 Good evening and welcome to the select board meeting of December 18th Calling this meeting order at 6 32 p.m We'll start with opening remarks announcements in a gender review. I don't have any announcements there Actually, I do have an announcement as far as a gender review, which I'll take up under It could be under nine topics chair not reasonably anticipate or under member reports And that'll be with regard to Whether we want to send a letter relative funding for the shelter and so we'll take that up later I just want to mention it to you all There was one other thing and that was we had a request from Amherst, New York That we send something and I think that we probably should take that up as Unanticipated, okay, so hopefully we'll remember that a few hours from now And if not then we'll start with public comment Is there anyone here for public comment which would be things not on the agenda things on the agenda? We'll seek out your comments at those times, but either of you. I assume or here for other things later on Okay So then we'll get into our agenda proper. We'll start with our action discussion items and the first thing is the Municipal property uses and disposition process policy review So mr. Zomek will you join us and we saw this 13th of November? I believe so if you want to kind of Refresh our memory and Happy to be here with you tonight to talk about the surplus real property Policy and process that we outlined with the board briefly on November 11th I think in the packet or in your previous packet you have now have two memos for me on November 11th This was a meeting before town meetings. So it was one of your abbreviated meetings if you will but we did have a pretty thorough discussion of the Outline that I provided with you on that date and then Since that time I have had an opportunity to meet with a number of department heads as a group In fact, we got together the department heads listed in my November 11th memo and got some more feedback from them they are Supportive of of my work to work with you and the town manager on this surplus real property policy and they stand Ready to assist anyway that the board would like to move forward. I think I saw it tonight I know you have a full agenda, so I'll be brief But I saw it tonight as an opportunity to take in more of your questions and comments I have been in regular contact shall we say with Sharon Everett from Coleman and Page She assisted with the original memo and we're we're going back and forth as staff and working with the town manager as questions come up I'm kind of hitting her with those. I will say that one of the most interesting and Fluid discussions is really how will the town work with our our close partner the municipal affordable housing trust? If you decide to move forward with this and we probably don't have time to go into detail on that tonight But suffice it to say that we're having ongoing conversations about that and we think that That is a relationship that has great promise as they work to develop more affordable housing in the town of Amherst So happy to go through my little bulleted list of questions if that would be helpful I think I can roll through those fairly quickly And these a couple of these came up at the November 11th discussion, and then a couple were offered by So very quickly The first question about the town of Littleton. It is required of any town to bring Transfer a disposition of municipal land through town meeting So the answer there is yes The second question is a little more nuanced and really I'm looking for more feedback on this from you Ms. Brewer brought this up on the 11th I think really it speaks to the composition of the advisory group is the select board comfortable with The advisory group beginning the process Doing the inventory and those early steps in the process would the select board Like to have a representative on that group or how strongly do you feel that there should be representation from other boards and committees? So I think we can come back to that Because that's a that's probably something you'd like to get a little deeper into The third question what if the select board does not recommend disposition of a parcel and I've talked to sure whenever it that's fairly simple I mean it simply goes back into The the list into the inventory and for some reason at that time at that moment in time The select board may say you know what we're not ready to dispose of or transfer that piece of property And it simply stays with the town For another day for another review in the future There's really no harm no foul there. It just may not be the right time to transfer or surplus that property We do own land in other towns. So clearly the the second or excuse me a question Four and five were brought up by department heads. We do own land in other towns that is as you know principally water supply or watershed protection land for either wells or reservoirs and Believe it or not, there are some parcels that were acquired many many years ago That frankly may upon further study and the precise mapping we can do today May not be essential for water supply or watershed protection. It's not a lot of land I don't want to get anyone out there in other towns or or within the town worried about that but there are a couple of outlying parcels that were perhaps given to the town and Really do not contribute to water supply or watershed protection Some of them may and the last question was about article 97. You're probably familiar with article 97 that protects Conservation land and recreation land So that last question would really be dealt with as part of the review The review that staff would do and present to the town manager who would bring to the select board in that review It would list what incumbrances may come with parcel a or parcel b Is it protected by article 97? Should it? Should it move through the process? How would we address the issue of article 97 again? That's there's not a lot of these parcels. We're not talking about transferring or surplusing Conservation land or extensive watershed lands or anything of the sort. So some of these questions are fairly easy I think the more complex one is really the composition of the advisory group and and I'm curious and Open to your suggestions about the composition of that group And happy to stop there for a moment Thank you, mr. Zomek I'll come to that one in a moment, but on the last of the five bullets How do we address article 97 protections for watershed and recreation parcels? There's one other that I would Assume we have to think about and that is if land was given or sold to us with an Understanding relating to either a gift or reduction in price because of an anticipated use that we would Probably need to have the committee make sure that it has looked into whether there are any Legal impediments that we need to be aware of That's that's a great question and I was kind of covering that under kind of encumbrances Yes, but if there are gifts with a with a particular intention back, you know We've been accepting gifts or buying land for a long time in Amherst as many municipalities So if there were gifts that were given with a particular intent You know, we want to make sure we identify that intent and then address that it's not unlike You know municipalities across the Commonwealth across the country dealing with art that has been donated to them, etc Etc. So that's a very good point. Thank you Okay, the second thing is that just as a matter of stating the obvious if we're using Land for one purpose and we as the town of Amherst Decide to use it for another purpose that is not surplus property And it's not in any way Involved in this process for example if Department of Public Works moved to building at a different location and we were to use that property for another purpose that's Reuse of property within our own purposes. It's not surplus. I just want to point that out and As far as the question of committees when you talked about the real Property advisory group and I This is just my own thoughts on it as an alone hand Sort of intrigued by the idea of including the housing trust there because affordable housing is a major issue of the community but I think that it does Need to give some consideration as to why that single committee has been Sort of focused on the singled out at this point Whether that's in fact what we want to do and as you point out whether there are any others. I know of other committees and boards that have approached us about Projects of various kinds that they would like to Make sure that there's provision for in the future and How and of course this is a committee that is going to make that kind of earlier decision that I was referring to about reuse as opposed to sale and So I think that we have to just make sure that the Committees are always feel that they're welcome to participate in the process and Have room for them to participate in the process But I don't think we can anticipate all of them and include all of them in In the process and I think therefore we do need to have this discussion a little bit more in my opinion as a group Excellent point about reusing land for a different purpose What I do want to refer to is for instance if there were a piece of recreation land and One might look at certainly some recreation land that we have received in or currently owned in Amherst either gifted to the town or potentially under article 97 Protections if we were to repurpose that land and and Move the care custody and control from the town manager to another entity in town That would need to be addressed under this process So that is you would first need to transfer that custody care and control from in this case recreation land Which is under the Control of the town manager to another entity. So so again, that's that's another another Subtle subtle point on the on the committee itself I Do I do think there is Something and I've been holding pretty fast to to this to this group of staff and that I really feel like that That staff can represent in an objective way to have the Breath and scope of people that we have around the table there from economic development to planning To the assessor to conservation Around the table. I think we through this process. We create opportunities for the various interests to Participate in that process I did want to throw out one idea that I had about number one on page three Actually number two so Obviously if the advisory group put together the inventory One idea that I had and I spoke briefly with mr. Backelman about was under number two when such a determination is made the advisory group will hold a meet public meeting to review the Parcel in question That could be a public meeting that happens during one of your meetings It could be a public meeting or part of a public hearing within one of the select board meetings something of that sort May be a hybrid of what we're talking about here So I just offer that up because I think Ms. Brewer expressed some concern about having staff initiate a meeting of This importance so I offer that as one option Thank You mr. Zomek and mr. Steinberg for kind of kicking us up After listening to mr. Steinberg, it seems to me we need to really In whatever the final document is define what surplus means because I Think it does apply to a reuse where you're releasing it from one use to change use It doesn't imply necessarily a sale or a disposition But that just maybe you know I interpret it one way mr. Steinberg So I think we have to say what you know surplus means and there may be three or four different instances where You know the common meaning of surplus and what that means in the municipal context could maybe get clarified And you did talk about care custody or control So I think getting some of that maybe language into the into the maybe it's in here And I just if I could yeah just refer to policy and process on page three number three That part of our next steps if if the select board is comfortable with this rough framework. I would I would Offer that we begin to move forward on solidifying some of this but under number three It would be incumbent upon the select board and and I would work with the town manager on this to establish a policy By which real property would be deemed surplus so therein is the definition But really I think meaning to drill down a little bit about the different kind of instances I When you brought up the sort of Nuances of the housing trust I never actually thought you were suggesting that they be on this so I think and I The only other group I thought of besides select board is as a possible is finance committee because often they have had an interest in the disposition For revenue we are different reasons, but I'm kind of a mixed mind. I'm not sure That You know elected officials or appointed officials necessarily should be on here But I would take a little issue on mr. Zamek was saying department heads are impartial because I've worked for department heads And they have their own view. They may not have you know, I Won't go into it, but they're humans and they come from different areas and expertise and I Think it's fine for a first cut, but they definitely Often have a perspective Maybe I could say that slightly differently. I'd say the group that we've assembled here On page three is a very balanced group and that I would offer that if I were Facilitating this group bringing recommendations to you. I certainly would try to bring a very balanced Recommendation to you based on the inventory and based on the characteristics and encumbrances and all of the factors that we've outlined in this Bring that through the town manager to you and it would be a very transparent process So we early on you would be able to identify if there were any leanings that Were too far one way or the other and then just lastly and I just had spoken to about this earlier this evening When we talk about the inventory of all town-owned real property, which I think should Include the other towns if we're gonna have that kind of inventory because they could potentially become You're not needed for their original intention That maybe that inventory can have a Component that actually once these are identified tracks their their eventual Disposition things get added on and taken off because I remember working on this kind of inventory 30 years ago And that's great, but it was a snapshot in time. We're gonna do another snapshot. We could use some of the Technology we have to also use it as a rolling inventory and keeping track. Oh, well that was deemed surplus in 2020 and it became this so that It's more of a ongoing movie rather than a snapshot Again, I think that's a great idea. It really shouldn't be a snapshot in time It should be almost like a database and we can look back five years and say in that five years You know, we've considered six properties and three of them were surplus three of them were just determined to not be right Yeah, not right for whatever reason and here's what we did We went this direction with this one in that direction with another one and then we added this property It's not it's on the inventory. It's not surplus, but it's just and we acquired or we're gifted And so it's always got the full list So we kind of a living document and a living process so people can check in on it And you know, we would have a corresponding map and we might even you know post that and say here's what happened in 2018 2019 2020 Following properties came up and you know, they were deemed surplus and and moved on to XYZ use so I'll I'll The municipal affordable housing trust met last Thursday night. We had a nice little discussion about this You know one of the things and this is partly of you know, the the the trust Itself on you know sort of getting to a place of understanding about what it does and can control You know the trust can own property And technically that property that it would purchase let's say I mean independent of this But if it went and bought a piece of land for the purpose of affordable housing they hold that but nonetheless the town owns it and so It you know any property we have that we might want to use affordable housing. They're gonna be You know involved in in that conversation and and the level of control is a critical one And who has it at what points in time or are critical from standpoint of development The thing I think about in a broader sense with this and it somewhat relates to affordable housing But not exclusively that is as we go forward in time. So, you know, I think from a staffing standpoint Yes, I think the staff should own the the majority share of sort of compiling this thing keeping it going Looking at properties that we own and that sort of thing But at the same time that becomes a reference material for other people So there might be a developer that wants to come in and do something with a proper piece of property They own and a piece of property the town owns that may not be adjacent to each other in any way shape or form But in combination can create a circumstance that's beneficial and create affordable housing or something else And those are things that staff are never going to be able to think of and so I what I think about is what is the mechanism or do we want to articulate a mechanism for people to bring those to This group this group of staff So a mechanism for the public whether it be a developer or just a general person, you know Lives in town that wants to offer suggestions like what's a mechanism for them to bring something in to be evaluated in a real way Which may then require, you know time any action to transfer control or control with whatever constraints we choose and that sort of thing So that's the thing I've been thinking about is as we go forward We have the inventory in place and we have you know We have some really odd little pieces of property here in their onion And there may be somebody that has a really creative interesting thing That's never going to cross the mind of a staff person because they're thinking of just those properties And they may be putting it in concert with other things or I mean the likelihood is maybe pretty low for that But at the same time to have a mechanism for people to come in and offer those suggestions and be evaluated So it's really just thinking about it. What's a reasonable way to do that that can be, you know, not a complete, you know You know explosion of time necessary by staff to you know chase every little detail in these things But but certainly an opportunity for you know reasonable rational sort of folks to come in and and offer a suggestion or want to partner with the town to do something in a way that you know They might do now in some ways But if we had a process that ran through this group so that it could be evaluated a little bit again I'm kind of I'm not necessarily Thinking that we need to have committee membership on this this group But it would be through committees that we might be able to then channel those kinds of suggestions to that group It was what I was thinking but give you a great example from the past that I think mr. So make this look the Wentworth conservation area was a partnership with the developer who Probably had an option at that point or purchasing sales on a larger piece and wanted the developer wanted to do and a mixed income affordable housing Ownership project didn't need the whole parcel in the town was able to acquire the conservation land To make that that deal work, but it was initiated by a private entity and resulted in townland and In this case the housing development project is just an example doesn't it Right So I certainly think we could look at that piece of it. I I don't I don't see that as that Challenging to this process and in fact, I think once we establish this process and and there's a public transparent Order to it that would be put out there via The media by the website by RFP processes or or other parts of this process that I think I think those inquiries will naturally just come and it's you know, honestly something the planning department does all the time Talking about ideas that people have Well, I think as long as we articulate that's the place to go to sort of Seek out that you know if they're if someone's thinking of some sort of project Where is the place to go? How do they you know engage this the start of the conversation is really the key the key piece And so even if we just articulate that and in here to do what we've always done Which is go talk to the planning department and you know offer the suggestion and I think that's it That's a good start for that one thing I haven't had time to do since I met with you on November 11th and hope to do it during January is I have not been out to talk with The conservation commission the planning board the municipal affordable housing trust I'd like to be able to do that and come back to you with some more direct feedback from them I don't know say in late January something like that at which point I feel like we have will have kind of done a good bit of vetting out there and My hope would be to try to have this in some pretty solid form You know the first of February so that if the select board were comfortable We could begin doing some inventory work in February Does that sound like a reasonable timeline? I also brought with me just for not for discussion tonight, but I did want you to Read as I am reading The general bylaw article 34 the establishment of the municipal affordable housing trust just so you have it in your packet And this talks about the broad powers of the trust and I'm happy to Did either of you have questions I didn't want to go out. I just So as I finally did fumble my Memo out from last time. I'm a little concerned about it being presented exactly I'm fine with your presentation. Mr. Zomek to all those bodies, and I think that'll be great I'm a little concerned that they if any of them are as compulsive as I am about checking some of the details on the memo From November. There are some Things there that are a little confusing that make more sense now that we've talked about them that I think For them to get you know city of Littleton. It makes it sound like they don't have to go to town meeting Well, of course, they have to go to town meeting But the way it's written, you know, which is I'm not asking you to rewrite it I guess I'm just asking you to take it when you do talk to them Take tell them to take some of the details with a grain of salt that this is the basic structure and that will be flushing out Details and just like we talked about the variety of ways we might describe surplus and say well This kind of thing fits here and this kind of thing fits there that is also a Comment that we made back on the 13th on page 5 under item 10 Where it says such procedures are intended to apply to the sale by the town of its fee interest in property Maybe but need not applied a disposition of lesser interest That needs to be somewhere else other than buried in that paragraph not to rewrite before you go to concom or whatever But you could even give us an example of this is something we're gonna get we're gonna put in a different part of the policy You know, what do you think of that idea? But then I don't want them to feel like this is the policy But that you're again just having a conversation with them like you have this structure is handed to them as You know, this is the base document We're working on it because we just need I think we just need to clarify some of the things We've been talking about November and tonight and we'll be able to do that without like I said I would never ask that you rewrite this at this point, but just to caution them that We've had a lot of conversations since this was written and now The way we read it versus the way we understand it is We're at a different place than we were back when we first It's evolving it is definitely an evolving document and And I know that one of the things we did talk about too last time to to spit into Raise it a different way is whether or not that committee was gonna just be staff and we talked about various things associated with that again tonight and I think that makes sense I think a lot of it is in terms of the public trust is in terms of the execution and it's a new thing, right? So we're gonna figure it out, but we don't want to be in the position as I pointed out that night of The select board hearing that some other committee had a long discussion about it at a public meeting And then people got all worried about it and we're like wait what we've never even talked about that piece of property But yet there are times you might need to talk to a conservation commission first before so I think it's gonna be It won't necessarily be smooth every time we do it But that's okay, and I think that we can just expect that we'll have to smooth off some of the rougher edges as we figure out How to more effectively talk about doing this? I mean we've been wanting to do it for how long so it's Not gonna be perfect, but we have a lot to work from here. And so We'll probably get some criticism at some point, you know, oh why are so-and-so talking about it? And you never had the trust at the table. It's like well, we didn't have you at the table yet That doesn't mean we're not having you at the table at all, you know that that sort of thing And so I think that some of that will just be all of us reminding people It's a new process and we're trying to figure it out and we welcome their input But that no one's gonna get cut out of this Because it's clear you're going around So a couple of things as follow-up one is I think the The trust the commission I'm not sure of the planning board, but they have seen this and I will certainly when I go out to them Frame it as you have suggested miss Brewer. And you know, I just want to reiterate that My commitment to this process is complete transparency Meticulous detail in in the review bringing multiple Perspectives to that we have an economic development director. I sit 10 feet away from him I want mr. Kravitz to weigh in on these these discussions because that is a perspective that we haven't always had and so I welcome His input on looking at a parcel in a different way than I might look at it or miss breast drop or mr. Burgess Although I sense mr. Burgess and mr. Kravitz may be but anyway, um, so I'm committed to it's a new process I think we also need to go through it once because we will hit some bumps in the road But that's okay I think as long as we're transparent and inclusive in in our information gathering and the process we lay out So I think you know with a little more intel and a little more feedback I could come back to you in late January, but I you know My hope would be to get this going in February So that we have some of that low-hanging fruit And I think we know a couple of the parcels that we've talked about or have been talked about in public to get that going And and we'll put one through the process and we'll learn and you may say you know what mr. Zomek you need to adjust that process because there wasn't enough input at the beginning or in the middle or Wherever that might be so I Know we're beyond our time But I just want to note that even though the memo was dated November 11th, which was a Saturday Which is I know when you write your memos is on on the weekends the meeting if people are looking for the meeting is November 13th That's when the board discussed it So thank you I apologize for taking more time, but I think it's it's a really exciting process and I will Through mr. Backelman. I will If you were willing to talk about more. Yes. Thank you. Thank you All right, so Having finished that it's now just a little after seven o'clock, so I believe we will We have technically two poll petitions to to deal with we had a continuation of our poll hearing from last Monday night, which was Not that we really heard anything other than just to open it for the sake of opening it since we've Advertised it as such and so we'll reopen those public hearings. I don't know that we set the time and so In our packet we have to get a memo from Mr. Moreing correct my packet and A memo from the 12th of December and then Do we have folks here from? Yes, so if you want to come up come forward to our microphone here and and tell us a little bit about those two Projects for us identify yourself with the microphone for the folks at home because you are on TV just to let you know You can pull two chairs up if you want Good evening, my name is Ellen Freiman I'm an attorney with chat shorts and Fenton in Springfield and I represent Verizon wireless with me is J. LaTorre And he is the radio frequency engineer for Verizon wireless So do you want to just take us through the location and sort of the purpose and We're here to get permission To put antennas on utility poles, which is a new design that's rolling out across the The state and it fills in areas and Jake and speak more to it more specifically We're high traffic areas where more service is needed But we're able to fill in and create more Coverage in a small area with these single antennas that just fit on a utility pole So Jamie want to elaborate a little bit more on that and the two locations that we're looking at are poles located it's pole 91 it's a wameco pole on southeast street and Another wameco pole on pray Street Good evening everyone again. My name is J. LaTorre. I'm a radio frequency engineer for Verizon wireless As attorney Freiman mentioned the technology that we're deploying or proposing to deploy in Two areas of the town of Amherst is called small cell technology it Works and seeks to work to take advantage of existing infrastructure to try and rapidly deploy additional elements of Verizon's wireless network with the goal of Enhancing coverage in generally speaking of 500 to 1000 foot radius Hence the word small cell and also to augment capacity in areas of high demand to keep up with the rapid growth of Demand for wireless services that Verizon has experienced since it launched its 4g LTE service in 2010 The two locations first the location on pray Street Is a is a great example of rapid expansion not only of our technologies, but just of the town I graduated from UMass Amherst 2007 it's amazing to come through uptown and see all the new developments and apartment complexes and that little section of pray Street It's a great example of you know how a town can change and how the our network needs to adapt to that Similarly in the other example on Salvy Street, I think it's route 9 You know Verizon has identified an area where There are a number of smaller businesses gas stations and places of congregation where Folks may be likely to be sedentary for a little bit because we need to use their phones We find that in certain times of the day This can put a strain on our network and so these utility pole solutions allow us to augment our service They're great in that they don't require us to make any major ground disturbance or You know have to place a new tower up somewhere in town In these circumstances that we work with the two utilities in this case We'd be receiving our power from ever source and our fiber would come from Verizon and Have licenses with the two entities to attach to the pole construction on these facilities takes only about a day and Is coordinated between Verizon and the local utilities and if necessary depending on How we set up the equipment we may require a police detail just to work with traffic with the truck in the road But that's about it, and we're happy to answer any questions you may have Couple more things on so it's a canister like looking antenna and you have the drawings and the poles are prairie street is a 34-foot pole and we would be going at the 24 foot level and the Southeast Street is looks at a 36 foot pole and we would be going at looks at 24 foot So we'd be going about 10 feet from the top of the from the top of the pole And I didn't realize till I was starting to do this how much stuff is on utility poles And I don't think anyone would really know about unless you know it's what it is And it's going to be there that you would even notice that it's there Board have questions Mr. Steinberg. Yeah, I actually do have several things that I wanted to raise One is that in a similar request previously we did ask the same question and that is Is there any equipment that is anticipated to be located within Reach of the ground for that may be Subject to either danger to a person who reaches up towards it or in danger or risks vandalism to the equipment Well the Closest equipment that comes to the ground is our service meter and that's installed at approximately Five feet above ground so Hypothetically if from a vandalism standpoint, I suppose if someone wanted to smash that off a pole with a Baseball bat or something like that. They could we haven't seen that in the three years that we Installed Solutions so far, but that would be the closest thing that I could think of The service meter is a cutoff switch basically so if a utility company needs to work on the pole They coordinate with Verizon wireless and can turn off Our system and to work on the pole and then when they're done, they'll turn it back on Is there any danger to Somebody who accidentally touches that Even though they shouldn't but if they did the service meter. Yes I would say no more than you know Turning on or off a breaker in your electrical panel at home or the main breaker in your house the same exact concept It's an enclosed box and it's locked It's that I would safety and liability is one thing that I just wanted to raise the second thing was raised and We had received a memorandum from Guilford mooring superintendent of public works in Which he said in part In the event the town continues to underground the utilities in the triangle Street pray Street area The project would have to accommodate the devices with an acceptable pole and power supply and I wasn't sure what that meant because it kind of Sounded like the town would Be assuming future liability for the cost if it decided to under the underground thing Further utilities in that area It makes sense for the town and so I wanted to clarify what that meant either from Mr. Malcolm and from the Witnesses Have you had conversations miss mr. Mooring about that? So we've had a couple of conversations of mr. Mooring in relation to the Prey Street installation. Yeah, could you hand that to me, please Ellen? Thank you As you may be aware, we've been working with mr. Mooring Extensively over the past six months as Verizon's been building a new Monopole tower at the transfer station down on route nine So we've had an opportunity to talk about these project as well our specific Conversations with mr. Mooring on this particular pole on pray Street We're more so focused on some of the current construction. He had pointed out that One area where Verizon had seek to pull power from for our facility Coming off of East Pleasant Street off a utility pole was going to be eventually put underground and so We've already worked out an alternative proposal where we would come off of I believe it's triangle Street to bring in power that way And he had also identified in the area of pray Street a Transformer that had been placed on the utility pole that we seek to attach to and that was just an oversight on ever sources part We've communicated that with them And as part of our installation and what they call the make ready process where the utility companies will work on the pole and Move the various lines and equipment to make ready our attachment. They'll be taking that transformer down That's the extent of the conversations that I've had I unfortunately don't have any formal experience with a You know that we've been doing this for about three years I don't have any formal experience with utility poles in a large area all be being taken out with services put underground my experience is limited to a couple of poles where we've deployed services and then You know for one reason or another maybe DOT is doing some sort of road widening or a different type of traffic pattern And so we end up having to relocate our equipment to a different pole Further down, you know the street or across the street or something like that It would be inappropriate for me to speak to that particular language, but I I'm not aware of anything in my profession in the years that I've been doing this and what's the town Would somehow have liability Because the utility company decided to put the poles Underground I would more likely anticipate that in the event that happens in the future or when that happens in the future Verizon wireless would work with the town Ever source and Verizon landline to just find an alternative Pole to it to attach to that's what I've seen in my profession So in my conversations with mr. Moring That's basically what he said if there is a pole that had whatever was on attached to it It would be rolled into the major the overall project all the everybody attached to that pole whoever they were would be Consulted about where they could relocate to if they needed to be above ground or how to put them underground Now it'd be one overall it'd be just part of the project if the town were Doing it itself The town wouldn't be doing itself because we'd have to contract with ever source and Verizon and now Verizon wireless to discuss the material they have on the pole and how they would be relocated or put underground But it's so I think he mentioned it because it is something that would now be considered Or previously we wouldn't have to consider it But I guess the question is to whether There could be a hypothetical future cost to the town To relocate something that if we allowed it to be installed now For the reasons that are requested are we taking on a future unknown? Liability question Conferring with that if that I mean if we had to relocate We can agree that we wouldn't look to the town for any reimbursement relating to that Well, I guess we're breaking new ground. Maybe we could add Some kind of brief clause to our motion. So it's clear you're getting permission to do this But only as long as that pole is there And then I had one other question Even I don't know if you've had this in other communities What Provision is made if Something happens to the pole. Have you covered it by your prior statement is for example? By an automobile Accident that involves the pole By decay of the pole itself by act of God it's sort of always been My assumption that the utility that installed the pole has bears that cost other than they might be able to recover from a Third party if there was a third party We deal with those provisions at least agreement that we have right and I'll speak a little bit to how that works Cuz I have dealt with one or two of those so far so In any municipality in any area there are also always multiple utilities that will attach to a pole But there's one company that is the pole setting company. They're the ones that are responsible and here It's it's most like we'll Miko If the event that a pole was hit by an automobile That Verizon wireless had an antenna came on again the utility companies Allow us to lease space on their poles But ultimately their mission remains the same, you know when Miko's responsibility is delivering electricity So if that happened and that pole came down the first thing when Miko is going to do is Focus on making the area secure and then they're focused on replacing that pole and getting power back to the area whether it's commercial or residential power the next thing that's going to happen are either the fiber company like Verizon or the you know, whether it's Charter or Cox or Comcast is going to come in and do the work and Unfortunately, but that's just a nature of it. We're kind of last on the list So our equipment would be put to the side and that type of situation Oftentimes, it's probably permanently damaged and we would coordinate with the utility companies to come back out in a couple of days and reset it up again, what we're Equipment is relatively small in nature our canister antenna is approximately Two feet tall 12 inches in diameter I kind of like to describe it as like a backpack and our radio that produces Verizon's signals Approximately 50 pounds and about three feet tall. So it's not like a large refrigerator On there. It's and in some cases. It's pretty Comparable to the transformers that you see on utility poles and certain subsize other questions on the board Was anyone here from the public to speak to this at all? I'll give them people an opportunity to speak to it if they hadn't Any other comment from our questions? Yes, this potentially would fit just fine after we close the hearing, but why not say it now So we're working on some language. Mr. Rackam is perhaps working on some language that indicates the permission aspect but not taking on the financial Issue that seems to be implied by mr. Moring's last statement in terms of accommodating devices So we can work on that and we need to make sure I assume that since the first one says Wimiko pole the second one should say Wimiko pole as well in the motion itself for some reason the second one doesn't include that And Somehow just that our minutes make perfectly perfectly clear that of course this being on prairie Street. It's not part of The undergrounding process right now that we are not putting something up in order to take it down It's that we it's well within that's the maps clearly show that We were talking entirely in this last phrase and mr. Moring's memo about a future project that could involve Undergrounding over there. It is not anything that's on our horizon event horizon right now I don't want to preempt mr. Baccham and rewriting this but I I don't know if this takes care of all eventualities, but after that the Motion has written I wrote comma until such time as that pole is eliminated or relocated because We're giving the permission For that pole for the duration of the time that it is there, but there's nothing that is implied for Any promise of anything after the point imagine if you were relocating we'd come back for the new But I mean, I'm not an attorney and I'm also not the time here, but that's yeah, I was we're fine with that Does that seem to capture what we're talking about? Future pole anyway, that's what I draft elegant solution. Yeah So with that if people are ready, I would know you close here That's what I asked. I was just about to ask if we could have a motion to close the pole hearing some moved. Is there a second? I Assume there's no discussion, but in case there is now's the time hearing none all those in favor. Please say aye so we've closed the pole hearing at 723 and so now we can take a motion if you'd be so kind I move to approve the petition of cell co-partnership doing business as Verizon wireless to install wireless telecommunications equipment with electricity connection on an existing Utility pole in the public right of way on pray Street Wemiko pole number 350-1 until such time as that pole is eliminated or relocated Zero second, but he's quickly writing eliminated or Or relocated is there further discussion Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Hi That's unanimous And if you'd carry on with the next one Somebody said there was something missing for the pole word pole at the very end is Wemiko After Southeast Street comma Wemiko pole 91 existing okay now I got okay I'm happy to read this I moved to approve the petition of cell co-partnership doing business as Verizon wireless to install Wireless telecommunications equipment with electricity connection on an existing utility pole in the public right of way on Southeast Street Wemiko pole Number 91 until such time as that pole is eliminated or relocated Zero second, okay Is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Hi post Thank you So it takes your poll hearing for tonight. Thank you all for coming so next on our agenda is We'll return to our We're on the budget so we have an agenda item budget fiscal year 18 review fiscal year 19 preview and Community capital request a draft form so Mr. Buckingham you started there, and I know miss sure is here if you want to come forward. Yes. Thank you, mr. Chair This Aldridge our comptroller and co finance director is here And what our intention is today is to give you a brief verbal update on where we are in FY 18 a preview for FY 19 with the understanding that a full presentation will be delivered to you in early January as When we present the budget and also as we present information to the budget could not coordinating group which is scheduled for January 4th, I believe and what we want to talk about and on your desk is a memo from me plus additional information on health insurance because health insurance is the one thing that is going to be Driving many of the discussions that That were that were having tonight So I think to begin with we'd like to sort of give you an over a quick overview of where we are to serve generally for FY 18 And FY 19 which miss up. Michelle Aldridge will do Thank you. Yeah, I asked before we get started. Do we have a document associated with which document is Not community service funding but the group health insurance Okay, great. That's what just made making sure I And we'll talk more about the health insurance shortly Thank you Mr. Backelman Stole a lot of my thunder that I was going to talk about her, but It's a really brief overview on fiscal year 18. There'll be more detail when I come in to do the second quarter budget review for that We finalized our tax rate and our budget is in balance for a fiscal year 18 Although there are some challenges we're facing as mr. Backelman just alluded to the health insurance premiums we had in our fiscal year 18 budget that is in balance a 10% increase to PPO's and then upon Performance of our health claims trust fund. We then again raised rates 10% again for PPO's and 10% for HMO's and As I'm sure he he's let the board know that we were looking at a deficit there that we were going to cover with Try to cover with savings cost savings in our operating budget The health claims trust fund is still declining We started off with a 2.2 million dollar fund balance and as of the end of October were down to a million dollars Which caused some alarm and we're meeting with the IAC on Wednesday To talk about yet another increase So this is going to leave us with a deficit that we're most likely not going to be able to cover with operating savings and We'll have more detail on that after we meet with the IAC and Way our options and meet with the budget coordinating group Together, so I don't really have a whole lot of details of what that is right now So there's the health insurance the other challenge a couple of the other challenges We're facing for fiscal year 18 the North fire station boiler went down as you all know and we had to procure an emergency under 149 chapter 149 To get this replaced as quick as possible Following the procurement rules and I just want to note that our procurement officer Anthony Dinnellini was really a Huge asset to have at this time. He made this happen quickly illegally and also with the help of Rob Mora as filling in for the facilities director Was a big plus on our side, but we'll be looking this project at this point has cost us $62,000 56 of that was for the boiler itself and Around 5400 for a best of subatement and we're still working on Third vendor to get this hooked up to our emergency management system for the whole town So we're not through with the total cost on there Will be The other thing is the end We'll probably be looking first of all. I want to say we'll probably be looking for a reserve fund transfer to cover this With the finance committee and the third thing is the unknown for us right now It's no and I so we don't know what mother nature is going to throw at us this year So we don't know where we'll be with that at year end. So that's there for fiscal year 19 We are we're in the process we're working on it now We're there's still some decisions to be made on health insurance there In our challenges for 19 again are the health insurance We have to within the two and a half for each of the entities for the town budget We have to work in all these increases to health insurance plus cover all our contractual obligations for salaries and That's going to be a real and keep up with our And try to keep with our financial policies of increasing our capital a half a percent each year to reach 10% To increase our OPEP contribution every year and to keep increasing our stabilization fund This is going to be a challenge for fiscal year 19. We're not sure we can we can meet those challenges this year But that's again Meeting with BC gene working all that out We have the region assessment method, which is a challenge right now There we're down to two methods s statutory for which is our default method, which is our agreement now which Looks for the town to increase their assessment by $800,000 And then there's s10 which pretty much puts us puts us where we would be with the other agreed on Region assessment method another challenge for 19 is fire staffing and Then meeting all our obligations for salaries So I guess I'll just stop there. So so yeah, just to add on to that The next few weeks are decision weeks. We've gone through our of our public here. There are budget hearings this week The next two weeks really you know this week in the week between Christmas and New Year's is when we really work to finalize the budget And make all the decisions. It's a pretty hectic week the next couple weeks As we work to getting a presentation ready for you and the finance committee on January 11th the Miss Aldrich pointed out all the sort of challenges that we're facing We're we're going into this hoping that we can maintain the discipline to continue on the path of our financial Pult you know goals that that the select board and finance committee have identified because we think that's really important But lately we've been I've been worried I'll tell you just personally I've been worried if we'll be able to continue to can devote the amount to that we want to devote to capital Because we'll be talking about cutting things that we don't want to cut So that that's sort of a preview which is what we talked about the bigger issue is as Aldrich talked about was health insurance and so We're refining a sort of presentation to help employees understand health insurance more We Provide health insurance to all of our employees their families and Retirees through a health claims trust fund. This is a trust fund that is Controlled by that is contributing the funds from this come from employees paychecks and from the town in the regional school district and It's money that goes into a trust fund and then as claims come in from Blue Cross or Harvard Health the two providers We contract with we write checks to these providers for the services that we bought. It's a self-insured system It's not insurance. It's a trust. So as claims come in we pay it out We do purchase reinsurance to protect us against very large claims Our attachment point is at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars So a claim has to rise to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars before our reinsurance clicks in and the calendar starts for Every one of those claims again on July 1. So if you have a high need member of our trust Using a lot of health services. It will increase It'll the first two hundred fifty thousand dollars comes out of our pocket and what we have experienced I think it I had submitted a memo to you about two months ago or three months ago We talked a lot about these large claims Since that time we've last year we made design some plan design changes modest plan design changes This year we had an increase on the PPOs on July 1 which was the intent of that was to have the PPO program carry more of its weight because the HMO program was subsidizing the PPO program As we continued to monitor the situation the trust fund continued to degrade So we had to do another increase on October 1 and this was a 10% to both plans Again monitoring and that's what that happened October 1 as we continue to see our experience come in very aggressively We felt the need to increase our contribution again in our Suggestion to the IAC which is meeting on Wednesday So I don't want to prejudice any of this because they may not agree and we may have a conversation Or they may come up with a different idea is to increase The rates a third time this year which would be very onerous on employees and on the town in the school district But we don't really see a law a major Other opportunities because we can't the trust is a standalone entity we can't let it go under There's no You know, it's it's its own entity So we have taken a fair number of steps in addition during the time we we went out to bid for a fully insured program We sought to see if the Hampshire County Trust and Maya which ensures I think 63 Communities in the Commonwealth were interested in and us at this point Maya said they were not interested in our Program although they've provided excellent support in terms of coming in and talking to us about how they assessed our situation and We talked about Consolidating all of our members into either Harvard Health or Blue Cross right now about half are in each so it's not like a lot of times in communities We'll have most of their employees will be in Blue Cross. So moving them into one. There'll be some modest cost savings to do that So at this point we feel We would we're hoping that we will just do one more Increase that would go into effect on February 1 We will we're going to reach out to the insurance advisory committee and seek their support and Working with us to explore other options because I think it's one of these things where all things are have to be on the table and This includes You know looking at plan design changes looking at Setting the price for the products appropriately and Looking at whether we should be insured or have an insurance product or self-insured And whether we should have two plans meaning Harvard Health and our two companies Harvard Health and Blue Cross or just Consolidate into one. These are all major decisions that impact employees and it has to be the town has developed a really strong working relationship with our employees Through the insurance advisory committee the insurance advisor Advisory committee has many very experienced people on it who've been through this before So we want to utilize that and leverage that experience to work together to come up with with proper solutions on this Status quo is not an option because that's we have to look at both sides of the equation We have to look at what we charge and the services we provide in short where we are now Is we're providing the richest program in the Valley the in terms of benefits at one of the lowest costs and that? mismatch is not sustainable as we are seeing in the results you see on your you see the The chart that shows the balance just dropping One of the things that we learned in the as we were exploring this is that We're not alone when you look at every other trust in the Commonwealth They all went through this last year the only difference with us is that our trust was stronger and we lasted an extra year So this exact same kind of experience Was hitting every all the other trusts there are five or six other trusts in the Commonwealth The last year and they all had to take sort of they're doing pretty much It's not a magic box. There's there's very few things that you can do that you can change plan design you increase rates and you talk about contribution levels and Those are the things that are on the table So we're working really hard on this or is that there's a great team in town hall Which includes our finance people aren't our HR people and the people who run the trust It's not getting our heads together trying to make this happen meeting with the employee groups The employee groups agreed to meet we met two weeks ago. I think and Put this on the table. They said we need to think about this We needed to talk to our membership, which was reasonable. They agreed to meet right before Christmas this week We have another meeting scheduled in January. I think we have one scheduled in January to continue this conversation So that's where we are the message is it's we are In a difficult situation. We hope we have taken the steps to address it The impact and we'll be able to quantify exactly the impact on the school district and on our budget Relatively quickly right now we have the data in from October 31, so it's not very far into the fiscal year We're still entry we're still getting bills in and things like that from the November So we have to enter that October was an important time because that's October is usually the date when we know who's actually enrolled because a lot of teachers come online in September and They don't really get plugged in until October 1 so the information where we have right now is we feel is pretty solid in terms of membership We're seeing the same we're not seeing any relief on our claims experience That's why we've had to take the unusual step of seeking additional funds Does I miss anything else? Yeah, I have a couple questions, you know Obviously, there's the immediate concern for fiscal 18 because the budget is essentially kind of locked in at this point But I'm thinking about as you're preparing for fiscal 19 obviously a lot of moving pieces about what Plan design might look like what rates might look like. Are you sort of holding that as an open spot in your in your budget planning? What what's your Plan for that because you won't have decisions, but you have to present us a budget in like the 11th And so how are you kind of holding that in the short term? Because it'll have you know, yes, the hundred thousand or two hundred thousand dollars swing and You know values there I think pretty easily So I was just curious to sort of what what your strategy is the moment for that Well, that's a very good question So something was altered has been in my office is of about an hour ago saying This is a critical decision and we have a meeting tomorrow of our finance staff to try and sort of figure out Not to to decide on what's our best estimate on what we're going to do Because that will drive the rest of the budget and those core decisions have to be made this week Yes, I just wanted to comment that these are the kind of decisions that keep town managers and finance directors up at night, so Really in place, but just that this isn't easy and I'm sure you you feel the weight of this not just when you're here during the daytime I Just I just wanted to say that this a third rate change comes into play it will generate we only have five months to To to increase the budget we'll get a million dollars Based on the November enrollment There'll be a million dollars going into the trust for these five months, but starting for July 1st fiscal year 19 our Revenues will be for the full year around 18.3 million depending on on the enrollment changes, so I don't want to be stuck to that number, but So we're in a better We're a level field at least at least we're generating enough revenue to pay the expenses, so we're starting off With the rates at the right place Perhaps a small increase, but we're starting off at a much better place So that will fix the trust, but then we you know that impacts the employees pocketbook And it impacts our budget and what we can buy next year in terms of Services and things like that so that's where the it's not as That's not magic money that comes from anywhere comes out of our budgets We'll be looking that's why we're looking at everybody's budget individually to say what we're can we get savings to meet this new need for the trust? Just you had mentioned so Just mention it again We created a Aspiration or a goal for our capital funds, but clearly that may need to be reconsidered in the context of this information and what what would be When would it be appropriate for this sport to be part of that conversation doesn't necessarily mean tonight Yeah, I mean that's that's on the table as we have to meet scheduled tomorrow on the next day to talk about budget issues Half our days the next two days are going to be spent on that type of question and then we'll you know Probably will probably be in Early January I mean the first clearly the first meeting is the next time that you meet January 8th And we also have the BCG on January 4th. So we'll have Proposals at that moment in time. That's what we'll see it's gonna be so Yeah It's the other point that I would make and I appreciate all of you're going through and that you've Information that you've presented to us and it is difficult Adjust to and accommodate to but I think that it is important that we have a conversation of sure that Miss Aldrich is with finance committee directly about Getting this information to members of town meeting current members of town meeting At an earlier date as opposed to a later date so that people don't approach the town meeting season with unreasonable expectations about what they might be able to add to a budget and Misconceptions about where we are financially as a community now So the information you have in this little packet with a graph Has been given to the insurance advisory committee They all have it and they are in the insurance advisory committee just for you know this But others in the audience might not that it's comprised of members from every bargaining unit in the school and in the town plus retirees plus management so it's a 20 people who sit around a table and they all have this they can share it with their membership if they if they So choose But also it's become clear to me is that it's complicated And we have to make it simpler for people to understand and make it as clear as possible because there's a lot of people this You know we spend hours every day talking about this a lot of people This is important to them but they have jobs to do and so trying to come up with some kind of Presentation public meetings with the employees to help educate why this is happening because if you're just an employee You're saying why is this happening doesn't make any sense to me Why did why are we in this whole and so trying to explain that and explain and help them understand that We're all in this together that this is a trust. This is the way it's not some big bad person out there doing something to us It's that we've bought more health insurance than we were putting money in to the bank for so we have to make up that deficit That's where we are Well, I think we also have to recognize and the graph does this That really this over the years was a very successful program and for a number of years We were able to do a lot of things as a community because we really did have Relatively low insurance costs and insurance costs were not rising year for a year to the extent that some other plans were had we're experiencing and Now the situation has changed and but I Think we all need to recognize that This is a form of providing health coverage that for many years served the community very well But get back to the point that and I don't think that this should precede the employees. I think the Working with the employees is first and foremost our responsibility Because they need to understand quickly what is happening, but I don't think we should Encourage delay on informing the legislative body of government as to What the realities are for the budget? Going forward Any further comment on that? so Yes, nice any further comment, I'll look at my I was trying to wait, but do you mind do you want me to turn it off? It's actually giving me a headache So if I could just make my sentence first and no, no, I'm sorry So two things I wanted I wanted to mention and in addition to all the really important things other people have said So Things we inherit from our predecessors. It's not okay to write choices of health care plans into collective bargaining agreements I think we should agree that that's not okay thing to do in into the future That says here that the school collective bargaining agreements stipulate both Blue Cross and Harvard Pilgrim I mean obviously anything's okay if the people at the table agree to it But in terms of it being a sensible thing to do in the long run I really hope that it's something that will avoid doing in future and that we'll mention to the school folks as they're working on that because it's not something that Is a standard benefit in the United States maybe in some parts of Western Massachusetts or some parts of Massachusetts, but One of the reasons this plan worked really well for people for a long time It was it was really inexpensive and it was far more inexpensive than the plans that many of our residents have and At the same time employees were not lowly paid And so it has worked very well as long as it has and it's unfortunate that the climate is such that it is and Things cost what they do and like you said it's not anybody did anything wrong. It's just We can't do it that way anymore exactly that way We can do some variation of it anymore So I hope in light of that we'll consider not writing actual health care plan names into collective bargaining agreements in the future And the other is that I hope we will still consider I know people are always loathe to look at a multi-tiered system, but I certainly You know how I appreciate that the IC has been willing to talk about moving everybody to one plan because I know that's a hard decision It is also not unreasonable that they would consider not letting any new employees choose between two plans That is a totally traditional thing that happens to many employees and it certainly happens to state employees Working for the G that have that have GIC coverage I find the GIC benchmark a little misleading in this not that anybody wrote anything wrong, but that's Perhaps an average of GIC plans Not all GIC plans have the same deductible, etc. And speaking as someone who is a member of one of the crummier ones They have quite high out-of-pocket costs and so and if you're hired after a certain date your the amount you pay is different and so It's not great having a two-tiered system at all But in terms of make when a really hard thing like this happens I appreciate that people are looking at all the possibilities and that that could be one of them is that in fact It may be one thing to do now or maybe we can't switch to one right now Or maybe we can but if we can't that's certainly new employees because they don't they don't have it yet So and it wouldn't be a horrible plan. It just wouldn't be the halcyon days of what plans were So I appreciate that all those things are being considered by all these people working together because we know that some other communities have not worked effectively with insurance advisory Commission and in fact had their town meetings accept a provision of mass general law that allows Management to make a lot of decisions without employee input and we've not pursued that path here because we've had such a good working Relationship and so I'm really proud that people are continuing to take that effort and to to grind through all this right when It's not their everyday thing that keeps them necessarily up at night But now it keeps a lot more people up at night because so many of them are working on it. So, thank you so I think If you wanted to throw a couple other topics related to budget for example You gave us the Community capital request form. Yes. I didn't know if you want to mention that or what the other In your packet third item under budget is our capital project requests from residents one of the things that came out of last I think Generate by our discussion with when you're setting goals. Thanks. I'm not sure where but it was like people expressed a need to say How do I as a regular citizen Get something in on in front of the joint capital planning committee and our answer was will you go through the normal committees that? Extensive network of committees we have they have all committees and department has can suggest things to JCPC But it became apparent that there's well what about the things that don't get captured in that way Is there a way for citizens who are interested in advancing a particular project to put something forward? so your request We developed a procedure and a form that which is a truncated form from our JCPC committee it doesn't have this level of detail that the that would normally request for a capital plan because it This would didn't seem to be reasonable to ask this of Just regular people to say what's the ongoing operating cost? Well, we do ask for that, but But there's a lot of other sort of detailed things about how would you what would be your sources of money to pay for this and stuff That we feel like that's the town's responsibility But we did want to try to get it illicit as much information as possible If someone did have a particular capital project that they wanted to advance So this memo sort of Outlines the process and it has a sample form that we could use and put that up on the website if you think that it's a good Thing to do we can do that this week I Think it's a good start, but it doesn't quite make sense to me To try to and I don't think it's quite adapted yet for a citizen Request for example, and maybe I'm not understanding Department or should that be organization? What's the person's affiliation is are they speaking their own great idea? They had or are they representing a group or a need? Division I'm not sure what division so I think some of this just got kind of imported And I for project cost I might put estimated project cost and I'm not sure Some of the cost estimate. I mean, how did you arrive at this or what if you I just think we're asking some detail that ultimately staff would need to Figure out I think the key is more under project description and justification and here's his give a brief one or two paragraphs Which may be too short? I think this is mostly about narrative and this is be brief, but attach additional sheets is necessary So you could have your two paragraphs like you could have I've seen people do this You know when you're appendix, so I think I'm more thinking about this This this works for departments for the JCPC, but you know Training deployment or would they really know that what is at least just unpack this a little thinking of Somebody who's been working with their group out in the community for a year. Is this really gonna work? So I you know we talked about that and but we in The problem we the challenge we had was if someone comes in and has a paragraph written saying I'd like a performance space on the common or something like that and they have a drawing of it That what do we do with that? You know if it's not if someone hasn't gone to done some work to say well What would it cost? How did you write? How did you come up? We think that if someone is going to advance a project? I could easily see some people coming in with a dozen things that they think should be done And then we're devoting a lot of staff time to Identifying costs and things like that and I think that is it does if someone really wants to advance a project They have to put the time in to research it and move forward on it I agree that this isn't just wish list stuff, but I think Maybe reframing this a little bit for somebody who is more of a layperson with doing this and not every idea is gonna Then get worked through but Maybe other people react to differently So without having the one that the town currently uses which has gone through several iterations since I last saw it Here to compare it to I don't know how much of it was modified to turn it into this It looks like not a lot, and I think that's fine. I On the other hand think that people should do the best that there should somehow be a cover Do the best you can with what you got and we're we're trying this new thing and Now we're gonna see how it works because you can't have something that's completely different than what the departments have Because then we're not they're not part of the process. They're part of some other subsidiary Parallel process and so you're trying to fit them in and and many of these points are points You do want to be able to track with those with all the normal projects And if they have trouble figuring it out, that's okay. Like that means more text less Spaces, hopefully they don't leave it all blank here and just do that but I Think it's fine to start with this and then After you get through the first set the first time it happens It much like mr. Zomek was talking about earlier tonight Then because otherwise you're gonna be comparing apples and I don't know not even oranges insects or something I mean, it's not it's not even the same family if you change the form too much So although I can see a future form that might say Not applicable like you know for a certain type of resident To be able to date so that they wouldn't have to fill those spaces out But if we just start with a cover that says We're doing we're trying to use the same form So that we can keep track of things But feel free to offer your suggestions as to how we can make it fit your project better Because I think it is really important that the thing you mentioned I'm not sure how you say it in other than at a meeting or when you're talking with the resident on the phone is that Our intention here was not that you draw something on a napkin and bring it in and say staple it to the thing and say here I want this to go in the 10-year plan. I mean and you can't expect that staff is going to say oh great I mean they might think it's really interesting, but they they aren't on the time to do that until some other discussion takes place so I think As much of it as looks like the normal process But just encouraging people to not be dissuaded by the form don't you know don't be upset that like you've never felt anything like this out before So a couple suggestions I'll offer in the moment since we're talking about this and I'll catch my colleagues as well I think like the part like you said department is probably But to have that like number four which has department priority classification Indicating those is an important piece to to sort of convey the purpose of it One of the things I think about is is is about How do we set appropriate expectations of how this will be evaluated by JCPC because it may be something that they You know, it's someone's done a ton of homework. They've really developed it perfectly. Well, it's ready to go It's really a nice clean concise project and others that aren't as much or they need more time or whatever So I think that'll be one thing as far as bringing this to JCPC Will be sort of how do they they're gonna have to think about how they're gonna go through these and evaluate them and Which to include which rise to level be included on a capital plan and which don't or which aren't ready And how do you feed that back to the to the petitioner of it? And then likewise? I think you know it the other suggestion would have is that these as a whole Perhaps are an appendix to the the JCPC report just so the public at large says here's what came in and And you know sort of what and obviously things that sort of made the list will be in the actual capital plan as opposed to so then there's no It's clear that nothing got lost it may not have gotten included But it didn't get lost and so some of that kind of mechanics stuff is the things I've been thinking So I'm gonna go with the wall that a comment or question and then come back to mr. Senberg So mr. Wall Yeah, I think my reaction was similar to the other ones, you know, it's Complicated form that the average person can't fill out and I guess I was Sort of assuming that the intent was to split the difference between being discouraging and Saying no napkin scribbles do your homework, but I guess the other question I had is you know Since some of these things are obviously inappropriate in most cases people have no idea what the costs are How many years things last or what the impacts are and so forth. Is it also intended in a sense to help staff? Do a quick checklist and say here's how I this would map on to my expectations I mean, is there some expectation that staff having received one of these semi-complete forms would at least in for purpose of discussion try to sort of fill in the blanks and Make judgments about its Feasibility on that basis Let's it's hard again with consistency of forms between. Yeah, in fact, you'd like staff to sort of clean it up and sort of help Guided but if we get 40 of these that's the other thing if we get to yeah, and you know It's just I we don't know what to anticipate Again, I think I think we don't want to have a really low bar on this I mean because of people people talk all they talk to me and I'm sure they talk to you about great ideas Very creative people in this town But if you said okay now you have to go to the next level You need to get someone to give you a price estimate for what it's going to cost I mean if that's what you're talking about just is it close to a thousand ten thousand a hundred thousand something like that just a And maybe I think your your all response was that it's complicated to the normal person reading it and that's we need to dumb it Then I won't say dumb it down simplify it So a person who's not in the finance field like we are can understand what we're asking for I think some of it's just definitional. It's like they're not used to certain kinds of definitions So it's about sort of, you know, maybe that's the back of the form of some of the definitions of some of those things Even if you leave them as is on the front, you know to talk about what you know What's included in maintenance, you know or energies or you know, yeah, exactly sort of what's the broad sort of you know Description of the categories that you're asking for and and I mean some people will know I mean obviously people working if they're talking about a Construction sort of project if they work in the field of construction, then they kind of have a sense of some of these things and But anyway That might help. I think it was mr. Simon was next Yes First one to go to the first side of this not where the memorandum is and point out the second to the last paragraph and And If that's what's really meant that not all sections would be required to be filled out Then it probably has to be explicit in the form, but on the other hand, I think that we do we really Want an attempt made at every section so that the person is applying thinks about that and is that really? Mr. Ocklin what what you think is right, but I think you know it gets back to the instructions That get incorporated in the form To ultimately answer that question and make it clear and I don't think that it needs happen Instantly at tonight's meeting But I just wanted to point that out that that is the dilemma we've identified and I think that that paragraph suggests something that The rest of the discussion has not exactly been consistent with and one other thing that Miss Krueger went through the form and I don't know if this comes from The staff form, but under number four the word check all doesn't I think it's check all that apply That'd be easy That's easy one to fill out right check them all okay, just pre-check So so building off of that and so I do I do want to make clear that I would not if I didn't already I would not expect staff to clean this up at all Right or fill it in because I mean at JCPC. Yes, but not at some prior Okay, yeah because I absolutely think that people Making these proposals should be able to estimate useful life and they absolutely ought to be able to go out and get some kind of cost estimate Because this isn't like we're saying let's have all the fifth graders right to us about their best ideas of something to do with capital I mean and our fifth graders can be surprisingly sophisticated in some cases But it's like if you want a capital plan you you got to do some work and so And then if you don't know what to write and you end up putting it in the text and you say I don't know how to estimate useful life of XYZ item then JCPC will figure that out, but I Think we should give people the benefit of the doubt that if they're gonna actually pursue Rather than just chatting about something that they actually want to pursue something then I do think they are good questions for them to try and figure out how to answer even if they don't come up with a solution So you'd like I'll take another crack at it Bring it back next meeting. It'll be in January. Does that put it too late to be used? Or do you want to have someone I mean I think this is Interesting sort of dilemma because quite frankly JCPC advisory to you so this in some ways Fully is under your control and so we're providing advice to you And also we wanted to get this out so that people could actually potentially right near the beginning of the year late this year Start doing their homework on estimating these costs and the useful life and all that sort of stuff So I'd say, you know, I think we're of an opinion that I think that You might be able to just sort of circulate to us You know the sort of cover and instructions that go with it and you can respond back to me Individually to you and the idea being that we can you know, it's not deliberative. You're just good Right, and yeah, yeah, and you know, given that you have nothing to do between now and the 11th or so of January On budget or anything easy you could plenty of time to work on this But but nonetheless the idea being that we can get it out Yeah folks to utilize after you comment from us. So just I wasn't saying not to have a version of this I think it you know, I think you've got the notes, but I'm happy to You know share my scratchings, which doesn't mean the ultimate but yeah, it is miss Bruce that I think most of this It's going the right direction So what we attempted to do was to help JCPC analyze this the things instead of saying we could you know We will talk about creating a separate form that was very friendly But then JCPC would get this whole separate category that didn't have the level of detail So we've aired on this one instead of that So thank you Did you want to talk about this? So it's a sort of under a funding kind of things So we're still doing budget things. There's a memo in our packet related to community service Okay, so we'll take a little recess and and let everybody take a couple minutes to Okay, walk around the block. You don't have to hang around. Thank you, Sonya appreciate it So I believe we're all back if you'd like to join us We're gonna we're gonna jump to a separate section of our our agenda I didn't realize someone was here to to speak to a particular item, but under licenses we have a Common victual license that we're going to do tonight We'll I'll suggest that we pull it out of our Consent counter for the purposes of having a little discussion about it but if you'd like to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about You're here and tell us about your business sure my name is about your business and my name is Tom Schmidt I thank you very much for having me. I won't take too much of your time With certainly a less than important business matter than you are talking about but I am the new owner of Barts ice cream company up in Greenfield mass and I along with myself or excuse I myself and I on a gible is the owner of the Barts ice cream store that we Are opening down the down on Pleasant Street So I just want to take the opportunity as you review the license and I know it's the procedure But just to say thank you to the town We've had a process where we've been working with the health department and and Liana's been working much more closely They've been everyone has been great to work with Everyone that's walked through our door has been incredibly receptive to us and And incredibly patient as we sort of managed this process and and got into the space and sort of do what we need to do So really my goal here was to you know, I felt that it was important enough that you know You were considering us and the license that I just wanted to say thanks. We're thrilled. We're absolutely thrilled to be here We understand the history That has gone, you know the last 30 years that Barts was here and really take that very seriously and are Excited to present a store and continue to present the product that I think everyone here has been very used to Recipes not changing so everyone could be very comfortable knowing that so that's it. Just wanted to say thank you and we look forward to You know serving the public going forward As I said, I didn't want to bring ice cream today to Sway the vote, but I will be sure to bring some to next time. Oh, thank you. Well, thank you for coming in tonight We do like it Like to give people an opportunity if they want to to come and tell us a little bit about their businesses in town and Give an opportunity to sort of share the fact that they're they're here and and do a small bit of advertising as it were So thank you for coming in tonight. Do any of the members want to offer comment? Mr. I was gonna make a motion actually I Move to approve common vitriol is licensed for B. I see a LLC doing businesses Barts ice cream Amherst 103 North Pleasant Street number one with hours of operation from November to March Monday through Thursday 2 p.m. To 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday 12 p.m. To 10 p.m. In Sunday 12 p.m. To 8 p.m. And from April to October Monday through Sunday 12 p.m. To 10 p.m. Eliana gible manager is there a second there is a second discussion I was gonna make two quick comments one is thank you for reading those hours So clearly mr. Stimer because I know that's been one of the things that people have commented to me that they're a little confused About what's happening at that location over the last several months And so to be able to tell them that it's just that during this season you don't open until too But come back later in the afternoon just don't go at lunchtime And if we also have the gentleman's name written for our minutes because is he doesn't actually appear on the Common bit to make sure we have it spelled. Sure. My name is Thomas Schmidt. It's S. C. H. M. I. D. T. Great, that's what I guess sure and we will be just for purposes of we will be closed until mid-January while we Get all of our things together on the business side of it. So and then we'll be reopening to the hours that were mentioned Screw that's going to be my question. It's not really related necessarily said the recipe wasn't changing, but are you making any changes This is chance to tell us in the public about what your vision is is it gonna be exactly as it is right now or what do you Oh, I could spend a lot of time talking about my vision But I appreciate the question very much and The vision for the store is I believe what you're asking about is you know, we We would we want to continue serving what we believe is the highest quality product in that category, but we also wanted to Expand the menu, but we want to be it's going to be different. We believe them. What was there before? Which was bagels and coffees and things like that and what we're focused on more smoothies and juices and things that highlight the the our partners that help us produce our products. So for example the Something that goes into the local peach ice cream that can go into a smoothie that can go into a juice You know it all come and it can highlight the farmer that we are working with and that's our entire goal Is to support local the local farmers the local partners everyone a high percentage over 80 percent of what we put In our ice cream at Barts is local and so the store is really our Our window to show the community and Amherst and everybody else What Barts ice cream is about and then by doing that we can bring in other products from people and use that as a platform to To offer other products from local farms. It may not have that opportunity This store we don't plan on having a large brick-and-mortar strategy so to speak this was an opportunity for us to take I think return to a location that was we revered and I think people did it will be our flagship location It's the only location that offers all 38 flavors of Barts ice cream, which is a lot of fun We will be using it to try samples So a new flavor we tried this year was strawberry bait lime basil with nobody else had in anywhere else So it's a real it's an opportunity for us to To do that and I also tell you that the people in Greenfield Who don't know and really knows much about our wonderful people and absolutely thrilled about this and they're thrilled as much as I am that They have an opportunity to come and see people eating their ice cream and see that interaction So it's really been a nice I guess event for us as a company to see this sort of evolve and so you know we're thrilled about it We're thrilled to you'll be back next summer and unfortunately done a little slow in the winter months But you know we it gives us a nice opportunity to get ourselves together and we really look forward to presenting in something that You you folks be proud of I mean I think it's this is not we're not staying in Western mass You know our goal is as a Barts Company is moving to Eastern mass and everywhere else. So we have 1300 locations throughout New England that are selling our ice cream You know we're at Whole Foods were in Roach Brothers in the Eastern mass So it's it's a brand that's going to be more prevalent in the area And I think we'll also just bring much more. I think for you much more focus on Amherst where the location is and where you know Really where our birthplace is you know here in Northampton. So that's kind of our in summary is where we're at great Thank you. All right. Well, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Is there further discussion from the board? Sorry Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. I We appreciate your patience for waiting for us So next up did you want to go into that or you want to wait and do that whichever you prefer? Since we're talking about finances, why don't you go ahead and give us a little update on that? That memo relative to community services funding So in your packet or on your on your desk was a memo about community services funding So as you recall the town meeting voted an additional $60,000 for community services That was done after our our budget priority setting had been done And so we have been looking at how to allocate those funds that have been put into the budget Two things had me hesitate in terms of making a decision one was Having a thorough several things one was having a thorough discussion about what the highest need was in terms of talking to people about what was the highest need in in Amherst and Several there were a lot of there are a lot of needs three came to the surface and is the highest need one was a Program to conduct better outreach to the Latino community Approved the second was a program to address the challenges those with mental health or substance abuse problems And the third was a program to help prevent homelessness Going into this it was not my intention especially given our expectation for our budget next year to create a new position To and I and I don't know if that was the intent I think the intent was to provide services to people in need and I don't think that was necessarily at this point And I don't think the town could support a program on $60,000. I would hire a person So it was not intending to hire a person, but instead Have a group that would be able to provide a service Two things external things have happened that have influenced the Where we are at this point one was the hurricane that did such devastating damage to Puerto Rico We had anticipated and still anticipate and there's been coverage of this additional people coming to Amherst We did not know what the need was going to be the community mobilized very actively and Was preparing to Receive and welcome people, but we didn't know what the needs that they were bringing would be it turns out that that need wasn't as great as we had thought could be possible and The community has been very generous in reaching out to people and providing homes and services So that was not that has that seems to have been Paired away the second need however is quite real and might dominate the need for this funds and that is that there is a earmarked line item in the state budget of $200,000 for Craig stores and That at this point under the governor the governor has held all expenditures for earmarked items in the budget This same thing happened last year our legislative delegation was successful in releasing those funds so that Craig stores could operate At its full capacity for the entire time that it that it had funding I'm not as confident that that will happen and this year in the governor has indicated He's not intent in interested in doing that so two things on that one is There are people who are organizing and it's on the you know That's the chair is aware of this and we'll bring it up tonight about whether the to initiate a letter writing campaign to the governor in our legislative delegation to Encourage them to release the funds that are designated for Craig stores Failing that Having this $60,000 available to support homelessness activities in the in the town We would have to do an RFP for that might be something that might be wise for us to pay attention to So that's that's where we stand Halfway through the year and we've got this money there and It hasn't been spent and I know there are some people who are eyeing it saying why not this why not that? I'm really conservative about this But we will do a You know an RFP, which is what would be required to do in January. I think Depending on where we are at that point in time in terms of the governor's budget, so open the questions and Okay, I'll dive in so I appreciate you keeping us updated on this and you'd given us previous indications of the direction This was going and so this is no surprise. What is confusing to me though about this and and on the one hand I it's actually good We haven't made any decisions because of the situation with Craig store. So yay and that works out is that I Don't know how to describe to anyone what better outreach to the Latino community means we used to have a Cambodian outreach worker and To be blunt people said oh good. We're doing something for the Cambodian community They didn't know what it was, but they liked the idea of it What does this even mean to do in order to for the some segment of the Latino population to Access something. Yes. So this this is not something I made up It came comes out of the human services group because that's who I would say where is the greatest need in the community? so we go to Julie Fetterman and she convenes a group that meets monthly and That was listed as one of their highest needs. What does that mean? It means there are With a large Latino community that isn't accessing many of the services that are already out there and available For a number of reasons it might be that they're not documented and they're afraid to go to places It might be just a transportation issue There are services in the community that they felt People who live in town weren't taking advantage of that they could and so there needed to be some Outreach to say hey if you're at the end of there were and a lot of anecdotes shared and we could I mean Julie could Talk about that where people are at the end of the month. They're at the end of the paycheck They don't have the food. They literally don't have food. They are nervous about going to the survival center The survival center saying come we have things for you The survival center has now been going to South Point with their mobile food things with food security was another issue for a lot of people and And so trying to break down the barriers to seeking and it could be cultural too Could be just it could it could be a lots of different reasons why people aren't accessing the service that we already have So that was the sort of impulse for this was to Gain access to needed services to the can make it's not just putting up posters and saying hey There's this thing it's about building credibility within a community or or seizing on people who already have credibility built up and if we do an RFP obviously we'd have to Be much more specific about what we're talking about because it would be a service for a period of time to make inroads into the community I could just add and I think We did talk about specifically about food security around the Latino community, but it but it's you know interwoven with those relationships and We talked about something that we could fund that if it were not to be funded in a subsequent year would not do damn You know undue damage, so we're not we approach this not assuming that this was an ad forever and ever but First of all, we don't have the full year and we don't know About next year for all kinds of reasons, so what could we take on that would be a Valuable service, but didn't need to be sustainable for the long haul You were there too. I was there too, but I have nothing The critical piece with your deliverables is understanding how our budgets shaping up So yeah, I would think that you would expect this to be updated pretty much weekly. I mean every meeting now until Some decisions are made. Okay, great. Thank you either questions, all right, so Moving on to a much more mundane sort of topic which is remote participation policy Which is in our packet? And so when we originally adopted that a year ago Or so less a year ago We put a sunset on it primarily just so we could review how it went and so I'm gonna leave a mr. Bachman to sort of perhaps lay out a little bit of that sure so in your packet there is the The policy but just sort of a summary on how often it's been used and we have a very robust policy with a procedure for people utilizing it and One of the requirements is that they notify the Our office if it's being used and that has happened six times during the year Five of those were with the Charter Commission. One time was with the school committee This does not apply to the regional school committee. They have their own remote participation policy. So the sort of Requirements to report haven't proven to be onerous on any committee Several committees when I reached out to all of our departments to say is your committee used this at all That it just didn't fill out the paperwork most Nobody said that they used it and didn't fill out the paperwork Several said that they were happy that it existed in case they needed it, but they didn't need it this year. So Yeah, I was gonna actually include the cinder member reports But I think I'm gonna pull it out and do it now because it's what we're talking about I did go to the DAAC meeting and we'll cover other items from that another item from that later but This topic came up because it was fairly clear that DAC was using remote participation And it appeared that they did not therefore follow the form and send the form in but At the meeting that I was attending this past week. There was somebody there participating Remotely second thing about that was it caused then some discussion because It is difficult for people who have disabilities to always physically get to meetings because the amount of arrangements that have to be made for transportation purposes and The There was a great degree of appreciation For the ability to do that That was expressed there was only one member everybody else was there in person Which then got into an additional discussion, which I have handled on my own as the liaison because there were members of the Committee that Had two things one is is that they felt that because of their unique Circumstances the consideration should be given to not even requiring that a quorum be physically present at the building But that they Where the meeting is being held, but that they should be able to participate and secondly they raised the question of whether Changing their status asking town meeting to change their status to a disability commission would actually have the effect of making that change Unfortunately the open meeting law is clear on both points When you go to the open meeting law itself, it says very explicitly that a Quorum and the chair must be physically present at the meeting and that if a disability Commission exists in the community it can declare that it is Remote participation policy on its own, but it that it must be consistent with the statute so that if they were to Have town meeting at some future date make them a disability commission It would still be required that any remote participation that they use that there has to be a Quorum present and the chair has to be present. They can't create that exception I have communicated that by sending them the exact wording of those two sections of the Statute so that there's no confusion about where they stand with it So that was just an additional part that I would have reported later, but report that And I appreciate that maybe hearing it from mr. Steinberg meant that it was paid attention to This time because I've been telling their staff support and the members that they used to have these exact pieces of information Since the day the open meeting law was revised to treat disability Commissions commissions on disability differently because for years that group that's the problem with Amherst being forward-thinking right we came up with the disability advisory Access advisory committee before Commissions on disability were a thing so they never became an official commission on disability So they don't fall within that section as mr. Steinberg pointed out they could and it never goes anywhere there's this conversation at least every three years about how they could pursue it and There are some odd little parts of mass general law associated with parking Fines or something for them etc So these weird little quirky things that could apply to them It's not just so that they could have remote participation if there are other reasons to potentially have it But I'm sure there are downsides to and mr. Molay's worked through some of those with them in the past and so Great if they want to move forward with it because I totally agree that it seems Complete really reasonable, and I'm glad that open meeting law carved out that exception for commissions on disability They just didn't consider that we might have something that's basically the same thing that isn't the same thing So we're not allowed to just let them treat it that way. So You know we certainly I mean, I'm sure mr. Molay is helping them and staff would continue to work with them on what the Pluses and minuses of doing it that way would be and then could get it on the town meeting warrant if necessary For the spring if for no other purpose than to do this because they never quite got off the mark For previous reasons that they had but maybe this is enough of an incentive and there aren't enough downsides That maybe it's worth pursuing so maybe that goes on our list of potential theoretical warrant articles for the spring so that they have more time to Pull that information out again as to what their advantage might be to do that so let me be clear though that Making themselves a commission doesn't do anything for them as far as remote participation. Yes, it does actually no It does not I read the statute again And I decide I disagree So we're gonna have to agree to disagree on that if I Think that it is something we're gonna have to agree to disagree on the other until you've read the statute again Or I've read the Confident it's different We'll talk about it later. The other thing is to that the the Committee itself did recognize that they had this discussion with mr. Musanti and mr. Musanti was Advising against Making the change and had reasons that he expressed about not doing that Different and maybe I didn't exactly understand you mr. Sandberg about the utilization but it seems like there may have been some communities utilizing this but not Coming through with the paperwork, and I just wonder because it is new and and It's all it's we're at the end of the first if it's just a reminder back out to committee chairs of what it is and We're happy people have been using it reminder if you're gonna use it. This is here's the form, you know Just because it that I think it's probably time at the end of the first year to Do that kind of noticing Because what we're doing now is considering Not having a sunset not having to review it at the end of you know, we're at the end of year We're not going to do this every year Just thought to build off of that I think you know part of the reason it has the formality that it has is because We don't want people to over to unintentionally Not taking to consideration things that The formality does consider and there's reasons behind why it has certain formal things and why the law has certain formal things in it Exactly, and there's intention behind those things and so it's just a reminder of those things to some extent On a second point, and I may be misremembering. I think it's Brewer may know this You know one or more of the following factors make my physical tense and reasonably difficult didn't that part of it change So this is that might be an edit. We need to make in this one. So do you really wait? So could we just hold up for a second? So first of all I'm trying not to be frustrated about the issue that I know And because that is one of the points of open meeting law is that it was changed for that purpose on commissions and disability But aside from that issue that I'm trying to let go of right now Yes, there are several changes that were made to open meeting law And that's why Ms. Burgess is handing out new copies of open meeting law stuff to people as they get appointed It's a newer version of the book, etc. That's not We're not gonna have this fight because I will find it by the end of the meeting and I will prove that I'd Accurate and at any rate That yes, you no longer have to specify which of those exceptions you Belong to you only have to say that one of those reasons is the reason you're just saying I have a valid reason Right, it's one of these reasons I don't have to tell you what that reason is which I think is great And it's the sort of thing that we told them when they wrote the regulation And we said you don't need to be that specific and they said oh yes We do and now they've changed their mind So hey they learned eventually that it was not necessary and not useful because as we all talked about when we were developing this policy We didn't want people to know that people were away Right, you know, we didn't want people to know personal Geographic distance Disable their alarm while they're gone, yes What I'm saying is I'm not I'm not up for having just anybody like revised this so Could you assign me back to revising the form? I mean taking the check spot check mark spots off of that would probably do it because the actual phrase That says I certified the person sharing the mean that one or more of the following factors make my physical attendance unreasonably difficult Yes, and just not having me checklist Show that we have a revision date, I mean we have we're very We're not gonna get sloppy now after we did such a great job of saying voted this January 23rd of 2017 Then we can say we revised it Whatever December 18th, so I guess I guess the only concern is that it currently expires On December 31st and between then and when we meet next which will be the 8th of January So the 9th probably would be when Many meetings are there gonna be between now and then between the 31st and the 8th that might Have need of a policy that wouldn't exist Because I'm perfectly fine and I'm a little confused The motion is just about the sunset date right now. We're talking about I know we're at the review time But and now we're talking about revising the form Can we vote to eliminate the sunset and still come back and make other adjustments to the form or the questionnaire or the Minister so unless there's a real reason not to I was for her to make the motion that we eliminate And not have any sunset, but that's depends on what people feel they want to do that are ready for that But that's all that's in front of us for tonight If I could clarify since our chair brought up that particular provision, which I had included in email previously Then yes Since since you brought up the idea of sending it out again sending it out again without making the revision didn't make a lot of Okay, so that's what that's you're right. That's where we went. That's a separate sideway, but for tonight if it's the board's pleasure, I think we would be happy to remove the Particular sunset date and maybe also not have a sunset date. So with that I'm going to Read the motion. I moved to amend the remote participation policy approved January 23 2017 eliminating the sunset clause thereby removing the expiration date of December 31st 2017 is there a second there is a second is it for the discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye pose So I'm yes, it's unanimous and I would recommend if people are comfortable with it that between mr. Slaughter and I we just simply revise what will change the policy to show that it was revised on the such-and-such date to remove the sunset clause like we'll put that in a little footnote or something and then We will also fix the form that's also dated the same day and we'll just fix them We won't send them back here unless as you guys are looking at it You're reminded of something that somebody told you was we empower you to do that That way we'll just fix the minimal to the group because most of it is mechanical fixes Yes, it's not a it's not cons substantive fix It doesn't change the nature of whether or not someone's going to remotely Within the scope I like that. All right. Thank you all so next on our agenda is I'm sure what everybody's been waiting for the charter Commission final report and proposal we Have on here a select board position discussion whether we want to take a position on The Questions before the the community this coming March we will we're obligated to put it on the ballot Whether we want to Take a position on it as a board Is the topic that we're taking up at this point in time? So I'd I don't really have any more introduction to it than that Other than to say how does the board feel about taking a position as a board on the charter question whether we should Voters will all get our opportunity to express our opinion in the voting booth But do we as a board wish to make a statement to community regarding this particular? Item for the town so Yes, I would like to state that I do not know what the select board did last time around because I wasn't on it yet then But and I don't remember and I didn't go look it up, but the school committee last time out Came out against it. I know because I pushed them to do it and so there was a specific school committee resolution that was written with all the lovely wear-asses and Recommending that the town for the brief if they Look to the school committee for an opinion do x y or z so there is some what I'm saying is there is some precedent For an elected body to do this within Amherst in addition to the way it's done in all other kinds of places Like I said, I don't recall if the select board at that time took a position or not certainly the school committee did and There I mean there are plenty of people who ask us obviously and do we have an opinion as a board? And do we have one as individuals? But I just wanted to remind people out in the viewing audience if not those of us sitting here that we had this has been done before However, if someone were to ask me if I thought the school committee should do it now I would probably say that they might want to think twice about it because Most of them have not been on the school committee for very long and they have not been involved in town government very long If they have an opinion and they want to come together as a board certainly then, you know I'm not gonna tell the school committee what to do but in terms of The school committee I was on had longer serving members who had been in town government longer And I think so had a slightly different perspective, and it was a different proposal as well Other comment thoughts about this I just I've thought about this a lot because we've been like when are we gonna talk about it and sort of been on the horizon Maybe I could you know it hearing somebody else's opinion I could change my mind But I don't at this point think it makes sense for us to take a board position. I think certainly as individuals We could I plan to I Want to be able to think through my own personal position and articulate it Probably in writing in the next couple of weeks and mid to late January, but I'm not since we are the old structure and we're trying to fulfill our Obligation to support that structure. I'm not sure what it It maybe if we all agreed one way or the other it could tip the scales a little But I think it could be problematic and I think Well, I guess some people want us to take the board position and some don't but I just don't know that it makes sense to do that I've gone back and forth on this to it on the one hand It seems that if we're at the body, that's the town's collective chief executive and all of us Like that previous school committee have a great deal of experience in town government then our opinions ought to matter on the other hand Ms. Krueger's reference to all the where are the misbrewer's reference all the where as is and so forth reminds me that on what basis We'll be doing that it could be an hours long or a weeks long discussion or it could be five minutes where we vote on the basis of our preconceived Decisions about this you know as I think about it It would I'm not sure what shape the discussion would take they'll be meaningful as opposed individual statements. So I'm Chewing it over But it would it is unusual for us to take a position on a major issue without any kind of background preparation documentation Extended discussion on a very full agenda at this point I'm hesitant to take position as a board and I'd distinguish two things in my own personal History with this when I ran for my current term on the suckboard, which is just this past year During this year that we're in calendar year what I said in my campaign was That as a member of the select board if re-elected I would be committed to Helping implement a new form of government if that is what the voters choose or If the voters choose not to implement the new form of government to Exercising my role as a member of the select board to try and make the current form of government work as best it can moving forward and I distinguish that from The position that I've taken publicly regarding the charter itself and So I think that When to get to the question of the select board taking a position I sort of fall on the first statement that I had made when I ran for office that That's what my responsibility is as a select board member as opposed to my opinion as a as an individual and So I would be hesitant to suggest that we take a position as a board Did you want to come if I could I mean we can we and we can lay some history out earlier talk about this for weeks because we don't have a Document per se and I'm not suggesting we come up with one There was a different proposal in a different time period, etc. But that had some particular Aspects that this one doesn't Is though while I appreciate everything you just said mr. Steinberg one thing I think that is a little that That speaks a little to me is that Making things work the best they can is what we do Every day when we are working on this job, which we do all year round and at the same time that does give us real opinions about how to make things work better and so if we Decided I what I guess I'm trying to say is if we decided as a board that we had an opinion I would be fine with that Depending on why I guess depending on what it was Because I think it is valid that we have I guess what I'm trying to say is that we I think it's valid that we have opinions about What government looks like? As opposed to we have a personal preference for a candidate and that that's a very different thing and I'm not sure that I Would separate this as much perhaps as as it sounded in terms of you know And and I don't want to misspeak of what mr. Steinberg said, but I don't consider our form of government a personal preference I think we all have really strong feelings about what happens here week after week and whether or not we think it's going the way We perceive it should be In terms of how we do things on a day-to-day basis and how things might be done differently under a different system So I don't want us to shy away from having real opinions on this But it may well be that it turns out that it because of the other reasons We're also talking about it makes sense that we say, you know, I'm speaking for myself I'm inexperienced this that and the other thing and this is what I think But our board chose not to take a position because it just seemed like too much No other reason because in reality right which which phrases would we use what would be the most important things to say About our opinion on the form of government that we could all agree on we may all have very different views even if we Vote we were all pulled today to vote one way or another We might have very different reasons for those views despite our shared experiences. So While it's convenient for people to be able to say oh well so-and-so supports and so and this group does this and this group does that maybe it's not as Relevant as long as we all I think what's more important to me is not whether or not a campaign can use us for against as a select board But although that would be convenient for them and we do have very specific rules Which Lauren Goldberg talked to us about a long time ago and which we'll look at again in terms of We are allowed in some cases to be named as select board members who feel a certain way But not as a select board in certain types of ads based on office campaign political finance and everything and ethics and everything else that we Have to combine all those issues together So it isn't that we have to be quiet and it But we just have to make clear that who we're speaking for so that when people hear us speaking They know who we're speaking for so that one of us isn't doing something different than everybody else in terms of Describing what the select board is doing and we've worked together well enough that I don't think we'll have any difficulty doing that I can perceive other boards. I've served in these very room Which would have much more of a struggle with figuring out this is what we agreed even if we don't agree on a position This is how we agreed to handle it and this is how we agreed to talk about it as individuals The thing I think about with regard to this is is Or the thing that's gonna cross my mind is You've each been speaking is sort of How would taking a position as a board impact our efficacy regardless of how March turns out So whether the charter passes or doesn't pass does that taking a position then undermine our ability and our authority to execute because Four of you for sure will be on the continuing select board after March whether it be in in You know continuing the system. We currently have our new preparing for a new system. So and I hope to be But that's the thing I think about and I think that that's where it provides a complication that By taking position it provides a complication That doesn't exist if we don't take that position. So I'm a linear a little more and in that regard that it how and What we do after the election regardless of how it turns out is is less Impacted however, people may not be able to separate our personal opinions from our board position But I think that at the same time, you know sort of as an institution it complicates things but it's difficult the times to separate sort of the board from The five members that make the board But just on that point, I mean that I think that falls what I was thinking that I worry The downside of taking a board one of the downsides of taking a board position is that then certain actions either before or after the election may be seen as colored by the fact that we Declared as a board one of the other that are you know that our decision-making Become becomes more suspect although granted if each of us takes the same position and chooses to publicly Announce that they could still have that same result, but somehow it seems A little bit different and not all five of us might choose to make a statement You know we have Autonomy in the voting booth. You don't have to make that statement In terms of undermining I think that there are various levels of that and one is based on people's perception and another is based on if We come out in a concrete way and as Miss Krueger pointed out it may be that not all of us have decided yet It may be that not all of us decide to speak about it publicly All those things are are theoretically possible still at this point I think that it's also fair to say that I have not I have only anecdata not real data associated with this, but there are a number of people Based on our town meeting both my perception and then also direct conversation with people Associated with our most recent town meeting that there were people who just assumed that we are all Pro change and I said we haven't talked about this as a group at all yet I don't see why people should be making that assumption So what I'm what I'm pointing out is that people will make assumptions anyway about what we're doing And then if people choose to speak individually or not, you know, we're already suffering some of that Assumption associated with our efficacy in terms of as we talked about when we talked about how town meeting went So it's it's not like this is Something that's just starting from a neutral position people are making assumptions already about what we're doing But I do think that many valid points have been made about not trying to come together as a board per se to come up with a Specific set of reasons to do one thing or another and just depend on each of us to make it clear that we're speaking for ourselves If that's the way this seems to be going So boring Right at the moment. So, you know, we can I think the the You know, we're certainly welcome to bring this back onto the agenda of people's, you know You know want to share with me? Something in and you know asked to put it on the agenda. I'm certainly willing to take that As far as I know no one's ready to make a motion regarding this so at this point we'll We'll move on but certainly I'm willing to entertain putting it back on the agenda So if someone feels like we should if something transpires publicly or whatever that that, you know, or some other idea comes across someone's mind, you know Crystallizes their opinion about whether we use a board should take it and and want to bring that forward in some either motion or just to Some other way to discuss that I'm happy to put that on the agenda. So yes, you know how tiresome I am about logistics and so The other question I have then and I appreciate you offering that to us in case whatever things do occur to us And we decide we do want to talk about it again But in addition to that what I'm trying to understand it based on what I said earlier about our shared Expectation at least amongst ourselves Community may not agree with our shared expectations, but our shared expectations as to what we're gonna do What are our responsibilities? Do we perceive ourselves as our responsibilities outside of, you know, ethics issues and that's an open meaning law, etc It's to telling each other's to what's going on. So for example is It are the responsibility of any of us to if we're gonna put in a newspaper column or if we're gonna start a blog or if We're gonna get listed in an ad do I Just want I don't want anybody to feel blindsided in this five groups so that we don't have an issue I'm not I'm sorry. I'm leaving you out of this conversation, but they're not in it is So that nobody feels Misunderstood associated with the five of us because we are working so effectively together our people expecting that Particularly if this is not an agenda item, right? So if this was an ongoing agenda item that I'd say well If you write a letter to the paper then maybe you shouldn't say anything because then it's kind of like deliberation But if it's not an ongoing agenda item at this point and we're not planning to deliberate on this further Then do we just fyi each other when we're doing things or do we just say hey if they see it they see it or Are we trying to keep what i'm trying to understand is are we trying to keep each other informed of what each other is doing individually? I was going to say something else But my response to that is I think that we each have enough personal integrity and judgment to figure out How how we will handle that with each other? Whatever the actions are no Mr. Steinberg Shots some courtesy and letting people know that he had a piece coming out And I think we can each make that decision what I wanted to say it's not about bringing I think it's settled for now, but just I wanted to use this opportunity very briefly to say Everyone in town every every household has received the written document It has a lot of information and I just really want to encourage people to read it and read the Introduction the position of the charge commission and there's a Other information in the document itself in that each Uh person should be ready to vote and should become informed and inform their own opinion I mean, I I'm happy to talk to people about the The issues, but I really think it's up to each person To spend the time to form you know to have an informed opinion about what they think would be The best form of government the the these things are being debated because they are debatable. There isn't one answer There's there's valid opinions on all sides of this Debate and I I would just want to encourage people to stay informed and keep an open mind and Don't and come to and you know kind of educated informed decision and commit to they're ready to They'll participate and vote. There's there's still way more community conversation to be had and constructive Debate across that spectrum of opinion. So So we'll commercial It is an important vote. It is one that will have significant impact regardless of how it turns out You know as we encourage people to vote all the time obviously For a lot of things and we have a lot of things that come to our ballots, you know, they're You know financially important to people we ask for overrides at times. We ask for Other kinds of significant things. This is is is On a par with those as far as importance Not, you know There is there are concrete consequences to this choice. And so people's informed Vote is is You know important to to uh to be To be had so it's important for people to do that research and figure out what they hold you know As it has how they want their town to function from a governmental standpoint Um, are there any other comments on this particular topic? If not, then we'll move on to Our next one, which is the town manager goals review progress report And there was a memo in our packet to that effect Um Which hopefully you had an opportunity to read over the weekend. Mr. Bachman, do you want to Yeah, so When we were setting the goals last time You had suggested and I thought this was a good idea that we I update you on a more frequent basis So this is the first cut of the two months update and After this when you when I will update you next time, I'll highlight the things that are different So you don't have to plow through everything Some of these things will be repetitive But it's a good way for me to capture things that we're doing around town And and how they're matching up with your goals And then also what you what I anticipate coming forward with in the future, which is on the last page moving going forward. So If there are comments or suggestions, I'm open to them Uh, I think I will suggest one thing So on page three under number Four under managing fiscal 18 year budget. Yep, I think we're in the second line of the first bullet I think that should say Managing its fiscal 18 approved budget. I think it's just a sort of typographical that's Good one really Not that's a good one substantial thing, but it does Provide a right there. I think that's what you want. But anyway some Notes and bolts kind of thing but Questions or comments for the manager regarding this Just the global comment that I really appreciated having the opportunity to Read your review of all that has been accomplished so far in the year and I uh, thank you for your hard work as it's shown in the document and the Steps that have been taken towards achieving goals that I think that You were very Much consulted about and I think we're all we were all involved in developing in the public format But I really appreciated this document And for what it what it communicates about what you've accomplished. Thank you. Thank you Yeah, I often says it's partly for us to sort of be reminded of of things But it's also I think it it serves a really public purpose and sort of outlining sort of Kinds of things towns up, you know the town as a whole is up to because I think it's It's easy to not recognize that there's so much sort of going on On a sort of day-to-day basis these are not often things that sort of you know You put a new Swathe of black top down or you put up a new traffic light that's pretty obvious that something's happened But but many of these things are much more subtle in there in their uh in their visibility Um, but nonetheless are very important to us and and so it's great to get this is sort of out into the public so they can see You know the great work that's getting done on our behalf Thank you for that. Let's go to that. Yeah, I think it is it is really helpful and just Appreciate the amount of work it takes just to stop what you are doing which is gigantic and write it all out um I did have I did you know Highlight a few things, but um when I got to page nine the going forward and I read that bullet Bulleted a list. I thought that was really helpful. I'm not something they're not necessarily in an order of priority But they're there and I my note from earlier today when I was reviewing this was Yes, yes to all explanation mark and because I think this reflects Um, not just what you've picked out as priorities, but things we've talked about We've talked about this at our board retreat and trying to you know have the discipline to prioritize of You know, there's more that we want to do and could do then is humanly possible With the people and the resources we have and so this is is kind of pulling out things We've all identified collectively that we think needs work coming six months. So I I think that was uh a good Summary of that you further comment from the board Um, I actually just have one, you know, you had done and again on page three not to be stuck on page three But there's an emerging issue. So so far you've got No, I got further than that But I just happened to notice it again and wanted to ask the question You're talking about under sanctuary communities and the possibility of grant funds for police department And you were suggesting that we've received a word Any expectation of when you might or will you just we won't receive the funds on january 1st? And that's how we'll know or right. I mean, I think it's The chief has a good relationship with the executive office of Public safety and you know the last time I spoke with him He did not have insight into if funds would be released or not We're sort of we're basically operating under the assumption. They won't be so Because he uses this to support his budget and so he has to be taking steps now To manage that over the course of six months And I guess this subsequent question which is you know, and so it's not ours to hold but Sort of what actions might we take or be partner with other communities to take? Regarding this, I mean, you know, there's there's some things that you know, the state's attorney generals Kind of get together and and take action sometimes if they feel they're being sort of, you know, unjustly sort of Selected or you know singled out and and denied certain things So I didn't know if you knew of what's on the horizon there in a broad sense It'll be a really important question for the town because it's one of these things where do we want to create a high-profile response to this? or do we want to Follow sort of our legislative delegation say this is unfortunate or do we want to bring lawsuit? You know, there are law firms out there who have reached out to us Out of new york and other places who said if you have a cause we'd like to Part of our mission as a law firm is to take these things Make make cases out of these things at pro bono They would they were looking for opportunities Like this and whether that's something I've been I've shied away from that at this You know in the past just because there weren't any sort of consequences If this grant doesn't come through it'll be the first real consequence to our adopting the sanctuary community Bylaw and at that point I wonder if we I mean that'd be a discussion we would want to have whether we want to Take a high profile on this and make it a more public position on Being proud of where we what we take the position we've taken and the law that we've passed and The consequences and why that's unfair But I you know, I think the attorney general we for our fortunate have an attorney general who's pretty active on this area And until we know for sure one way or the other then I don't think it's relevant But I think that would be a conversation we certainly have to have as whether that's something because it will Reflect the town and you would be responsible for saying we want to do this or we don't want to do this When it's the right time I look forward to having that conversation because I think it's an important one and You know, there's there's a lot of facets as you just pointed out, but I think I wouldn't If once we do know for sure, I wouldn't want to wait too long to have the conversations You know, I'm assuming you'll bring it to us Any other questions or comments for the for the manager, Mr. Wall Totally minor, but since we're doing this on page eight where you're talking about our community partners with the five colleges I mean, it's it's good, of course Do you that you've established relationships with Amherst and Hampshire, which has been basically lacking in previous years I had one question about point number two. It says Improved communications among our institutional partners has enabled the town to not be surprised by development such as the university's rfi However, since the rfi was issued. We've not heard much of substance and so forth. This has been disappointing Does that mean we were not surprised by the rfi or we've not been surprised since the rfi And what do we do about the lack of subsequent communication? So this is this is an interesting topic. Um, we weren't surprised that an rfi was going out Once the rfi hit the streets. It's been pretty, um Quiet coming from university umass amherst They, um, we actually had a meeting with the Chancellor today and we talked about this and they Um, did two things one is they recognized they want us to recognize that this is something at the umass building authority Which is a separate entity that's driving this But also, um, they left to claim that Yeah, uh, they also said that they it's a very it's it's a and they actually educated us a little bit about They're working a very complicated environment Where they have a lot of on-campus constituent groups who They are also being and we're we're one of the groups Um, because as they start looking at all these different things There are lots of moving parts and I think they were just asking us be sensitive that Um, just and this has been really relevant to me as we've been talking about health insurance because we're doing a lot dealing with a lot of collective bargaining groups and trying to manage Expectations and communication They felt like they had on-campus groups that they had not communicated With on some certain things and they didn't want to put us out in front of any of those groups And that was actually we walked out of that that mean thinking oh that make I understand a little bit better We still want them to be better communicators on this, but um They're working at a fairly complex environment dealing with the state legislature the umass office is the president's office and then also on campus and If they are saying we're gonna we want to put this thing here all you know Everybody sort of can get upset and say they were hesitant to get out there too far On some of these things that's the explanation they used for us Can I ask you mr. Bauchleman because when I read this, um, it's kind of Kind of a forceful statement And I made a note about well, you know then you know talk to Our partners which you've done if you might want to think about Tempering this statement because this can get seized on by people and used In a way and it sounds like you became more informed and I might suggest Since this is a public document that And maybe want to leave it the way it is but um, I I think It's become sort of an when they said be sensitive this can be also sort of used in so this this is written December 14th And that's what I'm asking you that that's why I'm asking for 18th. We have a different I have more information So this is a time, you know, so I would write that differently if it were to write it today But you're happy leaving it that way. Okay. It's what it is. Yeah. No, I know that it's it is public It's also we also revise documents when they sure this will get revised the next time I presented to you Exactly. That's when I think it gets revised. Is that wow, then that's new Is that's good that we've learned more about that since then that makes us more sensitive to the issue Although people are still mad that they want more. So, you know, it still doesn't really solve the problem We just understand it better. Sometimes feels a fire that's already burning. Maybe for good reason Are there further comments? So Not hearing any I suggest we move on to community board appointments and reappointments Which we have one off and so if someone would like to make the motion This is the For five You why don't you make that? No, go ahead All right, um I move to appoint marianne adams to the local historic district commission through june 30th 2019 Second and there's a second. Is there further discussion or any explanation that wants to go with this? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Aye Opposed that's unanimous All right, so now we'll go into section seven which has licenses public way and metered parking reservation We have a consent counter which we plucked one piece out of Um So if someone would like to Make a motion or or are there any items within that that need to be pulled out? Well, we did pull one out We did pull one out so it would be I think that what I had rewritten it is as I move to approve the items listed on the Consent calendar for december 18 2017 as presented except for item 3d Is there a second There is Uh any further discussion on these? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Aye Opposed I am not opposed. I did not raise my hand I just want to make a comment If if you would ask miss pupill if she hasn't already and I'll bet she has just in case she didn't get a chance If she would add that earlier opening time for big guy to our list of Our liquor license quota report She has been carrying forward on our liquor license quota report which ones are opening earlier And we know that it's just a thing they tell us we don't get to choose whether they do it or not But she's been keeping track of which ones are opening then. Yeah, thank you She probably already did it Good reminder all the rushing with all these licenses of the last minute They do a great job. They did a great job this year and um Both debba and jennifer have done spectacular work on this this year. They've worked very well together Great, that's great to hear So next up is a is a topic we took up a while ago, but I think we're going to finish up tonight And that's uh under the alteration of premises I think we just have We got some additional refined and updated information on the particular page within the application from the applicant Which they brought to us the night we spoke to them before But they more formally sort of brought that to us around Number of people square footage etc etc Story spaces and that and the light Can I ask a question about that so I'm not going to bother explaining it for the folks at home if they weren't paying attention last time too bad Is that I don't think the motion actually scans in a way that makes sense to me And so for future reference, I wonder if we might fix that a little Because I think I understand what it was trying to say, but it doesn't actually make sense So to say what it currently says is into the adjacent space at 35 east pleasant street for a total of 2667 square feet not including 530 square feet for the patio deck Which would imply that we are not licensing the patio deck which we are licensing Assuming that the building commissioner and everything else does that So are they saying with an additional 530 square feet for the patio deck? What's the right phrasing there? Because we are that is absolutely what we have to do we have to do both inside and outside the words not including in What I would suggest there for someone who might make emotions We're total 266 267 square feet inside and 530 square feet for the patio deck with one entrance three exits Perhaps that works for everyone Square feet inside and 530 square feet that works I could read that and we can see if it works Please do I move to approve the application of the spoke llc doing business as spoke for the alteration of premises for license 0 3 1 1 4 dash r s dash 0 0 2 4 For the expansion of the premises into the adjacent space at 35 east pleasant street for a total of 2667 square feet inside And 530 square feet for the patio slash deck with one entrance Three exits and proposed seating capacity of 97 and occupancy of 180 shadow work member manager Is there a second? There he is. Is there further discussion or questions? A little bit on syntax, it looks like the patio has one entrance and three exits Can we put is there a way to fix it with a comma or something? I'm sorry. I follow what you're saying. The interior doesn't have three exits. Well it does but it's just the order of the sentence right The way to fix that would you take that whole width and extend me a call. I'll move that. How about a comma after the word deck? Yeah, something because it implies it's the patio that has the exits It's actually the indoor space I think that however Whatever Fix it. It's fine. We know what we mean. Oh so long as it's clear. We're licensing the patio as well, right? Is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Aye opposed That's unanimous as well So next up is the Hartford half marathon 2018 request for road closures, and I believe we actually have some material in our packet from From the folks from the Hartford marathon foundation Etc. So Mr. Bachman, do you want to give us a little framing of this? Sure So as you recall the very first amherst half marathon happened on Veterans Day weekend, and it was very successful And they did not exactly hit the target did number of runners, but they do Find that this community is a very receptive community to Road races and they want to make this race one of a trifecta of races in three different states Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and this would be one of them There before you early because they would like to start advertising that this is one of the three races that they want to Host three half marathons, and I think the logic of that is that many people come January 1 make New Year's resolutions to say let's do this and let's run these three races over these this period of time They had suggested Another a different date not the Memorial Day weekend This time a veteran say weekend. Yes. Thank you And so they were looking because that weekend I believe is a There's an event at Amherst college that they wanted to Avoid so they moved it a week earlier to November 4th So so I guess the the The one complaint I've heard is that they that the donation that they made to the survival center wasn't as As generous as they thought that as many people felt like this Company which is it is a company that puts on these races I could provide to the to the survival center the survival center was grateful for the donation It's they would not have had this money had they not offered it There are people who run other races in town who Generate a lot more money for a lot smaller races and they felt that wow they're coming in They could do a lot better and You know if you Um So I don't think it says a monetary donation. I mean that's something that I would want to push on In terms of how much they're giving out of their age registration That's exactly what I was going to say is if there was some way we could phrase this to say show us some more money Because that that's not enough for the for these types of races and That we appreciate that it was their first year and they were figuring it out but they can do much better than that and I would want I wouldn't want you to feel like you were in the position of well they approved it So I guess if they say 36 is the best we can do it's the best we can do I would say no I think they can do better than that I would suggest we defer action. I understand they want to get their stuff out but I think if we defer action it gives the manager some Leverage to have the conversation and I don't think the difference between now and january 9th or The january is that critical. I know they want it, but I think it's more meaningful to leave the negotiation open So given that they would like to put it on their list and they can't if well, I mean they could They could put it on as a tentative obviously on their list Um, and so that could be their solution to it and then like you say you need some more Leverage to have the conversation But how much direction do we want to give the manager at this point in terms of when he brings it back to us? Because I mean he's got a thousand other things to do. So, um, just in terms of what our expectation is And what seems reasonable to you I think they'll be anxious to do this and it's you know, the economic development director has been the main Interread area between the two So they need us So what I'm saying is are we going to talk about it again in january? Yeah, okay Yeah, I think it's likely if we don't if we don't take action this evening, you know Hopefully we can't on the 8th when we come back. Oh, that's useful. I mean, I think that's you know, that's I mean we want to be, you know, uh Understanding of their their need to get their marketing materials out and that benefits us as well And so it gives us a greater opportunity to to to generate food donations and that sort of thing Certainly, I mean, I think we should also, you know, encourage them to Encourage their participants to stay in Amherst proper and go to dinner in Amherst proper and if they work with the chamber or the bid or Whomever to to you know, sort of actively promote some of the local businesses as a part of it That would be great. Obviously a greater financial donation to the survival center would be Additionally fantastic as well. So Yeah Press the flesh All those things could be beneficial to us as our side of the you're inclined to approve it if the circumstances are right basically Okay, let's get to know feedback from our constituents that they For this for year number two, they could do a little better. Okay, great. Thank you. All right so We have remaining on our agenda um Some minutes which we may want to do Because they won't shouldn't take long We have the 10 minutes report in the select board member reports and I know I have a member report I'm sure some others have as well. Um, so why don't we do why don't we take up the minutes? Um Did Clark wish to mention anything to us about them? Although I think we all got I think that they're quick and they're short enough that you could probably read them by now So I'm going to approve the minutes of the december 11 2017 select board meeting as written Is there a second second Is there a discussion hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Aye opposed abstaining We'll take that as unanimous All right, so next up is The managers report so So I just have a few things I want to update you on next time you'll get a full written report the um Uh, Ms. Aldridge already updated you on the North Amherst fire station the boiler Failed we had to Do emergency procurement procedures with the state in order to purchase a new boiler Um, they didn't get involved removing the old boiler, which was original to the building and oddly enough We had it on our capital improvement list for Um Not this year, but next year because a year ago Ron Bahana once had estimated Oh, you can get two or three more years out of that. He was off by a year Um, and that sort of shows how tight he has How accurate he's been to be off one year on a 47 year old boiler is pretty good Um, but it did have asbestos in it. So we had to have remediation Company come in and remediate the asbestos and disassemble the boiler because it was Installed in place and then other equipment was put in it couldn't just be picked up and moved out So made it more complicated um I think I updated you that the the fire chief secured a lot of other material to make sure that the Bays were kept warm and it worked out fine. So everybody worked together. We appreciate Anthony Delaney our procurement officer Rob Mora Our building commissioner who sort of headed this up and um the Fire chief and the assistant fire chief Lindsay who did a lot of work on this as well um sticking with public safety I interviewed six sergeants who are vying to become lieutenants in the police department to replace jerry malar who retired and they the thing that We haven't made any decisions on that yet, but the thing that strikes me is that Our six really well qualified You know leaders in that department who are all very capable of stepping up and to become lieutenants um One of the dangers for us is that they are we only have so many slots and they may seek other employment because they We are we are a real incubator for strong leaders. So Um, that's the dangers, but we'll pick the best and they'll be very excited It's just encouraging to hear them talk about working for the town of Amherst and the pride they take to be part of this department in particular It's really terrific. Um we um the uh A good news bad news story the good news is that um, we there's we were told there to be in holy oak tomorrow morning at 9 30 for a important announcement on Funding for an affordable housing project, which we're looking forward to hearing about what that is um the bad news story is that our application for mass works was not approved and um, that's Just means that um, well, we're going to communicate with the funding agency to determine What we could do to make the the Application better what they basically said to us is that we weren't generating enough jobs Because there's a job creation program Therefore you have to if you want to strengthen your application you have to create more jobs And we'll have to go back to the drawing board on that one um uh A couple other things, um We had the town's annual employee party at the red barn on Friday afternoon three o'clock and Ms. Kruger was there representing the board and we had members of the personnel board there It was a really good turnout really great venue people were in high spirits and um, it was good we do this Do something in the summer we do something in around this time of year and it was really people were really buzzed about it for some reason this morning because They felt like it was one of the better ones that we've had for a long time Yeah, it was a great venue and people are really positive and things so Mr. Bachman, I just said for people who are watching the employees Pay for the party and manage the whole thing. It's not yeah, so it's it's 100 percent employee paid There's a tradition that I learned is that department has kick in extra money to help pay for it And then employees are held their their contributions held pretty low so Yeah, not a dime of town funds goes into that The um It was a lot of fun. It was good. Yeah Yeah, miss brewers Necklace would have fit in oh some of the other modest Yes, that's dope. So I mentioned that I had We had a meeting with the chancellor at UMass today and with the two teams and Talked a lot about a lot of different items in terms of Um Relations between the university and the town Preparing, you know, I'm identifying the the Renewal of the strategic partnership agreement, which is not until 2019 But we want to start thinking about that because we know budgets get set in advance Alert him to some things that we see on our side asked them and they're alerting us to some things on their side Generally, there's really good communication between the university and the town right now. I think We have a couple levels with tony morales and Nancy buffoon over there talking with jeff and with dave zomac There's a lot of back and forth and they they call each other a lot to keep everybody A prize of what's going on. So I think the communication is at a very high level for almost anything that happens Um, and they're you know, so it's really helpful for us to know what's going on over there There are some things that we can get better, which we've talked about already and um You know, it's helpful to start thinking about What we see is the challenge for us is that we don't have a clear vision of what we want our downtown to be Moment that we have the master plan, but it's you know, this these these sort of planning sessions are supposed to be helping us Be more clear The university on the other hand has a broader mandate They look at the town, but they also look at all western massachusetts You know, they have a springfield connection and they see themselves as a major And they have very they're very ambitious about their major footprint that they want to have on the region um And how they're they see their competitors as Cambridge and boston and that's that's and they want to create an equal weight out here And it's it's an ambitious agenda. I think the chancellor is very smart about how he's gone about that But it's just great. We agreed that we would have another meeting immediately after the charter vote So we could understand what happened and what that means for the university and for the town and just to stay in better communication So uncertainty creates Nervousness and we want to allow any of that There's not a whole lot that will happen between now and then but It's it's just good to have had that conversation The north amherst library we're moving forward with the rfp on that that was supposed to go out last week, but Our procurement officer got sidetracked on a lot of work on the north amherst fire station And then he was out for training so that we are scheduled to look at the documents tomorrow So our goal is to get an rfp out before christmas Um, well our time frame will still be around the same Same fright same time um What else Winterfest was coming up. That's you know, you probably got something in the mail about that or something February 3rd of a week coming forward The there's a community solar meeting coming up um on january 9th Um at 6 30 here in this room. So as people want to talk about what's going on with the solar project on the One of the landfills The newer land the newer landfill old landfill the old landfill And then the um, other thing I wanted to mention was the uh craig's doors Loss of funding and that might be on your agenda too to bring up. So that's something for the board we've been asked to Write a letter to the legislature and I think that was happened last year. Ms. Brewer wrote a letter On behalf of the board So whether you want to do that again or not is up for question. So I'll just preface or piggyback on that a little bit um The municipal affordable housing trust at the meeting on last thursday did Vote to send a letter. Um, I believe copies got sent to us as as a board or maybe Mr. Hornick just shared some proposed texts in that letter I can't remember if it was just addressed to me or if it was addressed to the group as a whole Yeah, um, but I can certainly share that out. It Articulate sort of, you know, how craig's doors works and what role it serves in our community and Uh, I think it's very similar to the letter from a year ago. And so the the affordable housing trust Um, sent the letter thought it would be wise for all of us to to to you know To select board and and other, you know Concerned parties within town to to send similar letters To the governor and and copies to the legislative representatives, etc And so one thing is whether or not, um, I'm certainly happy to do it. I think it can be beneficial I don't know if it will have the impact it might have had last year Just because I'm not sure the governor from From West Role Aquinas reported whether or not the governor is amenable to releasing any of those those sorts of funds, um At this point the the really critical thing is, you know, if even if he releases it, but he releases it in April That doesn't do us much good. Um, so it's really a matter of timing is a critical piece with regard to this um It is money that has been budgeted theoretically there's revenue resources available to To send it out. So, uh, I think we can we are within our right to sort of press for that release of funds So I'm certainly happy to take, uh, on the task of of composing a letter on our behalf If that's amenable to the to the group and I will Share that out before it goes out Um And obviously take edits individually from each of you. So if that's okay with with the board as a whole, I'll do that um, because I think it is worth our time and and it is a Uh You know a valuable resource within our community to help those folks that are without Without resources to provide housing for themselves. So I think it's worth worth our effort I'm so I'll take that on Did anyone have questions for the manager on other points? or Things that you mentioned. Yes, I didn't get a chance because I was looking at the remote participation part About the um, yes, that will be a recurring theme for the rest of the meeting tonight is the a little trailer the ever sweet Um is associated with community meeting on solar has that been added to the news and announcements Part of the website because if it hasn't I think that would be a really good idea In fact, I was disappointed that the select board wasn't on the initial mailing list for that because We should be so that we can be reminding people. So when they say hey, what have you heard about that? It's like being we forward that email and say here it is Um, I appreciate that bcc was used that was very clever But um, the select board was not on the initial announcement of that january 9th meeting We got it from mr. Bachman, but we didn't get it from staff And so um, we should be added to that email list But also if it's in then if it's not in the news and announcements I know it's we're about to move into the holidays But so if they want to wait and do it like right after the first I can guarantee that people know about it. There are neighborhood listservs that have this already Well, but I think it's important that the entire community know that it's happening Not just the people who feel directly impacted because it's not just a neighborhood thing That's a nice way. So as a butter, I know that I've received a postcard Relative to the fact that there was a meeting on the night you got a postcard from this I got that one right there nice Very nice Yeah, this is the this is we didn't realize it was postcard, but we saw this as the attachment that you sent us. Yeah Excellent So I got one because I'm like I said, I went to butter and not Not because I was a select board member. I don't think Right Which, you know, of course jade's my feel No, but it is it is a community-wide thing because it does you know as we talk about Both with actions at last time meeting specifically, you know, the resolution relative to you know renewables and also the net zero energy That sort of raises the importance of pursuing this or or looking at this as as an option for the town So it's it's Right New The new old ample the the transportation. Yeah is is much closer to my property So if there aren't other questions or comments for the manager I would turn to the members for their own reports And so I know mr. Steinberg had something because he only he hinted at it without actually giving any details The other thing For the dac will come back to the other issue at some future date Is They also talked about The loss of bustard 43b and their interest and concerns about that And I happen to notice that this evening they The chair of dac sent the select board and the town manager a Memorandum about the concerns of the dac in that issue Um, could I address that just so yes, so that is was an initiative of the department of transportation not by pvta a department of transportation Is looking how looking at route 9 that route 9 quarter between northampton and amherst and how to speed traffic Their logic was if we get more people out of cars and on to express buses or buses that move faster If buses move faster people will take them more likely take them and their people fewer people will be in cars So they did this on their own With little with no consultation with towns did not Understand for instance that we have our ambulances serving, you know making 5 000 runs to Cooley dickinson on that road For some reason and then the chair and I were at a pvta meeting last monday and brought it up with the head of The pvta and she basically was saying um, we've given them and given the department of transportation information But um, we're not necessarily recommending this From the pvta's point of view and they would have they have a very extensive process. So And now the department of transportation has gotten enough flak where they're sort of pulling back and saying we may not have had all the information We needed to make these recommendations. So I think getting a lot of feedback from people Has been very beneficial Well, I'll let the chairs the dac chairs letter stand for itself So I just want to add one of the quick little item regarding that so So the pvta process anytime they change a route of a significant nature There's a formal process they go through some of that. It's federally regulated It's not even state regulation with regard to how they do it Some of that's federally regulated about impacts on community influence. So so they have a real Process they're going to have to go through I'm not sure to what extent or whether it was a factor for the mass stop planning that was going on at that point And and it may not have been necessary to have it as part of their factors At the time they were Thinking about that But I think that they also, you know, there were some other You know items of That they were operating in a bit of isolation I guess would be the simplest way or maybe the fairest way to describe it Not understanding that like we're on an academic calendar. And so, you know, trying to take a survey They'd send out, you know a request for for people to fill out a survey But they'd send it out in the middle of december for a, you know Relatively late december feedback and it's like, well, you know, all the students are out of town and when they before they leave town They're all taking finals surveys about buses aren't first on their agenda. So so understanding that understanding how we serve You know area communities and go up and down that corridor for EMS service Is another where I think that they were not They were not or are not aware of how that operates. And so Impacts of some of the choices they're they're thinking about are going to be pretty profound on us and our ability to provide that service So I think, you know, they're they're going to have to kind of climb the learning curve a little bit I mean, I think we're all appreciative of their desire to Improve traffic in that corridor But same time they they're hopefully getting enough Feedback that that they understand they're gonna have to do a little deeper dive on some of the nuances of how it works Um, so that we can get it right Anyway, so that's all I'm gonna say about that for now Exactly So the other two committees that I wanted to report on really, you know, try and be as quick as I can um I did go to the inaugural meeting of the regional school district planning committee And um the committee that was appointed by the moderator of Peter Demling who was elected as chair by at that first organizational meeting Joan Tempkin Who had served many years ago in a previous regional school district planning? effort in mary le talman and I That it was just an opening discussion on their part um As uh This brewer reported at a prior previous meeting of this board She and I had served previously both on the prior regional school district planning committee and planning board. I Offered to be of whatever assistance that I could to them and I also said that The select board does have a continuing interest in what they're doing and While we don't have an officially designated leis on that for the time being that they're welcome to Treat me as leis on and let me know and I would appreciate receiving any communications from them so in the third meeting that I attended is the Most recent meeting of the community preservation act committee And I think there's been some reference already that mr. Rocklman has made and some of the written material that he's presented but They are underway for the season. They have received their proposals One of the things that I think has always been a little bit of misunderstanding in difficult relationship as a result is the relationship between the affordable housing trust and the community preservation act committee and Mr. Hornick his chair of the Affordable housing trust came and made an excellent presentation explaining the differences between the roles and therefore Really kind of created a dialogue that hasn't existed before and I thought that that was very helpful In general terms There were 14 new proposals in addition to nine continuing obligations from prior votes that we've taken where there was Bonded items that then get funded over a period of years and the total I believe is One million if I'm not reading my writing I think it's one million nine hundred thirty eight thousand nine hundred eighty eight dollars That includes an amount Well, then but there's only one million six hundred and thirty thousand two hundred and fourteen dollars available Which includes three hundred and seventy five thousand dollars that was reserved for community housing in a prior Town meeting valid. So it's a carryover amount. So that's We'll present them with the need as always to make some difficult choices on what they are going to recommend We'd like to go next I'd mentioned in recent meetings that there's been some confusion or controversy about the building inspector's handling of Uh, what was considered demolition request which was being sent to the historical commission and it was causing some Puzzlement on the part of the historical commission on the part of homeowners and contractors and so forth and So planning director chris breastrip and building inspector rob moorock came to the historical commission last week Had a very productive conversation And then we had a conversation this morning Those parties that share of the commission I was there and mr. Zomek and further tried to discuss ways to move forward So I think we're all in agreement that things used to be simpler and someone got complicated And we're trying to find a way to make them simpler again, and that's that'll be In part just in understanding what everybody wants, but there'll also be some Long plan changes underway to clean up the bylaw a little bit to make the language clearer and fix the rules and regs And we expect that miss breastrip mr. Moore will attend this stroke commission meeting In january also for a follow-up, so that's very good news that you know everybody is on the same side and has good Well and is intelligent so it's it seems soluble And then just to pick up on cpa that the dog park task forces Has a sort of placeholder cpa proposal and and so it's been shopping that around to conservation commission and so forth On the assumption that land purchase might be necessary I'll leave it at that for now I just I just will report on the personnel committee personnel board Um, there were two meetings back to back last wednesday. Um I think um Mr. Bakum on you at the first one, which was uh the um said Chance for the personnel board to hear from the non-union staff and this happens annually and um the the main topic was a presentation of the proposed changes for the personnel uh policy procedures document And so they uh There's a pretty good discussion back and forth and people had found certain things that were like new language You know that wasn't clear or what about this and made some really good points and then that meeting adjourned in the personnel board net um To discuss that feedback and decide what they wanted to go ahead with whether they would Make a change or not make a change and they Discussed a few things mostly um I'm not going to go into the substance But they will be coming the personnel board will be presenting To the select board and I now I forget if it's January 22nd, that's what I remember. Yes, January 22nd. So um It most most of it is not our um Per view, but it's kind of it's a courtesy and then there's some things that have to do with Dollars that I think we do need to hear about more formally. So um I wasn't quite clear about what was ours and what was not ours But in any event they very much want the select board to see the work In the changes and have that presentation and have our involvement in that way so They're the personnel board is pretty excited that they it's a it's a huge task. There was a employee Working group that worked on it like I think it's been about a year and people have taken it really seriously and I think made vast improvements in The procedures personnel procedures that we now have and so I was just modernizing like, you know laws have changed But part of the overall idea was to have the tone of the document be Um We're welcoming and not sort of chastising if you do this then this will happen Um, just just sort of a carryover. I think we've heard some of that already here and I kind of enter them But I just I'm looking at my calendar and that's pretty much the only thing I have to report forward Did you have anything you want to share with us? You're watching me make this long list to go really How short can you be so Hampshire county select boards association? Some of you might have remembered we sort of thought about doing a december event Which is when the annual meeting is supposed to happen and according to the bylaws yet and no that's not happening So we are struggling to figure out how to keep that organization afloat So any ideas, please feel free to send them towards your but it's president of Hampshire county select board association being me Since I guess if we don't ever have an annual meeting then I guess we don't have an election So I guess I stay by president for a while longer Thank you to nancy talbot for being president and to the other members one from pelham and one from comington Who are trying to figure out how to make continue our relevance, but in a busy world. It's difficult to figure out how to do that um speaking of things that that are Kind of in fits and starts The state if you'll recall in its wisdom had an alcohol working group under dev goldberg's treasurer's department and It had many members. They had hearing in in north hampton that I attended got myself put on a They're called the working group whatever doesn't matter Task force and there are several task forces a couple of other local people have been on the other task forces and in fact, I guess some of them are going to be reporting out to the campus community coalition in march and Hopefully by then we'll know something about what we did in september When I followed up with the member of the task force who had been my Chair of my working group. She was saying they were hoping by the end of the year They'd have a final report But the reason you haven't seen anything is because there hasn't put anything to see This is a very different process than something that's very visible like cannabis control commission This has been very small uh very small in comparison But it's possible that something that the alcohol task force comes up with as recommendations may influence what we do associated with our alcohol policy So maybe our timing will be perfect. We'll see but um, we haven't heard anything yet And I wouldn't expect to hear anything any next minute In terms of one item that might be on your desk like mine tonight Is we usually try and have a table at the martin luther king breakfast now I mean table two different ways one is miss radway and miss pup will always arrange for a place for us to sit Dev breakfast, that's one kind of table and the other kind of table is the tabling in the hallway where I have this Theory every year that i'm going to recruit more people to committees But I don't have any pretty pictures to like draw them in like big brothers big sisters does so If you want to stand around at a table and talk to people about the zoning bylaw and committees So we can do that again on january 13th and then shortly after that is mma. It's always that week Are we all going is my question? And then my and then my comment associated with that is Probably you might not want to volunteer to judge the annual reports if you were ever asked Because it turns out to be a really complex and long task. There were lots of choices And so yeah, that was wicked time consuming but super interesting I was like, do I get to keep these so I could like look at them and and you know learn more things about stuff So it's very interesting. And in fact, I thought I was going to bring them back tonight, but I didn't so I have them to get They need to somehow possibly get back to Boston, but I'm not taking them with me in january. I don't know. I don't know if they need the copy Well, they need one to put out on the table Yeah, so at any rate I worked with another judge in another community and that that was really interesting who was actually Also a representative on the mass selectments association. So that was really that was good times and the Community development block grant advisory committee is working hard at this point in time is when there is their busiest time You've seen meeting notices their community development strategy And oops, they're about to lose quorum again. So they don't even they only have three Members as of their next meeting out of seven. So we have We have a problem and it's complicated because So many people who are interested in block grant are interested in the social services aspect Which of course is tiny money in comparison to the money we spend on capital But the tiny money that we spend on social services so many people who are interested You're either already serving on a board or working for one of those organizations And so there's an obvious conflict and so you can't put those people on CBVD advisory So if you find somebody who's retired from a board, but hasn't joined another one yet great, but Encouraging the community to consider If you're not serving on a board or working for one of those agencies right now And it's a very interesting process and it's time limited. And so it's something that you can say Hey, I made an impact. I informed the town manager We have a process and then you can stop doing it for several months at a time That would be really helpful. But unfortunately, they're headed into their busy season and they're about to lose quorum So that's something to think about as you were going around talking to our community members I'll say yeah, okay So I just have two things one is I'm going to sort of add on to you know the The comments I made about a municipal housing trust Meeting last week. I've informed you that they wrote a letter Related to the craig stores You know, they had a pretty robust conversation around the Property disposition policy and I would suggest that they have a tremendous urgency around that topic. I think there's some Then some things that They would like to pursue And so having having that policy in place would be very very helpful to them So I think it's who's us to to move along with that Yeah, because we're One way or another it's going to come up. So if we have a policy in place it serves us all better. I think Same thing just a touch base on the pvta meeting that mr. Bachman I went to was legislators meeting So we came in several legislators from western mass that are in member communities were there It was mostly to inform them about the nature of the budget situation for pvta is as they can sort of read the tea leaves It's much like Our circumstance in october They're looking at What what they foresee is the the potentials for a state aid that they're going to get and and it looks like it's going to be a Very tough budget year for them and they want to Get the legislators, you know on board and aware of, you know, the issues that they face and then also, you know Work with them to advocate for more funding for all the regional transit authorities Not just their own but all of them will be struggling with with tough budgets as a result of that So it's productive and then of course we met afterwards to talk about The mass op project that involves the b43 and so we got a little clarity on on some timelines and sort of how they were Fitting into that process at this point The only other thing I have is that I wrote out to The membership of the bcg to inform them that we will meet at 8 30 on the 4th of January And so we will begin our coordinating the budget on that day and so we'll we'll get some You know beginning conversations regarding regarding the struggles we're going to have with fiscal 19 and getting, you know, the revenues and expenses to match up And at this point, I think that's That's all I had so if There are yes, mr. Those that want additional piece of business, please We received a letter from of the chair of the bicentennial Committee of the town of amherst new york on friday and For those of you who are not familiar amherst is a suburb of buffalob in his home of the state university of new york at Buffalo so that they also are home to a big state university I also had the delight of About a year ago staying at a motel in that happened to be an amherst and turning on the television And finding on the community channel The opportunity to watch their council meeting I said that was a way to start a vacation. What can I say? But in any event, um, they are celebrating their 200th anniversary and they're trying to get 200 greetings from to For january 2nd when they start off their Bicentennial event And just of greetings and congratulations kinds of things So, um, I think that it would be a nice thing to do as a fellow Community that's a town of amherst only pronounced slightly differently and home to a major state university So I'll make a motion if somebody seconds it fine and if not so be it I move to authorize The chair to issue a resolution or Another form of congratulations to the town of amherst new york and recognition of its 200th anniversary So we have a motion a second so further discussion I love the some other form. We need to save that word for something we do Hi, well, I want to give full discretion to the a postcard. Good luck Another 200 years Awesome, I was thinking in my mind, oh, they're like a sister city You were saying fellow and it's just like Gender thing what can you say? That's true If there's not further discussion on that then uh, all those in favor, please say I Post that's unanimous. So I will Crap something in the next few days among other crafting of letters So unless there is any other business And I move to adjourn move to adjourn all those in favor, please say I And we're adjourned at 10 or 9