it was Low probability, but I appreciate your time anyway. Well, and thank you for joining Kevin. Yeah, okay. I apologize as well Once police and fire both have objections to it. There's no you can't one in the garage and one behind it There's not enough room. We do that. It's just you know, our upstairs neighbors You know, we don't want to block them out if they come home at midnight, then we're out moving our car and that's Is it inconvenient? Yes, and we're gonna continue to just to live with it. So Then that's all we can do Well, I appreciate your time anyway, thank you, and I hope you enjoyed our meeting It wasn't bad so Thank you. Thank you. We all second the motion. Thank we have a motion to second all those in favor. Please say aye Thank you Moving on for approval the fund balance policy for Sims property fund Mr. Flanagan Thank You mr. Chairman. I have provided the board with an outline With a memo that outlines the brief history and intended purpose of the Sims property fund as we concluded FY 2014 and worked with our auditor's powers and Sullivan one of their recommendations Was that the town develop a fund balance policy for the Sims property fund? And bring up before the board for its consideration and approval so Attached to that memo is a the draft language that we put together For the policy essentially the policy states that an amount equal to the annual debt service Payment for the sim site will be raised on the property tax and deposited Into the sims property fund in addition to a $5,000 allowance if you will for any potential legal costs in the future That are incurred related to the site, you know at this time, we don't anticipate that it be any But it's there more as a safeguard So the town will maintain a debt obligation on the site through FY 22 So what I've done is I put a summary table at the bottom of the proposed language That shows you what the debt service payment is an FY 16 and beyond What that legal reserve would be and then Fund balance not to exceed the bottom line there. So again our intention that this would be in place at least through 2022 Combined sims property tax. I've known bright few exceeds The the cash value of both the debt service payment in the legal reserve. Thank you very much Andrew And we'll say this at the audit visor committee that both Scare when I were at this this came up and I do appreciate you working on it so quickly That being said questions comments. I move approval of the policy is presented by the Thank you Second second further discussion. Mr. Grayley. I just want clarification. So this Will come from property taxes only at the same site Right. So the the debt service payment associated with the parts of the site Will be paid directly from property taxes from the site from the site. Okay for the discussion Seen a discussion from the audience Seeing none. All those in favor, please say aye. I opposed Thank you very much Moving on The discussion and adoption draft selectments handbook chapters seven and eight mr. Greeley so This is on fees and on Starting on our first policy on the alcohol policy and The goal here is for us to get it to one one page for the handbook, but then in the second Material have the full policy available and right now Eve is working on Taking that the policy that currently exists and then just bring everything together so that we'll have one Complete document by the end of things but what this is that you're looking at is A new selectman any citizen of the town Who wants to understand about fees? Could could get this through chapter 7 and then chapter 8 2 pages on the on the summary of our alcohol licenses So comments changes. Thank you, Mr. Greeley. It's Carol missions. Thank you No, again great piece of work. I think my comment isn't isn't really on the the substance of it. It's I'm wondering about the organization of it And what I mean by that is I'm wondering if we're not better served by outlining our authority to grant Licenses but including an appendix in the form of a table that lists each of these license I see you try to get it get at that with section 7 But we yet also list some other licenses as well In section 8 and if we would we had not better served by having an appendix that would be more frequently Updated that would list the license The fee the number Available for example, I see it specifically in the alcohol licenses. We we have written in the Alcohol licenses we we have written into the handbook, you know 15 issued but somebody could come in next week And then we'd have to update the the handbook and it might be easier if we just have one table. It's an appendix and as always You know, we anticipate that will be updated with the supporting information But that's just a suggestion on organization. I think that substantively I like it. That's another great piece of work I guess No, mr. Greeley. I'm unclear That that is what we're trying to list there is but and yes, so so obviously right now all alcohol we can't we can't Grant anymore. We've given out 15 out of 15. That's right. Right. That's right. That's right 5 out of 5 But wine and malt only Right, we that that could be a moving moving target for us. So that when that is we would go in and change We change this that would be the goal Okay Right. I'm here. I'm To my understanding we on We can have any number of wine and malt the way Legislation. Yeah, but we're talking about more how we're displaying it Can I interject? I think that this type of thing is really just an administrative change I don't think a vote of the board needs to be taken to note that there are 20 licenses versus 19 Because right what you're going to be voting the relevant piece of this is the is the summary of the actual policy A change in statistics and figures You know, I don't think would represent a meaningful Alteration that would require the board's approval because the board would have voted to approve the additional license first I think what mr. Curio is sort of suggesting is you know, why not have a table that has all of the Fees and how many licenses are given in a year in one sort of spreadsheet format And is that what you're suggesting mr. Curio? Yeah, it's just a matter of what what's the easiest for for purposes of version control as we go about You know issuing licenses How is it is it easier to go in and update the handbook or to just go to that one table In one place, but I I mean I'd take it either way substantively. I have no problems With what's here and I guess what I would do is look to um Mr. Grayley mrs. Sullivan and town council in terms of What document works best for the actual administration? And oversight in the office whether it's creating this new spreadsheet and dropping some of that information in there and who who maintains it and And contributes to it or if there's something that already exists that Is already there you don't have to recreate or a compilation of the two that we already have a framework in there Now that we're going through this exercise Something may be added on to um to get to mr. Curio's goal in terms of Having worked in there. I know what you know what it could encompass if it doesn't exist Um in in the future it should exist in some form and I'd be interested in what the selectman's office staff Makes as a recommendation as the best tool to get that down cognizant of everybody's time Am I sort of hitting it job? Yes, you are. Okay. Um Do you mean I just want to clarify one thing Do you want to know on limitations or do you just want to know numbers that we have currently or both? Is on part of the just what format is easiest for version control as we take votes going forward On licenses or if we change fees or whatnot Is it easier to go in and update the handbook and the policy sections? You know and pick out the numbers here or is it easier to have one one place where you can do Do I am I understand where drills come from. I think that that could Make it easier. So I'm thinking that when when this is done We'll have this big packet You know say with the handbook or hopefully not that big of a packet with the handbook and um, but perhaps instead of You know having every License that comes out. Um, we have to go in and actually change this document having a Kind of having it in an appendix or in a different area that has the actual number given out might make sense Although I guess I'd have to see what it's like first Before we could really take an action on it. Mr. Chairman if I may is my sort of understanding and recollection that That part of what we're trying to do here is is put together a document that primarily serves the select man and the public I would imagine that the office is going to always have its own separate set of things that are coming in for the office Whereas this is intended to be a little bit more of a public document rather than And a sort of efficient note and sort of I think what miss mahan was was sort of Pointing to so I I would concur with the chairman's assessment that one of the things that would be valuable in this exercise Is to see what the completed book looks like And then assess as mr. Kuro is suggesting. Hey, is this the way this information can best be presented? With respect to the fees and charges and the Number of licenses that wouldn't be very difficult for us to move move around That probably some of the easiest information for us to say either we can Have it be duplicative or we can move it from this to just a spreadsheet It's really the policy. I think and this is the point miss mahan was sort of raising a couple of minutes ago it's really the policy the substantive policies that We want to have be relatively secure and agreed upon For the time being I don't know if this is really I hope I have our Correctly articulated this Brilliantly so I would say But I compliment you on your tie today, sir I'd actually like to see a joke, you know what I mean? It's uh, I'm not visioning what you're saying. Yeah well enough But if you could give us a little sample of it or or yeah, I can to some way we could present this that would work better for people I have no No objections. Yeah, I can take the crack at it. I could take the crack Couple of points I would like to make additionally if I may that it's very important on the alcohol policy That it's clear to people. These are non transferable. The license doesn't go with the establishment The the owners cannot sell the licenses If if they wanted to the the new owner would have to go through the entire process again Um And it it reverts back to the board of selectmen The other thing I'd just like to raise is that you know as we now head into town meeting Season and as we know and I'm sure Marie is watching us at home when she probably should be in bed asleep But we're now six months that our own staff has been really working very very hard And uh, Mary Ann has worked very hard on this with us by way of saying we're probably going to slow down a bit On the handbook that we may not be every meeting able to bring Something like this in front of you. Uh, but we're not losing sight of it either. We just I just we we have and I I couldn't have done it without Mary Ann without Doug without Steve without Eve without Andrew Uh Gotten us this far and we will continue but we're just heading into a very busy season For town council for the board of selectmen Staffs in the select tones busiest season So that we save in that Yes, it is a select on season as well So any other changes or recommendations to either the fees or the policy summary? Not seem done. Do we have a uh motion? I Again always I'm I should say right right away. I move that we accept Uh, it's chapter seven and eight for the handbook Thank you very much. I'm wishing a second further discussion Seeing none, um I Thank you all for your work All those in favor, please say aye. Aye opposed Thank you very much. Um Correspondents receive the ACMI annual audit A request for tax input for regarding the spypond tennis courts renovation from Joe Connelly the director of recreation and a request to memorialize Robert McMurray McMurray, McMurray, I'm sorry From our colleague Dan Dunn who Unfortunately could not be here with us tonight Kevin receipt Move receipt and specifically on our colleague's request that we do Indeed Send this request to the memorial committee With our recommendation for approval Thank you. Um Would you like to um Ask for tax input on the Well, I was just talking about the robert McMurray. Okay, we'll do that separately. Um We have a motion do we have a second second a motion and second all those in favor, please say aye. I opposed And then I'll move that we refer to tack on on the tennis court rent renovations. Is that what you want to the mr. Chairman? Uh, please. Yes, sir. So And I would like to note that in, uh, mr. Connelly's request. He does ask about, um Some traffic calming measures for that area and I I believe that at the last meeting we took up that So so I would ask that they perhaps consider mr. Connelly's First request and um real and acknowledge that we have already um dealt with the second one If that's okay with everyone else, uh, we have a motion a second all those in favor, please say aye I opposed Thank you very much. Um onto new business marion No, no business. Thank you dug One small bit of new business as the board may recall Several meetings ago. There was a discussion about what was required in order to change, uh the speed limit A couple of members of the board remembered Pieces of the process I just wanted to update the board on that process without going into too much detail Basically a conversation has to be admitted has to be started with the local district of mass d or t There's an engineering research that is required At some point it would require a board vote on a recommendation After the engineering study, but as I believe Ms. Mahon and mr. Really recalled it still has to be approved both by the rmv and mass dot so Folks were correct in their recollection that the board certainly couldn't do it on its own, but the board does have the authority to sort of Take a vote to try to amend the speed limit after there's been an engineering study in some initial work. So The town manager's office will have to Do the groundwork for seeing if it's feasible and appropriate to address that issue And then report to this this board Once there's some initial conversations with The department of transportation Yes, please I want to thank you and the town manager for following up on that And then just sort of one step out, especially with mass dot if We could sort of get yours or mr. Chaplin's opinion Sometimes you go in Seek a request and you start a process with mass dot And because of what their current rules and regulations are You are subjected to something else So one of the things that I know is is being looked at is also saying, okay, if we do go down this road, especially at mass dot Knowing what their rules and regulations are What probably that will kick in so that we can take that under consideration along with the town manager If this is the avenue we want to explore that's right I think it'll be important to have all of our ducks in a row and to really even assess the feasibility of an engineering study Before initiating too formal of a conversation with the mass duty. Thank you. Thank you, miss farman. Thank you very much Just very quickly. I'm pleased to report this past week town manager adam chaplain and his wife rita Welcome their first child pearl avish chaplain she arrived seven pounds nine ounces Uh, both pearl and mama doing great and we hear dad's doing pretty well too. So We hope he's enjoying his time with his family Thank you very much. Andrew That is great news kevin well First of all, we'd like to invite pearl to join the We have three gigs lined up this uh a week from the saturday at the cusick towers. We're going to do a morning concert at quarter of ten at cusick On the 16th at seven o'clock will be a drake village And on the 20th at two o'clock. We're going to be at the bright view. So, uh, we're gonna You know now that we know that the tax and the debt exclusion paid off there All the anybody who likes to sing christmas cows are invited to join us All of you are required to join us. Thank you, sir But if they do join you one time, they're in for life. So Watch out. You only have to show up. It's a that's a little caveat that kevin fails to mention Miss mahan, uh, just one thing and sort of piggybacking on Mr. Grayley kevin said earlier regarding the selectman handbook. Um Just had had conversations with the town council the town manager and mrs. Sullivan About yes, we're getting the warrant ready. But one of the other things just sort of to set as a possible goal um, I know About a year 14 months ago when I think miss rice was here. So it might be a little bit longer We started discussing along the hackney licenses the insurance coverage Requirement that it varied amongst different, um, hackney applicants And that one of the things that was sort of the Motivating factor for it was the globe spotlight had done a Story on three different people who were in taxi cabs that suffered Consequences, but the coverage for bodily injury was only 20 000. I do work for a law firm that Was handling one of those and I know it can go up into the six figures. So we were doing that We were initially waiting because we had heard from the state house at the insurance regulation commission was holding hearings on it It's sort of ballooned more and now we have another political issue of uber. So I was speaking with um, mrs. Sullivan in the Town manager that what I'd like to do is get proactive So that possibly the first week in january we get some Recommendations from patrick quinn who appeared before us who's in insurance liability from town council who appeared before us I mean who works first and speaks to us And then at the last meeting in january have final vote and discussion because I don't want to wait any longer on Recommendations from the insurance commission because they've also sort of tied into that uber Conversation and what I'd like to do is set On recommendations that this board agrees with the caveat that if we move that schedule to we don't have the initial Board info to the end of january and then the second meeting february I'd leave that to the chairman in the selectman's office, but I'd like to set something and I guess I would ask through the chair Either Answer right now or in the future You know am I correct that the board of selectmen can set? Oh, and I did ask Mr. Sullivan to provide us with What's the least amount of coverage and what's the most the newer applicants are coming in on their own with higher coverage Just so we have that as a range But is it my understanding correct that the board of selectmen we can set a uniform insurance liability policy coverage that If the state comes out with recommendations in the future If ours are better we can keep what we have or if what they recommend is even a better thing We can turn and adopt to that But my question would be can we set something and if for some reason the state for whatever reason political or not Really come close to us. Can we still set our own recommendation for our hackney licenses concerning the insurance coverage? And if you you don't have to give an answer tonight and that you want I just want to make sure I understand so the is the question Do you want to resolve this before the insurance commission comes out with this recommendation? So you'd like to set a set a rate and then I mean I I think practically speaking the first question is Can we set a rate that's above? What the insurance commission recommends period And the second question is what's the most practical way Of adjusting that rate if the insurance commission comes in above or below Will we believe the rate should be and I'll address both those questions and formally answer them for you. Thank you I will um, I I think that The first meeting in january is a target date. Um, have we spoken to patrick? Um on that if we're asking him for a recommendation I I don't think it's appropriate to ask him for the first week in january with the holidays here He actually did give a recommendation back last time that he spoke I would want to verify it just to make sure he still feels what he had sent me is correct on You know, I'll shoot that off to him, you know tomorrow the next day to try to give him time And I'll ask him if he's ready I'll include that information in your board info And then we'll plan it as an agenda item. Is is this the recommendation? Yeah, I am Yeah, that will we'll work on it. I I think maybe the second meeting in january might work better Just working with holiday. Yeah, we will um, but we'll work on that and we won't lose sight of it. Thank you Joe I just wanted to I want to Graduate the the chamber on another successful first lights event You'll recall that the board waved with saturday parking fees to try to encourage Shop local initiative. Um, I saw mr. Greeley Making the rounds On saturday I was um Let's say I was in spirit I was I was with a visitor from the north Um, but the night before I've been with some visitors from the south Uh, we had about 200 people came out for the uh, the tree lighting and I think it was the first community event on the newly redone Broadway Plaza which was Fantastic was a fantastic place for it and in attendance was the um city manager from big rivier south africa And and a coral group that from south africa. You'll recall. We adopted a proclamation for them who helped came and helped to To usher it in it was the day after First anniversary of nelson-mandela's death and it also just happened to be the same night that they said they had their light festival back in South africa, which was fantastic So I I did want to just say that this in addition to being a commerce event This this brought together a lot of other groups. Some of the local churches had their groups out singing I got to see the the audison acapella group was wandering around capital square with the cori gaffney's group And I wanted to thank also Bless you the manager as well as some of our our town employees jimmy dodge and jimmy largenton Helped a lot, you know, everybody was enjoying the lights up and down the avenue I mean dpw puts a lot of work into those and they made sure that the logistics were there for The tree and the tree lighting because the power there is hooked into the fire station, which is under construction And and it came off without a hitch Sergeant padrini and his some of his officers were on hand to help at the tree lighting for make sure the pedestrians were Safe and such and then of course the fire department gave their Assistance the next day to a number of elves and that visitor from the from the north So it was a great community event and I want to thank all of those folks for helping to make it make it happen So, thank you very much. Thank you. Um, I have no new business so We have a motion a second all those in favor, please say Thank you everyone