 evening and welcome. I am calling to order this meeting of the Arlington Select Board on Monday, May 8, 2023. I am Select Board Chair Eric Helmuth. Tonight's meeting is being conducted in a hybrid format consistent with Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023 signed into law on March 29, 2023, which further extends certain COVID-19 measures regarding remote participation in public meetings until March 31, 2025. Before we begin, please note the following. First, this meeting is being conducted in the Select Board chambers and over Zoom. It is being recorded and simultaneously broadcast on ACMI. Second, persons wishing to join the meeting by Zoom may find information on how to do so on the town's website. Persons participating by Zoom are reminded that you may be visible to others and if you wish to participate, we ask you to provide your full name in the interest of developing a record of the meeting. Third, all participants are advised that people may be listening who do not provide comment and those persons are not required to identify themselves. Both Zoom participants and persons watching on AAPCMI can follow the Postal Agenda materials found on the town's website, specifically the Select Board Agendas and Minutes page. Let's see how much of the town's business we can get done tonight. Since all Select Board members are present physically, we will take all votes by voice and less required by law otherwise. Thank you very much. So the second item is an update on national good response to the letter regarding gas leaks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to recuse myself from this discussion due to my legal work for National Grid. Thank you, sir. Enjoy your time out. And who do we have this evening addressing the update? Ms. Bolland reached out to me this morning that she would be here, but I don't see any attendees yet. And they were planning to join remotely. Okay, well, Steve may have a short break for now. So let's go ahead and call him back and I'll move that item later. Maybe she should have checked that before we send him out. Yeah, you can come. Steve will be getting his exercise tonight. I mean, Mr. DeCorsi. Okay, so we'll postpone that for a few minutes and updated resolution language for Article 64. So the Board has before them some language that the sponsors submitted in response, I think in good faith to some of the concerns that were raised at the WARN article hearing. And I wanted to give the Board an opportunity to comment on those. And if it's so chose, bring the meeting to order. If anyone wants to make a motion here, we're ready to vote. The voting system is operational. We should entertain that. Any discussion? My brain's not working. What were the concerns? Do we have a rough idea? Well, I think it was just my typical issue with resolutions, meaning that it would be. Okay, yeah. Yeah, so I appreciate what they are trying to do here. I mean, I had a discussion with one of the proponents, and I said that myself along with the chair, me at some point, getting in touch with them to help them navigate the state waters, because essentially, I mean, a lot of stuff that they want to do needs to happen at the state level. I'm fully on board with what they want to do, but let's try to really make something happen as opposed to simply doing a resolution. So that's it. Mr. Chair, you're just looking for an approval of the updated resolution? Yeah, sorry. And the agenda, I didn't could have been clearer on that. Motion to approve. Second. Any discussion on the motion? Okay, so on a motion to approve by Mr. Hurd and seconded by Mr. DeCourse, all in favor say aye. Opposed? 4-2-0 vote. All right. Next, we have the consent agenda. We have minutes of meetings, February 13th and 16th, and April 24th and May 1st of this year. We have four outdoor restaurant and retail permit applications. Rusty Grinola, the Heights Pub, Sugo Coutina, and Trist. We have a request for the annual Greek Festival, three-day special one-day beer and wine license, and a one-way designation of Appleton Place. We request for a special one-day all-alcohol license at Robins Memorial Town Hall by Jamie Fisher, and another one at Rudinwood Robins House for a private event by Ellen Lawton. The details of all this are found in the Select Board Agendas and Minutes page and in the members' Novus agenda. Do I have any discussion or a motion? Mr. Dickens. So I am interested in how we resolve the Rusty Grinola request. I'm on board with it, but I do feel that by understanding how we resolve and how we approach it, we can perhaps come up with what I would call a grand unification parking policy, you know, our set of principles, because I think it was interesting, you know, this was an interesting case. And people who are on one side of the parking issue in one set of circumstances found themselves on the other side. I mean, in this set of circumstances, you know, I get a lot of talking to from some business owners in East Darlington, you know, about my stance on parking, and it was interesting to see that, I mean, they felt that this was okay, you know, and I told them I'd like to kind of talk with you in order to understand me on what circumstances should we do something. You take it way farther, you know. And so, you know, we don't have to have that conversation now, but I would like it at some point. I mean, we could have a deeper conversation about how we resolve this, and see how it might apply in other circumstances, because I think there is some real lessons to be learned from how we approach this that can apply, you know. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Diggins. Motion to approve. Second. Any further discussion? Motion, once again, by Mr. Herd. Seconded by Mr. DeCorsi. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Do you name this 4-0 vote? Well, it feels like we're all going to sit there for a minute. Yeah. All right. For approval, Allenton Adult, Spring and Summer Softball League, lawn sign through May 31st of 2023. We have Mr. Zimmerman. Please come to the microphone and introduce yourself, and tell us about this application. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to talk. My name is Ken Zimmerman. I've got my associate, Ed, with me as well, that's young. So, Arlington Town has, for many, many years, given the opportunity for men and women to play softball in the spring and summer over the years, there has been a decline in participation, particularly on the men of a certain age. We went from eight teams to six to four to two. The league isn't in risk of folding entirely, which would not afford the opportunity anymore for folks to play. We have run booths at Town Hall. We've used the lists that we've had from AYBSA and so on, but what we find again and again are folks, and I'd even ask you non-rhetorically, do you know that there is a men's softball league in Arlington? People tend to say, no, I didn't know about that. So, we would like to use the lowest hanging fruit marketing that we can, which is to put lawn signs in high visibility areas, simply saying that we have an Arlington men's and women's softball league. We are open for registration, and we would love to have you participate. We are open to all skill levels, all levels of competitive interest. The risk is that we're going to fold, that we won't be able to support even another. We should be playing now. We're not playing now. We are still trying to shake the trees and get players, and we are hoping that this particular marketing tool will get us 10, 15, 12 players would be wonderful. Great, thank you. And just to clarify a question from the materials that were submitted to us, in order for us to approve that, we need to approve a specific list of locations. So, you mentioned Thorndike Field near the bike path, the median by Starbucks in the center, Summer Street in Mill, somewhere near Brackett School in the water tower near the police station by the hockey rink. Yeah, by road, yeah. And where those, is that an exhaustive list of where you intend to? So, we were planning on getting five signs, so those are five locations. Those all seem to cover, you know, high traffic areas on the bike path where we would get, you know, families, parents who would see the signs, that list. Ed did anything, was anything missing from that list? So, that would be terrific. Great, thank you very much. And before I return to my colleagues, a question for the town manager and possibly attorney Heim. I just want to make sure that we have jurisdiction to give the approval for those locations, and I think some of it will depend exactly where. So, I'm happy to refer this, you know, administratively to the appropriate, either the select board office of the town manager for the exact placement, but any, but do either of you have any input on that question? So, Mr. Yes, please, attorney Heim. Sure, if I may. Yes. So, generally you have. Recording in progress. General, you have authority over everything in the public way, and authority alongside the town manager with respect to lake town buildings. The only thing that might require some supplemental approval is something that's on school property. Okay. And what about the water tower? Is that MWA property, or is that a public sufficient public way for us to just approve? My strong guess is going to be that wherever you're talking about putting the signage, it's probably within the layout of the public way, such that I wouldn't have a concern. It's probably some of that property. I have to look at the deeds that I don't know if that's the town's property, the MWA's property in terms of the actual like center where the tower is, but there's going to be enough of the public way layout. Terrific. Mr. Heard. Motion to approve. I know there's a lot of time we've placed flags there, so I'm confident that's a good spot. I want to say that I actually think a good spot too is the entrance to the Edverns arena. We have people coming in that kids play in the big fields, play a buck, so I think that's kind of a target. The answer, as a coach of two baseball teams, your question is no, I did not know we had a men's softball league. I don't know if you accept middle-aging guys that have never played softball before. Well, I stand before you. What days do you play? Weekdays. And you may have seen us at Word Buzzle Field. There's a women's team. There's a co-ed team in the fall and a men's and women's team in the spring and summer, and it's almost all at Buzzle. We may get some use of the new Heard field, but mostly for this year. Is it at night? Seven o'clock, and then we play an 830 game. Nothing more fun than playing under the light on a summer day with your friends. Yep, every month. Chairman, join us. Thank you very much. I'm interested. I'm interested. Oh, that's great. Well, there you go. Ten. I'm glad to be able to support this. And Mr. Herber, are you adding an authorized location to your motion of the Burns arena? If you have a sign for it, I think that's a good spot. So I think we have either the ACAP. Isn't there something on that? It may not have been specific enough to rule out the Edverns. I think I might have suggested Summer Street by ACAP. So that is the same piece of land. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll second Mr. Herd's motion. Just a couple of questions, Mr. Zimmerman. On the signups, is this anything done through the recreation department or is it directly through your organization on the signup? So the recreation department helps us with respect to lights and insurance and other things, but we operate it as an independent group. So registration would be done through some volunteer administrators. And just to Mr. Helm's point on locations. I think he had seven or eight in the application. Maybe we're talking about five in total. As I draw it down, you did have the hockey rink. Bracket school concerned me a little bit just because that might be a school property, but I don't know if you're looking for more specificity on that. Just pulling from your list and you tell us if it's acceptable. I hit Thorndike, Starbucks, the meeting in the center, Summer and Mill, the water tower, and by the Ed Burns arena. Is that acceptable for the five locations? That'll be wonderful. Okay, so if I could amend Mr. Herd's motion just to add those as part of my second. Thank you. Sure. Yeah, I think that's probably a wise-breed bracket. And that's close to the water tower. Yeah, and I certainly didn't mean to imply bracket property, but by bracket you've got the field there. The Robbins farm field there. Attorney Hyde. Mr. Chair, can I ask an important legal question? You may indeed. Would you have to be an Arlington resident? We cater almost entirely to Arlington, but when we are, honestly, when we are as desperate as we've been with teams folding, we are probably 90, upwards of high 90 percent Arlington men and women. This folks is actually going to suggest the guy in the back of the room. He looks like a good softball player. Can you say, on the A, boy, you're welcome. Yeah. Yeah, thank you, Attorney Hyde. Really folks, this is the benefit of having top-rate legal consultation for the town. He's got to be a softballer though, right? But I'm sorry, but you cannot wear a Yankees hat to the game. From where I'm standing, you all look like ballplayers. Any further discussion? Okay, a motion by Mr. Herd, a second by Mr. DeCourse. The all-in-favor. All right, opposed for nothing vote. Thank you, Mr. Zimmer, and good luck this summer. Thank you for your efforts. Next item tank, appointment to the Conservation Commission, Brian McBride. Hello there, Mr. Herd. Hello, we meet at last. In person, please come to the microphone and introduce yourself. And if you would, Mr. McBride, say a few words about your interest in serving. I'm sorry, could you say a few words about your interest in serving? Okay, so I've been interested in outdoors since I was a kid growing up in Berkshire County. I'm interested in waterways and preservation of our natural resources since I worked for a decade or so in the chemical industry, selling products that cleaned up water. Since I retired about a year ago, I've been trying to get involved in town activities and joined the open space committee with your support a year or so ago. And I've been attending the Conservation Commission meetings for about four or five of the meetings, and the commission was very helpful in kind of giving me an idea of what the lay of the land was and the responsibilities were. So I'm very excited about the opportunity and happy to answer any specific questions, of course. Thank you, sir, and I've enjoyed some of the discussions we've had in recent weeks on a couple of issues. And I'm glad that you want to be involved. Any discussions or motions from the colleagues? No, a motion to approve the appointment. Second. Discussion? All right. And a motion by Mr. Diggins and seconded by Mr. DeCorsi. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Congratulations. Thank you again. Thank you very much. For nothing, vote. Appreciate it. Item 11, Traffic Rules and Orders. Other business discussion and vote removal. Taxicab stands to town. I believe that Mr. Feeney comes to the plate to continue the metaphor. Thank you very much. Thank you. I want to say that I suggest, I know that Mr. Feeney has been working on this for a while, but I suggested this item tonight in connection with the approval of the outdoor restaurant and retail permit applications because in some locations, including that and the heights, it does involve these parklets, which are clearly very popular and economically beneficial do take away some street parking. And so we've been talking for some time about some unused spaces or some unused taxicab spaces. So Mr. Feeney, of course, unsurprisingly, was already prepared for this and brought this to us with the test material. So Mr. Feeney, if you want to give a summary of what you propose, and we can have a discussion and potentially a vote. Sure. So thank you, Mr. Chair. It did seem timely given the applications that were before you folks for sort of outdoor seating and things that may impact parking in our business districts and in particular in the heights, those parking spots exclusively reserved for taxicabs are really in a prime spot, as are those located in the Russell Common parking lot as the ones nearest Medford Street. So given that, we have seen a precipitous decline in the licensing of taxis or hackney carriage licensees, as we call them locally. I think in 2020, I believe we licensed two individuals. And then that was down to one individual in 2021. And then I think last year, someone may have trickled in mid-year. But beyond that, we have seen no activity or had any requests here in 2023. And I confirmed as of today with the traffic and parking unit over at APD that, at least anecdotally, the parking control officers have not witnessed a taxicab in any period of time that they can remember. So with that, it seems timely. Obviously, the existing traffic rules and orders, though they haven't been amended, they do list at least 26 taxicab stand locations that clearly has been dwindling over time as various projects have been completed. So it seemed like an appropriate time to potentially codify all those changes from years gone by sort of in one fell swoop. So before you this evening is something that is voted upon favorably, would obviously be very easy to execute because it is just the removal of existing signs. And at least in the heights, we would put up signs consistent with what the existing parking regulations are in that corridor. So I don't think I have much else to add, but thank you for your consideration. Mr. McCorsi. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Feeney. I'll move that the Board votes to remove the taxicab stands from our traffic rules and orders as laid out in the memo from Mr. Feeney. And if I could, I'd like to thank him for the follow-up earlier this year when he was at the meeting, but I also want to thank the Sharper and Ellington Heights who brought my attention to the cab spaces in front of the bus station in Ellington Heights. And there was further work that Mr. Feeney didn't appreciate that. And if I could digress just for a moment, it is rather nostalgic for me because growing up in town, my uncle was a cab driver who was up the heights in the five spots that you see on Park Ave. At 30 Park Ave, back in the day in the 70s, 60s, 70s, 70s, when I was young, you could see seven or eight cabs lined up from Park Ave, from the corner of Park Ave extension and Mass Ave all the way up to the top of the bridge over what was then the railroad tracks. And of course times have changed, and it's not necessary. But if people were wondering where those five cab spots were coming from, those were used at one time, but certainly an appropriate time to remove them. And thank you for bringing this to our attention. I will add things have changed somewhat drastically, and it wasn't, but eight years ago we were still licensing between 17 and 25 cabs a year. So things have changed rather precipitously. Mr. Herd? I'll second the motion. I was on TAC when we originally moved the park in spaces, I think around 2016, to create space for meters. And there was a lot of pushback at that time because there were still a fair amount of taxis at the time. Obviously my office is right now at the center, so I walk through there every day. And I don't remember the last time I started taxis there. And so it's certainly, I think, time. And I assume that if taxis were to sit there at a meter, they could pay the meter, right? Right. So the bylaw changes outlined in the memo. Remove the requirement for them to necessarily be parked in a designated taxi at that stand. So that, you know, if one did exist, they could stand and obey or abide by the existing parking regulations as opposed to that. I think there's plenty of parking for them to find a spot. But again, I, there was a time, not too long ago, where there were a fair amount of taxis in and out of the center, but you just don't see them anymore. So I'm fine with this, of course. Thank you. Good. And I, I like the precipitous decline language too. I really put me on board. Well, it's the end of an arrow, but the beginning of a new one. So thank you very much, Mr. Feeney, on a motion by Mr. D'Corsi and a second by Mr. Herd, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? For nothing vote. Item 12, correspondence received, concerns regarding high school parking by Liz Reisberg. Do you have a motion? I'll make a motion to receive and send this to TAC. I mean, I'll have a conversation with the, the chair about it. Sure. Yeah. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All right. On a motion by Mr. Higgins, Diggins to refer, to receive and refer, and second by Mr. Herd, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? For nothing vote. Thanks to my very observant vice chair, we do need to loop back around to item two. Ms. Marr, do we have speakers? Yes. All right. So we'll go back to item two, update a national good response to a letter regarding gas leaks. Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Yes. So Ms. Marr, if you'd bring up the, the presenters. Yeah. Ms. Boland will be joining us in just a second. Just a little bit of a time issue or a computer problem. No problem. So I just want to report back. Sorry, would you would just start by introducing yourself please. Okay. My name is Ann Boland. I'm with the gas leaks task force and I'm reporting back from when we had the, we reported to the gas leaks or to the select board on March 13th and the select board passed a resolution at the request of the gas leaks task force, the resolution to send to National Grid to fix 14 SEI's significant environmental impact leaks. And I'm here tonight to report follow-up to our resolution. National Grid sent their reply to our resolution on March 28th. They wrote that they've completed their repair of two of the leaks, one on Ryan Cliff Street and the other on Joyce Road. They reclassified six of the leaks as no longer large extent leaks and one leak is reclassified as a grade two leak. Per regulation, a grade two leak must be repaired within a year of the classification. Their plan for the remaining five SEIs was that they will be repaired in 2023 or eliminated by main replacement in 2024. So in light of this, we investigated five of the leaks they reported as repaired or reclassified. We first tested the leak at Joyce Road, which was recorded as repaired. Our meter registered gas over a large extent of the intersection of Joyce and Ivy Circle. We spoke with a resident of the street who said there have been several trees lost in this location as well as trees dying on their neighbor's property. She also said she's unable to keep her front windows open because of the gas smell. Based on our testing, this leak has not been adequately repaired. Russell Street had a leak listed as reclassified. We again were able to detect gas over an extended area and we think that maybe this is really still an SEI, which is probably something we'll need to go back to National for it about. Then we went to Medford Street where there was an SEI that is now reclassified as a grade three leak. We did not detect gas in a large area of this location, but we did measure a small amount of gas buildup in a PVC pipe. This report, this pipe came up next to the utility pole. This buildup of gas in an enclosed area can be dangerous. So we called National Grid to report it. The leak on Rhine Fifth Street was recorded as repaired and we did detect a little gas, but not a large extent. So we could not definitively detect leaking in the location by the high school, which has been downgraded to a grade three leak. However, a contractor who's been working across from the school for about a year said that he smells gas off and on at the intersection of Mass Ave and Lockland Avenue. Of the remaining five leaks, National Grid has just requested permits to repair four of them within the next four months, few months. So we were told by National Grid that this action on these leaks is a direct result of the select board resolution. The data we receive on gas leaks is somewhat behind. The SEIs and the resolution are based on older data, newer data from the fourth quarter of 2022 reported 21 SEIs in Arlington. Sadly, the gas leaks in Arlington are an ongoing problem. Gas leaks task force wants National Grid to focus as well as focusing on the required grade one and grade two leaks. We'd like the National Grid to focus on these large-scale gas leaks because that is best for the environment. Going to these locations to measure gas leaks was eye-opening for us. Because of this, we're planning a gas leak safari for members of the select board, legislatures, and members of other boards and committees. We'll go to some of these gas leaks locations and explore the levels of gas, odor of gas, examine the health of the trees and the grass. So once we make our plans, we'll send invitations if anybody would like to do that. And then we'd like to thank the select board for their action on Arlington's SEIs and we will continue to work on this issue. Fantastic. Thank you very, very much for your diligence, for your work. This is a terrifically helpful report. I'm glad to see the progress, but it's clear that more needs to be done. I would be very interested in going on the tour. So we look forward to that as well. So any discussion? Yes, Mr. Dickens. Yeah, thank you. So, Ms. Mullen, what did you say that they said was in response to the Dislike Board's resolution? What was the date that they got back to us? No, no, you said that there was an action that they took that was in response to our resolution. Yeah, they had just, you know, the period for submitting permits to the engineering, town engineering, just ended a few weeks back. And they requested permits for four of those five large-scale gas leaks. And they said that was in their letter, they said that they would work with the town engineering department to get some of those leaks fixed. So that was a direct action. A direct action linked to what? Linked to the resolution. Okay. I don't have the letter in front of me that they sent with the report of all the gas leaks, but in it they said that they were going to work with the town engineering department and that they would work at repairing those five unrepaired, what they thought were the five unrepaired gas leaks. So what's going to happen with the leaks that they say are fixed? And we are saying that they're not? Well, that's a good question. We haven't really had a meeting to discuss that since we went out in the field. Some of us went out in the field to test those. So I think that that's going to be our next, we're just going to, we're going to have to come up with an action. They, you know, they do have a representative that we can contact who they told us about in that letter. So we can contact that person. We're going to have to come up with a plan. That's fine. Well, yeah, let's keep, let's keep working on it. You know, I mean, so, so, um, great. I really appreciate your, your efforts on this. I mean, and, and, um, yeah, let's keep working on it. I'm not sure I'm going to go into Safari, but I'll help out in, in other ways. So, and always feel free to reach out to me, email, phone, whatever. Okay. Okay. Thanks, Lynn. Welcome. Any other questions? Can we get a motion? Motion received. Second. Motion received by Mr. Herd and Mr. Diggins. Any discussion? Welcome, Mrs. Mahond. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mrs. Mahond, did you want to engage on this particular item before we finish it up? We were on, we finished everything, but we're back to item two. Speaker, the gas leaks. No, I apologize. I was on an expedite all day. I had 730 in my head and I apologize to everyone for being late. Thank you. It's not a motion by Mr. Herd and seconded by Mr. Diggins. This is a motion to receive. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? A4. Nothing to go. Mr. DeCorsi. All right. That leaves new business. Mrs. Marr. No new business. Thank you. Attorney Hyde. No new business. Thank you. Mr. Poehler. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just one more business. I became aware that there was some concern about some remarks I made at town meeting regarding civil service. So I would just like to say that I'd like to apologize if I did not express myself clearly about how the town hires veterans and the impact of moving away from an absolute preference for veterans under civil service. I know that some of our best employees here in town and that I've worked with in other places are veterans and their experience in the military will often make them very attractive candidates to consider. We are seeking to diversify the department and a move away from the restrictions of civil service. Veteran status warrants strong consideration for a candidate but it should not be the only consideration. That is my position and that is the chief's. And in fact within the police department there's a lot of conversation about changing our police departments from having a warrior mentality to a guardian mentality. And in that regard I think it's important that there are sometimes people coming out of a military background who want to maintain a warrior mentality and if there are other candidates that are equally qualified I think we should have the ability to hire those other candidates. I would also say that this has been the position in town since 2011 when we changed the hiring status of our DPW workers and took them out of the civil service process. We still do hire veterans in DPW but we don't give them an automatic preference. So if my previous remarks caused any discomfort or confusion I am sorry for that and I just wanted to put that on the record. Thank you very much. Thank you. Any other new please? Thank you sir. Mrs. Mohan. Oh that's quite a segue to follow into and when's the apology for insulting the police department and who are these warriors that we have? I'm wondering what you mean about insulting the police department because I don't believe I did insult the police department. You just said that the police department has warriors on it and they have a warrior mentality. I'd like to know who you're referencing. Similarly if I said you know why didn't somebody get a job who was qualified unfortunately was a woman and has been doing your job for two years and the person who got it was a former student of yours which I don't know if that happened in Amherst but who are these warriors? What I said was that the police department itself has conversations all the time about trying to be a department not of warriors but of guardians. That's if you ask any of the police officers training they've gone through the conversations they've had all have to do with having a police department that is more community friendly and doesn't have a kind of warrior mentality. I think we've seen that in other parts of the country. It's not the kind of police department that we have here or want to have here so it's not that I am bringing that up as an issue themselves who brought that up. The other issue that you brought up about hiring the deputy manager who was a former student of mine and the implication that I did not hire somebody because she was a woman I think has no basis in fact. I have long hired women. I have had many women work for me. My mother was the breadwinner in my family so I resent and disagree with your insult to me about being sexist. So well I'm just going by the conversation you had with me when I queried you how a certain individual got a job and what I wanted to say with my remarks is something that I was told when I first got on the board and I believe very strongly in is that I represent the town of Allington as does the town manager thankfully just till July 28th. My words carry sometimes a louder voice and I have to be cognizant of that and I unfortunately have noticed in my opinion I'm speaking for myself alone I've noticed a pattern where the town manager says negative detrimental remarks about Allington, Massachusetts and our employees and you know I understand you know may have a friend in Minnesota or whatever and then tries to buffer them by saying but of course I'm not saying that's happening here in Allington. I strongly disagree. I'd love to see the staff development course or conversation that says let's discuss Allington's warrior mentality. I originally wanted my remarks to be the fact that you have insulted many veterans. I'm assuming you're not going to Memorial Day because to have someone getting up representing the town who says the classic oh thank you for the sacrifice serving in armed forces which is a military. We can't thank you enough we don't know how to on the cusp of we shouldn't be hiring these warriors and warrior mentality on the police force and I would just ask you besides not being at that event that's my personal opinion because I think that's false just platitudes for you to whatever remarks you might say in light of your feelings stated at town meeting and again here tonight to talk about veterans can't thank them enough we don't know what we can do for them but you certainly have proven otherwise and I've become very concerned that you have gone to town meeting and represented views and policy decisions that you haven't even informed the board of I do appreciate the email today regarding poets corner that's something that I would expect to happen so that I'm aware of it but there have been other things that I'm hearing for the first time including this conversation what it's rooted in which is the presentation that was given to me at the select board meeting regarding civil service and your request for the opportunity to go to town meeting to talk about taking it out of civil service where you incorrectly said Burlington got 300 candidates they got 41 but there was nothing represented about how we're going to exclude besmirged and speak of the negative implication of anyone who's a veteran because of their warrior mentality so I just hope going forward that that will stop because I mean I've had people come up to me and said were you where the town manager was had made this policy decision had decided to do this and I said no and that's something other town managers of and as you did today the demonstration with poets corner that's something that you know I should have been a prize of as a member of this board and please I beg you to please stop slamming and besmirging the town of allington in your final days whether it's what happened to your friend in minnesota the warrior mentality remarks because your your remarks do carry great great weight and and I've learned even sometimes when I wanted to advocate with someone I check with them first because sometimes I found out in my zealousness to support them and advocate them I might do just the opposite because what I feel my words would be saying aren't exactly what they would be and I think in the current times we've learned about that we need to really think about our words and think about others and think about their feelings before we throw around and you chopped yourself I didn't I didn't know you're going to come right back at me with a good offense as a defense but I really don't want to hear anything more from you on this because I don't know who you're going to besmirge next before you leave on july 28th so and again my apologies to my colleagues and mr. Of coursey I had an expedite I had 730 in my head and I apologize for that and I'm assuming on the parklet that that was approved for Rosa Guernola thank you because I'd like to be registered and in support of that thank you mr. Chair yeah mr. Rowan in just a moment I think you know the better my colleague and just to be clear for the for the public that in new business that the board does not domain amongst itself new items that are brought up but you know there's nothing improper about about the question and answer here I would I do think that you know my colleague has raised a number of concerns about the time management performance we oftentimes raise those concerns in private and if we don't in public when we evaluate the town manager but given that a number of new concerns were just voiced I want to give the manager an opportunity if he chooses to respond any specific complaints and then I would suggest a private conversation I think to resolve those concerns would be most appropriate and if I could add to that I mean normally it's not a back and forth colloquy and I was going to say I will endeavor myself again to meet with the manager I did come in Thursday morning and he was not in the office and I'll leave it at that so and I don't think it should be this back and forth he's had his say and I've had my say and I've indicated I don't want to hear anything more from him in front of the microphone because I am a bit fearful what will come next and I think it should be done a personal meeting between myself and the manager but you're the chair it's your call we can keep going back and forth thank you I'd like to give the manager you know one more opportunity given given some very specific concerns that were that were raised and it's up to you Mr. Puller if you if you prefer not to that's fine the one thing I would like to say uh Mrs. Mahan made reference to a comment I made about a friend of mine from Minnesota I made those comments not besmirching the town but telling the story about how he as a young black man had grown up in Minnesota and when he and I were in law school together we were just talking about being pulled over by the police and I said oh I've been probably pulled over by the police three times in my life and he told me of the dozens of times as a young black man in Minnesota that he'd been pulled over I think that is an appropriate story to tell it does not besmirch Arlington it is a story about racism in America it was a story that I told during our DEI training with our staff if people think that is an insult to Arlington then I think they have to do some thinking about what racism is in this country how we all fit into it and what different people's experiences have been so I like working for Arlington I think it's a great town I like working with this board all of you I do not go around saying negative things about the town and with that I will conclude my remarks thank you very much thank you Mr. Broward Mr. Heard so I'll go to my easy new business first um if two buzzle field related things that came up yesterday when I was at buzzle field I like I don't know it gets to train him if this is something we could do with saying the bylaws that prevent this but the parking in what I believe is called the railroad lot right behind buzzle field is permit parking there and my guess is that the people that use those permits however many there are they park there during the day and they either work in town because if you go there around 435 o'clock there's no cars there and I guess my question is is it advisable or legal for us to have a situation where it's permit parking until say five o'clock and this might might have arisen out of a ticket I got the other day but that said we've had I try to be funny but we've had a lot of discussions about parking on summer street and safety concerns with people crossing the street because we have a baseball field base baseball game um soccer game parking is tight in that area and people end up parking all throughout the neighborhoods there so the parking permit parking space is right behind buzzle seem like they're in high demand and they're never really used by anyone I don't see at least we could do a parking study but I don't see any permit holders that are taking up those spots so I'd like to at least look into whether or not we could have a pro some sort of a program where it's permit parking till five o'clock I don't know if that requires specific permits on that lot or not but so I'm having to look into the issue further but as a general I would say that the board has the ability to set specific rules for specific lots you're not aware that we have done that in this scope but clearly we have metered lots we have spaces that are utilized differently um so I can look at you know how that might be structured for you and then this is an easy one I think on the other side of buzzle I noticed yesterday as you pull up the park there's parking all along buzzle field on summer street and there's a sign that it's supposed to indicate no parking here at a corner and it says no parking anytime which is a little confusing because you could park beyond the sign so I think that sign just needs to be and this isn't really okay I think that sign just needs to be changed to no parking here at a corner um I did I keep meaning to say this and I was at the rink again yesterday so I just I wanted to now that the everyone knows I spent a lot of time at the Ed Burns arena in the winter um and I did as the season wrapped up I was on the concrete yesterday so the ice is gone um I did want to commend the director the recreation director Joe Connolly JJ the rink manager who's been on the past couple years in his team I've been in I spent a lot of time rinks all over Massachusetts and the Eileenton rink is by far the cleanest most well-run rink in the state that I've ever been in and that includes a lot of very new rinks and so it's certainly a credit a testament to the staff there and you'll go in there and they're mopping the floors while you're there so you know they do it and it really is I'm sure of course you remember there were times when the Eileenton rink was not the cleanest rink in the massachusetts so I did as we put a close the book on one season I I do want to commend uh Joe Connolly and JJ and their staff um I'll be brief I think mr. pooler as you began your statement I was happy to hear it and I think it would have been wise to stop after a couple of sentences um and that's all I'm gonna say on that and I'm just gonna say in general my feeling is that veterans make for excellent officers I don't I know many officers who are veterans in Eileenton and in other jurisdictions and I don't know any of them that have a quote-unquote war warrior mentality um and at times I've mentioned specific officers by name and I think they know who they are that some of the the veteran officers that I know are the most community-oriented officers in all town who actually use their time outside of when they're paid to serve the community and go to schools and and um and help you know do events for children in town and I think there's a lot when I think of a veteran I think of someone who knows duty discipline who um you know police officers as part of the job when you when you come on you have to be the person that runs into danger and if you hire a veteran you know somebody that that will do that and I don't see veterans or people in the military of the people I know personally are people that go to go and shoot people in the battlefield and the warrior mentality sounds like to me that's how I perceive it and it's not how I see veterans and I see immense value in veterans serving in any capacity in this town and I see think um I mean I wouldn't support any comments that were disparaging to veterans Mr. Corsi thank you thank you Mr. Chairman um just briefly I um coming to the period of time in the in the year where the Verizon will be submitting its semiannual double poll report to the Department of Public Utilities Department of Public Utilities and uh I'm going to ask the chairman or they spoke to the chairman about putting an agenda item on soon about the double poll issue happened to be downed by the Walgreens in East Arlington over the weekend and the double poll on Adams Street which was first raised at a board meeting here in November of 2020 then again in November of 2021 is still a double poll but in fact it's in worse shape now because the top of the original poll is secured in large part to the new poll with a rope and um it's secured at the bottom but it's been more tiring and again this is a 90 day requirement and it's it's about two and a half years since since we raised at this meeting not not since it was a double poll so I've asked the chair if we can put an agenda item on to discuss and and perhaps take action um I know there are some requirements that Verizon has with other equipment that they place in town in terms of upkeep in terms of some of the 5G equipment and I think um we're to the point where what else can we do every every year or so we raise this issue and we're told there's going to be talk about it there's going to be discussion with the other carriers who who aren't doing anything but meanwhile this this poll gets worse and worse and the fact that they went out there again to change what was a secure a more secure connection to a piece of rope a little bit stronger than a piece of rope but it's tied um I think it's absolutely ridiculous and and I think it again to me the fact that this has not been taken care of even the numerous calls and and who has reached out to Verizon has the chapter line reached out to Verizon in advance and we're always told that somebody else's fault well after two and a half years like I my patience has run out on it and um I think they should be notified but I'd like to see some sort of discussion on that thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you. Did I just add something to that? Mr. Pooley. So it was about a week or a week and a half ago that one of the other companies changed its equipment I'd written them they got back they said they changed that I've been wrote back at the end of last week asking all right who's next I have not heard back it's always very slow I just want to say that I think one of the reasons you may have seen a difference there is one of the companies did make some progress so uh yes it's been a ridiculous ongoing problem this particular poll never made it to the official list and I think that's one of the reasons that it's taken so long but I will continue to work on that and I would say the board should too. Thank you sir. Mr. Dickens. My request for the next agenda I think we talked about it you know a few weeks ago you know is I'm going to do that rewrite you know the parking policy for overnight so let's try to have that discussion and maybe I can read in some things that Mr. Herd brought up you know it'll be the rewrite it'll be the first time that you all will see it I mean but hopefully you know we can get far enough that we can make a decision and I may need to do some more revisions but if we make a decision and it's a go then we can start working to you know roll this thing out if you get into July and um and then I'll just add you know one of the things that some I know there's sometimes the differences amongst us seem great but we're really all on the same page I mean it's like this is a really good town I mean I mean and so just keep that in mind as we you know sometimes get a little tense about things I mean we are much more in agreement about the big things I mean um than we are um in this agreement so so you know that's all you know so thanks sir and I have no new business other than to wish everybody uh in the spirit perhaps of Mr. Diggins remarks a productive constructive town meeting session do I have a motion to adjourn tonight's session uh second discussion uh motion by Mr. Corsi a second by Mr. Diggins all in favor aye aye opposed your adjourn see you tomorrow