 Good evening and welcome to the September 5th select board meeting and I'm calling meeting order at 632 p.m We'll start with opening remarks announcements and agenda review Just a couple of quick things in our agenda will we may hop around a little bit I think some folks are here for the for a road closure relative to the Amherstaff Marathon So I'll probably take them first just to take care of that Is there anyone here for public comment other than something related to an agenda item? And if not, are there any announcements or things that my colleagues want to mention or things about the agenda that they want to Mention before we get into it then If you'd be so kind to join us up here introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your request for the F-marathon give yourself an opportunity to kind of promote the event sure. I Just son It is thanks for having me. I appreciate it. So I'm here tonight for the Amherst half marathon the second running Of that road race last year. Would you mention a game, please? Oh Josh Miller. Thank you very much. I'm with the Hartford Marathon Foundation and We're here for Request for road closures for the second running of the half marathon race Last year we had a very successful first-year event With just about 800 participants the event benefits the Amherst survival Center last year we raised About $3,500 for the survival Center, which was a great success And this year we're looking For approval for the November 4th event My colleagues have any questions for the Jumbo from the half marathon Any changes to the route or anything like that? No changes to the route There is two additional road closures being requested from last year At request and with conversations with Captain Gunderson of the police department to assist with Motorists and runners impacting each other. So two detours being requested One on Pine Street between East Pleasant Street and Henry Street and one on North Pleasant Street between Eastman Lane and Massachusetts Avenue. So I Think we're we were very pleased last year with the contribution to the Amherst survival center And there was some discussion last year and maybe we visit it right now about the amount of funds raised compared to some other events of a similar nature and so I remember part of the conversation was well, let's let them get some traction get their event up and known And we expect that contribution to increase and go up So I wanted to hear a little bit more about how that Contribution might go up. Sure. We we wanted to go up, too So just recently a few weeks ago. We had a great meeting at the survival center with with Mindy and her team Brainstorming ways we can do that So number one the biggest thing that we're doing is creating a team survival So essentially what that is is people that participate can elect to be a part of this team Pay a little bit more in their entry fees, which will allow for for more funds to go directly to them a Big thing, too, and I think we discussed briefly at the end of last year or beginning to this year Participation in general is is huge for for us to grow that to grow that donation amount We hope and we're on track for that for participation to increase so with increased participation Bigger funds can be raised directly for the for the survival center other questions Yes, I wonder if we just might have the minutes reference both the amount of the donation from last year Which I believe was characterized as 35,000 and also the hundred Yes, thank you. That would have been nice. Wouldn't it have I don't know why I wrote that there Would have ended up in the minutes and really looked like something $3,500 and The fact that there were additional road closures based on the recommendation of place Just so that doesn't seem like it's exactly the same as last year just shows that it's evolved I wouldn't want to change the motion, but just that the minutes reflect that and we learn as things go along All right, there are not other questions, so we might entertain a motion relative to the half marathon if someone it's on the back of our motion sheet someone so inclined II I believe And I could do that as long as I was reminded of the name that you provided me at the beginning because it doesn't show Who the contact person is Usually we try and include a contact person in the motion. Yeah, my name is Josh Miller. Thank you Josh Would you characterize yourself as manager even coordinator president? I am the race director for the event Yep from the Hartford Marathon Foundation is our organization's name Thank you very much So I move to approve the approsal the proposal by the I'm open to suggestion here Hartford Marathon Foundation. Yeah, I think so Hartford Marathon Foundation Rather than Hammers Taft Marathon Committee to partially close roads on November 4th 2018 from 8 a.m. To 11 a.m. This includes the southbound lane on North Pleasant Street East Pleasant Street North Pleasant and South Pleasant from Massachusetts Avenue to Snell Street this final closure No, I have no idea what that means We'll be yeah, I'm gonna stop there So I think it's the South Pleasant from Mass Ave to Snell Street. I think what they're referring to With that final closure, okay, so let's go back and say from 8 a.m. To 11 a.m. For The Southwest Lane on North Pleasant Street East Pleasant Street and North Pleasant Street and Then end it and then say South Pleasant Street from Massachusetts Avenue to Snell Street for for approximately 40 minutes 8 a.m. To 840 a.m Josh Miller race director All right, so we have a motion in a second. Is it for the discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Aye Opposed all right, so that's unanimous with one absolute. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you very much I think we've had some other folks in our Licenses public way sort of section come in did the did the folks that are coming in relative to the parking days Installation comes so why don't you come forward to the mic and tell us about your event and and your request for Meteor parking spaces if you would please Yeah, please arrange the furniture currently just announce who you are and where you're from and then tell us about the event and My name is Tim Tenzin. I we are from the Western Massachusetts Boston Society of Landscape Architects I operate our landscape design firm out of Amherst and I practice with Berkshire design in Northampton Oh, I'm Rachel Leffler So parking day is an annual event that was started a number of years ago in San Francisco And it's held around the world on September 21st Typically Mark Lindholth former is current Former president held a parking day event in the Bertucci's parking lot and this year we're going to be trying to expand the The program a little bit to incorporate more of the universities in the area including the Conway school Smith School of Landscape Studies and UMass landscape architecture regional planning program as well as area professionals To come together actually tomorrow night for design charrette to design an installation for the parking day installation and the three parking spaces that we were interested in this year are adjacent to the new development across from What is that called one Kendrick's Park? So near Kendrick Park and here by Harlow And it's kind of amazing how 200 square feet of space can be totally transformed For one day with plantings and seating It becomes a huge community event people stopping by will come and ask what you're doing And it's a great a great way to kind of engage with the public on the street Are there questions for them from my colleagues? Yes, Miss Brewer? My question actually is for the town manager and it's associated with this is not a new concept to us It's a new organization that's come to us to do this But it's been done before and I just wondered if he could remind us of feedback or any Certainly positive things, but any things that we need to be aware of from the last time This was done when I believe it was done through the business improvement district Yeah, I think I don't think there was any negative feedback from through when the business improvement district did it I think it was a very close a really hot day when they did it And there wasn't a lot of participation and they sort of did it and a bare bones I think what the proposal is to do involve a lot more people and And it was just to generate some more excitement in the downtown area when the business improvement district I believe they did it in the summer last year. So and you have talked with the business improvement district. Yes We have yeah that before bringing to the town we spoke with them a little bit about their experience and and we should mention that The organization is considering two sites in parallel one in Northampton and one in Amherst So depending how many people show up tomorrow night and willing to take on the logistics of setting up and taking down and Staffing the site we may have to choose Northampton or Amherst It's a great idea because I've read about it in lots of other cities So I'm excited you're doing it here And I think it's a really good way to bring attention to urban space and make people rethink the things they take for granted So thanks for doing this Just throw my two cents in as Planner, I think it's really you know a great idea. I've seen it done other places and part of you know placemaking and public space so As we get more familiar with this and have this more often I think that's really helpful and I like that this location is kind of between the core of the downtown and the university Because there's a lot of just spontaneous, you know foot traffic of people coming in and going out So there's some other places where it might be interesting, but I think people are going to see it and It's a very visible location, so I think the design process I hope it goes well for you and I look forward to Seeing the installation. Hopefully I'll remember and it's happening that day. So maybe if you know, we may be able to use the town Different social media things to help get the word out so people kind of know what it is and get a little buzz going for it So sounds good creative enterprise. Thank you Are there further questions or comments Yes, bro, when I make the motion if you are so moved us to allow that I Should list Tim Tensen as the contact person That be accurate great and again your title, please You're part of the planning committee. Yeah planning committee for Western SBA. I Know you're also gonna ask because in the motion it has W. M. B. SLA You wrote it out already great Western Massachusetts Boston Society of Landscape Arts. We have a major branding issue It's a legacy name 20 years in the running You need to come up with a name that is like has nothing to do with any of those words All right, but if there are not other comments I'd certainly entertain a motion on that if you would be so kind I move to approve the Parking Day proposal by the Western Massachusetts Boston Society of Landscape Architects also known as parenze WMB SLA to use three metered parking spaces located at 220 North Pleasant Street on September 21st 2018 contact Tim Tensen Planning committee second motion in a second Is it for the discussion? Yes, should we make it clear that we are Or we are not charging for bagging that day since those are are those are normally spaces that are metered Typically we would charge and it's ten dollars per space No With the bid we did not charge Because we're also a member of the bid so So if I might My theory would be that we would not necessarily Need to charge given that this is not an event that's For the purpose of say putting a dumpster out so that a business can deconstruct an office and reconstruct an office Although we've also had other events like the Eric Carl museum's vehicle that we have charged the bank for so I think we could go either way, but I would like However, we decide to be cut to be added on to the motion so that it's in our records as to what we did I want to suggest which way that you go Well, I was just we we don't charge. I do think we have a precedent with the bid Yeah, we're a member, but that actually doesn't make the I don't think that's the distinguishing characteristic this a non-profit with a with a Public benefit for for the community, but I think it would be good if the motions in the future Indicated if the if there was a charge or not or people come in they should ask if they want the parking fee Waved or if they don't ask for it to be waived then might assume that it is being charged and we'd be in here But I would be curious Where do you get your money? What kind of budget do you have? We currently have 47 members in Western Massachusetts that goes all the way to Pittsfield and so we have annual dues from that and We could cover the charge of the parking. Oh well so not with Not with the intention of Offending my friends in the banking industry, but I figure they have ways of accounting for that That's a whole lot easier for them than it is for a small Organization that is clearly doing this as a public benefit as opposed to something they're going to make a profit off of or Even in terms of driving business to their Storefront that they don't have I would tend to suggest that we do not at no charge I would include the words at Whatever mr. Bachman thinks are the right words to make it clear that it's no charge that fine with the seconder So We'll have the at no charge added to that motion as well. Is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Hi Such unanimous with one member absent. Thank you very much. Thank you. Hope you have a great event. Thank you so I think we'll do one more in there because I think we have one more person that's here for one of those Licenses public way in Meter Park. We have a common victual license for a new cafe at the Science Center Amherst College So if you want to come forward tell us a little bit about that and just a little bit of unusual circumstance because It's on campus and that sort of thing. So just kind of paint the picture for us a little bit and and It's a little sense of it if you would sure my name is Joe Flukiger. I'm the director of dining services at Amherst College And I do have a packet for each of you I Use hand them all to her and we'll pass them around you you'll fill in for mr. Stein It's I won't walk you through all the details but Essentially, this is a very small cafe With three tails. I mean it's potentially essentially retail space Not even I don't think it's a quite a thousand square feet Which where we'll serve Coffee beverages smoothies some light snacks some meals Initially our intention is to open From 8 to 5 Monday through Friday and as the use of the space expands We hope to be able to expand the hours at the cafe The in the proof of concept, which is part of the packet here the idea of the cafe is really in it in a way to create a Public use space for students on campus Currently our Keith campus center is fairly small the concourse in the new science center is rather large and We'll accommodate Some some significant seating capacity cafe wouldn't necessarily be used to feed or All the people that are in that space, but it just creates a more active and nicer space for the students So was this space as a cafe was that part of the design when you were putting the building together You were thinking of a space like this in there or or is this something that sort of come to Plan after the fact. I'm just curious. Yeah, that's a question. I could not answer I've been with Amherst College for 14 months and this project's been in process for Years and so I don't know the answer to that question I do know that since I've been part of the process. It's been included and it's been articulated in the plans that have gone through the planning board and with the town inspector building inspector Yeah, great. Mr. Wall, please reading quickly as are all of you But I've seen this latter part of the document about the proof of concept. It's a 11 6 2015 and does mention the cafe on the final printed page mentions cafe support For example in that part of the document. So it goes back at least several years if I'm going to agree other questions Concerned So as usual our common vitrular license is an extreme Seatingly small portion of this despite all the paper and signatures involved in doing so and it's really Inspections and health that are looking at this to ensure that all the food is being served safely, etc. So I Guess I don't feel compelled to Grill So to speak the cafe owner any further on it's not going to serve alcohol and The all the sanitary measures will be covered by another body that is an expert in that area. So Yes, I have a question. It's not related to whether, you know, I've proven but just I'm my own curiosity So I read in the packet the students said we don't want we don't want more one shot You know something like lunch we want something to eat for late-night studying and I'm like what are those foods? Yeah So our intention with that space is to align the menu with The lead certification of this building which is very you know, high, you know, high level lead certification. So Yeah, exactly. Yeah, organic. Yeah kale chips No, actually, yeah, so there will be some snack items, but a lot of it will be a healthier snack foods not Fries and that kind of thing those you can they can go to another location to get those things No, well, I so we have some grain bowls with Like veggie toppings We will have tarteens, which are just like small tarts flatbread pizza with vegetables Open-faced sandwiches low carb Smoothies those kinds of things. Yeah Yeah, good question another sort of just curiosity question not really related but Can a general public come or is it limited to Amherst College? It is open to general public and we we are hoping to be able to accept credit cards Which we do not accept credit cards anywhere on campus as of the moment So yeah, anybody can come and we expect People to come from actually pretty far away invited guests and other members of the public To enjoy the space. It's a beautiful building So just confirm your hours of operation be 8 a.m. To 5 p.m That's that's correct. So in the beginning The building is actually only open during class the class schedule as the building is you know There are some things that are still being done like in the latter part of the day So over time we do expect the building to have use in the evenings and late at night And we hope to be able to open the cafe later as the use of the building changes Then you would mend your request of course for that. Okay, yes And when do you think you'll be open? We're hoping Provided it's approved. We're hoping September 17th questions Not I'll take a motion, but you look like you have a question forming in your head So I'm gonna I was gonna ask about the hours But it is true that since the police have already signed off on this as 8 to 5 I suppose it's not that painful to have to come back to us and ask to amend the hours. So and It sounds like it's a good starting point. I would ask however if you are making the motion that you would include the words open to the public because Many things on campuses are not I don't think that's relevant to them Okay, I mean I don't I'd like our minutes to reflect it Okay, it's not in the motion. I don't think it's related to getting a common Vic license I move to approve a new common victual or license for a new cafe for a cafe. I Move to approve a common victual or license for a cafe located in the Science Center at Amherst College operating Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. To 5 p.m. Premises located at 25 East Drive Joseph T. Flickinger Manager Is it for the discussion hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Hi Any post so that's unanimous with one member absent Thank you. Can I ask a clarifying question? Sure So yeah, if we were to amend the hours, would we fill out a new application and submit that and then appear again here? Yes, that's correct. Okay. Thank you All right So next up we'll head to action discussion items and we have a couple of things relative to chapter 61a so I believe mr. Zomek is here to Guide us through that with the help of some other folks and so if all those Thank you very much they approach the bench. It's not quite like that. It's not a trial but please introduce yourselves at the mic and who you're with and Tell us a little bit about these 261 a prod Partials, please. Thank you very much Dave Zomek assistant town manager. I'm joined by David Burson Attorney for with Bacon and Wilson and he Represents the Coles company in these two items both the chapter 61 considerations this evening and I think I will quickly turn it over to him You may recall that we took these two items up a few meetings ago and some confusion arose and in large part I Want to say that this is a we're breaking some new ground we we have not done In my experience with the town chapter 61 Releases relative to leases leasing of land so recall and from your packet you will you certainly read that Coles is proposing to lease parts of property in North Amherst north of Popeth Hill Road to a company to produce solar or to build and then produce Energy on this property With some of the land being taken out of chapter and some of the land remaining in chapter So we we collectively um got a little stuck on What land was coming staying in and what land was coming out? So I hope that attorney Burson can walk us through that today and your questions can be directed to him. Thank you Good evening and thank you for having me Just kind of to start as a baseline Because I know when I spoke with uh with Dave Burgess as well as town council There was some question relative to why we had filed two notices. So I thought I'd just really briefly kind of get into that So when there's six parcels That are all involved here And all six of those partial parcels Going back some in some instances over 20 almost 30 years There have been a number of leans chapter 61 leans filed on Various parcels and some of those were for chapter 61 and some of those were under chapter 61 a so Going through all those leans. I did my best to uh to cut down the ones that had had been released over the years And the way it kind of panned out some of the parcels were classified under both chapter 61 and chapter 61 a And part of the process that that Dave and I are are Kind of going through right now and what we're going to be going through in the future with With Dave Burgess three days Will be to figure out What's been taxed as what and and how the rollback taxes are going to be calculated and how the The appropriate tax rate is going to change relative to these parcels. So collectively 33.8 acres Is proposed to be removed from chapter land And then the the remaining acreage of all those parcels would remain and that's inclusive of of both the area that's going to be Leased by the solar company as well as all the areas where easements may exist. So for instance access easements or utility easements But to that to that end what? Yeah, so to that end If I may approach because that drawing that you see Above is one that that Dave and I had had kind of drawn on and I think that this may be a little bit clear as to what's actually coming out What's up on the display right now? There was some color coding so we can show each parcel And then the area that was being removed and it just I think with all the colors it's got a little bit confusing So this is the bare bones. This is exactly what is coming out. So I apologize This What's coming out is what you've striped what is striped and highlighted, correct? And and there is another one So Dueling uh remotes here looking pretty easy. So There was this other plan that we had originally prepared. Um, we did not I didn't get to oh, I'm sorry I can't see over there So there is Be able to set it on the easel there That's right So this was the initial plan that the um that the solar company had sent to us I did not submit this plan even though it does seem a lot clearer primarily because There is an area as a pointer There's an area here That was included in the blacked out area that is actually not coming out. So I for purposes of being accurate I felt it would not be appropriate to file this document although it did make things a little bit clearer when going over it with Dave Zomek so The plan that you have here as well as the This map that we're we showed you initially actually does have the accurate areas that are that are coming out of chapterland and as I mentioned The we we're certainly going to have to sit down with Dave Burr just to figure out exactly What the rollback taxes are going to be here and how to calculate it appropriately because I think part of the Issue is that some of these older leans and why some of this land is probably under both is because certain areas of it Are probably under one and and certain areas are under another tax classification And I think that we're going to have to sit down with Dave and really figure out the appropriate way to to kind of separate this As far as where How the process goes so we're requesting The ability to remove this this area from chapterland And the as it is a conversion as opposed to a sale There's there's a separate process involved if the town did have an interest in in exercising their option Mr. Zomek I did just want to remind the board that both the planning board and the conservation commission Considered this and I believe they're in your previous packet a couple of weeks ago And you may have gotten it again in this packet Both the planning board and the concom recommended To you that the town not exercise its right of first refusal Again, because this is the least situation This is the first in my tenure with the town and we're learning as we go One of the things we we discussed with Sharon Everett from Coleman and page town council was If in the future the town wanted to exercise its right of first refusal Triggered by a lease It's a much quicker process and turnaround time It you can't step into a purchase and sale agreement because there isn't one Yet This the law mandates A very quick turnaround into a purchase and sale agreement an immediate appraisal And then a very swift process to closing so We're learning as we go We will likely get more of these as as solar is proposed in different parts of town So, um, this is where we are in this project Is current Um, well, I wonder when I mean I understand that thank you for the review When the planning board of the conservation commission looked at that There's any kind of map that gave them some context because we don't have an aerial view of the area I can see pulpit hill road down there and I can see monarchy road and I can kind of figure this out but I'm not opposed to this but You know to take this without any Of anything I happen to know the town well enough to kind of imagine some of the outlying effect I have nothing to look at that places this within any context Of what's around it and and maybe it's our submission requests for what we ask for for You know a withdrawal request maybe the state only wants this but I find it really frustrating when we get these to just see Oh, you know a box with things drawn on and it's not a comment on Whether this is we want to exercise our right of firstly fizz or not, which I know is our limited scope for tonight But sign it frustrating that there's no Context map at all or aerial view. I can I can certainly understand that frustration. I think um, I mean obviously there's the You know, we follow this the state guidelines and what they ask for is the A map not necessarily something showing topography obviously, but I'm actually I'm curious and this is also probably not relevant But I'm curious to what extent and this is probably something really better discussed with town council to the extent that the town actually could create additional You know Right, but it's an interesting question. Yeah, it's just I mean my colleague across the way the shaking says just a little unsatisfying Not know what you know not see and you know, we're about to enter a phase We're going to have a new group of people making these decisions and the different skill sets around Knowing the town or envisioning what we're looking at My colleague across the way where you were shaking your head You were shaking your head on this do you want to oh in agreement here in agreement, right? Yeah, it's always helpful. I mean and and this is again what's required and what's you know And some of this is Perhaps on me when we're setting agendas to sort of ask for Some context, you know, so what lies nearby, you know to sort of orient ourselves because you know, I've certainly been in that section of town plenty of times, but Not familiar with the sort of Particulars of that lot and and you know what lies near what are the you know neighborhoods nearby that sort of thing and again Not a complaint of you and your efforts there as some of it's on us for a not asking and be not Not thinking about that, but anyway, miss Brewer So I can't quite remember how many years ago it was that we talked about having checklist associated with this sort of item And it's just not been a thing we've done yet But part of that and you know, you can't always capture context with with a checklist You can get through some of these things like we can make sure for example As I'm sure we will that our minutes reflect the august third memos from the conservation commission and the Dated concert the planning board votes to show that it happened in this order Because it doesn't have to happen in this order, but it did happen in this order that we got we had both of those I also am not sure how to cover in a checklist much as I would love to have one that While I would expect staff to talk with The conservation commission about why this might matter to them and the planning board about why it might matter to our Community through a planning board lens. I would also expect that even if for some reason it didn't Disagree with the way Conservation commission and planning board have been doing their work in light of our master plan in light of all of our other plans and rules That if something seemed odd about it, I would expect Staff to tell us that and say so even though Conservation commission was fine with it because they're looking at this and planning board was fine because they're looking at this I actually for economic development reasons. I staff member am concerned about this and I am working under the assumption that That review has already happened before it got to us rather than just taste luck for what do you think? With without that and so I know we have an incredibly experienced staff who've been looking at Aspects of all these things even if not this paperwork trail for very for many years and so I would Back so that we would hear about that and so I guess I would just like confirmation that yes, so Course that would have happened if there had been another kind of concern Did miss press rep want to comment on that a little bit or or do you mr. Zemeck? So I apologize that we didn't I had thought A month ago when we covered this we did have a context map, but perhaps my memory was incorrect I will say that I thought the the the focus of our conversation In that meeting was you wanted to see what was being taken out of Chapter and what was remaining in so I think that that's where we might have I might have misunderstood Just to miss brewers comment This has gone through this solar project has gone through extensive town review both by the conservation commission and the planning board inspection services our electrical inspector So this has been in process for months And in all honesty is under construction right now. So This is Yeah I mean every time we look at something and we're doing this in a public setting It has to stand alone as well And I do under I understand we're sort of cleaning up something that we were part of that conversation, but it's just you know Looking at it afresh and thinking about it It might be helpful to Have that in the future because somebody Is picking this up and you know, you might not be aware, but I am that there was some public Criticism of what we were about to do and one of the you know in some of the social media So I think it's it behooves us to be careful and explain what we're doing and why And at least I apologize for for cutting you off miss Brescher But I mean certainly as far as What the the map that you originally got I I can certainly agree that it was confusing I was told that I had to put all of the Individual parcel amounts that were coming out of each and I think it just ended up cluttering the whole thing Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. It's just making that point to be helpful for future review Chris Brestrup planning director I can't remember the exact circumstances of this particular application, but I do know that in general When we bring something to the planning board, we do show them a context plan And we try to explain what uses and ownership is around The piece of land that's being asked to be taken out And we do consider such things as whether they're contiguous to other land that's owned by the town or is in A conservation restriction or some such thing as that and I suspect we did that in this case I just don't remember exactly The plan that we showed them Other questions or comments If not, I would entertain a motion relative to this if Again, I think we're part of this is sort of We're thinking about our process around these things because it's I mean part of the time I think town staff has spent has been because it's a lease circumstance not a sale Changes the game a little bit. That's been a particular The legal precedent and process is not as well defined or not as well articulated So it's taken more time of staff to sort of Navigate that and so, you know, that's why we're sort of discussing this I don't think as far as I don't I don't know that there's necessarily any opposition to to sort of Giving up our right to to purchase. I don't think we have a need for it given the You know planning conservation and no other issues been ever raised our our Understandings, but I think it's partly just our opportunity to sort of Think about this frame it Provide context to our our staff so that so that when the council takes over and they get one of these They've got, you know, some things to ask for along the way Egypt my only final comment would be that Certainly staff and committees planning board and concom did wrestle a little bit grapple a little bit with The whole notion of you would the town want to step into a purchase situation to remove the owner's ability to create solar Solar field and and produce green energy. It's it's not something that Towns and municipalities are really used to doing and since we did not as far as I know I'm not aware of any social media Negative around it, but we did not To my knowledge receive any negative feedback on this going in north of popenhill road Had we I think there would have been more discussion certainly around the conservation commission Meeting but there really wasn't any so So would someone like to offer motion relative to anyone There's actually two there are two but now that we think it has all the parts I presume council has spent a fair amount of time crafting these motions for us, I believe after last time We tripped over these Please I can try reading I move that the select board not exercise the option to purchase granted to the town under mass general law chapter 61a To purchase properties located off monagu road and pulpit hill road Which are all or portions of the parcels of land identified by the assessors as parcels 2d-1 2b-5 2a-18 Contain 11.3 acres more or less in the aggregate A portion of the premises described Indeeds recorded with the Hampshire registry of deeds in book 1213 page 346 and in book 1753 page 165 And to be leased for a 20 year term by wd coals ink to load star energy ink Or its nominee for solar purposes and to execute a notice of non exercise to evidence said release Is there a second second So a motion and a second is there further discussion Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye All right So that's unanimous with one absent And if you would be so kind as to Keep on reading I move that the select board not exercise the option to purchase granted to the town under mass general law chapter 61 To purchase properties located off monagu road and pulpit hill road Which are all or portions of the parcels of land identified by the assessors as parcels 2d-1 2d-14 2b-3 2b-4 2b-5 And 2a-18 Contained 33.8 acres more or less in the aggregate A portion of the premises described Indeeds recorded with the Hampshire registry of deeds in book 1213 page 346 And in book 1753 page 165 and to be leased for a 20 year term by wd coals To load star energy ink or its nominee for solar purposes And to execute a notice of non exercise to evidence said release And there's a second is there further discussion Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Aye And oppose and so that's unanimous with one absent Very much. So thank you very much And so because it's 61 and 61 a that's why some parcels were mentioned twice I believe because they were right double chapterized or whatever that would be I don't know exactly what the term is but thank you very much So next on our agenda Is the north common renovations a bit of a first look so relative to Yes Okay, so the de acceptance of epstein yeah while we're While we're dealing with that so if if you want to take us through that Well, so we'll do de acceptance for the epstein property approximately approximate Or jason 2 37 bay road to be used by the consulate commission if you would like to take us through that please. Thank you Thank you. So we do have What I hope is a is a better map for you tonight on epstein. I know that the board is very familiar with this Property that is being funded partially by a state grant a land grant and partially 30 by cpa funds And we're nearing the finish line on this and we just have really two steps left We're bringing to you tonight the acceptance of the deed Which is the town essentially saying we we are willing and able and will fund the purchase of this property and the select board Accepts the deed for the property We will be bringing one more step to you next week But in essence the property is here off of bay road It is approximately 30 acres of land outlined in black Um, it is adjacent to the sweet alice conservation area The nirwatic fishing game club is here and state land is in purple Um, this has been reviewed by the planning board conservation commission state agencies as a high priority To protect the habitat as well as provide public outreach and access It includes a seven or eight acre pond And as I've said before at previous meetings We are partnering with the kestrel trust Who will be purchasing the land that is excluded which includes a house and about three and a half acres right in the middle here and The kestrel trust is exploring the feasibility of Sighting their permanent office as as I've said before at previous meetings Kestrel has never had a permanent office in amerster in the valley And they are going to spend the next year year and a half Exploring the financial feasibility and site feasibility of of doing that in the meantime They will be purchasing that land from and the house from the epistheans If they determined that it's not feasible then they would resell the house So tonight, I'm simply asking for you to accept the deed for the open space Which we will be closing on next week and again I'll bring one more step to you on the wednesday the 12th in this process If there are questions happy to answer them so Do we have any questions most of this I might add that this there were many questions at town meeting just to remind the board um the old trolley line Uh is included a good portion of the trolley line is included along the western edge of this property And our intent is to Open a public trail All the way up the range on the west side of this property Crossing over land we already own that kestrel donated to the town And getting hikers and mountain bikers and runners Trail runners up to the mount hoyoke range from bay road and west street So theoretically you could Have a meal or a snack at atkins Uh, if they are okay Proceed up to the range hiking or biking or as a family and then end your your your hike or bike back at atkins for a snack or Whatever you'd like so part of that village center um amenity Mr. Wall we're being curious about vegetable covered grain balls and things You mentioned that the old trolley line still would you be using the old Right of way of the trolley line as the trail then There's multiple trails already on this property right, um, I didn't know how much detail the board might like But if I could So just to remind uh the viewers and and the board There is a subdivision going in right here Gentlemen by the name of mr. Cole is building seven new homes and there's one existing home there Mr. Cole is donating The subdivision open space which amounts to about six plus or minus acres here And there will be a new trailhead right off of 116 There was a question to okay right there this this subdivision road. It doesn't show on this map, but it's already in And the house I think one house is already for sale. So mr. Cole is Building a trailhead for us here. There's already a nice old farm road there that'll help us connect Again with a parking area here and right up to the trolley line trail People will also be able to take the trolley line trail down And explore around the pond itself And then we'll partner with kestrel on if their feasibility Indicates that they should site there then we'll work with them on future assets on their property other questions I'm we'd make the motion, but I don't want to cut off discussion Go right ahead This is 4d correct. Yes, okay um I moved that pursuant to the vote taken under article 12 b of the april 30th 2018 annual town meeting as continued the select board accepted deed to parcels of land containing 28.1 acres more or less in the aggregate and located on bay road amherst from martha and lisa epstein trustees of balderwood realty trust for open space purposes Which parcels are to be under the care custody control of the conservation commission? Under the provisions of mass general law chapter 40 section 8c So we have a motion a second. It's there for the discussion Just I have a Fiddling question. So tonight on all emotions. It says gl general law, but we usually have mgl Are we changing the convention? No, I mean I've noted where you said mass general law. So it is in I think this is what comes from town council Oh, they do gl okay fine That's what I was going to say council does that I get frustrated because I say people can't google that the way they can mgl But that's what the term You got a three time. I've got three times on it. Yeah Excellent. Sorry not related to the content. It's okay It's part of the discussion Is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye aye I'll switch unanimous with one member absent Thank you. And as I said, we'll be bringing one House cleaning Housekeeping issue to you that we just discovered Next week. Okay, great I just have a quick question in our yellow folders We had a whole section about the quit claim deed and is that just so that we could each see it be In our free moments here before we do the sign folder tonight or was there something else we needed to know? You know, I think that's the intent of that I'll be signing one then Right Right. I've made acceptance of D Those are the Long version for your own record keeping Right, thank you Excuse me So next we'll do north common renovations modifications First look as it were so Maybe so kind as to take us through that Share with us the Yes In writing at this point Don't think because I don't remember finding anything in my packet. I just want to make sure I think we made the judgment not to include it There was a power point that I think they had at the public presentation Which didn't seem appropriate for our packet because it was all sorts of other things So I think that's part of why we don't have any Written material or printed on that something I Think if I could just for the sake of time, I'll I'll start and as christine punches up this power point Mrs. Breastrup and I are very excited to bring A first look to you of of some of the discussions and some of the work that we've been doing together With our design team and with our consultants weston and samson on the north common I think the board knows that we have been Informally working on this for a couple of years Really refocused on this in the spring and We have had multiple public meetings over time Probably four or five in the last five years or so But once we brought it to town meeting for cpa funds, we brought some other funding together using transportation fund money And we successfully hired weston and samson. We've really been working very diligently and we what we wanted to do here this is a A shortened version of a slide presentation that was presented to the public last week in this very room and Mrs. Breastrup and I wanted to quickly go through a quick slide set with you I'll just do a very short intro and then turn it over to her Because I think what you'd like to see and what we'd like to show you is the actual conceptual plans so As you know our our team has been inclusive It It is a collaborative It includes a number of town staff It is co-led by the historical commission members and lsse commission members And then a good representation of town staff from engineering staff our tree warden Mr. Moreing has participated Ms. Breastrup and her staff As well as members of those two commissions We as I said hired weston and samson design studios landscape architects out of boston And we have been very satisfied and very Excited by the work that they've done As you know The common today is used for a variety of different purposes very formal if you will and organized from town events The lighting of the merry maple of various celebrations and or Memorial ceremonies farmers markets tag sales etc. And again, we're talking about the north common As you know, but for the viewing public not the main common to the south We as part of our process of trying to be inclusive and trying to gather as much information as possible We've really started out with talking about so What do we want to honor? What do what do we think is important about the north common? And so through a variety of meetings working with our design team having a number of design meetings and charrettes We we've kind of outlined what we think makes the north part of the common so important And it's no surprise that the trees the central nature that it is right out in front of town hall That it is central to our downtown that is at the four corners where thousands and thousands of people Come into town every year as tourists as new students as families as residents Etc. All of those things we want to celebrate and we want to take advantage of We also recognize that the common has needed work for a long time And our effort here is to look not only to today's needs, but what can the common be for the future? We recognize that This is probably a once in a 50 hundred year opportunity that we as a community are going to have And it's a very special place to be at we have the momentum We have the buy-in and the commitment from the business community from the bid from residents From committees and boards. Now is the time to do something very special there Some of the opportunities we'd like the space to be flexible We'd like it to support Activities that people now use other spaces in town for we'd like there to be good seating We'd like there to be multi-generational opportunities. It needs to be a da client a compliant It needs to have lighting at night. It currently doesn't so many of these things are kind of basic Needs of the common and then we also want to look to the future to say how can we design a space that is durable flexible creative And serves now the generation now and future generations Next Yeah, yeah, and I'm not going to read all of these These are some of the things we heard We heard from the public. We heard from boards and committees. We heard from businesses We heard lots about parking, obviously We heard lots about boltwood avenue and traffic and what parts of the north common are special? What are quiet? What are what spaces are loud? What are the desire lines out there? Where do people cross now? How important it is for town hall parking grace church parking lord jeff parking, etc We heard a lot about trees. I think it's no surprise to the board and there was no surprise to staff that people Value the trees that are on the north common. They value the shade that those trees provide Make use of planter boxes as appropriate. I didn't see that one before But there was also a recognition in many of the meetings that Um, there might be too many trees on the common and that the north common and that some of those trees are in very poor Condition because of their age or disease. So there was a recognition of that Next We heard from people supportive of public art and we have tried in our conceptual designs western and samson and our design team To include flexible spaces that could support art. So we want to be open to that We think that art on the north common Not being specific as to what kind of art but creating spaces that could support and have art now and in the future is important Design inspiration we we talked and and people brought lots of ideas from natural play elements to Many many references to pulaski park in north hampton But also the recognition that this is a different space One is that it is a common not a park, but it's it's in a different location. It's um, it's uh, Some of the opportunities there for For that we have for hardscape can complement The green space that's available. We also have a site that is not very level And has about a what a 12 to 15 foot grade change from the northwest to the southeast So how do you design for elements that? Um Can achieve some of the goals that have been outlined So I think today i'll turn it over i'll turn it over to chris to talk about some of our schemes Good evening i'm so happy to be able to present this to you Um, as you all know, you've attended our meetings and you've seen what we have online We posted this um presentation online But the north common is very small It's only about three quarters of an acre So that green space is about three quarters of an acre which in comparison to kendrick park kendrick park is About three acres and I think the south common might be three acres as well Um, the the parking lot to the north of the north common is about a third of an acre So all together this space is about just a little bit over an acre which um is is very small It's surrounded by pavement as you can see it's surrounded by parking lots and um By parking lots and roadways. I hope this doesn't fall apart Is that gonna work So, yeah, uh, it's also surrounded by beautiful buildings. We have the town hall We have the grace church. We have the 19th century commercial buildings along main street and south Pleasant street, so it really has a beautiful setting um As dav said it slopes about 15 feet from the northwest corner to the southeast corner, which is quite a lot of slope and what that means is there are problems with Drainage erosion and handicapped accessibility as well as accessibility for able-bodied people And also as we know there are lots of trees some are old and grand and worth saving and some are Old and not in good health and the uh tree warden has has taken a pretty close look at them There are also some invasive exotics Some of the larger trees are actually norway maples which are our invasive exotics and they Don't allow much to grow underneath them so that can be a problem if we wanted to have More types of vegetation We have held several meetings and we've heard from business people residents board and committee members And members of the public Many of the things that dav described earlier we have heard from people but probably the most surprising thing We heard was multiple people at different meetings talking about Perhaps eliminating parking from the north common Back in the old days there was no parking on the north common and we've seen images from The 50s where there was a kind of curvilinear parking lot that was Emerging there, but the idea is perhaps we don't want parking on the north common The site is important. It's the main entry into our downtown It's what people see first they come to the top of the hill on amity street or main street and that's that's the image that they see It's located at the center of civic life in town right near town hall the police station and other civic activities The south common which is just south of spring street Provides a bigger open space for fairs and large gatherings and this common this north common is really a special place It's different from suiteser park in kendrick park. It really has its own type of characteristics It's quiet shaded and has a kind of intimate feeling and we want to make it attractive and welcoming for visitors and residents So western and samson Our consultants were were asked to prepare three concept plans The first one based on what we heard from our public meetings was a bold plan that it considers eliminating parking from the north common The second plan is a conservative plan that Keeps the parking and tries to make the rest of the common attractive for people And the third plan is a compromise plan, which we consider might be the just right plan that we might end up choosing But of course that's going to be up to you or whoever makes the decision about these things Um, the i'm going to show you the three concepts that western and samson has developed The first concept is the the bold plan and as you can see Parking is eliminated from the north common Completely in addition. Um, I wonder if I could have that pointer access from boltwood Boltwood walk or boltwood avenue is cut off from main street So it provides a very nice gathering space here in front of town hall In addition, there's a beautiful promenade from the northwest corner towards town hall A lovely space is created up here where there really is a quite a bit of activity And then we have the sweeping Walkways from one corner to another which is very graceful There's a gathering space in the middle which could be used as a stage or a performance space or just a gathering space For people to sit and then there's a kind of a large green lawn Just down from the gathering space So this proposal keeps many of the trees, but It adds many more it also adds parking in front of grace church on a diagonal So there I think there are eight parking spaces added here And it terraces the site to control erosion. So that's what these walls are for You can see that although, uh, 12 trees existing trees would be removed Uh, there would be six existing trees to remain and this plan proposes 56 new trees Of course, they include all of these little ornamental trees, which we may or may not actually Want to include but uh, so that number 56 might be a little big But in any event it gives you a sense of what the What the plan is here. Um, as far as parking spaces go, um, the the parking lot as it exists Now has about 34 spaces, but if it were to be designed Properly, it would probably only have 29 spaces There are four spaces in front of town hall Four and five in front of the Episcopal church for a total of 38 spaces that exist currently In this plan it's this is mislabeled. This is plan one We actually um are eliminating 30 spaces So that's that's quite a big change to make and that's what this plan proposes But I will show you how beautiful it could look. Here is what the existing view is of town hall from Uh, south pleasant street and this is what it could be like with Veterans celebrating veterans day and people sitting on the on the walls and People approaching town hall in a very graceful manner. Um The next plan is a schematic plan two, which is really the conservative plan That retains much of the parking in the north part of the site Although it does Repave the parking with the kind of concrete pavers or something like that. So it wouldn't be just asphalt This the reason for that is that we could then create a kind of a concourse or a plaza here in front of town hall This would be raised up so that it would be more or less There wouldn't be too much of a drop from the corner here and there wouldn't be too much of a rise up to Town hall What we call this is a tabled parking lot So there would be a rise coming in from boltwood or excuse me from main street and a Going down towards boltwood avenue and you would can continue the access from main street This plan could also have some diagonal parking tucked in along the edge of boltwood avenue It has a central gathering space similar to the other one and um Again the graceful sweeping pathways. This one also adds some little Gathering spaces off the pathways that could be smaller more intimate spaces I think this plan keeps more of the existing trees as you can see And removes fewer and adds fewer trees. So altogether. This is um, really a conservative plan And then I'll show you the the images. Here's the existing image of what this looks like And here it is at christmas time or holiday time when we Light the merry maple and gather in in that space and it could be quite lively and beautiful The last plan is schematic plan three, which we consider the just right plan at Perhaps we shouldn't reveal our our thoughts on the matter but Some of us have called this the compromise plan, but I think perhaps the just right plan sounds a little better It provides some parking in the north East corner here. I think it's a better proportioned Kind of plaza space that could be used for public events when it's not being used for a parking lot Again, it would be paved with concrete pavers or something like that It provides a more graceful approach from the northwest corner And the central space is a little bit bigger than in the other two images and it's not so much a Performance space or a stage area as it is a quiet nest nestled space With surrounded by stone walls All of these pathways are handicapped accessible and this plan here provides diagonal spaces along in front of grace church It could also provide some diagonal spaces right here to the southwest of town hall And potentially some parallel parking spaces over here So the way it's shown it would lose about 13 spaces But if we did some of that picking up of spaces like I just described we may only lose about five spaces We could grab a couple over here where there's no longer going to be a driveway into a parking lot This one also allows more trees trees to remain than the first scheme So we hope that you find these plans attractive and potentially workable And we'd like to have your comments and your guidance on how we will move forward with this project I'm sorry. I forgot to show that. Yeah, this is really how could I forget here it is existing And here it is proposed isn't that beautiful and quiet So I have the luxury being the chair to ask the first question So a couple of both in that last plan and in the second plan where I think it was the second plan now The last plan in the first plan There's a section if not the entirety of boltwood that is then sort of blocked off from main street And it indicates for like the angle parking in front of grace Episcopal church That you're essentially getting to that via Going through the back parking lot here So we I the concern I have and and maybe they've thought about this as far as addressing this is that To access that parking you have to go behind this building And negotiate this parking lot Which doesn't have a lot of extra space to then come out onto that one way to make the angle parking or to even You know sort of access anything there. I was wondering if if the folks from Uh Weston and samson had comment about that or if you receive feedback around that that particular question And and what kind of impact it might have on main street here people trying to get through the back and Sort of impact on this parking area as well So it's a great question. I want to Just make one comment about conceptual plans. We we always run that risk that when we put things out there um There are focus points focal points that people want to talk to talk talk about and that's great What's what's wonderful about these plans and we discovered this last week in in a really robust conversation And I can't remember which board members were part of that that There's a mix and match that that can go on between the different concepts So we're hoping that with comments from you comments from boards committees and from the public We can do some mixing and matching of the best of these three And this did come up last week. I'll I'll have chris specifically address it, but um, absolutely There are things that we want to pull out from one that might go better with three Something from two move that into three or vice versa So I just want the board and those people watching at home And if you look at the on on the entire slide deck on the planning board Uh planning department website I want people to stay open also to the fact that we're going to try to take the best of all of these plans And put them into one sure So, um, you are definitely correct that this plan number one does eliminate access from main street to bolt would have and people would be Directed to go through the parking lot behind town hall to access these parking spaces here in front of grace church That is different from plan three Which I will show you This is a single lane that comes through right three has a single lane that comes through And it is kind of a tabled situation like you find in front of the jones library where you go up over the The crosswalk, so it's really a gentle rise and gentle back down again But you would have full access from the north to all of boltwood avenue May I follow up on that particular issue and sure other people can ask other questions So one of the things I found challenging about last week's conversation and thank you for reminding me that yes I'd looked at the planning board website But the entire select board was not advised to look at the planning board website to look at this slide deck ahead of time So they didn't know to do that is that the way that question came up at the Forum last night as you all know is that An audience member asked it The consultant didn't see the need to bring it up And so there's a difference between conceptual planning and mix and match and ideas And then just plain not explaining things And so to not explain that you can't get there from here unless you go winding behind a time which may be what we decide we want to do But for the consultant to have said flat out. Oh, you noticed that Um, yeah, we didn't tell you about that but good job noticing it I found more than a little frustrating in terms of how to have an effective conversation because then we couldn't Really talk about that issue because we were so tied up in all the other really interesting ideas that people had So I would just um, I guess for future reference mention that Surprises like that from consultants are not always that welcomed by at least some members of the audience To find out that they're told oh gee glad you noticed that we weren't going to bring it up because it is a it is part of Let's rethink this and maybe we would rethink it that way But it is different than what is the standard street structure to get to parking spaces right the thing I think about just in general because of the way main amity and pleasant intersect In a offset manner What's that what's called The dog leg right But it but it uh, you know people make different choices about how they interact with downtown in automobiles or any other sort of transportation Relative to that and that starts to have a there's a peripheral start of effect that needs to be considered I think and so that's why I bring this up because you know I'll be perfectly honest. I avoid that intersection a lot because it's complex there times It's fine and there are times when it's you know, it's it's uh a difficult intersection to navigate You know if you need to make left turns that sort of thing so things like turning left on boltwood And then turning left on spring street Sometimes are handy to do sometimes or Or you know there there are options people exercise because they have the ability to do that now and and so as we change those We think about these things We just need to factor that in in other words, you know People cut through the parking garage To avoid that intersection because they can navigate through the parking garage And go up kelloch street and take the lights in front of the st. Bridges church to get to the northern end of downtown So, you know, so people make choices around Around the designs that happen. And so we just want to be cognizant of that as we as a move ahead That's really all it's not a complaint about it necessarily It's just the facts as as people interact with their space and the spaces that come you know complexities of those spaces Mr It wasn't my original bit I'm going to piggyback on what you said to my grandson as a new licensed holder of about two weeks Was saying that he was going through the central intersection I was explaining at the dog look and he said This other driver went out and then he started backing up and then he backed up into me and I got out and Like he started yelling at me because I didn't back up too and it's like Whatever Even for people who grew up here. That's a kind of squirrely intersection. So I then I'll make my comments Yeah, it's always better when you're looking at stuff It's much more seductive to see the green than the gray for the paving I think using that behind town hall is just should be eliminated that for I won't go into why I just we could talk about it, but Looking at the design. Yeah, but in reality, no when you explain part of it What I liked in the one of the features I liked in some of the designs was that sort of strong access That kind of leads the eye to town hall when you're at the other side And I think there's ways to keep that with different materials and different designs, but You know kind of that view where you get that Yeah, maybe not that because that's the one that has no parking But there's a way to keep that I think I was moving more towards the compromise and I was really looking at the numbers of lost parking So I see the parking as a resource probably similar to the way the conservation commission Thinks about wetland. So I'm on a no net loss kind of view So I'm looking at net loss and there may be ways to mitigate some of the net loss And maybe if diagonal parking is a good idea, let's just do that and get more so I would be very Concerned about the amount of lost parking even though it's very tempting to just take the whole acre and make it like a beautiful park I myself would not be in favor of that unless I could see some replacement Some other things we have other issues not related to this design around how we're going to deal with the municipal parking district And so looking at our parking comprehensively and what we're gaining and losing We have some new downtown developments that putting more pressure on that resource is something I I'm very conservative about But I think we can still have like I said that design element of The view of that sort of strong boulevard. I like the mixed material. So Um, it can be parking, but it can also be closed off to be an event So it can double or triple in its in its use. So I think some some of the designs that do that give us more flexibility So there's a kind of sort of global comments. I you know trees some should come down Some amount of light opening it up Yeah, I'm not going to comment on the planning because those are really conceptual And you're right on mr. Zemeck when you show conceptuals you risk and you know People getting hung up about the lighting plan on something very conceptual and not wanting that light over here over there And I'm so I'm trying to talk in some sort of broad strokes But um, yeah, it'd be great to redo the north common Kind of blend all these ideas, but I'll just say for me. I'm not on the bold plan wavelength right now This is completely off topic But I'm frustrated that we have a new member of the press who's not been sitting at the press table and just randomly takes photos during The meeting without Previous there's been no announcement that press is present that isn't sitting at the press table So people in the audience don't know that press is here And I do find it distracting and we don't have to allow distraction So I wonder if maybe you could just work out with that individual who I obviously don't want to be badly quoted by but just probably offended To Not do that in the future unless they've made prior arrangements And we've announced that they're here because normally it's fair for audience members to assume that the press is at the press table And we used to even try and announce that but we kind of gave up once what he said press On the press table and the taking photos during the meeting. We had long discussions about that in previous years and it was Awkward, it's not illegal. It's just something that's supposed to be arranged ahead of time So Thank you Would we take a break? I'll capture a moment of his time. Hopefully and we'll we'll clear that up Astrology have come in on just the same thing I think we had a sort of informal sense that one doesn't have to step in front of the table There's sort of an invisible boundary there right because it's disruptive and people get in the way of between them and us Comments about the design plans. You did that too I mean as people who were there know on the meeting last week I spoke out in flavor of the bold plan because I hate parking No, I mean I I mean I take parking very seriously Um And you know for practical and other reasons and I think that miss cruber is talking about in terms of resources quite appropriate um, you know that said Mr. Zomek and miss breast strip spoke last week and again tonight about this being a 50 year chance or 100 year chance You know go back 100 years We had a trolley line that went from Sunderland up through the town and over the notch and so forth Then came cars and buses and people didn't want that anymore. You know You may not want a parking lot there in 50 years not to mention 100 And you know one of the things was mentioned the other night was we could we could phase it in We could have like a small parking lot and then maybe later we can get rid of it and everybody said no No, no, you know once you've made a decision in Amherst It's going to get you know, it's going to get stuck there people will not change it so I mean I Guess I would say this is you know parking is an important resource, but it's also It's It's it's not unique. There are parking parking places can be put in lots of places There's only one common This is a piece of our colonial and early national landscape And I was saying the other night when I was you know, I first joined the historical commission 2002 There are always people talking about encroachments in the common and I got all radical and excited and thought Let's fill in the spring street And then I learned more and I thought better and I realized the spring street had been a cut through since the 19th century And they put houses there in the church and that's okay and I realized that the problem is not spring street is this piece because This piece of green space is too small by itself compared to the rest of the common and it's desecrated by that parking lot and You know person's desecration is another person's enhancement. Mr. No, it doesn't it's just This is not debatable, but you know the thing is I mean yes, it is But you know the thing is between 8 a.m. And 8 p.m. You this looks nice like this with the with you know the multi material Uniform level parking space that could be a plaza. Maybe you know Few times a year Not taking into account the oil stains and grease and mess. It's going to be all over it But also you're looking at cars from 8 a.m. To 8 p.m. It's not going to be the most attractive thing in the world And I think you know, I think if the town hall is one of the most important buildings If the town common is one of the most important pieces of cultural landscape You know, we owe it to ourselves and the people 50 or 100 years later to do something bold with that So I know it may not be possible, but I would really like us to reach for that Number two is a non-starter if I'm concerned number three has got potential But I'd really like us to think outside the box about this I guess you know if we're up to me and I'm not a planner or an engineer You know, I wanted because you'd mentioned the possibility of angled parking on the street You know, what if because they used to be parked on the external on the north side of that Um Before the parking lot as mrs. Brester mentioned there was a curvilinear pattern with cars parked there Or people mentioned the angled parking if we took a bigger piece out of the common on the west side You know, I don't know what the engineering aspects are But I would urge us to seek other ways to find that and to think about this I agree certainly with what my colleagues have said about this driving through the parking lot behind town hall That's if there's three traffic is a non-starter because also you're not coming right behind town hall You've got to go around the generator plus two rows of cars So you're making a huge loop and the logistics of that I think are extremely problematic If it's for through traffic as opposed to the town hall parking lot as such But I would again suspect to put in a vote for thinking boldly and thinking 100 years ahead of the time So I'll I'm going to shift gears for a second. Just talking about sort of design things So so one of the things that's in a couple of these is is kind of a I'll label as an amphitheater. Maybe it's not considered that it's very small sort of Space not the smallest spaces, but I think it's in this one in that middle area And and and it could be there and it could be elsewhere And I've been in in locations where they've created a small space that Most of the time is just a place a little plaza area to walk through But they set the acoustics of it up so that if you stand in a central location and speak There's a slight amplification by virtue of the construction of the of the space Which could be really great when you talk about a sort of civic Meeting place and this could be in front of town hall or whatever to sort of create that kind of place where If someone were to come and speak, you know, you know, this was on a campus. So, you know Oftentimes it would be someone proselytizing their religion, but it could be anything But I think it is an opportunity where It makes it easier to have a conversation without amplification Or if you do have amplification then it becomes even easier to to to have people here In that kind of a space so thinking in terms of that kind of thing is as you create these sort of public areas Or meeting spaces to think about that acoustic component and can can that be accommodated? Can that be added to the mix? Um, I should think about that. So I just want to offer that idea as something as far as that's a more nitty gritty detail kind of thing But it is I think there's an opportunity to something kind of powerful around that that's Useful for for those sort of civic event kind of things Um, just when we're getting into nitty gritty, um, just but I would say response to my colleague mr. Wilde Um, I I don't think not embracing plan number one means that one is not open to bold thinking We may have a difference of opinion in a legitimate one Um, I would ask as I have on a lot of things to do with parking if the downtown parking working group has yet Been involved in thinking about the parking considerations. I mean, I know they've been can go to an open forum and participate But I think this is starting to shape up and that might be a good touch point for the brief life They have left as a committee. Um, I've been thinking about this a lot So they might want to be included and then you talked about the Kind of oratory space or the soapbox space What I see is missing and I've talked about this a lot wanting some kind of a play area It said in one of those lists natural play structure And so people really wanted pulaski park and one of the nice things that there's things to climb on and walk on It can be rocks. It doesn't or timbers. It doesn't have to be you know, constructed Structure, but I've lamented for a long time that there's no place to bring your two-year-old sit and have You know a cup of coffee or tea and have something to do So this looks very adult to me and I don't I know, you know, you can do a lot with three quarters of an acre Of green area and what I see missing is the playful area and maybe that could be communicated It's time for my list And this brush up and mr. Zomek and mr. Bakerman have already and mr. Wilde I'm sure he put his fingers in his air stuff already heard this last week And if I mischaracterize anything based on what I heard versus my own just made up thing that would be good to know Following directly on the heels of what you mentioned about kids running around although we all know that we appreciate the railroad ties that are probably older than mr. Zomek that are out there Surrounding the trees and some of us are a little more safety conscious now wouldn't let our kids play on them But back in the day they were something whereas unfortunately The consultants seem to characterize someone's concern for play ability as well They can run around and I thought well, I don't think it's been a while I do think it's been a while since you had little kids Because running around is really important But just having a few things and so I think There was definite sentiment that there was not like no one was time up putting a play structure there This isn't the midwest after all. We don't have sidewalks to everything We don't have parks with play structures everywhere But this is new england But something more along the natural features like pulaski park has in that respect That's a more natural feature they can mess around on To keep them entertained and that still fits in with the aesthetic The peace vigil folks were especially concerned that they did Get heard as to how that would work Just in terms of not only space to stand but like, you know, are they up against a tree? Are they do they have a place to sit? And and I know that the consultant and staff are working on that together But just to make clear for those who weren't there that that did come up I would argue that the business owners who spoke at that particular Thing were not widely representative of the business community One because they weren't presenting themselves as and doing so And secondly one has their own parking lot and the other does relatively little walk-in business so to Say that they have the full breadth of opinion on whether or not it's necessary to have cars in town Front of town hall I think is going to vary a lot depending on which side of the street you're on And what kind of business you get and if they mostly come on the bus Or they mostly come by appointment or if they mostly come by car And I know I'm certainly always surprised by the number of people who are parked in front of town hall to do town hall business I keep thinking why aren't you doing this online? And although we might you know sort of force some of that I suppose if we have less parking in front of town hall I think there's still just a lot of people who for whatever reason feel the need to do it in person And so that you know we Since we already it's one thing to say Well, if you've never had parking in front of your beautiful historic town hall Then you just don't have it and nobody's ever expected it but to take it away without some substitute I think gets a lot more difficult for the people who are here already for the people who don't live here now They won't know the difference But that that is difficult. I think for some people I think that one of the and I'm not I will admit I'm not even sure I really truly understood this concern But in one of the drawings there was some concern expressed about whether or not It was basically cutting the common the north common off from south pleasant street And the corner So you talk about coming up amity street and saying oh look there's gonna be there's town hall and there's a parking lot Right doesn't look great But do you also want to be looking at a wall of trees? Instead of that rather instead of connecting sort of and so how that works And so I think that people were trying to play around with that a little bit like how could it be both enclosed But not closed off right in that respect And so just more and more things to keep thinking about And I know a lot of work was done between the may meeting and the august meeting in addition to the many meetings that took place Over several years before that I I would also say that I'm a little misled by the quite lovely and beautiful after picture that looks just like mary maple to me Now even with the junk that's out there now So it's beautiful and lovely at mary maple because it's dark We have lights and everybody's having a good time Not really sure that's a good selling point Um, I think that mainly covers my concerns that other people haven't already mentioned and so Not wanting to give up the parking which is that a premium Without having some sense of what we're doing with it instead Certainly the angled parking was an interesting thing that I was glad came from the may meeting to the august meeting because I realized You know, I only have so much money. We're giving the consultants and people are like, oh Dream up some more new things and and they were able to come up with some ideas associated with that So I think that's really helpful Given all of these things and given that we are also looking at the possibility of for the first time in more than 50 Or 100 years the idea of having a band shell on the common Which we have of course is not part of this project, but Some people have argued should be considered either a for the north common rather than Dispoiling the traditional long grassy area Or at least considered in conjunction with And the timing on that so as much on the one hand, it's like we've been talking about this for so long Can we just go ahead and do it I think in the context of considering a band shell that's also going through obviously a number of approvals As I've indicated to people no one has agreed to put a band shell on the common yet It's going through many many steps before that could even conceivably happen. That's not happening anytime soon It's just being worked on I am uncomfortable with doing anything other than basically The status quo with this facility during our limited time here as a select board Because I do not see Given the transition provisions, which we've started to weigh things against. I mean releasing from 61a is not that thing because That's a timeliness issue I'm not convinced we are in the right position to be making this decision about this And I'm hoping that given that we're already talking the fall Not the spring paving that it could potentially be something that would be very early on the town council's Mind even though it'll be snowing by then potentially but rat and i'm not saying six months from now They should bring it up. I'm saying this could be a plan That's pretty far along that could present to them as a fairly early thing a fairly early win They could decide on after a couple of meetings Because they you know would hear about it one night go back out to all the districts say look all these people have Already looked at all these people of all these sign-in sheets have been to all these meetings This is all the feedback that's been incorporated and that to me feels like Given where we are in the process if we didn't I know that it must be frustrating for staff and then like over there saying come on we've waited this long but um That really feels like the more appropriate approach for me But again with the idea that it not being a long time from now a relatively short time from now So potentially we could even still move along with with the construction schedule As might be theorized if we acted now Mr. Wall I'll of course respectfully disagree with my dear colleague You know, I It's not going to happen I understand the idea I mean there is I mean obviously there's some Merit to the abstract idea of uniting this with work on the south part of the common that's going to take forever That's just a non-starter, but if I recall correctly, mr. Zomek and miss breast breast breast strip Talked about trying to finish this sort of latest in 2019 summer fall Thereabouts, you know, if you think about the schedule if we don't act on this, it's dead It's going to be 2021 Uh, the other not thing we should be precipitous and I think miss kruger raised questions too about the proper Parties to consult with regarding parking and so forth. I guess my concern is Uh, sorry for the fact. I don't think it's an issue about us and impinging on town council's freedom of action because it's been in the pipeline for years and years and years I was part of historical commission and design review board and we saw these very preliminary plans Mr. Zomek knows that I think dpw was doing could we put a bandstand at the top of the north common and electrical outlets and things like that? I mean a platform, so it's not new it's been through lots of phases But the other thing is, you know Not to To praise us at the expense of somebody else, but we kind of actually know what we're doing here You know, you've got very experienced five very experienced people on the select board They've got experience with all parts of town government They bring to it experience for example of planning Historical issues land use and all that if you're going to give this to a town council of 13 people Maybe a few people who have some experience. It's basically people who are new to town government in a new situation in a new context They may not have the background to make a judgment which might be the right Instinct, but it might lead them to put it off even longer practical questions aside. I don't think it's going to happen in the six months And as far you know as far as going back out to the district. It doesn't need to it That's been a public process. We're pretty good at public process And I mean so much so we'd like to talk and never do anything You know, I think it would be a fatal mistake to put it off because of concern about the town council And I don't think the town council would make a better decision Whether we make the right one is a different question But I think that we're equipped to make a proper decision if we agree that the process has been carried out to the full extent Because I do I do really have a great deal of respect for what town staff has been trying to do You know going after this for years and years You're not shut up in a second because we tried this before the robust public process with the historical commission Between the one I was in charge of and the current one They had meetings and so forth in the jones library and we applied for the grant and the state said it wanted A still more robust public process and we gave it to them and we got the grant. So let's do it Just a couple I I generally agree with uh, mr. Wilde on this I would like to decouple this from the bandstand. I think that's sorry. That's what I was trying to say So I I although I appreciate you know, there's always some wisdom in sort of master planning and having it bigger and included But I think the bandstand will or will not happen And it's on its own trajectory I think that we should keep moving this along. We were asked to react. We're sitting here now in our current capacity This will go through a number of other stages and approvals needed from council So we can bring it as far as is appropriate during our remaining existence And it's conceivable somebody could Change it or put the gabbash or have to give permission for using the land or whatever it is. So it's not done, but I think um In the interest of of not jeopardizing the project that we need to keep going But I don't think we're going to be the final final Answer on this. I I'm mr. Buckerman as his hand up. But anyway, that's just my opinion on that Thank you, mr. Chair. I think um You made the board made lots of really good points I thought we were all sort of surprised by the public meeting when it was held last week over the reaction to people Who were looking for a more aggressive? um Boulder approach, um, I think that Was surprising to us. It was interesting to hear many of the points that you raised were raised that evening Including the place structure issues and things one of the things and all the plans you'll notice that we count two things We thought that we're really important to the community one was trees How many trees are there? How many are we gaining or losing and then the other was parking? We default right now there are 34 parking spaces in the parking lot If we were just to repave and repaint we'd wind up with 29 spaces. So that's we we said we need to really begin with 29 And we we recognize that losing a lot of parking Is could be controversial and although at the meeting people weren't that concerned about it, but I one meeting Yeah, I agree with you on that. So um, but those were the things those were the sort of rough metrics. We were looking at um, I think we also made the Determination that this is a project that's been in the pipeline for a really long time and that to sort of say wait And whether we we caught well wondered whether we should bring it to the board or not But it had been in the pipeline. It had been received funding from town meeting There there hasn't been any doubt that there should be some things Done on the north common end on the parking lot um, and then the question is well Reason we're here tonight is to give you a first look and so we're not asking for decisions But uh, there needs to be more public process with the designers here to listen more to you But um, we felt like In sort of in keeping with mr. Well that you had been engaged in the process in a pretty long way But also recognizing that the council when it takes office will have a veto that we have to borrow the money We need a two-thirds vote from the council To move this project forward and we didn't want to lose the whole months of design in terms of You know For the through the whole winter because it's something we've been talking about for so darn long and I was hoping that from my perspective Can we've got to keep it moving? And so that was the goal in having an informed board say here's where we think we should be as a town and um Take that stance recognizing that there are additional approvals that need to come down the road specifically in my mind with the borrowing authority that we would need from the council We're not going to be the final No, they if two-thirds of them don't agree with it. It ain't gonna happen Just i'm like, was there something you wanted to comment on? I was kind of going around the board members and you had sort of hinted you might be ready to offer Conversation has moved beyond that So I think at this point is there if there's other comment or feedback for For them relative to these that would be I don't want to cut it off But I also don't want to extend it beyond what we need to so But if you have some other things you want to offer so a couple of things one is A couple of places to check in with and the other is in the absence of any timeline whatsoever here We're working with nothing. We're just spitballing. Well, maybe the town council will decide. Well, maybe it'll be this Well, maybe it'll be that maybe it'll be 2021 says mr. Wilde, which there was one ridiculous exaggeration and so That is why we're just you know first look and I get that but it makes it difficult to know about direction so moving away from that for a moment just as If assuming downtown parking working group, which to You know, we all recall my conversation about downtown parking working group and its continued existence at this moment But if it is continuing to exist at this moment It is definitely a place that needs to be this needs to be discussed with before Anything further happens with select board and we know that the tree warden has been involved Obviously these trees decisions are not being made without him And so we appreciate that being brought up and we know that's been happening DAAC disability access advisory definitely needs some say in this as well just to feel like they are understanding You know where the part where the handicap parking would move anyway, you know as you already said if we're gonna Just just redoing it keeping status quo, which nobody wants keeping status quo would move from 34 to 29 Where does it move the handicap space? I mean just like basic information like that that they need I think would be really helpful to them and then beyond that I guess, you know leaving here. I'm trying to understand We say it's first look So what does that mean in terms of what is going to happen next? And so I guess I would be looking for if not tonight then certainly in future A timeline that gives us some idea of we would like to have this set of decisions made within this time period In order to meet this construction time frame and therefore this is where we plug in So I have one other quick Thing I'll piggyback on that and I'll get to mr. Zomek just talking about sort of people to consult I don't know if you've reached out, you know, there's a pretty significant bus stop on main street So I don't know if you've connected with pvta about that or not and and At this point it's it's premature in some respects But I think as we discuss parking and whether we're adding or taking away parking and And how that part of the common Plays with with That bus stop feature and whether does that bus stop move does it stay there? Does it you know those things I just don't it's pretty easy one We've discussed that at great length with with Staff and with designers and the bus stop would stay And needs to stay there That's one of the reasons we didn't add angled parking on main street is the width is not great enough And that is also a very significant delivery stopping point for delivery trucks delivering to various businesses on main street on south pleasant and and boltwood So one of the reasons you see it it doesn't really change. There's a short A small bump out there, but other than that the bus stop remains So one of the things that I'll just point out to my colleagues Which they may or may not have noticed is if you notice the bus shelter seems like it's on the sidewalk backwards That's by design and the reason why is because There's not sufficient room for handicap access as it as it would normally exist with it open to the street And so that's why it's on backwards so people can be in the shelter and then get around and get on the bus and so Just speaking of you know connecting with them as you design things that location of that and DAAC will have a fair amount to say about that kind of thing So just I'm going to offer that as other other places to go and see see comments So you had some other things. Yeah, I just wanted to add so We fully intend to go to the downtown parking working group the drb the dac Again, we really didn't want to go out to all those groups Expend that kind of staff time and and board and committee time Without first giving you a first look and we're taking copious notes here And of course the public meeting was just last week So the designs you see tonight in weston and samson's mind and in our design teams collective Approach have already changed But those were the designs we showed to the public last week We wanted to bring those same ones to you in that power point that is online There is a proposed timeline Given some discussion with the chair and with the town manager We we really thought an open-ended conversation for tonight was probably a better approach without potentially backing you the board into some sort of a You know a corner that that wouldn't be appropriate I will say that that Throughout our process. We have talked about bidding this in the late winter For a spring summer construction After the colleges graduate that is our rough timeline So we wanted to bring you a first look here We would like to come back with weston and samson with One or two of these designs more fully developed having gotten feedback from drb Dac and the downtown parking working group and bring that to you in october So that you can that will give you some time to think about the process And where you would like it to go from there I was I was Encouraged by the conversation here that We recognize that the council would as the town manager said have the the final say obviously in the bonding But if we could continue to move this along in the fall and at some point in early december when You move in a different direction and the council takes office We could then introduce them when the time is right to where we are in that process So we're encouraged. We're not discouraged at all We recognize the change and we just want to keep this moving And again if the timeline shifts in 19 some We can make some adjustments. So Quick question. Ms. Krueger at the downtown parking working group. What are they scheduled to meet? I'm just thinking about sort of Just laying out that timeline. Is there enough time for them to take this up? I think the the chair Ms. Gray mullen was waiting for mr. Muller to come back from vacation was I think it's in flux, but I know it was september, but I don't know if we've said it yet But so I can't give you that a date right now, but in september He'd get on it could get on the factoring to it. I mean they could get their first look obviously it's still You know, this is early on in this We would also like to get to you at the next meeting just some broad cost estimates as well because We you know, we're not there yet because we have three conceptual Plans and we have not put western and samson has not put numbers to those plans They shipped a lot. Yeah, if I could just add one less So even though we were sort of critical in arguing, you know robust robust manner I think it's very exciting to see it coming along and it was a point where we said, you know faster sooner We've got this appropriation. Let's get this done So it's actually really nice to see this work happening. So thank you for bringing it to us We appreciate that because we heard those comments. When is this gonna happen? When is this gonna happen? We pushed now We're pushing and we're we're making progress Fantastic. So are there other questions or comments from Them relative to this if not, thank you both very much appreciate the time We'll work with the chair and the town manager on on a date appropriate and and have weston and samson with with you the next In october You're not gonna come back next week with That would be impressive if they did that, but uh, that's probably a little too quick Thank you both very much So why don't we take a quick recess here. It's about eight twenty five I'll say about a five-minute recess and give everybody a chance to stand up stretch your legs a moment We can turn off various things and regroup And The first meeting I covered is like, you know, I was like, you know, that's a Nowadays, unfortunately, you know But uh, you know, so it's going to be a bigger table, you know, wait till you have 13 Yeah Do you mind It's perfectly fine All this is mine All right All right, so are we ready to rejoin our agenda the place where we're at so next up is the uh Recreational marijuana town review team mr. Bachman. I think you want to introduce this for us. Thank you mr. Chair There's a memo in your packet. Uh, as you know, uh, you've asked that We expedite or not expedite but keep moving forward on how we're going to manage the recreational marijuana Requests, uh, we came up with a process that was going to involve Multiple aspects of town government one of those Aspects is to have a and before we sign a host community agreement one of those processes is to have a town review team Who would review applications for recreational marijuana? Approval and on that review team we'd be headed up by the economic development director We would have the health director the police chief the planning director and Hopefully one member if you were in agreement From the select board or a designee by the chair of the select board of someone who could serve on that five person committee that group would also be meeting with multiple other officials and groups in town including the Building commissioner of the fire chief the sustainability coordinator human rights director Select board or town council board of licensed commissioners if it's at that point board of health regional school committee Things like groups like that and there could be others as well depending on on the application We have put out a request to see if there is interest We don't think this is a one-time request for interest, but we thought we would do it sequentially We have expressions of interest by six different groups for existing medical marijuana People who have already established themselves that they're interested in selling medical marijuana and then two other Firms that are interested in locating downtown So tonight what the request is if the if there's a select board member If the chair would like to designate someone or if you want to pick someone else to serve on this group I think it's important for someone from the public To be part of our in this this town review team This group, please before we get into specifically A representative from This board or it's a designate. Um, I just had one question on the list and I um There's there's a hundred different ways to formulate Which staff are on and which are consulted, but I did wonder um The planning director is listed but not the building commissioner And I know from the working group the building commissioner has been very involved in I Going forward, whatever the stage that we're going into where we were not doing the zoning And that kind of planning work might it make more sense to have The building commissioner instead of the planning director and I just asking that as an open question Um, so we we considered that and felt that the planning director Had a more of an overall view of the town whereas the building commissioner is going to have to be part of the decision making process No matter what because that the firm is going to have to be Going getting their their their permits and as you know, they work very closely together and we just didn't we felt like I wanted this to be not a giant committee. Um, and just have it be real wasn't suggesting both They just you know having reviewed it like last night and it was like just curious. Okay So along the lines of more comments until we get to the main topic at hand, um I would have suggested both but I do understand the the concern about size because it has been very useful To our internal working group when both of them been able to be there because there have been questions that the planning director Hasn't been able to answer in terms of practically speaking how some things will be applied because that's not her area That's not what she's supposed to know and so But given the close relationships people have within town hall professionally It doesn't sound like it'll be a problem And if it was you put them on the committee or we can invite them into the meeting right exactly and so just not But but keeping a smaller team I can understand I actually had wanted to ask and then you answered some of the questions already associated with Whether or not we had been following the timeline that had previously been the last thing that was published to us Which we don't have another copy of tonight because we try not to kill that many trees But um in terms of those expressions of interest So we're still following that timeline and we're still hoping to be able to Once this team is formed to be able to say that they will start looking at it So we're still on right promise certain dates that we would be looking at things Excellent that is really important. We've been hearing a little bit about it that community. So Really appreciate that on track for dates and the other thing I just wanted to ask you to clarify that was just my not listening carefully enough Associated with the responses you've had so far. I believe the number six was raised and I believe you indicated that some were Tell me where the medical fits into that cut to that comma So I haven't looked I haven't looked at any of it. This is just Verbally by the economic economic development director the four people the four firms who had expressed interest in medical marijuana that we already have Have the sites they have all said we want to do recreational But with the understanding for the public of course again that only one is actually anywhere close to selling Providing medical marijuana that one's actually doing it But the other three are all in various stages of the process of being able to someday sell medical marijuana Therefore also Potentially interested in recreational and then may or may not ever sell medical Just because there's so many variations on how these things can work. Okay, great and So we're on the timeline and we're from that and then the other thing I was going to say before we got further into the discussion about which select board member um, I may have Misinterpreted this but to say that someone from the public on there. I believe there needs to be an elected official on there I think that's critically important, especially since you have Two elected officials in this room right now who know More than anyone else on the street in the town of Amherst than staff who've been working on this Other than staff That's what I mean other than staff who've been working on this and the two of us and perhaps a couple of Actual providers who've worked in other communities. I think that we have a great deal of expertise on this So I would not want to give up this appointment to While we might in some cases say well, you know, actually so-and-so is really good at this and could talk about wetlands Um or something but isn't on the planning board or conservation commission right now This is not something I'd want to give up associated with that because I think one It's important for it to be an elected official and two given that it turns out a couple of elected officials Actually understand it. I think that's really important. So I would hope that we would We would look at it that way It certainly was um in conversations I had I fully expected that Given the expertise that's been built by virtue of yourself and the scrooger, you know But also just the five of us generally have been more in the in the weeds on this or You had to do there Unintentionally it was an unintended pun, but evidently I made it anyway But that we're much more familiar with the the the nuance of it and and the interface I think one of the things that we as elected officials bring to the conversation is that uh, you know sort of community and and political lens That's essential to I think anyway essential to the decision-making process and so Um, I was certainly thinking in terms of one of the five of us most likely Mr. Spockman So I did not want to presuppose that a member of the board would want to serve or you would feel obligated to serve On it or if someone wasn't on the board in the future couldn't serve in it So I that's why I felt it was a designated spot for the select board to say This is who we want to represent us at this moment in time Ms. Gruber I'll try my pun I uh, I'm spoken to Ms. Gruber and I don't want to deprive anyone but I would take the hit You went there Okay, and it's not even nine o'clock Along those lines, um Would you please I mean, I know you there are thousands of these things you're thinking at and some of them Perhaps it's just what's right in front of you right now, which is not a bad thing I'm not criticizing but what I'm saying is As the select board Moves off into the sunset in a matter of weeks And fortunately is still available to do this particular task What would be your thought as to who would be the next person in that sort of slot? Would that be somebody from the appointed board of licensed commissioners or would that be a counselor? Do you think I would that's a really good question I I would I I assumed it would be from the council Again go to the council president and say would you designate someone to fulfill this function? However, that person shoot or the council chose to choose to do it Um, I think the board of licensing commission. I think I'd rather be at the um At the council level for this because for a lot of different reasons It's just kind of on logistics as well. Um Maybe it's I'm wondering. I know we're you know in our Sunset years here um months Weeks weeks. It's not weeks. It's still months. It's weeks. No go until December 2nd or whatever that is. Um I'm wondering in terms of the transition like how long Well, it is but it's gonna end but would it end at the end of Would it end on December 2nd or would there be an overlap until Council grapples with how they want it. I mean I it can go either way, but I Might this overlap So again, I I didn't say it had to be an elected official. I said could be anybody that right so it could be that it's a Chair does it doesn't use or whoever. However, you guys decide you want to do that? Um, and this I see this as being a sequential thing So as we said, it's an iterative process that we begin We're gonna look at these and then in six months We said we'd come back and look at it again And then we'll see it maybe this is the wrong group of people Maybe the building commissioner should be on another plane or whatever it is that we come up with This is kind of this first let's try it out. We said we want to walk before we start to run So along those lines given that we are on track and that we can time wise and that we can get Through this set of applications and then as you'd outlined previously And as you just indicated now that there would be another set at a future time Largely dependent on how many came out of the first set Um There Isn't as much pressure on that transitional period as there would be for something like oh, I don't know daily liquor license It's that somebody's gonna have to sign That are ready now again. Yeah, and so that's helpful. And so in that case I would very much like to see miss Krueger perform this task since she already has indicated that she'd be willing to do so And normally those watching at home might expect us to arm wrestle over this particular issue because we so Enjoy this, but um, I just think timing wise it would work It would work best if she was able to do that, especially given that hopefully it'll be this limited time period and then Perhaps be called back in during a transitional period, but um, not needed But i'm excited that we are moving along as we'd hoped associated with timing Mr. Walden he comments No, if that's the case, would you do you didn't want it, mr. Walden? You can't have it Would you like to make a motion I would This is we're calling it the town marijuana town other shirts the marijuana town review team The internal working room never really got that far. We didn't get hats or anything Wouldn't be the town marijuana review team Unless we're rebranding ourselves as marijuana town Which might have some potential How about we say the marrow? How can we just say the marijuana review team? Yeah, actually take the word town out Okay Would that be all right because you wouldn't put people who aren't in the town on A review team about this. I mean, we're not including the campus and community coalition of any You can't apply you can't apply for it. So you just be Amherst amherst marijuana I'm gonna be looking for logos tonight on google two in the morning. I move to a point Select board member connie kruger to the marijuana review team marijuana review team Is there a second varsity all-star team? But instead of a star you get the leaf Oh man, uh, is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor please say I I And that's unanimous with one absent Thank you for doing that and thank you miss group for offering to do that Thank you to staff for all the additional time they're doing a whole set of new economic development issues that Were not on anybody's plate a couple years ago. So That's awesome so next our agenda is church edition any updates that you want to share with us and and Uh Topics for huge council out of two areas there. Is there anything you want to share relative to so we are We have not had we have agenda setting tomorrow But we are looking at september 17th for a pretty thorough update on charter transition The bylaw review committee is that's the one day that they can all make Or at least two of them can make and so they will be wanting to show you the work that they have done so far um show you Gen in general terms they want to show you the how they've set things up Make sure they're they're a body that you've created so it's important for them to come back and check in with you Make sure they're on the right track. Um, the bob richie Former town council is the chair of that committee is doing a tremendous work and Again, jeff cravitz has been staffing that and and he deserves a ton of credit for the Detailed work that they have done Mr. Richie is doing someone has done this multiple times. He's working in this town of thalmouth right now doing very similar work so it's it's we're really fortunate to have him leading this and They're going to be talking to you about some of the conventions that they want to apply You know You'll you'll appreciate them because you are detail oriented people about the word smith Word smithing and word choices they're using And as and trying to say this is the convention. We're applying to the bylaws We'd like them applied to everything in terms of the rules and regulations and everything so in terms of how they Phrase certain things So you'll I think you'll enjoy that and it'll be important to get for them to get some feedback And just make sure they have gone through pretty much all of the general bylaws They have scanned the zoning bylaws not a lot of work for them to do on this on the zoning bylaws in terms of select board role and things like that, but they're They're also at the same time gathering And as as a planning board gathering ideas for other things that the council should take under into consideration so they've got A list of things that the council should vote on Instantaneously and then some things for them to take into consideration put on their work plan for things to consider both general bylaws and Zoning bylaws and things like that and they are scheduled to meet with Our town attorney on Friday, I believe it is To go through what they've done and see if there's if they're in sync with what what miss goldberg is thinking about so But that I you know as we start to build your meetings going forward, they're going to be heavier and heavier agendas Tonight's actually a relatively light agenda But the next she the next series of meetings will be have a lot on Questions on that I think under topics for futures council It's I think that one's going to advance when might Have an opportunity to advance it a little bit. I've got some ideas. We've had conversations about how we structure that work a little bit and It's really the balls in my court to to uh to take some action and present a frame to everybody to to work from on that and and uh Let's just say late august and early september are quite busy and So I haven't gotten to it. Would you like to pick a deadline for yourself? I think he's Now he feels bad No, I think that that's it's entirely likely that it was probably supposed to be this meeting or the next one, but um Let's say september which means by the 17th at the latest. I would have to have it figured out But hopefully we'll get there might go well with that other topic So yes, please on the plus side the longer you wait to give us the tool the more likely we are to say It's good enough. We'll do this Sure, let's let's get going We won't have to wordsmith it so much and say, oh, well, what about a google doc that does x yz Yeah, you can make it simpler. I actually did have another item if we are still under topics for future council I don't I'm just saying this into the air because I don't know how we're keeping track of these things But um, you record these meetings. So I'm counting on that to help me Oh, right because you're gonna sit down and watch all the me. Uh, right. Okay. No so somebody maybe we'll know is that One of the things that I think would be very useful to the future council because it would be useful to me Is as a select board member is that when we have things like the first look update We need to figure out a way to do a couple of things One is to have a heads up that say the slide deck is on the website, which I sort of remembered from having been there but We don't know that and I know that this is extremely difficult because of open meeting law And you can't express an opinion unless we have staff do it and then it's one more thing in the thousands of pieces of paper here But we need to figure out a way to give people and this is true for every single committee as well as the select board Give people a heads up about the things they're going to be talking about. So if the slide deck's available, great Given that we had two agendas for the may and the august forums We could have included those in the packet for example So someone new to the topic and so this is much more important for the council at this point than is for us because we all know We all know one of our another of us has been to that when there's 13 people sitting there Odds are actually that not all of them are going to everything So for them to get if it's an electronic packet. I mean, this is just part of their future planning But for staff to be thinking about what you want to propose to them rather than ask letting the town council tell you What they want to start off with maybe a proposal of okay Well I'm not asking mr. Zomek to go back and come up with four years of all the outreach meetings that have been done all over the common Because there has been a very long period of time But the two recent ones with western and samson were in may and people could have seen those actual agendas They wouldn't necessarily want to get the whole slide deck printed out But they could have said and then go look at this just to give sort of everybody the same Starting point with that in case they hadn't been to the meeting or in case they'd forgotten Or something along that those lines so in terms of just structurally for staff to be thinking about when you don't have Either an experience concom or planning board or select board That kind of knows all these things that have been working on to be thinking about how to bring people up to speed Before they show up at a meeting. I think it would be really helpful So I think and I think it was my responsibility to have sent you the slide deck from that meeting from last week And I think I said had said that to angela and I didn't do it Versus and putting it in the packet. I said, well, why don't I send it out independently? And so they have it separately. So I think that's it's we had thought about it But I think we just missed that one. Yeah, but but I mean it's just an example of structurally like I don't know what you'd call that but like some kind of memo that says, you know item for e There isn't anything but go look online because there's this huge website that's written all about it And then you'll know what we're talking about when we get there the way I've sort of phrased it to myself is how to construct materials for a packet What's the process? Is there a sort of Things to do and think about as you consider any particular topic and what what to include in the packet What not to include what is the range of things that sort of encapsulate a given Area to help, you know the new counselors You know sort of be prepared for the meeting properly and and so how do that and that's like that internally talking about Going to an electronic packet where there'd be hyperlinks. So there's no issue with someone trying to figure it out and so just That's a good point I suppose you know Information sheet because if you think to back to some of the town meetings, you know planning board would often do this Here's the history of discussion about the north common or something just a one page Timeline with references and so forth and that that might solve the job But obviously electronic would be the best if we could have it linked Other things we want to mention while we have the moment and we're thinking of it If not, then I'll move on to the town manager performance evaluation. We actually have to Take the formal votes in an open public session of the things we had Come to agreement on in our executive session and through our public process of evaluating the manager and so There are a couple of I think there's a single motion perhaps Um that we need to formally adopt For the purposes of finishing the Evaluation Would you like the motion and then we can discuss or Either or So why don't you do that? We'll we'll start with the motion and we'll go from there Sort of, you know, maybe recap a little for people what we've already done Um, I moved to amend the town manager's contract to include a 2 cost of living increase In the value of a 3 step raise as provided to other eligible non-union employees both to be effective august 22nd 2018 And so there's a second so We're open for discussion. So if people want to want to paint that picture should I Feel free miss borough. So note to future town council. We want to go right back to that page So there needed to be something in the packet and That beyond the motion there I mean I think what we did have something in the in our fold in our folder Uh, I don't know anything the evaluation I think was that in our folder? Not in ours. I think that's Because of the previous meeting maybe oh when you were gone. Oh, I know I said an andy seat and it says andy So this was andy's yellow So what i'm trying to say is sorry So the public right is looking at this and saying so let's see if I notice that it says town manager performance evaluation there Huh, there's nothing in their packet about the evaluation. There's no copy of the press release. They sent out last week I have no idea what they're talking about beyond the evaluation. So yeah, we're compliant with open meeting law But not really the spirit of what we're trying to accomplish. And so it would be it would have been great to have in the packet You know Maybe the end of the timeline to see if we needed to To revise anything for future But of course we're kind of done so who cares and but the press release itself that went out to show This is the thing we sent and it does say about how we're going to vote And then that would kind of refresh our mind particularly if there was if it was a more complex situation than it is I think we could potentially add that to the packet since I mentioned it because that is that that press releases Captures that pretty well and it's an oversight on my part. I think it's a point well taken. I'm but I'm I'm thinking Back to our last item if we went to An electronic packet then it's less of a burden because then clearly those off if someone really wanted to Look that would all be listed there. So it gets less burdensome if we Do transition to the all electronic Um But here we're sort of going by memory and we we immersed ourselves in this issue over the summer So it's not a big deal But for someone who's trying to follow or you know, it might be a new council candidate is trying to get up to speed and they're watching and Um, yeah, we're we're the we're the documents. I get that And it was mr Steinberg's folder had it in there Yeah, I got it Back on page is there for the discussion Well, we're gonna do a recap We are so I can do that or yeah someone else would like to So we reviewed the manager over over the summer quite frankly because we started collecting information from from uh From the public boards and committees town meeting members staff From june into july we all got an opportunity to see that we did our own evaluation through A form that we created relative to our goals that we set for the manager last year um Those were all due to me by the 6th of august I then took them and created a composite which were reviewed on the I want to say the 21st of august, but I could be slightly mistaken 20th was it monday the 20th and then So we reviewed that Some couple of edits were suggested I made those and we met the morning of the 24th And went into executive session discussed with the manager regarding his his contract Came to an agreement in that at that time. We released a press release that Indicated results of that but now that we're here in open session again. We can have a formal vote to Actually amend the contract relative to those conversations and discussions and negotiations. So Does that capture everything to miss anything? I think that's the that's the cliff notes version. Yep. That's fine. And so That's where it paints the picture. Is there anything else anyone wanted to mention regarding that? If not, then I would uh Ask all those in favor to please say aye Hi And that's unanimous with one member absinthe Thank you for your work for the town by the way And I'd like to thank the board and like to thank the town It's an honor to work for the town and I really appreciate And enjoy working with the people I work with and with you and you've shown great leadership for the town So just thank you fantastic moving on So next we'll go back into our section seven of our agenda Which has our consent counter and we have one other common victual license for the kind grind doing businesses share coffee roasters So I think why don't we take up the the The non-consent calendar item the common victual license for the kind grind incorporated doing businesses share coffee roasters Change to their license to monday through sunday from 7 a.m. To 11 30 p.m Which is related to a modification of their operating hours Is there anything else that you wanted to share with us relative to this mr. Backel No, this just brings into compliance their their two licenses the liquor license and their common victual license It also matches the zoning in that property right or the yes special for me or something that I believe So Somewhere on our sheet on the back near the top is the motion for that I move to approve the revised hours of the common victual license for the kind grind ink doing businesses share coffee roasters Monday through sunday 7 a.m. To 11 30 p.m Second, so we have a motion a second. Is there further discussion? Miss Just add the manager's name. No Looks like it's marissa with two s's smith according to the Manager yet marissa smith They don't have to be here to or more right or should it or marissa smith come a manager either way think you're big Suits our usual style Is there further discussion hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye And that's unanimous with one member absent And so we have a consent calendar With lots of things on it So I think the first question is just are there are there any items on that consent calendar we want to Pull out for um individual consideration or Or are or can we Consent to our consent calendar I want to give I mean there's 16 items So It was No, I know it's here. It's just you can't I was just saying to shuffle wouldn't it be lovely And there it would be Rather than the shuffling around It was just in front of me moments ago Right because I wasn't going to check all those dates. I remember that Remember that quite well So if there's not any you know particular item that should be pulled out that if someone would like to make the motion relative To the consent calendar at the very bottom of the page of motions to the top of the second page So it starts at the very bottom I move to approve the items listed in the consent calendar for the september 5th 2018 agenda as Wait for it Is there a second there's a motion a second is there further discussion Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye I Will post so that would be unanimous with one member absent And so I believe that takes us to would we like to do minutes or we'd like to reports of members and the manager Should we do minutes first? There are two sets of minutes that were included February 1st 2016 And February 8th 2016. Yeah Working on it I don't remember after breakfast, so this is So I believe these have been reviewed by mr. Steinberg. Yes the hand The manager etc. So I would entertain a motion for those as well I move to approve the minutes from the select board meetings on february 1st 2016 and february 8th 2016 as presented Motion and a second Need further discussion Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye I Opposed abstaining So we have a three To one abstaining in one absent I believe that still gets us Where we need to on those so At this point Mr. Bocklin, would you like to Share your report with us? Yeah, thank you, mr. Chair You have a written report in your packet With some updates So I'm going to highlight a handful of them and then you can if there are things that you want to bring up That they're either on this report or not happy to address them Next kapa joe is going to be friday september 14th at the share roasters coffee on north pleasant street, which is a new location of share Will be i'll be with police chief scott livingstone on and Thinking that this is a timely Good time for him to be with me as we start the school year people may have questions about Students and or you know issues that come up and typically at this time of year I'll be just want to mention that i'll be speaking at the rotary club tomorrow In terms of the downtown business improvement district There have been two wayfinding signs that have been installed by the business improvement district in the triangle street roundabout and They Generally positive for some Comments on it. I think the the intent is good We're still as we are using this as an example as a Test case for when we have the other signs that are installed. We're noticing the color wasn't exactly as we seemed to see in our our original renderings we've talked with the designer and Are making sure the specs were complied with things like things like that but I think that the look and the feel of it the Everything but the color has been been pretty received in a positive way Yeah, they seem it reads a little bit different and you know when we looked at them inside It looked like the color that well i'm colorblind, so I should not be commenting Other people say we're the right colors So I think my comment would be that the contrast between the colors is not as great as I thought it was going to be And therefore it makes it harder to sort of pick up the the more subtle aspects of the signage And that's really the the actual colors themselves. I have no problems with it. It's just the contrast between the difference between in the field Right Yeah, so that's why we did one and we can check it out and we can make adjustments I mean really these signs are really designed to do one thing which is to say downtown is this way And I think they accomplished that I mean the design could be adjusted that part's fairly clear where it says It's in white with the little arrow around the circle, but yes, mr Just just you know belaboring a little bit off orange was a really interesting way of describing Not a color in the creola book not the color we asked for and certainly Not a color that represents Anything amorous like than any of us thought of we have really no idea where that color came from but When you're very close up to it, it actually looks very beautiful and as well as saying go that way Which is the important thing But i'm not really sure the purpose of it looking that beautiful close-up when you're driving around Around about or riding your electric assist bike around in a hurry So I don't know if maybe there is some contrast type. I mean aside from the oddness of the color A contrast issue that could perhaps be addressed before we manufactured the next set that might be important doing Even though it's pretty Since we're all doing it because we drove by there when I first saw them a few days ago and thought Oh, they got this temporary wooden thing up there. It looks like Because it's not really that it's not what we asked for and you know the other thing again I think you're up with the contrast So it's got this italic welcome and it's got the amorous coat of arms shield Whatever you want to call it you can't see them unless you're right up against there or driving very slowly So that's strange and as miss kruger said we spent an awful lot of time on that I mean that said I know when we were doing the amorous flag with miss stein and I were down at the flag You know trying to get the pan tone colors matched up and see it looks on fabric and sunlight is often very different Then we we think but I think it is important to get that right because Otherwise it just looks it looks muddy if you're supposed to have subtle detail It's not showing up but you just see the glaring yellowish amorous letters on a Or is it off orange? They call it? Yes Yeah, and I like quartz and steel and all that so I mean I understand what's involved with that but If it's our issue we should resolve it um And speaking of the bid the bid is um up for renewal I've received the material to approve the renewal and my intention is to vote to As a member to Vote for the renewal those packets have gone out to all the members that the Deadline for the renewal. I think is in october sometime But there is a meeting this week with the bid board to talk about the progress that's being made to to Collect the votes and see how how we're doing on that In your attach to my report was a letter from the attorney general that had approval for articles 30 11 and 35 I put 45 in my report And there was some very specific language that the attorney general had mentioned about Article 11, which is the establishment of the afterschool program revolving fund which we have forwarded to the school and the town finance officers um We talked somewhat about the charter implementation Um Let's see if there's anything new on that No, all right. I've already updated you on that. I would like to talk about the town clerk We had the election yesterday the town clerk and her staff Did a well first congratulations to everyone who ran and everybody's a winner and we appreciate that But no actually I think it People who take the risk of putting their name in front of a lot of other people and saying vote for me I just really think that that people deserve credit for doing that and being brave about it There is The new town clerk was assisted by our former town clerk sandra burgess who stepped in and Righted some things that were not really going right at the time There's a very complicated election with right in candidates two elections going on simultaneously the day after labor day It was really hot a lot of Things to contend with and our town clerk just worked endless hours over the weekend and From 5 a.m. Till I think 1 a.m. That night trying to get the information out on into the public in terms of what happened at the election Staff stepped up. Ms. Mills went up and rescued a situation in one of the polling places Where things were starting to not work at the end of the day because people are really fried I think because they're in hot locations And we brought you know people stepped up We had employees who would run home and get a half a dozen fans that we could put into places because we didn't have fans So everybody was chipping in trying to help as best as best we could and it turned out to be Relatively well run election. There was one complaint that rose which was that The felt pens that were in the polling locations. It was hard to write the name So there's a complaint filed with the secretary of state's office the secretary of state called the town clerk And she instantaneously got boxes of ballpoint pens out to every polling location And you know those were good Good things to catch and it's something that also, you know, we're making we're going to have a debrief session with key warden key wardens from the precincts And also there's some information we want to give back to the secretary of state's when you have right and you know Put this on your checklist have ballpoint pens there. We need to know that when if there's going to be a consistent Right in campaign It it caused for a late count because all those ballots had to be hand counted And many people were out till midnight just hand counting hundreds and hundreds of ballots Um, but I think the results are unofficial and they will be unofficial until she really is able to get a handle on it But again dpw did the setup There were issues that rose at the schools and you will probably hear more about issues at the schools I think this might may be a topic for the school that the school committee will rise raise Some candidates and People supporting candidates. We're sitting we're standing Closer than we normally are At the schools and that gave concern to the schools in the sense that Wherever the voting location was They may have been 150 feet away, but typically people are at the entrance to the driveways and The school was concerned about having People holding signs near where children were going to be dismissed and so I've talked with the superintendent I talked with him probably five times on on tuesday as we were trying to address some of these issues And some of them were were fixable and the town clerk was very willing to work with him on these issues It won't be an issue come november because there is no school on at the november election, which is good news But it will speak to and this is something the town clerk had raised to me As soon as she took office about our polling locations need some serious attention There's some That are just really hard to park at and get to She would like to reduce the number of polling locations to Some people have suggested five to match up with our five districts The schools would like us out of their buildings if at all possible because of the disruption that it causes for them And that and also there's a heightened level of worry about security Crocker farm is a big issue That was something that we really appreciate the schools working with us on because it was the first day of pre-k is the first day of kindergarten We had extra police officers there, but we also had a lot of people at the entrance who are taking up a lot of parking spaces So the principal is out there I was with him at seven o'clock in the morning trying to manage people around can you move your car to So when people came to drop off their kids, there was a place to put your car so he understood he he was sort of working through it, but Wishing it hadn't happened basically So there's there's But we knew that was going to happen because we they had alerted us to that and we couldn't Find an alternate location for that polling location that was going to be suitable to that to that precinct But I think you know our the town clerk is very energized to say A lot of communities have one polling location for the entire community they take over A gym or a public building and all 10 precincts go into this one location These issues a lot of issues are addressed much more effectively because if there weren't ballpoint pens We'd have them out there in about two minutes instead of run, you know taking an hour to drive around to all the various locations But on all a a tremendous amount of work by by a lot of people in Just I was really struck by the number of people who are they're really volunteering they get paid a little bit but they're really volunteering and participating in the democratic process So it was pretty it was great to see all the people who had to work that day to make this election happen Just a tremendous organizing tool It just was a an organizing task So credit to our brand new town clerk who came in made it happen support from our prior town clerk who really Was called in on it like a SWAT team to come and fix situations and she According to Ms. Mills came in and like put made everything right within five minutes So it was really exciting to that people were willing to do the work. So I can follow up on polling locations while we're on this hot topic. So One of I really am excited to hear that she's considering consolidating polling places Which obviously won't be our decision because it's not going to happen anytime soon But and it is terrific that we don't have to worry about it so much for the November 6 election But I do think it is really important and I think that we've shown that the bank center can can tolerate three precincts and parking Is manageable not necessarily ideal, but manageable whereas I would argue that parking is completely And the entire location is completely inappropriate and precinct one at the north What has always been the north commigational church there are two parking spaces one handicapped space or a long hill Which a huge number of people who would not need handicap permits Can not tolerate in the heat or with a stroller or with a cane. It's just it makes no sense It's really nice when you go in Because there's a ramp in but you can't get there is the problem. And so the obvious Consideration there would be to run two precincts at a manual Which has in fact been done at one point I think when there was a problem at one of the other locations So I really appreciate that she's able to take a fresh look and say okay Well, given the experience of the poll workers and the wordings on parking, you know Then how does that really play out? And maybe this also becomes one of the places that one of the university or the colleges could step up and say This thing that happens twice a year because we won't have separate spring elections anymore generally unless we have special elections Will help you right? There's some major location that they could obtain parking and it would be a celebration of their partnership with us I think that along those lines of the schools and that difficulty right of people Who haven't necessarily previously been engaged in campaigns knowing that it's the 150 feet But yet it's a school property, but yet they don't want you on school property if you don't belong there Which is totally reasonable That brings back the idea that comes up all the time which is a map A map of Wherever now if we change all the polling locations That's out of date But a map that says you can stand here, but not over here. You can put signs in here. Nope. That's the common You know, I can't I mean somebody needs to work that out because it is just Completely casual every time people are very frustrated and they don't know what they're allowed to do and what not to do And particularly for the schools I think we just had been able to tell if we'd foreseen it which we didn't But we could have told people ahead of time. Nope not going to happen and do what Eventually had to be done to make that happen But I think we just it's just that people don't know any better And so we just need to figure out a way to proactively explain that to people So that they know where they're allowed to be because we've even had different interpretations At the same polling location by different constables as to Where you're allowed to be and if you're allowed to hold signs or put signs in the yard and all that good stuff So we don't want to be accused of depressing voter engagement But at the same time we just need to come up with some rules so people know what the heck is going on Yeah, I don't think we can solve it now But just to highlight that that's something that needs the fresh look Both the consolidation and some of these other points, but um I get to be at Two polling places yesterday not because I voted twice but my own and then I was a not a poll worker But a poll watcher at cracker farm and starting in the at like 245 so it was pretty hot in there But I wanted to really commend the staff and the poll workers because it was an amazing effort and At one point both our former clerk and our new clerk arrived and they they were so They were very upbeat and they were I was across the room But they were working with talking to the poll workers and they were smiling and they were sort of cheering them on and so they was like the troops had come in and It was it was really wonderful I mean the whole effort but I saw the two clerks working together as a team problem solving but really encouraging people And showing leadership and what was a very complicated election probably one of the most Unusual election dates and events that we may see in 50 years So, um, I think everyone who had a piece of it Really should feel good and I want to feel good about The town meeting in this board and the manager and his staff for making sure that we got the date that we said We were going to have the election on and we had it our local election to coincide with the state election I I don't know the turnout numbers. I haven't analyzed that but I saw people coming Steady stream in both of the polling places there was a lot of interest a lot of activity And I think we can all feel good about sticking to our guns on that date Oh speaking of heat I do want to thank the lsse and the dpw for extending the hours of the mill river pool because There were days when they were scheduled to be closed and but the school was out of session and the school had to close early because of the heat and Bar bills was able to round up some lifeguards and dpw where they were literally out there ready to drain the pool and said Nope, we're going to open for another day. And so they were, um Everybody was very cooperative on that. Um, and it was very what they told me was very crowded So I really appreciate everybody jumping in literally like the night before, you know In this or the sunday morning of trying to get jumping in So what else the I want to mention that speaking of lsse there is a, um Their new brochure is out with a very nice cover Oh, I didn't bring it. Did I bring it? Well, you'll see it. It's everywhere You should look for the cover which features some very Some of our students I want to mention that, um, we have, um We will We've talked with uh, we as you know, we had a consulting come in and look at our first floor. We've, um I'm going to put something in a little more formal memo to you so to update you in terms of some of the changes So you notice that we um have advertised for a finance director slash treasurer And this is um a great relief to the first floor who've been and to me because as we move forward I've estimated that Initially when I came in I wanted I thought maybe I can just do some of the finance director position, but as we Take on these larger capital projects and really need to Get into the regional school assessment and some of those things have became really evident Um, especially with the treasure collector out that we needed someone who's going to look at these bigger picture Things and so that's the purpose of having the finance director slash treasure to fulfill that function We won't be filling the treasure collectors position We will be filling the finance director slash treasure position And then the assistant collector will be raised up to be the collector Um for the town So this and we've, uh This should put us in good stead for the next few years. We're out recruiting on multiple levels for the finance director position We'll also be looking to add a little Additional staffing for that front counter service because when we remove the ambulance billing And we went to privatize that that took a person out of that office Who was also working at the front counter a fair amount of time? So we want to help relieve some of the pressure on the treasure collector's office because They they're finding they're not able to do their work as well because there so many of them Have to be at the front counter so much and also there there it's a senior staff So they have a lot of vacation that they've earned and So covering all these these hours So one of the things that we'll be doing is taking some of the money that we've saved on some of these other things To put it into a person who's going to help Address that front office that front um window challenge Um gruff park, uh, we Based on a lot of information We've been receiving from other bid thing bid Projects we've done We're going to hold off on going out to bid for that at this point until later in the winter What we have found from our department heads who are going out to bid using the same contractors Is that they're really all the contractors are just swamped right now? We don't feel we're going to get the attention that we wouldn't deserve in terms of making this a competitive bid project so we think if we wait until a little bit later into the A calendar year and then put it out to bid in december or january It'll still fit in our time frame for getting the work done in a timely manner We held off on Removing the existing equipment until later in the fall till the weather really starts to turn so if People want to use that the gruff park space. They still will have the equipment there to use it We talked about the north common main street parking lot the dark dog park received a grant a design grant from the stanton foundation Which is really good news? Typically what happens once they give you a design grant they give you a construction grant So we're going through procurement on the design services for the For the design grant. So that's that that keeps moving forward And I think those are the only things I wanted to highlight at this point in time There are questions or issues that people want to raise Please Questions and that don't have to be answered tonight, but could be answered next time since we're going to be meeting several times Under on page four under department of conservation and development You made the mention of the notice of dangerous structures to the owner of 159 north pleasant street Which first had to be fenced and then had to be demolished and we know that they didn't the Owner did not meet the timelines. We originally established and so I'd like I appreciate that it's finally been demolished But I would like you to let us know if any fines were applied and if not why we chose not to given that the timelines weren't met the another follow-up Is on that same page under economic development with the piney valley planning commission and the sessions that they've had and just In terms of all the many things we're working on what we're looking at in terms of a product coming out of that and what that's going to look like because I know that as a challenging situation Having been to a couple of those meetings sure I think some people might have high expectations for a report that maybe Won't be able to meet those expectations But if we just know if we have a sense of the timeline to tell people to look for it that the ones who particularly the ones Who came to those meetings that would be great um Didn't we do a thing Because we got lots of things And speaking of timelines at the bottom of page five on the north amherst library If you want to just tell us at some point in the future what the what the expectation is in terms of the contract Etc. Again, just so that we can tell people start looking for something around such and such time Although i'm always happy to tell them just call your office that works too. Um The other one is one because we haven't had a marijuana internal working group meeting For a little while is at the top of page five. It says the health department's reviewing regulations And I assume so I always get a little confused about the line between the department and the board of health itself but Reviewing regulations to address the need to address vaping marijuana smoking tobacco etc Because one of the things that we've been working under the assumption of so far is that they smoking in public places that Was made clear associated with marijuana legislation that it applied to marijuana usage also We made more details in our town by-law associated with that so Whatever it is that they're concerned about I guess I'd like to know what they're concerned about Because what which things they're finding the need to fine tune or you know, maybe aren't fully addressed because we tried to do that But we realized we might not be getting everything when we were working on that. So Whatever it is they're trying to do Because of course the board of health is completely independent from that standpoint and doesn't have any obligation to tell us anything But as we talk about marijuana here on a fairly regular basis that would be worth knowing I have to mention We will be the town clerk will be coming out of future meeting which we'll put on the agenda to talk about Sort of results of this meeting her experience of this election and also preparing for early voting I think we have that in mid-october On the agenda scheduled in on the agenda To also publicize publicize early voting that we'll be doing at UMass and in town hall Which is what I wanted you to emphasize that we're going to do it at UMass again So we can count on that happening the town clerk was all over doing making that happen. It's amazing Excellent and I appreciate UMass offering their help on that again because that did make a huge difference It was stole a ton of work for our people, but it made a huge difference to UMass help So we did have a few students who had who had worked as poll workers this time because of the outreach The new president of the student government association has big shoes to fill um and One of the challenges we have at this point is whether the student union will be available to us because I know there at some point they're going to be shutting it down, right and um We had done it in the spot or whatever they call that and then we've also done it in The other Hall out there, so um We'd like to be able to use the student union again because that um It's a pretty good space in good location And the more notice we give to people because you know as you indicated there was this letter in the In our packet for people who can read at home for the UMass students when I said UMass Yeah, it's great UMass, but UMass students really wanted this to happen But it also works out great for UMass staff so people passing through the building But like you say the timing on shutting down the student union is certainly part of it as well But the student government association did send out something to all the students about the election yesterday Which was kind of exciting because one of our employees is a student and received it to say and here's and here are the links to find out They went to our webs. You know here's a link to our to the town's website, you know because we have Under our election website We have college votes, so they know it wasn't all the rules about that. So that was that was excellent to see outreach Is is it under town managers report to report back on the letters we got back Isn't it exciting that you send these things off into the void after town meeting action? And eventually sometimes something comes back I I found that quite fascinating because I don't think we've ever received anything at least since I've been on Second I don't think we've ever received a letter copied on it if we saw such maybe so we got them and we're not aware of them But but it seems worth Pointing out that that there is sort of closed loop there That we received a letter from our u.s senator and our president of the united states very good It's 140 characters or less But um, I do have to say that the letter that is allegedly from the white house, um It doesn't have anything to do with what we said the article That we sent so it was like, uh, this one's close enough. Send him this one I mean, you know how you cut and paste out of people's letters just to make it seem like it's not a form letter Not so much So that that that's a bit disappointing. It's like what that wasn't with that articles They might have taken the actual letter off the desk to prevent a greater evil But thank you for we're making sure we saw that and it ended up in our packet so that the public can see what happens to Do you want to read it? No, I do not think we need to read it into the record. I don't think that's strictly necessary Are there other questions for the manager relative to this report? Yes Again, I think there's a second time where the town put out Call them lawn signs, but um about there was you know, there was an election in the date Um, but I was wondering if we had ever thought of having a banner that went across, you know in that banner spot that There was nobody using the banner rental spot Yeah, yeah, and so I don't know if someone has a reason but we could reserve it for ourselves And I think for a small amount of money have one that says vote and sometimes you have a little thing We can change the numerical number or the their big let's use the banner spot to announce Each election, okay? Well, anyway, there give you that idea Don't be mad we take their week Well, but it's but it would be so useful lock the one for the preceding the november Yeah, if there's any way that Already reserved that was dark january 1 Right, but if for some reason there's a week that's there's a gap Any other questions or comments for the manager if not we can move on to Member reports does anyone wish to offer some member reports? All the saying no Oh, come on. We went to stuff Yes, we went to the international student reception. Mr. Bachman spoke at the international student reception Mr. Zomek also attended they try and let us talk very little so that the students mostly talk to each other and we talk to the students And it was great as always welcoming international students by and So I appreciate that staff was able to come to that and I was able to make an appearance because I usually am able to do that one and then I also wanted to mention the off-campus student services had their annual Lunch mostly associated with students who do things like walk this way and team positive presence And it's a great way to interact with them and the different Public safety people that they interact with associated with apd and umpd And there is in fact if you happen to be around Tomorrow there is a neighborhood resource fair from 3 to 6 p.m. And allen street Where we'll walk this way and off-campus student life will be and the police will be there and there'll be food And it'll be you know interact nicely with public safety So that you have that good relationship going into situations more about party registration Which has been going so well and they also have a new grant program through off-campus Where which is moving too because of the student union closing for renovations And there's a grant program where they're matching up A resident who's not a student and a student to do a project together So that seems like a really good idea And so it brought some people in from the neighborhood who have not always been entirely thrilled with student behavior And trying to turn that into a way of positive engagement. So compliments to them for inviting the community and for that There was also the community breakfast. Was there not? Oh, right. Yes. There was that too Yes with Yes, it was mass marching band. That was when you were at convocation Probably for the public schools. Yes Because it's the day before same day school starts and we had first day on the common which had A setup associated with the council candidates as well as state rep candidates And and then we appreciate working with the schools on that we borrowed some tables from town hall Mr. Bachman carried tables. It was a very huge effort. It's in the contract It's in the contract That was very generous and there will in fact also be a set of tables associated with council candidates at the bid block party because we're trying to establish places that people meet their counselors without having to come to the town room to do it Mr. Walsh, just thought of an announcement because I was speaking with mr. Merch spot before the meeting We came we saw that Mary was diligently cleaning the spot on the landing there with this large wooden cabinet used to stand You know because we had to remove things mr. Bachman explained We had to remove artworks and things from the hallways stairways because of fire regulations There's also that very large wooden grain painted cabinet Which some of us know held the town's weights and measures the official ones And that's now been given to the historical society And it will be open and on display tomorrow night at the arts night From 5 to 8 p.m. If people want to see what was inside it because they probably walked by it for years having no idea right what's in the black box which wasn't black but And the last so that's great to know. Thank you the strong house. Yeah, so right next to jones library right on amity street So are there any other member reports? I I have a small thing to report just that uh pvta is um Soon to take up actually the 19th From the resources when we meet we will make decisions regarding uh every three years are required to Uh review and potentially amend their their policies relative to Dispirate impact and disproportionate impact. Which one is essentially about race ethnicity kind of things and one is about low income There were some suggested changes that had been proposed relative to how they Determined whether students were low income some community members were very active in in Uh pushing back on that a little bit and having some concerns about what was being suggested and as a result I received a memo from From the staff at pvta that they're going to hold off on changing it for this next three-year cycle But they will continue to study it. I think there is some You know a nuanced approach needs to be taken It's you know what they have now is perhaps too simplistic in some ways Going to the what they were suggesting was also in it in the in a different direction perhaps too simplistic Um, but uh at our meeting Probably in october i'll give a full report on that particular piece. Um, and hopefully for our meeting next week I'll have some some materials for you guys to review relative to Changes to bus routes which took effect over this last weekend And the use of the uh $53,000 worth of appropriation how we might use that to mitigate some of those Um, those won't have a material effect until Probably the winter break But we do need to make some decisions and if we if we choose to do that and we operate in that way We'll need to have a contract with pvta With the town by mid october and so the timelines are pretty lengthy But but the number of cuts that were implemented were Much less than what was discussed at at the public meetings in the course of the spring Because by virtue of the way the appropriations Played out it was a much smaller gap that needed to be covered. So the the the changes to routes throughout the system were far less than was originally needing to be Accommodated so it's a it's a it's a much milder thing and but at the same time we can have an impact on on On some routes that are in our town and and we'll have to you know make some decisions and offer Advice the the manager as he physically moves ahead with that So I'll I'll collate that in a coherent way and share that out with you for next next meeting And I think that's really the only thing I had to report relative to that And so if there aren't any other member reports, I don't believe we have any other business to take up tonight Do we So if not then I would take a motion to adjourn. I move to adjourn. Is there a second? I reckon all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. And so we're adjourned at 941 p.m. Thank you all and thank you members meeting