 June 11th select board meeting that meeting is called to order at 631 p.m. We are finally back at Town Hall after a Nice hiatus after town meeting and having been at the middle school for a couple of weeks before that So we are back to a regular select board meeting that starts off regularly with public comment except that this week we have a different way of starting we have Debra Radway the new human resources director here and the town manager would like to introduce her to the town of Amherst and it gives me great great pleasure to Introduce Deb Radway to you in person and to the wider community By telecast of this meeting Deb is our newly appointed human resources director She'll be starting work In the town of Amherst on July 16th, and I wanted to have the opportunity for her to meet you Tonight in your packet as well as posted in the meeting packet online on the town website You have my press release that I issued last week Announcing this appointment, and we've also attached to that Ms. Radway's resume Deb Radway brings 23 years of experience in both the public and private sector Pointed at human resources including 14 years in the public sector in Human resources in senior general government management positions Since 2005 she's worked for the mass executive office of labor and workforce development managing the Franklin Hampshire Career Center and Back in the day. She was town administrator in neighboring town of Montague and has also served as Assistant town manager personnel director in Lexington, Mass I'm really pleased with the appointment it really is a combination of In-depth human resources Experience that she brings to the table that will benefit all of our employees as well as the management of the town and The fact that she has senior management experience In in state government as well as local government will Allow her I think to be an immediate Contributor substantial contributor to All of the kind of big-picture issues facing the town that that we grapple with so I'm really pleased that Deb has accepted my offer to come join us in service to the town and wanted Deb to take this opportunity if she so chose to Introduce yourself or say a few words, and if you do you'd like to come up to the table so the Mike can pick you up for food Welcome Good evening, and it's my pleasure to be here. I'm very very very excited to be joining John's leadership team, and I hope to be bringing energy and a great work ethic and a wide array of human resources skills Along with my background in local government to the town and can't wait to get started It's gonna be a long month between now and when I do Thank you very much. Thank you for coming in to and meet us this evening and to to meet the public this way This is a this is a really exciting time in Amherst and I think that this is just a tremendous time to become part of a Very strong team that Miss Musanti has put together So thank you very much and and welcome. We're very excited to have you get started next month July 16th Is that correct? Yes? And also thanks to the search committee that That helped to vet the many excellent candidates that you received for this job posting Let me just publicly acknowledge the members of my screening panel, which included Human Rights Commission chair Reynolds Winslow conservation and development director Dave Zomek Personnel board representative, but probably better known to the community as retired police chief Charlie Sherpa Northampton Human Resources director Glenda Stoddard and our Interim HR director and also our benefits Manager K's logar also assisted. I thank you for reminding me to say something about that, but they did a nice nice work Thank you. Any questions or comments for miss Redway? So If you saw I don't know if you heard about the cheat sheet, but it's my understanding that you're willing to go That you're willing to go by deb for our benefit because we have a variety of depths and depra's and Debbie's so I Did observe that he has managed to master Twitter and now he's going 3d Very nice very nice Yes, so for for folks who don't interact with the third floor as much as we do this will now be the third Debra on that floor, so we're we're in serious nickname adoption mode Thank you. All right, I look forward to seeing you next month Thanks All right, so there is no one here for public comment this evening So we will do a couple of untimed items before we get to our first timed item Let's see. We'll start with the easy stuff We've got a couple of special liquor licenses Stein would you like to make that motion? I move that the select board approve town special oil alcohol license Licenses for Meredith Schmidt on behalf of top of the campus Incorporated for receptions to be held from 5 to 11 p.m. Tuesday June 12th 2012 on the bedel library lawn and Wednesday June 13th 2012 in the Berkshire dining hall both on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus Second for the discussion. Oh in favor say hi. Hi Taxi license I move that the select board approve a new taxi driver slash chauffeur license for Colin Baker on behalf of ambassador Taxi Second for the discussion on favor say hi. Hi Let's see How about minutes did folks have a chance to look at the minutes from May 7th that were in our packet. I Didn't have minutes in my packet. Oh, no, okay, maybe they were just online Okay, should I have we can wait until next month next month next week Okay, never mind we'll do those next week Okay, let's see other things that are untimed that we can take care of we can do committee appointments Okay new committee appointments I Move that the select board appoint Brian Harvey as the citizen representative to the audit committee for a term to expire June 30th 2013 second for the discussion Famer say hi. Hi. Hi. That's unanimous. I move that the select board appoint Walter Mullen to the La Paz Nicaragua sister city committee Jennifer Linde and Renee Berger I'm not sure if that's probably a record recognition To the Public Arts Commission Richard Fine and William Mullen to the Public Works Committee and Susan Lohenstein as a registrar of voters all with terms to expire June 30 2015 Second for the discussion They were saying hi. Hi. That's unanimous Okay And this one got slightly changed. I hope my note is correct on this I thought we were getting a new motion sheet, but it doesn't it probably wasn't worth it I move that the select board these are reappointments committee reappointments. I move that the select board Point Jana McClure to the Community Development Committee Ellen Cosmer Michael jakes and Paris Paris boys the latter serving as the Conservation Commission Representative to the Community Preservation Act Committee the other two are also to that committee Denise Barberette and Catherine Borek Feldman to the Hampshire Regional Emergency Planning Committee Lois Raj Kathleen Anderson and Reynolds Winslow to the Human Rights Commission Aaron Croft to the Kanagasaki sister city committee Kathleen Mullen to the La Paz Nicaragua sister city committee D Anthony Butterfield felled to the Personnel board Charles Moran to the Public Works Committee Michael Jakes Barry Roberts and Leslie Ariola to the town slash commercial relations committee All with terms to expire June 30th 2015 second for the discussion mr. Hayden and then I'd like to welcome all of those folks back again I appreciate coming to work with us very much miss Bruce a couple of of corrections One is we had changed and it hasn't followed through on all the paperwork yet But it's community development block grant advisory committee not community development committee anymore But we all know that but you know for the purposes of the motion and future records It's also listed. We do have this really nice sheet for anybody who wants to look online that has everybody's And they are the same basic thing The name has changed also for clarification purposes as Miss Stein pointed out with Paris serving as the concom rep Perhaps it just helps to put you know concom and parentheses and then at large and parentheses behind Ellen Cosmer and Michael Jakes Because that's the only Group that has a variation whereas the rest are all just members But Paris was designated by concom whereas the other two are specifically at large members Good suggestions All right further discussion All in favor say aye. Aye. That's unanimous and yes Thank you to all those folks for their willingness to be reappointed and thank you to Miss Stein and Miss Brewer for for their work on Getting these things processed. There will be more next week. So stay tuned Okay, let's see 643 you get a couple more minutes Committee charge Yeah, you want to do the audit committee charge revision. That's pretty simple So we have a document in our packets that has the has the wording of the charge and it's really just a Pretty technical revision that we're making so I Move that the select board amend the charge of the audit committee to identify that Representatives from the select board school committee library trustees and finance committee will be Designated by vote of their members to identify that the member of the public is to be appointed by the select board actually has Just been and to change the title of the town accountant to controller Is there a second? Discussion so this is this is just clarifying and making more specific what had already been the practice Within the charge, but just making sure that that is all codified All in favor say aye All right, it's 644, which is the same as 645 as mr. Welles will give me a hassle about so our 645 item is to Consider and vote proposal to increase senior tax workoff program slots. We have mr. Pooler here to talk to us about this The last time we dealt with the senior tax workoff program was in August of 2010 when we changed the amount that folks were making per hour and changed the the full amount that was available at that time we talked about Whether or not there was enough Room in the program to accommodate all the folks who wanted to do it and at that time we specifically I look back My notes up from that meeting we specifically told mr. Then mr. Musanti and Miss plant from the senior center to let us know if there were more people who wanted to participate then could be accommodated So as luck would have it here we go. So mr. Pooler Yes, I'm here to say there are more people who want to participate than can be accommodated and Miss plant The town assessor mr. Burgess, and I recommend that we increase the number of slots from 30 to 35 People can earn up to a thousand dollars of credit toward their taxes if they work the full 125 Hours during a year not everybody does work that those full number of hours So we think we have extra capacity to take on more people and still stay within the $30,000 target For the cost of this program so Program has been going well Obviously there is interest out there, and we'd like to try to serve those people and and we think we can do so staying within our Pudgeted targets, that's great. I think that that has changed since the last discussion because I think that Miss plant was saying the last time that most people were working beyond the hours that were That that they were able to get the tax work-off credit for so I mean which is Normal there can be shifts and and there are people who in fact Volunteer more time than they get credited for but there is a limit in the law for how many hours you can get credit And then some of them just go on and volunteer for us But so some of them aren't fulfilling the whole limit, which is why there is still room is for us to add people even at The same cap level so It's great that it's great that you're able to track that so well so that we know that we can add people without it changing the cost It'll questions and comments miss per in terms of the cost target. What is the When we I know it's 30,000, but when we get close to that I mean it's referred to here as a cost target in terms of you know if we start bumping up against that because more people are Actually wanting to do the hours then what happens at that point Is there a way to come back to the select board before we have to before they have to stop or is it one of those things? We're you know like ginormous financial aid offices where they just say you're done kind of thing So you know what's our process it were such a thing to occur? I I think that people when they're in the program they the 30,000 is a target. It's not a budgeted number So they will be able to fulfill their their programs Excellent, and then we'll just get an update on how much it actually was Exactly actually happens Other questions or comments about the program or the change Miss Stein then mr. He just noting that it's 125 hours and because there's there are two figures and One of them is correct one is not it's the 125 that is correct in the backup material there was a description of the program that Said that the limit was a Hundred hours the cover memo says 125 and that is correct Just find that out and you were right. Thank you very much mr. Aden I was just going to be appreciative for that. I mean it's very brief, but a very yeah Very useful memo we could figure all of this out pretty quickly given this yeah The there was a little conflict, but I it's resolved now Thank you. All right, any other questions or comments about senior tax workoff program changes Miss Stein would like to make the motion sure I move that the select board amend the program rules for senior citizens property tax abatements under MGL chapter 59 section 5k by increasing the number of eligible volunteers from 30 to 35 Second for the discussion all in favor say aye That is unanimous. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming in All right, unfortunately, I did not time this too well tonight, so we still have six minutes So let's talk about Reviewing these on representative assignments. This is on there specifically because we were dealing with a couple of things I had to do with the audit committee And so it seemed like a good opportunity for us to determine who our audit committee representative would be Miss Stein has been it and I'm not sure if you're just willing to give it up if somebody else wants it or you want to give it up I'd be happy to give it up But if nobody else takes it I will stay on Sounds good anyone interested in serving on the audit committee. What does that entail exactly? It basically is one day of meetings if I remember correctly where the auditors go through their findings which more have to do with process Then they do Checking if we're spending too much in a certain account. I think that's the best way I can summarize it Is that about right John? That's it For the past several years, it's been one meeting per year You'll get a copy of the audit and the management letter in advance of that meeting you look that over and then it's a presentation from our independent auditor and Q&A and also Discussing a work plan for the subsequent years on it So from the slack board perspective it basically equals one one meeting as Liaison is that let's go not too bad So is anyone interested in it or shall we leave it with this time? I like that Right since no one's jumping for it. Are you willing to keep it? Okay? Thank you So then with the rest of our assignments, we don't really need to go through them one by one and We we do just kind of look at this every year so that people have the opportunity to get rid of anything That's not fitting into their schedules or to pick up something that they have a particular interest in so Are there particular things that folks would like to change for any reason or would they like to? Keep them how they are miss Brewer. I would really like Someone else to see if they could consider doing DAC it It's a difficult one to do from the standpoint that it's at 11 or 11 30 in the morning Typically on a Tuesday which kind of breaks up your whole day in terms of you are at work normally During that time one of the things that gives me confidence about not having select for liaison there is the fact that Nate Malloy is also liaison to so many Staff is so is liaison to so many other things that DAC interacts with that I know he keeps that up plus former select board member Jerry Weiss is a member of DAC So and as we know he sends us emails every so often about that So I don't feel horrible about not having a select board representative available to them regularly And I am occasionally able to show up But if anyone has a particular interest in that please let us know and I'm sure they'd be thrilled to have someone there more often Nobody's jumping for DAC Similarly adding another thing. It's hard. It is. It's very difficult the Which one of my ways on to that I never get to Amherst housing authority meets on Mondays before this meeting That's just not a good time for me to be able to it's usually four o'clock You know their meetings are very quick and efficient It's very hard to get to so if anyone thinks they could get there more than I can get there Which it would be hard to get there less than I get You're welcome to take that one Nobody interested Grabbing any okay, anybody else want to want to offer out there any things they can't do or All right, so another thing that that's always possible not as an obligation But it's something that we do with a budget coordinating group And I know that we used to join capital planning committee sometimes was if it was a particularly important meeting That we thought somebody should attend and we couldn't personally attend We could kind of put out a call to select board members and say hey, you know, do you think somebody could be there? So we should keep that in mind also All right, so we're just going to by consensus essentially keep everything that we have currently Good enough All right Thanks, so it's 654 which is the same as 655 so we will move on to our poll hearing at 655 We have a joint poll hearing jointly owned polls between Western mass electric and Verizon and we have folks here for that Hello, and if you could introduce yourself, please. Hi. Good evening. My name is Jerry Mullingosky I'm with the Western mass electric out of our Springfield office. Could you spell your last name? Sure M. M. O. L. O. N. G. O. S. K. I Thank you very much. All right So this public hearing is called to order at 655 and so we have information in our packets Tell us about these polls, please. Yes, we're petitioning the town to place two new polls on the southerly side of Mill Lane Between the residents House numbers 135 145 and 157 And this work is being done As part of a reliability project During the snowstorm we had a number of problems on this circuit Related mostly to trees but so so we we do this Work called circuit hardening which we look at that the circuits that were most heavily affected by the storms And we do a number of things to try to improve the reliability Such as deteriorated poles or or pole tops In outdated equipment or insulators And enhanced tree trimming But the combination of that work really helps You know in a future storm to you know to reduce the outages These two poles Are are going to be placed on the property lines where now now the this the length of spans Is is very long We're looking to reduce those spans Because the tree with the long long spans between poles with our conductor if a tree comes down that does You know, it's more likely to cause an outage. So these poles would enable us to reduce the length of span between and Also align them with the property owners Property, you know property lines between the properties I did meet with the owners of the properties on site and they were agreeable to What was proposed in in this petition? In fact the owner of 145 There was the existing pole there, which is very deteriorated was Quite close to their driveway. So when they back down it was difficult. So they were happy to have the relocation as proposed We also just as a side note Worked with our tree coordinator worked with the owners here And it was in fact large pine trees that took took this circuit out in the storm in the in the Snowstorm last year last October and we've taken a number of trees Both within the road taking and back onto private proper property that were problematic With the you know at the agreement of the property owners They were concerned about, you know, the houses their trees falling on their houses and we of course were concerned about our Plant and reliability. So it worked out well So that that's it the petition Shows the the relocate or you know the new poles as opposed to the existing poles and the one that would be relocated every So for folks who are following along at home all of the materials including a map about this is in our online packet Questions or comments from select board. Mr. Hayden. I just want to be clear These poles are on the town right of way. They're not on the properties No, they're just working with the owners about how the cable is going to fly to their house or whatever. Yes, and the trees Yes, that's been discussed. Yes, and they are within the within the road taking Appreciate the map by the way. Okay, and I also did meet with Representatives from the highway department just to be sure that it didn't interfere with any plant and it's it's located well Questions or comments from select board Questions or comments from the public All right So I had requested specifically information from Department of Public Works about any tree concerns and the information we got back was that they had no concerns whatsoever So we'll assume that that includes that the tree part It's great that you were able to deal specifically directly with the property owners So that this wasn't a surprise or a concern or anything. Yeah We generally try to you know to work with the property owners with placement of poles Prior to submitting the petition All right, then with objection this public hearing is closed at 6.59 and This time would you like to make the motion and then we shall deliberate it Sure, I moved that the select board grant permission to construct and maintain poles wires cables and fixtures Including the necessary sustaining and protecting Fixtures to be owned and used in common by Western Mass the two sits electric company and Verizon New England Incorporated on the southerly side of Mill Lane the first said pole Perenn's WEM code number eight six slash one three Verizon number 12 and Perenn's to be located at a point approximately 1,715 Perenn's number 1,715 feet Perenn's Easter leaf from the center line of West Street on the lot line of house numbers 135 and 145 and the second pole Perenn's WEM code number 3m Verizon number one two and one half in Perenn's to be installed on the lot line of house numbers 145 and 157 and to remove existing Perenn's WEM code number 13 comma for rise in number 12 and Perenn's on the front of house number 145 in accordance with the plan number 6a 220 173 Period second All right for the discussion Mr. Hayden who comes with a pole number 12 and a half It's an intermediate So so they Telephone calls it there one half. Well Miko calls it there M or in or media, you know immediate Yeah, just the and the numbers don't always coincide They could number one way on the street and we would name number the opposite keeps things interesting Further discussion Say hi. Hi. That's unanimous. Miss Brewer. I have a question completely unrelated to the pole hearing while we have the Here. All right, and we generally try not to do what I'm going to do anyway because fortunately this wasn't a situation Unlike some others that we've had where you're not replacing it in exactly the same spot There's a real purpose to it and it mentions that the other is being removed there A couple of people have brought up just in passing that associated with all the storm damage, etc That there are situations where there are double poles What do people do to express their dissatisfaction that there's still an old pole right next to a new pole What's the right thing for them to we really have we have a system for for a long time We didn't have a great system for tracking those poles for the last six or seven years We have a very good system which tracks the double poles Both in the maintenance areas are shared with with Verizon or Womiko by by territory It was just split up Geographically years ago, but we do have a tracking system to keep You know count of those double poles And and we do have a time frame that we try to get them removed in I Can say one thing that that there are a lot of double poles now that haven't been removed be Due to the fact that there were so many broken during the storm It takes a long time for for each of the other companies to come out and come behind Verizon and Womiko to transfer their cables and services and the the other thing is the broadband project that's going on now there are Every town is having numerous poles changed out to accommodate them their space or space for them on the poles so We're we're frantic to build the the poles so that they can get in there and and We are notified when the other companies are off those poles and then we will employ or we do employ a Contractor to come in and pull out the poles once all the other companies are off But it probably I can there if you call into Womiko There is a representative that can can take that information But odds are very good that we already have that that location It hasn't it's just that it's yeah, there's an exceptional number of poles out there that are double poles right now But I do know I do know the Womiko contact for that And I'll bring that up to him that that there is a concern for the amount of double poles out there Right and see if we can you know, maybe employ extra folks to do that because like you said It's not like you drive up and one person takes out the phone you do something else There's a whole Series of things that has to happen, but we do we do track it very well. It's great. It's just trying to get to it We will continue to show that with people. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you very much. Thank you also Thank you very much for coming in this evening. We appreciate it All right next up we have a common vitulars license. Are you mr. Hopton? Yes, please come forward and Introduce yourself for folks at home. I am Trevor Hopton who is hoping to open a restaurant on 27 South Pleasant Along with my brother who on fortunately couldn't make it tonight Spencer Hopton Perfect So 27 self plans so we always talk about everything as far as what it used to be so what which space is this? The Shade Albear That was my bet. All right, excellent. And now what kind of a restaurant is it going to be this is just for it This is an advertisement opportunity. We're not going to we're not going to oppose or support this based on the information you give Thank you. I'll do my best It's going to be over-the-counter Upscale I could say at least elevated hamburger sandwich slash bistro Everything homemade locally sourced produce and meat we can grind our own beef Possibly make make the rolls to though. That's a little iffy given space discovering but We hope to be open 11 to 11 seven days a week and Just be a great casual place to come in for both students and You know town workers And what kind of a time frame are you looking out for opening? We hoped to open last week of July. Oh, great If yeah, if all goes well Other questions or comments from Mr. Hopton Stein would you like to make the motion actually I do have a question Will there be tables to sit down as well as over-the-counter or takeaway? Yeah, I'm sorry. There will there will be 11 tables. Okay, we'll see 22 people and by over-the-counter I mean that it's just counter service. There won't be wait staff Please I move that the select board grant a common Victorial license to operate metacom it incorporated at 27 South Pleasant Street Amherst With hours of operation from 11 a.m. To 11 p.m. Seven days a week East Spencer and Trevor hopton managers pending approval of inspections and health department licensing requirements Second for the discussion. I'll just ask it. Do you say metacom it or metacom it? Metacom it Very good Indian name originally it was attack a comet though. I've never heard that The only I hope it's metacom it no it is because the lake is metacom it and there is a metacom it lake not far from here I've always said the metacoma and monad and octrail Well, what happens when you just see it spelled, but you know, all right never mind I miss pronounce everything else, but that's the only one that I remember from the lake, so Further discussion Congratulations we look forward to your opening. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for coming in today I just want to say one on the thing and that is thank you for applying for this ahead of time because sometimes Establishments have been known to open without this license in hand. So good for you. Yes, thank you I'll also just thank staff on the third floor as well as on the second floor for improving that process It's really it's never it's never the the applyer's fault that they end up late in the queue So we're doing a much better job of making the process work well internally and making sure that that happens So thank you very much for coming in Right, let's see. So apparently I gave everything Ten minutes tonight on a night where everything is taking five minutes. So let's see we'll do Alyssa tried Are we on time for Coit well that clock isn't the same as right We're only we're only a minute short here. So yeah, now it's seven which is the same Mr. Malloy come forward. We will deal with you mere seconds before we're supposed to get to you on the agenda Mr. Hayden, I just want to say that I work for a Company that owns a lot of property in this district, but I'm not going to recuse myself this time That's right. So mr. Hayden was very wise to mention this to me before the meeting You'll recall that he recused himself when we dealt with the local historic district recommendation on the warrant article which I think was a good idea because he works for Amherst College It occurred to me only after the fact sadly that it's possible that mr. Walden maybe should have recused himself too, but it didn't even occur to me at the time But anyway, so now we think that we're all in the free and clear here because we are only now carrying out the The requirement that town meeting authorized us to do so anyway, no one's recusing themselves tonight So this is about our having just gone through town meeting where the local historic district committee was local historic district was approved now we need to by state law establish the committee that will have Regulatory if you call it authority over this district and we have a bunch of information from mr. Walden and mr. Malloy, so why don't you tell us about these next steps the establishment of the committee and and what comes next sure I'm Nate Malloy a planner with the town of Amherst the The next steps there's a few you know the select board is appointing authority of the local stock or the district commission You know that involves you know, you're viewing and approving a charge and then Authorizing town staff to solicit nominees. So this historic district commission is a seven-member commission and The idea is that you get you know residents at least two residents of the district two architects two realtors and a member of the historical society and so we'd solicit nominees from those those areas of expertise and There's a 30-day waiting period to hear from from anyone if there if there are no responses then the select board can appoint at will But the idea is to try to get you know people with professional and personal experience and invested interest from the district This also goes before the attorney general So there's a pretty large filing that has to happen like you know similar to zoning and other measures that are passed So they review the bylaw the final report all the documents to make sure everything happened according to you know State law and in the Massachusetts historical commission So these things can happen concurrently. So the the idea is that I think tomorrow will try to get everything filed with the attorney general's office You know and then that that can take a number of days Maybe months And then in the meantime, you know staff has been talking to residents of the district and will You know form formally notify them with a letter also It could be a solicitation for anyone interested to serve on the district commission But you know the idea is to get a packet ready for everyone in the district. So information about permitting You know individualized national registered nominations for each property. So it would be tailored to each property But then also the bylaw the final report Just enough information to get them started and You know, I think after that once everything happens, you know, it could take a few months before Commission is appointed then the commission itself needs to meet and approve rules and regulations approve a permit application form and then You know with the select board approval the Bylaw and map needs to be recorded with the registry and with the town clerk And so that that's what triggers the district becoming effective. So up until that point You know everything is just you know, it's leading up to it So until the the map in the bylaws recorded the district isn't effective and that's at the discretion of the select board And that's just a historical mission as you know said that really each community has its own pace So there isn't a timeline necessarily. It's just a matter of when things can, you know, how we'd like it to happen So it's a select board's discretion But would that be something that the the committee would make a recommendation on or What are you folks as sort of our experts here? What are you thinking for that? When that might be do you put that to the committee or you're going to recommend to us at some point, right? I think staff has been talking and with Jim wall to use the liaison for the study committee and You know the idea is I think to get everything moving as fast as we can and then you know Try to get the district commission appointed and you know, I know it's the summer so things can be slow But you know, I was thinking you know in September to try to have at least a meeting with the historic district commission If we can get enough interest and you know people apply for a CAF That doesn't mean that it would become effective But I think they should you know meet once or twice you get to know each other formula You know formalize the rules and regulations and I think at that point we could you know make a recommendation to the select board So it just you know first see who's on the district commission Mr. Wilder, is there anything you'd like to add about any of this Not particularly I think mr. Mallory has covered everything just to give it also an express our thanks to town staff really for helping us to get this through because I Mean, we're you know a lot of small towns don't have the benefit of a planning staff that has expertise in things such as historic preservation So in fact the state says that it's not always a good idea to try it because you know Citizens out this is one of the concerns What will this committee be doing you know making decisions and so one reason that we have confidence in the whole process is Because we have a good experience with citizen boards for zoning for design review everything else But also because we've expert town staff who can really support it. We wouldn't have gone forward without that so That's why I think also it's a prudent plan You know to try to get things up and ready by the fall and then take things as they come Thank you That's an excellent point and and thank you really for all all of the details You've had to marshal and manage to get us to this point And I love what you said about preparing a packet for everybody in the district That seems like an incredibly user-friendly thing to do to make sure that everybody really understands what what this is and what this isn't And so so that's wonderful. Thank you Did I see hands on the semis for? Minor and then the more substantial in terms of when it says on the draft Created by town by law town meeting action We need to specify that it was the annual town meeting 2012 and what the article number was You know because that's what we just need to do it does have the date though But more importantly in terms of the solicitation of the applicants It does talk about the written request for nominees to any of the organizations for those of us All of us would have been here for when we did this for local historic district Committee and we went through all that American world having to send it to the real estate You know the blanket organization and this organization now So I figure select board members don't necessarily really need to be involved in any of that But if staff a select board time manager staff can work with Nate on how we did that the last time It seemed to work and then we eventually got CAF's associated with all of those organizations And then we can go through our appointment process But this is different than all our other sorts of appointment processes because we have to solicit from these very specific agencies And then see if they don't respond and yet. Yeah, but it's like all coming back to me and Hayes and Mr. Wald remembers it all too Yeah, so I'm hoping that's right. So I'm hoping that this is more of a you know a technical sort of Administrative task at this point at this point in the process and then once all that happens Then the select board can start taking action But that you know you just have to give people time you have to send the letter out to the real estate Association And give them time to send somebody back Right Yeah, so I've already reached out to some of those organizations just letting them know that something would be coming and so right so like the Western Mass Chapter of the AIA they meet maybe monthly and so if you miss a cycle then by the time they meet and you know So it could be you know, you know a month and a half before people are notified that this is happening Or they could vote on it Good All right, so then so we've got the draft charge miss Burr made her Comments about being specific about this annual town meeting the dates the article number Did anybody have any other questions or comments about the charge itself? Mr. Heaton, yeah, I just just I'm curious you say that that's still a couple of days away from the AG Signing off on it. What do we think the chances of that are given how close this used to the actual state? Regulation that you cite here. Oh, right So, you know, I think the Massachusetts Historical Commission reviewed the preliminary study report which included the bylaw You know and the draft rules and regulations and they don't have any comment as to the form Town staff and town council have also reviewed it And so, you know, I think the AG's office will look both that that we follow procedure timelines and everything But you know, there's always a possibility that they find something That may need to be changed, you know, I don't think that'll happen, but You know, it's it's there Miss Stein the first two bullet points under our responsibility shall include Don't read as very nice English to me. Is that actually the way they are? From the bylaw or I mean review and regulation Construction and or alteration. That's the funny juxtaposition of words And the next one says adoption and amendments to rules and right. Yeah, so that's that's um, that's taken from the bylaw and so it You know that I you know was summarized from the bylaw I didn't want to synthesize too much just to keep it as you know as specific as it could be I mean, you know, it could be changed a little bit, you know, put into other pros, but I was just keeping it Okay So just to be clear, so you're talking about there are some things like one is a known as one is a verb or whatever So to put it just to me seems like Like the like it could be have better pros Okay, so I'll make a suggestion and send it to me and I don't know if it'll be useful or not Okay, so you may or may not be able to make that change. Okay. Good. Mr. I'm just gonna say I mean, it's a matter of making a regulation which is a noun and the verb regulate That's sort of thing nothing nothing dramatic. Oh, that's fine. Yeah, I mean comments are welcome That's for one of the things that's kind of unusual about about this exciting and very happy project is That although we're really good now about referencing and it's very clear that it is part Associated with the bylaw that the two are inextricably combined, you know, this isn't just a charge that Looks at some MGL section that may or may not seem particularly that useful in day-to-day basis This is very clearly based on the bylaw that was passed by town meeting One of the things that's a little odd about it though is that it doesn't until the very end of the bylaw talk About where it is that it does this and I know that it's because I know that we only have the one right now And we wouldn't you know get a whole new historic district commission if we had to but I'm just wondering What's the way to say without people, you know, if somebody wants to just look at the charge of the historic district commission? What's the way of saying without reading all the stuff the area that the historic district commission works on is this? Like what is there a simple way to do that that would just in case people have that question? Oh, yeah, you have one of those and it's just for this one section of town Right now, right now. I think that's a good point Some communities they'll have you know separate district commissions, you know possibly reviewed You know each each district or they may have just one review all of them So I guess, you know, that's a good point. You can be a matter of preference We could mention it upfront that this is in the Dickinson, you know district area and then if other districts are approved or something changes that can always be changed as well, but You know it could also refer to the map I guess if that you know could also attach the map to the charge of something like that That just makes it immediately, you know, one you can go look at the bylaw and to It's this piece Okay, it's unusual. We don't have a checkbox for that right now But if you can think of a way to reference that that'd be great. Mr. Eden This didn't strike me until just now So I like the idea of making the Dickinson historic district the way it was at town meeting And that was part of the name of the warrant article, but that's I'm wondering if this The special municipal employee status should be yes Very specifically because there are going to be people on the committee Who do have a financial interest in? the work of the committee and the conflict of interest laws Change With the yes and the no with the no they're not recall. They're not allowed to Participate in Actions that they have a financial interest in like for instance the affecting the value of their home if they are special municipal employees They can make the statement get the clearance and move on That's not my understanding of special municipal employee. I believe it's about them representing Themselves before other with other boards and committees So if you were to if you were to be on the local historic district committee, but you were also on the Some other important committee. I don't know conservation commission conservation Know if you were to bring clients before the conservation commission if you were a special Municipal if you were a municipal employee by nature of your service on the local historic district committee You would need to be a special municipal employee in order to be able to represent your clients before the conservation Commission you can never SME doesn't keep you doesn't protect you from conflict of interest within your own committee But you do raise an interest in question So the question is how you deal with that? But I don't think that I don't think special municipal employee is Also precludes any of these folks from being on another committee that doing any work on this So I guess I'm not saying that I think that that shouldn't be special municipal employee because I think every committee should be It just makes no sense to me But I'm not sure that it deals with the specific concern that you're talking about So miss Brewer knows a lot about these things. So what are your reactions to? Exactly so The reason it says no right now of course is because the committee hasn't solicited SME status because they don't exist yet But we could we could put it into effect right now We just have to and the only the only reason to hesitate on that is so we make sure we represent to the committee members What it actually is? Because there has been no end of confusion as to what SME status actually does on the ground for people in any number of Situations and while I agree complete with Ms. O'Keefe. I think it's partially I think it can it can add to the case associated with the financial issue But it's not the carte blanche that people think it is associated with the financial issue So I have no problem with going ahead and saying that yes We would vote at the same time we you know if we're waiting for the charge to come back because obviously they have other things to do We could we could put you know special municipal employee status granted such and such date and that would be fine And then people would get that as part of their orientation But we you know we still have the old SME status on the website It's something that we need to work on because it's a it's a concern And I think this is a particular one that we want town council particularly if they already Happen to represent other communities where they already have local historic districts That would be incredibly helpful to have we might need to get a little see if they have a guidance memo or anything associated with this To help people out that way because exactly people aren't going to want to apply if they feel like it's too murky And I actually don't remember how this conversation did go with the local Aspect of it that we knew was a temporary sort of thing Particularly concerned for them not only for the people who actually own property who might want to serve on another committee doing something else But also for members of the aia whose profession is representing people to boards and committees here in town and That's a difficult thing for them I could just interject. Yes staff I was speaking with the Direct the president of the Western mass chapter the aia he he alluded to you know conflict of interest problems So staff has discussed it internally and we're getting a memo out to town council just to ask for clarification Because right you mean the idea is that you would want professionals serving they have the expertise But then if you know if people are worried about conflict of interest or a violation of ethics And they you know so they don't want to then sit on the commission. You're losing losing valuable resource so We're we've already thought of that we're thinking of ways to see if we can address it Okay, great. I'm too miss Bruce other point about Making further revisions to the charge. Are you expecting to do that or you want us to approve the charge tonight? No, there's no, I think it was just important just to You just to get it in front of you and you can have time to review it doesn't have to happen tonight I think you know, I think there are some you know people have some comments and questions So that's fine. It can get it can come back to me and There's small but There's no rush either, right. Mr. Miss Antique. Yeah, I think that's a good approach and I Agree that it's an important issue that would be best addressed upfront before Before the committee is appointed and I Miss O'Keefe's summary that the conflict of interest law Applies with or without the status in terms of your work on the Historic District Commission But given the concerns, I think it is something we want to Get a specific recommendation to you on early on here Because that might may help us with recruitment of the best possible members to the Commission So I don't think that this select board would have any issue with granting Special municipal employee status to this committee when the charge is created. Is that right? I'm like we're all nodding so so that won't be an issue. It's so whenever whenever you want to bring the recommendation to us I'm sure we'll approve it Okay, other questions or comments about this then All right, so then people should give you further comment about the charge or you think you've kind of Synthesize the things that people have Just send it to native writing. It's it's minor. Okay, it would be better. Okay, really would okay And so miss Brewer had the technical points about the Articles and the town meeting dates. Did anybody else have anything else that they want included? Okay, so then probably this can come back to us for approval on Monday perhaps because we don't meet again until the middle of July So You're meaning the whole charge or what? Yes, just charge. We won't have bodies yet. No, right? Just say okay charges. Okay. That's fine Right. I did just in talking about your whole kind of the the lag times and everything is part of the process I don't want you to have to wait until the middle of July for us to deal with this again Okay, are we good with all this any other questions or comments for mr. Malloy? Good. Thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate you're coming in and all the good information miss Brewer says right in the memo I mean, I'm sorry in the motion sheet that it's article 27 But you can include that because you knew that off the top of your head We're good very good. All right. Thank you Now it is so are we going to go ahead with this motion or not? No, that does nothing to approve Okay So that was 710 so 720 item is Except temporary easement for Amherst College bike path bridge construction This is dealing with the bridge over Snell Street in order to prevent a very long detour Amherst College has has very Kindly provided a right-of-way detour through some of their property to accommodate the public on the bike path during that construction period We had had this before us before this is already this has already gone before where have we dealt with this already at town meeting That's right town meeting approved the easement approved the select board accepting the easement So it has already been through that process This was supposed to be approved by us a couple of weeks ago But the the language of the easement wasn't quite right now It is all right and we're ready to approve it So essentially it's a technicality at this point We do have the maps and information in our packets Miss Stein would like to make the motion. I would I Move that the select board pursuant to the authority granted under article 13 of the November 7th 2011 special town meeting as continued to accept from Amherst College a temporary access and Construction easement as shown on the accompanying layout plan Forens attention attachment C in parenthesis Said it to ease been to be used during the replacement of the snow street rail trail bridge Someone who uses this frequently I gratefully second further discussion Famer say hi. Hi. Hi. That is unanimous. Thank you All right next up is our post town meeting or wrap-up discussion We started doing this a couple years ago I think it's a good thing to do to just kind of take a couple minutes and look back on town meeting in particular our processes and and How they went any kind of comment that we want to think about for changing things for the future or comment that we Want to pass along to other groups? so town meeting now seems blessedly long ago, but is it still in your mind enough that you have any thoughts about how it went any Thoughts on how it might improve Anyone miss Brewer. I forgot my notes Okay, I mentioned that I did actually make a couple while we were at town meeting on my town meeting book Which is not in my I ripped out my my little piece of my finance committee Well, we'll start we Can start all right So, let's see them my comments some of them are for us to talk about some of them. I might just I might just send that to them One of the things that I thought I would say in general I thought things went very well I thought the select board's preparation and during Late March and April went very well again appreciate very much the office's help Deborah Rusell in particulars help in coordinating folks to get all of the articles to us To get all the presenters and the articles ready for us to take our positions on before hand That it really is nice to go into town meeting essentially with all of our work done because having to do that in the meetings Before town meeting is a great big hassle. So so I think that worked well I think all the little tweaks we've been kind of making along the way worked well the master script Worked well that the select board office started doing I believe a year ago I Don't know whose idea it was, but I thought it worked also very well as a tweak was the tally cards only getting one set of tally Cards and then one backup set later in case we needed it That was much better than getting a set a new set every night of town meeting and it felt good to not be kind of Wasting all that paper The One thing that I had mentioned personally not from the slide board discussion But personally to TMCC last year, but I'll bring it up to see if you want to endorse it because they weren't interested in last year is I think that they should consider and and Champion the use of the consent calendar I think that it would be a difficult thing for the moderator to do or for anybody else to kind of initiate But I think if it came from TMCC Saying that yes This would be something that that could improve the flow of things a bit then then that would have some weight with the body I mean they'd need to talk about it and see if it's worthwhile But I've thought a lot about it and they're really only a handful of articles that could even be considered for the consent calendar But at the same time and they're all very clear You know and each one of them does have a certain amount of infrastructure that is built around it That if you put them all together it would be quicker people always say well You know there's always new town meeting members, so there's always somebody new who hasn't heard the explanation very true However, we have an incredibly detailed finance committee report So there's just it takes a lot of a lot of the momentum of the first night to deal with a bunch of these things that really are kind Of technicality articles, so how would the select board feel about asking TMCC to consider the the consent calendar and Recommending that this time. I'm smiling because you're gonna get rid of all the things I love to present, but But I think it's a good idea Okay, Miss Brewer. I agree with what she said Hardly both parts of it because Absolutely, I mean we always are walking that line when we're here at this meeting to in terms of education of the public about a new Topic versus materials ahead of time, you know We want to have people not have things to be completely meaningless if they haven't read the stuff ahead of time But you know what for town meeting you're required to read it ahead of time And if you don't understand it then that's the time you ask at the warrant review or whatever Or if you think that something really makes no sense whatsoever You can ask to have it taken out of the consent calendar But I find it very frustrating that there seems to be some tiny little current within town meeting that thinks that You should be able to walk in cold and have everything explained to you like no That's not what we do with tell me and that's why the finance committee book goes out two weeks ahead of time That's why there's a year-round listserv. So these very straight You know you have to do it every year kind of thing It doesn't make any sense to listen to random questions that could be answered somewhere else When the you know to encourage it to be part of a consent calendar I think tells us that people don't have to feel bad if they don't ask questions And I I think that if there's something that people have questions about Then then maybe that shouldn't be in the consent calendar But it only takes one person to move to take it out of the consent calendar I'm talking more about the things that there are no questions for so go through the same sort of rigmarole of You know you go through the motion you speak to the motion you explain it you do the positions on it And then it's just a unanimous vote There's not even any discussion about it And so you do that through four or five or six of them if they were all in the consent calendar Then it would just be one simple rigmarole. If I could just add a clarifying sentence to that Partly what I was referring to was that they don't have to feel bad if they don't ask a question because I noticed it Particularly that with this town meeting session that I think because it was not in a consent calendar the moderator felt obligated to solicit questions and like that was totally unnecessary and So I think it gives him the feeling like okay if somebody wants to pull it out they can but otherwise It's not required to ask questions All right, so we're good with asking TMCC to consider this more and look into that because it does it would potentially have some benefits One of the things that I thought was interesting and I hadn't thought about it before and it wasn't until after town Meaning that I looked it up and saw that it's actually part of our general by-laws, which would require a town meeting vote to change but We have the system of five minutes for the maker of the motion and then three minutes for everything after that and I think that in general, that's good any follow-up question or comment But I actually think it's a problem that people who are answering questions are Confined to the three minutes like you ought to be able to confine your your statement about something to three minutes Or your question about something but the answer might be more complicated than three minutes And you can't really know because you haven't prepared ahead of time for a specific answer You know you're not gonna ask ahead of time Could I have two extra minutes to answer this question? So then you get to an awkward point as happened with the town manager who's who's giving a detailed answer to a question And then the body shuts him off. This is it's awkward for multiple reasons one is you the the answerer hasn't had the full opportunity to answer the question might take more than three minutes and It's these things are typically being answered by the folks at the front table who don't have the timer in front of them anyway So I think it I think that that's if we were ever to look into changing Bylaws, I think that that's kind of a funny one that I'm not sure you can justify having that having the answers be Be covered by that also But I don't I don't think I feel strongly enough that it's a big enough problem to recommend going through Changing of our bylaws to deal with it, but I wanted to throw that out there see what folks think I think if somebody like mr. Muse anti is going to give a Suspects that his answer is going to take longer. I would go ahead and ask for the two minutes What differences make if you finish in three that will show Whoever, you know for whoever the answer is I think it shows the body that you're willing to obey, you know that sort of Regulation shall we say of three minutes or five minutes, whatever I? Tend to come in short because I don't like to You know take up any more of town meeting, but I think other people Have a different approach, and that's fine, but they should ask for the extra two minutes Since that seems to be the rules of the game. Yeah, I guess my point is just you you prepare for your remarks You know you prepare to your right? I see your point completely But you don't prepare an answer and the answer might be complicated, but it's not a huge issue No, but I think it's a valid point, and I'm just saying when you think you know It's going to take longer because it you have to give a more complicated more nuanced Answer that to say ahead of time, you know, I think this might take five minutes And then I think town meeting would feel that they were being respected Mr. Ian, I mean that that brings up I think it's a great idea it brings up a couple of interesting questions, which I'm sure you know I'll be meeting with the TMCC. It's Wednesday That they're getting ready for Harrison next Monday. There's a whole bunch of scheduling going on, but I See that creating two classes of town meeting discussion the debate Which you know you're limited to your three minutes and then sort of something else and really I think your observation Might be the town meeting already is moving that way Where there's a discussion beforehand sort of before the debate goes on but getting to understand it and the questions Go back and forth and that's not the debate. That's sort of establishing You know the the facts that then will be debated beyond So that's that's kind of an interesting I don't know I guess the general bylaw the town meeting I Have to figure out if that's a town meeting process Rule or if that is a part of article one of the general bylaws or whatever it's called Yeah And it says, you know five minutes for the maker of the motion in three minutes for each subsequent speaker, right? But the intention there is to regulate debate not You know correct correct It does say each subsequent Yeah, the general bylaw doesn't differentiate between the two right so we'll go to mr. Wilde then mr. No, I'm quite sympathetic to the problem I understand the Miss Steins point about the procedure because I think part of what happened in the case of the town manager is That though he was answering a question providing expert technical information It was seen as being a partisan answer that was supporting one You know it's very hard to disentangle information from debate when the discussion going on So I think that was part of the problem too. I don't know what the answer is But I think that's why people were concerned and I don't want to I don't want to that wasn't the only time this happens I mean people who are answering questions that happens with the school folks also You know you you don't know what the question is going to be so the answer could be you know all kinds of things So it did happen a lot not just with the town manager, but that was one that got a lot of attention. So miss Brewer When we talk about two different classes of speakers, I think one of the things that we have That has been true, you know, not that I remember every town meeting session since 1999 although I've been It's this is a this is a moderator management issue again because over my experience in town meeting What would happen was? There was there were speakers which were the select board finance committee Individual audience members conservation Commission and then there were answers provided by mr. Moreing or Mr.. He said and so when you don't when it's very when the town manager made it clear where he or I should say the town Moderator, I'm sorry when the town moderator would say mr. Moreing Do you want to answer that there was no question West whether or not mr. Moreing was going to get three or five minutes that it was just a non issue because he wasn't a speaker He was answering a question However, there was definitely a new political vein in town meeting this time around Where people said hey wait the school committee wait the superintendent wait, you know And weren't looking at it the same way because there is that fine line between answering a question and promoting a position And so I think it's a discussion Mainly for TMCC to have with the moderator as to what his expectation is because it's one thing if the town manager Is raising his hand because he wants to provide more information. It's nothing if someone asks a direct question and they say Chief Livingstone What do you want to say to that and then chief Livingstone should be able to talk for 10 minutes If that's how long it takes to answer the question without having to ask ahead of time for eight minutes because it's a direct question But it starts to get muddy and so I think that it was not managed the same way It was before and I think there was a political strain that that people felt cheated And so if people are going to feel cheated then obviously everyone should ask for the time But it gets kind of silly when it's you know asking the DPW guy to come all the way down from the upper Right to answer yes or no on a you know a simple question Yes, mr. Margaret might need four and a half minutes to answer that question about so I definitely think it's a discussion though That should take place at least between TMCC and the moderator with you know We could put in our two cents that we're concerned about it because it was different this year and people were obviously Frustrated and I think before it's been managed somewhat differently by the same moderator So so it may be partially rules and partially kind of shared expectations So it'll be an interesting it won't be an interesting thing for TMCC to chew on and I will see Mr. And I think the point we shouldn't lose the point of Raising the suggestion and that is that town meeting can be more effective can use town meeting members times more effectively That's kind of where the asking for the two minutes sort of now. You're stopping and taking a vote but any event But and so I mean let's let's you know keep that ahead of us. That's effectiveness. Mr. Walth. Yeah, and In that vein I think we're also saying I mean it's if not a unique situation unusual one in that because of the census We had a complete re-election of members and there are a lot of new people and you know You can do all the orientation you want I don't know if the problem lay in the orientation or the fact that it wasn't absorbed But clearly there are a lot of people who didn't quite understand the rules You know unless you've been to some of these you don't understand You know why calling the previous question refers to the question That's currently on the floor or what the specific procedure is and how you raise an objection how you raise a question What the difference between abstract curiosity and something vital to your decision on the vote is that's that's I don't know It's clearly an issue. I was going to say anecdotally though when the historic district passed I sent out a message about that to the historic preservation lists or throughout the state You know and said on the seventh night of town meeting whatever embers to prove this and somebody wrote back and they said most said Congratulations that one person said wow seven nights. What's wrong with you people? Here we are I think we've done a good job that we got Town being done in a relatively short time, but other towns that seem like a long one. So these things are all relative Okay, more on that or we're good. Okay. Do you have your next item on your list? Yeah, I'll be dead. That's my last one I'll talk about Because you're inspiring me to remember So so I did something that was a little bit unusual and I did it a couple of times this year And I just wanted to see what folks thought of it and what the any feedback that was heard So it is in fact again in the rules of town meeting that No, you can't consider another article or a motion after 10 o'clock without the majority support of the body So what I did a couple of times was put out there for consideration Do you want to move on to this article or not? And so my reasoning was that that was never a recommendation or preference from me But that that was the only way the body gets to decide gets to weigh in on whether it wants to keep going or not Because the motion to adjourn is not a debatable motion. So If if I only make the motion to adjourn then that becomes Me deciding when town meeting is gonna end whereas the body should get to decide when it ends for each evening So so I wanted to A explain why I did that and B See see what people thought and now I recognize it was roundly rejected every time I did it Which is perfectly fine but I'm wondering what you think the body thought of Having that opportunity and not not whether or not we should have continued later that night But what do you think of the the fact that they got to decide or not did that? Did they feel like that was more of a recommendation or did you hear any feedback or anything? So I'll stop talking and just say that miss Stein. I didn't hear any feedback, but I would If you want to do it fine, but I would explain it the way you explained it now That if we go immediately to a motion to adjourn Then that's not a debatable motion But if people feel they would like to go on the only thing is my sense of the meeting is the only time They're really willing to stay till 11 say and go on is when they know the end is going to happen that the meeting is Training to a lot of people and they just want to go home put their feet up and you know Catch their breath right so I I think you could explain it at the beginning of town meeting That you're going to do it sometimes to give town meeting of voice as to whether they want to go on But I will bet you dollars to doughnuts that the only time it's really going to happen is if it's the last meeting and That you know, that's my feeling about it That's right. I Think I think miss Stein might be correct on that on one hand the other hand when you the first time you did it You did explain that was great and I As having been a member of a committee and chair of a committee that often spent time after 10 o'clock getting our work done I think it's a good thing to offer and I would expect it to be rejected every time I don't know if with practice and routine people understand. Oh, this is something we can consider I mean most people have set up their babysitters for you know, 10 o'clock or whatever and they they've you know Their expectation is that they're going to be gone by 10 and when that Isn't so much the expectation you may get a different response five or ten years down the road I don't know someone will get a different response Also, I know I'm wondering and I'm just going to throw this out as an odd as a you know an additional idea I mean if if what was Next brought up was one of these things that didn't quite make it on the consent calendar But doesn't have a lot of debate attached to it I don't know if they would pick up they the town meeting members would consider, you know dispatching one or two more small More articles before leaving and I know that means a lot of rearranging and sort of again monkeying with the expectations But it's kind of an interesting thing So I was doing it in thinking that it was giving the body more power instead of the power resting with me Is making the motion? So So it seemed like it would be a positive thing, but but I'm not sure if that's how it was viewed But then it I was being subjective I was trying to take the pulse of well Maybe this is a time they would want to do that, you know, maybe because you know We're in the middle of zoning and there were a bunch of people there for for both zoning articles If the majority of the body wanted to continue then they'd have no option if I were to adjourn after the first one But then maybe the question is Would do you want the the chair of the select board using discretion that way? Maybe it should be an all-the-time thing Maybe maybe every night that should happen and let the body say no Which it probably will but but potentially say yes because then it doesn't look like I'm cherry-picking when I do it or something like that Mr. Hayden and then this yeah, I would definitely suggest to recommend or even urge you to say yeah offered every night Just make that as I mean just just the same as you know, I don't participate in calling the question That's not sort of our decision. It's doing it every night. It's now not our decision as well I just my recollection is that The two time at least two of the times that you offered that The next article had lots and lots of people who are wanting to speak a great length to it which may have been more Just you know the reason that they voted no and wanted to move on then than anything else well Then among everything else right right and everyone will be a little bit different. Yes So yes every time I Absolutely appreciate that you did it and I for the exact reasons that you outlined and giving the power to the people to Decide that I think is really important. I also think that there is a psychological benefit that benefits my personal view Which is that I think it's ridiculous utterly ridiculous that people start leaving at 945 And I'm ashamed of the fact that people do that because we do we stay, you know Lots of committees stay, you know, you've made this commitment now Of course if you have a babysitter or six spouse those things are all fine But people who think we ought to be done by 10. I don't think we should give people The idea that of course we're gonna be done at 10 no matter what I think it should be very clear to people Because there will be times there are those rare occasions when our timing is such that we would really need to decide whether or not to Continue and so I think it is it makes the most sense as you just said and mr. Hayden affirmed do it every time and then again the remind and then it'll just become a matter of fact thing and the Moderator can he also announce it, you know at the beginning of the thing that that's why we do that You know we start when we have a quorum and we end based on what the meeting says because the rule says 10 o'clock and it Gives them the choice rather than Arguably it could be misused By the chair, so I think it's great and it is in the rules There's there's no way for the body to decide unless you give them the exact right the only choice they have so Mr. Hayden that mr. I might also observe that to neighboring towns town meeting went beyond 10 o'clock this year There were some complaints about that too They they won one of them went to laughter 11 It's not unusual yeah, the 10 o'clock thing isn't the bylaw on the handbook and if members actually read it they would know that but This is the time to discuss meeting time in general. Is that a separate question? I just know that I heard some people saying I'm not sure exactly on it, you know Whether it was a proposal for concrete action or not that as Ms. Brewer said part of the problem is that town meeting goes on because we start late and we some people leave early There's a danger if not losing quorum at least not having a fully representative body present and One suggestion I heard was to change the town meeting meeting time a little bit They say to start earlier to have a longer session for fewer nights as opposed to More sessions at the current length. I don't know if that's something we would be discussing or Expressing opinions about that was a suggestion I either made personally or maybe on behalf of the select board last time to them saying what if we started at seven So then they did a survey and the survey came out fifty percent each way to I'm not sure that many people participated in it But but I think there's a lot of value in that and so that's an interesting thing that I will call on you I swear The select board sets the time so, you know Theoretically we could start you know call town meeting for four o'clock in the afternoon if we wanted to but it would obviously be a foolish thing to do without the You know TMCC is the perfect body to to chew on that and think about it and make a recommendation on it So if if anybody out there in TV land thinks it should start earlier than 730 I hope that they would get those comments to TMCC because I think that I think just starting at seven would make a big difference Mr. Museum. I was going to in a much less eloquent way make the point points that you and Mr. Walde just made that This was a well Relatively speaking. I mean the budget Was relatively lacking in drama by design We had some very important zoning articles and historic district and some you know Petition articles that merited a lot of discussion and it was a seven night annual town meeting which is You know two more nights than last year, but Probably close to the average I suppose so the so where it goes both ends Is there a way to get the people's business done and fewer nights on average by Attempting to start as close to seven as possible. You're right. I don't think there's a huge Participation rate in the survey and those who did participate There was about a 50-50 split, but I think that From my angle continues to merit some discussion in terms of Making it as user-friendly and family-friendly as possible to get the broadest possible participation in town meeting Mr. Hayden and then this is the personal observation about starting in the early hour I sort of realized that the first two nights we had quorum very close to 730 and the last Three we are last we didn't Took a long time to get to quorum So there's some support for an earlier time for fewer meetings. Thank you. Ms. Brewer and the mr. One One of the reasons I supported this. This is where I get to say I told you so I supported this last year's because we knew we were going to be electing only town meeting members and by golly TMCC could have done the outreach and said, you know what it's going to start at seven Be aware of that when you run for town meeting I don't believe that typically TMCC has supported the idea of moving to seven and that's why they're not champion yet but again, it's not up to them and I think that we do need to make it seven o'clock and I think we just need to Figure out some outreach associated with that because that is what it is I just don't have any understanding of why we have to go with 730 Because it just is too short a period of time each night because hopefully if we do seven we get started by 715 we'll make a huge difference. It's almost half an hour every night So I just want to say that I don't think that TMCC it's entirely possible They've taken no position whatsoever They decided to put it to the body as opposed to making a recommendation to the body. They just asked the body If they if they think about it and might want to make a recommendation one way or the other than that could change things But I think starting with by asking the body what it wants What's not an unreasonable way to go about that? Mr. Walton try just to follow up on what was Brewer said too You know for the record and for the sake of the viewing audience or people new to this that when we're talking about increasing the Decreasing the time and increasing the efficiency of town meeting. We're not trying to short circuit the democratic process It's a question of whether we sometimes take longer than we actually need to because one of the things that concerns me Is that it's hard to recruit people to run for town meetings sometimes and particularly, you know If you were if you have relatively flexible schedule or if you're retired It may be easier than if you were young and have kids in school and have to pay for a babysitter and things like that So I've always been a little bit concerned about the fact that the town meeting Population I haven't looked at statistically but seems to be skewed more to the sort of you know 30 40 and above and Fewer people of the young parents with kids and given that we vote about schools and property and things like that There is you know, there's a trade-off But I think the more we can do to ensure that town meeting is as accessible in all senses to all members of the population the better Thank you And it's a point that I make every year, but I like to make it so I'll make it again The folks on town meeting might sort of say well, you know, we're here We're here every night doesn't matter how long it takes and you can sort of get into that mindset But we have to remember that there are other folks that are affected by the timing of this So never mind the the folks who have already opted in or out of participation based on how long it goes But there are members of different boards and committees who want to be there to speak to their article But you have no idea you need to you need to Pencil in every Monday and Wednesday in May and June to your calendar because you have no idea when something is gonna come up Folks who are who are a butters or who who take an interest in the article But but aren't town meeting members experts that people want to bring in to speak to something you have no idea whatsoever When and let's just narrow it down to May because these days it doesn't typically go into June as much But but it can and it used to and so you just never know It's really it's pretty it's pretty stunning to expect somebody to be ready on the drop of a hat Any Monday or Wednesday for three to nine weeks, you know, it's so so it really does have an impact So whatever we can do to shorten it. I think it's only beneficial Alright, I'm done with my town meeting comments. Did you want to talk more about this? I have a different or no one's okay Good moving on to no one's and and I get before I do that very I'm wondering if at this point you're feeling like you need to write a letter or if we're just asking Aaron to take This along to TMCC and then we're writing a letter just where we're going associated with the formality There will be for the list tomorrow. I'll bullet point just a little bit of Reference to each of these and I will send that to Miss Streeter and Miss Roberts from TMCC, which is very good last year Yeah, and I'll just make myself available to them to Talk to flesh a little more. It's like how exciting it was for us Two things one in addition to the wonderful things you guys brought up is Associated and this this is also a moderator management issue that's up to him and I've seen him do it different ways over the last 10 years 13 years and I don't think it worked very well this year and that's a suit and I'd like to see TMCC So we all have a shared expectation at least TMCC understands the follow-up question the bane of our One of the Banes of my existence at town meaning We have people who ask and say I have a two-part question depends on what the answer is or I have two questions Whatever and it's never equally applied because it can't be once you start letting people do that thing And it's really hard because there are times when you know you ask the question and they answer a certain way And if you don't get the ask the next part then you don't get the answer you want but you know what too bad because It's just not evenly applied So I just like TMC to talk to the moderator about that about how what their perception is because hopefully people talk to TMCC about that because I think that led itself also to this sort of Political vein of things that well this person got to ask a follow-up question Well, but they got to ask a follow-up question and then it feels unfair to people and so I'm really worried about where We're trying to go with that because it's it's a very uncomfortable position to be in hopefully you can ask it one way But if you're gonna Expect that you're gonna get to ask two-part questions then we need to say we can ask two-part questions And that'll be fine not it's not the end of the world But there's has to be evenness about the way it's applied And I think it puts the moderator in an awkward position to not To not know which way is supposed to go with it the other thing is much more simple Which is about those cards, you know My first initial thought was well, this is awesome and then I was tracking who was showing up because you know I this thing about people running for town meeting and they're never coming and There were people who were coming who were forgetting to check in because they didn't have to get cards anymore and they forget about that and There were people who voted who weren't marked as present. So we had the possibility. We had three Yeah, we had three people because when I brought it up the other way and well We had three people who voted who weren't marked as present So obviously voter fraud could be an issue, especially when we have zoning things that pass by three or five or not votes So I just like TMCC to talk about that and you know, I still think it's a good idea and I don't think anything's perfect, but I think it's probably just a matter of Reminding people and that's why I asked ever up there We're very helpfully put that up while we were in our meeting one night Did you check it? You don't have to get new cards, but you got to check in Because we don't want our votes questioned after when everybody works so hard Okay, interesting. Thank you. I don't see why we couldn't just vote by cards every time that would get rid of this problem and There'd be a record of it and you could be sure that Right person voted and not somebody who is just sitting in the audience or It just seems to me or get rid of this problem of people voting who shouldn't be or not having signed in So anyway, just a thought Okay, that's interesting. Yeah, so mr. Wilde and I were noticing I sort of a similar problem of that You'd have people come late to the meeting who were there to talk about who were there to for an issue They missed the whole thing at the beginning about the seats in the front or for town meeting members and the seats in the back Or for non-time so they just sit anywhere and so, you know, you assume they're not voting But they might be voting, you know, but obviously they're not born on tally votes, but for the voice votes or whatever So yeah, it is very complicated. Okay. Good. Good thoughts here, mr. Wilde. I Don't want to open up the whole can of worms about the zoning But that you know the thing that that that strikes me is it's and I know this from having gone to some of the precinct meetings as well that you know, it'd be it one of the key issues that Arrows here was how we can best discuss complicated issues because in some sense no one can understand everything About a financial issuer zoning issue unless one is really immersed in the whole process probably from much earlier on So I don't want to get into that too much here, but That became an issue at this meeting when in discussing the first zoning amendment Sorry, Freudian slip the first zoning article. There was an amendment from the floor, and I'm not there's so many variables involved I'm not going to try to analyze the whole process, but suffice it to say that it was a very it wasn't one of our high points It I think through the discussion of the actual met of the amendment We had a long discussion about whether it was a legitimate amendment as well as about the specifics of it That should not have been the case it should have been clear at some point whether it was something we could be discussing or not And so that took on a life its own it didn't help the discussion of the Article in question, and I think also for a lot of new town meeting members It was a very dispiriting thing, you know on it just we're barely underway, and you have this kind of total chaos I don't know what we can do about that, but Somehow if all parties are on the same page as to what constitutes an amendment how it is brought forward and so forth I mean if there's dispute it should be answered promptly and not allowed to fester like that Yeah, more good points more more tough to answer questions Thank you for mentioning it. Miss Stein and the Mr. Hayden There was that survey about hearing And I just want to say something has happened to this room This is the first time that no matter where I stand in the room I can hear everything and I would give a lot if the middle school auditorium Had that kind of acoustics. I don't know what they've done. They've done something, but it's great And I know that I'm not the only one saying That it's hard to hear everything that people are saying. It's hard to get the microphones adjusted I turned to you half the half a dozen times in a given meeting and say what he say and This is I don't know what they've done here, but they've done something and it's fabulous We wish it could be in the middle school as well. Whoever our technician is tonight Thank you very much the sound quality in here is excellent and it's a matter of getting the mics and the speakers Ordinated well and then they really are just excellent tonight. So thank you very much Okay, yeah, so still ongoing sound issues at the auditorium. I think mr. Keating. So I wanted to back back up just a little bit along the lines of Complicated difficult articles I want to Mention my appreciation for The article 29 folks for working with us to even the last minute and that was a little bit difficult sort of in the middle of town meeting to be You know thrashing through Amendments to that article before it got to the floor so that it would work better The observation is that I mean folks who do that even simply to go to Harrison You know the day before or even that night and say I'm gonna Want to offer this and they can get some quick hints as to how to do it correctly or more effectively I'll use that word again more effectively and on the sound I Won't make this in my report now on the TMCC, but there is a sound subcommittee meeting Monday, I believe and I have a lot to speak to them about I mean, I have a pretty good sense of I don't know if you notice that the sound was different This time than last time it was actually better here. No, no Yeah here, of course no, but in the middle school Because some things were done some basic things they can move on from that Let's see. Mr. Wilde. Did you have your hand if anyone else on the decision is for audio visual support? If there's anything we can do You know sometimes PowerPoint just stinks, but If there's anything we can do because people got real restless and cranky about that And it may be that we just need to change people's expectations as to how different things will work But it seemed like things were much less smooth this time around for nearly every article And I don't know if it's people, you know, Pete TMCC has done a great job of saying if you're gonna do a presentation Here's all the things you need to think about and here's how the different pieces of equipment work So I don't I don't know what all the confusion was and it may have just been a one-off kind of year But it was an odd year for audio visual Yeah, I would another observation on that a lot of people were trying new things this year I mean, I saw some stuff that I think I remember only Larry Kelly ever getting close to that Yeah, more people trying But I do appreciate the TMCC put out all that info about how to try make up Small steps Anything else? meeting All right, I will do the best I can to synthesize this and put it in the list tomorrow You'll see that if you can see that I left out anything glaring Let me know and then I will get that to the TMCC folks. Okay. Good. I appreciate having this conversation I think it's 15 minutes It's you know, everything has to take as long as it needs to take but it shouldn't take any longer. That's my theory okay So now we are at preparation for town manager evaluation and goal-setting process Yes, it's summer again. Here we go all right, so You have in your packets a a timeline Suggesting how we go about this. This is essentially the same timeline that we have used the last couple of years And it's it's about fitting all the different pieces into our Meeting schedule, so we're meeting two fewer times this summer than we were last summer the only thing that that changes is we're having one fewer goals discussion, which I don't think is a big deal because We're now we're now a few years into these goals that we just improve every year and This board has been working together as a board for a couple of years, so we're not starting from scratch with that So I think that'll work just fine The other things are you know when the when the different things happen in relation to the town manager evaluations when the Questionnaires go out to staff and the public etc. And when they're all do back All of this is to culminate on that meeting on August 20th That will be just the evaluation meeting same meeting we had last year where we sit around and read a bunch of documents And then we talk about them and what else should be included or excluded or whatever and So the other critical date I'll note on here is August 15th. That is the date By which I need at the select board's evaluation forms to me So everything kind of pivots off of those two end dates So Questions or comments about this now we don't need to finalize it until the next meeting Any particular concerns or or issues about the timeline as presented it really is that essentially the same as last year everything is just that That the dates all changed by like two days or whatever to represent the the change in calendar for this year But everything it's the same three and a half weeks for for staff to comment etc All right, so so if you come up with any concerns then next week we will we will look at that again All right, so then moving on to the documents themselves the first document In the packet is the stuff that we talked about last year After the evaluation we tried to capture some comments The ones on the bottom of the sheet are from Miss Brewer She actually incorporated those into her her review So I wanted to to pull those out so that they were in front of us And there were a couple of thoughts that I had also so we've we've already You've seen these before because we tried to have a discussion last fall about this But but not going into them, but just to sort of inspire any new thoughts that folks had So first of all that it inspire any new thoughts about changes folks wanted to mention about the evaluation process from last year Okay, if you come up with them you can mr. Hayden We're gonna raise your hand if we're talking about this thing here Yes, I mean that the first the first comment about the fewer categories like that's That's good to have risen to the top Okay, all right interesting so all right before we get into the specifics of these are there anything else you want to add to this list Oh, we we talk about them Okay, all right, so now talking about them. All right, so you want to consider fewer rating categories It's something you'd like because I kind of went. Yeah, it sounds good, but no Look at last year now So so we have five right now and there is sort of little difference sometimes between You know what's great and what's excellent or you know, whatever So it could get down to three potentially Or you could just figure that you're just gonna shift the line a little you know the line would be You know the same problem You just be of which category it quite tips over into you just have fewer categories to make that decision on Thoughts Miss Stein. I I would just drop commendable It seems to be outstanding satisfactory needs improvement unsatisfactory and unable to judge all address a particular Point of view, but I don't really see much between commendable and outstanding So there are definitions at the top of the page that is supposed to have us all thinking about it the same way But I think outstanding is a performance or passing reasonable expectations That's why I say they could be fused So I that's that would be my recommendation Other thoughts about keeping or changing that mr. Walton was mr. Hagen No, no you go ahead. I'm still I had a similar thought because I see some of the differences But at the same time, I mean I found myself agonizing over this, you know, he's doing a good job Shouldn't I be giving him outstanding? But you know, I can't check a plus for every, you know, it's sort of it Too much I think could be read into what for the you know, that is when the person is filling it out We may agonize over which one to do and it may be simply it's a judgment call that then gets too much weight later on So I think if the work is excellent the work is excellent and I much as I generally like data-driven things and numbers and Quantification I think that maybe the you know, the pros comments here are the place to make those kind of distinctions Okay, for me that's more helpful because it's usually something specific So you're arguing for fewer also correct, okay? So I had said that we had five we do have five if you don't count unable to judge All right, so are we looking at four or three is unable to judge one of those? So unable to judge Because my question unable to judge to jump down to miss Brewer's point here I think a lot of town staff put down unable to judge either because the town manager was new or Because we were asking them things basically outside their field of daily endeavor, you know So that's that's maybe one drawback to having the exact same form for us and for town employees That is we see the town manager in a whole variety of contexts or we have access to information about that Whereas they may not so Again, it may put them in an uncomfortable position if they're saying they're not able to judge and it may not help the town manager It may it may look more negative than it actually Should be it's not a helpful category. I guess I found in a lot of cases. Okay, so let's let's to make sure we don't Confuse too many things at once. Let's talk first about our form. So do we want to keep? All right, we're gonna step back one more time and go back to it. No, no, that's no problem It's it's good to you have to have all the information out there. She know how to Focus so first on the positive stuff. So outstanding commendable satisfactory Do we want to drop is there consensus to drop commendable? Mr. Wilde said yes. Miss Stein is saying yes I'm almost wanting to swap Outstanding for commendable if I have to lose one I think commendable is a more positive, but I bet it's sure I mean my my observation is that you know, there are there's three. I mean, we we're you know, wow and okay and We got a talk Now the fourth there is a fourth category on our evaluation. It should be ww not unable to judge Wasn't paying attention because these are all things that every Monday night. We're considering and paying attention to and if they should We should never say But but then we should have three categories All right, so so before we go to three first, we're gonna go to four, right? so we're gonna we want to drop we want to drop one of them and Now we're hearing that maybe it should be The top one should be commendable rather than outstanding do we have feelings about that well outstanding is comparing it to something And I don't know what we're comparing it to an Amherst inspection to satisfactory and commendable If we're gonna drop the one that's that the middle one of the good ones What do we so we all want to drop the middle one of the of the good ones? Okay, so now what do we call the remaining good ones one of them is satisfactory and what's the other one? Wow I mean one of the things that that we could Obviously talk about this for 12 hours just on this question because one we're not human resources professionals Which would cause me to think maybe after we done having our discussion. We could ask that one. It was right there What next year, okay about what her thoughts are because obviously she's been And obviously we do occasionally ask the person who's actually being evaluated What he thinks the category should be because you know, we don't want them to write his whole only valuation But in terms of what's useful and what really is practical I mean arguably there are systems out there that are perfectly adequate to say satisfactory needs improvement unsatisfactory You're done and you know, maybe at the end you call out the five commendable things You don't have to have the a plus plus category I mean whatever we do will be fine for us But there is no one answer and I know that one of the things we've always tried to avoid is the four-point scale kind of thing You know, well you average is out to two points of it on this particular item because it really we know It's more subjective than that But I want to come back to the unable to judge category as well But I really I mean I could live with just having satisfactory and then calling things out But otherwise I think commendable sounds nice instead of outstanding, but I'm not married to any of them so All right. How about commendable is the highest one Second Okay All right, so now we're down to commendable satisfactory needs improvement unsatisfactory and unable to judge okay before we get to unable to judge any other thoughts About those remaining ones is needs improvement and unsatisfactory. Is that redundant? Are we splitting? Are we looking at it going to three instead of five? I Wouldn't So so the definitions are different Performance below reasonable expectations with improvement likely yes versus performance below reasonable expectations with improvement unlikely Sometimes that can be important. Yes, mr. Hayden the the Thing that I'm wrestling with and you know, I see this at work as well Is that you know, we're evaluating sort of a very high-level professional? very high-level professional function and You know, it's really hard and I'm not sure if it's very useful to you know to split it up into small categories I mean really You know we rely on the town manager for lots of stuff And we're either going to be You know very happy with that Satisfied with it or we're going to need and I think if we're not satisfied with it That requires us to take action. I mean that's kind of what I see our job as being When there's not it's okay. You're doing badly. I'm we're not going to talk. No. No, it's unsatisfactory, you know, we need to to take action I I You know just just personally Sort of it feels a little bit backwards that you know, I get to evaluate a real pro. I'm an amateur And you know I sort of respect that Responsibility at that, you know a very high level and I you know lots of little categories doesn't help me with that at all So you're pushing for three eliminating one of those Okay, other thoughts about that and call them what you will but it mean really it's you know I'm impressed or and thank you very much and we have to talk or the three actions that we're going to take Or want to take in every one of these So that was a kind of thought that I came out of last year's evaluation with also especially when I was trying to turn them into The memo the compilation memo at the same time the more I thought about it kind of especially in the move up to this year is that sense that That I was just trying to express but express badly earlier But but mr. Wall talked about you know, so you're you're going to Obsess over which category you're going to put it into well if you've made them like higher stakes Kind of you again, you're just kind of moving the line You're still gonna obsess like well, maybe I don't quite it's not quite needs improvement because that that's the worst category now So you can't make it the worst category or something so now everything ends up being in the middle because that's the You know You're always going to have that that degree of nuance You're just going to be able to spread it among fewer categories But I think the obsessing is going to be the same but but who knows we can we can try it with three this year That's what we want to do and that doesn't work. We'll go back to maybe 12 next year Okay, so are we thinking three our folks against it so miss Stein is saying she likes four I think we should stick with four for now or for now because I I can think of specific Situations where I wanted the difference between needs improvement and unsatisfactory For the exact way you laid out the explanation here with improvement likely and when it became clear that there was no improvement likely and that needed to be Clear on the evaluation form around that is oh, that's too bad. It's like no, that's real bad So Okay, Mr. Wild three versus four And back and forth on I mean I think that we do use the unsatisfactory as a rule very sparingly So it stands out by its nature and one could communicate that in the pros if we get rid of it But I think I'm persuaded that it's useful to have it there as a kind of a marker Okay, in other words not choosing that Helps to explain what needs improvement might mean in the context. Okay, so I think I think we're going with four this year So I'm good with four small steps. All right Unable to judge So we're talking about the select board form first. Yes, okay So not even talking about the whole complication this whole 360 thing and staff questionnaire thing is so complicated Which hopefully also human resources can help us with someday because it's never worked. It's worked better In our situation than it has in many others. Anyway unable to judge for us Again, is what do you read into it? And I think we don't necessarily I? Really think about mr. Hayden's point where he said well, I should have been paying attention or Because I should know how I feel about one of these things Although there are also some of the ways they've been written in the past Or maybe if a majority of people wanted something written on the evaluation as a goal But you didn't necessarily agree with it. It might not be something that you feel like I have no idea what he does in that area And I don't care as opposed to I have no idea and that's a problem So I don't know if unable to judge is being used as a category Which says I just don't have any dealings with that Nobody said anything to me all I have is you know two Comments out of thousands associated with this which seem like one-off thing. So I really have nothing to say about this Or is it just that and as opposed to just leaving the question blank? So it shows you actually answered it rather than you forgot to put something in that space Or is it that you know, I'm unable to judge and that's a problem for you because I ought to be able to judge it I mean what are what message are we trying to send with it? What do we think we're accomplishing by having it on there? this time My thought is that the comments section allows us to amplify what we mean by unable to judge So I don't really have a good sense to give an example here of How John interacts with people within a department. I really don't I'd have to go by here Say in which case I would say that Or this is something that I really never get to observe or have ever heard about That's what I mean by unable to judge and I can fill that in in the comment, but if you take that away I'm sort of at a loss So I would stick with it and use the comment section to explain what I meant I So so I kind of want to maybe flip this argument on its head. Maybe there are two parts to this If we're unable to judge for whatever reason, you know, we never see you know something Then should we be evaluating it at all I mean basically what we put here is What we are taking? Taking responsibility to judge Now maybe there's a circumstance For instance, if something doesn't get done or not presented to us on time, we can't judge on that Okay, maybe maybe that's a circumstance where you know, we just Aren't can't you know, I can't think of one of these that would fit that category But otherwise I'm not sure That we should put something down here that we're not going to pay attention to make it our job to pay attention to So here's what I would say about that Part of what this form is is asking all of us with a bunch of different questions that frankly We interpret the questions a little bit differently We're trying to see what Questions we need to be able to weigh in on and how we're going to answer them in order to collect enough Information to turn into his review none of these he's not being specifically reviewed and you know his life is not dependent on on the What any of us give as an answer to question number two or whatever or question number? 21 it's about collecting a whole bunch of information that creates a pattern of You're doing great in these areas. You need improvement in these areas select board It really coalesces around these areas So it's it's using an imperfect tool to try and collect a bunch of nuance from us about him So I don't think we need to get too bogged down Maybe in some of those things because we we've had these conversations and past years also about the specific questions we This is a combination of a form that's sort of traditional that we've inherited and try to improve As well as sticking in our specific performance goals Which if there's if any of our performance goals came out unable to judge that would be a real problem But these these little questions in this inherited form are more about nuance and and they're going to mean different things to different people and In the compilation that I do after we after you all turn in the forms to me I'm trying to gather, you know the fact that alright, you know That here's been this theme and and some somebody has has addressed it under this section and somebody else has addressed it under this Section, but it all is pointing to this greater thing. So I think that I think that the compilation Captures tries to capture certainly all of that and that discussion that we have on the 20th is Where we get down to all right this this critical thing that I think was in there Somebody else didn't think to mention we ought to get that included It isn't so much about what each of us meant by unable to judge all that does kind of come out in the In the the greater bunch of questions and the greater discussion So I just put that out there as for something if you to think about as opposed to Maybe not just getting rid of it or keeping it. Mr. Well Yeah, I think I was three things. I think I'm persuaded generally by the way you presented here It's fine. You know, it's not it's not a big issue. The other thing is two and three. I mean if one really wants to Worry about the details. I suppose one could include particularly on maybe on the staff sheet is not just ours an explanation of what that means You know when it's appropriate to use that The other thing you could do on ours. I don't know if that makes any difference is just fiddling with minutiae is to Graphically to change it to kick that unable to judge to the far right so that comments You've got the other categories and then comments and that sort of implies that unable to judge is something that you're not really going To be using very much, but that's that said that's getting down to micromanaging the form So you're saying it would be comments and then unable to judge as far as those columns just tonight Yeah, the top of my head. I don't know that kind of separates it out as an oddity. Yeah, okay, I like miss Stein's point about it You should be able to you should still be commenting on why you're unable to judge that kind of helps folks You know, do you think that changes it if you have it over to the right? And then it sort of seems like it's not one something that's been commented on either way I mean I think the comments are important that becomes a comment almost It's in the comment section. All right, so I think we're saying that we're gonna keep unable to judge is that right? Okay, okay. All right, so then moving on to other things about this form and then we'll get to the staff form So did anybody want to make any other changes to and I would suggest that we really don't because we have done this a couple times And it still comes down to the fact that you know, there's one about Staying informed about the latest technical stuff or whatever some of us think, you know We should get rid of that and some of us think no no that means again That's kind of all capturing the different things of how we are interpreting the questions and helps bring out Whatever our answers are miss Stein I probably said this last year, but I still stumble on it when I read through the form. I really think that Three should just if you have seeks all possible revenue sources for the town I would put in parenthesis C below meaning go to four or C four and just get rid of everything That's under there because it all comes up again in four. I Just I really see so much overlap between ABC and D of number three and ABC and D of number four so I Would just have a general comment for number three and then say for specific C number four Because every time I read it I feel like I'm hitting the same topics again Yeah So We did say last year would be nice if we could make the make the goals replace a lot of these as to the degree possible But for whatever reason last year we wanted to still keep three by agree there's complete overlap So I would I would be in favor of getting rid of three I don't think a general comment. I'm not sure what it would be It's not already covered by four to how do people feel about getting rid of three Since that's a glaring one I mean you could In some way if you want to but it does seem redundant. So we could do that for next year's goal We can't change the language of number four because that's the goal that we set already All right, none of this is gonna make or break anything so we can try getting rid of it if we miss it We can put it back miss Brewer, right exactly And I think that we've worked really hard to Try it like you say to incorporate all the things that are important to all the people Although some of them aren't as important to each of us as others and we've also tried to balance that concept of annual Expectations, which you've said right here, you know But an FY 12 goal because I think one of the things where we were a little leery of is if the goals change Substantially under a different select board that then that whole concept would be gone from this piece of paper But you know to some extent we have to I suppose trust in the future kind of thing and really look at In some ways none of this should be on here except our goals Because those are our goals arguably those would be the only things that would be on here as our goals Except then it seems like we because it seems like some stuff's just boilerplate HR type stuff And so it's like why do we have to include that in our goals? But then it ends up on here anyway, so it is awkward There's just no question, but I think we can possibly now at this point feel like oh, okay now We are ready. We'll just take that off We know that that's in the goal because the goals process has been laid out in so much differentable way Than it used to be because having served on a different select board than several than any of you served on I can tell you that having five different people submit five completely different sets of goals and expect the manager to be evaluated on all sets all sets is a very different experience Then when we all agree that we're gonna have to agree on what the goals are and so it's just a different concept And so I'm totally fine with doing that and I also understand why we haven't done it yet All right, so we're gonna get rid of three. Yes Just a couple comments First generally speaking I am okay with the general thrust of where you're going on this and just Make the point not for you but for those listening watching best practice in a in a Community with a town manager form is to have the select board collaborate with the manager on the setting of performance expectations, so that's Not just a best practice in Amherst. It's part of my employment agreement is that and so it's very the structure and the deliberation And process related to my evaluation is is most welcome from my perspective So just real fast, you know getting rid of Outstanding versus commendable fine fine fine. I agree. There is a distinction between needs improvement and unsatisfactory So I think that's all well and good I do have a belief that I Think this combination of specific performance goals that may change year to year Continues to make a lot of sense, but I think there is a value in kind of the structure of the standard categories that are Should survive You know most years if not every year, so I think there is a value to that in the tool So that's on your form in terms of the employee form You're saying you'd rather we keep three or no No, I agree that I agree with that one that it's redundant, but the basic the larger point that The reason you're dropping three is because it's redundant with another goal on here. I'm saying don't just drop the standard ones Generally Okay, don't just do your goals for the year Okay, so on miss brewers points then from last year's comments Did you want to did you want to offer something else that should be that's redundant within the form? Why yes, how strange that you should happen to mention that specifically Plans organizes and ministers which which thing am I talking about the planning and Anticipation of future to I assume that I just don't have the number there because I thought the number might change because that's so unlike but Yeah, that is on number nine currently under long-range planning plans and organizes process that just Is so generic And we do have a lot of initiatives associated with future town needs and problems not the least of which of course is a building survey, but we do have several others and So I think it was fine when we didn't have anything specific on the table But I think we do have specific goals now and so we don't need that one But okay other thoughts about number nine whether that's We always have some kind of plan we're expecting I just didn't want people to try and think well What other plans you know other than the ones that are already laid out? And our goals all right all right. We'll have a trouble getting my document here. All right, so I'm sorry plans in our guy All right was that one that anybody felt strongly one way or the other about Mr.. He had to do the action The description in the absence of all those specific fiscal year goals, I think it would be important But I agree it is redundant Given that there were three specific long-range planning We stop asking you for long-range plans Go back to generically Okay, so we're gonna get rid of three and nine and then what was the other one you mentioned there? The two did the two separate expectations those are numbers 15 and 17 and I guess I just and maybe the town manager could weigh in on What's the phrasing and what's the difference that he perceives between those things because you know, obviously There's a whole bunch of different skills Associated in there. There's hiring the right people. There's putting them as mr. Huckman used to say in the right seat on the bus. There's not bothering to go out and look for people There's not bothering to look within I mean there's all kinds of things that you can read into those two things and it's hard to sort out what we're trying to get at except in the most Surfacy kind of way, which is of course we wanted to get good people and put them in the right spots So again, I'll just and you can have any response you want to it But I'll just say that again It's trying to put out the questions that's going to get from us whatever it is that inspires us say Oh, yeah, that that thing about how he deals with Staff or whatever the there could be nuance in one or the other that Keeping or not 17 is more related to the recruitment of new Personnel, I think in 15 is related to how I'm Directing whatever staff we have under my authority. So can we just take off selects then? That's the thing that makes it confusing. Yeah, okay. All right 15 will dump select. Yeah, and then that it makes All right, it's two separate things. Thank you. Any other drama that we want to do to this form for this year I Don't know quota for tweets, maybe. Oh So one of the ones I suggested cheese is gonna go on forever was adding something about town meeting preparations Oh, yeah, that was right. That definitely needs to be in it seems Absent so all right. So how about I just under annual expectations. Yeah, it's you can put it in for number three Be number three. All right, so I'll bring us new draft language for number three for next week. How about that? All right, I have a sense question as long as we're doing this and it's going on forever Number 13 do we get Information about that I'm thinking about I don't truthfully remember the goal which makes life difficult You must probably have it handy but That is the goal. That's that is a goal as written. Yep I'm just trying to think What kind of information I've seen about staffing plans? I've seen about the staffing plans for public works, but it wasn't here All right So I think that we can't get into how that worked this year that that would be All right, we can talk about that as part of the goals and we can talk about it as part of the review But not as part of this. It was my only other comment All right, so we're good with this form. Yeah, all right then the staff Questionnaire all right, so the staff questionnaire we've been using exactly the same for the last couple years except that we tweaked when we changed it used to be the the order of things outstanding commendable blah blah Started with unsatisfactory and worked its way up on both forms. So we changed them both I think that's the only thing that's changed other than the date since we started using this the Unable to judge was something that miss Brewer mentioned and is also tied to one of my comments I would recommend that we drop the library employees from the distribution I think that that accounted for a great deal of our unable to judge it accounted for a great now We can't know because we have no idea who what what employees submits what but but every year that we've been doing this there's been A certain number of comments that come in and say, you know that that person has never come to my department or whatever Well, that's clearly not the planning department of the finance department ever You know, that's that's like a branch library and and so sometimes it's obvious. So this this started when a Couple years ago. We started doing the staff questionnaire. We'd never asked staff anything before So when we asked for from human resources For all the staff lists who it should be distributed to because they do payroll for the library They were on the list. I think it should have been obvious to us before that shouldn't be included But live and learn so I think that that will take care of a lot of what miss Brewer was talking about Just as far as the staff part not not the slide board part Which is an ongoing discussion, but but the unable to judge for the staff ones I think will decrease Significantly if we get rid of the library folks who are not of course employees of the town manager They do not report him. Okay, so we'll do that other thoughts about the staff questionnaire Okay, first, let's go. We'll just kind of be organized about this Do we want to make this match our form get rid of outstanding? Okay and Yeah, so commendable will be the top And There's no other changes then right we didn't make any other changes to our form. Okay, so then other thoughts in general about this one Mr. Walton one thing that strikes me about this is again that You know looking at the first question advocates for staff and dealings with the public I don't know how town staff know what the town manager does and maybe there's a press conference or a press release or a newspaper article You know elected officials I guess they could watch select board meetings the press again. They can read the newspaper But what so you know I could see how somebody could in good conscience put down unable to judge there because it's not really a high priority So I'm just just looking at this now. I'm wondering whether Aside from the merits of that one which obviously has some use overall Maybe even just a reorganization or a slight rewording of the form might be effective That is when I see something that says includes you or your supervisor decision making I can answer that you know Because that's my experience or keeps you informed or treats you in a you know There's the kind of you question in which every employee can see him or herself on some level and they're these kind of higher order questions To which not everyone may have access through personal experience I don't know if that's if that would also help to address part of the problem either reordering or rewording You know because if you can see yourself in the in the question, then you can answer it So miss Brewer had a good suggestion last year which was to ask the staff How do we make this form better to speak to you? Absolutely? But last year was not the time to do that Evaluation mr. Wee-Santi, but I would issue I agree with that completely and I would include it as part of this form And not do a separate Thing just Right, so so they will have just gone through this and said I can't stand this because it doesn't really address the things I want to talk about Let's do it come on Okay, good idea Mr. Weld Because I think just because of a formatting thing it fell off the bottom or wherever it was that they could turn it over to add comments Because have and I know we've asked given them space to do that before we've said just right on the back a few comments But associated with that we could also say, you know, what's another or what are some other questions or? We can phrase that however we want but this you're right This would be exactly the time to do it is while they're filling it out saying nope. No, that's not helpful I do want to go back to question number one though because I absolute I don't care what order it's in But we have to have that question because we've had town managers throw employees under the bus in the press And that's not what we're that's one of the things we wanted to avoid so We wanted people to know that we expect the town manager to not do that So I think they're larger questions. Do they know is that a question that we should be answering? That he's advocating for staff to us All right All right, my brain is getting a little bit full of this right now. So Mr. Wilde is saying reword reorder Okay, if you don't mind if you would all look a little bit more closely at this think about it and bring Questions for next time Bring suggestions for next time Yes So one of the things that I think again It's the shared, you know, are we reading too much into the question? Is it okay to interpret? However, we interpret it But in terms of the you questions, I think one of the things that That we're dealing with here for example look at item four treat staff in a professional manner Are you asking does he treat me in a professional manner or is it that although he doesn't bother me at all? I've seen how he acts around so-and-so and that's a problem. You know what I mean? And so I'm not I'm not sure if we do turn them all into you questions Or you know you personally as opposed to leaving it kind of open to interpretation Which is where most of them are now that you could answer it in any number of ways Yeah, I agree complete with miss Brewer the first question important too I just wasn't sure if that should be the lead-off question or yeah, how it should be worded and as far as the you questions went I guess part of the idea was there I just noticed that some stood out as being you questions and some were not and Miss Stein suggestion about employee Feedback on the form is excellent I'm wondering if we couldn't even just add a column here saying do you find this? You know with the existing form do you find this particular question useful? You know as opposed to an abstract thing what kind of things do you want have them rate the individual questions on the form? Just a thought So this form goes out with a cover memo, and that's where the information about write it on the back or whatever I know I just didn't bother to give you the cover memo this year but Okay, all right. I'm just trying to think what's the best way to go forward with this so you have Because we I would like for us to finish this next Monday because it needs to go out between our next two meetings So bring bring concrete suggestions, and then you're just gonna have to trust me to do to Incorporate them as we as we discuss them next week And you won't see the final version of the form. You'll just approve it in in concept. I think How does that stuff if we can send you stuff before next week? Sure, you could do it that way you could say if you don't have it turned in By Monday, let's try and only fine-tune next Monday But if you've got something you want to reword or something you want to throw away Tell you that ahead of time so that you can send us one that looks like that. Okay, that would be good So I'm gonna pack it. All right, so anybody who has suggestions will send them to me by Thursday By Thursday noon or something so I can get this stuff done to get into the packet for Friday morning For a for a new draft of this one Easy for me to say I'm just gonna say it's fine Okay, and And I will I will bring the memo next time that will now Incorporate the concept of Feedback on the form and Okay, mr. Santy anything you wanted to add about the staff questionnaire. No, I think you're on the right track and I think Continuing the form with continuous improvement to it is good and the whole concept of a You know so-called 360 evaluation is is helpful to me And it will be really helpful as someone mentioned already on miss Radway to be able to talk with her about this I only said next year meaning because she won't have started until we're kind of in the middle of this But after we finish this we can get her feedback about how it all went and how we can improve on it next year Which will be really valuable and let me just step back a moment and say We are light years ahead of a lot of different of a lot of other towns as far as how this goes I mean we really we have this down to a science. We're trying to make perfect something. That's really pretty darn good We do this on a predictable schedule. It's been working every year for a couple years I deal with other select board people from other towns and we talk about these things and even goal setting You know people are dealing with with evaluations that aren't based on any goals and or and evaluations that are very informal and stuff So I'm very proud of our process very proud of what we've put together and how it's advanced to this point And it's good that we're it's fantastic that we're still trying to tweak it Should be recommending to MMA that she be one of the people that they have for the session during our annual meeting We are amazing All right, anything else we need to talk about on this subject I had said to mr. Musanti as we were coming in I'd like to try and get out of here. Well, it's still light Well, all right. Thank you for talking about that move to All right, we're done with that discussion tell managers report. Thank you, and I said, oh, yeah, no problem tonight Let me let me run through these hopefully quickly Hadley ambulance contract Which expires at the end of June last Wednesday night the Hadley select board did approve to a new three-year ambulance services contract with the town of Amherst I worked with Chief Nelson and Hadley town administrator David Nixon and his staff as needed To get us where we need to be Very pleased with that The there's a modest increase in financial support each year Which we agreed to quite easily Probably the biggest change is there's now a reference in the contract To the fact of Amherst Dispatch providing what's called emergency medical dispatch services on Hadley calls as needed and we've also worked out with our state 9-11 folks Modest increase in our annual grant Support for our communication center that takes that into account. So it was with their Support active support at the state level and Another best practice having our professionally trained dispatchers Provide that through the various protocols emergency medical dispatch so I just wanted to Get the speed on that that locks all of our Invalence service agreements in place the contracts with lever and shoots Berry have another year to run and I'll be doing the same Drill with them over the coming year Next war Memorial pool status update construction is Happening very actively the Piping and the Liner and the deckwork are really Scheduled weather permitting to be completed this week We are moving rapidly toward our planned Grand opening on Saturday, June 23rd Where there'll be a celebration event. We are still Optimistic we will be done to open the pool and as scheduled The weather being at this point given the tight schedule to begin with The most unpredictable factor. My intention is to make a judgment call by next Monday the 18th Go no go on our event. So I wanted to give the board a heads up on that and I'll update you next Monday Next quick update town and school after school programming Implementation on the heels of our town meeting Support of My recommendation on additional funding in the town budget In the LSSC budget for this program With the town dollars replacing some CDBG funds that are no longer Allocated for this purpose along with some additional support and funding from our School system we are proceeding to have a More coordinated in collaborative after school program at each of our three elementary schools We have Been meeting with all of the providers There were In the most in the current school year five providers Offering programs at the three schools will have one Program at each of the three schools in in starting up in the fall We are working collaboratively with The providers the site coordinator positions have been posted and those applications are due Next week There's also an out-of-school time coordinated position, which is a school funded position, which is new part-time Applications have been received those interviews are in the midst of being scheduled. I will be participating along with The school superintendent and other staff in those interviews and that's our key next step is getting the leadership staff in place for each of those programs and In addition to that and in addition to a school and LSSC staff meeting with the providers. I've had finance director Sandy pooler Scheduling and beginning to meet with each of the providers And really get into the details about budget implementation and coordination with state Funding agencies for things like the grant program that's being Given to one of the programs state vouchers Subsidy levels all those kinds of things so that's all happening the key next step though is getting this the key staff named and then That will really set us up for the remainder of the summer to do what's needed to Launch the program at the beginning of school Next Civil War tablet restoration and display planning you know from Retired professor Bob Romer who's been actively researching Amherst history and Amherst's Involvement in the Civil War and the participation of Amherst base soldiers We had and the fact that community preservation funds were allocated a few years ago now for the restoration of Six giant marble tablets that used to be hung in this building downstairs Those a portion of those funds have been expended the tablets have been restored now that the one really remaining question is the appropriate place to Display those tablets Working with mr. Wald with staff and with the historic commission There is now a consensus that the most appropriate place to display the tablets for the benefit of the public Is in this room in the historic town hall in the town room We are now in the midst at staff level of engaging of issuing an RFP for Engineering architectural services Because the tablets are so heavy you want to make sure that it for them to be displayed appropriately in this room That all the various structural Needs and design needs are appropriately handled there's also Desire to have some interpretive Signage a company the display I'm also working with senator Rosenberg who is a member of the joint legislative Commission on the civil war Sesquicentennial celebration. I probably have that title of the commission backwards but he's on the sesquicentennial celebration commission and We'll be looking at whether or not there might be opportunities for some help To assist us in getting getting to the finish line in this but I'm very very excited about the project and appreciative of The the participation we've had to to bring us to a consensus on next steps Recent and upcoming activity I'm gonna mention quickly through Four things a week ago Saturday, I had despite the the steady rain it was able to along with a number of others attend the Human Rights Commission annual gathering at Mill River Pavilion That included the presentation of some young heroes awards for students in our school system Doing doing good work with their peers in their community on social justice and other issues Last Friday I Attended the League of Women Voters Legislature annual legislative reception at the Women's Club We were able to hear from senator Rosenberg and representative story on action at the State House and This past Saturday I along with a few hundred others from the community had Attended the Puffer's Pond fundraising breakfast over at Mill River And that was by the organizers Feedback a record turnout able to raise some much needed funds. I think somewhere around six thousand this year to support Keeping Puffer's Pond The gem that it is and lastly as you know, I'm The town's representative on the PVTA advisory board and I'm serving currently as the chair We are working toward a June 27th board meeting at which we will finalize the PVTA's budget for the coming year and also make some decisions about What if any fair increases might be necessary to Maintain the level of services at the PVTA The legislature is making its way through the budget process And informed that the There is now a house vote and a Senate vote some Agreement in the conference committee about some one time and some recurring monies that would Go to the MBTA as well as all of the regional transit agencies including PVTA that Have the potential to cover most if not all of our gap For the coming year. I've encouraged the PVTA in their budget planning In the board to really look at this in a multi-year context Particularly in the use of one-time money the same conversations we have locally applied a regional transit agencies as well So but we're making some serious progress and we're going to try to do what we can at the board level to Minimize whatever whatever fair increases necessary I wanted the board and Amherst community to be aware of those efforts Thank you, should people still be sending you feedback on that about the fairs They can if they they want to you know, we're not going to make any decisions until the 27th. I am meeting With some members in the local community next week on this issue as well Questions or comments about any of the items Mr. Musanti talked about Okay Thank you very much All right next up then we have member reports and Miss Stein would like to talk a little bit about some ZBA plans Somehow I've gotten involved in working with the ZBA. I don't know how this happened, but As you probably know the select board is the appointing authority for the zoning board of appeals and I've had comments from any number of the zoning board people About the problems they have there are Seven members and Jonathan Tucker feels that you need a seven member board at the minimum to take care of all of the workload although the workload is less than it was I'll say 20 years ago because more More projects are approved without special permits being needed But anyway at the current moment we have three full members and four associate members and the three full members are One of the two options that are under chapter 40 a the other option is a five-membered board Associate members are variable and dependent on the community And we have four associate members and what happens is that a panel According to chapter 40 a has to be made up of the full members unless one of the full members cannot sit because of Absence inability to act conflict of interest Or a vacancy on the board So the associate members spend a lot of time waiting to serve and They have not been happy about that and to to give you a rough idea Associates during the past year about have served on about four Panels, whereas the full members have served on about Four times that many so The question is What would be better and I would suggest that the current system is lopsided There are too many associates to the number of foals so that for a an associate to become a full member takes six to seven years if Each if each full member gets to serve two three-year terms, which is what the appointed Committee handbook recommends it even suggests that If it's a committee where special training is needed, which this is such a board They could serve longer than two three-year terms, which would make it even worse for the associates so my Tentative recommendation and there is a Meeting tomorrow of the entire zoning board the full seven members to Administrative-related issues and there is a posted agenda But my thought is that there would be less of this issue of The associates not getting enough time to serve if this was a five board five member board I did a little looking as Stephanie notes There needs to be considerable research on this and it isn't really My particular role to do this, but I did a little bit of looking and I saw that East Ham Has five members and two associates long meadow has five members and three associates and Sudbury has five members and four associates so What it seems to suggest is that one could get a better balance perhaps between the five member board With the appropriate member of associates There's another issue that might be better under a five member board and that is the fact that all members of the board for a three member board have to agree on a decision and That leads to a certain amount of pressure Five member board a person could vote against a decision and the decision would still hold So it's a little more democratic because somebody who felt very strongly about voting in the negative could do so So tomorrow, I'm Stephanie and I are both going to this administrative meeting and I'm going to talk a little bit about what I found out so far and They have discussed this in the past. They have some concerns My thought was maybe they'll have trouble Getting enough people five people on any given date to to have a committee meeting to have a board meeting So I have no idea if that would be more difficult Then it is right now with the three member board meeting But that's something I'll have to consider and research I did not call any of these towns that have my member boards to see if that has in fact been the case so that's all that I Really want to say except that's initially that will be discussed tomorrow at the administrative meeting And I'll just add to that that that's just the beginning of the discussion So so getting the ZBA's thoughts and reactions to the concept will be an important part of it Obviously, it's not their decision to make and in fact it would require town meeting to make the change because it is part of our part of our bylaws that that specifies how our ZBA is comprised currently But it will be a process that also involves the new building commissioner Who can speak to some best practices and various? possibilities for you know unforeseen for circumstances or or Reprecussions where I'm looking for that that are maybe not obvious on the face of it So this is this is the beginning of a discussion I think it's worth looking at because it would solve some problems But maybe it would cause others we don't know that but it is worth looking into and Appreciate Miss Stein's Dedication to looking into what might be better ways kind of thinking outside the box about how ZBA works So it should be a good conversation tomorrow night that will again just kind of start off the process right one of the reasons this has become more of an issue than it has been say four years ago is There was a much more casual approach To choosing which three people would serve on the board So it could have been two associates and a full Without With the other Fools just not wanting to go that night It didn't have to be that they really couldn't do it. They could just say fine. Let's let the associates have this You know get a more of an opportunity and it was pointed out that that's strictly against the law It has to really be a Reason that the full can't make it she or he cannot just decide to stay home to give the associate a Chance so that has made the discrepancy between The associates having a chance and the fools Forming the panels much more Delineated much sharper than it had been before so that was one thing I wanted to Clarify So you'll be hearing lots more about that as time goes on any comments folks want to add to that before it goes CBA's consideration of her Okay, that's the beginning. All right member reports others liaison representative reports. I Just want to make one announcement on behalf of the agricultural Commission There are two vacancies. They would really like to have People with agricultural interests or Farm related experiences come to join the Commission Thank you Other reports. Mr. Wilde very changel Mr. Mazzanti really a report on most of the work involving the historical Commission You heard about local historic district for mr. Malloy, but I wanted to mention also that Which will take up again in the future me in a Hope Church, which was one of the recipients of our CPA money a couple of years ago had some Invited town staff and Commission members to be part of a photograph because they want to thank people who helped them to get money for the restoration of their Building they're almost finished now with the phase they're doing the important thing again Is that they were able to use the CPA grant to get a big state grant? So we want to encourage people as the season starts up at the end of the summer in the fall to think about the CPA funds can be used to leverage other monies because that's what we want to see happen And of course we were pleased to see we didn't take an official position But we were individually and collectively I think safe to say pleased to see that North Church in North Amherst is Being taken over by another church group Which means that there's a better chance the building stays more or less intact as it is and again We were happy that you recall that some years ago For example North Church was denied CPA funding by town meeting and then Hope Church has gotten it So I think we're past that precedent problem. So we want to Encourage people to learn from other examples and I think the way that Hope Church worked with local Building experts and the town staff and the state to find monster funds to preserve the building was a good model So we're happy to try to export that if we can and then And again to mention that because we're sorry mr. Romer is speaking tonight at Hope Church about the history of the organization Of course it coincides with the select board meeting, but they're a big celebration for the Centennial is on the 24th Other business I finally was able to attend a public arts commission meeting fit my schedule because it's summer and Most of the time conversation that there was devoted to the upcoming biennial which will open in early October And they mentioned also that the bid the business improvement district and conversations with the town manager Had secured some funding if I understand correctly to help keep the sculpture that's currently in Kendrick Park Is that that that is in progress in progress? Yes Not a done deal yet, but no, but it's we're in progress conversations about that Right, so they're looking forward to the biennial and trying to think of new public art to put up and always looking for new venues and so forth Thank you very much questions or comments from mr. Walton Anyone else like to make please on reports The housing and sheltering committee did meet for the first time with its full membership and oh which was also the first time I'd ever met everybody came and They are setting up there already in process is setting up their second meeting They have lots to read and lots to think about some of them are very new to town government some not so much So it's very it's gonna be a really interesting process But Nate Malloy is again the staff liaison for them and we'll bring them along But lots of lots of different things for them to work on Fantastic. Thank you Others mr. Aten. Yeah, just you know heard from about the TMCC working on the sound and everything else The recycling and refuse management committee are going to be at the taste of Amherst recycling refuse So there's that I guess the the vendors are all using recyclable or compostable utensils and plates and The RMC are going to be looking after that Thank you other reports, I Don't think I have any or I'd forget them all so Okay, so chairs report I won't take up all your time with that because instead I gave it to you as a memo Because we haven't been talking about these things for a couple months So in particular, I just called out the things that I wanted you to be aware that You know, sometimes I do things that I'm actually kind of bringing our views to other people and kind of really Representing us that way as opposed to just kind of making nice remarks somewhere or whatever I'm really kind of representing us other times. I am being kind of the eyes and ears for the select board so So I'll call your attention to the public safety tabletop Information there that that's I've got as bulleted on this memo Was very interesting. This memo is on the website if folks want to read it If any of you have more questions about that either tonight or in the future, I'm happy to answer them They you mass police department accreditation meeting very interesting I was glad to have the select board be asked to be part of that I've got some information there also the kickoff meeting with new bid director Alex Krograbbe looking for kind of select board perspective on things and The first meeting with the new student government association president So I want to particularly call your attention to those things, but you do have the memo so you can read it Any questions or comments about any of that? Okay, I Think we've done all of our untimed items. I do want to mention a couple things coming up Next Monday, we're going to have a public hearing on the new liquor license application for Hess Express This is the gas station in South Amherst, so that will be next Monday Also next Monday is not noted on here We're going to vote on the thing that we talk about on Wednesday on Wednesday of this week The 13th is that meeting in the public hearing for the retired teachers health insurance? this is going to be a joint public hearing of Amherst select board Pellum select board and regional school committee and this will be in the middle school auditorium We will be hearing from retired teachers We'll be hearing the recommendations of the insurance advisory group and and the town manager and superintendent And then it will be at next week's meeting that we will take the vote on that So those are the key things that are coming up now we don't meet again until July 16th Unless we have to have Potentially we could have another public hearing for a liquor license like a big meeting not just one of these special liquor licenses Once a liquor license application comes in we have a certain window of time in which we need to act on it So it's hard to predict that but but if something needed to be scheduled for the 16th, then we would need to do that Otherwise the calendar stuff is all pretty clear Mr. Musanti is speaking at the chamber breakfast on Friday morning and the taste tent on the common That's at 715. It typically rains, but I don't think that there's rain in the forecast this year, which is amazing And I think that those are all of the things that I wanted to mention. Is there anything else anyone wants to mention this time? What about that bottle bill? Oh, yeah, that's tomorrow. So there's gonna be an event at Kendrick Park at noon I'll be attending mr. Musanti will be attending anyone else's welcome to attend So though that this is 12 o'clock at noon at Kendrick Park This is the UMass mass per group looking to try and Bring more attention to put a little bit more pressure on the updated bottle bill before this legislative session ends of the State House Anything else Mr. Hayden I move to adjourn without objection this meeting adjourns at 926. Thank you very much