 Welcome. I'm calling to order the meeting of Arlington Select Board on Monday, March 20th, 2023. The first day of astronomical spring, I am Select Board Chair Leonard Dickinson. I will now confirm that all members and persons anticipated on the agenda are present and can hear me. Members, when I call your name, please respond in affirmative. Dianne Mahon. I'm affirmative. John Hurd. Doesn't feel like spring. It was 50 something today. It is also there. Eric Helmuth. Yes, and no complaints about the weather. Staff, when I call your name, please respond in affirmative. Sandy Poehler. Here. Doug Heim. Here. Ashley Meyer. Here. Tonight's meeting of the Arlington Select Board is being conducted in a hybrid format consistent with Chapter 107 of the Acts of 2022. Signed as a law on July 17th of 2022, which further extends certain COVID-19 measures regarding remote participation until March 31st, 2023. Before we begin, please note the following. First, this meeting is being conducted via Zoom. This meeting is being recorded and is also being 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. Person participating by Zoom are reminded that you may be visible to others and that if you wish to participate, you are asked 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. Zoom participants and persons watching on ACMI can follow the posted agenda materials also found on the town's website using the Novice Agenda platform. And finally, each vote tonight will be taken by roll call. So the next item is an update, discussion, and possible vote on the town manager's search process. By the terms of Mr. Heim. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll try to be brief. As the board and the public may recall, the screening committee for the town manager's search forwarded four candidates for the final round of interviews, which are public. However, after forwarding those candidates, but before the board had an opportunity to conduct interviews, three candidates withdrew from the process, leaving us with only one candidate who wished to continue in the process who was basically publicly identifiable. That candidate is deputy town manager Jim Feeney. At this point, at that point in time, we wanted to make sure that there were no concerns regarding the open meeting law because the preliminary screening committee is supposed to buy it law for more than one finalist candidate to the next stage. Based on a review of the law, the work of the preliminary screening committee, which was fantastic, and discussions with the division of open government, were very generous with their time. I feel confident that the board can proceed with their finalist. Again, in brief, what the open meeting law required was for the preliminary screening committee to forward more than one candidate to the next round, and they did. They recommended four. With respect to the withdraws, my understanding is there are many reasons why that might be the case, ranging from nerves about whether or not they would get the job, since most of the candidates are going to be executives in other municipalities, to understanding the strength of some internal candidates in some situation, to personal circumstances. We don't get to know why, but in any event, at this point in time, the board can proceed to schedule an interview with the finalist that wished to remain in the process. It can be publicly identified. And if there are any questions, I'm happy to answer them, but the long and short of it is if you want to make an appointment after an interview of Mr. Feeney, you may, if you decide that's not the right candidate for you. At that point, this particular search process would be over, and you'd have to relaunch a search process and may decide a different way to go about finding additional candidates if you felt that was what you needed to do after an interview of your candidate. Thank you, sir. Are there any questions? Okay. I'll turn to our colleagues. Excuse me. Having been through this the most, I can say that. You should try not to do that. I think what we should do is we've gone through the process, had the screening committee, had them do everything under the open meeting law. That's an extra step that this board takes. Legally under the law, we could, as long as three or more of us agreed on a name, you know, Jane White or something. We could have just done that, but we have always endeavored and taken the extra step of the screening committee. So what I'd like to do now is hear from my colleagues of setting an interview. The interview, what we've done in the past, it's been done two different ways. Sometimes it was a separate night. We had the finalist interviews, then a finalist to leave, and then we've had our deliberations. And then in the framework of calling a public session open meeting and then voted for the town manager candidate that night. With the exception of Mr. Sullivan, it usually was something that was fairly, not a lot of time with Mr. Sullivan. We were at 2-2 and 1 for about 40 minutes, and we had a discussion and went from there. So I guess I would close to my colleagues and also recognizing, as we know, Mr. Dacorsi had previous engagement for tonight. We could either entertain perhaps doing the interview March 27th at 5.30 or 6.00 or do it the following Monday if we want to stay on a Monday. Or if we want to have a separate night, pick a Wednesday, which at the earliest, I would say just for everybody's sake and calendars would have to be next week. Also with the open meeting. So I guess I'm wondering how you all feel about whether to do it and or another day. But I'm kind of looking at do we do it on Monday, March 27th, which like 5.36 and then do enough time. I don't anticipate a long deliberation because I don't see a 2-2-1 board with the one finalist. And then in the frame of the open meeting, if we're at that point in us, do we want to do it on a Wednesday in which Wednesday or something else? I'd say I'm happy moving forward with one candidate. I think we asked for a screening committee to send us three to five candidates. They sent us four. So I don't want to go back and say, all right, who's your next three who at that time might also withdraw for the same reasons. So I think we'll go round and round. So I think we should set up a meeting with Jim and I'm not I mean, I think we can do it on a regular schedule meeting. I don't think we have another night in addition to the eight straight Mondays that we've been here. So, you know, I think that would be my preference would be, sorry, that would be to do it on the same night as a meeting. But like you said, I don't, you know, hopefully we can kind of push off some, some non-critical stuff that we have. We can centralize that on that night and not flood the agenda up and just focus on that. That's important. I don't anticipate that this is going to be a long protruded discussion like some past searches just because past have had multiple candidates to talk about. But my preference would be to do it on the same night as a meeting that we have scheduled. Thank you. I thank you attorney Heim for for your legwork and due diligence. That's really important. This is an extremely probably the most important decision this board makes for the town. And I'm really pleased to hear that we have a finalist who was a top pick, you know, with with with the class of four and went through a robust rigorous screening committee screening process with the committee. And that gives me confidence that Mr. Feeney is well worth talking to. And I think, you know, the task of the board is to conduct a rigorous interview and then decide at that point, you know, if we're moving forward, they are taking another and taking another route. So that's, and I'm very comfortable doing so. With respect to the timing, I guess a couple of thoughts. I think I am aware that Mr. Decorsi had a conflict tonight. And so, you know, I am not sure how to resolve this, but, you know, I feel better with his participation in any kind of vote as to how to proceed. Although, you know, I believe that some of my colleagues and particularly the chair for your view on that. I don't have a strong feeling about it, but it's just something I'm aware of. And then also, I think it'd be good for the board to, you know, I'm agreeing with the regular schedule meeting, by the way, to take to take some time to not not. We don't need to make this a long process. We don't need to rush either. And I think setting up an interview format that is really effective and really help us answer that that big question. Is this the direction we want to go? I think it would be worth taking a little bit of time to do that. I don't know how many weeks, you know, days at least. So, and I, having received the news tonight, I don't know what the options are because I've never done one of these. Unlike Mrs. Mohan, who's the veteran on this. So I'm happy to learn. I look forward to that. I can talk to some folks offline. I think we can access our consultant with, you know, for advice on that. And then finally, consideration of the candidate too. I think, you know, allowing some, some time to prepare and and be and have awareness of what we have in mind would be good. So, yeah, that's, that's, that's a kind of a jumble of things. I think what that says to me probably is we should do something next Monday, whether that's a formal vote to proceed or whether that's, you know, discussing how we want to do an interview, possibly do an interview. I'm not quite sure how we incorporate Michigan Courses view of that. But that's kind of where I'm thinking. Well, thank you. You know, so this, of course, he's been my plus one in this process, because, you know, and so I did have a conversation with him. And so he is fine with us going ahead with the interview on Monday. And I also discussed with him the possibility of setting aside another day Tuesday or Wednesday as a fallback. So that we could do an interview. And if we feel that we need more time, then we would have that need. They already set aside me. So it would just be, you know, we block it out, have a item made for the town manager decision, you know, and our discussion decision possible vote. And if we don't need it, we don't need it. But if we need it, you know, then it's there because of the meeting. While we will have to, even if it's on Wednesday, we will have to, like, have that put out before our Monday meeting. So there's that. And I will, of course, talk to our consultant about the format of the interview. My sense is that the candidates, here you go. So I guess the question would be, do you want me some kind of communication about the format for the meeting? You know, and I would say, I mean, I could put out something to everyone one way, you know, and that would give you at least information about what to expect, you know, your role in it, you know. So it's really a matter of whether that's sufficient. And what's been done in the past, which does not have to happen all the time, is our human resources director Karen Malloy has provided in previous town manager searches the board with, if not exact, sort of comparable questions of town manager candidates. And one of the bits of guidance she gave us, which we won't have to do in this process, was she really stressed and I think also town council, if we had more than one candidate was always stressed, try to really ask, we're humans. So you can't ask the same question the exact same way, but try to stay in that format. So I would also ask the chair if you could just inquire Ms. Malloy, our human resources director, if she could provide, if my colleagues are in agreement with what she's done in the past. And that does not mean we're all, we are all individuals, it does not mean we abound to those, or we may read a question and say, you know what, that's not my question, but it triggered this. So that's the only thing you could add. I was assuming that she would be brought into the process because all along Bernie and I have been working with Karen very closely. So does that sound okay? I mean, so now it's just a matter of what time we do it on Monday. So I think I've been, I've been kind of anticipating, you know, that it would happen, you know, this meeting or next meeting and chances are it wasn't going to happen this meeting because Steve is going to be away. So I'm not anticipating much on the agenda. You know, that's my name probably the review of the articles that we do today. You know, some art banners, you know, I guess a few things may pop up, but we don't have a lot of articles go through. So we can start earlier, you know, as early as, as much early as people want, or we can start at the same time. I mean, I'll go off what the board wants. I actually was going to ask if we really still needed our meeting on Monday, next Monday, if we're done with more nautical hearings, if there's anything pressing. I mean, I think this, we have four months before the new town manager kicks in. But I mean, if we are going to have the meeting and do the interviews, I think we can start at a normal time. That's, that's my preference. Yeah. You fine? You fine? Sorry to say. For Monday. For next Monday. Yeah. Okay. All right. Wait. Sometimes that, you know, so, yes. The thing with the thing is, I mean, I did think about this briefly, too, like that, you know, there's a, we're very fortunate to have Mr. Poulouse Services. And that's been an amazing bit of security and continuity and management. And I thought, well, you know, could we even wait until, you know, for a couple of three weeks, but we may have, we'll have some last minute things to do before time. I mean, there might be a couple of late morning articles we have to hear and then our votes and comments and then we're in the town meeting season. So, yeah. So, yeah, I think that's, and I say that just for the public so that they understand that this is not, this isn't so much a rush. It's just good deliberate speed. Yeah. Yeah. Because time is impromptu. Time is intrepid. It is tighter. Yeah. Tighter than it looks. That's right. It is not friendly to any plant, you know, anything you come up with. You know, so unless there's some compelling reason laid, I'm generally like, so, all right. So then the question is, do we need to vote on this? Are we? Okay. All right. All right. So moving on, consent agenda minutes of meeting February 27, 2023 March and March 6, 2023. Mr. Helmick. I have an approval with an amendment to the minutes of February 27. Just a correction that on the Aleph Brook warrant article, I actually, I needed to recuse myself and that's not reflected in the minutes. So just that was a correction. I think our attorney Hyman is going to make in the select board report. So I just asked that the official correction be made in the select board business minutes as well. Second. All right. Thank you. On a motion by Mr. Helmick with the corrections specified in the second by Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Just a little introduction. So the Thai moon actually got caught and fired around April 29, 2021. It's been a long time, so it's almost two years at this point. And we're still going through the insurance process with the payout. It hasn't been settled yet. So at this point, we couldn't reach an agreement with the landlord at all locations, so we moved to the new location. Kylie and I, Ali Carter, before she moved on, she actually gave me... I was really close to closed out business because of the disagreement in the terms and the lease. And Ali said, well, look at the location. Tomorrow, just close down yesterday. So I went down and check out the space with my husband. And eventually, the towel actually caught enough to give me some grants to put together the ventilation system. And a couple people, like customers, been sending us email or notes. And thank you, note, I'll sometimes put the sign on the window to let us know that please come back to the business. So that actually contributed to the decision to come back again. Well, that's very nice to hear. I'm glad we actually have a few words. I wasn't aware of the Ali Carter connection, but Ali is one of the closest. Yeah, Ali played a big part on this. I'm not going to say more because I'll probably say what my colleague is going to say. So I'm going to turn to them and let Mr. Carter. Hello, happy to move approval. Glad to see that you guys are opening back up. I know a lot of people are looking forward to this day when you open back up. It was certainly a tough loss for you guys in for the town when you had the fire. I know the Cusanos, both as business owners and as hockey and baseball parents in town. Dante and Luca here, they're both excellent athletes. So I'm happy to move approval. Look forward to coming in once you're open again and glad to see you guys opening back up. Thank you. I'm very happily second that I'm just thrilled that this worked out. That you're able to stay as a business member of the community, that your family's here. And I remember when the fire happened, I don't know that I've seen such a uprising of public support and loss that your wonderful food was not available, but so it's just a win all around. And I look forward to enjoying it some more when you're back. It was amazing to see, I mean, it was so heartfelt message and email and it's been almost two years and people still remember us, you know? Yeah, absolutely. That was a nice time to be in. We are so thankful for the support. That means you're doing something right. Thank you. Great to see a success story. I know how difficult it is in the restaurant business, my family's also in the same business. It's very difficult and one of the most difficult, well, I would say two of the most difficult is first, creating a cuisine consistently that everybody likes. And then also, I wanted to say it's not only the great food that you have. The second part is the environment and the people starting with the owner on down. How they make the customer feel, not just coming in to do a purchase, but a part of the community. I know a lot of people were very sad to have lost not only your cuisine, but also your business, you with the helm. So that's really a great testament to you and thank you for working with the town planning department. You certainly, I don't want to use any cliche things, but you definitely didn't just say, well, that's it. I gotta start over from scratch somewhere else. Sometimes it's even more difficult to stay in the community and try to replicate that. But thank you to your husband and your children for putting up with all of that, of things that had to be done and dealing with the town. Sometimes it's a good thing, so. It's a nice town. We live in Allington, so we would not want to be anywhere else. So we can't run away, wherever we go, a hockey ring and things. People ask for it. So it's definitely something that we want to contribute as a family to the town as well. And everything in here is in order and then the liquor license, I know you well verse with it. Usually there's some questions from the board that really probes a little bit more, but you're already familiar with that and what this board expects of you. And you've had a perfect record so far. So I look forward to your opening and wish you more continued great success. And thank you to you, your children and your husband for choosing us and staying with us. Thank you, Mr. Chair. You're welcome. And as always, the great part about going last is that my colleagues have said it all. I said it better than I would, so I'm just going to let that go. I'm not going to add anything more except to say that your son was smiling so huge when John was talking about a hockey player. So it's great to see the kind of other connection here. So a motion or approval by Mr. Herd and second by Mr. Helmuth. Mr. Herd. Yes, Mr. Helmuth. Yes, this is Mohan. Yes, Mr. Davis. Yes. It's unanimous vote. Thank you. Thank you. Look forward to the opening. Moving on, traffic rules in order, number five, discussion and approval. Fiscal year 2024, water sewer rates. Mr. Fuller. Thank you, Mr. Chair. As is our usual practice, we come before the board tonight annually to request an adjustment to our water and sewer rates. This year, as opposed to the most recent past three years, the rate increase is much smaller. Water rates will go up by 3.66% and sewer rates will go up by 3.4%. So an average overall of 3.6%. That is mostly because, one, we have finished the debt transfer, where the general fund tax dollars were helping to subsidize water and sewer rates. We've faced that out over three years and going into FY24, we'll no longer be doing that. The second is that our usage compared to other communities in the MWA has been relatively less. And so the overall increase is below the MWA average. And this will allow us to go forward in the next year, have a balanced budget, and have sufficient funds to operate the water and sewer department. So I would respectfully ask the board's approval of these rates. Mr. Hurd. Happy to move approval of the rates as presented and just say, it's nice this year. We got burned a little bit last year because not everyone understood the debt shift. And even when you tried to explain it, some of us didn't really understand the debt shift. So it's nice to see reasonable rate increases this year. Second. All right. Do the squibble thing when I'm in person here. Any questions or comments? One quick question. Just to take advantage of the person we have captured, I mean, sitting here in the audience, if I could do the chair and the town manager, it's sort of germane to this. I'm just wondering, just because words come up with the water rates when they do change, where are we with the meter replacement program? And also people have also asked me that I've only heard of one circumstance, which I'll follow up offline of a really like five-figure bill. New water meter goes in and everything seems to go back to normal. But I'm just curious and I understand that the water replacement program is separate from this. But since you're here and it's over here. Sure. Thanks, Mike Rademacher, Director of Public Works. Thanks for your time. The water meter project is a little bit behind schedule mostly due to procurement of materials. We're having difficult time with the suppliers getting the needed water meters and the reading devices that we're installing on the outside of the home. We do, we have between town forces and more recently with contracted help, we've probably installed about 90% of the town's water meters have been replaced. So we just have a small amount left comparatively. But we, again, we're having difficulty with the supplies. We were hoped to be done by August. But with current projections, that might be closer to the fall to be complete. And to answer your second question, we are finding often when in the past when we send bills out, if a water meter isn't reporting correctly or if it stopped for some reason, we would put a note on a water bill that the read is estimated. Or if you have zero consumption, please call us and we'll send someone out to the residents to figure out what's going on. We don't always get that phone call. And so with this process, where we're heading into people's homes and replacing meters, we're finally getting an actual read of water used in a home. And so it results in a catch-up bill where our records show you may have used 10 cubic feet and, but in actual, it used 100 cubic feet. And so we create a make-up bill to fill the gap. What we will also do though, because that happens over a longer period of time than one billing period, we can make an adjustment where we break up that usage over the period that occurred and we'll make an adjustment based on past rates. So we'll charge some of the usage to an older rate, some to the middle rate and the last rate. So we'll try to break up that usage over the period of time where we believe the meter was not working and spread the cost out in that manner. So that will sometimes bring that large bill down. But it is a result of finally seeing what actual usage is in some of these homes now that we're getting in and replacing the older meters. Thank you, Mr. O'Reacher. Thank you, Mr. General. Thank you, Mr. O'Reacher. On the theme of why we have you, could you remind me how many miles of water lines we have? I know it's an astonishing number and what our current situation is about the state of them and the replacement repair schedule. Sure. We have approximately 130 miles of water line. And our current maintenance funding, capital funding for that we replaced about a mile a year, which we need to ramp that up a bit. Older water pipe is OK if it's built properly and it's in the right soil condition and whatnot, but we're finding some of our more maintenance-prone or problematic pipe has been historically built in very rocky soil and whatnot and causes premature water main breaks and so forth. So we're getting good use out of it, but not the extra life that some would hope. I think moving forward we need to bump that up to maybe two miles a year. I think a 70-year-old pipe, if you did two miles a year and you had a 130-month. A 70-year-old pipe is acceptable, a 130-year-old pipe is not. So we do need to ramp up that program. We do utilize grant funding and we're using some ARPA funding to help accelerate those programs, but we do have a bit of work ahead of us to get a more advantageous place. Thank you. Thank you. So I don't think this question is for you, it's probably for Mr. Poehler. Please forgive me for asking this, but it's not quite 8 o'clock yet. But when I do the math, I don't get it. So like the cost and home use is 60, the example you give for 50 for the rates made on. So let's say you're using 60 CCF a year and then if you multiply that, let's say even by 9, you know, that just gives me like 540, but I'm seeing like 1,135 there. I will defer to Mr. Rodemacher, he did the math. All right. 60 CCF, so I'd have to, I could sit back and do some math with my chair and get back to you. We've done a spreadsheet that calculates this out. Well, it's about 10 to all. You also have to add the water in the sewer. So you might just be calculating on the water side, so it doubles it when you add the sewer. Gotcha, okay, fine. I'm a renter, so it's all just kind of behind the curtain screen, so it's like, we just paid for it. All right, thank you. Sorry, I wouldn't have asked, that has not been before 8 o'clock. And they were asking questions, they gave me time to look at stuff, so all right, thank you. You're most welcome. So I think that's it, we keep trying. It's like one of those Facebook questions. I go in a garden, I have five tomatoes, three apples, I'm like, oh no, I'm not even going to try. Sorry, no problem. So with that emotion by Mr. Heard and second by Mr. Bahan to approve the rates, Mr. Heim. Mr. Heid? Yes. Mr. Heim? Yes. Mr. Heim? Yes. Mr. Ziggins? Yes. Mr. Heim, so thank you. All right, now we're to the real fun part of the meeting, the warrant article hearing. So first up is Article 10, by-law amendment vote municipal opt-in specialized stretch energy code. And with that we have Mr. Ryan, I don't have your last name in front of me, Katovsky, thank you. Good evening. And I think we have some slides to bring up. Yeah, let me share the screen. And while those are, while those are being brought up, I'm going to be very brief. I'm Ryan Katovsky, I'm chair of the Clean Energy Future Committee. And after I just give a few remarks, Talia Fox, who is the sustainability manager for the town, is going to go through some of the details. And we're going to also hear from Karen Keller, who is going to talk about some of the affordable housing aspects of what the warrant article is covered. I'm literally going to just cover the first slide. We have a net zero action plan in town to get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Some of you have probably heard me talk about this as being a journey. It's really a long process to get there. Warrant Article 10 is really the next step along that journey, where we're asking the town, town meeting to adopt what's called the specialized stretch energy code. This code is going to help us by making sure that new construction is compatible with that 2050 goal. And buildings are, if you look at the different sectors of the economy that we need to decarbonize, buildings are a bit more challenging. And this is a really important step in the process to making sure that we can ensure by that target date that we've got a decarbonized building sector. So with that, I'm going to give it over to Talia. Thanks, Ryan. I'm Talia Fox, the sustainability manager for the town. So I'm going to provide some details on the history here in that journey that Ryan was talking about. Arlington was one of the first communities to adopt the stretch code in the state. That was a code developed in 2009 to provide enhanced efficiency over the base code. The town did this in part as a requirement for becoming a green community. The Green Communities Program, as you may know, is a state grant program that allows communities in the state to access competitive grant funds for energy efficiency activities. Since Arlington became a green community in 2010, we've been able to access nearly $2 million in funding through that program. So building on this local leadership in 2018, the select board adopted a goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. We've also demonstrated some leadership at the state level. In 2020, town meeting passed a clean heat home rule petition and bylaw amendment to ban fossil fuels in new construction and major renovations. In the same year, the select board or the next year, the select board endorsed Arlington's net zero action plan. And Arlington filed its home rule petition with the state legislature because the state actually preempts this kind of fossil fuel ban. In 2021, the state also passed an act creating a next generation roadmap for Massachusetts climate policy, which is important because it mandated that the Department of Energy Resources, or DOER, develop a municipal opt-in specialized code, which is what we're talking about tonight. Arlington actually participated in the development of this code, including through 2022 town meetings passage of Article 73, a resolution calling for a true net zero opt-in code or a specialized code, which with provisions more stringent actually than those provisions enshrined in the final code language. DOER finalized updates to the stretch code and the specialized code late in 2022. Also in 2022, the legislature passed an act driving clean energy and offshore wind, which among other things created a fossil fuel free demonstration project that will allow 10 municipalities that submitted clean heat home rule petitions to ban fossil fuels. So rather than approving those individual home rule petitions, this is a program that's going to allow those communities to ban fossil fuels. Arlington does intend to participate in this program and I will discuss shortly why that's relevant to the specialized code discussion tonight. And we're here in 2023 and we're talking about Article 10, which is for the specialized code. The stretch code has also taken effect as of January 1st and that's automatic for Arlington as a stretch code community. Next slide please. So I want to discuss how Massachusetts energy codes work. They build successively on one another. They're overlay codes. There are three codes at the bottom of this pyramid is the updated base code, which is the international energy conservation code plus some Massachusetts specific amendments. On top of that is the stretch code, which is the base code plus stretch code amendments that are designed to make buildings even more efficient. And then on top of that is the opt-in specialized code, which is also known as the municipal opt-in code also known as the specialized code. It's got lots of names. Some call it the super stretch code. Call it what you want. It is the stretch code plus specialized code appendices. Next slide. So some important things to note here are that, as I mentioned, Arlington is a stretch code community. 300 communities in Massachusetts are stretch code communities and all of the updates to the stretch code are automatic. So we don't have to do anything to be brought into those updates. The opt-in specialized code requires a town meeting vote. And I want to note that five other communities in the state have already opted in. Those communities are Watertown, Somerville, Cambridge, Brookline and Newton. And there are around 20 others that are planning to opt in this year. Next slide, please. So I want to mention here that Arlington does intend to opt or to participate in that fossil fuel free demonstration project, which is noted at the top of the pyramid here because DOER has indicated that adopting the specialized stretch code will help to facilitate participation in that pilot program. Next slide. So just to get into briefly what the specialized code actually does. I want to clearly state that the specialized code applies to new construction only. It does not apply to major renovations that's taken care of by the underlying stretch code, which again is automatic for Arlington. Requirements for new homes under the specialized code are summarized here. First, homes over 4,000 conditions square feet that use fossil fuels must be net zero energy. Net zero energy means that enough energy is produced by renewable energy, usually through on-site solar panels, to offset the total energy use of the building. Second, multifamily buildings over 12,000 conditions square feet must be designed to meet the requirements of the highly efficient passive house standard. Passive house ensures superior building envelope and high performing mechanical systems to reduce energy use and enhance occupant comfort and health. Passive house actually does not ban fossil fuels. I just want to note that. Third, buildings that use fossil fuels must prewire for future electrification. That means that sufficient electrical capacity, circuits and plugs would be needed to accommodate future electric heating, ventilation and air conditioning, hot water service and appliances. And last, buildings that use fossil fuels must install a certain amount of solar, which varies by the type and size of the building. And there are exemptions for shaded sites and passive house buildings. You'll notice that most of the requirements here apply to buildings that use fossil fuels for any purpose. And so buildings that are all electric for the most part are actually not subject to any additional requirements under the specialized stretch code. My final slide demonstrates the timeline for the process. We've been doing public education over the last couple of months. We've made some presentations to local community groups. We've had several conversations with local architects and builders. Specifically, we held a forum for the development community on February 15th, which was very well attended and a public forum on March 1st. DOER recommends a phase in period for the code, which would begin this summer in Arlington should town meeting adopt the code. And we would be looking at a recommended effective date of January 1, 2024. And like with the stretch code, all future updates to the specialized stretch code would be automatic once we opt in. So that's going to conclude my presentation and I'm just going to turn it over briefly to Karen Keller to say a word. Thank you. Good evening. Karen Keller. I'm a town meeting member from precinct five. I'm also the chair of the affordable housing trust fund and my day job on the executive director of list Boston, which is a nonprofit community development financial institution and advocacy organization that supports the capacity of different parts of our community development ecosystem, including the affordable housing sector and the climate justice sector. So in that both these capacities, I sort of want to talk just briefly about this code and how it aligns with our affordable housing objectives in Arlington. The affordable housing trust fund did adopt a set of guiding principles, which included aligning our affordable housing goals with our climate resiliency goals. And this code is one way that we can advance those principles. These requirements for multifamily affordable housing will not be a barrier to developing affordable housing. In fact, there's quite a bit of alignment with state policy and state regulators who award state subsidies have actually prioritized energy efficiency, electrification and resiliency in the projects that they give priority to in under the state's qualified allocation plan. The passive house standard that's required for multifamily housing under the specialized stretch code is actually quite common in affordable housing at this point. And that's because of the work of advocates over the last decade to try to actually test passive house in the affordable housing context. And we've demonstrated that the incremental cost of passive house is really it's incremental. I've got the conclusion right in my statement there. It's relatively incremental and some of it is offset by energy savings in the operating period for the home. My organization actually is written into the state's subsidy regulations as the organization that has to provide support for the most energy efficient projects. So we have a lot of depth in really evaluating projects for energy efficiency and climate resiliency. This would be a tool that would just further push the state and the development community to ensure that there is consistency in incorporating this kind of energy efficiency and resiliency into affordable housing. It's also healthier for the residents, provides cleaner air quality and generally a nicer experience of living in the home. Thank you. I hear. Sorry, my colleagues, Mr. Halles. Thank you. We'll be happy to take questions. I just want to note that we have a couple other experts here to answer your questions. Just wanted to introduce them. So on the line, I believe is Mike Champa, who is our director of inspectional services. And we also have the honor of having Ian Finlayson, who is the deputy director of the Energy Efficiency Division with DUER. So he basically wrote the code and he's sitting right here. He's also an Arlington resident. So we're very lucky to have him to answer any technical questions about the code itself. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you all. This is a little bit of deja vu for me. I have the good fortune of being this like-word representative to not only the Clean Energy Features Committee after following an impressive run. It's by Ms. Mohan, but also the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, so hello. But I've been, I've had a front row seat to seeing the development of this thinking and this code and the advocacy and the thinking in the town. What an embarrassment of riches we have in Arlington. Such a deep bench sitting right in front of us of people with deep expertise and energy and housing with such a love for your community. And I think that that, and then coupled with the incredible resource that we have in Ms. Fox and Mr. Poole and the whole professional team to really make this happen. I'm just pleased as punch and really encouraged that in the case of affordable housing, financing that this is not an impediment to the work that they're doing. And that the communities that Ms. Fox cited have already adopted this clearly feel like this is not going to be an impediment to development in their communities where there's a lot of development going on. So that's good information. The only question I have is if somebody could detail what the six month phase in period would look like and just help us understand what that really is in practice. I'm wondering if Mike can support answering this question. I think I'll just say that there is some leverage to design that process. It's meant to be an on ramp to support the development community. There are already many trainings provided. And I know this has been expressed as a desire from from contractors and builders to have support with that. We we provided that development forum earlier in February and I'm happy to support further training opportunities and education for the community locally in Arlington. But I think it would be a combination of education and ensuring that there are training opportunities available. But I'm wondering if Mike has anything to add based on his connection with the local community. Yeah, so I mean, that's basically any time that there's a major change that goes into effect. There's there's generally a six month period where, you know, for educational purposes. And so it doesn't you can't just put regulation like that into effect like it immediately. It gives everyone a chance to become, you know, familiar with what needs to be done and find out, you know, how they're going to be building in the future. This tickle that won't go away. Thank you for presenting this. I have a question and I'm not probably going to pose it artfully. So but I'm going to do my best and hope that you figure out what I'm asking. But I do understand that, you know, we're. Pending taking any public comment going to have a vote on this. I certainly would vote for it, but I want to wait till we get to the public hearing part. But my question would be one of the really exciting things about net zero clean energy, climate resiliency for a lay person like myself. And I'm not a builder and I'm not in the building trades in any capacity right now is there's an awful lot of. I don't want to say opportunities. What I'm wondering is as we move forward and I understand we're meeting with the builders to educate them in terms of what this new stretch code means. Is there a way, I've just seen just sort of a flourishment of all these green energy companies, whether it's companies of two to 200 on everything with communities striving to get to net zero. Because it's a brand new field, I'm just wondering, and I'm not saying this is a requirement, but is there something for builders that we're either giving them as guidance to say as you move forward and you make these accommodations or you put in place so that whether it's Passive House or brand new construction and you're doing the top tier. Either what they should look out for when they're either purchasing the actual equipment, when they're purchasing a company that's brand new because this is a brand new field. Or is it we're going to give builders the guidance on this is what the code is, this is what it means. And everybody's just going to do trial and error and it's sort of word of mouth. I had Mahan, net zero consulting and the hardware broke down and duct tape didn't even work and they didn't really have the expertise. So I've asked that question not out for a week, but I was wondering if anyone or anyone's could take a crack at that. And I'm just curious. I'm not saying it's something the town should do, but maybe the state's doing it. So that's my big encompassing question. I'll take a stab at this and then maybe somebody else can chime in if they have another answer here. But so one thing that I thought was exciting at our developer forum is we had a local hers raider, so an expert on the energy efficiency requirements as part of the stretch code. We had him speak a little bit about his experience achieving buildings with a very high level efficiency, what exactly, what type of windows he used and what were the specific requirements of the mechanical equipment and the spray foam insulation. And so I'm hopeful that there can be more examples that are shared among builders about what it takes to get to some of these requirements. I do think the state is providing that to an extent. I know Massave is putting on a lot of trainings, but if there's any way that we can help to encourage that conversation, I'm open to doing that. I don't know if Mike, you have anything to add here, or even if Ian has something to add about what the state is doing to encourage that sharing of resources and examples. I believe that gets at your question. Do you want to jump in before he answers or? No, I mean, if I can. I can just, I think any plans for new construction will get submitted to the building department for review prior to issuance of a permit. So that would be, once the building department issues a permit, Mike can confirm that's the building department saying that your plans comply with what's necessary to build. So I think during that process, once this comes into play is when the building department, if they get plans that don't incorporate these changes, tell the applicants you're denied your permit, you have to update your plans to conform with this, this, and this. So I think, and I certainly understand where there's local visitors and builders that come in to get the word out ahead of time. So you don't have that step and drag down the building department with plans that they have to review that don't conform. But I think at least prior to the step of them building the property and the building department come in and say, oh, you spent $100,000 to build this property and you have to rip down the walls. I think those can be caught in the plan review stage. Sorry, I didn't mean to jump into you. No, no, no. But my question based around case in point is a building in Boston on Federal Street, and I won't say the number. Construction company that was the main construction company is no longer in business blazing granite. Big, huge lawsuit, I started out in land court. Big, huge lawsuit, and just from my novice observation. Basically what happened was, one of the many subcontractors, and this is 25, 30 years ago, and there were new codes coming in. It really came down to a subcontractor that they hired besides crafts being done out of order, really messed up and didn't have any competence to doing correct chalk lights. And as it went through a land court, it became evident in the field that this wasn't a one time thing. So the thing I'm asking for is, once they get the plans and they know, is there like a list of, these are sort of approved by MassSafe by the town of Allington? I'm not saying there should be, I'm just wondering, or is that something this is a brand new field and all these companies are breaking out and we're going to have to do trial by hour? So I know MassSafe does have lists of certain equipment that meets their standards in order to be able to access incentives. I believe also lists of certain contractors. Mike, did you have a hand raised? I just want to give you a hundred cents. It's not really, they don't necessarily need a whole new education. It's just a new way of doing, so they're already building these homes. And it's more who they have on their team now. Like obviously they need a hers right there. They need to be a little more up to date on the efficiency of equipment that they need to install. But it's not so much changing the landscape of building a home that you need someone who has 10 years experience in building green homes or in building passive homes. The regulations allow for pathways that the process is completely familiar to the builders out there today. Okay, thank you. And I only ask that question as we're moving forward with our financial outlook. And we're going to be discussing an override in the future. I know when I walk in the whole array of coffee shops, et cetera, that when I'm selling a possible override, anytime there's anything new that you're doing something different, a different way or it's brand new. When I'm trying to get those people, sometimes I may not even change their mind at all just coming, but I could see the question where they're saying, and now you tell me it's going to cost me and I'm in a leg and I got to find new people and how to build this house. And that's why I ask all those questions. I still, you know, of that smattering of people, I still may not convince all of them, but I just want to be able to go back and say that, you know, this is what I've heard from the committee. When I've heard from the building inspector, thank you. That's the reason. I didn't ask it just to ask it. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sure. So I think at this point, it's just satisfied with the answer so we can stop. Do you make a motion? No. Just one question about the slide. Where it said houses have to be pre-wired, is that new construction that wasn't clear to me in that side? Okay. So it's not like some guy that's had his house for 50 years has to go retrofit his house. All right. I just want to make sure because I was trying to think in my head how you're going to police that for one thing, but yeah, that all makes sense to me. And again, I'm with my colleagues on this. I'm happy to support. I think this is Arlington's shown leadership in this area. It's actually surprising that we're behind five other communities, but that's okay. And so I'm happy to move forward and continue us down that road. I said this during our discussion about the fossil fuel infrastructures. I renovated my house a couple of years ago and we use the new heating cooling systems and they're amazing. They're much better than my old fossil fuel heating system that we have downstairs. I wish I had it down. Maybe next time, but so I'm happy to support this. Thank you. I do have another question for the purposes of this being an effect for new construction. When someone like leaves just a wall up, but it's really just a tear down at a house, would that sort of qualify as new construction for this? Or would that be a renovation? I'll be a major one. I'm guessing that our special services director might have some insight into this. Yes, so a home isn't considered a new home unless it's completely torn down, new foundation. And they would still be required to do a lot more than they previously were, but the whole point of these regulations is that the efficiency goes, comes from the footing of the house to the roof. So they would be required for stricter regulations than obviously than just a renovation, but it's not a new home. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Well, I'm very much in favor of this. I just want to let people on Zoom know that we're leaning very strongly towards this. So if you have anything new to add, we're happy to hear from you, but we'll hear from you anyways because it's a hearing and we'll spend a half hour max on this. So we're going to have the time in for three minutes and I see one hand raised at this time. Okay. So we'll take Mr. Hanlon. Sorry, there are a lot of buttons to push. Yes. I'm hoping you can hear me. Just fine. My name is Patrick Hanlon. I'm from Precinct 5 on Park Street and I've been with this process now for a very long time, going all the way back to the first fossil fuel bylaw. And I submitted a letter that dealt with the issues in general. And I just wanted to say something briefly about some of the discussion that has happened in the last few minutes. Major renovations is one of those things that last year in the resolution that Tom meeting passed, we wanted to make sure it was covered by the specialized code. And that's one of the points on which our urges on DOER did not prevail. But the demonstration project that Talia referred to would cover major renovations, including the kind, including the gut renovations that we see constantly, at least on my side of Arlington. And it's very important ultimately to take a step beyond what we're doing tonight or what you're doing tonight. And Tom meeting will do in April to know that there's more that needs to be done. And that's one of the things that needs to be done is to address what is actually one of the biggest categories of building in the town like ours. And all of the other communities that have done the stretch code have done the demonstration project are pretty much in the same boat. Second is I think that Ms. Mahan is on a really important point that ultimately when we get, this is going to start slowly, there's only a certain amount of new building that takes place. But there's more that will be taking place in the future and eventually there will be renovations and so on. And taking a step like we're hoping to do now is something that helps create a market of people who know how to do these things and can do them efficiently and can do them economically. And I think that that is one of the important things that happens when you take a major step forward like this. With respect to compliance with the regulations, much of what the new stretch code and the new specialized stretch code would do is have you go out and retain a hearse raider who now does modeling that's a little different from what he would do before in order to get things down to or to assess that things are down to the right level. The same thing is true of passive house certifiers. So a lot of the lack of knowledge that may happen at the local level, people will be buying by going to people who've been doing this for years. Over time, that capacity is going to have to expand and that's an important point. But you have to take the step now to be able to create the market that will support the much more energetic matters that we'll have to do in the future. So I'm pleased to hear that you're meaning towards this and hope that you will pass it. It's a step that it's an important step and Arlington needs to take it. Thank you Mr. Hanlon. Any other hands? I'm not seeing anyone in the room. I think- No, see you in the audience. Okay, Mr. Helms. Thank you Mr. Chair. I'd love to move approval for this and recommend a positive action to tell meaning. I am deeply proud that Arlington is a leader and I'm grateful for Mr. Hanlon's comments reminding us that there's more room for us to grow here and to do even better than this. But this is an excellent foundation. I think that we are really walking the talk when we talk about sustainability and moving towards the critical goal of net zero carbon emissions. So thank you again for your work on this. Second. Questions? Comments? All I'll say is that the five communities that we're behind are very good communities. I think all of them are cities except for Watertown, you know, so- What's Council City? That's true. That's true. That's true. What's that? What's that? I don't know. All right, fine. That's not to be- That's not your time. Yeah, that's not it. It might be one. All right, thank you. And I'm going to trust from your position that you know, Caroline Bays, I mean, would give me a hard time about messing it up. Yes, she would. And so, and I just have to use this, you know, there's no need to stretch this out. So we're just going to move along. Can I hear that again? Oh. Can I hear with it? Yeah. There. Sorry. Sorry. And also I was kind of wondering what the next one was going to be if it's going to be like the super, you know- The super. Stretch, stretch, stretch. But really, what is in the works next? I mean, is there something like me, are we thinking like another level? You know, sometimes you know when like a new old ass comes out, it's like, you know, we already have the next one already in the works, me, and- Well, maybe Ian can actually answer this and we should probably use his expertise since we brought him here. But I mean, I think the next step is definitely the fossil fuel demonstration project, at least in the immediate term, which we can discuss perhaps another time. But I don't know if Ian, if you would like to speak to the next horizon for- Sure. For the stretch code development, that would be great. Thanks. Ian Finlayson, I'm a resident of Russell Terrace, and I also work for the Department of Energy Resources. I'm going to first take the opportunity to address one of the earlier questions about the transition and preparing people. And so I think one of the biggest changes between the stretch code and the specialized code, and the naming is the fault of the legislature rather than DOER. Or the inspiration. One of the major differences was mentioned earlier, and that's the requirement for a passive house for multifamily buildings. So we introduced passive house as an optional pathway in the building code back in 2012. And then from then on, we started funding demonstration projects and workforce training and so on. And in the current MASSE budget, there's, I think, $1.6 million available for passive house training and technical assistance. That's spread over the three-year period that we're in now from 2020 to 2024. So I say all that just to give you some context that we're not just sort of springing this on the design community. There's been a long engagement with the affordable housing community in particular. And the MASSE program has a little over 10,000 units of housing that are currently in the pipeline to meet passive house standards. So we're definitely looking at growing the market and building the market and building the expertise in the design and construction community before we bring things into building code. So to give you a couple of examples to actually answer the question about what's coming next. One is that when we put out a straw proposal last year for what should be in the stretch code and specialized code, we had provisions for measuring embodied carbon. And so that's the carbon that's in the materials that go into the construction. Things like concrete are very carbon-intensive. Other materials can have a lot of greenhouse gas emissions associated with production. And the response we got from a lot of public comments was that maybe that would be rushing something into the market quite quickly. So we are continuing to do our homework on that. Tomorrow I will be working on funding requests from the federal government for additional funding to do more research on that area. We're also looking at as people get more solar panels and more battery storage and more electric vehicles and also water heaters with heat pumps that are all electric, can we use those resources as storage during the day so that we can then take those demand uses offline during peak periods. And then new construction can actually contribute to the electric grid. Whereas at the moment we see new construction as sort of adding pressure on the electric grid, it can actually be helpful to the electric grid and reduce costs and damage, quite frankly, when there's peak hour congestion on the grid. So there are a couple of areas. A third one that I think is worth mentioning is commercial building retrofits. And how do we handle those in the building code in the most cost-effective and sustainable manner. So that's about as far as my crystal ball goes. But those are things that we're already working on that will be coming at some point in the future. Nice. Well, thank you. Thank you. That was informative. Very interesting. I appreciate it. So on a motion to move positive action on this article by Mr. Thomas, and a second by Mr. Heard. Mr. Heard. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you everybody. Alrighty. So article number 14. I'm going to ask that we table this. After the elections, primarily because it's me. And I really don't want me to put my colleagues in any kind of awkward position because I really want you to vote me what you think would be the correct vote in your heart. But it's not that you wouldn't, but I just wanted to be completely easy. It's easy as possible for you to do that and not worry about me, any optics. You know, you want to go a different way. And then it kind of brings up the general situation about how we handle the articles that are put up by members of the slide board. The reason we're here is because we, I think it was the last meeting before the war on close, which was a Monday, and the war was going to close four days later. And I had been to LRP meeting the previous Friday, and it was just me really taken by the need for us to generate new girls. Because that really would help with the override. And I really wanted to figure out how we could do that. And I kind of remembered how we formed a study committee for using an adult advisory board. And that gave us a lot of insights. But more so what that did was it allowed us to have a conversation with the community. And I felt that would be even more so the case. With this, and with the using an adult advisory board, it was my first year on the board. And I had proposed it as an article and it was taken up by a select board. And I just kind of figured that was automatic. But we were having a moment about how the select board and those proposing articles mean. And when I suggested it, it had, there was no response to it. So I couldn't either wait another year. And I thought, you know what, I'll just go out and get it as a resident. And I was happy I did. Because I really got to engage with people as I talked with them about it. And it kind of sharpened the idea. It made me realize that there was some reception to it. So I came out of it thinking, you know, we should all, anytime anyone from the select board wants to have an article and the warrant should go out just like a resident and get it. And you put it on. But then that does bring up, how do we handle it? And so should we then like always have it such that, you know, any article put about it in the select board is heard after the election season. That's what's the skype and it's not the conversation to have now because it wasn't on the agenda of the discussion. I'm just kind of giving you the privilege to it, you know. But I was having a conversation and it was like, okay, well, if you were to move forward this now, would you, the chair, like turn it over to the vice chair and defend it? You know, would you just go to the microphone, you know, and defend it, you know, just from here. Because when it came to the using under the advisory board, everyone knew that I had put that forward. And I kind of made the case for it. And the board selected and voted positive action to move it to town meeting. So I asked Mr. Hyde to just kind of let the board know, like, how is it being, how we should handle being an article put out by a member of the select board either now or after the election. So I'm... Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the board knows, the board generally acts as a body when the select board is putting its name behind something. That doesn't mean that you can't file a resident petition article. While resident petition articles has a main proponent and a voice and a face attached to it, the reality is that resident petition article is signed by at least 10 registered voters. So Mr. Diggins can certainly propose an article to the board and can advocate on behalf of it and the board can ask questions the same way you'd ask any other proponent of an article and open it up for public comment. You know, in this particular case, the manager, other folks might have some perspective on it. But, you know, the long and short of it is is that the board certainly... There's no rule that prohibits a board member from signing a resident petition and putting it forward. You just treat the chair of the board as the petitioner. I don't necessarily think Mr. Diggins that some specific process needs to be handled in the sense that, you know, you're the chair of the board, you're allowed to vote on your own warrant article. It's not like you're confident of interest in the situation. I think that the board is pretty magnanimous with one another. If you had a slightly more contentious collegial relationship, it would be different. But I think that you could proceed essentially as normal. Whether or not you believe as a group that you'd like to wait until after the election in some way, you should perform. I think it's really up to you to decide. I don't think I would feel comfortable commenting on that specific portion of this. Right. I appreciate that, Mr. Herb. I'm happy to respect your wishes, but I don't see any reason why we can't just take this up. And you can be the chair of the meeting. I don't feel any undue influence with you as the chair. If we disagree with it, then we disagree. I am fine with the article that you're proposing. And I think just from a practical standpoint to push a warrant article hearing out in a couple weeks could delay the delivery of the documents. They had the handbook report and whatnot. So I'm happy to hear from my colleagues, but I don't see any reason why we can't just take this up. Yeah. Well, Mr. Herb. Thank you, Mr. Herb. I actually would like to move to postpone to April 3rd for this to a date certain. I think, but first question for our board administrator, Ms. Marr, do you foresee any difficulty with the sequence of that affecting the production of the select board report? No. On April 3rd, we'll actually have three other warrant articles at that time, so it would be appropriate to move to that date. So we have to think about everything else we have to do. I think two things. I actually just for myself would appreciate the courtesy that the chair is suggesting for just having the freest possible discussion and vote. But I also, and Mr. Corsi, of course, isn't here as well. But I also would like to know if town staff, town staff have an opportunity to weigh in on this, if the ARB has a view on this. I think that they're relevant part of the conversation as well. I'd like to give them a little bit of time to prepare. That's fine with me, and I guess I would just ask ARB sort of fold that into the planning department, because I know we hired the consultants to look at the industrial zone, et cetera, et cetera. And I just don't want to, I want to make sure that you have all the information we'll report when you do the compilation of the committee to report to the 2025 town meeting versus the 202025. I assume that will be corrected as we move forward. Unless maybe we're giving you the gift of almost longevity and perpetuity that you have to report back to the 202025 town meeting. So, that's fine. Thank you. I saw that, I thought I'd taken it out, but just so you know, I'm working on it. I love it. That's set out two billion years from now. I think Mr. Hertz seconded. Mr. Helmets' motion to table, table third, so I won't third it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I need a little more time. You know, I need my little docs that were in a row. Got out of a roll a little bit, so I need to figure out what's going on. So there's that. So thank you though, and I appreciate it. And so on a motion to table to the third, by Mr. Helmets and a second by Mr. Hertz. Mr. Hertz? This is maybe an annoying question, but do we have to ask for public comment on a motion to table? Okay. Yes. Yes. Mr. Hertz, Mr. Helmets, Ms. Mohan. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Ms. Chicken, I just asked Ms. Morrison. They needed an address, that's all. Uh-huh. Okay. Sure, sure. I forget anyways. So thank you. All righty. So we are on Argo 15, both Board of Youth Services updates, and I don't have on my notes who's associated with this. That's why I'm not calling out the names. They have, there's someone with their hand raised. Okay. I'll promote them at this time. Okay, thank you. Hi, how are you doing? Good, how are you? So, let's hear the rationale behind Argo 15. Sure. So, for starters, my name is Kristen Barnagall. I have lived in East Arlington since 2010, and I've served on the Board of Youth Services since 2016. I'm the designated spokesperson tonight, but also on the Zoom are Justine Block, who's the chair of the board, and Kami Leger, who is the director of the Argo and Newton Youth Counseling Center. So as you see, the Board of Youth Services is looking to make some updates to better reflect our role and to ensure that the Board remains vibrant and reflective of the community. For starters, we'd like to change our name. Our primary role is to support and provide guidance to the Arlington Youth Counseling Center, aka AYCC. We lead fundraising efforts to support AYCC as it strives to meet the ever-growing demand for its services. We organize community-wide events where parents and other residents can hear from speakers about mental health issues facing our youth, and we collaborate with other town organizations to support youth, for example, with the Holiday Health Program. So we would like to change our name to accurately reflect this role. Our recommendation is that we change the name from the Board of Youth Services to the AYCC Advisory Board. A key reason the board began discussing a number of changes is that we've had difficulty recruiting new board members. So as part of the exercise we've done over the past year, we've developed a job description for board members. We've reduced our meeting schedule from monthly to quarterly, and we've created subcommittees to work on specific initiatives. We anticipate these changes will help with recruitment, so that we're holding off on any recruitment until we receive town meeting approval. So just a snapshot of our current board. We have eight board members, all are white women, high school-aged children. The rest of us have kids who've already gone through the Arlington Public Schools. All of us have served for more than one term. Most have served for more than two, and many for much longer. So we're an awesome board. We're dedicated to AYCC, but we see the need for diversity of perspectives and lived experiences. And so we think there are three vehicles that could create, maintain a more diverse and vibrant board. One is allowing people who work with youth but don't necessarily live in Arlington to be board members. The second is to institute term limits, one three-year term with the opportunity to renew for a second three-year term, and then having some flexibility about the number of board members, so no less than seven, but no more than 11, depending on how recruitment goes. So I'd like to invite Colleen Leger to speak, just to give some words of support if she is able to join. We're having, there you go. Thank you. Okay, great. Yeah, it's a little tricky when you join. It takes a minute to redirect. In the meantime, if you guys have questions, I'm happy to answer. I haven't seen any answers. Hello. Good evening. How are you? I'm fine. Kristen, thank you. And thank you for reviewing the proposal. And just, again, I'm Colleen Leger. I'm the director of the Arlington Youth Counseling Center. And first, I would like to say that this board, most of the members on this board have been in support of AYC acting on this board for a number of years, some of them as long as I've been there for ten years or more. And they have been really integral in supporting the agency and helping us achieve financial sustainability as that has been our goal over the past few years. And we've also grown in capacity with the support of the board to try to meet the demand for mental health services among youth and families in the community. And making these adjustments about looking at the structure and the composition I think will really help us to respond in a thoughtful and equitable way in meeting those needs of the community. And, you know, especially with the term limits and involvement of providers in the community who may not live in the community I think could be a beneficial asset as Krista mentioned in their lived experience and their expertise in advising AYCC as we move forward in the next five, ten years. So I thank you for considering this proposal. Thank you. So I'll turn to my colleagues. Thank you. The AYCC is such a valuable resource in town, and it's incredibly important. It always has been, but I think we've seen with the past years and the cumulative stress on young people and families, particularly with the pandemic and other economic stresses that the need is greater than ever and I'm really grateful for all that you do to meet that need and I'm very happy to support these changes. One question I have for you is and I could probably find it in detail but you know the answer off the top of your head. If is there a does it specify with respect to having somebody be a member who doesn't live in the community, would it be made up of non-residents in theory, not that you'd do that, or is there a limitation on that, is it one or two slots, what's the vision for that non-resident membership? That's a great question. We didn't get that specific but I think it would make sense to come up with some guidelines about off the top of my head, no more than 50% would be non-residents, but I don't know if you have thoughts about that. I agree, great question or great suggestion. I'd agree or maybe even fewer than that could be non-residents. I think also critical the parent of younger children that perspective is important but there are providers, there are teachers or providers in the community who equally could contribute their perspective in the community. What's the proposed size of the board? It would be as many as 11 and as few as seven. Could you recommend an appropriate cap for non-residents? Kristen, did you We didn't, but we could. That's fine. Attorney Heim is raising his hand I think we have some insight there. Mr. Heim, just to be clear the board is currently 11. I think what they're asking for is more flexibility to have a larger or smaller board depending upon the level of volunteers that are trying to get into these slots. We've had similar situations with boards in the past where we constructively shrank them depending on conditions that would require some sort of vote either of the board itself or the body. If the board would like some details to be sorted out but you're inclined towards positive action it's not going to be happy to work with Ms. Léger or Ms. Barnacle on any of those details in terms of just sketching it out into a more specific voting comment. That's fine. Thank you. And the reason I'm asking this is I'm aware that the Civilian Police Advisor speaking is I'm not necessarily opposed to the residents have a voice in that but I think I would want to make sure the majority of the board at least would be Arlington residents and maybe even more than that and maybe in the line my suggestion might be along the lines of that refined specific motion in Attorney Heim to contemplate if it would be possible or prudent or practical that it would address this specific issue of appointments so that that could be perhaps restricted community residents or not. I don't know. I would want to get the professional input from our professionals here and our volunteers. But I do recognize that the nature of this board it's a professional practice and we want to be able to avail ourselves of sufficient expertise including that that might be outside the community but would include people who know and care about Arlington families and youth. That would be my suggestion. That's all. I'm sorry. If I may, Mr. Helmuth. Just one thing to note about the Police Civilian Advisory Board which is an interesting safeguard that was kind of baked into it. Each of the appointing authorities they're not actually appointing authorities. They're nominating. And the manager has the final appointment. So there is a little bit of extra. So I just wanted to note it for the purpose of your discussion. Thank you. So based on Mr. Helmuth's comments are you looking for us to discuss a figure as far as a percentage or have them come back? I mean I certainly understand the concern. I anticipate that Arlington Board is going to get flooded with non-residents applicants. I would say it was probably more prudent to come up with a percentage figure versus if we're going to have a give them the leeway to have a 7 to 11 member board. Just to say x percent off the top of my head I'm thinking one third percent. And that would give you if you were going to have a 7 to 11 member board because that would be no more than two. I'm sorry to interject. It does get tricky and one of the things we've learned from some of these more experimental ways of populating boards it does get tricky with percentages because everybody's terms don't necessarily line up well and you wouldn't want to have somebody kicked off the board because the percentage gets so if there's a number that might be helpful maybe that number should be on the lower end of things but you know if you wanted to say at least five members I'm sorry I guess on that if you say 7 to 11 and 9's the median then go with three. So I guess that would be my proposed number. If we're looking for a number tonight it would be right on the three non-presidents. Yeah. And I think I encourage everyone to work with the folks who I have ambushed with this question. Not my intention because it didn't occur to me. I ambushed myself with it tonight. So in the moment but you know to work with them and if you have feedback on that but fragments of an idea. And of course I would encourage you to amend that to whatever extent they prefer. I was just wondering if we still run into that problem with overlapping terms if the number but we'll forget run a simulation you know. So it is a hearing you know so let's see if anyone or here wants to say anything. Raise your hand electronically if you want to speak. Seeing no interest. Alright. Back to us. Move. Second. Alright. Any other questions? Alright well I'm definitely in favor and so I'm happy to see you here and trying to do something to make the board well actually make it more diverse. It's a good movement and I also see a lot of potential for the Arlington Collaborative to work with you all. I think it's a I think the two really work well together. I was a little bit concerned when I saw this that you were thinking about folding and I'm glad that's not the case but it's like great work you know. So alrighty so on a motion to move positive action by Ms. Mohan and second by Mr. Helmuth Mr. Heim. Mr. Hurd. Yes. Mr. Helm. Yes, this is Mohan. Yes. Mr. Diggins. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. This is the first time this came up. No offense at all to Mr. Slotnik but because I'm employed by the legislature I require a bit conflicted interest law to use this. So we were picking up made on where we left off on this I think. So who's going to lead us in this discussion on this? Good evening. I'm Larry Slotnik. I live in Precinct 7 in East Arlington. So I was here as the proponent of Article 17 two weeks ago. I didn't come in two weeks ago with the actual language of the article. In the succeeding two weeks I work with Attorney Heim to develop Mr. Heim mostly develop the specific language for what would be a proposed bylaw which I'm not completely sure has been circulated to this select board. Okay. Also during the hearing two weeks ago I believe a request was made to Mr. Poole to survey the department heads that I had surveyed and gotten limited response to. I'm not sure Mr. Poole received results from his inquiries in that direction. I'm here to answer questions that come up unless you need me to sort of present the idea behind allowing digital legal notices. I think we're all set with that. So Mr. Heim, Mr. Poole. I did conduct a survey both by email and then at the last department heads meeting we had a discussion among all the department heads about their use of digital notices. I think there was generally very favorable reception to this idea. There was a lot of concern that at some point if there is no local paper it's going to mean it's going to get a lot more expensive to publish digital notices. And I thought that people were receptive I think both the idea of having the ability to choose either to put a notice in a local print paper or a local online source. I think there was a lot of perception too that the town website is probably a place where a lot of people would go to look for information about any kind of legal notices or legal procedures. We already do that now when we do for example bids where we're required to put it on a state registry when we put out RFPs we also put those on the town website and you can go back and look back for years to see what those documents were. So I would say overall feeling among the department heads was that they would welcome a change to give them a little more flexibility and a great concern that at some point soon they're going to need a change like this they're really going to get stuck paying a lot of money for notices that would run in the global which I don't know how many people in Arlington would then look at to try to find. Just to provide some additional context what I did was I took some of the comments and concerns of the board with what Mr. Islamic's presentation and just her general idea was along with the feedback that the manager garnered and I tried to put together something that essentially would authorize to decide what the adequate means of publication only for town notices this isn't for anybody else this is just for town essentially legal ads and so it will be if this was passed it would be up to you to decide up to two I'm sorry at least two from this list of five so that would be a newspaper of local or general circulation which remain to what Mr. Hurd sort of feedback was that there are people who still like to get these notices a newspaper a newspaper's website would be a second one websites reporting local news in opinion which satisfy all criteria for digital publication set forth in chapter four section 13b what that essentially is is if you had some of the online type of resources we have in Arlington you wouldn't necessarily be able to satisfy it by putting it on the A list unless it was something that was accessible and had the capacity to essentially archive legal notices for people's accessibility so there's some standard baked in there fourth would be a statewide website which is sort of already in the law and then fifth would be the town's website so essentially the authority to decide what sufficient legal notice would be vested with the board and a majority voted the board would decide okay for right now there's a newspaper of local circulation it's going to be a newspaper and it's going to be the town's website if at a certain point in time it just doesn't become practical anymore for that to be the case you could take another vote you can say look it's not economically feasible these ads in the globe for example cost twice as much as they cost in the advocate which is about right four times four times okay even more than that sorry Larry and we're going to take a vote to amend this the only other detail I wouldn't say wrinkle just detail on it is I don't very few circumstances in which the school department should run legal ads but to the extent that they do I vested that discretion with them as opposed to the select board if there's any need for the school department to run legal ads I'll be honest with you I strain to think of exactly what that would be but I just wanted to make sure that in any event of that took place that the school department would the school committee would be the one setting the criteria for that rather than the select board out of respect for their jurisdiction so I think I've captured what and I appreciate Mr. Slotnik's patients on this the intent of Mr. Slotnik and as well as the board sort of comments about what might make you more comfortable thank you thank you Mr. Slotnik and Attorney Hyam for your work on this as Attorney Hyam said that I think the changes and the updates satisfy my concerns that I had I'm happy to move positive action with the changes that has made say Attorney Hyam with your A-list comments you sound very towny then I strive to thank you sir I will definitely second that and Attorney Hyam answered my question because I saw you had the language in there for the school side it's really straining that I had to try to figure so thank you for I'm like I must be losing it I don't know what legal notices the schools do and I do want to thank Mr. Slotnik for bringing this to us because I think we'll probably be facing it much, much sooner rather than later and it's nice to have a process Mr. Hurd's comments the five options which could always be added or amended to and I want to thank the town manager for discussing it with department heads so that I think that department head coming on board when she or he is faced with this situation they already know that you don't have to resort to global herald check back in with the town manager pending the vote of town meeting and I think that's a good conversation to have because I hate to have somebody do something that they get $10,000, $40,000 into it which can happen very quickly mailings and that money goes fast so thank you Mr. Chow I'm very happy to support this too and that's an elegant solution to Mr. Heim and pick two out of five I like it very nicely rename it to $205,000 go ahead you're giving me the gavel for this thing so anyways so on motion to move positive action by Mr. Heard second by Mr. Mohan I'm sorry we'll be visiting so thank you thank you anyone want to comment on this? seeing no hands raised that's fine so on motion to move positive action by Mr. Heard second by Mr. Heim Mr. Heard Mr. Mohan Mr. Diggins it's 3-0 vote with Mr. Helmuth thank you very much good to see you so only out here alright so now we final vote article 9 13, 16, 19 20, 63 14, 64 we'll approve final votes and comments if that's okay with Mr. Helmuth I don't have to separate any we'll approve final votes and comments thank you did you both say second at the same time? nope alright I don't have anything to add alright that was just not alright second by Mr. Mohan second by Mr. Heard Mr. Heard Mr. Helmuth Mr. Mohan it's 4-0 vote thank you updates so I'm sorry I'm just going to risk over communicating on this rather than last week so just to make sure that we're all on the same page with the components the elements that we're thinking about writing into the temporary adjustment of the policy so I just kind of wanted to list out all the things we discussed and I I guess if there are any comments on any of these meaning that you want to give me as guidance as I try to rewrite that part of policy I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do it and I looked at it I think I'm going to end up just kind of putting in a section as opposed to rewriting like writing the policy I just don't think I can figure out how to do it so if someone has some insights into that I'll just maybe create a section saying from June 1 through November 30 this is what applies to overnight permitted parking so one change from last time is that I want to bring the cap down from 300 to 200 just to give us a little more headroom shifting still out fast we do initially no restrictions but then we pause based on what we see whether to have people come in to us and be able to streets that we have to make a determination about one per household, one side of the street only another little minor thing that we hadn't discussed I would like to limit the parking on which they live right now in the permitted parking it's the same thing as the street I just wanted to specify especially if we do get into the east we are limited to one household but three houses three cars one one address address and the other is to in order to prevent having a street get clogged it would additionally be limited to the amount of the number of parking spaces on one side of the street and as I told this minor if we see a street that gets me three or four requests me and I think it would be just as easy as taking a satellite view from Google to get a sense of how many parking spaces are the cap there failure to move a car loss of street but they will have the lot spot and since our last meeting we have confirmed that during snow emergencies they can put their car in a lot so we will review the reasons for the permit request at the end of November I think that is something we can put in place if we decide to go forward annually let's say we don't want to do the evaluation but at some point annually we can review especially if we are fighting ourselves and then of course we pause at November and we can assess and we can start the assessment before we pause but then try to make a determination about January 1st how we move forward well if we move forward then how we move forward if we increase the cap we can continue with the auto and discuss things so that's about it so try not to have 45 minute conversation I'll go with whatever the board decides I'm still with the pilot a little bit we agree about having a strict cap because you want to assess the data as it's going to be unless we're going to cap it in perpetuity you know what I'm saying is all of a sudden in the first week you get 350 applicants and we only give 200 out we know that this is a demand for 350 people and if we want to assess the data and see how this will be we should do it practice like you play but again if it's a number that's fine where it's one side of the street parking are we going to set is it odd events on odd years odd side of the houses just so that would be in the policy so people know I'd like to I mean I certainly as the other rationale I don't think it's good that people are held accountable in the case of snow emergencies I'd like to maybe build in that you get a warning as in the event that I mean some people just don't know when this is we're still emergency I think the other day we didn't have any snow so somebody might not might have a car out there not thinking that it's snow emergency so we would like to have at least one you know if someone gets pain and says listen we notice that you didn't move the car and it's still emergency you're going to lose your ability to park in the street I saw some streets leading to yeah or whatever I mean I just it just strikes me that sometimes you just at least give somebody one one referendum but again I'll go with the majority on the board on this the one thing that I was thinking about the other day is where there's you get neighbor so currently our overnight parking is policed by neighbor complaints is there a mechanism where if someone calls the police department to report that a car is parked overnight can the police department say to them well did you go first verify whether or not it had a sticker to try to prevent now we have cars in the street and we might give out 200 permits and 500 people have cars parked in the street overnight it's kind of onerous for the police department to be coming out and responding to all these calls when they're validly parked cars am I saying that it is a point to point across I'm just saying that all of a sudden we still have neighbors who are complaining about cars parked in the street and APD is going to have to respond to up to 200 cars that aren't in violation so I don't know how we do that or what the mechanism is and that can be flushed out in the enforcement but it's just something that I thought of that could be a little bit of a debacle for APD or at least in the first instance yeah yeah and so we certainly can check with the chief and all that and kind of brought up the possible solutions like ask them today well those are thinking to be part of the thing that requires them to verify how your police said somebody actually went up and verified it I don't know thank you this looks like a good list to me not for an answer tonight we can chase down is the enforceability of the law in the way that would work do they still have a sticker do we ask them to turn in the sticker do we ask them to peel the sticker off so that's just a question and I thought about that because we still get the lot spot my biggest question is what happens at the end of November is the intent that these permits would become invalid unless we accept the program what are we going to tell people are we telling people that this may well be only good until November or are we issuing permanent permits or at least an annual permit the assumption that would renew I think that we need I would want to know what I'm voting on in that respect and I don't know what I'm going to propose would just suggest that that be made explicit sorry that was another comment that I had I think we should end it review the data and then determine how many permits we've gotten have Chief Flaherty or Officer Ato come in and give us an update from the APD's perspective what their thoughts were get some thoughts from I don't think it should just keep going and we also at that time need to reassess how many permits we have how we're going to I think in the I mean it's a pilot and we let people know that this is a pilot just so you know don't get used to it, don't buy another car because we'll give you this permit because this is going to end and we can't guarantee that it's going to go beyond November I would say oh Mr. Chairman thank you that's a good good expansion of the plan I agree wholeheartedly on that and for that reason I'm comfortable with a smaller cap as well but you know I don't it's not a hell of a deal I would one possibility could be that if people do I think it would be very wise not to buy another car given this but you know that we could even if we were to say I don't know and again that kind of goes back to my first question is that even enforceable or what would the mechanism of that be but I do like the idea of a real cause and a real evaluation I would suggest we decide this later in addition to all the good ideas Mr. Herd had that we invite the public to contact us perhaps inviting people on the streets that have permits which would be a public forum but just to do some really good listening charge my head how many months is that I just wanted to confirm so for the pilot we're going to charge people half of three I said June 1 because I don't know if we have the time to pull it off by May 1 you know so maybe I can have a conversation with folks if you decide to pull it on and if it seems we can pull it out maybe by a month we can get back to December but I was thinking that we do start doing some evaluation in November even before it slows down because as you know we get to ask Thanksgiving it's really hard to get much time I try to be brief whenever that movie is when we do vote full board to vote I just want to get back to how we originally went down this road which was town meeting members for themselves their constituency speaking about because of a financial hardship in the place where they rented the need for an expanded criteria that the select board has or some sort of other process which is what this pilot program is taking information on so after November 1 one of the things I'd be interested in is I'd like to if I have the opportunity refocus the board back that when we look at whatever the permits that were given out if it's for a third, fourth, fifth car which kind of flies in the face I think of why we went down this road we didn't go down this road to say we're going to provide an opportunity because you didn't get that third car because you had a fourth car or a fifth car because you had no way to park it you know I see those people participating in the pilot and I don't think let's just move forward I think at the end of when we come to the assessment we need to look at how many of those permits that were given out what for the original intent and purpose taking away that zero and transportation issues and what we're you know asking people to think of how to be mobile in many different ways but then because I think there'll be a very small number they'd say all 200 go out I think there's going to be a lot of two, three, four, five and to me I would not go at that should continue in the future because that's not what this is and I think it kind of flies in the face of some of the positions that we've taken moving forward putting climate change resiliency aside and then my thing would be on November 1 where I'm sitting right now is I think we should for the financial hardship issue only expand our criteria for people who can come in and apply to the select for these versus doing the honor system because I've spoken to a lot of people out there and I haven't gone into any discussion with them and it has nothing to do with an election coming up or anything like that but I've only spoken to four actual who would avail themselves of the opportunity but it's just get another power it's not a financial hardship and I think and if I'm being correct but I think that's what's on us down on this road was to address that an equity issue I'd like to get back to that versus car 3, 4, 5 because I can tell you my parents we never owned a home and we didn't own a car because we couldn't afford the insurance of the gas until I was in middle school it was limited and that's the constituency I think that we were trying to address with that particular need so I'll stop there that's part of the reason we're limited because we're going to have to assess you know and I think it's going to follow our office to do that oh Bridget it's going to fall under us to issue the permits just for clarification to assess taking the permit unless we can find another home for the work well I think that would be I think we're going to for the pilot we're just going to have them issue the permits it doesn't have to go to the sport right but I think as part of the application we have to make sure that they put a reason right but then I think it would be our honest review and assess that so I'll be working with whomever we need to design that form in terms of questions and I'll offer to work with the select board and staff regardless what happens on the first you know alright so I think we have a way forward so now I just need to figure out how to write this into I think my writing abilities will improve after Thursday and I have a little more free time you know well thank you very much folks so we'll see if I have it back you know can I get it back on the 27th we'll have that interview and maybe just one other thing maybe a few other items we'll focus on the name of that so alright item number 8 the beautification committee anything Mr. yeah so we've been talking about the beautification committee for a little bit so the beautification I don't have the exact dates but this was a committee that was created by Mr. I believe before I was on the board the charge still has board of selectments so it dates itself a little bit we've had a lot of push in the past couple of years to get something going I know the chamber of commerce has a beautification committee this annual perennial disappointment for the holiday lights in Arlington center so I think that's one of the things that the beautification committee can do there's a certain amount of money in the budget already for holiday lighting that I think the beautification committee essentially can come in and create the plan to be implemented and then it's more than holiday lights some a lot of residents in town as to end the chamber of commerce where we're trying to invite people to shop in Arlington center particularly the heights in eastern Arlington seem to do a good job but in the center it struggles a little bit so I do want to put a meeting of the beautification committee in play and the reason I want to send the charge I didn't have it in front of me I wanted to read out the members and see if any other members have any suggestions as to what could be added and I think the members that you see here there was a specific purpose of the beautification committee back then that might not jive with what we're looking to do with it now but currently is one member of the Board of Selectment or does any one member of the Veterans Council one does any of the Arlington Garden Club one does any of the Chamber of Commerce then the Economic Development Coordinator member from DPW then three residents I think since then I know we have the Arlington Center Merchants Association I think the Heights has Merchants Association that I think could benefit from a representative I was actually thinking more than one from the Chamber of Commerce but I think if you have those Merchants Associations from the Center the Heights I don't recall if there's still a Capital Square Association but I think they may I mean we also have the three residents but I mean that was my and I guess it doesn't hurt having in there I don't know if based on what the beautification committee is really trying to do right now if you know the Veterans Council or the Garden Club still makes sense if it does that's fine I don't know what the original intent of having the Garden Club's role other than I know I get that the Garden Club can go hand in hand with with flower floral arrangements and whatnot but I don't know I guess I'm bringing this to the board for discussion with a little guidance but hoping for to see if anyone has any comments as to what others suggested designees that could be on the beautification committee as we start to put this together or just those additions of at least the Arlington Center and the Heights Merchants Association with the current membership makes sense or open any ideas I guess just a question that says this is a committee of the Select Board yeah so this was created the charge says there is hereby establish an outdoor beautification committee of the Board of Select which purposes shall be to develop a program of appropriate seasonal and patriotic displays installations and decorations in Arlington's public spaces primarily concentrated along the main public ways in town which I think that charge is fine I think that's what we're trying to accomplish with it I think I guess my rationale for some of the Merchants Associations is that a lot of the voices I hear are from either the Chamber of Commerce or the business sector that says we really would like to see the town step up their game as far as decorations and I think the reason we say holiday decorations is that that's the shopping season and trying to attract people to shop local and to come here instead of Belmont or Lexington or our neighboring communities so I think to the extent we can get as many local business voices on this type of committee it will help out because that's really who's benefiting from it and it doesn't have any actual appointees now we haven't populated it it was created by the then Board of Select at a time uncertain I know Joe Carroll was on the board and I don't think we ever actually got kicked into motion which I do want to do is actually start, is populate the Board and get appointees just a couple of things I'd like to mention that may be relevant to this conversation one is that the parking benefits district budget includes 136,499 dollars in various improvements to the parking benefits district and the town center there are seasonal plantings there is watering for seasonal plants seasonal decorations which will enhance the money that's already in the DPW budget some money for trash management a little bit of improvements to the visitor center and some wayfinding signs so I've had some conversations both with the parking benefits district committee and with members of the Chamber of Commerce and Julia Myreck Keith we have money therefore a fairly good sum I'd say for focusing on that area the other thing that we've put forward although we need some further clarification on what we're going to do is we've made a recommendation to the finance committee that we put in $25,000 in the FY24 budget for the 250th anniversary which it's not exactly beautification but it will go toward generally signage or various other things that we might do around the 250th anniversary I mention that both because I think it's relevant to the idea of commission but also because I need some guidance as to how we might spend that money we just kind of came up with a figure but the finance committee is now asking me alright what are you going to do with it so to the extent that any members of the board could provide that guidance or help to me at some point that would be useful in getting it past the finance committee so I just want to mention those I saw that email I didn't respond because I bought where I was going to point you to Mr. Herman let's take the last point first and I think the 2025 committee is meeting every two weeks right now so it might be helpful I don't know if the timing lines up I think it's in the next couple of weeks it might be less this board and more to come into that meeting and have a discussion or if it needs to be done quicker I can talk to members of the board but there are that committee is going to explode with subcommittees and this that and the other and grant writing committees and I think we'll be able to identify pretty quickly what that can be spent on but I just if the timing if it can wait until the next 2025 committee the exact date then you can come into the meeting and I think they can explain to you give it a pretty easy explanation as to how far that one can go then it's far as funny I mean we had discussions and I think I had just spoke maybe when speaking to people in the chamber of commerce of the idea of this beautification committee having its own budget because some committees have no budget and we just spend get to spend that money whereas at least in the near future there's money to be like you said on the DPW already puts into holiday lighting in the center and we have other sources of revenue or funds that we can use for certain aspects that the beautification committee can come up with I think in its first discussion it's more of a design committee where the beautification committee this member of DPW that's on the beautification committee we say ahead of the holiday lighting season we say we come up with a plan and we talk to the DPW members and say this is what we'd like to to put in for our holiday lighting and he goes back to whether it's Mike Rademacher or someone that works under Mike Rademacher is this the budget to implement this plan and that way there's voices that aren't just the DPW workers and nothing against the DPW workers they do a fine job but they're not necessarily lighting designers and I think where the the committee can come together is come up with plans and this is what we'd like to see and like when we took up at the parking advisory committee we took up the parking benefits expenditures and Julie Myra came in with the wishlist from the Chamber of Commerce and she lists a number of things that the Chamber of Commerce would like to see the funds spent on and a lot of them we're going to take care of so I think it's just another area another committee that's just centralized on the things that we need to do to make our business areas look better and we'll work with the town via the designees to get a path to implement those and I said and you know we'll follow up with some of the members of the Chamber of Commerce that I talked to initially where again I think I misspoke as to have specific funds that the committee is just going to write checks to buy but I don't think it's going to hinder what the beautification committee is trying to accomplish because there is funds like the manager says it's funds to pay for the expenses it's just not a separate bank account that the beautification committee maintains and I'll explain that to them but part of the reason I want to put this on the agenda is just to for my own sake to kickstart me to set a meeting and get people to populate the board so so right now the money that is spent that is used for lighting who makes the decisions about how the lighting is done and who makes to the extent there's a beautification decision made or making those decisions probably Mike because there's a certain amount that he has in his budget that he can go contract out to a company to come in and if you give them X number of dollars they'll put up Y amount of lights with the enhanced money from the parking benefits district he can then go out and buy more lights and there'll be some conversation about all right they're on these trees now put them on those trees too just trying to make sure that we weren't going to have some other group of people who are making these decisions that this group would either have to work with or I would say if there's a beautification committee that wanted to give input into that I mean ultimately if we're putting things on town property it's a town department has to make a decision about what that where that goes but always having the input from the merchants or residents or businesses along that area would be useful so then on that committee is there somewhere there's a member of DPW on this committee I think I would like to get to a point where DPW was working with in respecting the design from source of funds not every season but certainly in some seasons and to the extent we can get away from wrapping the tree chunks which drives me bananas every year when I see it that's a major step forward I got you okay so the source of funds or direct me is coming from the talking about this district fine fine okay alright so they don't know that they don't know that there are no more other funds fine fine so I don't have any what would be the process for how the three residents were chosen I mean I think you guys can vote to make me the design but I think like in most committees it's this resident designate whoever is the select or does it handle anybody that's in any interests and talk to them and just make a right foundation to the war so I get I guess I don't want to take any members off the committee because I mean I understand why the veterans council is there and the garden council and if it's still in the wizard or the board to leave them on there I guess I would just make a motion to amend the charge just to add one member of the Allington Center business association in addition to the one member of the Chamber of Commerce and just leave it at that to second that and suggest an amendment that we also designate Mr. Herd like a board member if Mr. Herd will accept that I'll accept I'm sorry I've been looking over here you've been Mr. Helmuth it's got my back it's right although Mr. Helmuth is the resident gardener it's just well he's also the grainer or the miller well it's really more vegetables than beauty so talk to me when we have a town farm and I'll be over it okay so on a motion to approve the new makeup of the beautification committee with Mr. Herd as this like board designated by Mr. Helmuth second by Mr. Herd Mr. Helmuth Mr. Herd Mr. Helmuth Mr. Helmuth Mr. Helmuth Mr. Helmuth Mr. Helmuth Mr. Helmuth Mr. Helmuth Mr. Helmuth Mr. Helmuth Thank you the members have circulated to them a red line a copy in an updated red line that I set on individually this weekend for review but not discussion for the for the public my suggestion would be well I guess the question is a suggestion if my colleagues have had time to review that I'd suggest that we do this discussion once when we're going to vote and so if anybody's not had a chance to review that you know we could consider whether or not we want to discuss it without a vote I will say that although we have the absence of Mr. Decorsi he was as our chair likes to say my plus one on this and and I have incorporated his suggestions and he's said to me he would be fine if we did proceed I have one suggested change is just an oversight on my part and editing change and that is on page 21 in the open forum area yeah and I should say thanks to Attorney Chaim for making some suggestions that I have included incorporated that are in his opinion and advice in conformity with the Supreme Judicial Court's recent ruling and I think those are pretty self-evident in the red line the there's probably more than one correction than I didn't I didn't miss but the one that I didn't miss is that current that revised item 6 on page 21 of the document so numbered is 6c is now redundant I just forgot to strike that because it got moved up to the top of number six so this the phrase refrain from any conduct which substantially disrupts etc just got moved up to the head of item 6 all speakers so that is I would suggest if we were to vote for just editing that we would strike that so that doesn't appear twice the discussion with your plus one Mr. Decorsi I'd like to if we could first have a vote on this tonight and the work that Mr. Helmuth has put into it so first I'd like to and then I have something that like to put on the table maybe for a discussion when we have the full board or maybe when we have our goals meeting typically in the summertime so my motion would be to receive and approve the proposed updates to the select board handbook and then it's funny you said honest to goodness at page 21 year which triggered something with me and then I just had a real quick question which might fall to attorney Heim on page 27 under licenses and permits but when I was looking at the red line changes on page 21 that Mr. Helmuth just referenced it sort of reminded me and I think we should be there after April 1st the next chair at a regular scheduled board meeting or the next chair's discretion at a select board goals meeting in terms of what's missing from the select board handbook because when I was reading this on page 21 it's sort of not so it triggered with me and I don't know if there's something that should be in the select board handbook should be codified here should not or should be codified in a different way and I think it's something that's very very valuable and using what you highlighted on page 21 that Mr. Helmuth and attorney I made sure it's in comport with current state law there's sort of been an unspoken tradition that the outgoing chair usually within two to four weeks has an informal cup of coffee with the incoming chair and offers whatever you know this worked for me this didn't work for me but one of the things I was thinking is is that something that that practice should be codified I think really very strongly that like I know that two to three times and I've been the outgoing chair I've highlighted like four or five points and I thought I've always said your chair she or he was there was time it's your discretion but like especially here on in order to keep the best record we can I think one I know one of the things I always say even if the person knows it but sometimes you know the person sometimes I've had incoming chairs saying you know it's wondering why you did that and I didn't even notice you asked that like name and record name and address for the record sort of a thing so and this is conversation regardless of what comes up that the next chair I'll pass on to him or her him excuse me I'll pass on to him about how he might want to handle that so it would be you know what's missing from the handbook and when should it be discussed regular select board meeting goals and goals and objective mission in July and then I just had a real quick question if I could Mr. Chairman I promise this will be it I'm just curious on page 27 when it talks about licenses and permits am I correct that first tell me if it's a term I shouldn't be using anymore but but when we recently had discussions about basking and busking permits does that fall under street performance special event permit do we still call it basking or is that a no street performance okay so that is included in it because I can see the gentleman who advocated it right here before me that's a thank you Mr. Chair yes just a quick response of appreciation to miss mahogany having just gone through this experience of revising this which hadn't had a substantial revision in a few years I have a fresh appreciation for the value of the passing of wisdom and continuity and I think you spoke really eloquently to that Mrs. Mahod and as the keeper of a lot of that continuity frankly and I appreciate that so I like the idea of considering not tonight just for efficiency but but the next time that we talk about this whether that might be a selectable goal to just to think of this is more of a living document because it is it's useful to the board to new members of the board's useful to the public to set expectations and you know having having something there about introducing a hand-off tradition and other other kind of review exit interviews whatever that might actually be a really nice thing to consider adding to this make it that the outgoing chair has to treat I think that's a really that's a story by a coffee or a beer for the incoming chair I'll go in chair just gets to pick the place this establishment so they should pay for it but anyways thank you I guess my only issue you know with open forum adjustments is that see most of this is about me what the board does you know and here we're talking about what residents do and doesn't really tell us what to do should open forum go south you know and so like how do how do we handle you know if someone is being intentionally disruptive I don't really have a problem with people being offensive and it's like go at have at it you know and or even uncivil you know but mean disruption is another cattle fish if we can't conduct our business me then then then we're there's a problem me and so either me that is the point me to disrupt and so then how do we handle that me or it's not the point me the person doesn't really see themselves as being disruptive like if someone comes in protests me the point is to disrupt me if they're just being obnoxious you know and continually so disruptive so you want to answer I do thank you I thought about this I'm my understanding is that state law provides for that the chairman of a meeting of any public money body has has the authority to enforce what is permissible to enforce the state law that includes disruptive behavior disruption by the speakers that substantially impair the the conduct of the meeting the reason that it doesn't have a lot more details I didn't want to overemphasize the point we don't really have a lot of problems that I like and I think that's good and and I think there's a tone question here about suggesting that it's the free free for all that it's just not but given that there is a provision of state law that the chair and necessary can you know some of the authorities so things get really out of hand within the bounds of the new guidance from the Supreme Judicial Court but that's that's the rationale for for focusing on expect general expectations of conduct conduct without necessarily going into explicit definitions that are contained in state law and I would invite attorney time to correct me or expand upon that if necessary that's correct the court's decision is there's a sort of qualifier at the end that says of course fighting words are not allowed but what fighting words constitute in the town from a government where there's a lot of access and sometimes a relationship between the person who's speaking in the volunteers elected things like that can be a little bit complicated if somebody says something that's at the Semitic phobic like that makes a charge that someone's not see who lost their family in the Holocaust is that a fighting word so that there's some unsatisfying things about it but the real core of it is that we know that you can't disrupt the meeting or make it impossible for the board to conduct this business and so when someone is engaged in protest as you're suggesting that's kind of a different lens right this is more about like resetting the fact that people are allowed to be rooted in civil unfortunately and that you know if someone has something like that to say even if it's borderline sort of scandalous or inappropriate and stuff like that as long as they're not threatening someone or cursing you know the now or something like that we're not basically allowed them to speak if it becomes disruptive the board the chair the board has the ability to suspend to go into recess which is actually one of the things in the facts the case the chair also has the ability to bang a gallon say you know order order you know I ask you to you know be quiet your time is up you're not recognized to speak things like that I think one of the things that my office is kind of playing doing is doing a training specifically for chairs or boards and bodies to help folks get a little bit more comfortable with their role sometimes the most effective thing to do in those situations is to actually address it's being said which is you know you're engaging say you're engaging in some hyperbole where you're accusing me of this conduct or being on the takers like that is that what you were saying you're saying and I'm actually taking some sort of bribe because if you are saying that you should state it for the record you're not saying that you're trying to gain leverage or add to your argument by saying something that you know isn't true so that's something a lot of volunteers in particular aren't as comfortable with as elected officials who are oftentimes a little bit more used to the verbal sparring that happens in a body so my concern is less about this board and your policy in that circumstance you also have the support of the manager of the council your administrators there's a lot of focus I carry with Mr. Helmets recommendation and I wouldn't put any more detail into this because it's a nuanced area there's nothing wrong with the chair of a board just trying to hit pause and asking people you know for some quiet for a moment so that they can recognize the next speaker they can decide what to do but I think trying to over legislate in your handbook would probably cause one if I were anticipating it then I would have a conversation with you beforehand like what do I do with a situation like this you know so and because I was one of people you know that didn't need to handle so so and I can't say that that really was a burning issue you know there was a pandemic over everything at that time you know so okay all right please and again when we have the when the board has the future discussion in conversations that I've had with town council and with other council in my day job job especially when this ruling tomorrow which basically said my interpretation of what has been told to me people can be rude and uncivil because it could be subjected open to interpretation but what what and you can't regulate that but what you can regulate is some get up be rude uncivil say it but then once they become repetitive it's a disruption so you're not making a judgment call on what they're saying or saying whether they can say that bar in the examples of town council games in the beginning but and that's where because I was really frustrated to say I would like to think there's some sense of decorum civility you know I certainly would have died by and I would just say for myself moving forward most people that I've encountered over the years that for whatever reason and there is a reason and sometimes the reason is no reason but usually there's a reason behind it I found for myself and moving forward when you're talking to chairs and other chairs is for whatever reason that a resident a person someone appearing at a microphone at any board commission meeting if kind of like let them have their say because we have to under the law and say it I found you know not responding to it because eight times out of ten that person that's what they want I have a relative no matter what that just loves and I love this person dealing but they just love to argue and should say to me well that's a really nice maroon jacket you have on and I've learned to say I didn't even notice that you're right it is because so it's just sometimes for whatever is behind it some people just want to be like that kind of like let them be and then say okay you've made that point twice you're disruptive now move on because you kind of can't win you know but anyway so I'll leave it there I don't know if anyone second in my motion second sorry questions wait was that Mr. Greeley I'm the person who created this so no one's thinking me thank you Mr. Brown it was it was I will say it was when I was considering running for board I read it as well when I was elected I read it as well and even though it was a little out of date it was extremely helpful so it's a privilege to be able to update it so I'm on a motion to approve the newly added version of the select board game book you know by Ms. Mahana second by Mr. Hurd Mr. Hurd, I was going to make a comment that I think Mr. Greeley did this to me roughly five years ago but I think it's Mr. Greeley I read the whole thing yes Mr. Greeley I've done my best but you the question is all to you sir yes and after we take this vote when you have time because you don't have any other time if the current copy with the revisions and select board handle these could be taken out and the other one the practice was if you want to continue on this one in every drawer well there should be well maybe there should be a good kept story first take a picture that she has it too you went to all these banners me and so I went down and I told them just hang one don't go crazy because within the hour you're gonna get a call and Mr. Greeley had meant to make up board of select men banners and he did broad and there were three women on the board at the time yeah so yeah if these could after turn after tonight someone recycle these and you know maybe not put new ones in there I don't want to make but each member of the board is supposed to have a handbook so once it's updated we'll do that thank you yes fortunately unlike me last time we only have like the letters to go so how correspondence received receipt second I think we want to I think one direct you know a lot of it I'll take up a lot of the time manager you know okay great so so mostly to receive my business behind a second like this yes yes yes yes yes so so I guess some new business is my core it just like to give credit to Mr. Hine for sending out notices to all of the different committees who need to appoint members of the police review committee so that starts the 90-day clock for them to get back to us we've already heard back from some of them but I just wanted you to know that that process is now moving forward great great Mr. Hurt this is a little thing that I just thought of but when can we transition back to voice votes it's not like a big deal but it's like I mean I know we did that because of the hybrid but I mean before people would watch us on TV so we can save at least 46 seconds so we talk about overnight parking and beautiful getting so you're saying I thought I thought because it was hybrid we had to that's what I thought it's your participation that matters oh it's it's not the members of the well I'm sorry I'm sure I'll have to think about this because to the extent that people are just viewing it and might be submitting comments I don't think that that would be costly to hybrid under the law to the extent that you're having hearings were like applicants are appearing before you you might have to make sure I have to look at that because I think it's I mean the intent of the law is primarily so people can understand and follow what's going on but for the select board it's televised everyone can kind of see your vote none of you are appearing by remotely right now so it may be that we don't need to do anywhere I'll double check obviously did because of zoom but before the whole hybrid participation so I want to watch a meeting they'd watch on TV it's the same situation as they watch I thought it was if I may Mr. Jeff if you can correct me that I'm wrong but I thought it was if a full board is here we can do all favor all opposed if anyone some are all of us are not here and we're taking advantage of the hybrid format and we're on the screen then we have to do it that way so if you could find out if that's right thank you sorry sorry no new business thank you only to I haven't had any in a while the first one is if through you Mr. Chit to the town manager if either we can know the short answer tonight or in the future just because people are starting to ask me about the suspension of collecting for the parking meters here on Mass Ave which the town manager and town treasurer what it was brought to their attention evaluated it and said they were suspending it to at least I believe the end of March and a big reason part of the reason was because didn't have the new meters to put in and other things that need to be done so people are asking me is that March 31st date still set and everything's ready to go April 1st or is that going to be extended out if I could as far as I know it's still on schedule the leaders should be going in when I meet with the acting treasurer tomorrow I will ask him about the progress but I've not been told that we're having any delays okay so if people ask me starting April 1st they better put stop in quarters or do the pay feature are you gonna let us know that well yeah I mean there will be new meters up there so people will notice okay so when they see new meters you better stop okay that's what they're asking and then the second one and in no way means any sarcasm so I'll just try to make it as brief as possible and I don't expect the town manager to know this if you do God bless you but all of us know I AFF International Association of Firefighters at Kelly rich McKinnon da da da da I know that today because in a different conversation with one of the people I just mentioned they spoke about and this is not meant sarcastically it's sincere that the IAFF is filing against the like the National Fire Safety Prevention Board that and I think it's under their regulation 1971 because I remember 1971 that the national safety fire protection standards which govern the equipment that Rich McKinnon sent it to me governed oh please the bulk of equipment for firefighters the way 197 one is written that it requires the use of PFAS as PFAS in firefighter protective gear and as we know and I'm not being sarcastic it's cancer causing agent in the IAFF has and my brother-in-law is one of them who's he's on the video and unfortunately is a terminal illness so that hurts to me since Ed Kelly and President Kelly and President McKinnon put this out I'm just wondering if you could find out through Chief Kelly if any of our firefighter it's their protective gear it says their bunker protective gear if we could just double-check I know that Chief Kelly and Chief Jefferson before him when the fire stations were done over they got special hazardous hazmat suit washing machine and dryer I don't mean to say it like that I don't think this is anything we have to be concerned about but I guess because it's a what did he say it was an FPA national national fire protection association that's who the IAFF is suing that's who they're saying this protective equipment it's mandated in PFAS is in there if we can just double-check that we don't have that in there so we won't be joining the suit and if we do then I'll just leave it to the town manager and Chief Kelly and I don't I'm not saying that it's it's just so happened I got it today it's not and that's it for new business thank you so I think the only thing is I may ask board event to check to see whether Tuesday or Wednesday it would be better for that backup that's second meeting this week I'm sorry it would be for me once we do the time manager interview if we need more time to make a decision whether we would do it you know 27th of the third or 27th and the third or we'll be doing on the meeting next week so you're saying that you're not scheduled on the meeting next week I mean I still think that we have a major time crunch so with that it's cute and everyone is going to come in if we don't have a meeting so the more I mean that's cute and whatnot so I would say let's there is the possibility that the board will be different on the third versus what it is so we add another meeting versus just having it during our normal scheduled meetings then it saves a lot of yeah I think that's a really good point given our hybrid requirements in ECM I don't think that but I think maybe a remedy for the potential change the board would be to if we find ourselves in other circumstances we could decide to take the final vote after the election okay okay then we want you to schedule the meeting that takes you to that alright so easy enough and so on that I'll take a motion to adjourn to adjourn so I'll take a motion to adjourn so I'll take a motion to adjourn to adjourn yes yes yes