 Good evening And I'm going to call to order the select board meeting of June 4th at 6 34 p.m We'll start with our opening remarks announcements and agenda review Just on on those lines I know we've got a couple of people here for specific items on the agenda will try to move you up in the agenda to take care of You guys it looks like there might be some folks for public comment, which we'll do in just a moment Unless you're here for something on the agenda things that you want to publicly comment on that are specifically on the agenda We'll have you wait until that time in our agenda, but if you're coming to just give us a general public comment We will be happy to hear from you. Do any of the members have anything that they want to add to or? notice about the agenda today or anything all right if not then we'll see if there's some folks for public comment I'll just lay out the rules like we usually do we usually limit to you to about three minutes or so We we generally won't respond or ask any questions that sort of thing we take the information from you and and make a note of it and Potentially will follow up at a later date and time if necessary So are there people here for public comment? We'll have you go first. So make sure to state your name and and The reason for being here So we got to have you come up to the mic a little bit so they can pick you up for the TV, but thank you Oh Thank you Great, thank you Yes I'll keep it short and sweet it is in fact the federal crime to conspire or take part in a conspiracy to deny a person their constitutional rights and This is called Prima facia evidence. I did study law. They are admitting That they have been committing this crime ongoing Lee for two years and they signed it so they are in fact guilty by their own words and their own signature and I think there needs to be an investigation. I think we need to know who went town hall knew about this Who took part in it? Do they have emails? It's also a crime to destroy evidence It's also a crime called obstruction of justice. I would like to know What did you know? When did you know it? What did you do? What did you say and what part did you play? That's about it. All right. Thank you very much so We have a second person. I believe for public comment My name is Bill L. Sasser of the Antwell and Tedatively I was weeding around the fountain Down the street. Is it called the Swiss or Swiss? Yesterday or the day before and I realized how slight the water flow and how archaic the Design of the excuse me. I've Parkinson's How archaic the design of the fountain is and I don't know if any of you have ever been to the University of Iowa it's frontal space its interest is comprises some archaic Monumentalia and it is eerie and this this fountain Comprises a similar eeriness and I would like to suggest that some high school class design class or Amherst College or even UMass be given the Perhaps competitive assignment of designing a an inexpensive but more Dynamic fountain for Amherst, Massachusetts. That's about all right. Thank you So next on our agenda We'll skip ahead since we have some guests here today And so we'll go into section seven which is licenses public way and mirrored parking reservations And so I think for no reason at all I'm going to select you to come up and tell us about your event which I understand is On our consent counter, but we can pull it out. So if you'd want to tell us a little bit it gives you an opportunity to To advertise Not that there's any new thing relative to what you're asking for from us But it's an opportunity on on TV to tell about your event So if you would be so kind of introduce yourself then tell us about your event sure Thanks. Hi, I'm Jen label with big brothers big sisters of Hampshire County and I come before you tonight to request some parking meters to be bagged At various times for our event Amherst crafts on the common and This will help us get our artisans in and get them unloaded quickly And Help us set up for the craft fair and then later help us break down the craft fair by Allowing artisans to get their vehicles close by and loaded quickly at the end of the show Hey, and so the date of the event is the so it's Saturday, June 23rd And the event runs from nine to four, but the preparation starts much earlier. It starts at 6 a.m. So we've actually requested that the meters be bagged the night before To make sure that they're free and open for the artists in the next morning Great. So the couple of questions. I'm gonna ask relative to this are Have you reached out to because of remembering correctly Farmers market the farmers market and the Lord Jeffrey and both it's good to be aware so that they know because they might also Want to inform their overnight guests to park in a different place than they might otherwise So sure I did reach out to the manager of the farmers market via email I've not yet heard back So I'll try to do that again And I've not yet reached out to the Lord Jeffrey and but I'm familiar with the manager and I'd be happy to do that Great. I just think it helps sort of smooth it all Absolutely as far as the setup and that sort of thing and and the request as far as actual spots that you're looking for is the Same as it has been has that changed at all? I think so. I tried to verify the number of parking spaces Before sending the request. I think it has been different in different years But basically I was hoping to get as much parking along either side as I could again just to expedite the process getting people Unloaded quickly and and then allowing them to move their vehicles Out of the way for others. Thank you. Do my colleagues have questions? or Comments or want to make a motion or any of the above miss or so as As we've repeatedly asked of staff We now have right here noted on our motion sheet that it's the exact same request as 27 and previous 2017 and previous so that's really helpful to know because I do know that it has varied a little bit over the years But knowing that it's been this way for a while is helpful So did someone want to make a motion? I moved to approve the reservation of metered parking spaces bordering the town common 13 on the east side of South Pleasant Street and 21 on the west side of Boltwood Avenue at both beginning at College Street and Progressing north to the intersection of Spring Street beginning at 9 p.m. On Friday June 22 2018 to 7 a.m. Saturday June 23rd 2018 for the first five metered Parking spaces to South Pleasant Street beginning at the intersection of Spring Street moving south and there are many metered spaces to 9 a.m. Saturday June 23rd 2018 and on Saturday June 23rd 20 we got a problem like it's a stopback because that should have been the for the fright Yeah, so actually I guess it should be So they're overnight until the following morning Right, and then I think it it's there's a group that go until 7 a.m. And a group that go till 9 a.m. From Friday night into the next morning and then a separate block of time in the late afternoon Would you like me to clarify? Is that look at it? I think that's just confusing you have a do you mean where it goes from 9 a.m. the night before because they have to beg the meters before people come in to 7 a.m. and then Another remaining space is still 9 a.m. And then from Saturday Well And then on Saturday the 23rd, it's 3 30 to 6 30 it is confusing I'm wondering if there might have been a typo. Yeah, I think it's just It's awkwardly word. I think that what I would like to do if there's agreement from all is if we take a recess later to look at the wording of it and to come back and Pass it tonight with just revisions that we might make to clarify wording So that you don't need to stay We promise we are gonna do it. Okay, yes But I think that it needs to be worded a little bit more clearly and then I think it'll be easier to implement Thanks, the goal is really to just like I said have those spaces right at 6 a.m. Make sure they're all clear Allow the people attending as vendors to unload quickly Open the spaces back up at 9 a.m. On the 23rd and then later close them up close them off So that when the fair ends up for the spaces are free people can move their vehicles back load up quickly and Clear the park If I might I think we understand that it's just We'll check our Language, but otherwise it's not I don't think anyone has any issue with with the request and I think you are very familiar with Yeah, no, it's a great event. We appreciate having it as part of the summer activities We always wish great success and great weather for you for this To make it a really wonderful event and we appreciate your cooperation with the farmers market Okay Yes, I mean I think we could go ahead and vote that it'll be fixed later if it needs to be I mean the problem is we're trying to do too many things in one sense I mean, it's just a bad habit. We've developed too many days in too many Bad habit we've developed when it could easily be separate sentences and communicate quite effectively what we know to be true from the little green And red dots, right? It's all very straightforward All right, so do you want to take a vote on the motion or do you want to wait and I think we should To be amended later tonight Does that make that work for people we may not even need to change anything except to put like a period and a capital in There somewhere, okay, so is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Hi Post so that's unanimous with one person absent. Thank you very much. Thank you all So next we'll have our other guests come up if you would be so kind and to tell us about The reason you're here who you are and why you're here and then we'll You are a bit of business with you and give you an opportunity to tell us a little bit about Why you're with us this morning. Hi. Good evening. My name is Christopher Ware and Alex Walsh it Jake's restaurants and Nice to meet you all Yeah, we just recently acquired the former bread-and-butter restaurant space in Northampton Mill District and We're looking to expand our restaurant Jake's in Northampton on this side of the bridge Yeah, so we're here to apply for the common Vic license, you know as a first step. I've been working with the idea Permitting Department in order to get our ducks in a row with inspections and such but that's about where we are Questions for them from the board Just a statement that I've enjoyed Jake's for breakfast Jake's for lunch in Northampton I've been in Northampton and We look forward to having the same Quality of establishment in Northamers, and we do we plan to prepare plan to provide that This is a chance for a little free promo as well, so I'm wondering if you want to tell us what you know kind of what your vision is for the restaurant Is it gonna be exactly like Northampton or yeah same menu? Or do you have some other ideas or might you later? Change your hours to do more things just the general vision and because you some yeah So when we plan to start off with kind of a direct mimic of the menu But we do have kind of a much larger kitchen so we can get much more creative and And the dining area really lends itself to a more kind of contemporary menu too So we may in the future expand to try some dinners or some special events We do plan to go for a full liquor license as we've seen that they are available within town I've been working with the department department and with zoning it could be some small hurdles But they have shared me that it's something we could go for down the road Yeah I'm noticing that your Common vix license is seven days a week 7 a.m. To 3 p.m. So is that because it's coincident with your Other permits, but you would come back and I think it's pretty easy to modify that. Should you want to do? Yes Of the process that we'd have to go through in order to do that once we do obtain the liquor license and choose to extend our hours Yeah, we don't we don't plan on You know changing much to get go for at least the first year we're really just trying to focus on you know operations and and Marrying the same hours of operation that we have in North Hampton, which is seven to three it seems to work as a model for us I just have a couple of questions Associated a couple associated with the actual application We have in front of us is it more accurate to say Christopher where Chris where because it says Chris where in our motion? And would you what would you prefer because it says Christopher on the oh Christopher is fine great Yeah, so we tend we try not to use diminutives unless people ask for them Great, and I'm sorry and you're Alexander Alexander Sometimes we have people in front of us who aren't on that license which is totally fine because we really just list one person But that way our minutes are accurate So thank you, mr. Brockman for making a note of that and the other thing while I want to enthusiastically welcome you to Amherst and really thrilled that the space is going to be reprogrammed and we're especially thrilled It's going to be by someone with such great experience in North Hampton that I think we've probably all Gone to at one point or another. I do want to also say that of course as obviously you would be aware The liquor license is a separate Conversation that is not automatic We look forward to having that And I'm glad that you've already been working closely enough with staff to understand like when you want to have a special dinner What you need to do in order to do that What do you think you'll be open we're shooting for maybe soft openings in August and hopefully full swing for September once all the students Come back into town. That's how we're shooting for It's great to have you. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, we're really glad to be here. Yeah. Yeah, we're excited about the opportunity It's beautiful. It's three years old. It's modern. It's yeah It's perfect. Yeah, and everyone we've met here in town. It's been really warm and very, you know, super generous and supportive So it's a great kind of welcome feeling that we've got in here. So it's yeah, it's a nice town and I might mention what that Population is about to increase in their neighborhood. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Yeah with the development across the street It's actually gonna be pretty hopefully pretty good for us and for North Amherst, you know a lot of workers It's a great area. Oh, it's true. That's true. And then a hundred and forty apartments in about 18 months or something like that So yeah, should be good. Yeah, that's exciting time up there. Yeah, it is Great. Is there a further question or comment for this? Would someone like to make the motion? I Move to approve the application of Jake's eggs ink doing businesses Jake's for a common vitual or life and since to operate on the premises of 68 Coles Road Seven days a week from 7 a.m. To 3 p.m. Christopher where manager slash co-owner It's their second second So the motion is second is it for the discussion hearing none all those in favor, please say hi And that's unanimous with one member absent. So thank you all very much So now we've jumped a couple hoops there we'll go back to our sort of regular agenda order that we typically follow So next up is under action discussion items for a which is the Mill Street Bridge Project update. Mr. Moring is here to to walk us through that a little bit and then there'll be some additional Mill Street related topics So in your packet, I believe you have the really complicated mass highway drawings with all the details for Unreadable fonts aren't small enough. I mean it's actually very very good there You can actually build a bridge with those so if you wanted to So The contractor ETNL has moved on site. They moved on site last week Starting to get ready to close the bridge permanently tomorrow The fences will go up and the bridge will be closed and they'll start work shortly thereafter So the work is to take out the existing bridge To put in a larger bridge if you look at the profile on the first sheet Does show that the new bridge is about 57 feet long. So it is longer The length is to accommodate the stream in the river below so we can do away with the scourish conditions we have at the old bridge and then we have it laid out as a One travel lane for vehicles and a multi-use path. So that was approved There will be some need at some point for the select board to make the final determination about it's officially one way and We are recommending it's one way uphill or to the south We're doing that because if you're The side to be on is on the right side And well, you're on the right side no matter which way you're going, aren't you? You would be on the The west side and if you actually were to lose control you go into the wooded area around here in the curve If we went downhill and the sidewalk would be up Excuse me you go uphill this side and the sidewalk is on here So if you lost control you would go off into the woods you wouldn't cross the sidewalk If you actually change the direction went downhill The natural side for the sidewalk is on the west side if you lost control going down the hill You'd Korean across the sidewalk. So that was one of the reasons we're doing it The other reason was we were told a lot of people like to stand on the bridge and look at the waterfall So having the multi-use path on the dam side Accommodates people for looking at the waterfall without standing in the drive in the travel lane of vehicles So that's why it was set up that way So work is we'll begin next work and Ernest will begin next week. I assume They're just closing it off this week and doing some other prep work. So if there's any questions, I'll happy to answer them Length of time of construction the contract is for one year Mr. Steinberg I was just curious as to whether there are any Traffic engineering reasons or state law reasons why One way is required for a one lane Bridge because I know of plenty of places in the country where there are one lane bridges that People just alternate direction on That's correct, but most of those bridges. It's one way all the way at the bridge So So usually usually what happens in that case is this is the bridge right here It would be two ways on both sides and only one way across the bridge So we're proposing that it's be one way all the way up the state street And that there be a multi-use path all the way across the bridge and up the state street If you were to do something like that, you'd have to have some You'd have to have some type of signalization To make sure when it's across and that's clear and then so that's why we didn't do it that way So to follow up on that just a little bit with the multi-use Excuse me with the multi-use path Is all of that part of the the mass to t project or is it just the bridge part itself and the rest of it Is our project the mass d o t project? Let me move a little bit So the multi-use path on the bridge project. We'll start here at this driveway and we'll end right here And then we'll pick up the rest Mr. Steinberg's question might have been I know Along the way that conversations come up been brought up about the two-way alternating or not and It was my understanding that while that is done and can be done and Hadly just had that during construction. It's really not a good thing to do only is it the difference that you described but I Know for some people the fact that it's going to be one way has been expressed how inconvenient that is because it's circle but I Understood and actually believe that alternating is really not the safest Most prudent way to set this up. So in addition to describe them You want to comment on that? If you if you were to do it that way and still have pedestrian bicycle use of this area It was making it much more much more difficult area that traverse So this is a highly used pedestrian bicycle area in the summer and to have two-way traffic and the bicycles and pedestrians It just will just kind of make it really a lot more difficult if you had a straight bridge You had no this curve right here This blind curve also causes a great deal of concern as drivers zip around as they used to before the bridge was closed If those weren't there then having maybe an alternating at the bridge would be fine But you put all these things together the blind curve The pedestrians and bicyclists trying to use this as well. You actually add a lot of Confusion that makes it more difficult to have an alternating bridge there And the reason I wanted to follow up a little is you know, we're out and about people ask us Hey, why did they do that? And I wanted it to be this other one. And it's it's good for us to have some True but in factual responses so we can explain it and just lay person's terms. So people ask us these things I'm convinced that with the when you pointed out about the multi-use path that that creates a distinction from Any place that I've ever seen where it's been a workable not have seen places where it's been workable, but As you point out this would not be one of them Along those lines It would be different if this bridge just went to a neighborhood that was a neighborhood that the same people had lived They're 50 years and it was just inconvenient for them to now get out of their house But while it is certainly inconvenient for some people and has been in variations over the last several years We have new users here all the time And so that that helps me adjust my head around all of this too Because we will have so many visitors and people who don't normally drive down that way And it'll be a new multi-use path, etc. So it's not just the same five people using that that direction all the time So this will be this is for your consideration not to just to decide tonight But in context of a larger sort of traffic pattern that we'll be talking about on there's a next agenda item that you'll take into consideration Not because of bridge construction will take some time There'll be some time to digest what it's going to look like so these things are sort of connected as well So unless there's other bridges And then if you also get asked the question Why don't you just use the wooded land beside it to open it up that is conservation land on the corners so This this corner here is conservation land and this corner on this side of the bridges conservation land So in order to do that because of the way the state has it that we'd have to go to the legislature to get that Removed and we had to replace that conservation land. So it wasn't an easy fact of just also to widen the bridge out That was another issue that was discussed How long has the been bridge been closed already? I believe we closed in 2012 So anything open will be an improvement from people Take it away long enough, right I think you know my thought about it one way is just given the typically when you have a Single lane, but two directional bridge. It's a very very low volume. Usually very rural circumstance and well And this just doesn't satisfy that especially the multi-use path. I think so especially in the summer, right? Yeah, I don't want to get into grand debates on this But I do know of two circumstances where they're crossings of the Erie Canal in an urban area with fairly heavy traffic And it is that way, but I don't think they're analogous for the reasons that mr. Moring has already stated and I think that's a very important point So are there other questions about the bridge proper if not We'll ask mr. Moring to take us into our next agenda item, which is the the first look at at Mill Street and State Street traffic which is sort of building off of the Bridge project So when the public Works Committee started talking about the bridge and aligning the bridge and how to change the bridge when it was closed That's that time the conservation department was also going through their Puffers 2020 study So there was a lot of people who were talking about what to do about Puffers pond and improving puffers pond who also came one of the issues was was more pedestrian access Around puffers and from the bridge and tying the to the South Beach and the North Beach together So a concept came up and it was kind of tossed around and then recently we've started tossing this concept around again And this is just a concept This is just to get us started and the top start talking about it What we would do is we would take State Street Over here is the over here is the bridge. This is Mill Street comes in the State Street This would be one way and then State Street would be two way for a short period because we have to access this one driveway this house 172 State Street only has one driveway now and it is off of State Street And then once we get past this driveway we make the the road that runs along Puffers pond and through this area one way We would move the parking to the right we make it one way to the north kind of northeast And that way we could make it a little more a little calmer a little safer right now. It's two lane traffic There's approximately there is parking on the On this side here actually that's the north side. There's no parking on the left side along along the pond So if we move and we stripe it the way it's striped now We have 36 existing spaces and we drop down to 29 spaces Supposedly to count spaces we had to choose a number and we chose 22 feet as a space But when you're out at Puffers pond there are no spaces marked out people park as close as they want to so Even if we change it, they'll still be able to park as close as they want to in this section We came up to the This is the access to the beach where the handicapped spaces are We chose to take this whole section and do away with the parking because this is the point where people access Emergency vehicles or any other type of vehicle the maintenance vehicles would access The beach the South Beach from this area. So we got rid of all the parking. This is the parking on the bridge We took that parking out there are some little structural issues with the bridge of bridge Buttments and the wing walls all around the culverts there that We thought if we move traffic to the middle and got rid of parking on the sides that might help it for us So they have some walkways on both sides of the bridge and then traffic through the middle You do lose eight spaces. There's ten all together right now You keep the two handicapped spaces and you lose the other ones As you go up Across the bridge We looked at getting away from having parking on the river side That's to help stabilize the banks and make the river better We put angle in parking along this side the north side And then we still keep it one way There are two handicapped spaces here, which would stay We go up through this area here. It's very tight. The trees don't allow you to have angle in parking We shifted the road over And then we start having angle parking on this side We continue that angle parking all the way up to about this point and that fits now If you're at State Street and you're walking These are the areas where the boulders are on the right side of the road as you're heading towards bridge There's a line of boulders and there's a couple trees and another line of boulders We would push those boulders back and allow you to angle in parking there once you get to it so Roughly there's 70 spaces Along this area here now because people can park on both sides. We restrict parking to one side You can get 40 spaces out after that Once we get to this point Here past the angle parking we go back to parallel parking on one side only because it's we're making it one way they're parking on that pavement and then we put in a turnaround So the one way you will end at this point. This is roughly about 200 300 feet from the railroad bridge This turnaround is to accommodate the people who live on State Street on the north end of the railroad bridge They have two-way traffic and we didn't want to take away their two-way traffic from them So if a delivery truck or someone who's not familiar with the area came down from this area They can come down turn around head back out without going one way down the road So in this section, there's about 56 Spaces that exist and there's 30 of those spaces wouldn't remain So this is kind of what we're proposing. There's been some comments about how what to do for pedestrians We've talked about taking the travel way, which in most cases has shown on here being 14 feet and striping it for as 10 feet and having a Four-foot area for people to walk that's sort of striped that way. This is a walking area This is the travel way and this is the parking area So there's all sorts of little concepts we're talking about there's been some discussion about two-way bicycling and how we would accommodate that which It's a little tighter and we have to do some I mean we have to do some innovative things to accommodate that as well But that's our proposal and this is the start of this conversation The transportation advisory committee has seen it and the conservation commission has seen it as well But we want to kind of talk about this The time period is is that we would talk about it Maybe have something that we can install for September before the student around the students return after the season's over And then it'd be in full operation for the next the next each season so just to add to that the Assistant town manager the superintendent public works and the police chief and fire chief and I all work walked the entire area Mainly to talk about the public safety Requirements that the police and fire thought they had to address they wanted to have addressed as we start to think through this and in addition We wanted to have the least intrusive kind of change so that maintain the entire road maintained It's sort of rural character, which is really kind of a special part of that road But try to accommodate as many parking spaces as we could Right now. It's you know, if you drive up there in the summer, it's very dangerous I think and that's why one of the things that We are trying to address with this this accommodation This board so You know that one of the first questions is going to be about parking spaces And all the people who like to imagine people are going to stop driving cars But we know that's not happening immediately. Are we really talking about a net loss of 64 spaces? if you can't consider a space between two feet, yes, and What is our theory as to what we're doing with all those people since obviously not every space is in use all the time now but sometimes they are and So that's a lot of cars We don't we don't see much parking up towards the other the upper end in this area So that's not feeling like as big of an impact. That's not used There there could be some spillage and we've talked about there might be spillage On the other side of State Street There's only there's no parking on one side of that side of State Street already, but we have we have thought about that We are a little concerned So we're like when you squeeze the eclair kind of goes somewhere. So we are a little concerned of that Screw well, I mean I had had that concern and it sounds like you're not gonna strike the spaces because you want it to be I Give this a bunch of small cars. Maybe you get it in people are reasonable about how they pull in and Large RV thing, but I'm wondering if there's any opportunity To have like an overflow flow space that's maybe a little further, but it's like everything's full But if you know if you go Just a little further just in for 20 more cars Not necessarily a lot. I mean that kind of squeezing the eclair But you gotta walk a little further and I'm wondering also You know, you know, this is just the concept kind of thing. So we're not we're not gonna pick on it too much But the signage because if we're gonna do this We have to have a way to make it clear to people what the new rules are and think about how we're gonna enforce it because my limited experience on the parking committee without the accompanying Signage and enforcement and then that gets into the sort of rural character Cuz once you start putting in the lines and showing that the other handicap ones are handicapped And you do know that it's not gonna be as rural, but it's gonna be safer So you're balancing safety and economy with you know the way it used to be You know when I started going there 50 years ago and it was like totally funky and that's kind of the charm But it doesn't work with 90 cars there We've thought about that and it is a delicate situation We've talked about just reducing the signage keeping it as low as we can and doing more pavement striping on on the road So people can see what's on the road So things like that will probably be used more than actually just trying to put signs up that are They are all the time park at your own risk It's just under so two different things but I'm stuck with parking first So any concerns that on the busiest days of when Puffer's Pond is having the highest demand that they'll be parking going up Sand Hill Road and What the consequences of that might be if it were to happen? We've kind of floated that idea too We it might happen in Sand Hill is a little harder to park on and people may not want to park on it because of the steepness of the hill we're thinking more it'd be State Street that gets more parking on it than Other side of State Street will get much more parking than Sand Hill, but then again We're open to look at it if we actually were to do this We are taking the low low-key low-tech approach So if we decided to change it and the only thing that would be there that's not there now would be this turn around at the very end That would be the only thing we have to build to accommodate This type of trial we can paint out the other lines and get rid of them We need to if it doesn't really function well, but we think it'll we think this will do it Just we're sort of sharing some brainstorming The low-tech low messaging using striping there may be some ways with some landscape architecture Thinking to use some landscaping to also demark and suggest to people I know it's less of the you know just strewn bolder look, but you know some planting areas or some other use of stone and whatever to that match Materials that are there to help guide people To where they're supposed to go and it is more of a little bit more built environment But matching materials that are around there Small trees whatever That's So my other issue and I mr. Zamek might help me with this one, but If I am visualizing this correctly where you have on the lower the bump out of the Lower part of the road as we're looking at it with the two handicapped places. That's where The Robert Frost trail comes in on one side. I believe it's yeah, it's Locally called the Kevin flood trail. Yeah, it goes over the Robert Francis bridge. So there are two handicapped spaces there because Technically it is an ADA trail So it's crushed on TRG Yeah, it's still a pretty good shape. So it's but it is marked as the Robert Frost trail and then the Robert Frost trail continues Just before the bridge That's to the left there Which means you're gonna get a lot of people walking With kids who are gonna be going through that area that has a lot of parking places There What are the safety factors for people? With or without young kids Walking the Robert Frost trail along there. I think that's a great point And it's good feedback for us to take tonight as Guilford said this is you know He and I have been talking about this for over five years as mr. Bachman said we we did a walk around with with public safety all of us and and Guilford's team designed this But no, we need to look at where people are going. What are the desire lines out there? if they're coming down the Robert Frost from the east and Cutting over at the Kevin flood trail and then going around the perimeter trail as as mr. Steinberg said We need to look at that and our people are gonna be backing out of there As mr. Moring said earlier we we want to try to achieve a walking path a safe walking path on one side Preferably the pond side of State Street, and we haven't quite achieved that yet. We run into some wetlands. We run into slope It gets a little more challenging. I will say that I look at this as an incremental change You may recall as as mr. Moring said the Puffer spawn 2020 group looked very extensively at the parking issue and what they concluded was You know simply the road and the pond has exceeded its carrying capacity And this is an incremental way even if we shrink parking a little bit We we also talked about adding more bike racks. There's only one bike rack at Puffer spawn There should be multiple bite places for people to leave bicycles again. I Respect miss Brewers come comment about you know people aren't going to necessarily change overnight their their driving habits, but We do need to bring the parking in the safety issues under control, and I look at this as an incremental In keeping with the rural road solution I will say that Puffer spawn 2020 actually came up with a proposal to put I'm going to say it's a planter. Oh, yeah a 50 265 I think is my recollection Space parking area up here in the woods, so I think that's a more impactful solution But it's something we could look at in the future if these more subtle You know incremental steps don't work Well, just to play devil's advocates sort of doing that all day Having that almost as overflow because you know designing for the three hottest heaviest use days might be overkill, but there are different materials for Overflow parking for that kind of event where when it finally pushes to that you have that there But it's still kind of grassy There's different materials the problem with incremental is then you have to come back in ten years and make another change in another change There's a part of me that's like figure it out do a really good design do it once people hate it for two days Because it's a change and then you're done in like instead of a little pain a little pain Oh now we're changing it. I mean having a really good plan and really executing it and then I mean not that you don't always have to revisit stuff But there's something about the incremental like, you know a toe in boiling water and then you're you know And again, I would also add having some landscape architecture Ideas integrated into how we do this not just the engineering part totally appreciate those comments I will say that this is with almost no budget as well to do a parking lot here You're probably talking about a couple hundred thousand dollars So maybe you remark that as the future overflow so that people know that that's in the plan and then you you know We also think that these modest improvements and changes to parking Will Be received better by the conservation Commission, but to actually do a parking lot there Is a pretty substantial if we're doing it all on conservation land versus this is mostly in the public way And then slightly beyond now again buffers bond 2020 did talk about that Again, I will say and I was fully supportive of us looking at a parking fee Down the road as well at the time five seven years ago We were squarely looking at that to try to fund some of the improvements up there We can't charge a fee for entrance to buffers bond, but we can according to down council charge a parking fee For for a parking up there. So in any event is something to look at I can just add one more probably not very PC remark I Don't like providing inadequate parking as a way to somehow theoretically force people to use their bike more I mean, I think if people are going to access this by vehicles Then we have to think of a way to make that work and it's all a compromise But the idea that well if you take away half the parking more people will bite just that just doesn't work I wasn't really do support charging for parking. It's a public resource I wasn't really implying that what I was saying is good design for three to five Peak days in the summer that I get. It's a lot of impact. Yeah, three to five So the state's been struggling with Walton pond with this exact same thing and they they could have Acres and acres of parking, but they specifically limit the number of cars because they the pond can only handle so many cars And then what happens is it fills up at a certain time and they put out the word It's filled up. It won't reopen until 3 p.m. And so There's a lot of resource public resources like this that struggle with over Subscription and while they could build more parking to accommodate all the cars It would be worse for the for the pond itself And so I think that's something we don't we don't know what that number is for how many cars people should be using it Maybe we do maybe Puffer spawn 2020 has it But I think that's sort of the starting point like how many cars do we want to have? So along those lines, I guess one of the things I would ask you to think about as I know you've already thought about in so Many ways is if all the parking spaces we had now quote-unquote that people are theoretically using on perhaps those three hottest days Is that too many in terms of impact on the pond because we don't have a way of saying the ponds closed We don't it isn't like Mill River Recreationary where people go there to play baseball tennis walk on the trails use the pool Use the pavilion and if it overflows in terms of parking, yes Then you're kind of stuck and you have to take the bus basically, but there's still capacity there for all those things there There is still space left for humans to appropriately use the materials that are there even if all the parking spaces are filled up That may not be true with Puffer's pond It may be as you say that really this is the appropriate limit to protect the pond The difficulty I run into beyond figuring out a parking scheme that's gonna work for people is that Puffer's pond has sometimes felt like it's become some people's park That go there all the time Regularly and is maybe not feeling as accessible to some of the rest of the community when they move in when they try and go there at a particular busy time and it feels like it's not their place to go and So I want to be Somehow address that and we're gonna lose at least 30 parking spaces of probably regularly used spaces I mean we'll have to come up with that number But because you're saying that some of those weren't actually used but of the net loss Of the quite large number then you're actually you know at 64. Maybe it's not 64. Maybe it's 35 But that's huge for But not just three hot days, but 20 hot days in the summer And so I hope that we can find a way to continue to talk to the community about this So it doesn't feel like it's excluding people who don't get there at the crack of opening time And then it's just their backyard for the rest of the day and the rest of the community can't use it Not saying there's a magical answer Yeah, so I think what it speaks to is that it will have to be more actively managed and and that's That's what other places do is they they put out the word through Twitter and Facebook and every and on their website said We're at capacity now. We're at 80% capacity for parking areas and people are alert alerted to that But it takes it will require some active management the other thing I hope that this addresses I mean we all drive through there that people are walking in the middle of the road and people are dry trying to drive at The same time with little kids drag and stuff. It's I think just don't think that that's a very safe type of thing And and I think I started had to go back in this mr. Zombie probably knows what I'm referring to but a lot of people from Kush moon and the immediate surrounding areas walk on a trail that starts fairly near to the Kushman general store across the just across the kushman common Starts at the railroad track and goes down and they use that as their way to get to the pond and That's why I was worried about the traffic route also Because we don't want to make it more difficult for people to walk the pond Yeah, there are two two trails that come down from kushman What kind of one from Pine Street and then one from further out near the railroad tracks And we can look at that mr. Moring and I can look at that as well Right, I did just want to point out that we're actually not talking about the only parking at Puffer Spawn and State Street because there is the parking for the North Beach and then there's Additional informal parking along Mill Street There's a pull-in there that can probably accommodate 10 and then the parking lot up at the North Beach I don't have the number right off the top of my head, but I'm gonna say it's 12 to 15 there That was created. I believe after the last dredging about probably 17 18 years ago And we've talked about again Puffer spawn 2020 looked into whether we could Increase the size of the parking lot in the old gravel pit. I did just want to comment on mr. Valkerman's point I couldn't agree more that in the future. We are gonna have to Have more actively manage Puffer spawn and to some degree. It's kind of back to the future We used to do that But back in about 2006 2007 when budgets were very tight. We eliminated the funding for For that We had that coverage of that time from 11 a.m. To 7 p.m. Throughout the summer So we certainly know what those numbers are Just wonder while you're tossing all these Ideas around maybe looking at charging for the parking Whether it's meters and if that would support the parking enforcement that would have to go with it and still generate enough Additional income that could be dedicated to things like managing the pond or other improvements to the pond where the money Collected there's dedicated to the pond but to cover somebody actually Walking up and down for those meters for you know from Memorial Day to Labor Day because To me the trade-off of paying for your parking and getting to use that resource is quite fair And they may be and you know, I have no idea how the money works out But maybe that would help with the active some of the active management, which I think it's probably time to Respond 2020 recommended a Resident fee at a non resident fee so you could buy a season pass and then many state parks now have solar solar powered pass Ticket boost if you will in a very very subtle and I'm actually thinking of meeting parking, but that's a different way of looking at So and in my prior employment in my previous town Manchester they now They started with a fee of $1 for anybody to walk onto the beach and it had to apply to everybody And now it's up to $7 to walk on to the beach for anybody to walk on But town residents can buy a season pass for like $20 or something like that So you get a little tag they slip you take but but that's to sort of all the Out of towners who come in they were trying to port but somebody has to be there It's an actual collection system. Yeah That's where weren't we told we couldn't charge and I mean it that's That's interesting and useful information, but we can't simply apply that because I believe we were just told we can't charge Admission to the pond. We can only charge for parking. That's my understanding from Copeland page So different historical ways of doing things There may not agree with that person would be collecting parking fees instead of park fees or beach fees Right they collect parking fees, too Thank you, so are there other questions or comments for Absolutely, yes migrate to one thing that's in your packet and this is a letter you received about the day out of the dyke So I want to make sure people understand what that letter references So because it's different than what most people think because of the terminology that was used in that letter Do you have our two experts here anyway, right? So I think we'll be fairly brief on this because I know you have a long agenda Mr. Mooring and I can stick around for a few minutes to talk about this, but um, yes The letter that we received from the Department of Conservation and Recreation Office of Dam Safety Refers to the dyke. There's a dam of course that we all know and then there's a dyke Which is to the east of mr. Sharkin's property at Mill Street number 64 the house and That is an earthen structure That was built many many years ago as part of the retention of water in In this old bill pond and as the letter indicates now What's interesting is in the front page the first page It says dyke then throughout the rest of the document it Facilates between dyke and dam and I think that confuses a lot of people they're clearly talking about the dyke and that the dam itself we have Inspected on a regular basis the town engineer is part of that process we test the The emergency outflow of the of the pond regularly. I believe it's every two years. We have it inspected by an engineer the dyke is on a different schedule and yes in 2016 office of dam safety did receive a report that indicates there are some inadequacies in that dyke some undercutting of the bank essentially The the the guidance a requirement for a dyke is not a dissimilar to what we do at many of our reservoirs The state would not Want trees to grow into that earthen structure that can undermine the structural integrity of that structure So I've already reached out to mr. Sharkin. We plan to meet We believe we have an easement to maintain that And it would require some removal of trees and perhaps some armoring of that of that dyke So I wanted to assure you in the public that we are on top of that and we will be working with an engineering firm And my staff with guidance from the town engineers on how to proceed with that But the dam is safe The dyke is not Compromising the safety of Puffer spawned or those people downstream at this time I appreciate you stating that since the letter actually indicates otherwise and So the letters not in our packet and so I know it was emailed to us ahead of time, but it's not in here and So maybe we could have it in our next packet with a memo that basically just says those few sentences the issue We're working on it. We're fully aware what the circumstances are here and that way It's together so that that letter is not just floating around out there in the ether by itself because like many things They make it sound scary when just like when we do statement of interest for the schools We make it sounds really bad, but we are we have things under control and a memo that would be on top of that I think would be very helpful to have together in our next packet and then we don't have to go over it again But that way they travel together as they go through the universe and then someday you'll give us another If I could point out that in the letter Which I believe you did receive It has images and you'll notice that the images look nothing like the dam It's an earthen dyke and it shows some trees it shows some some animal burrows, you know chipmunks woodchucks mammals that burrow into the soil and then it shows some some Minor undercutting this was during the drought of 2016. So the water level of puffer spawn was very low So the pictures reveal that but it's clear. It is not the dam. It is the dyke Mr. Just real quick. Could you use the pointer and point to where the North Beach is and where the dyke is so So This is the sharkin property You continue. I guess that's west West Northwest and this is the entrance to the North Beach parking area right up here where I indicated There's probably a dozen or so parking spaces the North Beach is way up here And then along mill Street There are some informal parking air spaces here probably eight to ten and then the dyke is over here The dam is right here. Of course the bridge that mr. Moren was just talking about This is one of our structures for Releasing water and testing the the emergency Structure of the dam and then these are the cliffs This looks like the the little Dock that mr. Sharkin has and then the dyke is right in this area right here Thank you. That's helpful other questions or comments for the Just if we could plan to have that next week's packet I think that'd be super helpful so that we can point right at it and say it's all okay Part of why the letter itself didn't go because it couldn't get the accompanying There aren't other questions about Bridge the Traffic in and around the bridge and or the dyke near the bridge So just to reiterate that those changes aren't going to happen for the summer continue to work on it through the summer and Present to you with a plan to be implemented in the fall And then we'll have the winter to live with it and see how it works and then be ready to go Right if members are we have to have a public hearing about some of it So we'll have to notice that appropriately and all of those sort of things So mr. Moren, thank you very much So next our agenda is a projects update from from mr. Zomek about a variety of projects And so if you would like to take us through those series of maps and or pictures Right They are not I know that in our packet. I'm just double-checking here I know that there were two pieces one had the label of 4c on it, which was a single sheet of paper that's About the dog park and the other one is this one that has the other high school the Western and Samson recreation things And on the back of that is graph, so it's got all sorts of stuff Yeah To go right ahead good proceed again Thank you for having me to talk about these four exciting projects What I'd like to do is is run through just a very short series of slides. I think I have one per per project I think maybe what I'll do is pause between projects if you have questions or go through all four projects It's really I would look to the chair on that so starting off the Amherst dog park as you know the the dog park task force has been meeting for many months and we looked at a number of different sites throughout Amherst and After a thorough search of both public and private land We landed on the old landfill and just to orient folks this is Belcher Town Road Route 9 headed toward Belcher Town and I'm sorry that is over Here and then coming off Route 9 is old Belcher Town Road here and so this is a small corner of the old landfill This is the landfill on the south side of Route 9 And what we have before you is a conceptual design done by Berkshire design group out of Northampton they volunteered to produce this Concept design that we could submit to the Stanton Foundation. They are the group that funds both dog parks and They they fund Dogs and and safety equipment for canines used by police departments all over Massachusetts and in other states And so what what we've put together with with lots of input and lots of feedback from the task force is about a two-acre site With a large dog area and a small dog area a central Entrance and receiving area here with about 20 Spaces right on the road frontage on old Belcher Town Road This site was selected for its access to Route 9 The fact that it has virtually no direct or close neighbors That it was already owned by the town and would not need to be acquired and that we felt as though with some due diligence that we could get through the the complex permitting process that Putting an old putting a dog park on a landfill would require so as you know, we are also moving forward with the solar project on the New landfill on the North landfill and the remainder of this site will need to be used as mitigation for loss of habitat for a rare state listed species Stephanie Ciccarello and I have already met with the state folks at the natural heritage and endangered species program We have walked the site with them and they feel as though that this is a permittable use and a reasonable use given that we are setting aside the remainder of the the old landfill for Grassland birds so at this point we have a budget We have a conceptual design and we are finalizing our grant to the Stanton Foundation Which the the first grant or the first application will be for a design grant to fully design it and then we In all likelihood would then proceed for a construction grant Stanton will fund grants up to about 225,000 for construction and as you all recall town meeting Annual town meeting did authorize $90,000 in CPA funds to be used in part for construction But in part for the due diligence, we would need to survey out this lot We would also need to do work with the DEP on a reuse study For the site to make sure of course that it is safe for humans and dogs to use What we know about this site working with mr. Moring and his staff is that It is part of the landfill, but it was the stump dump so This area of the landfill was primarily used for organic material and it does not contain trash the Trash is actually in farther to the west up in another cell. So that's where we are we hope to be Hearing from the Stanton Foundation They usually let people know within about 30 to 45 days And we hope to get a design grant and be designing this park to bid out In the fall It will take some coordination with the natural heritage program because there will be a number of permits That will be part of the solar landfill. So we're trying to bring these two projects together So I think I'll stop there so the question I have is Relative to the to the you know establishment of that of the dog park Give a sense of at this point. I think it just be a back in the envelope sort of guess as to what the Year-over-year maintenance would be the sort of staffing that's necessary to you know Kind of cruise through empty trash Check on you know that the water supplies that are there working properly Making sure the fencing is in good order again because you know if things get used and get used a lot Then there's maintenance that needs to happen sort of what the estimates are for sort of year-over-year Maintenance would be like and and how we intend to fund that Well a couple of quick things one is we're trying to build a park that is that has as minimal annual maintenance as possible We will have water on site. That was another reason that this site was Selected because it does have on-street water. We would bring basically one spigot There aren't a lot of moving parts other than the water and the gates to a dog park Most of the features of the dog park are rather passive It is a grassed-in area there You'll see some of the sand mounds again very low maintenance very low cost There will be walkways around both it doesn't need to be ADA and there will one of the challenges will be shade the other challenge will be How do we put in the fence around this? Given that we don't want to pierce the landfill cap So in order to do that one of the cost is going to be bringing up with Phil The parts of the the site that need to be brought up so that fence posts can go in the ground The task force is still working on cost estimates for an annual budget. They have been reaching out extensively to other dog parks Around the state and around the Valley Berkshire design has designed a number of these what they're planning to do is have a friends of the Amherst dog park and so they have developed a draft rules and regulations for the park and they are beginning to work on Setting up a structure for fundraising. So their goal will be to have annual fundraisers to raise money for any materials that are needed for instance dog poop bags, etc and then Again, we're trying to minimize the impact on say a DPW for the maintenance of this But I will say they haven't developed all of the annual maintenance cost at this point, but you're really talking about mowing dog waste bags And then you know wear and tear on on any other moving parts. There aren't a lot of moving parts here So just relative to our earlier conversation those 20 spots might have meters on them Not to suggest that at this point, but talking about, you know, sort of use of the park, you know, and it could be a source of revenue to help offset the Right or donation box or whatever. I think there'll definitely be a donation box an annual annual fundraising campaign I mean if there is a way that there's an appropriate revenue stream because otherwise all taxpayers are underwriting the dog park Which Well, you know If there's a way to generate some revenue that goes towards this but I was one just in that kind of creative idea department The parking I wonder if there's a way to put in the solar canopies like you mouse has if there's any grant money or a lease for generating electricity that pays for It seems like since there's a sustainability element here and I'm seeing an opportunity to at least explore cost-wise and construction feasibility wise that solar canopy Yeah, we can look at that as a source of generating funds. I mean, I know nothing about the finances Any other questions there Totally has popped into my head so I don't expect anybody to have an answer but in terms of when we move forward talking With people about how we're paying for things I think we do need to be sensitive to the trash removal, which we are not always great at when it comes right down to it And it's it's sort of off by itself And we like to imagine that the people are gonna go there at least gonna take really good care of it at the beginning But that doesn't mean that other people won't go there and dump trash there because other people go every place and dump trash including right downtown so we Respecting the fact that we're trying to design it the best we can to prevent that We're still gonna have to send people out to collect trash that isn't currently being collected and Other parts of town are having are struggling to have all their trash collected So we'll have to think about that and then in terms of the part that's That's an ongoing issue the part that's more popped in my head is we have very low costs for our dog licenses And has any community tied a Surcharge on it. I mean there are always rules about what you're allowed to charge for things does it cost and obviously we would Like some of it to go toward the animal Welfare officers work, which is a ton of work in addition to physically doing things But I don't know if there is any wiggle room there associated with that that other places have been able to be created for Because while not everyone uses everything in town all the time That's already true for Puffer's pond and we're very everything else if we could kind of show that dog owners are doing a thing that might also be more Interesting to people and given that the license fee is so incredibly low For animals that have been entered. It's like five dollars. It's like a ludicrously small amount of money Which is good because then people actually license their dogs. Obviously. That's why we do it We don't charge a lot so that we actually know that dogs are licensed and they've had their shots But there might be a place to talk about it probably someone else. It's like time to review it Other questions regarding the dog part If not, thank you. I made a few notes on the dog waste issue. I do appreciate those comments because right now I think Historically between the PD and and conservation. We've funded the dog waste bags and it is not Trivial what we spend on those bags per year now some I know Cambridge a couple of other communities have actually Invested in there maybe some grant funding for composters. So for dog waste composters. I did have a conversation with Mr. Snow over the weekend. I think we were at Mill River. I can't remember where we were but he and I are really big advocates of Carry in carry out the minute you put a trash a just a broad catch-all trash can Everybody Mount Pollux. We do not put out trash cans for that reason We have to do it at Puffers, but you're right. It's not a Insignificant amount of time or energy or money to get rid of that waste. So anyway, we will work with that Mr. Pistrang and and the task force very committed to this one of the highest energy committees I've ever or groups. I've ever worked with in my time in Amherst. So they want to get this done moving along another Exciting project and one with a lot of energy around it are the improvements to Groff Park and what you see before you is the latest Concept that we are working through now. Keep in mind. We have put together a team of staff composed of DPW Planning and LSSC staff as well as two LSSC Commission members to work with again Berkshire design Mike Lou is the designer of the improvements at Groff Park these include and and the drawing before you shows Playground improvements in the area where there is currently a playground and then a Spray park as well as a new pavilion walkways and some improvements to the to the to the Parking area and a new pavilion at the lower level now you recall recently We did get a land and water conservation grant From the federal government through the state government and and I think this is going to come in very handy Because what we're proposing there Have some some significant costs I will say that what the group is focused on are really making a welcoming Fully accessible destination for people From Amherst Throughout it'll probably be a bit of a regional draw these these parks will be open to anybody without a fee They will be open longer periods if you will in the season than I then a pool would they will this park will not Require a staff member to be there But we think we've got a pretty exciting concept The group has met multiple times with members of the public We did a we've done two forums at Crocker farm school LSSE staff went to some of the apartment complexes off of East Hadley Road and Vetted some of the concepts with with folks there got a really warm reception very exciting We think this park concept goes very nicely with the CDBG work that we're going to do on East Hadley Road Expanding the sidewalk there and making some safety improvements there though I'm not going to talk about those tonight, but that project is under design And we'll be bid out later this summer in terms of things. I'd like to point out to you We really as I said want to make this welcoming so We're doing a lot to make the the approach and the entrance to this park Of course, it will be ADA it will have nice kiosks nice benches We have not decided on the actual features of either the The playground area or the spray park yet That's something that our group including LSSE members will be talking about with Mike in the in the coming days and weeks our hope is to have this bid out in late June early July Some of the features I just wanted to bring to your attention One is this fun little feature here, which is going to be about a 2024 foot long slide Down the hill these are very a number of parents and a number of our team have Experiences at different parks and it'll be built into the hillside here We're going to use the topography to really help us There's also a seating wall as well as many benches shade structures We're adding shade structures if you're familiar with them the the comfort station at Grove Park There's a hard-scape area here that really has nothing there and it never has it was designed to be activated We're going to activate that space with shade structures and seasonal tables and chairs so parents can be here They might be watching a softball game or an ultimate game or a football game over on these fields because of course this entire area is all fielded Section of Rock Park there'll be a knee wall a sitting wall all along this side of the park as well as benches here Here here shade structures this area is going to be designed kind of like a stream one of the themes We're we're working with here is to kind of have it be as natural as possible We want the colors to be to be subtle. This is not going to be a primary colors kind of urban feel Spray park we heard that loud and clear during some of the public sessions We're talking about features that are durable We've gotten a lot of feedback from other communities particularly on the spray park side of things to pick features that are durable Stones artificial or real that have water spouts coming out of them Try to minimize the number of really complex features because those break and have problems and when they go down a lot of the experience is lost this area will actually have a a Water feature in it where water will pool But not not deep not deep enough to require life-guarding and then go down this stream So kids will be able to kind of sit in the stream play in the stream Damn up the stream with their bodies if they want do some real playing here So it won't just be a hardscape Structure all of this will be painted concrete We're also looking of course at the most sustainable design including a recycling recirculating system for water. There's either drain away or recirculating our team is firmly on the camp of course of using a recirculating system. It's higher cost from the start But then you reduce the water costs over time Over the season. So that's where we are with a spray park. Our goal is to be under construction mid September we have This will come before the conservation Commission in the next four to five weeks Because some of the park is in the riverfront area, but we don't anticipate that being a major hurdle for us. There'll be some review by the design review board again. We're not anticipating We'll be open to their to their input, but we're not anticipating any real roadblocks there I'm wondering if along your travels with this plan if the Disability Access Advisory Committee has seen it yet, and I know that this is going to be accessible I know there's a lot of sensitivity from members on that But and you haven't picked the structures and the play equipment yet, but You just sort of underscored for me more recently when I went to the town fair Walking around my granddaughter, and there was a young boy in a wheelchair And he got to be pushed around but he could only look at everybody on every Ride because there was wasn't one ride Thank you that you could be in your he had to be his chair the whole time that you could strap a chair on and Thank you for bringing that up Not only are we designing a park that will be accessible But we are going to select both features of the playground as well as the spray park that can accommodate young people with Disabilities with a wheelchair And our team has been looking at different examples. There's actually swings That can accommodate a wheelchair And we will have Features in each of these that accommodate those those young people who who made need that that kind of equipment Jump in on that at one of the public sessions a parent who had a child and a wheelchair was there and Noted that some of the images that they had on their boards showed the wheelchair child watching and not participating But there were other images where that child was in the in the splash park and they and it was just a Naha moment for the designer to say why am I using an image that shows them watching and not participating in And the parent was like that's I want to see you should be showing images of children Participating not watching from the outside There's a moment for the designer to hear a parent say just what you said was we need participation not observation Thank you, so if I may follow up on that you you're showing up a lower Either renovation or rebuild of a pavilion down at the lower part. It's in the upper part of the drawing But that's you know, so if you go down the long slide and you keep going kind of following that along Yeah, right there What's the what's the plan for accessibility to that because that's a pretty steep hill which is great for the slide But I just didn't know if there's any way to create a path or is there any concepts around? Walking paths that lead to that that sort of take a more general slow that can get you there or not And it may not be really very possible at all, but I'm just sort of curious. It's was never envisioned in this project Primarily because of budget It would absolutely to create a switchback path going all the way down there We are putting in of course a upper pavilion that will be 100 percent accessible To any users, but this is a very very significant Cost to to actually do that in the fact we are we are only able to do this because we're going to Create a pavilion or replace the pavilion there on the exact pad This is within a hundred feet or less of the of the Fort River So we are only going to be able to simply put a new pavilion there and that's about it I think in the future we could certainly look at that, but that is a Very significant budget number to get a path all the way down. You can see the topo lines here Right to get all the way down there, right? Yeah, so what I was thinking is more like if you had a walking loop They could take a longer trajectory around to sort of Eat your way down without having to do like the switch back I know it's you know, it's 12 feet of run for every one foot of change in elevation. So if you have a 15-feet change you've got to have 15 times 12, you know, that's a 170 feet or my guess is You're north of a hundred two hundred thousand dollars to get something down there And it's certainly something we could look at at the future to allow any users to get down and enjoy this lower level With this phase It was really all about this upper level and also activating to make sure that everything here restrooms Shade structures here pavilion here all the equipment in the In the playground and the spray park were all accessible We will be grouping these as well By age and we will be selecting them and of course I'm going to leave this to people with more expertise than I do at Berkshire design as well as That the folks from LSEC so we'll be grouping both the equipment in the in the playground and in the spray park for ages So that you know, and they'll be consideration of where the different Components are both in the spray park and the playground because of course they'll be interplay back and forth kids will be running back and forth This will all be on one level. So you will likely have You know, they talk about five to eight year old Users in in one group and then nine through, you know, ten eleven in different groups. So That will all be accommodated for in the design is where those features go Thank you, I do think it's critically important that DA see itself see this in addition to of course We know everybody builds and Berkshire design always builds to ADA But they really need to see it for exactly the reason that you mentioned and also What we have found in the past is when we worked really hard to redo Mill River Which now seems like forever ago, but made it much more accessible and not literally been accessible before and then it was Except in some ways it wasn't to a parent in a mobility device So particularly as you talk about the age groupings Thinking about the fact that sometimes parents are able to parent their children from a mobility device And therefore want to be able you know to not have them have to be way over there Because the parent can't get closer. So so taking that into not only the child is participating But the parent is close enough that they feel like they can supervise their child from that distance And I think that's where talking in the DAC is really useful because if you haven't lived that experience of parenting A child out of a mobility device that I think that makes a lot of difference for people. I appreciate that comment We're now at the point in the design process where we have the concept We know the layout we can apply to the conservation commission for a notice of intent or a quest for determination We will be going to the DA a see the DRB and the planning board the planning board is is We'll see this as well So those three committees or boards will see this and we will get their feedback. So I appreciate that Great and just to follow up for everyone watching at home, too It's exciting that there's gonna be a second pavilion because that's what we haven't had before At graph and so the fact that it used to be that you couldn't get there from there If you had any sort even if you had a cane People could not necessarily take that slope to go down to the pavilion to celebrate whatever event They wanted to celebrate very easily And so the fact that there will be now a second pavilion up at the top I think is very exciting for people and men feels like, you know, okay Maybe I can't get down to the lower part and I can't get to the river But at least I can do lots of things up here. I would presume that LSEC would have a similar Reservation process or something like that I'll leave that up to LSEC to to Accommodate use of the upper pavilion just in terms of timeline. I wanted to give you just a quick So our our goal here is to be under construction, you know, mid September We will get as much done on the site as possible before the snow flies And we will be back at it in the spring our goal would be to have a ribbon cutting on or around this time in June 2019 to be open for the entire season Of course this fall we wanted to get in working with mr. Backelman We wanted to make sure that people could use this area for the entire summer Which they will be able to do and then it will be fenced in late summer But most most of most people won't even notice the disruption because all summer long They'll be able to use the the restrooms and all the rest of the features of the existing playground Right. So just to follow up on the notion of the existing comfort station. It's there memory serves there's sort of one side of it that has a I'm not a roll-top, but you know a Concessionary and so I given that you're gonna have people there on a regular basis Is that an idea again talking about sort of ways to generate some revenue to help maintain the facilities? You know, obviously scenario we haven't talked about parking and what we might charge for parking or that sort of thing But certainly a concessionary just the fact that you've got a large number of kids being very active and an Separate from the opportunity to potentially generate revenue that help offset costs But just the idea of having something for people to eat because there's not food nearby whereas, you know You know other areas that we have do have that as an option and there's really not any, you know, sort of food opportunities near Groft Park unless you bring your own which is fine, too But but I was just curious that those conversations have happened yet or at all or what thoughts have happened around that It has certainly been brought up in some of our meetings. It was designed to have a concession there I would leave those discussions. I'm sure mr. Bachmann and I working with Bar bills would would have those conversations I will say that at this point There is a certain sport that requires helmets that takes up most of that space in that concession stand So football is current all the quit football equipment is currently stored in that in that space So we'd have to find another location, right? Two things up maybe food trucks are the new concession stand. Yes, there may be an opportunity to It's financially feasible to have concessions there may be a way to have that there Just that I had been to one of the sessions at Crocker Farm schools really well attended And I want to appreciate You mr. Zemeck and everyone who's been working on this that you've mentioned It's come a long way And it wasn't that long ago that I was at that session and I can see that a lot of the comments have been Incorporated and this is really evolved So I think you know sort of kudos to people who who are Spending time on this because it's it's come a long way And I also really appreciate that people went to some of the apartment complexes near graph park, you know It's sometimes hard to get People out for these but it sounds like there was participation in that Enriches the whole process. So I'm really excited about seeing this hopefully next year for use. It's really great Thank you If I could just add I neglected to mention that we will be as part of this Restriping the parking lot which this doesn't really reflect we've had some very Spirited discussions about how we deal with this odd shape parking lot and I wouldn't This don't hold hard and fast to this this layout The most important thing is how do we address? People coming to the park with disabilities How do how and where do they park and then everything else will kind of pivot off of that? There's lots of spaces out there, but it is kind of a free-for-all So I know that talking with mr. Moran. We've talked about coming up with a new striping plan for the parking lot As part of the free-for-all and referring to the lunch cart conversation earlier I think it would be great if you were able to perhaps talk with mr. Kravitz right now we have we don't have anything really licensed But in speaking with him and mr. Mora in regards to you know the ranges of things that that they tend to take up Because we can we can guarantee that ice cream trucks are gonna show up anyway and the ding-dong trucker How are we call it these days and so? Planning for it in terms of I mean obviously the important stuff is the handicap accessibility But going ahead and planning for if we wanted it to be somewhere where would we want it to be? Given the fields and given the other things Um, but rather than saying ah shucks. I wish we thought of this before so I think that's a great comment and I'm very much in favor of kind of looking to the private sector on that I think we've designed some spaces. We sell some things at mill river pool, but It's not something we often do extremely well and you know, I think having food trucks there be permitted to be there yes, yes Both at groff mill other parks is is a direction we should look at so happy to do that support mr. Gravitz and and his bills So other questions before I move on Go ahead So moving along to a project that we are working on with designers weston and samson out of boston and wister this is You may recall a project that the recreation working group has been focused on for about the past year And we're excited to bring forth A couple of different concepts that we have been vetting publicly we again we we think we've done Quite a good job at having public meetings where 30 to 40 people. I think we've had two in this room And we'll have a couple of more before we're done But the goal of the project that the rec working group got cpa funding for and then matched that funding with school funding was to do a conceptual master plan for Community field the emersed high school fields and the middle school fields as well as at least Incorporating wildwood fields knowing full well that that site You know has been the focus of a number of studies if you will over the last couple of years Um, but we're excited to have three different concepts And I I won't have the time tonight to go into great detail on these But suffice it to say that we've gotten a lot of input the athletic director the finance director for the schools Mr. Slaughter, I think has been at every meeting Um, we we've had student athletes at our meeting. We've had coaches both private and and Coaches in the public schools and the goal is really to look at this area For the public watching us at home, which is community field, which is town on land here And then the high school fields Here and I think tonight I'll really just focus on those because we can get into subconversations about the middle school and and wildwood and and The other piece of property we own over there, but I think the major focus here And so again, western and samson has come out. They've done a full assessment of all the fields They've looked at the condition of the fields and facilities the war memorial pool the track They've looked at ada. They've looked at parking. They've looked at egress access Um, and they've come up with three different designs, which I'll just quickly go through for you Um and highlight some of the major features. So Um, option one Um, and again, I'm gonna be kind of brief here because we've had hours and hours of meetings on this option one Uh, the major feature of this is that it realigns the track. The track is now currently aligned east west This proposes to realign the field north south, which is a more accepted alignment in new england given, um sun it it It prioritizes the track because as many of us know from being at many public meetings and town meeting the track is in very poor condition And needs to be replaced and our goal here is not to replace it on site in the east west configuration and spend Probably north of half a million dollars on something that probably should go in a different direction It moves the softball field, which is currently here closer to the high school over to this corner Again in a more natural and more conducive Layout Given the sun and it creates a practice field adjacent to a main field in the middle of the track Now western and samson was with all the input that they received they were given a number of different Uh, uh, directives look at ada look at the current condition of the the resources and facilities we have Try to maximize playing field Uh, of square footage, um, of course give equal billing to both, uh, sports for men and women um, and if there are any, um Inequities there to correct those it was to really look at things like a great example is even the baseball field here Is currently not accessible the softball field in its current location has no walkways You're simply on grass. There are steep slopes. There's muddy areas. They looked at all of those So Finally, uh, you'll notice that near the war memorial pool Western and samson suggest a small spray park associated with the pool as well as um walking paths throughout the entire Uh, the entire configuration both north of mattoon street and south Which would actually connect all the way over to the middle school In other words, we could create through those walking paths an exercise trail for people to walk with strollers to run Um, in addition to a new track now I will say one of the assumptions that we gave to western and samson was that the dpw parks and and uh Park trees and parks Building would be leaving so they did program this space They incorporated some exercise stations here in and among two new basketball courts The spray park and the war memorial pool We also want them to on the south side of war memorial pool to incorporate A more significant war memorial structure there As we all know that war memorial built in the 1950s Is a flagpole a small circle of flowers and a stone But we think there's an opportunity to achieve something better and more lasting and more Representative of the respect that we have for all of our veterans who served and and died in various conflicts So that is uh concept one Um Concept two, I won't go into great detail But you can see if you if you looked at this at all over the weekend It has the track again oriented north south the track and inside field But instead of close to the high school. They moved it over To the west Um all of these Concepts assume that our goal is multipurpose fields What they identified is that we have designated space for instance the football field The football field to my knowledge is uh not used For much else besides football throughout the year yet. It is using a significant amount of square footage of turf natural turf area Um This would propose in both scenario one and two would propose to put the football field in the middle of the track And move it from its current location near the parking area at the high school So that's primarily uh, what we see, uh, we had a another another practice field here associated with the main field And then finally in number three, which is a little more radical This proposes to create the multipurpose field, uh, which would accommodate football ultimate lacrosse any of the Sports that require a larger field inside the track and it would move The zomek field if you will over Closer to triangle street here with practice fields in the outfield and here and the softball field So you'd really have a softball and baseball complex north of mattoon street Um Each one of these proposals by the way takes advantage of the natural topography To create bleacher areas that can be built into hillsides and as we know there are hillsides here And here and here So if we go back We we know that um, this area is very tight in here near the baseball field and then of course, um There are currently bleachers at the uh At the toe of the slope here, but bleachers could be built into those slopes taking advantage of that topography So right now, I think whoops, I will end there. Um, we have similar concepts for the middle school with modest Proposals for wildwood school given given some of the questions that that we're exploring with our elementary schools I think the the hope here is that we can provide concepts and cost estimates that can inform future leaders future finance committees school committees as to Setting goals for the future What are our short-term and long-term goals relative to our our main central athletic facilities in town? We know that the track is going to be a driving force Because it will not last many more seasons at at a point where it gets um I don't know if condemned is the right word But if it is not approved to be used for track and field events Then we will have to come up with an alternative So I think the goal here is to have weston samson finish their work in july Present it to the town present it to the school committee And then with it will come cost estimates and a phased approach that might be over the next 10 to 15 years So I think i'll stop there I'll just add a couple of small things because I have been on the the recreation working group Um, one thing to point out is that the the area around the war morrow pool You'll notice there's slight differences between each of the three Layouts and in some ways those can be um, I don't say plug and play but you can They're they sort of hit the same amount of uh of square acreage and and so If there are particular things that you'd like some of them have two basketball courts versus one some put the pool house Being rebuilt in its current location in another one It has it sort of on one side of the facility a little larger So it might be a shared facility with the school and the pool Um, that sort of things that those can can kind of mix and match as it were amongst the options that are here So I just want to point that out a little bit And there's some advantages and disadvantages in more detail that that we talked about at the actual public meetings But we'll we'll have a ongoing and continued spirited discussion about what's The best overall approach, but Anyway, so do people have questions? Yeah, I think just to reinforce what mr. Zomek said, which is The goal is to get an overall plan that we agree on Talk about an implementation plan and then talk about the financing I think what it's going to be a real sticker shock for people is how much all this is going to cost it's Millions of dollars. We're not talking about a few hundred thousand dollars It's millions of dollars to do this and that's why we won't be able to do it all at once But we need to have a plan and an implementation schedule for how we can address it Some things can't wait very long like the track, which is a deplorable condition And so once you say, okay, we're going to put a lot of money into the track Then you want to put it where you're going to keep it And that dry in the football field sort of drives a lot of the decisions about that where the track is going to be But we're talking about a lot of money that need to be addressed for the fields among A lot of other capital needs that we're facing roads dpw fire schools all the etc etc That's correct. I've spoken against incrementalism earlier Actually want to reverse my position and I think doing it In phases totally makes sense in the one meeting I went to it came up a little bit afterwards Conversation and I understand they haven't done the cost estimate piece But once the track is located in that sets the master plan for where everything else is going to go You can do that as the first capital phase There's a little bit of extra cost if you as you keep moving things around until you get to phase two or three because You know, there's an economy and doing it all in one fell swoop, but probably not realistic It's really exciting to think about having A kind of sports complex area that both has some park like features the pool public Areas and playing areas that are kind of at a standard where other schools are going to want to come here for tournaments and we can host that and He said that the track is just already unacceptable. So getting the master plan fixed so you know What that first increment is and then work around that over the number of years because some fields might be temporary until they go to their permanent and all of that sort of Phasing and fitting the puzzle pieces together, but I think Along with some other things we've looked at tonight is absolutely Exciting to see us making progress on something that is so needed and we all know how important sports are for overall development of Youth and adults. I love the parking the the pathway loop Um, I spend my some of my best exercises walking around with friends in different places so to be able to do that and then drop back and watch a game or Watch little kids play. It's just great Then the other one other debate will be natural turf versus artificial turf And the advantage is a disadvantage in both and that will be another major Conversation that the community will have because people feel very strongly on both sides. Yeah I'm agnostic and one other thing I'll comment just to that point a little bit is um, one of the other Requests the the working group is made relative to to western and samson is to give us some estimates of I mean, there's there are estimates of what Natural surface fields can tolerate how much usage can they can they take and some of the work that's been done by Our own staff as far as accumulating the current Workloads on those fields was to get a sense of what our current use is and whether or not the fields can tolerate that there's some rest that's necessary for for grass and and And also is what are the the maintenance costs in other words to maintain a natural surface field or an artificial field There's a certain amount of maintenance that has to occur Both, you know with a natural surface, it's you know receding and you know Perhaps watering fertilizing et cetera et cetera et cetera What are those costs and you know both labor and materials and also the same thing with With any artificial service there is maintenance and work that needs to be done on those kinds of things What are those kind of numbers look like so that not only are we planning for the capital project? But also we're being able to start to prepare our operating budgets to handle that workload to maintain this space and have it last for us over the years Thank you for putting that so nicely so I didn't have to put it quite as bluntly as I normally do But I'll go ahead and do it bluntly anyway We work really hard not to offend each other here at this meeting because everyone's working super hard We have short-shifted our maintenance budget and our operating budgets for a very long time Decades upon decades and one of the reasons that the track is in such abominable condition Is because we didn't figure out a way to program to do better with it Even though of course over time it would deteriorate some et cetera Um, and so I really appreciate that you keep bringing that up Mr. Slaughter because we really need to start doing that and we haven't been doing it because we have so many competing needs that we've pushed maintenance off a little bit and We just can't keep doing that. So well we can obviously because we've done it What I'm trying to get across is I think that the values are such that we are trying hard to avoid Continuing doing that. So thank you and reminding people of course that artificial turf for those who aren't in the world that you guys are in Is not just oh you lay it down and it's all done and It's a whole lot different than that when they're continuing to do the little advantages and disadvantages chart I realize they're already down to like four point type, but Um, it would be incredibly helpful to me as someone who let let's be really clear Does not care at all about a type a or type b field because that's not where my head's at Um, but cares that coaches and kids have what they need. I would like those advantages and disadvantages areas to mention the change in the pool house And to mention the basketball court number I mean, I know we can see them because they're nice and blue But to mention that as part of the advantages and disadvantages in those cases. I think is really important It's already talking about storage and that's really important to some people But that's not important to people who are walking around there using it And so going ahead and including some of those like user friendly type statistics I think is really helpful particularly with the change in the pool house Just in terms of understanding what that would mean and then along those lines because so many people are familiar with every detail Of how every field is currently laid out But I will happily admit that I am not able to tell apart which kind of field is which kind of field I think it's incredibly important to have a drawing like this in the packet As you continue to go around that shows what's there right now Yes, and I know you have that and I know you've used it in different places But having it again here to remind us wow, we'd have so much more stuff Is is incredibly helpful I think to remind us of that That that's why it costs so much money because we're trying to meet a whole lot of different needs by doing this But to show again what the current conditions are I think would be really valuable as this packet continues its way around the world I appreciate that we have many of those images already. In fact, we have um We asked for that very definition of type a field type b size Because it's very hard to tell them all apart how big is an ultimate field lacrosse They all play on different size fields So we have all of that and what's exciting is in this report all of that will be compiled for us Mr. Slaughter and I didn't even talk about in that report also will be usage data We've never had this in the time I've worked for the town. We've never known How many teams how many individuals how many games are played on this field that field or that field? Thanks to lsse planning dpw everybody's come together and gotten that data It'll be included in this report For future planning, but it's it can be a little startling to see how many games Are on these fields and mr. Slaughter talked about resting For some of them there isn't a lot of rest So we will have all of that in that one report The other thing i'll mention is that these images were actually at the at the public meetings on Two foot by three foot post reports So the the advantages and disadvantages were a much more reasonable font size when they were blown up Well, then you have room for more of them. That's right So it was just to follow up on that having been at one of the presentations I Appreciate your comment miss brewer, but this is almost like the thumbnail of the executive summary of what was A full a full evening and there was a lot of information and another takeaway I got is about the field resting some of the fields are so wet So much of the year that while they you could see them in the aerial view Not not not just here, but the other fields that we use like at fort river That it overtaxes the ones that are more usable when they're needed. So The distribution of use Really varies on the weather conditions in a given season. And so that's also stressing some of the I will say that mr. Buckleman knows my enthusiasm for these projects and he did give me some guidance as to how long I could Speak on these Trying to keep it. We have many more slides, but I know you have a full agenda Well, like I said, if there's a chart that has advantages and disadvantages it could include the number of basketball courts in the chart No, I Although I realized there's a lot more words in the full report I know there was a lot more pictures and all of these projects are on the planning website And have much more extensive images and when the public meetings have been and even minutes and notes taken at Most of the public meetings I will finish with a project that is probably It's it's Coming a little behind the other projects simply because we kicked it off Just a few weeks ago, but you all know the the north common in the main street parking lot We are using a combination of cpa funds and transportation fund dollars to fund the design and Construction of improvements to both of these facilities We had the first public meeting. I was actually not able to go I know mr. Buckleman went and perhaps some of you were there as well. It was attended by 45 people or so we Prior to that in in previous years have had public meetings So there's been quite a bit of lead-up to this. It's kind of have been a plane on the tarmac waiting to take off I will say that, you know, again the goal now For those out in the public the goal now, uh, although we started looking at the design or redesign of the north common We've now incorporated the design of this entire area between spring spring street boatwood south pleasant And main street including the parking lot directly out in front of the town hall, which is right there This is a just a concept that um, paul death here put together For one of the grants that we submitted I just had it here because it was one of the few images. There's one more showing What paul death here who's one of our engine part of our engineering staff put together So the focus here is to redesign and improve the north common and redesign And improve the parking area out in front of the town hall all as one project We're looking obviously at things, uh, broadly ada The need for parking the need for lighting Access to the common across the common. We're looking at erosion issues on the common We are acknowledging the common the north common as part of the historic Fabric of our downtown also acknowledging the fact that it is in such a central location here It is really at the heart of our downtown and how can we make improvements to make it more aesthetically pleasing more functional Could there be? Sitting areas could there be plazas where people could gather could there be seasonal tables all of these things have come up in the public Forums that we've had again weston and samson is working with us. It's a team of dpw planning LSSE is at the table The historical commission and LSSE are really commissions are taking the lead In this as hosts of the public meetings So all of that is being kind of fed to weston and samson Again, we we decided a few months back to take our time with this It's so important that we will be taking the summer and part of the early fall To really come up with designs for the north common the parking area We hope to bring those back to you in september early october The goal here would be to bid the the the project out in the winter to be under construction After the graduations at amherstamshire and umass in the spring of 19 We have about a million dollars. That's both for design and build That's not a lot of money So we are going to have to do the very best with with that budget Again lighting electrical walkways How do we accommodate all of these things we'd like to see in the north common in the in the parking there? so i'll stop and so i'll go ahead and be the difficult one and Not that i ever am on any other circumstance. So here am i know, aren't they pretty From the night of then of may 29th And i appreciate that other bodies are still working on this that this is not done and prepared for us at this point We don't even put that in the packet because there's still a lot to go I would however object to the media coverage that indicated that maybe weston and samson should go ahead and take the parking lot away Because so many people so many architects said that at that meeting that night And while i totally appreciate what they were trying to get at and that heart of downtown concept came up so many times I'd really like to rebrand it That um that how dare we have parking in the heart of downtown So um of course my objection immediately was that this isn't pilaski park being redone Which didn't have parking to begin with and doesn't have parking now But in fact is a huge parking lot down and switch back Behind the front behind it and that in the current climate despite global climate change It felt like we needed to keep that parking lot So i'm hoping that western and samson has not been encouraged to remove the parking lot because that's going to be a problem Moving forward as far as i'm concerned if we try and do that I do appreciate how frustrated people are that they wish we could do more with the site But as you said a million dollars is not really going to get us a whole lot We did talk definitely about the peace gathering, you know If they're in the corner to make sure that we took care of that may be improved It's you know, it's levelness and and the gathering space so that people could sit bench, you know Not have tripping hazards, etc But that the rest of it given the amount of money that we have at this particular moment in time Is not going to be some huge amazing astonishing Shiny thing in comparison to it's just going to work a lot better Because it sounds like where a lot of work is being put into the paths and the way the landscaping would work In terms of making the whole section flow better So it will definitely be much better But it's not like the kind of redesign we're doing out at gruff for example It's not that level of redesign And as I said, I I I need to know now if you're planning to get all the parking spaces because I have a problem with that so, um Parking is a concern We are going to fewer parking spaces no matter what because the parking is so narrow there They're going to be just when they just when they design parking spaces They're wider because cars are wider now. So they're going to be fewer parking spaces I think it's um what people articulated at that meeting was that it was an opportunity To re-envision what that whole north area that mr. Zomek described could be looked at I think everybody You know One of the senses was if we could do something that was different But we preserved the majority of the parking spaces. Let's look what let's see what that looks like I mean, I think the default is Like for like which is we just sort of improve everything a little bit from what we have and that's Might be the default thing that we have But I think we want to my goal would be to have options for the board to look at To say and here's another thing you could look at if you were looking more ambitiously about what could happen For this I think that's sort of our duty to give you some options instead of saying this is Just like for like as opposed to and then you would also have an option to say well, here's another Creative bold brave concept and here's where the parking would then go to accommodate that We would have to do this to boltwood avenue in order to preserve the number of spaces that we want We don't want to lose parking such a precious commodity here, but I'll be honest, you know at the We at the bid and the business improvement district Discussions that we when we talked about parking they were Okay with losing parking in this area despite all their other arguments about parking They were looking at more more eager for more Hardscape areas at one point So I appreciate options bold options visionary options And I would hope that the um downtown parking working group would be included as they have not been yet So it's great to have a bunch of people get together for a charrette like experience and kind of Have some great ideas but Actually looking at what would be lost in parking. This is the most used lot in the town In in the downtown And so we don't want to be at cross purposes with other goals It is a precious commodity and we could look at different options But I think to be aware that some people have been working really diligently to try to make parking work better and Again, I think the idea if you just reduce parking people will ride their bikes more is not the way to think about this There may be a way to improve this Greatly and lose five spaces and then you trade that off and say but we picked up three more over here And they're sort of looking at the net gain net loss and some creative thinking creative thinking is always good but I would be Very reluctant to say because a bunch of people came and were excited about other ideas that that means We're going to do it with a lot more public discussion about what it means to change the parking there and sort of backing up what Miss Brewer said Thank you, and If you wouldn't mind if I just followed on that so while I appreciate that, you know At least one member of the bid board said that etc. And that's all well and good but just watching As time goes by as people need to use that lot for town hall. That's what they use for town hall That's what they use for a lot of things and so I definitely no matter even with this even with redoing the striping because you know our parking space is all over town are all different sizes When we redo that we should be evaluating the net loss Even if it's only three to say where are those three going to be and if then if we are doing angled parking on bolt wood or some Amazingly creative idea like that. We need to really understand what those options are But I appreciate that would be brought to us as an option what I'm trying to avoid is saying Everybody said it'll all work out That's not what I'm looking for as an alternative right Mr. Zemeck I wish I had been at that that first meeting, but I've been to other meetings On this on this topic. Um, clearly we we understand parking is a major concern and we we acknowledge that I will say it was the first public In this phase if you will A charrette on this so I would look to miss Krueger in terms of how we Not at this meeting but in a future discussion about how we lia is on with the parking working group Do we need to go to them? All of these meetings are open. They broad invites have gone out Um, so I look to you to say how do we lia is on with them as we work through this? Clearly western and samson is getting direction from staff through me So there's there's a balancing act and they fully recognize that we are not going to lose, you know, all of those spaces Uh, and and we need to look at net numbers. So Yeah, great That was one of the things that I appreciated that miss breast strip agreed to do actually at the meeting is I pointed out very Directly that just saying everybody should come to the meeting is not going to be sufficient And so you can't expect the downtown parking working group or the historical commission which had almost none if any members present Um, etc to show up because even some of them have been to the previous phases of this and know that they'll see it again But miss breast strip agreed that the names that were collected that night that people would be notified Not only of the next group meeting like that, but also As it went to the historical commission and as it went to the services commission So people could show up at those meetings Even though of course we encourage people to subscribe to meeting notices But since those people had actually made the effort to show up and sign a sign-in sheet Not just to show that we had them here But we can continue to notify them to please go to these other meetings because we cannot really expect That Just select for the historical commission leisure services commission Will just be okay with what comes out of two big groups that happen to be at a certain night on a certain day And so I understand you know that but i'm we're telling the community We understand that too that people were out of town, but there are different places you can plug into And as breast strip mentioned there was going to be a good bit more on the website as well And just like the plans for groff park, we've actually taken those plans to two lssc meetings Specifically these will go to all of the various committees and boards Um, I did also want to point out that there is a design team not unlike groff park There is a design team for this project that includes planning dpw lssc because they put in some of the funding for this through cpa And of course the historical commission that design team has been meeting with weston and samson in the lead up to last week's meeting So although the two historical commission reps couldn't be there at The public meeting they have been around the table with us talking about the project with weston and samson and that'll continue Yeah, so the the point that miss breast strip made was We can't have west we've contracted with weston samson for a certain number of meetings We're not going to have weston samson come to every committee meeting But that's why our staff members are there to To go to go between And engage with as many people as possible and that's what we've done as I said at groff park I was at the lssc meeting last week with nate maloy and we presented the groff park plans Right, that's fine. I mean that's totally understood Well, thank you very much for your input. I've taken some notes and we will Come back with updates as as they are appropriate. Thank you So next on our agenda unless People need a break A facility break would Be advised that would be a blend or why don't we take about a five-minute recess and then we'll come back to it Next on our agenda is special in annual town meetings wrap-up discussion. I believe we have a memo in our packet So mr. Buckingham. Do you want to take us through that a little bit or thank you? So in your packet is just the sort of What I did last year, which is the all the items that we addressed at the annual town meeting and what Is to happen or what has already happened So we can start to track that and keep you updated on where everything is going or What has to come forward The sort of substantive discussions will are the three additional funding sources funding Requests $60,000 for community services $53,000 to the transportation fund and $15,000 to the school school department And those will be things that we'll be working on and having a conversations with you about The rest of it is pretty you know Things that we just have to do like the easements when they're ready. They'll come before you There's some The other stuff that the town clerk has done she's done I think she's done pretty much all the things that she's supposed to do in terms of the The resolutions in terms of the by-law the plane the zoning by-laws the playing board has to take action on And then and then the clerk sends them into the To the attorney general for review and So that's just an update for you Questions, mr. Steinberg. It just real quickly on back to the article nine additional funding things I guess the only thing that I would Hope the thought will be given to is if this any of these would be the creation of new programs It would require multi-year funding to maintain them That then consideration be given as to whether the transition provisions of the charter would Indicate that before making a commitment to a new multi-year Commitment to the town whether we should be waiting for input from the new council So maybe that's the first discussion On all each one of these things is to have that put that on the agenda for the board to start to have that What does this mean? Is it a recurring? Is it going to require additional Appropriation going forward or not and maybe something that you would say let this should actually be left to the council to decide I'll follow up when when the Amendment came up for the 60,000 and community services. I I gathered from what I heard from some town meeting members is They had an expectation last year when there was an additional appropriation that that meant it would be repeating and they were You know projecting this of what I think people were saying They were kind of surprised or shocked that it hadn't just been added as more community service funding And I never understood that prior extra appropriation as that so I think We need to be really clear how we understand That that vote and it is subject to our own interpretation, but I think there was Different expectations for sure about the year prior when money was added to community services and whatever we do decide to speak A clear statement about that Yeah, I think it is about managing expectations and we did have we did have a dedicated Time during a meeting where we talked about community services funding. We got very little Turnout for that except from individual agencies who were hoping for additional funding Which was not really what we were looking for so much as a conversation with the community because we knew we'd be facing this discussion I also Fairly confident that if we'd added in 60,000 there still would have been an additional 40 thousands projected Suggested by someone at that point and maybe wouldn't have been added and maybe it wouldn't have But there's an underlying values question here that we tried to address at that special section of our meeting in the fall that Perhaps didn't really have the effect that we were looking for And obviously the reason we didn't just throw it in there is because that's not how we do our budget process We have all the various iterations over time as to how much money we can put into things And certainly I am confident that staff did consider that and wondered I wonder if I'll be able to do that and then saw what our budget looked like and realized there was no way that that was Considered the appropriate thing now, of course There are town meeting members who think given the amount of money that we have quote left over at the end of the year That of course we can accommodate that but that is a different Budget philosophy perhaps than what we have been following So I and I want to just compliment the town manager again for doing this because this is not something that ever existed in the public venue In previous years and previous town managers So thank you because it's really great to be reminded of oh, right There are all these things that we said we were going to follow up and do and we know We know that things like of course the town clerk sent things where she needed to send them We don't have that problem like some other communities that never sent their bylaw changes in To we know that that didn't happen But still to have it all here in front of us and to be clear on you know to be scheduled as what I mean One of the things not I'm not trying to nitpick, but they are slightly different kinds of things like amending the zoning map Is just something to go Into the long parking lot so to speak of things that the planning board's going to look at Because that's not something that's necessarily Of immediate, you know in terms of the planning boards other priorities Whereas the easements As we get them ready, we're going to get them done, you know We're not putting those off for months and so understanding better that the categorization of things I think um as mr. Steinberg pointed out which things are just things we get over with like Kingman road easement, but and others which are longer term discussions Would be really valuable, but thank you for this chart. It's really helpful There's not anything else on that and we'll Move on to chart transition update. It's the next time on the agenda Yes And it's already late and so I just want to be clear when we normally have A discussion about annual tau meeting since this never existed before It's tau manager. We also talked about tau meeting in general and improvements in communication, etc Were we planning we don't have to do it now We don't have to do it tonight But were we planning to do that at some point because we do normally try and do that And if we want to you know, just do it later tonight depending on how late it gets that'd be fine with me But i'm just trying to understand what our plan was Mr. Steinberg I guess I would have to say since the voters have Passed a new charter and this was the last annual town meeting that This that may not be a good use of our time True, but we should at least see if we Have Things that came out of that To discuss such as what we just did with community services. So it's our chance and it I understood rep up discussion to be Anything that we thought was valuable Coming out of town meeting obviously some of the process things are moot I think but there may be other observations or Lingering confusions or questions We'd be a chance to talk about that. Forgive me for sort of wanting to move ahead there But i'm certainly happy to have that conversation now if we want to or or we can Have it later this evening after some other Things are so i'm open to eat it away Is that we go ahead and get other stuff done and then see if we have time tonight All right, that's perfectly fine with me further. We get date wise from when the events happen. It just gets harder Okay So I think next in in this an ongoing sort of agenda item Which will be there probably throughout the rest of our agenda This is the charter transition update and whether there's any additional sort of information relative to that and so did you want to So yes, um last wednesday, there was a public hearing at the and front of the joint committee on election law at the state house on the action that was Incorporated into the charter and then vote and approved by the town meeting and mr. Steinberg To led the testimony for the town you should maybe he wants to update on that I I think you your your memorandum Which included the testimony of the people who presented at our request except for Town council We're really responding to questions and and comments of other witnesses Really pretty much speaks for itself committee I believe understood the request and has it under advisement and we Hopefully we'll be hearing soon and hopefully we will be hearing a recommendation um for our bill favorably recommending it to The house and senate and we will be able to get it moved in an expeditious fashion So that it can be enacted before the end of the legislative session I do want to mention that there were residents residents from the town of amherst who testified against it and That's senator and the vice chair from the house side had some Pointed questions for their they're addressing their concerns um So I think We don't know what they will decide but they will decide at some point. I think they understand certainly the that the We were presenting the vision from that the Options that were delivered that were voted on by the people by the people at the electorate at the ballot box and by the town meeting One member the vice chair said We're supposed to carry out the wishes of the town meeting of the town, aren't we? and According to the law because it's a home role and that was sort of his sort of summary of the process um so is Really compelling testimony and And so I think that that will and I think they do understand the Need for speed in essence on this thank Mr. Bachleman and mr. Steinberg and the other members of the Town team who went to the joint hearing it sounds like it was You folks and I know from the written materials really prepared well and did an excellent job Representing the town's point of view that the election dates should follow The state dates of September 4th for the primary in November 6th. I believe for the general I feel very strongly that that's the preferred action and We're carrying out the will of the town. So certainly citizens have the right to go and speak at a hearing but I very Much looking forward to hearing that the town has prevailed in This issue and we find out soon, but thank you for doing that. It was actually a lot of extra work So and other items under the charter transition One is there's a memo from the town attorney titled relationship between petition for special town meeting and charter Which addresses gives you some guidelines if a special town meeting petition is delivered to you in essence What it says is that The charter has the power of state law and when state law Had and this is more specific to the town. So any state law that's in conflict This will prevail over the state law And I think that was one of the questions you were struggling with if if you were presented with a petition to Call a special town meeting. How would you handle it? And I think there's a pretty comprehensive opinion from the town attorney that addresses that Um And then the second item was um A interpretation of what it of um, what would happen and it's another Email opinion from town count from the town attorney If someone were to take out papers for two different positions i.e The counselor at large and the district counselor Um What would happen if that person Can that person run for both seats and the answer is that The person can't run for two seats The person has to choose one or the other and provided some guidance to the town clerk as the town clerk interacted Um with the candidates as they're um taking out their papers and returning their papers So I have a follow-up question on that since I had um asked that we get that In addition to the clerk asking I had asked that we get that in some level of detail because I knew that some people might wish To turn in two sets of papers and see if they got enough signatures on both to help influence their decision as to which one To vote for because obviously when you're running for district You can only take signatures from your district and maybe that's the place as people learn how this works That you get more additional signatures because you have a much smaller pool of people that you're choosing from um Because I think it's important that we understand and that the community understand This advice from the standpoint that it has been my understanding up until this point that based on what KP law has said that we are not going to be in the position Of refusing to issue two sets of papers We are not going to be in the position of refusing to accept Two sets of papers But what we are going to say is do this at your own risk If you do that because you do end up in a situation where If you don't withdraw one of the sets of certified signatures, you won't be on the ballot for anything And so I think it's important that people understand that it's not that the town clerk Is making a decision for them. It's that they're having to give them all this advice So that they understand that it's up to them to get it right and that the town clerk can't help you If you don't follow all the rules and so if you don't get it in by the deadline in terms of the certified withdrawal You won't be on the ballot at all. So if it's not clear enough, maybe you don't want to do that Legally you can because you are taking a risk on messing up at some point in the process But I think it was really helpful to have all of that clarified in terms of all those levels of details Because some people had worried that maybe they shouldn't be allowed to pull both sets of papers even to begin with And so clarifying all that I think was really important and it's just something we've not had to deal with before Because one did not pull two sets of papers say for example for two different town meeting seats Like a one-year seat and a three-year seat because you only needed one signature. So it was a very different circumstance Thank you for getting all that from kp law So is there any Was either as far as the transition So the next item on the agenda the town manager performance evaluation goal setting review timeline I think really the purpose of having this on here for myself You know, there's wishful thinking on what I would do relative to last year's timeline of things and having that updated for tonight Which it didn't happen, but the piece that it it serves For us is that If you know your summer plans of when you will not be available Those are coming together for you if you would be so kind as to share those with me so that I might Shape our our planning for our performance evaluation And we do we will need to have a little bit more conversation about that evaluation because I think you know given the transition It it is going to be a slightly different process we go through As far as that's really that we'll not evaluate the goals that we set for the manager, but but how we Frame our responses may be a little different given that the Select board is going away and a council is coming in and so it may change how we want to do it It may not but we have the conversation But I think the two real key points is it's coming in and if you could share with me any known Vacation or other plans that prevent you from attending any currently scheduled meetings I don't mind starting to come together for the summer, but not fully in place But it may require us if I get feedback from people and we may want to change some dates or we may want to Sort of shape our timeline relative to when people can be in town or are in town So I just suggest maybe you send us a follow-up to tonight I mean sorry responsibility, but like a reminder like hey Send me your dates by next whatever and then we see that email and we're like, oh, yeah And you know going through and then send you what we do know so far. Um, I think we're all probably Not totally settled on what we're doing, but we know some of it But if you wouldn't mind in a couple days or soon doing that electronically So it's something like we can reply back to absolutely absolutely I think a couple of meetings ago at a pre-town meeting session. We did get last time's calendar In terms of how the process worked and so if we are sticking with the same process Which obviously we haven't discussed yet as you just indicated, but you know on the one hand Maybe not bothering to change now might also not be a bad idea Is those dates are coming right up in terms of if we if And I think we were in a different position now than if we knew this was a continuing process I think we might argue more about Discuss amongst ourselves in a very helpful way about How we might ask for staff input because we've struggled with some with the forms and the format, etc of those in the past But if we're going to just go ahead and say hey one last time we'll do it the same way It's fairly quickly that that starts happening and then is over and those deadlines are usually in the beginning of july First staff to get that information back. So if anybody has a big thought about Changing it now. I think you should express that to mr. Slaughter now rather than two weeks from now because That that that's going to just start having to roll out right So it's in it's entirely likely given that we're meeting If memory serves and actually as our sheet says we meet next week and then it's two weeks So we meet the 11th and then the 25th and certainly what I would like to do is At our meeting on the 11th have this topic again, but also have Handouts in advance of that with dates and times and and again probably mimicking what we did last time And we can also in in the meantime people can certainly feedback to me if they want or just save it for Monday's discussion if we think we should do our feedback from staff differently or Not or those sort of things could we include with that the goals again? Some of the materials, um, I think we still have This purple here for This week and three days, but just whatever we this is going to this is going to fall We're going to fall to the transition in that position as we get going. So whatever I mean, I think we can probably find most of this, but just it would help me to look at Or the evaluation tool and the goals You may remember more in the schedule, of course Basically those three pieces because of course At least two of them are readily available on the website But we don't really get paid enough to have that many printer ink cartridges So, um, yeah, it's nice to have like a kit of all the things and start putting that in its own folder Right, exactly. So thank you for the reminders of some of that, but also, um, it's helpful to me as far as Being myself organized this week in preparation for both agenda review agenda setting and and Just my own sort of work to prepare some materials. You really guide us in that review process So is there anything any any other topics about the evaluation and goal? Well goal setting may be Very different conversation But nonetheless, um I think anything else on that agenda item. If not, we'll we'll move ahead if we'll so get us through this transition That won't be the goal. That's right. Well, I think that I think that one of the things that would be that we might actually almost want to spend In some ways more time on as we're going through and doing our individual evaluations is be thinking about We often have a bunch of stuff we write at the end and kind of the open space Is be thinking about what are our recommendations to the future council as to you know We did this if we decided to just do it the same way again, which it's an awesome process Come on. It has its limitations, but it's a good process. We've developed over the years That it has its limitations and these we went ahead and did it the same way because it was Just going to save time to do that But we would really recommend you look at this this this and this as being things that You know rather than just trying to exactly copy what we were doing even as amazing as we think it is We know that we have challenges with it and that way they can start thinking about like we can include that somehow in our Evaluation as a you know notes to our future selves kind of thing that Then they can be thinking about that from the beginning right as opposed to oh, right. We have to go ahead and evaluate that person I've certainly thought about that as well as what is the advice we want to give The council as far as this because the other piece that we do, you know, we composite five Um evaluations into a single one. It's how do they do that with 13 people? That's a much different Animal than than five and I having done the five one before More than twice as many is is a daunting task to say the least and so is there a you know I think we should all sort of think about as their advice We can give them about how to go about that process and and yet still be true to you know, open meeting law We saw things recently. I think that you may have shared with us Ms. Brewer regarding some communities that were not really doing their evaluation quite in alignment with with open meeting law and and so we want to you know Be You know careful to advise them about that as well So they they don't you know drop into any pitfalls that that most likely unintentional, but nonetheless can be problematic It makes me think um when we're doing the evaluation. I think it's certainly helpful as Ms. Brewer suggests to make some notes about you know advice me I want to give but maybe when we spend more time than that in one of our regular sessions or maybe a separate session where we work on a letter from this board to the future council that's A little more generic of it. Here's some things we've struggled with You may want to this is what we think you might want to Think about or you know, it'll be sort of that movie about Schmidt and we'll wrap it all in nice package and give it to them And they'll like put it over here and never look at it again But I think we might want to develop that idea into something that we actually have a document broader than just the manager evaluation that's our letter to the future council I'm talking about chapter one Seriously because it's going to take more than one meeting to do that and I think that it makes more sense for us to try And consider doing it on kind of a piece part basis like okay right now. We're talking about evaluations Well having that awareness in doing let's make sure we make some notes And so even if it never turns into this amazingly beautifully documented thing, but it's one second section a and another section is about project management or whatever But I think it's if we try and just save it up for a whole working session I think we're going to be slamming our heads not disagreeing But you're right. We need to think about everything in light So what I'm hearing just to since we've Wanted into this path a little bit as a topic for our future agendas as much as we talk about charter transition up, you know update Maybe a part of that is this sort of compilation of ideas and and advice So I may see if we can More explicitly put that on to our agenda in the future Make note of that how So if people want to Offer suggestion about how that could be in our agenda on a regular basis now we might approach just even Having good conversations and get things recorded. I'll take that advice For sure I did just one quick question. Do you know if mr. Wald is when mr. Wald is coming back because he's vice chair for june I know I do That was well played on his part. He's away until june 26th and he's he's back on june 26th and away july 5th to 14th I was wondering about Ms. Brewer is the next Vice chair if she and mr. You should just take this under advisement not decide this now whether You should approach ms. Brewer mr. Wald about flipping some dates so that you have a vice chair and benefit of ms. Brewer's experience with organizing the evaluation process That actually crossed my mind this evening when we before the meeting we discussed When mr. Wald was being bagged I didn't realize he was going to be gone quite so much of june as he is but Anyway, we will I will take that under advisement. So thank you for that and so I think we'll go to our next agenda item unless there's something else we want to bring up on the last one there and that is In section five committee board appointments and reappointments The main thing is an announcement. We are by law review committee as Stipulated by the charter There's a three member Committee and we've had a resignation of one of those members and so we will need to find Replacement for that person fairly soon because I think their ability to participate is perhaps Been exhausted. So I think they're actually going to be One person short in the short term so We will need to get ourselves A new person to serve in that role Unless someone had someone off hand Oh, I've already had two people turn me down um Three actually But the if we could send us this this is is this now in our packet this one Because we it's not on the page and the page is really good The charge it's it's been added since I asked because it's not day you asked Well, no one told me the text was on the page and then the doctor was actually no one told me it got added So that's great because like every hour Yeah, I look every hour to see if people follow up on the things I ask about sure That would be a productive use of my time And so thank you because I have been sending people there to read. I mean, they're already minutes there They've been doing such a fabulous job of keeping that together. Mr. Kravitz has been an amazing support to them. So Um, thank you because that really helps people understand what they're signing up for in addition to referring to To talk to Ms. Moran in between packing boxes Exactly Can I just add for people who are watching and don't know what I'm talking about? So one of the people on the on the committee had warned us when they accepted the appointment That they were on the brink of a life change that involved moving and that they would serve as long as they could in that Uh came about sooner than they might have thought they didn't know when it would happen. So it's not that um, You know, they they left because they couldn't stand the committee Right And accepted it with a caveat and then all happened really quickly and so we appreciate Her her willingness to try to serve and it just didn't work out. Absolutely. Yeah, there's there's no drama on the committee It's actually probably a very good group of folks to work with and so because I went to uh their last meeting on the 29th and Observed how they work and what they're working on and and they're really it's a it is a it's a good group of folks and You know, there's a significant task ahead of them and they're they're approaching in a very thoughtful Precise way in a lot of ways and so they they do need that additional person to really help to share the workload So we will keep this on the agenda until appointed You can decide that tomorrow, right? I think we'll decide but yeah I Probably be safest in that way. We wouldn't forget If somebody turns up at the last minute All right, so I think that through most of that stuff Do we want to um Take care of the licenses on our agenda right now or do we want to get back to our discussion of of uh, Town meeting or do you want to get other open to suggestion from the board? So I I would lean toward Sort of taking care of the licenses and Working our way through those Okay, I'm going to make the motion on seven double i because there's a slight change to the wording of the motion on the motion sheet with the removal of a word of the date sunday in the Third line that I will move to approve the application of The kind grind incorporated doing business as Shared coffee roasters for a common vitriolers license to operate on the premises of 178 north pleasant street monday Through sunday 7 a.m. To 11 p.m. Marissa smith manager. Is there a second second? Thank you for catching. It's there. Is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Aye post that's unanimous with one absent Please continue. I move to approve the application of in russian america llc doing business is shiru Cafe for a common vitriolers license to operate on the premises of 17 keloch avenue Monday to sunday 8 30 a.m. To 10 p.m Usuke Kakamoto manager Is there a second second To further discussion as much as I'd love to just treat this all as consent calendar I think it's only fair that we let the community know that this is an unusual Business model and they can go and check it out when it actually opens But this of course is in the former just as sharers moving over to what was shale bear This is the current share space that's becoming the shiru cafe And because we don't have anything else quite like it in town in terms of Coffee is free for students who have Signed into an app basically and provided information and so it will be a really interesting way of potentially drawing more college students Into downtown specifically for that But people should not be surprised when they walk in and it's not just another coffee shop And they can find out more about how it works when it opens Actually, I think thanks to you. It was an article. It's in the packet for this meeting Is there further discussion Hearing none all those in favor, please say I I Move to approve the request for reservation of two meter parking spaces immediately in front of the greenfield savings bank branch 108 north pleasant street on july 5 2018 to park eric carl's signature Volkswagen bugs for the art night plus event featuring eric carl's artwork kim illy business development Specialists zero second Is there further discussion? Yes. So is this in the category of they pay us for the use of the space or not? That was sometimes we have a fee attached to these motions and there's not one here. So Rather than having to decide each one. I wonder what the rule is and I think this I'm guessing this does not because the next one it it cites the fee. So I'm guessing this is not based on Criteria, that's Well, I think it's because it's part of art tonight, which means the I'm not saying that's the right reason, but I'm saying I think that may be it, but I'm not We have time if we want to defer this so I'm not saying whether that's a good or bad thing. I just It's pretty fuzzy Yeah, actually I'm sorry and maybe mr. Steinberg explaining it does it say the hours that's what I was looking for actually Oh, yeah, the date to bag the meter is on july 5th from 9 a.m. To 8 p.m. I think they're paying for it I I don't see any reason why they wouldn't why they wouldn't and so I think we should Consider our motion should indicate that they should pay for it And if they have a problem with that then we can revisit it But it would only be $10 and it's only one space. I just don't understand Right two spaces. I don't I I just don't While I I am obviously understanding the difference between a dumpster and a nice eric carl Volkswagen bug I I just don't understand the justification of taking central parking away during an event where people come down to So, um, I would think that that would be something we would charge for So, I guess the question is do we want to Um Not take action on it tonight and take action on it next week and get that clarified Or do we want to take action on it inclusive of the fee? That's what you should do that would be my assumption and then if there's a problem Yeah, okay, so let's add two at ten dollars Per day per meter for a total of 20 dollars Yeah The seconder accepts that amendment Is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Aye Um Yes, I'm sorry We should have also corrected it to say from 9 a.m. To 8 p.m. Because The subsequent one does I think there was just was just left out I'm saying the hours aren't listed and they should be because we know what they are Yeah, and so just not with a squeeze that in there someplace 9 a.m. Take p.m. As part of the motion assuming the mover and seconder agree. Yes, surely Thank you I move to prove the request of ramble for reservation of four-metered parking spaces on the west side of the amity street Lot adjacent to the bank of america parking lot on friday june 8 2018 from 8 a.m. To 6 p.m. For the delivery and removal of office furniture 10 dollars per day per meter for a total of 40 dollars Since the old americ executive assistant Second there's a second. Is it for the discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye all right So do you want to go on to the consent calendar questions? Yes, please So what I was would I wrote for e? I wanted to go back to that first and then I'm going to because everything else will get moved as a consent Calendar is a single item that we've already dealt with this before I would suggest something along these lines move to approve the reservation of metered parking spaces bordering the town common for Artisan unloading and Cleanup for the big brothers big sisters crafts on the common event 13 on the east side of south pleasant street and 21 on the west side of boltwood avenue beginning At collard street and progressing north to the intersection of spring street beginning at 9 a.m. On friday june 22 9 p.m. Not yet right 9 p.m. On friday june 22 2018 and then period And by the way, mr. Bachman, I will send this to you if it's adopted. So you The first five meet and then next sentence the first five metered parking spaces on south pleasant street beginning at the intersection of spring street moving south to remain reserved Until 7 a.m. On saturday june 23 2018 The remaining reserved until 9 a.m. On saturday june 23 28 2018 And again on saturday june 20 30 2018 from 3 30 p.m. To 6 30 p.m period So I think that that all the spaces Uh including the the five I believe That are being released at 7 a.m But those five plus the others are all being reserved on the afternoon of From 3 30 to 6 30 correct. Okay We could actually put that in And all spaces right This just gets more and more complicated It'll come out. All right. All right. So it'll be so um, so the ending will be and all spaces On saturday june 23 2018 from 3 30 p.m. To 6 30 p.m So I'll take that as a motion to amend the original motion. Was there second on that second? All right Is there any further discussion on that amendment? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Aye And so that would be an amended motion for that To supplant the other we're actually doing some work for the future council because next year And um then I move To approve the items listed on the consent calendar for june 4 2018 Agenda As presented except for part e Is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Aye Okay, so that's taken care of I just have a quick yes, please I'm meant to bring this up way back on the first page when we were back with ramble who I mispronounced their name for the Formated parking spaces in the what the cinema often thinks of as its lot or the library often thinks of as its lot If we could please and I realize staff time is at a premium right now But if we could please advise both the library and the cinema that we know that that's there So that and and it's during the day And so hopefully won't have a huge impact on either one of those facilities But just so that if they get complaints that they know that we did it on purpose But sometimes people just have to move I shouldn't put the dumpster Also, it's important to know it was authorized the next somebody just does it with it with a couple of cones and decides Because we have seen that happen. Yes, that is a good point So now heading back into our agenda I guess we'll take up our our Conversation about the annual town meeting and wrap up in discussion And so I think if if We would like to discuss Some of the topics that are a result of town meeting And its outcomes I'm gonna pull back my memo on that, but who would like to go first? Well, I appreciate what mr. Steinberg said, you know why why talk about it. It's possibly quite quite likely the last one As a select board meeting, but I think it's Okay to say I found it very a very difficult meeting. Um, I think there were a lot of subtexts going around and I feel good about the work that this board put in as a board and as individual members As usual a lot of preparation and thoughtfulness about getting ready every Night before town meeting we had an hour-long meeting and pretty much used all of that a lot in preparation for town meeting and You know, I found the budget amendments very very difficult and Um, I found that the tenor of the meeting Difficult, I think we dealt with it in a Professional and in even manner, but I just want to acknowledge that it was hard I think it was hard for town meeting members for all kinds of different reasons Um, but I think we you know also the staff and mr. Backelman It took a lot of work to prepare and Um I just wanted to acknowledge I think there's a hard one and I feel good about the work that we did and a lot of um things that we care about were approved including the budget and the capital budget and some important zoning happened and um Even though it's not necessarily Something to pass on like a way to improve something and make it more efficient and we It's okay to spare a minute to just talk about what our experience was And I would just like to incur regarding the the hard work. I think especially of staff. It was it was you know, we're all sort of operating in a bit of a Unknown state as it was about how how to deal with certain topics and certain issues and a lot of fluidity to To the meeting and the potential motions and that sort of thing And I know that Mr. Backelman and staff town council all had to do You know, they they always do a lot of work around town meeting But I think especially so this time and so that's greatly appreciated by us And so I want to convey that to you as well as to the staff and town council That that that work was appreciated and we understand how Uh, difficult it was for everybody and and I think you're right I think it's you know, it was difficult for our town meeting members It was difficult for us as participants of finance committee school committee I think everybody had a lot of struggle in a lot of ways because there were a lot of questions and a lot of Um, you know unknowns and so it was a a tricky meeting in a lot of ways and and But I do think we you know got to reason a lot comes by and large and and You know again, you know kudos to you and staff and council on on helping us through that I mean not just that to let not just appreciated but that it was noticed even though we're sitting up there with our Straight faces on but it doesn't mean we're not aware of the amount of work that and their presence there Right to where they're other Oh, yeah Just getting started so One of the other things I wanted to follow up along those lines and again all of our appreciation to staff and One of the things that I look forward to in the future from government is not putting staff To sit in the back of the room for hours at a stretch with comp time in the future And then being away from their families and it turns out. Oh, yeah, you're not getting to your article tonight anyway like that That there are immense patience With that and their willingness to continue to show up because it's the form of government that we have had all this time I think really speaks to a lot and I sometimes think that people in the audience do not Respect the amount of effort and time you do your job all day long And then you're still sitting there just in case your thing comes up tonight and just in case there are questions tonight And they can't always read everyone's mind as to what they might be asked Another thing that made things particularly awkward that I don't think we can really say is a note to the future council but just to remind ourselves why things Felt perhaps more fraught than usual in many cases Was because we'd had the awkward interaction where we believed that we were going to be acting on certain town meeting articles And then the moderator changed his mind as to what we were going to do with those articles And so it just made that much more work because we were trying to figure out Multiple plays on every single situation Given the circumstances there and so yes town meetings always a lot of work. There's always a lot of prep There's always people sitting in the back of the room But when you layer on all these other difficulties It did make it that much more challenging And so I was personally more short-tempered with things because we had gone through so much Associated with trying to figure that out and trying to give the right guidance Not because we necessarily were particularly beholden to a particular opinion But when the playing field changed it made it difficult for us. So I appreciated that Um, I did write down early on and then I kind of lost interest in doing so but some questions to follow up on in terms of The kinds of questions people have that we do hear fairly regularly and we aren't always as prepared to Say in a concise way and that's partly because they're complex issues like op-ed Where how at least half the room is like I know it's a big thing. I know we have to do it Let's do it. We're done And it could just be a consent calendar item because they've heard enough about it over time that they know It's just an obligation But there are always some people who do want to hear more about well What for example that happens if the region isn't putting enough money in and then You know as things play out into the future. How does that work? And so Being better prepared I think to think about those things and to be able to remind people as we Eventually do during every session about how the enterprise funds work Oh, but except that enterprise fund that doesn't actually have enough money to do that Etc. It's just a lot for people to absorb for that small segment of people who actually want to try and understand that better And I'm just not sure how much more we can put in writing I'm not saying there's a perfect solution to that because it is just a very complex topic But it um, it sometimes throws people for a loop In terms of our ems. I think that we we have not always done a great job of explaining where our calls are coming from And I think we could do a little bit better with that instead of making More broad estimates associated with UMass use and with downtown use and with senior citizens use etc I think there should be more of a cheat sheet available When those kinds of questions come up around the budget because I know people talk about it in great detail While the budgets are being developed and the finance committee puts a lot in the book But being able to just go ahead and Spout off a couple of those statistics I think would be really helpful to people because people do make a lot of assumptions about how those things work Yeah, and um And so it doesn't seem like we're just kind of you know going with it on the spot Even though everybody does implicitly trust I think largely the public safety chiefs And finally associated with because again, I'm I mean how many nights did I actually do this for me before I stopped But associated with our sidewalk planning and figuring out because more and more people have become interested in our sidewalks And rather than saying well, you can find this much information in the jcpc, etc It's probably another project page. We need some place to be able to point people towards so that during the run up to Budget discussions in future council meetings people can go and refresh themselves on what all the planning is associated with that just putting out more and more information because Again, you know a lot of that was discussed in great detail at jcpc meetings But it doesn't all make it into the report and just having a place to be able to go and say This is where the big thinking is around sidewalks. I think would help people to show that yeah, we do have plans Actually, we're not just doing this on a you know a very casual basis There is a a well thought out process behind this and maybe there are gaps in the way we've been explaining that to people I think the tac is still Getting to that place. Yes, they can be very helpful. I think they're in that in that process of articulating that plan of Prioritized work. I guess is best way to describe it as well as you know, how does The complete streets piece fit in with sidewalk because that's part of the complete streets vision Speaking which we have that to sign tonight before we leave Um But I think that that's will hopefully become a more prominent part of the the tac's work and their page is to have that both From a street standpoint, but also inclusive sidewalk bike lanes all of those conversations so that when You know capital planning is going on You have a sense of where the where the Work will happen Just if I could interject something I uh about the sidewalk street planning, but particularly sidewalks It happened at town meeting. It happened at gent capital planning committee probably happened Council meetings When you start talking about sidewalk needs people immediately think about their street or their sidewalk Even at jcpc, but oh well I live on in that intersection is really bad because it's what they know And I you know, but they immediately and it was happening in town Many people immediately started talking about the one they knew about and When there is more information when tac has that list people want to go Look and see where their street or their intersection or their sidewalk is on the list and it goes a long way Towards answering their questions if they oh It's in the third year because that's when there's this other, you know, whatever it is, but people immediately relate the conversation to their own Kind of piece of neighborhood. So that's just it seems to be human nature because it was happening Well, the thing I think about is that with the streets because we've gone through with I think scan streets the name of the company that goes through and does a grade on each of the streets on the Roadway portion of it if we have some similar type of metric for our sidewalks I mean, there's more to it than just the condition of it But you know if if that's a place that tac gets to as far as Either a rubric for organizing or and and so then people have that as a touchstone To then go and look at maybe some other section of town when they say wow That's way ahead of mind wise so much and they go to that street and they realize Oh, that sidewalks, you know crumbling or whatever So scan street can do sidewalks too. They have a similar machine Segway that goes on alongside and does it the same kind of analysis I felt like the $20,000 was going to be I'd rather just spend it on sidewalks than a machine looking at sidewalks because we have so so many needs So I mean there are some debates as to whether Where the priority is on some sidewalks Clearly sidewalks when roads are being rebuilt go, you know that that's part of the project You know whether you're trying to connect centers or if you're trying to do loops that people walk in loops sometimes that and And so one of the things that we looked at actually is Strava, which is the The fitness app you can get the data from anybody who wears it where they where they travel because it collects the data And you can sort of superimpose where the heavy use things instead of just sort of eyeballing things and like that That's at least one source of data. That's already existing in the world So amy resecchia suggests that we look at something like that So there's different ways of looking at the whole sidewalk thing We don't have a lot of money to do sidewalks and we have a little bit but not as much as we obviously need Mr. Simon Yeah, I mean the only thing I would add to some of the comments that have been made is that It's important to distinguish between Items that will come up in the future from the council and to remember that We now are getting into a legislative body that is going to be meeting on a regular basis throughout the year Possibly we'll assume bi-weekly and told them that we know otherwise They haven't figured out their own schedule yet Obviously because they haven't elected But once they do, you know, they will be in a pattern where they can Request information and then the proper staff person we can be scheduled to come in and doesn't have to wait And information can just be provided to them in the ongoing course of doing business and I think that that's one of the advantages of Having something that meets year-round as opposed to having a body that meets for a short period of time twice a year and That is distinguishable from what we were just talking about which is an item that We would urge Recognition and I think managers aware of this that there's a large body of public that would like that information and how Not to make it accessible Just to the council is the legislative body But how we make something available to the public and information where the public has a great interest in some of those are two distinguishable things And my last comment is is we're extending thank yous. I would also like to extend the thank you to Superintendent Morris and mr. Angano In particular because there were a number of questions that came up regarding school issues and They were extremely responsive in getting information back to town meeting quickly and I think they'd serve our thanks for that Thank you. I appreciate the thanks but Provide to the schools employees but also to you know trying to sort of segment Which kinds of things are the things that are like websites where you can find your street and you can find your sidewalk versus the actual Council needing to look at it and then looking at it throughout the year at a scheduled time So that will be really handy for everyone including the people who are watching at home Who've already looked up their sidewalk and now know they're going to talk about it on a particular night as opposed to some randomly scheduled night Um, this is the part where you may wish to dissociate yourselves with me But this is the part that's going to get a little bit tricky in terms of how to say this That's not going to offend people and I don't think it's going to work that I'm still going to end up offending people TMCC and eventually TMAC since TMAC has been elected Um has worked really hard to get a lot of information out to people They've been excellent at providing handouts in our packets And I think that that sort of thing will you know be an important thing for the councils Whatever employees to work with the town manager to figure out ways to do that sort of thing To help, you know make processes clearer. I think that's really helpful to people I do have substantial concerns about the style of What we used to call precinct meetings and became warrant review meetings Because we used to distinguish because we said there was one thing that was a warrant review meeting That was sponsored by the legal women voters and TMCC And then there were precinct meetings and those became more broad because people realized that people in a neighborhood couldn't necessarily I'll show up at a certain time on a certain day and so they said anybody could come to them My problem with those and I understand that we are going to have a we have some structure in the new charter associated with us but in terms of the suggestions To future people on the council to really think hard not only about What those specific outreach meetings are that they're required to have in the in the charter that No one's been required to have up until this point. So that'll be a new thing. They'll already be figuring out But also to consider other topic specific meetings that are Staffed so to speak by people who know the answers to the questions people are going to ask I remain incredibly frustrated that we would go to town meeting having everyone worked on everything And people would talk about things they learned at review meetings that were not based on facts They were based on opinions and there had not been adequate Factual information provided at those in those settings And so I just would caution our future counselors as they come up with those meetings within their districts To work very carefully with staff to find out. Okay. Is there a thing that I really need? Expertise on here to answer questions associated with or that I say I'll go find that out From those people and come back rather than expecting staff again to go to 80 bazillion things But at the same time Having just experienced it with unfortunately being at the time period when we thought we were not going to be acting on certain articles And then finding out two days later that we were Which obviously didn't make for that pleasant of a conversation at the particular warrant review I was at them, but it was no different than any other warrant review. I've ever been to which has been many over the years and There was this Feeling that it was for the people who'd shown up to talk about what they were concerned about and that's very valuable But at the same time there were people there who were there to learn about the articles And they were not hearing even two sides of the issue much less the three or five sides of the issue that may have come out And so I found them in some ways to be Negatively rather than beneficial toward the legislative process and that's one of the reasons I was hesitant to deal with TMAC as well and obviously TMAC doesn't have anything to do if there aren't any town meetings But I hope that people will think hard about what they're trying to accomplish in those things And balance that with working carefully with Through the town manager as to what expectations are of staff because I know that over the years It also became clear that There were some people who believed they should just go directly to staff and expect staff to show up for certain things and that All those kinds of standards I think are really important things for the future council to look at and for the town manager to be really clear about That things need to go through the town manager and that things when there are public meetings That we need to understand how we're educating people because we need to be making It doesn't I don't even think the word balanced is exactly the right word It's that There has to be someone there can who can explain the actual situation that's on the table and then people can disagree with facets of it But to not even be able to explain what the basic issue is I think is very unfortunate and does it a service to our community the terms I'm thinking of our information versus advocacy Yes, and sort of keeping those distinctions clear And there's a place for both right um Like for example tonight when mr. Steinberg asked mr. Moreing about the one-way decision That was we got a factual answer from somebody who knew rather than Mr. People's well, you know, I saw it this way or there but what I wanted to say is I know we have the um guidance document from kp law clarifying special town meeting requirements And I wonder because I did wonder when we elected the team act and um voted for TMCC again thinking if there aren't going to be any more town meetings What will these people do and maybe being clear about expectations of we're thinking It's our direction that we're not going to have Special town meetings except in the narrow band given in that to maybe Right to that group if they have meetings planned over the summer with it Thought or an expectation that there might be a fall special town meeting Because I think I've heard from people that expectation. Maybe we we kind of owe it to Um team act and DMCC to clarify Where our board is at about special town meetings So they're not going on one set of assumptions and we're going on another set of assumptions But also maybe be an opportunity to thank TMCC for all the service they have provided To town meeting but I think we're making an assumption or have an expectation based on kp law Whether they even read it or not and their expectations may be really different so I would say if If the board thinks that that's a worthwhile thing to do that I might compose a letter of that sort Not terribly lengthy, but just to sort of articulate You know from from that it's directly to them. So as opposed to them Yeah, you know again talking about sort of meetings in public Right it's it's a bit more proactive to reach out to them and have that conversation So I would I'd be willing to write that That and then probably circulate amongst you for feedback and go from there Right because it's basically a cover it can be a cover memo to that exact document that we have the url But our interpretation Of that I think would be really valuable for people Everybody knows we're on the same page Yeah, thank you for that suggestion and I will Compose that I have a like meeting schedules weeks. I'm offering myself to do that I'll remind you at the end of the week Yeah, if you don't see something by Right So are there other comments or Topics we wanted to ring bring up relative to to town meetings And and sort of wrapping that up Make sure we have an opportunity to sort of clear that out and hopefully mr. Wald will share any thoughts he might have via email in the short term, but Um, thank you for giving us opportunity. No, it's absolutely. I'm glad that we I fully remember I'd forgotten that when I was moving us along in the agenda And so I'm glad you reminded me because it is a valuable process that we go through in in having that conversation Um So I think next on our agenda is is we'll go to the town manager's report. Okay. Um, thank you, mr. Chair First I Everybody I hope knows Ms. Deborah Pupple is retiring Her last day of work will be Thursday of this week We had a really nice gathering and on Friday afternoon and the chair spoke and People several people complimented me on your speech Because they really thought it was moving and I think She uh, mr. Pupple was really pleased I think and has expressed that to people about the number of people who showed up The select board members who who were in town who showed up and the former select board members and represents from the university of massachusetts and um, you know department heads and colleagues and She was and I thought was real. I was really happy that her husband and her mother and her sister were there because Sometimes they don't really appreciate they don't understand how much people appreciate Their daughter or sister or wife and this is it was a really great venue for people to articulate how much Ms. Pupple meant to the community and the work and that she Did over the course of the years especially during that those really traumatic times when she She didn't want to keep it together, but had to keep it together while everybody else was not keeping it together so and A lot of people you know Others have said a lot of people have received credit for that, but she was really a pivotal person In that whole scenario as well so And then we also know that we'll talk more about this later Ms. Burgess will be retiring at the end of june But i'm pleased to announce that we have two very excellent candidates who have appointed in their to Fill their roles first margaret nardowitz will be returning as to the town is town clerk She's a town government veteran Who's Was hired by stan zomek in 1988 as a clerical assistant in the dpw And then was transferred to the town got transferred to the town clerk's office And she eventually served as assistant town clerk Acting town clerk and town clerk until 2003 and then she um If their children at a certain age decide she went to work part-time and became the town administrator in sunderland and then I'm currently serving as a town administrator in ruttland This was an opportunity. She was eager to embrace. It's uh And so she's very excited to return to the town of amherst So if someone who's experienced both as a town clerk and as a town administrator, which i'm really pleased about because Of the role that this town clerk will I anticipate will play in terms of both Being the town clerk, but also helping to serve the new council much as the town clerk serves the town meeting now I'm hoping that the council will see that uh, miss nardowitz will be that person to do that um really happy about that uh very strong applicant pool and It's a tough decision But she was certainly with that that combination of qualifications rose to the top As terms of the executive assistant to the town manager I've hired angela mills who is currently administrative assistant at crocker farm elementary school and She is an amherst resident graduate of amherst college parent and sports coach Who's worked at crocker farm for eight years while her children Were young now they're a little bit older and she's eager to take on a new challenge and work a year round She's also worked at smith college trinity college and north field mount herman school She she did a tremendous Job but through the interview process and and is a a real Person who gets things done, which is really something That we all know with miss papples experience We need someone who's able to take on tasks and and make decisions and get things get things done Um So, uh, miss nardowitz has to give 60 days notice under her contract with ruttland So she won't start until august 1 she was in last friday And she's going to be coming in on fridays to work with miss burgess Over the course of the summer so she can start to get up to speed on some of the election stuff that she's out of date on She'll be obviously going to school for for additional to get the updates on town clerk things There'll be one month in between where miss adet the assistant town clerk has agreed to serve as the acting town clerk For the month of july because these are all going to be critical times with the election dates and things like that So it's really fortunate that we have miss adet who's totally experienced in in this work as well Ready to step in and we'll you know handle the work without without missing a beat miss mills We've agreed that uh, she will finish out the school year at crocker farm and then we'll move over to us Probably around july 1st depending on her schedule and her kid schedules basically um, and so there We will have a few weeks without Without anybody in that position, but miss purple has agreed to come back When miss mills is available the full time to help Guide her through the the job um We had a really strong interview committees, uh who helped review the candidates and put them through their paces The town clerk screening committee included robert pam Joan rebeeng Jeff cravis k moran and joan Missy azek From my office for the hr office And for the executive assistant we had Stephanie o'Keefe deb radway dave zo mac and brianna sunrid um All put in a lot of time reviewed there were a lot of candidates for both positions very competitive positions, but really felt like we um Hit home runs with both positions And felt we had a pretty deep talent pool of people who had applied So that was it was really gratifying to see the number of people who are eager to work for the town Of very high quality and typically I think miss purple said this The reason she came to amherst because she was came from as a small town administrator was that She went to work with a group of talented colleagues, and that's what she found and That's what several of these people said well I want to work with a team of people who are really good at their jobs And that's what was inspiring me so very happy with those those are the big news for us and those are Big relief for us a big effort by the um deb radway and joan to make all this come together That's a lot of logistics and confidentiality that has to be played and They did a great job A few other things I want to mention is you've got the written report and I'm just going to highlight a few things The next cup of joe's friday is going to be at amherst coffee with economic development director jeff cravitz We're talking about economic development a lot this summer. I thought he would be a good person to be there to Help answer questions, but anybody can come back come around and talk to anything about anything there um There will be some The uh sculptures that were were discussed with the board before they've relocated all the sculptures to kendrick park So we will have four temporary sculptures placed into kendrick park one thing that um, I want to make a point of is that um There there are going to be some trees taken down, but it's not related to this The tree warden said over the past six years We've been removing remnants of an old hemlock hedge on kendrick park as they have declined or died from hemlock woolly Delagid The day I made the call to remove the remaining trees since they were either dead or would be in a couple years um And he just he was saying that the crosstown art installations Don't have anything to do with it, but it will seem like it to people But there are two separate events and he's been meaning to do this um We talked about the social services funding. Um, we talked about the factory hollow dyke So, um about the charter change Oh So and I was really pleased that uh the lssc staff were at south point to gather information from people and um, I went David and I went down there and it was sort of a not a great day But they set up at a great place because they were in between the residences and where the mailboxes are So everybody had to walk by them if they're going to go to their mailbox um I've uh invited a consultant in to do a review of operations on the first floor of our offices And I think I mentioned this to you before that, um, you know, we have Of you know, as soon to be vacant town clerk position. We have a the treasure collector position vacant We have a number of people who are anticipating retiring or know their date already or Are thinking about things and um What I really felt the need for is someone who would look at this objectively in terms of creating a three five seven year plan For how we were going to be staffing that entire first floor Um, so for relatively short money, we've hired a person who's the has it been a treasure collector Her name is marine valente Um has also been town administrator town manager in the town of sudbury And also by happenstance the executive director of the mass school building authority Very in worked at the international city management association Very experienced person. She's been here. She's interviewed a number of people She's going to talk to everyone on the first floor understand what their jobs are what their concerns are and try to help Think through some of the things that um staffing Decisions help me think through the staffing decisions as we move forward over the next few years So we have a game plan on where we're going um This is typically something that I think that the finance director would Would do but we don't have someone in that In that position at this moment in time and but I still need that high level thinking and And I think she will provide that and so that's where the funds will be coming from from the finance director's salary basically um Speaking communities want to highlight that the official groundbreaking is june 14th Um, and the chair will be speaking at that along with and there's some hope that the governor will show up And that's that'd be really exciting if he did. It's a big project um Many of you were at the bank center For the busani center opening. They received their final permits on june 1st and um again the chair spoke at that and um The official opening date for the um busani center is now set for june 11th We talked about the north common health insurance the Change to a new health insurance Fully insured product is going around around really well along again hr has been handling most of this along with k Zoologar and um school staff. We've had 22 Um information meetings Typically I do a little present, you know two or three two to five minute presentation about why we're doing things and then the blue cross and my my people explain what we're doing and that's been Those have been really good people have been pretty receptive. Some people Upset about the change and they express that but you know, that's to be under to be expected Um We have two people, uh, amy roosecki and holly bowser who've been accepted into the Suffolk university mma certificate in local government leadership and management program That's we'll begin in september. It's really good. It's a it's a very competitive academic program Uh, it'd be held in north hampton. So it's convenient to everybody. It's 25 days of class five graduate level courses and there's two people who Aspire to be leaders in the in the community In the town and we're really eager to cultivate their interest in being being leaders and developing a broader range of expertise in hr and finance in strategic planning and all the different Community involvement things that that you need to be a good community leader and I think that's that's enough for questions happy to answer them Questions for the manager No, it's up to his report or not Um, well, thank you for that. Um informative What's that? I'm sorry. It's just very informative. Thank you. Yes. There was absolutely So I would say we could yes go ahead Actually, this is something I'd like to have Find some way to discuss appropriately at a future meeting Which is as a follow-up on the public comment. We received earlier Associated with the bid. I am not asking for the same things the public comment person asked for however what I am asking about is for the town manager to remind us About the fact that the town is part of the bid And so I remain somewhat concerned about the fact that the bid wrote a letter that said something that The town is therefore party to if the town is part of the bid and the same in a similar vein There was information associated with town minigar a call on inclusionary zoning Where the bid had hired an attorney to refute what the town was trying to do And I just am trying to understand and and hope that we could have a brief Discussion about that at some point in the future How the town hires an attorney to sue itself over a zoning article So that that it which is not I'm sure the way the bid would describe it But that is kind of how it turns out when you're a member of the bid and the bid goes and does something like that. So I would like a better understanding of how that works moving forward and that applies to The council as well in terms of understanding how that role Of the town fits in as a bid member as opposed to just a partner so to speak when there are points of conflict between What the bid Membership may want to do versus the town's goals. I don't think there's a lawsuit against the town by the bid No, but I think you said there was a lawsuit. There is not I should not have said that I said threatened suit against the town threatened suit against itself basically through its membership in the bid and It doesn't make sense to me that And that's the conversation I would like you to have with whoever you need to have it before you describe it to us again because if the town is a Paying member of the bid and provides certain services and lieu of money, etc And then the bid says here's what the bid thinks about this that gets starts getting a little bit muddy And they thought they should talk about a potential litigation though not an actual lawsuit Are there other I'll be here for that one So if there's not other questions for the manager, I'd Ask the members for their reports. So it's left with member reports if anyone has any Meetings or otherwise that they've gone to I will go quick ask a question of the town manager I even pulled this out of my old stack of papers for you I thought that you wanted to talk about the sustainability committee charge again at some point At some point I do Okay, but pardon me at some point at some point I do but right somehow I was under the impression It was now and so okay great. We're not ready for that. Excellent So I will mention one quick thing. I did go to the The ag com meeting This past week and and so they're heading into their dormant period when the farmers themselves Are not dormant, but there are as a committee because They're just the farmers are busy, you know when you get to this time of year and so they they typically Take this summer off and come back in september But the topping that was on their agenda was um marijuana cultivation and so I my suggestion to them was to reach out to mr. Gravitson and Have him perhaps kind of bring together some of the information specifically about that that's evolving out of the the Cannabis control commission and you know our own regulation that sort of thing just to give them And he's got time because they aren't gonna be until September but to kind of bring it together because I think It's potentially that that some folks Either farmers themselves or other businesses may reach out to farmers to to You know sort of activate cultivation in our community because we are a farming community and there may be some interest in that and given that adult use Marijuana doesn't require the vertical integration that medical marijuana that Dead I guess is the current circumstance that changes the dynamics of a lot of that So I think that's a topic that they will take up in in earnest in the in the fall Because I think they as membership and also farmers in town will also be interested in in In that topic and sort of what what the rules are what the constraints You know all those kinds of things are so that was really the primary piece of it We didn't get into any real detail at this point. But but That was what was on the agenda for the for the adcom So who would like to go next It's good because it's also only two things and one is about marijuana. So Maybe I'll do that one first because you're just talking about it. So, um The zoning articles around Marijuana establishments Past at town meetings the third time we've gone to town meeting to try to keep up with the regulatory Changes and I think we're doing a good job But today the internal working group on marijuana all things marijuana met and we hadn't met for a while because personally working on stuff for town meeting and then the town meeting period and We spent most of the meeting This brew was there as well. So I mean she may want to chime in Looking at a memo that Mr. Kravitz wrote to mr. Backelman In may in mid may 14th Which is talking about the issue of licensing we've talked about another layer of regulatory control with local licensing and in this memo Just to Snip it that I thought I think we spent most of our time with it Delaying additional retail marijuana establishments until such a time as the town develops and implements A local licensing process is a prudent course of action because of the significant interest Amherst has received by potential recreational marijuana retail operators Amherst does not currently have a policy in place to evaluate and consider the benefits of a particular Establishment vis-a-vis another potential establishment And it talks about delaying Any more decisions on for for recreational use Not the ones that are medical now and can co locate but This should be a date certain July 1st 2019 in which additional recreational retail establishments will be considered even if local licensing has not been set up Third the manager may choose to end this policy at any time prior to July 1st 2019 so we spent a lot of time My mind the local licensing process comes at the end of a number of permits and reviews And gives the town one more tool to kind of Take back a license in the way we do sort of like rental registration, but um And other people felt like it was an evaluation criteria that if we didn't like one establishment because it wasn't offering things More aligned with our goals or values We could use the licensing to reject that applicant. Maybe holding out for an applicant that was offering More of what we wanted and so We spent a lot of time talking about that and it made me think that it would be worthwhile having that conversation conversation on a future select board agenda that it's more of a community conversation I mean again, we're in uncharted waters. What is the role of the license? um Ms. Brewer had said well some communities The ccc says you don't have to just accept any old You know tom dicker harry walks through the door You can set out what your preferred criteria is in a request for a proposal kind of process. We hadn't really explored that so um Because the downtown sites that are eligible now with the buffer zone are quite limited There's sort of some competition for those and is it like first one through the door or is it the one who? um You know offers the best package whatever those elements are i'm not sure we we even know what it is that we prefer over something else but um Now that we're kind of back to thinking about the next stage of this um What would this board like to do so I was suggesting it is a as a future agenda item, but um It's kind of a fresh conversation And let me just add the only other report downtown parking working group has met last last week in the week prior we're working on finalizing a memo to The town manager on a number of points that he had come and discussed with that group and um, I'm hoping we we put it to rest Wednesday we meet um The select board has a hearing date for the changes we talked about it a couple weeks ago another memo with some immediate recommendations that are born that so There's a memo to the manager almost done and then there's a couple more meetings this summer we hope to be helping flesh out a Scope and in our PRQ for a parking consultant to work with the committee now that The budget's approved, but won't be in fact till July 1. So it's my parking update. You can tell from earlier conversations tonight It's for me. It's all of that parking pay Park you pay Anyway, um, I don't know There's anything else on them. I don't want a conversation So if I could first start with the second part of her report, which is when is the hearing? I know we talked about when we thought we might be able to schedule it, but were we able to yet? 25th, I think yeah, it's 25th because of the notice So it's our last June meeting Because we didn't think we'd have enough time to do it before the public hearing because we're going to do fisher street impact on Harris street olympia drive I'll park could we please put that in next week's packet the a copy of that notice? We haven't written yet, but sure. Oh Well, I mean, I know you have to get it sent into the gazette 14 days prior So we've given them by the 11th, but at least you have to date in your mom, right? So that's helpful, but yeah, and then just once it's written I don't mean like a separate thing just once it's written to put that in our packet, but it We should just make that Depending on the timing so in regards to the marijuana issue to be to be really clear On the fact that mr. Kravitz has put in this incredibly awkward position on a regular basis That's apparently what one of the things we pay him for is to interact with people who are coming up with ideas for different kinds of businesses And it's really difficult for him to give guidance That reflects what the community thinks with marijuana because it's still such a new topic And so we can obviously start with the planning and talk about the different conversations we've had but he's he's in an interesting position that that's All too easy for anyone from anywhere to criticize whether within or without a town hall so I appreciate that he it would be really helpful to him to have some written guidance and so I appreciate that and again He doesn't work for us only the town manager works for the select board And so I really appreciated that he put something together because we've been you know working around this issue What would look we kept saying we wanted the ability to do local licensing even though we didn't know what it was We just wanted to be able to have that option and He has put in a ton of work, you know working with other groups and the ccc has also Got an additional information associated with the other ccc, you know Associated with what local regulations look like elsewhere and since every state is different in their county level things and yada yada yada Nothing's ever simple and nothing's easily just like oh boom. We'll just take theirs. There's this good So he's done a ton of research But it's also trying to figure out how to answer questions for people associated with things and so I appreciated that he put this policy together He even let the internal working group look at it and You know and provide feedback associated with it and then he gave it to his employer the town manager and I do think it is even though the town manager has all the authority to actually sign host community agreements Which is why we have never discussed the components of community host community agreements until later after they were signed Except in a very broad sense many years ago Um I think it's probably is time for us to try and despite our summer schedule find a way to have this conversation because Applications are going to start coming in for purely recreational. We also need to have I think the actual Conversation that we've been kind of dancing around for a while as to whether or not We are willing to entertain any additional letters of Support or non opposition for medical Because he needs to be able to answer those questions effectively to people when they call him up You know, they're not coming and waiting for a select board to have a conversation three weeks from now They're asking him what's going to happen next week So it's um it puts him in a really difficult position And so as we dug into this further we realized that that concept about The values and the benefits is really tricky right because you know one person can interpret it one way Based on what they believe They've been hired to do but then if they're going to get second guessed that's really not to their advantage. So We don't have a great way right now of capturing A values discussion in a host community agreement and we have in fact asked many weeks ago For a model host community agreement for recreational from kp law that we don't have yet We've had a number of opinions from them, but we don't know that yet um And we don't have a perfectly obvious way of addressing the values question at the zoning board of appeals either because it's either Now it fits or it doesn't fit it meets these conditions or it doesn't meet these conditions That's not that bigger values question Then there's the question as to whether or not we should even have a values question because we don't have values questions Around whether or not a restaurant opens and we think wow, it's a crazy idea to open that kind of restaurant Good luck to you because you're paying the money. You're meeting the rules go for it Some people feel that marijuana is a little different because it's a new market And we do want to think about things and as miss krueger pointed out the ccc has said to us Well, you could do some sort of our preprocess. We didn't do that for medical And so we don't have the history of trying to do that and it's also really weird because it's not like a situation Where we can say here's this empty mill building People tell you tell us what you want to do with that empty mill buildings. We don't own these properties We're not so I don't even really understand how we would do an rfp in a situation like that beyond learning from other people That have something other than mill buildings To do that and so none of this is completely obvious as to how to fix the conversation But it seems like it's probably time for us as a group here Since we hear from the larger community so that we can feed to the town manager and he can talk to mr. Kravitz to Figure out what aspects of this we want to try and tease out further Because again under the town government act under the charter he can make tons of decisions as the town manager But if we want him to incorporate any of our ideas and our thinking about this and ways of approaching some of these things We're going to need to have a conversation at some point And I think that in in some ways is certainly is a topic that's you know, not admitting of delay as they say It's really not because it's you know, it's it's and and you know, it's it's kind of like the arguments We made a town meeting relative to the zoning and that if you don't have it in place It's left the building commissioner and make a certain determination and then you've essentially grandfathered in certain rules even if you change them later and so You don't it's hard to retroactively sort of apply the rules. And so I think we Will need to sort of take this up in some fashion. Yes So yeah, I think that's it's really important for that conversation because I think that Memo that I think mr. Kraus shared with you a couple weeks ago that you had a chance to talk about this today was um A way to start for us to frame. What are the issues? The town meeting action to create zoning Uh A there's there's a there's a tense pressure to be first to market and so there's a lot of economic Anxiety among developers or people who want to take get the license and be the first one out there because they're that's Really important in this in this industry The um KP law has recognized this they've been working on a generic host community agreement for all their communities They've put a ton time into it It's taken a lot more time than we had anticipated But this is going to be something that's going to go out to all of their member communities But it's going to be Significantly different than our the typical host community agreement that you that we see um And you know, there are real consequences to decisions that are going to be made So if the way that zoning passed by town meeting means that you get one License and say the center of town and then you're exiting out everybody else And how do you allocate that license and barring any other discussion? The building commissioner in essence could could issue a permit and that would be without any we need to have the They also need some things host community agreement and all these other things But we need to have an informed discussion about what are the values if we have one Thing, you know, do we auction it? Do we rfp it? Do we just say? This is going to generate the most economic activity for us You know, if you said you could have one restaurant Do you want shale bearer? Do you want mcdonald's and you get to choose? And what are the values one one could be better than the other who knows so And I think it is it's a complicated topic Which because you've spent an enormous amount of time talking about it, you know it better than prompt Most 99.9 percent of people in the state But We do need support and thinking about through these what these things are and what the values are of the community because There are There is we get I mean, I'm sure he told you but we get inquiries all the time for people who want to cultivate or to To open shops and some people don't know what they're doing. Some people are very sophisticated and he's he's What do and my question is do we want to embrace it? You know, we sort of said we know where we want to be With medical We said we want for That was great guidance, but do we want to embrace it or do we want to say You know, we've represented from other boards who are saying Don't say yes to these too many of them. We don't want to bring this into the town It's hard That was Kind of what was happening in our meeting because we were not they weren't wrong positions. We were staking out different position You know on a spectrum of of places and it's like we're just an internal working group Right, we don't get to decide this and even just the president I mean these are real these have real-time consequence. It's just the existence of this memo had a chilling effect on somebody Rightly or wrongly had a chilling effect on someone who's interested in one of the downtown properties I didn't real understand that was related to the cancellation of a of a community meeting Is it you know downtown property owner who? ran into one of us who's already you know upset so It is timely some people in the working group conversations Well, of course this should all wait until the council is seated. You can't make any more decisions about I just agree but until we have the conversation and are clear We each bring our own perspectives or the boards that we represent perspectives You know Why rush it now just slow it all down and goes slow this amount is enough or What you know, we had him really interesting but somewhat It wasn't contentious, but spirited discussion. Yeah, let's come in You know these discussions take a lot of energy like I like this or I think we heard each other's point of views But we were sort of starting to relitigate it. You know by the last half an hour We were saying the things we said at the beginning And and one of the things where it starts to get complicated Well, it's already complicated, but another area in which it starts to get it continues to be complicated Is associated with An additional letter of support or non-opposition for a particular property that's trying to make a transition at this point in time and and then there is also the difficulty of My Which I then try and match up on the one hand. Yes, we are trying to do this We are out in front of it. We are making it happen We are embracing it and at the same time I'm having some difficulty understanding how I translate the community's values associated with medical and recreational slash adult use Because any place that advertise that says they want medical right now doesn't that's the reality What they want is they want a leg up For adult use and recreational. Do we not have a problem with that? Well, okay Then we don't have a problem with that But I I feel like we need to have that conversation and we've we've put it off because we had everything going on with Town meeting and the charter row and everything else. It just was like impossible But I don't think we can put it off until the council because Applicants will start to come in and they will they They have to have a host community agreement before they can get very far with the state They can like fill out some sections of the application So when you read what the state's doing, they're like so many people have filled out four sections of the application But not five and so they will be coming to us. They do have to have that community meeting They do have to have the host community agreement There's just so many layers now and yet it's still early days that we're still kind of dealing with the old stuff As we're trying to deal with the new So we're in the we're in an awkward place on a number of different fronts And so we do need to be able to have staff be able to give Accurate advice to people who aren't quite willing to go public yet But are trying to do exploratory stuff so that we don't later say Aw shucks We wish they hadn't done that because if we're not giving anybody anything to work with They can't do it Mr. Steinberg, do you have a report? Oh Okay So I think that that's you know just to the mayor one question It's you know valuable for me as far as agenda setting and thinking about When and how much of that conversation We'll need to put into our agenda setting and and that sort of thing, but if there's not Other select board member reports. I'm not sure there's anything else on our agenda I wanted to ask that when we do have that we already said today at internal working group that you wouldn't put it on the agenda for the 11th So don't And we want because we want to be able to specifically Invite people we want to be able to invite people from the business community We want to be able to invite the entire board of health for example So that even you know, if we don't make any kind of decision And what of course that means though is we need more time on the agenda because if we're going to hear from other people It may also beg the question whether it should be a separate meeting for Just that conversation and feedback from people So might be good That time doesn't get eaten up Right Thank you for considering all those alternatives I don't know if we would take up the Other the piece of that is you know the herbology request and the medical Is part of that broader conversation or do we need to get back to that as another action item? My suggestion would be that we try and have the conversation Completely separate of that even though we know that exists just like we know there are people looking to develop downtown So I think that rather than trying to say we'll put herbology on the same agenda And see where we get an hour into it seems Unfair to them as well, but but knowing Their time concerns, etc. That causes me to think sooner rather than august, you know, could that be as soon as general Could no wait I don't think I explained that right at all then herbology is not going to come be in my opinion Is not going to come before us until after we have this entire discussion after I thought you were saying that that was time sensitive Well, it is in terms of june and to them, but versus september Yeah, that's what I was trying to say and I didn't want to try and put them on the same night No, not the same, but I thought you were saying before but Okay I do have just one announcement these Race amity day members town meeting approved Past this resolution. I believe unanimously in 2015. Mr. Slaughter I believe is going to present it at the event which is on sunday june 10th It's always the second sunday and as usual it's from 2 to 4 p.m. But this year it's at the unitarian church hall So it is indoors. You do not need to RSVP. Please show up from stories fellowship fun music and dance And the race amity day proclamation is available online because we did it way back in february But if there is not other things which I think we're we've exhausted our agenda I would take a motion to adjourn so moved second second favorably say hi Hi, and we're adjourned at 10 38 p.m