 Good evening. Welcome to the select board meeting from Monday, October 28th 2019. I am Diane and Mahan Chair of the select board and to my right John Herd Joe Curell then done Steve DeCorsi Adam chaplain town manager Thank you first item on our agenda, I will turn over to Our town manager to introduce our acting assistant town manager. Mr. Chapter. Thank you madam chair So as the board knows Jim Feeney the assistant town manager is serving in an interim capacity as facilities director Likely from now until the better part or through town meeting of next year So we brought on an acting assistant town manager to fill in for Jim's responsibilities while he was working over in facilities That person is Ray Santilli. He's here tonight Ray worked for 17 years as the assistant town manager in North and over before that for the city of Cambridge In their police department's business office, and he retired just about a year ago And he's now been with us for the past two months Filling in Jim shoes and doing a great job at it So we wanted the board to have a chance to meet him say hello and ask you the questions they might have Anything you want to add to that before I Officially want to say welcome Fortunately or unfortunately for you we've met a few times And you fit right into the manager's office and you I can tell just from observing not working on anything together with you You're definitely the right person to have that I see no learning curve Or you know, you're right there knowing what needs to be done as well as you know balancing working out of the town manager's office And from the fellow staff down there I've heard nothing but great remarks, and then they really enjoy working with you. They might be getting too attached. No But that's a just issue for another day, and I really do appreciate you Coming in because this was really important to the select board in terms of When we had the manager Really get a lot on his plate We almost lost him and one of the reasons was You know he wasn't saying no to anything and because he wanted to do everything which he can but then it really takes out Outside and we had the same concern with Jim Feeney because he's fantastic and whatever he does and he says yes to everything So when Adam mentioned That you know he was looking at hiring you and your credentials and qualifications I was so thrilled and and that thrill carries through in meeting you and seeing you about three or four times now Really just fitting in on the team. So I thank you so much for helping us for however long that is Okay, any questions If mr. Greeley was here he'd say who's your favorite select board member, but I won't ask See what I tell you Thanks so much. We'll see you soon Second agenda item is Introduction from the US State Department Young Southeast Asian leadership initiative fellows. Do I Jaya Yanthi Jaya Jaya Yanthi and Jolly noon and now you guys pull the mic down and tell me how I should have said your names and I apologize Can I introduce them? Oh, yeah I'm sorry. Yes, mr. Chapter. So no, no, thank you madam chair So I want to say that Arlington were here in Arlington. We're pleased to welcome these two young professionals from Southeast Asia Do we Jianti and Jolly when for a month-long fellowship in sustainable international development? Over the next four weeks, do we and Jolly will be visiting local and state government officials non-profit organizations residents students and environmental leaders We are excited and I believe that they're excited about the professional and cultural exchange of ideas nurtured by this program Do we and Jolly are particularly interested in the reduction of single-use plastics both at a policy and social level Which is a topic of our local government that we've weighed in on and continue to encourage through the leadership of our zero waste committee Jolly is the founder of a social enterprise called education for Vietnam organic lifestyle Where organization focuses on youth empowerment and environmental issues through organic farming and community projects Evol as it's called has cooperated with other nonprofits NGOs International organizations and government entities to promote organic farbing in urban areas and to raise awareness of environmental problems Do we is interested by interest is in the intersection of environmental issues and journalism and that led to a 2017 fellowship in Fiji with climate tracker.org a youth journalism organization for climate change in 2018 do we served as a delicate at the YSE ALI marine debris expedition in Indonesia Do we currently works as a coordinator for the Indonesian campaign plastic detox? Which seeks to reward small businesses in Bali that are genuinely committed to stop stopping or reducing Substantially their use of plastic bags, so we're very happy to have them here Charlotte Milan is their host And we just wanted a chance for them to meet the board and for the board to say hello Do we or jolly who wants to go first? Let me introduce myself. My name is do we how are you? My name is jolly and I'm from Vietnam. Yes Any questions from the board mr. Heard and then mr. curing to say briefly that I got an opportunity early this week to meet do we and jolly and Within talking with them for a few just a few minutes It was clear that there's a lot that they came here that we can learn from them and I'm happy to be hosting I know you guys have full plates and I look forward to having conversations of about what you guys can offer us and Ideas that we can offer you guys an exchange and how was New York? Well, you know it Did you guys go to New York this weekend? Yes so far so good We have a chance to do a short trip to New York, but you know she's totally different from our intern Yeah Mr.. Carol, so I also had a chance to meet doing jolly and we had a great conversation as well. Thanks a lot. Mr. Heard We had a great conversation about some of the work that you've been doing Thank you all countries, and I know one of the things we talked about is some of the the the Education has to be done with you know you talked a little bit About education you've done with small businesses in trying to reduce some of their plastic use I don't know if you wanted to say a few words about about some of your experience there. Yeah So in my country in Indonesia, I especially encourage the small businesses to reducing single-use plastic And we give them incentive sub as Training to their staff how to communicate to their customer because the business is doing the green Business to reducing single-use plastic And I think jolly I think you're working with the youth. I believe that's correct. Yeah Thank you very much. You're welcome. My question is I know you're meeting with various groups and one was cited as Was Arlington businesses when you're meeting with them. Is it? Under the spectrum of looking at plastic uses in anything else or just generally around that Yeah, are we? For me as a plastic detox coordinators We meet the owners and the managers we talk about how they can reduce only three items of single-use plastic the three items are Plastic strolls plastic bag and also styrofoam only that Particularly for me that's beside race awareness of urban people around about a single plastic use They're also that we try to find the alternative materials to use such as now a focus on Lufa Yeah, to be you to use that material to make the products so we can replace somehow with the plastic single-use Yeah, that's what I'm doing now. Yeah Thank you. I guess I'll take a motion to move receipt So moved by mr. Dunn seconded by mr. Heard any further questions or comments if not on a motion By mr. Dunn seconded by mr. Heard all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed unanimous vote look forward to see you in the future Thank you so much Consent agenda Minnesota meeting September 9 2019 October 7 2019 request permit for Veterans Day Monday November 11th Jeffrey H. Chunglow director of Veterans Services for approval Kino license Allington American Legion post 39 307 mass avry appointments zoning Board of Appeals Patrick Quinn term to expire 10-1 22 Christian Klein To expire 10-1 22 request special one-day all alcohol license November 1st 2019 Robbins Memorial Town Hall for a YCC Gala fundraiser Calling leisure Ligur Allington youth council counseling services request special one-day baron wine license November 9th 2019 what widow more Robbins house for a private event Pamela price and request special one-day baron wine license November 23rd 2019 at Allington Catholic High School for the second annual Rinaldi fundraiser William Callahan First is their motion so moved by mr. Dunn seconded by mr. Cure. Oh, is there anyone here on any of those? Agenda items a y cc I see mr. Klein in the audience. Oh Is mr. Klein here? Hey, all right. You want to just you don't need to okay any questions or comments from my colleagues If not an emotion by mr. Dunn seconded by mr. Cure all those in favor say aye Opposed unanimous vote. Thank you all our volunteers. Yes returning for another term With the big M before us That's Mugar, I'm not trying to be secretive sorry We have a 715 public hearing it's now 725 ever-sourced petition summer Street Jackie Duffy supervisors rights and permits Just name and possession for the record Jackie Duffy ever source would like to install 72 feet of conduit on semi-street Allington to provide Electric service to 483 semi-street Is are there any neighbors or anyone here for the public hearing? Is there a motion from any of my colleagues will approval subject all conditions are set forth by mr. Curel seconded by second mr. Decorsi Many further questions or comments if not an emotion by mr. Curel seconded by mr. Decorsi all those in favor say aye Those opposed unanimous vote. Thank you. Jackie, and I just want to say While you're here As the entire select board knows you have over the years Been so helpful to the town of olington during major outages town-wide and sometimes just single streets or single households And you do it and move on and I think you're sort of one of the unsung heroes, especially around ever-sourced So I do appreciate everything we we appreciate it And you're welcome to say the rest of the meaning Gender item 11 licenses and permits for approval all alcohol package store bb liquors Nilesh Patel Owner and we have learned counsel attorney mary win stanley o'connor Attorney o'connor good evening. Madam chairwoman members of the board last we were here. You had asked for a More refined and revised interior floor plan, which we provided as well as the facade that Mr. Patel is proposing for the premises Also at issue was mr. Burns comments from inspectional services Mr. Byrne agrees with me that no special permit is required here because this is another retail type use With respect to the parking though There have been they have parked four spaces four cars behind this establishment on the lot for probably 25 or 35 years Those spaces are not legal spaces in accordance with the zoning bylaw We could he can only get one legal space there because of the buffer zones and things that you need I would I know that you have a policy about two spaces, but I would suggest to you the following This location is very different than several of the other stores that you've permitted If you take prime Giles and monotony. There's a lot of activity around those sites. You have stop and shop. You have what's going on in the heights Parking was fairly essential if you look at this location Um, and I get my coffee at the Dunkin Donuts. They're all the time across the street There are never any cars along that section of 1215 mass ab there are no other businesses in that area So there's no competition for parking This was a fast food establishment for oh diane you may recall better than I and jack I don't I don't remember for how long maybe 35 40 years Um, it's not really a change in in use. It's just a different retail use The other important point is that This this building has sat vacant for a period of time and mr. Patel is going to make a substantial investment in redoing this building and Making the facade attractive The other thing is it puts a full service all alcoholic beverage store Up towards the heights where there isn't one right now And I think that's a service to the people in that area. So I would urge approval of this I don't know that you want me to repeat what we said at the last hearing the board has already taken that testimony But if you have any questions Are there any questions? um, I will just for um history's sake When the board first started granting the first three all alcohol Package stores, um One of the sort of tenants that we put out our understanding was that we really wanted to see that parking was included And that's when we were first starting out because a lot of Businesses and residents who lived on on mass avenue were concerned where these were brand new And probably a lot of people would be coming which we want because we want our businesses to be successful That was sort of one of the things that made the cut for first three and the next two Having said that, um, I'm In no way I'm just saying that's where we started out that but that was many years ago It may not be something that is as important to the board right now that um, there is identified Um, off-street parking. Um, so and I'm happy to be guided by my colleagues Um, but I just wanted to let you know where the parking, you know, because I had spoken With Michael burn as you have um the building inspector and that's also his memory. Um, but I'm saying The way we did it initially 15 years ago whenever we started this We may be in a new day and age or we may not that you know, this current board may feel that We do want to um place Some number of parking as part of the application approval. So, um, I'll go to my colleagues, mr. Herd I just say parking for businesses in our own to know for all is scarce So I think this location has been searching for the right tenant for years And I think in this particular location I can operate with the parking that's Afforded on the premises and I think this is a good use of the property Mr. Hero and my question is do you have a sense of how many? Uh vehicles could park in front of it For along the street Yeah, yeah that side of the street is always empty if you drive by and I know I know just Put it out there. So I mean I I feel pretty comfortable too. I mean given the nature of that that area It's not as busy and congested. It's not like I look at Giles and I don't know what the conditions were when it received it's it's it's permanent But that all the parking for Giles isn't well No one knows it's in the back If we go there we're parking on the street or people walking there from the neighborhood So I see at least as many spots here in front of your proposed store and I know along the side They may be parking as well on the street. So I think where we are that that that isn't really a concern for me in I'm blanking right now the Side street that it about that's a public way Clark Street. Is that public or private? It's private But you don't He owns a piece of house that you can do that. I just wanted to make you aware that you know There's one benefit if you want to call it a benefit to a private way that's sometimes people will say That spot in front of my house belongs to me, but you already have that on the clock. I own the next to the Okay There we are parking in my Property and then Just if you could refresh my memory because I believe you have a similar business in stonem. Yes Who will be what person or persons will be the monday through sunday manager? Right now I am thinking gonna be me and I'm gonna put my another weather in stonem, but I am Waiting for this thing. We say it's done. Then we're gonna decide who gonna one of my brother gonna be here or there Okay, um, is there a motion? Mr Do you want a motion or a couple questions? Oh quite mr. Don questions. Um, actually, I guess there are probably more comments One is so we talked uh already last time about the importance of training for people to even and especially the new people Which is where I'm yeah, I'm not worried about the people you open with on day one I'm worried about the people who come in when the people on day one Quit event or you know when there's turnover, that's what I'm worried about the training for the people who turn over That's the most important training And my second comment is just uh, I do like the the new facade and I think that the The upkeep of that is is in keeping it in up like as it looks is really important And I think that we look at examples in Arlington that uh, for instance, uh, like I think everybody who is currently in liquor store is doing good job of it But clearly the previous owner on summer street was not for a period of time and uh, I would have you know If they hadn't managed to sell I was going to be trying to remove their license in the subsequent December So my thought is keep keep the facade. I like the design and keep it keep it up Well-kept I just want to point out that that facade has to go in front of the arb so Thank you for the clarification. The intent is there and I like the intent. Um Um Will you be selling nips? Yes, okay I'll leave it to you with your maintenance plan. Unfortunately, those traditionally seem to be the ones that sometimes Land right outside of our package stores Especially down at summer street. That was one of the main concerns, you know On your way to the high school and on the bike path So I would ask you it's your business for you to run If you see nips is not really that viable, you know, because Anywhere in allington you could say some school children could possibly Pass um then this being in the oddison But if you could be really vigilant in terms of outside just your store I'm not asking you to go streets over or anything like that. Um, that would be appreciated Um, I think that's all the questions. I have is there a motion We'll approve. We'll subject to all conditions as set forth second. Mr. Carroll seconded by mr. Hurd anyone else if not On a motion by mr. Carroll seconded by mr. Hurd all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed Unioners vote. I want to thank you attorney winston leo corner for In your client, but also thank you for Walking through this with us and getting us all the documents and I know you put a lot of time and work on this Thank you the board's consideration. Thank you. Okay. Have a good night. Good luck agenda item 12 We have a response to the petitions we received at our last meeting from our child manager mr. Chapter lane Thank you, madam chair I appreciate that you've allowed me an opportunity to speak in regard to this matter tonight I'd like to start by thanking all of the residents that have attended the last few board meetings to express their concern regarding this issue Their presence and their words have allowed all of us to learn and more deeply understand the contours of this issue Through the words of those who have spoken to the board And through the many meetings that I have had with residents in regard to this matter over the past six months I have felt the pain that many are feeling And have deepened my understanding of the importance of constantly working to build and maintain Trust between town government and the community I also want to note the respect and appreciation that I have for the women and men of the erlington police department They work hard to serve this community and I'll be the first one to acknowledge the difficulty of their jobs Though this issue is highlighted areas that we need to focus on and implement improvements I do not feel that a blanket indictment of the apd is appropriate and it's certainly not what I am intending to do Before directly addressing the petition and my responses to it I do want to make something clear that I should have made clear in my letter to the community back in the summer Lieutenant Padrini's writings were racist and need to be called out as such I want to be additionally clear. I am not saying that rick padrini is a racist, but I do believe that his words were Though I have in the past and continue now to condemn his writings I don't call them racist tonight simply to condemn them Rather, I make that statement to call them what they are so that we can address the issue that is before us The more I read and learn about issues of race in this country The more I understand that it is a challenge that we all face bias Either implicit or explicit Is present in all of us and it is only through an acknowledgement of its presence that we can begin to address Address it and find ways to move past it as individuals organizations and as a society I'm hopeful that working together as a community We can begin to address these issues and improve the overall equity and inclusion of arlington as both a local government and a community In order to start this work I'd like to directly respond to the petition and also offer an additional step that we're committed to taking in response to this issue So the first request of the petition was for the town to develop and announce a plan for repairing community trust by november 1st of 2019 Using the report compiled by the consensus building institute or cbi We plan to hold a series of community meetings in order to develop and continue the restorative process for lieutenant padrini With the community and targeted groups I've spoken with one facilitator and would like to speak to a few more before formally announcing the format of these meetings Currently, I'd like to try to have the first of these meetings scheduled to be held before the end of november Additionally in line with cbi's recommendation to develop additional structures policies and actions for the town to ensure that arlington and its employees Live up to the values and aspirations of arlington residents We are planning to update the town's employee handbook so that it includes a code of conduct The next request of the petition was to restrict lieutenant padrini to desk duty while this plan is being developed Chief flairty holds the right of assignment for police personnel But we have both agreed that due to the sensitivity of this matter that we will confer before any changes to lieutenant padrini's assignment assignment is made Correspondingly, we are both in agreement that lieutenant padrini will remain in his current administrative assignment until further notice If at some future point we decide to change his assignment We commit to doing so transparently The third request of the petition is to work with an impartial racially diverse third party organization to conduct a review of the apd and assess the presence of bias within the department We are committed to doing this and chief flairty has two proposals from two different firms that we are now assessing We hope to have a firm selected and a contract awarded within the next two weeks The fourth request is that based on the assessment findings and third party recommendations We develop a plan for ongoing cultural competency and anti racism training within the apd We are absolutely committed to doing this as it is both appropriate And also a continuation of trainings that former chief ryan and now acting chief flairty have conducted for the department And finally the petition requests that we develop a plan for the establishment of a racially and class diverse civilian review board In regard to this i'd say it's my opinion that it's generally not the town manager Who tells the community how to govern itself from a structural point of view? That said i'd be very happy to facilitate a process of considering such a proposal if it's brought forth by the community Finally though it doesn't directly relate to any of the requests of the petition I am working to bring the national league of cities race equity and leadership division to arlington This engagement would include assessment training and capacity building It would focus on work with department heads Supervisory staff and elected officials The national league of cities created the race equity and leadership division to strengthen local government leaders knowledge and capacity To eliminate racial disparities Heal racial divisions and build more equitable communities In closing I'm fully aware that just making this statement tonight Does not or will not fully satisfies people's concerns Moreover, I understand that there are many different opinions including sometimes conflicting opinions about what should be done to address people's concerns That notwithstanding I also fully understand that we need to act upon the responses that I have offered tonight and that we need to do so in an expeditious Yet thoughtful manner I am committed to doing so As more details about our plans are developed. I will share them with the community And I look forward to working with the board and the community Not to no longer talk about this issue, but to look back and see the improvements that we've made Thank you Thank you. And um, I do want to say Working with the town manager for past two two and a half months now from the initial select board meeting Caring what I heard um over those three meetings. I did have the opportunity to meet with miss drae Um, who also, you know, I made it very clear that I you know wanted to sit and listen and hear Um, what the requests were and suggestions were And took those all very seriously as the entire board does Um, as well as with anything else, um, I'm not the person with the most knowledge or expertise on this You know, is anything in addition? Um that we should start to do and and I see this as you know a plan Being put into place evolving. Um, it's not just a one hit wonder or anything like that. Um, I did feel from the remarks and Meeting with miss drae that you know, this isn't just an apd Issue or if you to talk about it's a community issue and it's whether it's you know department heads town employees Elected officials. I felt it was important. Um, I really try to keep the separation of you know legislative and executive branch of The town of allington, but I really feel and and I know my colleagues agree that you know on an important community issue We sort of Kind of put all those hats aside and and digging together whether it's going for a high school rebuild or whether it's helping out And this certainly is a serious community issue That we're treating I think respectfully and seriously and I'll be the first one to say we may Implement these steps and there may be more that we need to do or we may find when we bring out some facilitators Or hear some testimony from the community or others That there's something else we may want to consider. Um, so I'm not saying anything is closed, but Really took to point. Um, what we heard We all did what was the request in the petitions individual conversations Either that I only spoke with miss dray and I apologize for anyone else, but my colleagues have sat and met with other members um, and they've relayed to myself and my colleagues sort of Who they met with what they felt the concerns were and I think a big piece here that I hope we're addressing is um People can come forward and say things And we may not hear them the right way So I wanted to keep that mindset on and I really did strive along with my colleagues just to sit and listen and Take copious notes Of what I was hearing and basically over the past eight weeks I don't know how many times I've been in mr. Chapter Lane's office Just relayed that back to him and what I've said to him is I'm just a member of the board You had the town manager. I did say you get paid the big bucks for this You know, here's what I'm hearing Along with the petition And and things were evolving and if there's anything else Above and beyond and I'm not short citing the petition in any way whatsoever But as we go through this journey and gain knowledge on it, that's where we're coming upon some of these other things So, um, I want to thank the town manager for such a concise plan to work with the community with our Employees our department heads and our elected officials And I really even though this was some may say a long process It was a process that needed to happen And I think first and foremost we needed to listen and Sometimes I had people come up to me and Have conversations on the street and I would say well, you know what it's not what's happening It's what people are experiencing And you know, I've I've had kids and I've seen one incident happen and I've gotten three different stories And they all said that's what happened and you know, and they believed it and that's how they feel You need to take the words And I hope We've done that and we will continue to do that. And so again, I want to thank mr. Chaplain Um, I guess first just to is there a motion to receive? So move move by mr. Dunn seconded by Mr. Cairo, uh, any questions or comments from my colleagues mr. Dunn Um, I thought it was very thoughtful and um, I think it included a lot of the feedback that We've heard over the last few months And I know I've I've sat down with adam a couple different times and talked about we chewed through some of the right ways that we can The we can process and and this issue and I think that you got a lot of them in there And I think I really like that um I also really like the fact that it Embraces multiple different communities that need to be worked with so including uh, the You know residents of town and town employees and our police department and how they're all in Different places with different needs and you've got different elements for each of those and I think that that's a really Like that's a very strong element of what you're describing And uh, I also think that I know you know this is This isn't um You say it that this is part of a long-running program. This isn't something that we you know We do it for a month and then we're done This is you know, we're gonna be doing this or what builds from we're gonna do what builds from this forever And uh, I think acknowledging that and keeping that perspective is really important. So thank you Mr. Cairo from the start. Thank you. Um There's there's no doubt that on the seven and a half years that I've been on this board This has been probably the most difficult conversation that we've we've um had I think Um And I I'm gonna venture to say that's probably Just about the most difficult that that you've probably dealt with in your eight years as as manager So I want to you know echo my colleagues and thanking you for listening to the community because I know how many people We've heard from I i'm going to venture to guess that you've heard from exponentially more Voices and a lot of different voices You know and I it strikes me that even you know, I think You know, we have to thank those members of the community who shared some of their experiences too in some cases personal experiences Or what actually triggers them directly about this? What was written in this this incident and and and such or About the communities that they work with You know personally or or um or professionally So I mean I see this as as as a beginning because as a you know, you listed out. I think I I really commend you for going through each point that was raised in the Community petition and and addressing it and also brainstorming and some additional Steps but of course behind every one of these there's a lot of work that's going to have to be Done going going forward I think if I'm not mistaken, I think the diversity task group is is sponsoring a community listening session on November 17th and and I think that that's intended to be an opportunity for people in the community to hear directly from some impacted groups Not specifically about this matter just about their life experience in the community and and Whether they're feeling Or racism or or whatnot in different aspects of their lives and I think that those types of Community conversations are going to be important. I really appreciate those that that you and the chief and other members of The staff and leadership of the town and leadership of the community are going to be facilitating Going forward. We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but You know Thank you to you and for all of the voices. I think that some of the some of the very personal nature of some of the testimony was Pretty brave, so Thank you Just want to start by thanking the town manager for that update and for all the work that you've put in I know you've taken this matter But seriously and put them up most consideration to every step and every decision you made along this process um I want to thank the petitioners and all the residents that have come up And kept this issue at the forefront made sure that both the town administration and this board are held accountable And we know just how deeply these writings have affected members of this community in a negative way and how we have to make sure that that is You know a consideration in every single aspect of this process I as board members have mentioned have met with a number of residents over the past couple weeks And a lot of the issues that we've discussed They've all been positive discussions They're all how we move forward how we help the healing process as best as possible And a lot of the concerns that I've discussed with residents have been covered by the town manager's response So I thank you for that I think it's clear that we're not going to Make everybody whole At the end of this process Not everyone's going to be happy with the decisions we make but I think we are Engaging in a process. We're getting to the next step where we can really see some healing And get the community together. I think it's a learning experience. We can learn from the process and Come together and have a positive discussion with residents that will help Those that were victimized by lieutenant Padrini's writings those who were harmed by lieutenant Padrini's writing And I also find this is see this is a turning point to help the men and women of the apd who also have had a difficult experience going through You know, we have a Take out this one Matter and we have a police department that's always been a shining beacon of how a police department should act And they continue to act under chief ryan and now under chief flirty And I think with them involved and as we go through this process and will help The men and women of the apd to get through the process as well So I see this as positive. I think one of the main tenants that All that are listening need to understand is that this process will last as long as it needs to In order to find some healing in the community and get a resolution that makes residents feel comfortable with Thank you, madam chair and Thank you, mr. Chapter lane for for your comments this evening We've had discussions about this previously and we talked about Needing a path forward and you've laid out what that path forward is going to be and It is just the beginning and there is a lot of work to be done as as you've said and all members have Have echoed but I think it was an important next step that you took this evening for the community And we talked to a number of of citizens a number of people who were affected by Lieutenant Padrini's words People here tonight people in the community people on the Ellington police department who we talked to different members Or I have people who have been they have been affected by these words and and so when we're talking about moving forward We're talking about moving forward as a community Both with the people who are harmed who we spoke to Residents of the town and and our police department and and you know We need to support everyone as as as we go forward With that and it's going to be difficult that there's a lot of challenges ahead But I think you recognize that and and I appreciate all the steps you've taken and as mr. Dunn said There are different areas That that you have highlighted there and You know as we go forward I think it's it's more important to be thoughtful about this and make sure we're doing it right as opposed to Just doing things as of certain dates because this isn't a time Um type situation this is we need to move forward as a community and if it doesn't happen by November 1st But we move forward by December 15th. That's fine. And and and so We look forward to hearing more from you and to working together with you and the community on this Okay, thank you. And I just want to reiterate before she probably doesn't realize I'm going to ask her but um This really is a community discussion that needs to be had And hearing from residents, um, I like to think if it doesn't start with The the elected officials this board certainly um plays a role in that and it's part of that community Which is why um, it's not just directed some of the steps are directly to APD, but the community and conversations that need to happen and um Things all sides need to hear basically, um, it starts with us up here on the select board, which is why It's not just APD. It's not just department heads. It also needs and should be elected officials So even if we didn't have a seat per seat per se at the table Undoubtedly we all would be there anyways, but I think it's an important statement to the community that You know starting with this board through the town manager and hearing from everybody that We are going to embrace this as a community issue that needs to have continued ongoing discussion And doing the most productive positive way because I'm I'm not the person, you know, that Really has any business doing that. Um, I I've tried my best and my apologies to people who haven't felt that way and and I totally understand that um and a little bit going off the agenda, but just because this has been uh A process that I think is moving forward in a positive way If Ms. Drey, do you have anything that you would like to say? You want to speak now instead of then Hi, i'm elizabeth drey on jason street um adam I want to say a sincere thank you For um some very Very brave and important things that you said tonight First among them is to publicly call Lieutenant Badrini's words racist Second is to publicly thank those of us who have put timeless hours And Into this and have uh into the people who have been brave enough to come forward And speak their truth to the public Which is not an easy thing to do We have been painted as trouble makers and divisive and Hopefully with your words in the words of other Board members who also thanked people for their courage to come forward That we can put that behind us because really to get through and do the work that you have outlined Is going to take A group effort and it's going to take a lot of time and it's going to take A lot of transparency And a lot of working together and hearing each other. So thank you for that I also want to say that i'm really pleased to have you hear the word series of community events of community Because I think one, you know, I hear from a lot of people. Well, we'll just do one and it'll be done Why do you want more? So the fact that you have heard that And have committed to doing a series of community events. I think it's fantastic and I know that I've had some conversations with Mr. Kiro and diversity task force people about, you know, some ideas So we look forward to elaborating on those with you and I hope that as we move forward you will reach out to Those of us in the community To help plan these events Um, that would you know is really would be really important I also am pleased that The arlington police department Can also start to heal as a result of the request on the petition being heard and I I think that There are probably many police officers who look forward to Getting this, you know Looked at and coming out clean and being like, all right, let's move on and get our job done I know that I've met with chief acting chief flaherty And she has been very open to lots of suggestions. So I look forward to come, you know Having continuing that relationship Um, let's see what else I jotted down. I do agree with Chairwoman mahan that we do have a lot of work to do not just in the apd but in all parts of arlington All aspects of leadership town governments and the community I would really love to see these conversations Go out into the community so that we can learn About our own implicit biases our own You know cultural Biases our own internal racism so that we also can Learn from this And I think that that would be a great position You know, I know there's a new diversity and inclusion person coming on and I I'm not sure if that's currently in there You know sort of job description, but it would be an interesting idea For that person to sort of be the one who who moves this ball down the down the court because it is a job Big job, and I'm not sure Who will be tasked with doing it? And so I think that's an important Thing to consider again involving community members as active participants in the ongoing process and You promise transparency with making the decision process with you and acting chief flairty and We will be holding you to that And we look forward to being involved in that discussion So thank you. Thank you for all of you for the hours and hours you have put in it And I would like to thank all the community Who have put hours and hours of work into it and all of the people who came forward And shared their their truths. Um, it's a very difficult thing to do and if people are looking for more information We have on our website Arlington fights racism. We have uh action items other ways to get involved Join our email list and that way you can work with the town when when when we get to that step Thank you Thank you. This worked out better. I didn't there's no three minute limit Okay, um On a motion by mr. Dunn seconded by mr. Kuro any further questions or comments if not all those in favor say I All those opposed unanimous vote. We now come to citizens open forum. Oh good We do have people signed up So I will read the preamble except in unusual circumstances any matter presented for consideration of the board Shall neither be acted upon nor a decision made the night of the presentation In accordance with the policy under which the open forum was established It should be noted that there is a three minute time limit to present a concern or request Uh, first we have bob radocha Thank you Radocha 45 columbia road owington I agree with and I support what your plan is to move forward and I hope everything works good And that I don't undermine Your efforts by anything. I'm gonna say okay My in for my first encounter with the owington police was back in the spring of 1943 When I was two and a half and I ran away from home with my dogs I was apprehended a half mile from home at the old mill restaurant And was returned home safely without being harassed or traumatized for the next 76 years I've had no reason to fear a disrespect dollar police The police take pride in working with the kids of the community and overseeing the well-being of the community Many owington citizens do not agree with the rhetoric we hear during citizens open forum or read in the advocate That unfairly criticizes the police in general while addressing comments about one officer When the current police issue was brought up most people I talked to either shake their head or roll their eyes So it's it's not a unanimous thing that we're hearing and seeing and reading There is something unusual about the petition that has been circulating with the 1100 or so signatures I've never seen a listing of names presented with the names listed alphabetically by first name adam through zeke It's a strange format And people question it and folks that have talked to say what what's that all about? And it basically appears to be have been a contrived effort to conceal the identity of non owington residents This is an owington issue and I resent the need to recruit out-of-town people and organizations to get into our business I did take time to check the list of the 21 In the names that were presented And I got through about 21 letters of the alphabet that appeared on the petition And found 300 names that did not appear in the night 2019 true list of owington residents I estimate a total of about 350 When I finished up the last five letters that I didn't complete So Let's let's not believe that this is an overwhelming majority of residents who support the police bashing that's taking place We have many other serious problems As mentioned the need and our attention such as drug abuse vaping bullying depression alcohol addiction Domestic violence hateful graffiti suicides and other issues that should be our top priority Let's let's move on and focus on the important things. Thank you Next I have the net culver house Hi, the net culver house 24 draper av I want to reiterate what elizabeth said an appreciation of um Adam's statement and also You know in past meetings I felt like I've been pushed away and The the feeling from you guys was would you just shut up now? um, and I appreciate the openness that I'm feeling tonight and I feel like this is the beginning of a future of more collaborative and inclusive Working together I do want to say that the people in in the group that I've been working with on this petition and All along in all the meetings. I have never heard anyone express any sentiment that is bashing of the police I want to say that we have respect for the the idea of A police force that respects the safety of all residents in town Our concern however is that there is one voice that clearly wasn't And we didn't know how broad that was within our police department And I I do want to say that You know in the interest of transparency Adam I wish that we had known before today that this was being done here tonight There's only a small handful of us that were able to turn up at the last minute But because we didn't know it was on the agenda And So I want to say that As a white english-speaking woman Of privilege as you know all of most of us in here are white and of privilege I'm able to be here and I'm able to speak up But I know of people in town who are not who are intimidated Who are scared to speak up who also have a history of having been racially bullied by Lieutenant Padrini And will not and are scared to speak up. So I would like to Let you know that we will be their voice until it's safe enough for them to speak up What we really want is a town that is safe for everyone to have their voice heard And and I hope that going forward we can really make that a priority and I think it will take a long time but We're not going away Thank you Elizabeth you want another bite? Okay Name an address for the record. Sorry. Hi, uh, Elizabeth Dre Jason street Thank you for letting me speak earlier I would like to speak about the petition and I would like to speak about the signatures on the petition I would like to publicly state that there was no attempt to conceal anything about the petition I would like to also say that it is not purely an Arlington issue as Lugena Padrini's writings Were put out in a statewide publication And in addition that it affects guests of ours People who come into Arlington to eat at our restaurants to shop at our stores Are also affected by the policing that happens within Our town limits. So to say that this is an Arlington only issue Does not take those important things into consideration I would also like to speak to the issue of hateful graffiti, which is A big issue that we are facing and Arlington is not the only town That is facing this issue, but I would like to say That when you have a Arlington police officer Whose racist writings Go are Put out there to the state of massachusetts with no real consequences Then you are giving license To others to follow Because they will also think That there are no real consequences And that is why what we do Is important You are sending a message to everybody Elementary school middle school high school Everybody that that is not acceptable here Great and it has to be more than just words. It has to be It has to be The actions it would also be great to have a curriculum That you know in our public school starting in elementary school teaching kids how to talk about race How to talk about these issues This is a moment in front of us that we can remake who Arlington is and I hope that we take advantage of that. Thank you Thank you And just as an aside With the community conversation with our colleagues from the school committee Because there really is a separation and i'm not trying to pass it off. I'm just Okay, uh, next we have Beth Milovchuk Milovchuk. I apologize Beth Thank you pretty well Beth Milovchuk 20 russell street and i'm a proud town meeting member I am very thankful for our first responders And I am grateful that the select board Heard us finally I Won't thank the town manager for doing his job. I'm sorry. It took so long I hope that when the national league of cities are here For their race and equity expert and leadership expertise that they have a component that covers the um misuse of force for leadership I spoke about this before i'll bring it up again In the foya emails that are published on the website that was cited by elizabeth There is one from a former select board member Speaking about deploying police to Public meetings and that continues to concern me and I hope there'll be a teaching component from the national league of Cities race equity and leadership to cover training for all of those people in town hall and for the select board I think it's very important. We don't want to intimidate people from coming to fora Such as the one here tonight or for any around town when they have concerns or issues I grew up knowing that I could always go to a policeman if I felt endangered or Needed help and I hope that that's always a case and that they won't be used to intimidate people or members of the public who have differing opinions This is not related to the prior conversation I would like to know where lieutenant buzzle's flagpole is and his plaque That was removed from buzzle field some months ago veterans day is approaching. I live in that neighborhood I am the daughter of a combat veteran And my uncle is still missing over europe and it means a lot to me to see these Flags and veterans monuments around town and the squares and streets named for them I'm not sure if we do it in any other part of the country I only encountered that when I moved here And so I am very concerned and remain concerned that lieutenant richard buzzle who was lost over vietnam That his flagpole and plaque is missing. I hope it's returned soon And we can discuss at a later point I would like a grove of trees to be allowed to flourish there at the edge of the child's playground there I know that I I've spoken about that before on the arlington list so And I do appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight and share my feelings with you I I love arlington. I think it's a great community And I've met some great people here speaking up for it. So thank you very much Thank you Just point of information. I think actually mr I've had conversation with jeffrey chunglo. I don't want to misrepresent you probably have better Yes, so simply put under the watchful eye of the town's veteran agent veterans agent and the veterans council the Buzzer memorial and flagpoles being refurbished as part of a capital improvement program So once the refurbishment is done, they'll be reinstalled looking as good as new And knowing our director of veterans affairs probably saying his name wrong There will be an appropriate service Himself also a veteran recently retired from the navy. We do have I know you've seen the pow chair Right outside the select board office that he and his wife diane every time they say oh diane's such a great resource It's not me That he takes all of those as a veteran Ceremonies and remembrances In holidays and the appropriateness of them and how to be treated Really to a stellar level with utmost respect. So We'll definitely Through the manager and the board be putting out when that will be rededicated and i'm sure Usually gets three to four hundred people there So it'll be appropriate and then last we have adam mcneill Hi adam mcneill on 19 melrose street. I have a kind of announcement about a different form of community engagement But most of this what i'm going to say is can be found on the town website under the envision arlington community page, but a number of the precincts have scheduled fall precinct meetings Which I think is really great and of the ones that haven't yet scheduled most of them are in the process of being scheduled This is really for two purposes It's for really demystifying the process of bringing matters before town meeting Which I mean is compared to a lot of town governments or municipality governments is a really open process But there's still some areas of not exact Understanding through that It's a forum for people to talk about a lot of issues as well personal personal to them And then it's also for people who Are interested in the process of how do you run for town meeting in the first place? A lot of those things start getting semi-formalized around december So the meetings are scheduled from starting fairly soon through to The uh Well last speciality one is early december right now. So, um We have well right now We have precinct one three and five meeting monday october 28 from 6 30 to 8 p.m. Is there but um the precincts 12 and 14 are meeting um wednesday november 6 of the bracket school from 6 30 to 8 p.m Precincts 8 and 10 are meeting at sunday november 10th the senior center from 3 to 5 p.m Precinct 7 is meeting at wednesday november 13th at the gibbs school again 6 30 to 8 p.m And precinct 16 and 18 thursday december 5th the dial and score at 6 30 to 8 p.m. Thank you So are they all 6 30 8 p.m. Because I wrote down 6 to 8 30 for bracket. Did I hear that wrong? It is 6 30 8 p.m. For brackets Well, so one that's not 6 30 8 p.m. Is the sunday one at the senior center for precincts 8 through 10 and that is at 3 to 5 p.m. Thank you. Thank you for doing that That's all I signed up. Was there anyone else who didn't get to sign in? That's okay 64 p.m. Street in arlington. I will sign in and I apologize for My appearance after my recent surgery the dressing is a challenge with one hand So anyway, I apologize. I had not planned to speak tonight But based on some of the comments that I've heard I did want to make some brief comments Um Earlier we heard Sort of the implication that maybe this was not an important issue that we're talking about to do with uh lieutenant patrini's comments That there are more important things for the arlington police department to be focusing on and issues in town There are very many other important things. However, the implication that this is not important that this is a second secondary issue that We should move beyond quickly get it behind us is I think in in severe error because The term implicit bias which I appreciate mr. Jabalton bringing up earlier tonight in some of the comments that we've heard Implicit bias is a whole issue that we have had come to the fore over the past about two three years in terms of a commonly used term I think it's unfortunately a far more common problem than any of us including myself have realized as I've discovered in myself regularly Finding myself now having implicit biases that I had not considered before and that's just me I think the fact this issue came out the fact that the board not happily but Embraced it the fact the town managers working towards it the fact the petitioners made some comments that perhaps Animated the process a bit more. I think all that's very important and one of the things I love about the town is the fact that uh They're willing to take it and work with it and resolve it and do the hard work That's going to be required because as we've heard before This is uh repeatedly. Uh, this is going to be a long-term effort because implicit bias is a tough thing to work with I want to applaud the town and the town manager for uh, the actions that they've taken over the past couple weeks Thanks Careful that tv right in front of you Just name an address for the record My name is sally kebdei. I'm here as a resident and representative of the buildings at 840 846 mess av as well as 17 newman way We are teachers and coaches of arlington public school students we are Volunteers promoting health food equity and food security through work in the volunteer garden We are instructors of budding musicians in town. We are business owners Of shops in arlington center and employees of local essentials such as stop and shop We are simultaneously in the name of debunking implicit bias We are immigrants. We are people living on fifth incomes for a variety of reasons We are individuals with disabilities who depend on arlington's public transit for our independence These are neither mutually exclusive nor contradictory We have lived in the area for two years 10 years some of us have lived in the area for over 20 years And under our previous owners We were cared for by a family who was invested in making sure that long-term residents Could stay in their homes We are here because our identity and our homes are now in question historically or our 60 units have historically been Naturally occurring affordable housing However, later this earlier this year our buildings were purchased by torrington properties We are concerned because Many of us have been living with lout leases for three years now Torrent in is actively evicting tenants from two recently acquired buildings in jp The business model their business model is to acquire multifamulantly buildings and raise rents The industry standard is to Finance acquisitions by raising rents and our buildings were purchased at 16 million dollars Which is 67 percent more than their current value. So naturally we're concerned our plan Based on what torrenton has stated they wish to renovate and raise rents They've also expressed some openness to working with residents to stay in their homes We formed a tenants association compromised of About 40 of our 60 units We have met with our new owners as well as city life v that would bonna And our starting discussions to mitigate the negative impacts of this acquisition We plan to negotiate a collective bargaining plan That assure current tenants will not be driven out of their homes because of exorbitant and sudden rent increases We are here to make you aware of our situation so that you can provide informed support going forward If j and torrington properties Jay viceno the owner and torrington properties would like to join the arlington community Then they are accountable to it to us and to you our representatives. Thank you Thank you Okay, let's Um, is there anyone else? If not citizen form is closed And I did let that last speaker go a little bit longer because it's a brand new issue that we've heard. Um, so I apologize Next agenda item 13 And i'm assuming mr. Towne manager that unless you want to take one of these out of order I'll just continue on with the agenda the way that it is Or I think that that's okay. Okay, because I see mr. Pooler and others here. So agenda item for 13 Mugar 40b application update attorney heim Thank you, madam chair So this is quite an extensive topic I'll try to keep this to the manager suggested is the medium version But if members of the board or If they're inclined to Allow members of the public to ask any questions. I'll try to answer them as thoroughly as I can Um, I put this item on the agenda as a means of conveying to the public broadly As well as other folks in town That the housing appeals committee reached the decision in our long-standing quote-unquote one and a half percent safe harbor litigation By way of background this board Initially opposed a project eligibility Application back in the summer of 2015 relative to Arlington Lynn's Realty's proposal to build approximately 220 units over in the Mugar wetlands area near Thorndike field After that about nine months later the actual application under a chapter 40b conference of permit came in The zoning board convened a hearing and asserted the town was had achieved safe harbor status And just to refresh everybody's recollection What that means is not that the town doesn't allow Permits or affordable housing Is that the town would be able to retain local control such that the zba's decision on the comprehensive permit Would be the final authority and it wouldn't be able to be appealed to the housing appeals committee The one and a half percent calculation is a fairly complicated Matter it involves a lot of different sort of technical aspects. We use our gis system to actually run the calculation The applicants Arlington land realty appealed our assertion of one and a half percent safe harbor status That went to dhcd dhc ruled in their favor We filed an interlocutory appeal to the housing appeals committee and that is where it has been The last three years I provided the board with a copy of that decision as well as our objections to The decision was it was initially proposed The long and short of it is the hearing officer who hears the matter Issues a proposed decision to counsel for the parties before it's reviewed by the larger housing appeals committee of about five members like this board Our objections are more or less Have more or less remained the same because the decision didn't change much on the basis of our objections I won't necessarily run down all those objections unless board members feel it would be prudent because I think they're pretty well Articulated by the special counsel in the objections, but I'd say the major grievances that we have are that As an evidentiary matter the housing appeals committee credited The applicants as providing sufficient data to establish the town is at 1.37 percent And did not credit our 1.53 percent even though the only basis for data was the town's gis system So the town provided the only basis for data Mr. Kurowski or gis systems analysts Provided that data Pre-filed testimony and live testimony Yet the decision makes it sounds if he just kind of showed up and talked a little bit about the gis system And what I want to let folks know is that adam kurowski was a brilliant witness and he testified well on behalf of the town The second thing is that the decision Um Continues to have some serious disagreements about how to read Statutes and regulations together. That's probably not that interesting for everybody sitting in the audience It's probably too long of a situation to get into But i'm happy to answer any questions that folks have about it either in the in this context or offline Going forward what I want to emphasize is that The zoning board of appeals needs to reconvene Within 30 days of the decision being made by the housing appeals committee The applicants have asked for an adjournment Of the hearing scheduled tomorrow The zba and uh the applicants and basically everybody else probably benefits from Agreeing to adjourn that decision, but that'll have to be formally taken by a vote tomorrow I do not expect that there will be substantive discussion Or even really procedural discussion of it because I do expect that an adjournment is probably likely to be granted And I expect that adjournment probably won't be until sometime in december But the clock won't be running against us because they all have sought the adjournment And really the only reason to really pursue a hearing that quickly was because we're on the clock Once the hearing uh reopens in earnest The uh zba has 180 days to consider the actual substance of the application Whereas we've been arguing sort of in an interlocutory fashion About this piece of it that says the town has certain rights And again, it's a fairly close question 1.37 if you're the applicants 1.53 if you're off us with the threshold being 1.5 It's been a fairly close matter The zba will essentially have to retain experts to scrutinize all the claims Made by ellington land realty They'll want to hear from the public They'll want to basically consider all those matters which they're allowed to consider and there's Basically a list of things that they're allowed to consider in terms of weighing The need for affordable housing against other valid concerns. There are some things that they can't consider They're not allowed to consider the impact on our schools, for example So the zba will be looking forward to a full-throated presentation from the applicants I think they'll be looking forward to an equally full-throated presentation from members of the community about their concerns and after that 180 day period which is likely to be extended Probably sometimes at the desire of the applicant probably some other times by the desire of the zba. It's likely to be extended past 180 days When the hearing officially closes they'll have 40 days to issue a decision That decision will either be to grant the permit Deny the permit or grant the permit with conditions Most of these decisions are grant with conditions And then there's litigation Because I oftentimes the applicants aren't sat outside with conditions. So for example, if you said I'm okay with 30 units instead of 220 and they'd say well that that those conditions aren't acceptable and they'll appeal to the hac Um a butters can also appeal These things at different periods of time. So what I want folks to know is that this is going to be in for a long haul I was just doing a little bit of research before tonight. There is a case out of Sandwich that has been going on since 2004 So that's not likely to be the case here But these are long matters for a whole variety of reasons both substantively and procedurally as everyone tries to essentially assert their rights It was important though for us to assert the one and a half percent We have preserved that issue for appeal and it may be that accord at some point in time If all of the parties involved don't agree on what should basically happen at this site that that issue Remains and can be brought up again I also want to note just for folks watching That we're not alone in the last few years Braintree, waltham, newton, stonem and over and hangum have all tried to assert one and a half percent Or 10 percent or some other means of having safe harbor status and they've all been denied by the hac Indeed one of the central issues in our case. It's how we treat water bodies in newton's case. It was conceded that water bodies Should be deducted from the denominator, but in our case that was not conceded So these are complicated technical matters What's going to end up being before the zba is the actual substance about whether this application And its creation of affordable housing units basically outweighs the other concerns that the community has If the questions that the board has i'm happy to answer them If the board wants to take comments from the public whatever is appropriate But I just want to make it clear that the board doesn't have authority at this point in time To make any further decisions with respect to this specific matter It is before the zba and the zba again is charged with taking the matter on on its merits Considering the evidence before them and the standards that they have to apply Thank you Mr. Dunn Thank you for the update So three years ago Or whatever it was when the board last had a really serious discussion of mu ghar One of the things we said was we directed the town manager to Make sure that the zba had access to all the resources that it needed to To decide this well and properly and It's just I don't know if we actually need to like if we want to take another vote at a future meeting and actually say that Again because we've had enough turnover but at the same time I'm fairly confident that we all unanimously agree that And that the town manager knows it but at the same time it is really worth saying and saying loudly especially because We've got a member in the zba who I just want to feel very equipped that they've got the the board They have everything they need to hear this properly Thank you, madam chair I also want to echo that the town and its Agencies have been making good on that town meeting approved additional supplemental funds For the purposes of providing technical expertise Most technical technical expertise costs are covered actually by the applicant They're required to for most of them by law, but we have additional funds that was appropriated by town meeting I also want folks to know that the planning department secured a grant to provide technical assistance within the hearings Ironically somewhat from dhcd Um, dhcd is a wonderful community partner in most ways. This is not about dhcd being good or bad It's about the town asserting and vindicating its rights to the maximum extent possible and supporting the zba as it has to consider a complicated complicated application I'm not really sure how to go here. It seems we're having a lot of select board meetings on uh outside of our Genre but I know we do have most if not all of the zba here Do you already have a planned meeting or conversation scheduled with them or are you saying you're asking me to call on them and Have a mini zba? No, no, uh, madam chair I will think what I'm what I want to use the select board's meeting as as as an opportunity to just educate the public on What's happening? So it's most likely that the zba hearing that was Scheduled for tomorrow is probably going to be adjourned sometime in december Um in the interim we plan to make sure that the zba has the resources that they need Either from special counsel witton or from the technical assistant, uh council Hoverty myself the planning department anybody else that's needed for them to make understand What they need to consider once the hearing resumes in earnest Okay, and I guess I kind of feel like through you. I've made the offer um And we're all in the same room. Is there anything from I see some of our zba zoning board of appeal members here Any questions or anything you're looking for? And could you for the besides for the record saying your name and zba identify the other members of the zoning board of appeals that are here There are actually not I'm christian claire. I'm the last chair of the zoning board of appeals First I would like to thank you all for reappointing me this evening We're looking forward to I guess that's kind of a an odd thing to say We're looking forward to this this process as it moves forward Um, I'm not here speaking as as a member. I'm just speaking as myself. I'm not here representing the board um Part of the reason I'm coming here tonight is to find out actually what's going on because Since we had the vote. I believe it was two or three years ago december Um, there has been absolutely no whisper of anything as to what's been going on with this case. Um and to being on this zba feeling that My me myself. I'm not really sure what's going on and what the status is and then Uh, basically finding out that something is going on because I read about it in the papers or because there's it's on the agenda for the zba so I'm glad to be here to to find out a little bit more about what's going on and um, hopefully We can be brought up to speed as to uh the current case and know where things stand Okay Um I I do have um This is going to be a long process and I'll leave it to attorney hyman attorney chapter lane in terms of um Attorney chapter lane. I just made it I've been in court to my working not I'm not a perp anyways. Um in terms of you know the information and um working with his only board of appeals the select board and others Um, I do agree with my um vice chairman. Mr. Dunn that um You know implied support. I think uh working with mr. Dunn and um Town manager chapter lane at an appropriate time having this as an agenda item Um with perhaps some suggested wording Perhaps pulling up the previous board's votes Everybody can look at that and see if it needs to be edited amended modified in any way And um, I do have um Unfortunately because I john bean out of state. He's home Almost two weeks. I haven't been able to reach out to the people that there are a couple of ideas that I think one in particular And she knows who she is that I haven't texted back to meet yet. Um, but before you know Given it a life. I want to make sure, you know, is it's something justifiable legal and something that Should be Before us because I don't want to waste Attorney hymn or my colleagues time with that as well as I'm thinking when we have this next agenda for a vote But that will afford board members the time to continue conversations regarding new gar impossible option or options And then have that discussion as a full board because we can't discuss when we're not here at the meeting when that agenda item Also appears so Attorney hymn, I'm sorry madam chair. I just want to clarify something because I think it's important for the public's interest I want to let mr. Klein know that I distributed something that was supposed to reach zba members Before it would have gotten to anybody else. So there may be some communication problem, but the Board members should have been notified with a copy of the decision as well as Um An attorney client communication about the decision Well in advance of tonight. So I'm sure that we can I'll speak about that more and we'll get that kink figured out But I don't want folks to think that this is the first Forum for should be the first forum for zba members. I think there's a hundred percent agreement on that front Definitely, and I apologize mr. Klein and you know, I'll work with attorney hymn to identify what I'm not doing No, no, not you madam chair. No, I'm not saying that I'm trying to put myself in there too So I'm not just saying one person. Um, mr. Decorson. Thank you, madam chair And and you know, unfortunately we got that decision But as attorney hymn said that you know, we now actually get into the substance of the we'll get into the substance of the Application and not just whether a safe harbor existed for the community and while this will be before the zba I know a few years ago. Mr. Heard and Myself were not on the board, but the board sent the letter to mass housing on an august 18 2015 Opposing a project eligibility approval And among other reasons that were cited is that the proposed development is ill-suited to the project site Which is comprised largely of unbuildable wetlands and is located in the flood hazard zone Now I think if we take a vote and I hope we do at some point We will still take that position We don't decide this but we can make our position known On this and town meeting has acted on this the town has acted on this through its comprehensive plan And and there is a consensus in the community that this site is not suitable for the type of development that's proposed As a result of losing the one and a half percent and correct me if I'm wrong attorney hymn Um, the town might not be able to rely on its own wetlands bylaw, but we'll still be able to rely on the state wetlands protection act In in determining the suitability of the site So we are allowed to apply our wetlands bylaw It's actually one of the few things that the comprehensive permit doesn't actually totally cover So they will need to go in front of the conservation commission at some point in time When they strategically decide to do that, Mr. DeCorsi is an interesting question But it is it is covered we're allowed to assert more stringent standards, but I think what I would I expect that they'll Argue is that they're only building within a certain part of the uplands So it's it's it's one it's one of a few key issues that sort of will run parallel to the substantive proceedings That's that's correct. Okay. All right. Thank you. And so I think it's important As a board and this board has already acted so I'm not In terms of what the position is, but I think it's important as a community that we continue to assert Of what I mean appears obvious to most people who are down like that. This is not suitable and and I you know I know there are a number of people here In the community or in the neighborhood who are here this evening and Again, while we're we weren't the party of interest Before the housing appeals committee. We will not be making the decision I think we do have a voice in in terms of you know, how the community feels about this and I think It would be helpful if we act as one board when the time is appropriate that that we take action as a board To let our voice start even stronger Mr. Hard Echoing that and I think you know, just so we're clear Amongst the five members of this board that this is always I think the first day I Decide I was going to run I've been vocal on this issue because I grew up in this area and the proposed project would just be a nightmare For the area for the wetlands for the traffic congestion. It's already bad in that area. So Just to be put it on the record and so I think Steve did that, you know I will join the other members of the board In doing what we can to prevent something like this from putting the detriment on the town and I just want to Commend the people the attorney heim Our outside council and all the people from the town that have been put this issue forward and Have been fighting this for many years before I came here and hopefully I can stand with them and continue I think You know, usually I very hesitant to get involved in other boards matters However, my recollection is that at the time that the board took that action the zba had actually asked for advisory opinions from a number of Um committees and commissions In town And I know that uh, Mr. Hurd. Mr. Of course, you were not yet on this board. So it is probably appropriate for us to Bring up that that vote that we had previously and to Reaffirm it as a as a full board is what constituted now I think that probably is a an appropriate next step Moved by mr. Dunn seconded by mr. Kerro any further questions or comments If not, all those favor say aye unanimous vote Um, that was a move to receive. Okay. Sorry Uh, gender item 14 discussion and approval authorizing the town manager to sign on to statement to massport and fa Mr. Tail manager mr. Chapter lane. Thank you, madam chair. So this is a matter That's luck when Kerro brought up at the last meeting under new business Based on a meeting that both he and I had attended just before the meeting Following that meeting medford summerville and cambridge released a statement To massport and the faa basically saying We want you to start listening to us about Moving the planes to one of what are several new directional patterns they could follow Uh, right after they released this several of the concerned residents reached out to me Mr. Kerro as well asking whether or not we would sign on to this I call the mayor and medford's office They were literally the woman I spoke was was literally typing an email to arlington belmont in water town And I've in a few other communities inviting us to sign on Uh, I think the board's authorization for me to sign on to this would be a very smart move on our part To show solidarity with these communities that we're all working together as well as to our residents that they understand that We are listening to them in regards to this issue That said the real work is beyond this statement in coming to some agreement amongst communities What the new dispersion pattern will be that would be the most equitable in most In most fair so more to come but I would strongly urge the board to support signing on to this statement tonight Mr. Kerro, I move approval Thank you. Bye. Mr. Kerro Seconded by mr. Herd. Mr. Kerro. Thank you and thank you mr. Manager for bringing it forward Um Actually, we should probably make sure that there's a distribution out to the to the board. I think mr siano Who is the community's representative on the massachusetts citizens advisory committee just within the last couple days forwarded on um, the results of the MIT study that was done and it has actually heat maps with Gosh, what are there about 10 different scenarios? I think that are in there and how all of the The various communities within the flight paths would be affected either for the better or for the worse Both compared to original conditions before the R&F procedures were put in place and also just um as as compared to just 2017 So based essentially what what we're looking at today Which of these these options would would make make conditions better or worse and for wear of which which communities I know that he had circulated this siano's developed this list based on people who have been bringing forward complaints on on the The the air noise and I think I ended up on his list somehow Because somebody sent it to me And so I know that some of those residents and and he Are going to try to get together to just look look at those. I mean some of them look pretty obvious just looking at the pictures, but I think That it it'll be possible to have a couple of options that that maybe the the manager or Maybe we could invite missus siano in actually. I think that might not be Bad to invite siano in at some point to actually meet with us um could recommend a position for the board to take um and to kind of Instruct him or advise him actually as he goes in and and tries to present the case for us So could I leave that under your tutelage in terms of when you think it's an appropriate Agenda item what it should look like It will be within I think it will be within the coming within the coming weeks I mean so Just in essence, I mean the the the options have to do with at what altitude do you do you disperse the flights Or do you do you have some random dispersion of the flights and you go back to manual dispersion? It's it's fairly technical, but I think that that The the work that mit did on behalf of them actually presents it pretty clearly and I don't think it's going to be that difficult So if you can contact me right before But thursday Yeah, yeah, what agenda the next one of the one out. Do you think it would be appropriate? Mr. Herd, it's great. So and what we're voting on is a let this is in support of a diversion of one particular runway at Logan. It's all related to 33. Yes, it's commercial Jets correct. Yeah I'm happy to support it. Um, I haven't particularly picked up on That noise complaint as someone that was up at the top of that the hill we still catch a lot of Helicopter noise. So hopefully what we can rely on them if we Try to attack that one to support us as well Thank you, madam chair and um, I'm happy to support this as well And that as a person whose neighborhood is actually under one of the flight paths from runway 33l when Plains take a left and and met and go over I hear a lot about it and just for people Viewing at home and whether I know the board has talked about this before but there's a reference to to runway 33l Well runway 33l at Logan airport is activated when the wind comes out of the northwest primarily And so the planes take off into the wind The planes go up to medford and then there are two or three Courses that they take used to be several more used to be widely dispersed Will two of them come over allington at least and then another one goes to the north Um, and when the planes come over allington Um over my house are about three thousand Three thousand feet Just from um Since statistics that we've received in our neighborhood the one thing I'll say about this and I think it's important that the communities work together because There's always going to be wind out of the northwest runway 33l is always going to be used so Another community that was dealing this with this issue said the well the best we can really do Is collectively share the share the pain not try to distribute it to to to one community Exclusively, so I think to the extent that the five or six communities that are really affected like this With this work together, um, you know, maybe some real results can can take place in the fAA will will hear us Mr. Carol. Yeah, I think in further interest transparency. It's important to realize it's not just a matter of shifting between communities, but there is a potential that Measures to reduce the impacts on some of our east arlington neighborhoods Could result in some impacts and some other parts of town too, so It's In the rest of the day is just candidly. We're the lumber of the commons Every two minutes. There's a plane coming over and I think we're fortunate We live near an airport and I came back from a trip today. It's nice to live within a half hour vlog in airport So there are some things you have to deal with but at the same time um, I think for those that that are affected by the constant every couple minutes or When there are weather delays And you've got a plane leaving at 12 30 or one in the morning because it was supposed to leave at 10 To push back those are the type of situations. I think people really get upset about But I mean this this is no this is this is we'll have the bigger discussion Absolutely this at a future. Absolutely. Okay. I just want to make sure Because i'm going in and out here On a motion by mr. Curel seconded by mr. Hart any further questions or comments if not all those in favor say aye I was opposed unanimous vote. We now come to the discussion high school borrowing and potential impacts on Here we go kevin grahle mw r. A debt shift. Mr. Chaplain Thank you, madam chair I'll just briefly introduce this and then I want to ask deputy town manager sandy pooler to talk about this with the board But as the board recalls several meetings ago when the board voted to increase water sewer Rates we talked about in the future what it would look like if the board Did choose to reduce the water sewer debt shift as high school borrowing rolls on We're now just a few weeks out from going forward with that first high school borrowing So we wanted to present to the board Two potential options for how much we would borrow and what that would correspond to and how much of the debt shifts could be reduced Next year during a tax resetting process not this december, but december of calendar year 2020 So i'll ask sandy to come up walk you through the document that's on your On your desks and tonight. We're frankly Looking for any feedback you have before we finalize what our borrowing will be Good evening, ladies and gentlemen I You have a packet here of three pages The first page has some nice big type And the next two pages are really going to Challenge you to read But they are the backup that shows That is and by the way prepared by our financial advisor little top security Showing what the annual debt payments would be on two different scenarios for for selling debt for the high school Either 58 million dollars or 80 million dollars and we asked them to run those two different scenarios because they corresponded to a couple of different times in the Cash flow projections that we have for the high school as and would get us a certain way Farther along in the project If we were to sell 58 million dollars worth of debt That would give us enough cash to Contractors and keep the contract the project going through about march 2021 The town has had a history of selling debt usually about this time of year Um Phyllis marshall and i The town treasurer collector have been discussing this with our financial advisor And I we think what we'd like to do is to move to a schedule where we're selling debt After the first of the year Usually in february, I think is what we'll look at and the advantage of that is once you sell it Your first debt payments don't come due until the fall in fiscal year So when you sell a debt you don't have to All of a sudden come up with a debt payment That you won't know the exact amount of until you actually sell the debt And we think that will save us some money and maybe save us some interest in the long run It'll also make things a little more predictable So our first option with that plan in mind is to go to 58 million dollars On this first sheet here what you will see is a 58 million dollar debt sale Assuming we get a three percent interest rate on 30 year debt which From what we're seeing in the market these days is a reasonable assumption. It may be actually slightly high But we decided to be a little conservative with the estimate That would mean that our debt service on that 58 million dollars would be about 2.9 million dollars per year If we were then to shift that off of the water and sewer rates So that as people's Tax bills go up for the debt exclusion for the high school The same amount would come off of their tax bills for the Exclusion that is there to subsidize the water and sewer rates and shift that amount on to the water sewer rates instead There would be about a 47 percent Shift as opposed to we currently shift 100 percent of that Mwari money That would mean a rate impact Our total revenue for fyi 21 of about a 23 percent increase in water and sewer rates or on a per household basis using the average Arlington consumption of about 60 cubic centimeters per year Yes It'd be about 130 dollars per house Our We have looked at a lot of different scenarios We for tonight's discussion just came up with the example of 80 million dollars 80 million dollars would get us all the way through the end of Fiscal year 21 so paying for High school this fiscal year and next fiscal year Before we would have to sell debt again One of the reasons to sell more debt now is because interest rates are so low and Um There's a lot of uncertainty in the economy. We don't know what's happening in the Fed keeps Doing signals back and forth. If I really knew what they were doing I would be standing here. I'd be on wall street But I do know that they're very low right now. And so our Again in consultation with the treasure collector and with our financial advisors It seems like adding more debt now um Not so much that we can't spend it within a two-year period that they Tax laws and what they're called arbitrage rules require us to spend because it requires to spend money Within a certain period of selling it But enough so that we can take advantage For the taxpayers of lower interest rates Down that would mean that our Debt shift instead of being the hundred percent of the debt shift that we have now would be down to 23 percent And it would mean a rate impact for FY 21 in total increased revenue of about 30 percent or about 190 dollars per household There's nothing magical about 80 but we just sort of picked a number to give you some sense of the different ranges the other advantage of of going with a higher number is um The debt shift Amount we could do is is sort of a cap. In other words, we could go up to This total amount of shift from taxes to the water and sewer rate But we don't have to do it all at once. We could do some of it The next time you set rates for FY 21 and then the remainder Later on You will have some flexibility on doing that We will come back to ask you to set those debt those water and sewer rates sometime probably late winter Early spring so that they can be in effect for FY 21 and so that also Taxpayers will know what the impact on their water and sewer rates will be And that once we sell The debt that we're about to sell We will be able to tell people what the impact on on their real estate bills are for the high school Um I just want to add one other note about that. We have looked into it and we do know that we will be able to Take whatever impact there is from the high school sales And have them start to go into effect with the preliminary bills in august next august and spread it out over four bills throughout the year As opposed to waiting until the actual bills. So I think that will also try to um impact mitigate impact um This is some portion of the total debt that we're going to sell for the high school So there will be more debt sales down the road In total, uh, the town shares about 204 million dollars of the total project So there will be additional debt sales going forward. Um, and so a chance to again continue to Move this shift the discussion tonight is really to get your feedback about How quickly to move that shift to move just what we need to at the 58 million dollars or some Number higher than that. Uh, again, we're suggesting something in the range of 80 million dollars I know that's a lot of information Appreciate your attention to it. I'd be happy to answer any questions um I can start out. Um When you cite the 130 With the 23 and the 190 with a 30 Did you base that on um Value of the average home in arlington the amount of Water used by the average water rate so, uh, I believe, uh The dpw director microdermarker made a presentation to the board Earlier this summer looking at some potential debt shifts and what he Looked at there was the amount of consumption that the average homeowner uses which is about 60 cubic centimeters per year um When the m dot I you may remember he talked about the mw where I using a figure that it was higher than that about 120 was what they use on all the publications that they come out with But we know from looking at usage here in arlington that people in fact use about half of that Here as homeowners. So we looked at the actual Usage per homeowner In town and based those numbers off of that Okay, um, I'll state my Personal feelings on this recognizing, you know, finance is not my expertise um But I also live with my husband And I is similar things from many other people When the tax bill comes in that, you know, we say the average and I think it's because I'm hearing from from the people that Don't fall under the average and it says yeah, you said 130, but it's more like 335 something like that So my preference would be and I had this conversation with mr. Chapter Lane is um We've been very cognizant of with the past with the original exclusion for the Gibbs junior high east hearty Thompson then the most recent override And debt exclusion for arlington high school with the recent increase in the water and sewer rates As well as also hitting in that bubble the reassessments With that I've heard from a lot of people And it's probably most of these people i'm hearing from really are on fixed incomes and these really are People who count, you know, five dimes in 10 nickels when you get a dollar That what they've said to me is, you know, why am I getting hit with this hit with this? Hasn't anybody thought about this to kind of try to, you know Level it out or something like that because, you know So to that end if you were asking me my opinion, I would prefer to go with the borrowing of 58,000 58 million With a 23 impact Understanding that the market is volatile and nobody has a crystal ball But for as long as I've been here, um, I can't recall a time we haven't had the best Triple a bond rating. Um, I think, you know with the Mr. Pooler and the town manager and the treasurer's office I really think we've had the expertise to stay ahead of a lot of the important money issues and I don't need to I don't think personally myself we need to borrow that bigger number I'm trying to think back when Financial decisions were made that, you know, really hurt the town and I think better decisions could have been made by your then counterparts Uh, a lot of it might be around, you know, retirement, which really had wasn't under the control of, um People i'm talking to now and then the neswick which was the whole thing in the past So my personal preference so I can say to people out on the street that are already saying, you know You just did the 15 percent or whatever you're on the water and in the sewer debt shift those both The exclusion of the Gibbs that got passed and hardy and thompson the override that got passed and the exclusion for the high school The reassessments that just hit and I guess they won't hit again for 10 years I think it would be nice if Smarter minds than I agreed that we really try to minimize Rising that bill even more and go maybe a little bit conservative with borrowing on the 58 million my personal opinion Mr. Dunn So just general principles of first So excited we're finally doing this is the right way for us to Pay for water sewer we should be picked water and sewer should be paid by the amount that you're using it Not by what your real estate tax bill is and with the change of the tax law just doesn't make any sense to do it This is absolutely like just I know we all know this but just reminding everybody what like why we're doing it um on the 58 versus 80 and the what about Like separating the amount that we borrow from the amount that's on the debt shift For instance borrow more and then let some of it hit the tax rate And and thereby step the debt shift over a set of years That that is possible. You could ease in the reduction of the debt shift or in other words ease in the Reduction of the tax subsidy that goes to the water and sewer department It's probably a little easier to do that if you borrow more money But it would be a decision of the of the select board as to how much to recommend That mwa debt shift Again right now the taxpayers are subsidizing water and sewer to the tune of Almost 5.6 million dollars Um You could ease that off in some phased way Yeah, so and I guess the one I guess the concern is is that if we did it We did it hamfisted then we would actually have a year where we would have our tax rates going lower But in that I think we'd want to avoid so just in terms of feedback my two cents is um do it over three or four years And uh, I defer to other to wisdom about so in terms of the part that we actually control like that We as a board control phase the shift over The over three or four years Um, and then in terms of like how much do we actually borrow? I would um, I'm not I don't feel particularly qualified to weigh in on that one and I'd let uh You all decide that Mr. Hard just two quick thoughts I'm in a business that closely tracks these rates so We can't sit here and tell when they're going to go up how quickly they're going to go up But I I don't see them going down. So as far as You know sound financial judgment on behalf of the town Being able to make a decision on how much we borrow based on The fact that we're going to be a low rate now. We might not have in a year from now I think that should certainly be a consideration And you know when we go back to constituents and residents and say the reason that we borrow more is because in the end I mean, we all know what the price tag of the Of the high school is going to be We're going to have to spend the money. We're going to have to borrow the money. So if we can get it at a cheaper Rate now to save money on the back end. I think it's certainly worth taking a look at that And then just to echo what has been said, you know The debt I think it's a good idea at this time just to move away from the debt shift But it should happen over some sort of an incremental pattern Because residents know That the tax increases are coming for the high school For the override they might not be so attuned as to what the debt shift is and what it means for the water bills So I'd like to absorb some of that shock when they first get their water bill So if we can do it over a few years, I think that would really help residents plan for it Thank you, madam chair um, yeah, I Agree with that the comments of mr. Dunn and mr. Hurden when we talked about this earlier in the year We thought that they might even be another year before we were Going out and issuing some bonds for for the high school So it might have been an opportunity to shift some of the 5.5 million In an interim period sounds like that's not really gonna We're gonna have an opportunity to to do that which is okay. I mean because we're in a good interest rate Climate so I think to the extent that we're borrowing money, whether it's 58 or 80 million because I look at these As two separate questions with the 5.5 I think we have to go a little slower On the 5.5 because it's too much of a shock and then the next question becomes as you look forward If you're borrowing 80 million that's going to last you through the end of 2021 Are you then going out issuing bonds in the first quarter of 2022 or would it be before then? And it seems like it would probably be even a greater amount than the 80 million Given where we will be on the on the high school project. I don't want to alarm people But that's probably where it's where it's going. So I'd like to hear your thoughts on that Sure, that's a that's a good observation. I think one of the constraints we're working under is that we have a fairly accurate cash flow estimates now both from Skanska our owner's project manager and from consigli construction company But those estimates really only go up through September of 21 through the first phase of construction That's as far as consigli was willing to give us numbers So that's one of the reasons that we took the numbers out that far Yes, I mean So at some point if we do a larger amount like 80 and we're going to then burn through our cash by by Say august 21, we will have to have some strategy to borrow more money In any case, we will be borrowing more money just because as I said, there's a lot more money to be borrowed The question and at that point will become whether we Do something like a short-term band is to tide us over to the next February or something Which can be an affordable way to do it or internally borrow if we have the capacity that If we have enough cash on hand that we don't actually have to go out and sell a bond For a lot of projects that we do smaller projects. We just do that as a matter of course So All those things will be things that we'll look at once we have better numbers from consigli and skinska On the cash flow for the rest of the project. Okay, and just One question on the new shift percentage they you use 47 and 23 just for as an example There's no reason where it couldn't be 23 on 58 million. It's really whatever we Decided at some future dates That was more illustration purposes This is what yeah, what what what the the percent comes out to to exactly match the the Dead service numbers that are associated with either 58 or 80 million dollars That doesn't mean that you have to then do the whole shift. It just was trying to match dollar for dollar as bills went up for the high school having or bills went down For Having less of a shift to match the amount that they were going up to pay for the high school try to keep them in balance Okay. Yeah, and so just it's taken up a lot of time, but I just I was in support of this shifting the burden back to Or off of the tax rate if you will and and back to water and sewer rates, but at the same time Given where we may be I think slower. Maybe maybe better But then to really overwhelm people in the short term in terms of what that shift will be on to the roots Mr. Carol, thank you. Oh, I'm gonna sound like the broken record here too. I mean, I think when we had this discussion previously I think part of my understanding of it was that we would just hold off Taking any action on the debt shift until we were starting to borrow for the high school Which I think that that's the proper and prudent course, but I I also have been Proponent of removing this shift, but also I'd like to see a smoother curve and I had always envisioned three to five years Depending on how the the numbers Work out. I also think it's it's a tougher Thing to explain to the the taxpayers, you know why we're Barrowing extra. I know that we're banking on on the interest rates staying low But we are we've been an incredibly extended economic recovery and My memory I think and by a lot of what I read. I mean We're probably not seeing a big economic boom in the next next couple of years and that's usually when you would see The the interest rates go up a lot so I would say it's a fair gamble that they're going to stay stay steady or or or go down But who knows I'm not a wall street either. We're all in this room um So, I mean, I think that's kind of where I'm at. I'd like to see kind of a three to five year roll-off of the of the The debt shift but the commence at the time that we're commencing borrowing as close as possible I could attempt to synthesize from the board which is somewhat conflicting among each of the five of you I think the consistent point Is I'm hearing is giving us giving the board a three to five year opportunity to phase out the debt shift as the priority If there is prudence in borrowing a slightly larger amount to achieve the lower interest rate That's of interest but making sure that our strategy best allows us to best positions the board to be able to Phase off the debt shift over three to five years is what the board would like to see So whether it's 58 80 or number in between The priority is that phasing ability. So I think we can look at the schedule What that first borrowing is when we think the second borrowing might need to be after that What that means for debt that would be rolling on year over year and see how that would map out with the three to five year plan for the shift And then come back in a couple weeks when we're actually looking to sell the debt and have that number for the board's action Sounds like a plan. All right Since there's really no vote on this unless you need a vote No, just for just oversee move receipt by mr. Curel seconded by Mr. Heard any further questions or comments if not all those in favor say aye. I oppose unanimous vote Correspondence received move receipt by So moved mr. Dunn seconded by Refer uh, well the roads attack. Is that who our guests are? Oh, I'm sorry. Are you are you? Oh, okay, um You got to change the letter. I didn't know they were coming in. Okay Oh, no, um If if you want to come up and give a quick speech, but what correspondance received is we're officially receiving the communication tonight and then we just I anticipate we'll vote to send it to our transportation advisory committee tech because that's the group that has expertise Um to look at this go out and take traffic counts talk to People who are asking this to get in a dodal history things like that Then when all that process and or anything else the police department may also say, you know There's something we'd like to suggest or not and then when all that happens Then it comes before the board and we put it on as an agenda item and then have a discussion about that But since you've been here all night, um, it's a little different if you if you want to come up at each of you for like a minute or so and um I feel bad making you sit through this whole thing. We're gonna have to fix that letter that goes out Um, so do you want to just come up and give your name and address for the record and Whatever mocks brief or maybe not so brief that you want to give Recognizing this we can't discuss it tonight and make any action until it goes through This is like the first step But I'd like to hear at least something from each of you since you were here all night. I feel terrible I apologize Just name an address for the record And the families of well zeroed event identified a safety issue So read just street next to us is a private street So no traffic going to school goes on that street and we have no sidewalks There's people walking people driving bikes and People parked on the street because they can't park near the school So they park on that street and we just have so much traffic on there. It's it's a safety issue for the kids parents walking their kids to school And um, I mean she could speak to what happened her husband Hi, thanks for hanging in there. Sorry. Thank you for letting us speak tonight. I want to just pull the microphone right My name is merese canali young. I'm at 10 Wellesley road and I'm here on behalf of myself My husband Peter young And I have two kids who attend the Thompson school Brennan's and kindergarten and Nathaniel is in fourth grade As joe mentioned the traffic patterns on our street Particularly at morning rush hour Are dangerous for pedestrians Last winter when my husband was coming back from walking my oldest to school As he was walking down the road. He was clipped by somebody's side mirror while walking down the street He was fine, but it it really is is dangerous Particularly when there's any sort of weather involved It it most of the people who typically walk end up driving And so you end up with a huge influx of traffic A traffic all throughout the area When there's any sort of snow Um, it's particularly dangerous because there are no sidewalks and so We're hoping that the Road could be evaluated Potentially to maybe become either a one way all at all times or one way during Rush hour There's no stop sign at the end of the road as well And so it's an assumed stop sign, but not everybody assumes that that's a stop sign And so that's a piece that's of concern as well. So thank you for considering it Thank you. Mr. Dunn move that we refer to the transportation advisory committee for consideration and study second So moved by mr. Dunn Seconded by mr. Heard Which also includes the stop sign issue that was raised. They've just Yes, pass that in there because I just pulled it up Did either the other two or three want to speak up if you haven't had a chance I just Feel bad that you're here. We got a right change that letter. Just doesn't say you're invited to count Oh, okay. Okay. Just name an address for the record. Sure. Charity out here 19. Well, see right Just on top of what they've said It's really a combination of factors that lead to the the safety impact that we feel that we have as as residents For the commuters As well as for the kids who are trying to get to the school and in a school And so the measure in which we put forth is is potentially to be reviewed as a one-way street during a particular time You know, we're open as a community to see what sort of safety measures can be brought to bear to You know to allow both To allow whatever use needs to be put, but it is a very heavily dense road without appropriate safety measures. There's no signs No strong signage for school. There's a School end sign, but no school begins sign There's no stop sign that's been mentioned at the end of the street Heavy volume of traffic and people do park on both sides of the street, which really makes it narrow without the sidewalks the kids And parents are walking in the street And because people are trying to cut the light off of river street They're going through the community as commuters to get to work During that busy time as well and they're not always Mindful of it being a school zone with a lot of kids around at that time. So it's just the combination. All right, so, um Okay, one more This is a little out of form and usually this doesn't happen because that you know, apparently 124 winchester road. I used to walk to carsby school in the 60s three parents drove their kids to school My children grew up near stratton There was a few more cars The roads near stratton have now been made one way because there are a lot of cars So the town has changed and I'm here as a citizen for probably 50 years. I'm not that good in math, but I've been here a while So that's all thank you We're just very limited because when it's not an agenda item, you shouldn't even be just for clarification I know we're doing this as a referral um I see in the petition that you're asking just between seven and nine. Do you have the Same issues at the end of the school day. That's Okay But this will be on a future agenda and then we'll answer everything and you can ask everything it's just this But I feel bad that you've been there all night. So, um So On was the motion by mr. Dunn seconded by mr. Herd to move receipt and refer this petition to Transportation Advisory Committee any further questions or comments if not all those are made to say I I all those opposed unanimous votes And we'll see you soon. I move receipt of the other piece of correspondence Oh, I thought we did okay move receipt by mr. Dunn seconded by second Mr. Cureau move receipt Gender items 16 any further questions or comments if not on a motion by mr. Dunn seconded by mr. Cureau all those in favor Say aye. I oppose unanimous vote new business mrs. Kropalka Attorney hind nothing. Thank you Now manager chaplain All talked it out talked out I'm not yet. Um, thank you madam chair. Just a couple pieces. Um, first this friday night Is the AYCC the Eileenton youth counseling center gala downstairs at the town hall and um this year They are honoring carly newell who those Thousands of children town know is the cigarette lady she works in the health and wellness uh department In the public schools. She's going to be honored. It's a big fundraiser for the great work that AYCC does Um And uh, I know there there there's still plenty of tickets left. So that's friday evening the second thing I wanted to congratulate I know we all do um Lauren uh sweets are from our office who is now lauren costa She married michael costa earlier this month and um, just want to wish them both congratulations on their wedding and um and um For those who are looking on the website. We don't have a new employee. We just I learned it was quick to change your lot. They the name on the website took congratulations to lauren and michael Mr. Dunn nothing Mr. Herd Just want to congratulate and thank you thank everyone that put on the spooky walk. I'm not in rocks park on saturday I actually wasn't in attendance, but my boys did with my parents and they said it was a great event I don't know if it was the first one, but They uh, they were sold Mr. Kerr Oh, just just one other piece of congratulations. I noticed on the Twitter feed that our animal control officer Diane welch was recognized as the Animal control officer of the year for the state and so that's um, that's really fabulous news and uh, a great testimony to the work That also was my um new business because that's quick. No, no, no, but I now I think I you'll agree with me I I would ask the town manager to talk to acting chief julie flowerty I was feeling like we should maybe recognize her have her come in before the board But if there's also something else being formalized To honor That recognition that should happen before she appears before us. I don't want to do anything out of turn So I think the banquet from the association was just this past friday evening So I think the official stuff has happened. She can come before the board and she'll be happy to receive so um Mr. Kerr, when I will but we'll work with you Contacting animal control officer Diane welch. Maybe give her the next two um select board meetings and see if one with the understanding should be right at the top of the agenda because she's Literally is like a lot of our employees, but 24 7 I mean I've been down the yard in a sunday morning at 9 o'clock when you go away in the back. We're all the Front of the plows out. Yeah until they are needed from winter because so Everyone knows you can go down there and find her even though it's not monday through friday 9 to 5. So Turkey hind. Oh, I thought I saw you if that I will take a motion to adjourn by Mr. Kerr Sure Steve more 64 p. Must treat if I've got a comment or a question that comes About after the open forum part How do I pose that in a timely fashion? You don't we're really limited by what's on the agenda for for a discussion We have the citizens open forum right and when that's closed the next opportunity is the next meeting with citizens open forum Or if you want to you know send an email But we don't do this Yeah Would it make sense to have the citizens citizens open forum at the end of the meeting then? No, because then citizens kind of feel like we're torturing them to stay to the very end of the meeting And it's we're psychologically trying to get it. So they said the heck with this. We're going to go home So I try to get that early what I try to do with the agenda is Um, which is why I asked mr. Chapter lane like in the beginning up to citizens open forum try to get the citizens coming in And and groups like that and then citizens open forum from citizens who didn't appear on agenda item And then the remaining agenda items are usually Stuff that unless you really want to be here You know our business. So we wait to the end so Thank you On a motion by I missed it. Was it mr. Dutt mr. Cairo seconded by mr. Heard to adjourn all those in favor say aye All those opposed unanimous vote Good night, and thank you. Thank you acmi You