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to flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all okay the first thing on the agenda tonight is to for a motion for consent agenda items do I hear a motion motion motion from Earl do I have a second second second from Travis all those in favor all those opposed motion carries okay uh committee non-agenda items uh is there anyone who is here this evening that would like to speak on anything that's on the agenda or any other topic okay hearing none we'll move on and Nikki is going to introduce our next yes so we are lucky enough to have two presentations this evening and reminder uh those presenting were being live streamed so you're also live on the web and can look at this again at home later so we will begin this evening with um Mr Brooks from the high school with Touch of Class and they recently competed in a competition I believe they'd like to share that experience with us Mr Roller yeah uh first before I turn over to touch class I did want to update you guys really quick black cat racing did compete today at Purdue University um I just before the meeting got the report third in their stem report first in community outreach first in the feature race and first and third in season points so five trophies from the uh black hat R and then speaking of trophies uh our Touch of Class went down last week into Dollywood in a competition and uh received a superior rating in first place and I will turn it over to Mr Brooks our choir director um to tell a little bit about what they've been doing so we had a busy week last week and the choir department where come up the camera can see better if you guys are up closer go this way all right so uh the choir Department had quite a busy week last week um Thursday at 5:00 am we left for West lafette to go to Pur University for the men's Glee chorus Clinic which featured over 370 teners and bases from across the state and across the country as well which was really cool um and that was a beautiful experience um and then the next day we were up at it again uh leaving at 8 a.

e e e good evening everyone and welcome to ashin planning board meeting Thursday April 25th just a reminder that the meet meeting is being broadcast and recorded and I am calling the meeting to order at 7:16 um as always first item on our agenda is the clerk's report that goes to Kate we have had one correspondence from the public since the last planning board meeting and Keith are we up to date more or less on responses that you have that you need or have gathered um the one that we got between last plan our meeting is uh one that's specific that wouldn't be the agreed upon clerk response okay so that does and I can resend the ones I I have probably five or six I'm not sure they've been responded to that might be a good idea it's been such a crazy couple weeks that don't want them to get lost in the show sure okay thank you all right next on our agenda is um our public hearings we have two public hearings tonight the first one is six Chestnut Street uh Peter can you just give us an update before we start sure so tonight we have um our applicant and uh his representative Allen and uh he uh they are here just to kind of give a update uh an overview on where the pro project stands uh this past Tuesday night the applicant appeared with front of the design Review Committee um it was it was a long meeting um but they do plan to go back to the D design Review Committee next Tuesday night um and so we'll be there for that but um in short um the applicants uh um excuse me engineer has um submitted a revised plan it did come late there was a couple uh iteration ations but the latest is uh came in in everyone's packet and then also just to make a note I did print out the email that came from the applicant um the applicant's um representative Terry excuse me the engineer um who was here presenting at the last meeting and it just kind of tried to answer some of the the Plenty board's questions um I know at the last plenty board meeting there was that question about um volume in the storage of um water and Terry did the math did do the math and um the applicant is able to account for all required storage um on the property and so I know that was one of the bigger the big the the sticking points um and obviously was clarified and the applicant's um engineer was able to uh obviously get over that hurdle uh other than that uh I'll let Allen uh talk about any of the uh the other updates but um just to make a note the the parking area in or the parking spot on the entrance to the property coming in off a chestnut um you'll see that they did locate a bike rack there and that was from also from one of the comments made from the design Review Committee to have a bike rack on site and so it was placed there obviously to to locate the bike rack there but also to minimize indoor to um take up that parking spot that we kind of deemed as a um a red flag uh so with that said I think I hit the most of the points Allan do you want to talk to any of the uh other updates no that's that's you pretty much hit it on the mail everything uh has been uh addressed for the last meeting that we were here um the orientation of the parking spots has been moved so that it's no longer facing that that exit so the safety concern has been addressed and while still a quotee unquote parking spot to appease the owner uh we are assigning that spot specifically just for the area so just want to speak into that mic I'm sorry Alan just so people at home we can hear no it's all right got it okay so the um the while the spot spots orientation has been moved as we mentioned the number 12 parking spot will remain as a quote unquote parking spot but it'll be assigned specifically just for the bicycles it's not meant for a vehicle the only reason it's remaining as a quote unquote parking spot is just to appease the owner with the with the numbers we don't actually need that parking spot but the owner has a concern wants to keep as many parking spots as possible so we're just trying to uh basically mitigate that from the owner's perspective as well as tending to your concerns so I did um so the design review committee meeting was on Tuesday and um I had requested that Alo send me the tape of the meeting as I watch them to see how especially how the first meeting goes you know after because we sound our planning board M like that sorry I did not have this on um so um so I watched the tape of that and another thing that they had mentioned um they said that or I think um Terry I think had mentioned that there was an email from the property owner Britain realy trust about the dumpster yes so one of the one of the abuts uh had uh made a comment regarding uh the location of the dumpster uh possibly exacerbating an existing uh rodent issue and to that to that note obviously we're going to have everything up to code by no means do we do we think that our operations are going to contribute to an exaggeration of the problem uh and if we do notice such an event obviously we will have P control take care of it okay so instead of um instead of potentially moving the dumpster which I assume meets all setbacks or whatever the bylaws or will yeah currently the the location of the dumpster meets all bylaws all recommendations and it's there so it's just a m you're looking at it as a matter of making sure those dump those dumpsters are able to prevent the problem as much as possible correct and again we by no means do we want a rodent problem ourselves so got it yeah um yeah I think the I wanted to does anyone are questions from the board obviously this is still in process but I um I have a few things um that that I wanted to talk about their next view to the design Review Committee um but I wanted to take comments from the board first I think the compromise with the bike rack seems great if if the property owner was willing to make that work so and the dumpster concern it's hard to know how to address it in light of the fact that we don't really know what's going on at the neighboring property relative to the rat issue I would think any dumpster in Ashland is a potential rat problem unless you have an outdoor cat so um as long as it's in code I it's hard for me to visualize why we would move the dumpster without more information as to the rat issue next door so I'm comfortable with what's been presented yeah me too the cine looks fine I mean I see why they moveed the parking spots that way it's a little odd that it's kind of counter the the the circulation but it's a it's a two-way circulation everywhere around the building right correct two way so I guess um my question Trisha and and I did not see that tape was was there a conversation on the first meeting maybe you can tell us about the materiality and and and and the finishes of the building that are being proposed so the architect herself was not present uh that night hence there were probably more questions than answers uh for that meeting um but regarding materials I'd be happy to answer any of those questions to the best of my knowledge so is the architect going to be present on the next they will they had a technical issue and they were unable to join the meeting okay yeah so I think um I don't think I don't think it's something we need to go into an our meeting because um it's listed you know as part of that should be part of their meeting yeah no I was question if it was discussed at that meeting but but what I do think is important um because the the Tuesday meeting was a in a way a little unfortunate because Terry was there who who presented us and I thought he did a a really good job um uh because he was there and he was answering um the questions as best he could with full disclosure that he wasn't an architect that he doesn't know some of these answers but he was trying to you know help be as helpful as he could and I thought he did a a very good job because there were a lot of questions and he was kind of there by him answering them for an hour and a half or whatever um so so the not having the architect there was difficult on the other hand I think um I think for that meeting and I was going to um you know have Peter maybe put this list in an email because I know at the end of that meeting they the designview kind of gave you a list of things to kind of look at for the next meeting but I wanted to make sure that they were very clear because the um and if and if if need be Peter can send you examples of another project right because typically that be greatly appreciated yeah because typically what we're seeing is not just that the 3D renderings but the elevations shown flat and you have some in there but or the architect has some in there but their line drawings they don't really show the color correct that is being updated as we speak okay there will be new renderings um presumably by next meeting yeah and then um and like I said I'll I'll Peter put all this in in the email but for for the architect working with you guys to propose what the new colors would look like you know what the new version of the building that would be all specified yeah which I you know so they can actually talk about that with you and the other thing I would say that um the um the the new vegetation that you're adding like the especially that one right near the street where we talked about which is really the the the storage for the storm water yeah on the renderings right now it's just shown as it's still shown as concrete and that's going to help your case a lot too to show that is full and green correct and the trees in the back to to really help because I I think there's a lot more in the project than the renderings are currently showing off and so I wanted to make sure it's presenting itself in kind of the best light 100% it makes sense okay but I will I will forward those so that Peter can get them to even if it's just a little checklist for your architect awesome okay thank you my minor comment is I think we appreciate the fact that you tried to solve our challenges that we put across for the bike rack and that parking spot but just looking at the flow of it um as much as that parking spot is a dangerous one for vehicle that's coming in I think it's far more critical for a bike rack to be there because that means people are walking cutting right across that it's not like you are going to have a continuous flow of traffic but now you have people parking their bikes and walking right across the traffic um it could have been an landscape element if you had brought it right up front next to that ADA parking and if you were to I don't know I don't know if I think it's easier for a car to reverse into that parking spot than having bike cracks which is kind of hidden in some way it's not up front near the entrance so that was my it feels like the flow is not there yet completely warranted and our idea to mitigate that was to paint arrows in the parking spot to direct the flow of traffic somewhat once they're in or out from the exit right the reason why the parking spots are oriented that way is ultimately to discourage anybody to go into that area so we're we're trying our best to avoid that situation yeah but that that's a good point though I mean in reality if you put the if you incorporate the the the bike rack into any of the other landscape items you could actually just use that as a parking spot I mean it's it's no longer impacting the sidewalk which was the Comon okay as long as it's not dangerous for the pedestrians I mean what's the difference so the so you're you're basically saying that the bike Ron itself can be relocated and keep it as a parking spot functional parking spot I don't see why not I mean the the the the the objection was not to the number of parking spots was to the way in which the car may actually hit somebody that's walking and and and a bike rack can be in many places actually maybe closer to the building to De pass okay we'll be happy to relocate that yeah I mean it could be the parking spot 10 12 my glasses did not work next to the ad no so the one next to the ad spot up front is that oh my God my eyes are oh yeah well this sp there or you can incorp right your landscape right up front yeah up front next to the next to the street where the people would come in the bicycle yeah I think it's easier to reverse your car in that parking spot I know you did that to accommodate our conversation last week but it feels it may be safer to bring the bike racks up front not a problem be happy to relocate it is that spot 18 next I think it's spot 18 that one all by itself the one next to the 8 that's all I can see right now it would be at then up front where the bikes aren't where the bikes get I mean I don't see this corner being any kind of a safety issue because it's so busy but or also your bike is it's near the entrance it's like you said it's safer you're not going to get hit by a car while you're yeah parking your bike there's a number of ways that The Rock could be somewhere around there an element more than actually a fixture on the site we would certainly appreciate any suggestions if you have and and relocate as such okay cool any other any other question questions on this okay do you have any other questions for us while you're here not really okay so obviously the plan will be to um have the applicant go to design Review Committee next Tuesday night they come back to us on the 9th and so hopefully on the 9th we can kind of uh have a revised plan we'll get design riew comments and then we can kind of move forward from that point yeah and I think Peter and I were maybe going to hopefully try to attend that meeting just to try to it seemed it took a little bit for the design Review Committee to kind of get into the project and understand what was going on so um we just thought it might go a little smoother to be able to answer any questions or to explain the explain what we had talked about over two meetings you know so yeah we certainly welcome any participation from you guys okay so I think at this point we'll just continue to the 9th and then we will uh move forward and obviously um like Trisha said I think you know I I myself and Trisha hopefully will be at that meeting and then we can hopefully help move that conversation along sure so great we appreciate it all right so we would need a motion to continue this public hearing until May 9th Excuse me yes May 9th I'll make a motion to continue six Chestnut Street site plan approval to the April 9th uh May 9th uh meeting is there a second second that Anna roll call vote De andai Anna tuski I marcelona I Katherine Jers I and Trisha Kai so we will see you on May 9th we thank you thank you all right and uh as always we'll be in contact as we have been and absolutely all right we'll see each other next week you got it all right take it easy have a good weekend thank you thank you by all right uh next on the agenda is 151 Main Street um I believe this is been continued but Peter can you give me give us an update on that uh yeah so this is 151 Main Street the uh former fire station uh tonight we do have Allan uh weit on the call uh Allan is representing Clover Road um in your packet under um item indoor tab number two uh you'll see an email exchange between myself and Mr John mun um and he is the applicant uh along with uh Allan uh from Glover brewing and they are uh requesting a continu it and I'll let Allan um kind of uh talk a little bit because I know he was looking to present IND or just to kind of talk to the board but they're having some uh some back and forth with their Architects and uh they just want to make sure that they they get to the board what we requ requested and it's been it's been SE semi challenge but I will let Allan kind of speak to that so Allan if you don't mind uh via Zoom can you please step forward I have made you a co-host so you can unmute yourself and just stay to the board you know um you know any you know the reasons for this request absolutely thanks Peter hi everyone um so yeah obviously we were hoping that we'd have those uh revisions from our architect um sent over by now and be able to discuss those with you guys tonight but um they've had a series of issues with uh you know the the architect that was working on our project um is no longer with that architectural firm um and uh and then you know we apparently they redid the the full drawings in instead of just making the adjustments that we had so it's it's gone back and forth and it sounds like we're really close but um you know we kind of missed the cut off for tonight so um so that'll be um you know we're looking to continue that on the in the next meeting questions from the board yeah I think I just I just want to um you know I just want to reiterate that I I think from our past meetings on this that um you know everyone is um I'm not going to speak for everyone but in in general support of the project we're we're glad that this building is going to be reused we like the things that you talked about as far as your business model um but we just can't it's hard for us to go forward without a drawing that accurately represents the changes that were made and the things that we talked about so we're kind of we're kind of stuck until we get that that final drawing that gets put into the files as an approval document so um we're we're here ready when when you are so just to to let you you know yeah I appreciate that I think it's been frustrating um all around and sort of some bad luck but um but yeah we're we're very much looking forward to getting to that uh step and getting you those drawings so um you know I I don't foresee any other issues but um but yeah so hopefully we're ready next uh for this next meeting did anyone have anything to add on to that discussion okay in that case we appreciate the report and we'll need to continue is is July or sorry July what month May is May 9th going to be uh enough time for I think Allan Allan you're shaking your head so I think May 9th is enough time and then we can kind of go forward from a procedural standpoint we'll need a motion to extend this until May excuse me May 9th but furthermore um going back with an uh an allen has actually cced on this email with John malun um from a um clerical standpoint that we do along with that motion is to extend the date of final decision to uh May 23rd and that would be um the Friday after our second meeting in May which I hopefully which I'm hoping that will give us enough time to work with the applicant I think you have May 24th on here which should be the Friday is that what you mean oh yes I'm sorry be the 23rd yes yes yes I'm sorry yeah so um it'll be to Extended to May 24th and so hopefully that will give us two meetings to continue to work with the applicant and if we needed more time obviously um if something arise is that we can make alterations from this that point but I think um that's what I uh emailed um with John about and he did concur with an email um agreeing to that extension okay so do we need we've done this before but do we need two separate motions for that or can we uh we can wrap it up in one I I believe I'll make a motion to extend the decision deadline for 151 Main Street s plan approval application to May 24th and uh continue this hearing to our next viable date May 9th May 9th is there a second second that Anna Anna teski I Marcel I Katherine Jers and Trisha Kendall I so we will see you hopefully on May 9th thank you thank you thank you Allan okay so our wow maybe you were right our public hearing um um for the MBTA which is next on our agenda is scheduled for 8:30 we cannot start that early so we will why are we being so efficient I don't I know this is scary this is don't yeah that's right okay so let me let's look ahead and um what we can um take care of we can um yeah we could start with the meeting minutes and work our way back I don't think besides the historical commission historical committee we're not expecting any other visitors are we um from from sustainability or no we are not ex I I did uh I did go back and forth with um the historical committee and I said most likely we'll take them up after um around 9:00 after the MBTA discussion this one uh yep that's historical stuff um there's three pieces of historical information there is uh a six page um looks like a uh PowerPoint um and then there's a map and that is their proposed local historical district and then they sent over a preliminary study report draft of their ashon Center historical district so um they just kind of want to get that to the planning board but no there are no other groups um um uh on the agenda that will be appearing besides the historical commission so obviously we could talk about uh item number six number seven um and really six seven minutes and kind of go from there well why don't first we get through any kind of updates and meeting minutes and just have those all done um everyone has the meeting minutes what are they in section they're right in front of t one not t one but right in the the regular Stu there's two sets of meeting minutes March 14th and then March 28th uh the March 28th ones are new um are new to the board um the March 24th ones I believe these excuse me March 14th were sent out on Friday um the March 14 28th were were completed [Applause] recently I can bring those up to share if that's appropriate Kate for the March 28th minutes do you know how many correspondences I mean I would suggest if we're not sure how many you reviewed we can be more ambiguous and just say receiving several correspondences I think it's something we can also fill Peter could fill in later after K either by viewing the tape if it's on there or giving a number and and that would call that a Amendment does it do you want me to make a motion do we have any changes to the March 14th is anyone still reading the 14th yeah oh okay it's good to me I don't know I'll make a motion to approve the March 14th 2024 minutes as drafted second roll call vote an tuski i i cther Jersey guy and Trisha Kendall ey so then we'll look at the March 28th for EX any changes from anybody I think I'm good I'll make a motion to approve the March 208th 2024 minutes is drafted well with the exception of filling in the amount of Correspondence correct I'll second keep doar good day an teski IA I Katherine Jersey gu and Trisha Kendall I so now it feels like it's time to go home but it's not okay so meeting minutes are done um if we just kind of take a minute to um let's say we're going from item nine down all of our reports and administrative matters we've I skipped it for a couple meetings um but if anyone has reports in there um I'll just say for the comprehensive plan we're wrapping up the comment period did we ever finish our meeting on boox um so if you have not filled out the survey yourself personally or anyone that you know I think the deadline is tomorrow so is the I mean so we had the um meeting a week ago right with with the with the consultant I thought that was really helpful and informative um she made a comment about the um touch points I think she was calling them about the percentage of people that we were striving to get um like and as involved in the process and mentioned that um that the deadline for that wasn't today but there will be other touch points for the public I didn't imagine this right yes as we go on yeah so so there there's um there's kind of the components of yes this is the big part of the drive obviously but there'll be other places down the road where public will be in involved in this as well is it yeah so technically this is the vision part and then you actually start the planning piece so technically the public is going to have input at the planning phase as like you come up with ideas to actually oh now that we know this is the vision for ashin let's come up with plans and then present it to the public so there's absolutely time for that but I think the consultant one of the consultant team folks was like very clear that this is the primary period for public input because this tends to be the Crux of it without the vision piece from the public it's hard to plan so we shouldn't we should try to squeeze out as much public input as we can now so that we can get the vision right so is is though like is the meeting in the Box stuff like I remember I thought I saw a deadline of today is that is that tomorrow tomorrow okay tomorrow um so you could do one tomorrow after this meeting I'm gonna be like um because I I'm asking because um in the course of the design review committee meeting um Bill novakowski who is the representative to the conference and plan meeting Kathy asked him about hosting a meeting in the Box this just on Tuesday at some point in the future with with his neighbors and and and he seemed like he was going forward to do that and I'm thinking maybe I got that wrong about that the meeting the bo part was supposed to be wrapped up and I I think he made a some someone made a comment I was again I'm just listening to a recording of a meeting but um but that could be submitted anytime in the process and it just might like I don't know if there's just a misunderstanding or if that comment last week a week ago today was misunderstood or confusing um it's not the way I understood it I understood it yeah I mean the way to think about it is the consultant team needs a deadline to be able to deliver a vision to the steering committee right so the steering committee needs the vision summary based on all the meetings in in the Box deadline tomorrow without that deadline the consultant can't give us a vision once we have a vision we can start planning could this random meeting in the box or extra meeting in the Box come back to the steering committee and maybe influence some of our later discussion I don't know the answer to that but it's not going to be part of the vision so I just want a couple corrections I think I'm sure you agree with consultant is not giving us a vision they're smushing together information that will be the steering committee no I mean it's steing committee develops the vision with the consultant's input which will go back for more public there will be a potential for public comment on that as well I don't I don't want anyone if they did here to think that we um hiring a consultant to tell Ashen what our vision is yeah no and I think that point was actually made very clear but I yeah yeah yeah yeah migraine talking but yeah absolutely so um I just I just wanted to bring that up because it was kind of people might be confused yeah because there's three members of the comprehensive plan meeting here and I thought maybe it should be uh clarified you know yeah I do think we I'll speak on my own behalf my opinion is that the steering committee should have been more thorough with the public is said the deadline for the vision piece like the deadline is tomorrow and I don't know how many people really know that but to the really important point is the public will always have the ability to reach out to anyone in the steering committee offer feedback and there will be formal additional feedback periods I would be concerned if Bill is confused because his meeting the box if it's going to happen next week will not be part of the materials that will be the strength of like the discussions for the vision that was my concern that that there might be some confusion maybe after last week amongst the members of the board so I'm just bringing that up because it's what I maybe it's just one person that would no I think that's a fair point and I would suggest that you reach out to the chairs of the steering committee and share that as chair of the planning board so that you know you you heard it and you can speak to that confusion I will do that and that might be helpful um the other thing I wanted to um bring up in these um just in the report um and I I wanted to do it separately appropriate or not separate from the public hearing um was about the design Review Committee process and I think it might be something we need to um I don't know if we needed going to need another Retreat after town meeting or something like that because my impression un listening to the meeting and this is if anyone wants the tape you know they can um be sent the link as well um was that the members of the design Review Committee who were there which were four members no one seemed to they didn't seem to review or reference the um the memo that we sent it didn't seem to be a part of the discussion I had I had um that they seemed sometimes not to be aware that the or not to have be aware of the material that was online that you know that's that's online and available just the same as we get it um and on the Friday before their meeting um elro had sent them uh the memo uh from the planning board um a link to the files and also at at my request um because I had talked to them about this before at least to to Kevin um a link to the planning board meeting and the minute at which we started our conversation for our initial meeting because they had noted that sometimes it's hard to know what the planning board said and they can't come to our meeting and their meeting so I said I sent it so that they could look at our initial conversation and has have that as a base like as you know to understand the project better and I didn't get the sense that anyone had looked at that either so I'm a little um and then given the way the meeting went um I'm just a little con I'm concerned that the process isn't working about despite our memos and um and at the end of the meeting at the end of the tape they were still looking at adding into their checklist things like checking to see if it's an all electric building you know and checking you know asking for interior plans which I thought I thought was very clear here I thought we really clarified that Marcelo and I back at in 9 to 49 Homer and so I have some concerns and I'm thinking that we're we're um needing another it's not benefiting them or benefiting us if if we don't have a clear process and I I think I I I thought it was much more clear than that and listening to this meeting I realized it's not clear I think the last time we met with them was probably more than a year ago am I imagining that time is flying it's been a while no it's probably yeah but but but the point is that it seems straightforward if what what I remember the goal was when we send this memo that memo basically is the agenda for them to address that for that project main agenda items they can discuss other things but that should be the agenda one by one because otherwise it's very impractical yeah so I didn't like I said I didn't want to I want to discuss it separately from the public hearing because I don't think it's related to that public hearing but I I wanted to make I mean I think they're like the key committee that's our support so having a yearly retreat with them would be a really good idea and I don't think Amanda was part of the prior retreat with them so I think it's always good to kind of reset once a year and I I think it would be really I remember the thing I liked that started happening is we did start to receive memos from them that were very well organized and res and responding to our memos so I felt like we took a step forward maybe there's some confusion or certain projects have not followed that so I think we should get together with them reiterate some of those positive steps and remind everyone of our role do you really need a retreat for that I mean it seems a straightforward process question the the plan board expects that this is the basis of a conversation I mean it could be another Memo from us but if they're not necessarily reading our initial memos I'm not sure they'd read the memo saying to read the memo well it's one of the but could also could also be a 15minute opening could be a 15minute opening in one of our hearings yeah just as a touch base but I don't know if they're all going to be here well they don't all have to be here but if if if they have Quorum they need to be what three of them four of them I don't know how it's one of the reasons I thought it would be do for like that if our schedules allow that Peter and I will attend the next meeting I think that's a good idea to to try because I thought too I thought many of these things I thought were clarified in the memo in our in in marcelos and I response to their 9 to 49 their 949 memo we were very very clear we tried to be extremely clear and I I don't know where that went I think it's fair I I would support you going to them to convey that we need their help and when we give them a memo it's really important for us to get a response to that memo I don't know if we need to say this is your agenda this is your only agenda because they're adults and they can develop whatever agenda they need but would they didn't say but only agenda we say that's theend we care about we are really like relying on you technically without their response to our memos we're kind of in a weaker position as a board so we need them to actually I have one comment like I think we we're saying so we the board asked you and Trish to mark up the 9 to 49 Homer but but to me that does not translate to process right because it was it was about that we got it we got it we got it here attention to these things right I don't think that was accompany with we never need you to review these things so I don't think it's actually been clearly established as a process I know what you're saying I I don't think that's true necessarily completely because the the the instructions way back then was based on the bylaw and say this doesn't apply you don't need to talk about that because it doesn't apply this does this does that does whatever so it's an instruction that was very narrow or trying to be very narrow so that the information that comes out of of the analysis is useful because it's not a free for all otherwise why it doesn't help anyone but helps someone especially what helps us is to identify here the points that are uh critical of this project or that project and say advice on this I thought that's that's the help for which this committee was created right so so again like my position on this is we if we have five questions for them we need those five questions answered I also think that we're we're all adults and we all make mistakes and we all have our own kind of interests and and interesting points we want to make and so if they want to make extra points above and beyond the five they should do it because maybe we miss something maybe we're not saying that you know I mean and so but the memo we give them should be responded to that should not be that should be the focus after that okay fine but but we will only be interested primarily on response to those it because that's why we sent it all right so I think um like Peter and I said are going to try to go to the meeting in order to um just provide the perspective and the background to the project that that we've been looking at you know um but also perhaps I'll ask for a little time just to talk to them in in in general terms about some of the things I that we thought were because these were planning board documents that that we' been reviewing and so it's um and that we we used in our process that it just doesn't seem like it carried over um so to talk to him about those things you know as well because like like Marcel was saying some of the things were um like as far as the interior plan one of our notes was that neither the planning board nor the design Review Committee should is has a right to do this right it's not in either of our purview right so things like that which I think is very clear to us and but still isn't clear to them and that's what some things we have to it might be helpful to encourage them to attend like that planning conference that happens every year um encourage because I I always find it useful Kate and I tend to go every year yeah no you know that might be helpful Des they're always welcome to do that do we invite them when we get those things yearly typically um I'll look into that you know um that might be good and then but I also just want to reiterate I'm happy to send if anybody's interested in watching the the the the the uh the meeting then I'm happy to send that out you know and um and just to get a perspective of of the conversations that are going on I think all right does anyone have any comment on that I just wanted to make the board aware so okay can I go back to the uh comprehensive plan so you done no it's it's okay um they when we do meeting in the Box they like a picture and I did say I didn't get one but I would try and they were actually happy so we should try to get a planning board picture to include what what they do with I don't know but they like to have photos of meeting in box yeah do you have some mascar I mean we better take a photo now at 8:00 yeah I know well I was thinking exactly cuz I was like there's no way it would have we finished at like after 11 we could make an effort to I can ask Matthew sure my phone is really old does anybody more modern mine's slightly but we're so sorry do we want to PB selfie yeah I I was going to bring the meum box to hold up but it's okay cuz sometimes people are working right ass we finished complete I think think have to go in some all right say cheese thank you thank you all right done what else you got Kate is there anything else you need blood samples anything no no thank you me all right it did get submitted so that the the um meeting the Box planning board did get submitted so we're counted so oh good good and I I submitted one from CPC but I did not get a photo i s sorry is there any other reports administrative matters anything on that bottom half of the list if not we still have a half hour and we could start to talk about either the specialized code or 10 to 60 main I mean why don't we do 10 to 60 main while we're sharp Okay so everyone had so um how you doing so everyone uh I did receive an email from Marcelo um and I didn't I and it came out late but it's printed out in everyone's binder and so it's it's there uh furthermore um there is the seven points uh that Mass housing does look at so that is right there too so that's right in front of the meeting minutes yep those two things uh the first in the front in the front yeah and everyone can kind of take a look through that through Marcel's email and then we can kind of go from there yeah I could explain kind of the the process because this was really like a stream of Consciousness it's not there's nothing special here the idea everybody can edit or adjust the the the what I try to do is to try to narrow the there's only one that I think of those seven parameters that Mass housing considers that we can in my view comment on which is the appropriateness of the project everything else is uh whether it's fiscally possible all these comments that I I myself cannot address so so what I Tred to do here is to set up and I expanded on each but just four basic topics that would def that that to me kind of help guide the the rational whether the project is appropriate or not um the first one is the relationship of the project with the historic Heritage of of the Town represented in the mill buildings themselves so there's and and and all these four aspects are based on on the kind of the the introduction of thinking of this site that this is not a a typical site this is a really special site it and we've because we had two years or whatever talking about this project before we've already addressed a lot of these things so this side is probably at least the way I see it the probably the most consequential site for the town for for the next decades because because of everything that that's in it so so these four points I thought could could address that so the first one is the historic buildings and the relationship of of any project that gets developed there to them the second one is the relationship with the natural environment and we're talking about uh the river walk the waterfall uh the river uh edge around the entire property it's it's a very special thing and it's the first thing you see when you enter the Town Center um the third one is uh what what I just said this project is Lally the Gateway project this this is uh what what is going to define the downtown and to me not not being carefully crafted to to to really be that is a huge danger to potentially destroy the fabric of downtown as as we think we we want it and the last one is the the architectural language that's been explore on what was submitted and I know they even said it what was submitted is it's kind of an opening right I hope um so so there's a there's a language that is inconsistent with a site of this nature in my opinion it's a in general if we just if if you make a caricature of it is it it looks like a like a fivestory wall completely flat that has some materiality and that's it with flat roof it's it's a big wall that a big wall as a Gateway on a town that has a lot more texture uh different uh uh a form based code for the downtown is exactly the opposite and so the the to I I I I thought that I'm sure you can get more I tried to get it as narrow as possible the and and and the problem to me in the way they they explained it and I think they have all the resources to to do a much better job and maybe this is kind of the way they were clear on the explanation that uh oh we we started with 250 units because that's what the project needs and basically work from there so it see it seems to me that the process that's one way to to do it I mean probably you have to do it if you if you're going to try to really test the project you start with that objective 250 units right because that's what we want and then we'll we go down to the side and and bang all the corners until we get them okay and that results on that now I think the important thing is to do the reverse is to start with deciding what's important about it and see what you can craft out of it and you're going to come with a number with a different number and maybe there's variations thereof so so but but but the point is even on the process that we went through before there the the we came to a point where they seem to the architect at that time seemed to get it it's like okay you're starting to translate the variation of heights the different roof lines the the the the markers on the corners and and and and that's what it's it's a long process now on the other side I also put here there's a couple of things that they are doing that I think are really good that I think are worth you know exalting like H having that entire corner by the r River to become a public place that's something that we were asking last time around and didn't seem to make make a dent and the fact that they're removing that really inefficient crazy weird parking lot that's in front of those buildings and making a green area that for The Pedestrian is is is a much better entry point to the downtown so basically that's kind of a summary of you guys can read it but that's what the intent was I was just wondering also you you had um Focus this on Item B of the seven points did you think it all it seems to me that some of it might also be C like there you said there was only one C is that the conceptual project design is generally appropriate for the site on which it is located so I it seems to me oh well I guess I guess yeah I applies to both okay that's fine I just wanted to I just want to see if you no no that's a mistake then absolutely yeah okay by definition yeah this I mean I agree with everything that Marcelo said and the way the framing is on point B I have the same comment on I think Point c as well I think and I think it behooves us to um put comments forward on any of the ones that we sort of have any angle on I think like my lawyer brain says like let's comment on as many of these as we possibly can I agree that to me be and C certainly you know and a lot of the comments about be I think work for c as well but just I think some of a lot of the public concern we've heard around this is you know the conceptual project design is generally appropriate for the site like you know concern about scale and things like that I think that comes in to see for sure and then the other thing I wanted to note is just and I don't have all the you I wasn't on the board when this project um was originally here for all of that time my very first meeting as a board member was the meeting that um it was withdrawn so literally you have fresh fresher eyes than but but what I wonder about whether or not there might be an opportunity to comment on G as to control of the site just with respect to some of the unique history on that site and the fact that there are EPA considerations there um and I think that we've received some notes from the public about whether or not um it might be sort of fully within whether or not there might be some restrictions there due to sort of the history of that site but isn't that a term of art like legally control the meaning that that that the ownership is is secure I think ownership and control are both terms of Art and you can own a site but not have unfettered control over what you do with it so I looked into that because this these this is kind of like a shorthand for the actual language of the of the language um and so in reviewing um the mass government chapter 40b handbook for zoning board of appeals which by the way talks about planning board role and all of this as well um the control is based on the applicant or related entity owns the site or holds an option or contract to acquire such interest in the site or has such other interest in the site as is deemed by the subsidizing agency to be sufficient to control the site so there's got to be a docu a contract of sours yes and so you know we I think the only comment we as a planning board can make is that we have no evidence of such control period and that it's to the subsidizing agency to determine if adequate control is there I am very concerned about control because as far as I know this is still owned by the applicant that was before us so this new applicant to me has zero control but I have no evidence of it because I've never seen any contract um so I think as a planning board I would be most comfortable saying I have no no comment and that the subsidizing agency needs to investigate whether this applicant has control so that's my interpretation of that isn't I mean aren't these seven findings the things that at least the way she explained it on site are those are the things she's going to look at so she is going to determine or the state is going to determine through her if this applicant has control of the site whether we know or don't know who has controll of the site it seems in a way irrelevant right because no matter what we say they're going to determine that and how how would we know I'm I'm just yeah it's so it's like are we really are we going through these even though but she did say that exactly at the meeting she said these this is the criteria that we are going to look at that's it we're not going to look outside this at all but we're going to dig into this and so any comments you have for this we'll we'll we'll read basically so the interesting thing is I I know that obviously they have this is what they're responsible for findings but some of the preliminary work I've done like there's a there's a design review guideline for 40b projects which I would argue that project that preliminary submission does not meet that and that's sort of an other of these things you could you could smush it under C but I I I disagree I think we need to be very firm and saying like it it does not comply with those other things we don't need to be we don't need think it falls under see um yeah because the design guidelines I read them they're not very extensive but they are clear that context and and context in the town matters right cannot be a disruptive mess that comes into a town well okay I guess I mean I I I could go with that I guess my feeling though is if we don't have to be forced to only comment on those things they should be applicable right but we don't have to be just that she said that that they I guess I'm I mean it's just a presentation like we want to be able to present the material to the state in the best way possible if this person who showed up on behalf of the state is thinking about these seven terms this your point fits beautifully under C it's kind of a separate point but it's the same no but Katie's right they they have design guidelines they have some points which are kind of what I was trying to address there in my own work so we can do it both ways we can reference the design we can put it under C and we can expand it it's it's more of like a presentation like how do you want to deliver the information to the state The Heading can be C and then you can just expand to include all of that the other question is for Michael because he's going to collect comments from many other boards so how is he going to like that was my question to Peter as well so hold on a minute so so Peter is already organized a couple of these feedback things or is in the process of doing it from other boards but do you want to talk a little bit about that yeah so we took it we took um I was we were on the ZB I was on the z i staff the zba meeting on Tuesday night right and the zba um obviously a little bit different because they're going to be the the board hearing this case um and so they were a little bit more impartial you know what I mean but I think we kind of identified The Zing board of appeals are trying to identify areas of interest during the application process that they were interested in the appli going into greater detail such as obviously scale parking traffic Transportation um Ingress egress kind of the meat and potatoes of a of a py plan process um but I am and Alvaro we are compiling them in more of a a memo format um into a Word document that we can kind of be squished together um and so what I would ask if if anybody has to email anything and so Marcel I'm going to take your email and obviously be able to cut and paste it and put into a Word document but at least I think it's to put it in a memo format um to put it in in an email into a word doc is the best thing for for me and so then I can kind of cut paste maneuver and develop a product that can be sent back to the planning board but then also sent to Michael umich I mean in looking at the the the handbook for the zoning board of appeals and the process like planning boards get to create their own written comment so I I hope I'm understanding you correctly that this will be a memo on behalf of the planning board that it's not like you're going to cut and paste what we're saying into another document from the town we will have our own memo on behalf of the board and I think we're a key we're literally the very first entity listed as an entity that needs to provide public comments so we should have our own memo that is gear towards our position um and I will add that one of the key elements at least in the guide book from the state is if we have a recent comprehensive plan we are the jurisdictional entity that should speak to that now we don't have a recent one but we are very involved in the comprehensive plan that's happening we've been part of a meeting in the box we have opinions about that and we're supposed to include that in our comment we should be thinking about just like to your point in your draft you're talking about some of those things like the vision for downtown Trisha was involved in the recent um changes to the bylaw in downtown like we should make sure to include those jurisdictional elements because that's literally what um I'll read you that sentence the planning board should be asked to weigh in on the Project's relationship to the city or town master plan if the plan is current and actively being implemented obviously that doesn't apply to us because we don't have a recent plan but we've been actively involved in the planning process and we should comment to that so I guess that probably better said than I say we we don't need to only focus on this right on these um six or seven things because we may be remiss in missing other comments I don't think we need to be forced to limit to these comments and I would be obset if we did especially given that you have the real deal I me I'm not disagreeing with you Kate I see your point what I'm telling you is all of these things that I've commented on can easily be fit into these categories like the comprehensive plan can be fit under the um B or C so I think there's ways for us to find it like I think the next step because we don't have a lot of time like I loved U marcelo's draft I think it's great and I think maybe all of us should kind of pick an element that we're especially interested in and try to augment and make comments for Peter free to to edit my draft too I don't yeah I mean I think um and let me know that I'm wrong you know but like none of the other elements to me um you know a d e FG like I don't have anything to say about the proforma like I right I have nothing I've known nothing about that I couldn't begin to tell you if that's working or not so to me the planning the what we do what we do as our as part of the planning board is B and C but I think also like you said everything that you've mentioned everything that's been mentioned so far fits under those and just like when we're putting out um we're going through the criteria it it carries more weight I think when our concern no matter what that is whether it's comprehensive plan or whatever it is if we can fit it into the criteria that you're considering I think that's what we do instead of making our criteria our own B you know I do want to comment on the pro fora because I think it's the most complicated element of this process um from what I've been able to gather the proor analysis is that the subsidizing agency does slightly different from the proformer analysis that the zba is going to do um because essentially my understanding and Peter can correct me if I'm wrong is that the agency is basically saying hey the project you're giving us the developer presents it can be viable which is a little different from what the zba has the power to do the zba can actually put pressure and negotiate less density and then there can be an argument made between the developer and the zba whether or not that is viable which is a different profor analysis so to the extent that we want to contribute to this profor argument one of the things I'm thinking about what I remember from our meetings with a developer is when we put some discussion or focus on density I remember we were sort of negotiating in a way with the developer and there were certain conversations about what would be or would not be viable I don't know if anybody remembers that um and I was under the impression that the point that we got to was viable and so I think that is a value add to the to the the point that we got the density that ultimately we landed on at the end that ultimately was not approved because the project was withdrawn my recollection is that that was not being viewed as not viable and I think that that is a value ad on the proforma piece that that's my recollection too but there's a huge difference is that back then Richard was and he said it many times he was looking for a partner because he did not have it so he was almost hedging his bets now he has a partner that actually is specialist on this type of stuff and they are the ones that's saying that they said it at the at the site they say this a contaminated site there a lot of work we have to do we're going to improve a lot it's very expensive to build so we need 250 units that's how they said well except performa is not up to the developer towns can actually hire their own experts and the zba has the authority to do that sure so it's not as simple as saying well they said it's not viable right age so I guess where I'm going with this is I think there is some benefit to our us as a board recognizing that for us less density appeared viable at the time of our meetings prior to the withdrawal and I think that is a value add common to the state what the state does a performa though I don't feel I can come in on any performa I haven't even seen it I don't I guess I don't have even the interest on on on seeing it from that point of view because then you start negotiating with from from from the point of view of I know what's viable and you think something different is viable I don't think the plan board is on that type of negotiation I think I think we what what what is not viable to me as presented is the the the negative impact that something like that would have in the downtown as it is and the downtown of the future and I I think that that would make the downtown not viable it will be a disaster if something like that got P so so we're going to given the time we're going to need to move out of this soon not that the discussion is done so we have two options we can look right now at our calendars to see when because we it was mentioned that maybe we can have a separate meeting just to address this issue you know but we can see if we can find a date and time that most of us can make it um our time is short obviously we can do that now or we can just table this and we'll get back to later in the meeting but I think even later in the meeting we're looking for a date I think we need a date because we need to draft something okay I mean a couple comments I think so one thing would be starting with your framework and maybe marking up so then things can get inserted they can still be messy as topics right because that I think moves it along but I also think I mean there's a arbitrary um date that Michael Herbert asked May 6 but the but there was an extension to like May 28th or 29th so I'm I'm all for getting things done but I'm also not all for like you got squeezed for a deadline that doesn't have to be and secondly there's a public forum May 7th and I think I do not think that we should be submitting comments until I'm not sure everyone can go to that or is interested but at least there might be some topics out of that as well so I don't think we explore if we have more time I think we can explore from Michael if we have more time since we are at the top of the list of planning comments personally in regarding to your second comment I think our letter comes from the planning board and not from the general public they're having their own forum and we are our own board with a different experience than the general public has and both of them are viable but our memo is coming from us that doesn't mean we might not pick up on something in that meeting that might influence we think but I want to for me that's very clear that this is a letter a memo coming from it absolutely is but we do represent the public and we may hear something that influence that's right but we also have to have time to process as well you know so can we come up with a proposed deadline to to run by Michael that is resp Michel tomorrow um both deadlines I'll talk to Michael I think you know moving forward and in no sense that I say a memo you know I'm I'm creating the ZB in a memo format and obviously we would do our own for this board uh just to clarify that but I think to to start things off I'm happy to talk to Michael I'm happy to forward out out uh excuse me uh marcelo's email um and then also you know if if you do want to have thoughts and ideas put them in writing I think that's the best thing to do send them to you and send them to me and then I'll start to compile it and I can send it back out to everybody else for our meeting for our meeting um or just in general you know I think if you're home on the weekend and you're and you're and you're looking into this stuff and you want to type you know just send it to me and and and Anna you're a very good writer and I think you have a lot to to say about this so I think just put it in writing and send it to me and then I can send it back out you know that's also important I think there's another one right coming up another 40 yeah well potentially well so this almost is going to be almost a template for us to correct to frame the framework from which the plan board so it's do it right yeah do it for both Anna if you could yeah I can send some thoughts to well I I was talking about the document you're you're referring to here if you could send either send it to Peter I I might have it already but it's just been a mess of emails Rec and I will I will say that the town of Brookline has a very detailed uh 40b website with every single resource you could possibly have on 40b I think I need someone to dumb it down for me right now because I just don't have the I don't either but the beauty you edit it send to me the best yeah the beauty of these documents is that they're searchable so like I search for planning board proforma environmental stuff to just kind of get your eye to it because there's so much material out there um but I think this document would be really good to get to the zoning board of appeals yeah if you can send us the cheat sheet that's what yeah no so we we're we're working on that with the Zoning Board of appears and we're kind of building that up and Alvaro has done a very good job in building up our zoning board appeals website with zoning board excuse me with ZB with 40b material and so a lot of the stuff um Anna that you're speaking of is now all linked on our on our website so great uh yes all right so do we want to look at a date for a date time right now or does anyone need a two-minute break before we uh start the public hearing for the NBTA communities to you guys I mean we can all step out when we need a breakr okay everyone steps out when they need to I didn't do the Google pool poll it wasn't really meant to be done because it's getting too complicated so what I'm looking for are okay so can I assume that besides me most people cannot meet between eight and five is that a that's a logical besides me a iCal assumption okay so then um I assume five doesn't really work either so if we look really between 6 and 10 because after that we know we all get loopy um are there any what I should say what nights are people like I cannot do it on this day of the week is there any of those Tuesday no Tuesdays okay what what time you say it between 6 and 10 in the evening let's say like that oh okay so but no Tuesdays in general for Deepa right Deepa the fourth Tuesday is challenge the other Tuesday I can you give me a date on the no um we're looking only at April right yeah uh May and that would be in person or that would be remote no don't know yet so is it April or May are we looking at ail on May now both uh I think may I think it's due at the end of May but you can give me the May date but we probably won't be going that far I can make it happen on uh when am I traveling um 7:14 and 21 is good tell me the dates that are no 28th no April 28th May 28th no May 28th and no that will be too late anyways I know but I'm just writing it down I think I'm traveling 15th 30th and 1st 30th April and 1st okay and I think I'm traveling the 15th and the 16th of May okay so wait a minute good okay so let me write this somewhere else it may be easier to find from the majority and then come back so wait so I went just really clear Deepa no 30th April no April 30th no May 1st and no May 28th okay are we thinking like of virtual 1our meeting to review the draft I don't know yet what did you say Amanda no I said no May and I also can't okay um anybody else have stop on I can't do my well is town meeting May yeah so no May 1 that's town meeting May first town meeting I can't do the second no May 2nd right mine is fluid it typically in general could accommodate almost every day but things come up things come up that that okay but so that I shouldn't I'm trying to El it I'm just trying to eliminate the absolute no goes yeah weekends do we have we have one weekend in between or a couple weekends in between are weekends completely out for anybody weekends are harder for me is hard is there a way we can like do like a like at the hour before one of our regular meetings like a 6:15 meeting right before our regular meeting something like that on May 9th that's a long time away though to we're trying to get this thoughts to do so we can start to Mush it together right anyone next a Monday night the 29th and the 6 still alive 6 is going to be the night before but I mean the idea is that work some work starts happening so by the time we meet Peter has received comments people everybody has had the chance to digest it and right mhm I see I see we don't start at that time gotcha gotcha got got well we can't really draft it in between among ourselves because that would no no but you're going to start seeing what everybody's thinking we Peter circulates it what about Monday the 29th you said no one no one mentioned a Monday what about this this coming Monday even if it's just for an hour 90 minutes yeah I could do an hour on Monday as long as it's after 6 the only issue is can be remote can be yeah we don't have enough time to to post oh that's right okay is that right public hearing yeah so Monday it's usually 48 hours so so we need to I would have to post it today for Monday can we do next and next Tuesday is bad for you the 7 the 30th you say Tuesday on Wednesday I'm tring Tuesday yes it come back Wednesday night okay could we do it Tuesday anyway to kick it off and is it okay just I miss I I don't know if I'm going to be in a room by that time you have this it's okay if you miss I just don't want to I mean there's no requirement that we do this or even have a quorum right um so if you want to hold it for next Tuesday if my day gets over and I'm back in the room I can always join and we can record it and you can add in yeah can we so if that's easier what about the what about Tuesday the 30th this coming Tuesday can we find can we just do it a little bit after 6 6:30 perfect 6:30 on Tuesday the 30th try okay let's try it Go post it I know tomorrow morning tomorrow morning that would make the deadline Yeah Tuesday we could still make the deadline you can post it Tuesday and then we'll see if we want that means we need to get comment to Peter like tomorrow I'll double check I'll double check with the clerk's office but usually it's 48 hours in advance um do we want to select another day just in case we have a so the way I'm mean in all practicality I'm looking at that is going to I'm not going to get comments before then I will happily come to the meeting but there's no way I have time to do that to push that forward I feel like that I know so I feel like that 30th could be just much more brainstorming bullet points and pushing it along for a next draft that's fine yeah that's what I'm thinking if at all practicality or we're mushing together a draft while we're sitting there something like that more working sessioning session mean I'll try to throw something together but like realistically it means giving it to Peter early tomorrow so he has time to squish it can you send me your document in Word I'll forward I can forward marcelo's document okay and then um and then and and really tomorrow I'll double check with the clerk to make sure that we are going to meet the guide the deadline um regarding the potion requirements um for Tuesday okay um and then we'll kind of go from there and what I'll what I can do is I can try to take these a through G's and I can try to take marcelo's language and put it under these and then add some of the things I heard about but you don't need to do that for tomorrow we just need to look at that on Tuesday right for Tuesday yeah so no need toel has already done that leg work hasn't he yeah okay yeah so we have a plan there great where we can hash it out okay and on Tuesday though one of us has to peel out and go to design Review Committee Dam yeah okay yeah okay that doesn't sound like a great plan no I no I think no no I think we can make it happen because it's uh it's about brainstorming like you said it's not a final document yeah we can listen to the tape we'll tape it right if we have it you know it's um so no I don't think we should I think we should stick with this it has to be done sooner rather than later let's to stick with it you know and obviously we should check with Michael if turning it in closer to miday works for him so that we could use our next May 9th meeting or whatever for our official wrapup I I yes I'll I'll talk to Michael about that and then um and then kind of go from there and if and if it all comes crumbling down we can um we'll work something out and we can organize by email okay all right all right um okay so next on our agenda next on our agenda is the MBTA um MBTA Community zoning bylaw public hearing this is continued from our meeting two weeks ago on April 11th Peter do you need to the whole thing again no okay I do not so um I did think that I should um go through the slides again I mean it's going through them multiple times but I think that we need that for a basis for the discussion both for anyone who's watching at home and and anyone online who's um who may have questions to try to make that as clear as possible um and then we'll obviously talk about our approach to for the next steps so can you you're looking for the slide presentation Peter okay okay great okay so first slide no need to spend time there so just to review for people who are unfamiliar with this um the uh restrictions given to us by the state to form an MBTA um uh zoning District uh that these zoning districts have to be at least 50 acres um within Ashland and we have to have a minimum of 20 of those Acres Within a half a mile of our train station the rest can be anywhere in Ashland each we it doesn't have to be in one big Zone it can be in multiple zones but if we break break it up then we each of those has to be at least 5 Acres it can't be smaller within each of those zones covering again at least 50 acres um we have to have a minimum density of 15 units an acre on each parcel and we have to allow multif family housing with no age restrictions so these can't be over 55 communities they have to be open to all ages right so there's another component of that and this is unit requirements because Ashen is a commuter rail Community versus a Subway Community or um a adjacent Community correct right have different requirements we're a rail Community because we have a Commuter Rail station in our town we need to provide for 15% of our um housing units by the 2020 census Ashland has 7,495 housing units we have to times that by 15% which gets us 1,124 housing units so that's the amount of housing units we have to provide so now our restrictions are we have to have at least 50 acres we have to have a minimum of 15 un per acre and we have to make sure that adds up to at least 1,124 units it's important to understand that none of these units have to be built Zero have to be built we just have to provide the Zoning for it okay next okay so back in the fall um I believe it was in 2023 I want to say September a working group was formed um between the select board and the planning board it it um included myself Trisha Kendall included Town planner Peter machek assistant Town planner um ELO Esparza and um select board member Joel manani and that was the working group our task was to find a means by which Ashlin can fulfill the MBTA requirements so in our group we outline priorities our first priority is to what we called use what we have ashin over the um over the years and especially in very recent years has um has um approved of a good amount of housing incl you know starting with Cirrus the Cirrus Apartments um but but other ones as well like the 100 Chestnut Street that's currently in construction so we felt as a community that we were already doing what the MBTA communities Act was asking and that we were providing dense housing around Ashlin so our first priority was use what they have or use what we have I'm not sure why they're all labeled one I one question on the calculation that you showed before projects that have been approved like that one that it's under construction those units count for that number or not none of that matters that the land can be completely empty or completely full what's going there now doesn't matter but if they so if that if that parcel ends up in one of those District we don't have to count not counting units we're counting area we're counting how many acres and we're kind and we're counting how many units per per acre were allotting to that zone what is built means nothing okay um so that was number one what intended to be number two priority I don't know where that disappeared was to hold the density as low as we could and I think that's for obvious reasons right um number three is that we wanted to respect the ongoing comprehensive plan process that the town at town meeting voted to dedicate $250 $250,000 to a comprehensive plan process we did not want to be making decisions for the town that we thought should come out of the comprehensive plan process so we were very very aware of that do you have a question I I just had a quick comment because I'm assuming you're going to present this a town meeting possibly possibly so I I was just going to say that it may be helpful to edit that second priority we're we're going to uh slightly but we're going to get there eventually that's fine right now I'm focusing on tonight okay next slide I I just wanted to say that there's been some critique in other communities that communities are uh trying to slide around the MBTA regulations and I think it's we need to be careful because I don't think we're sliding I think we're doing what's lawfully allowed and my only suggestion would be that priorities should be edited to say as low density as Allowed by MBTA zoning it's not that we're aiming for the lowest density possible ever we're we're respecting the MBTA bylaw or the requirement from the state yeah and we're aiming for low density per state allowance yeah we obviously can't go lower than what the state mandates so I exactly it might just be yeah okay um so what we what we started to focus on were three um districts so um the first one is in the rail Transit District there's two there's two partials in that one is Cirrus and one um is is paral a which is is is not uh is not Cirrus it's not developed at the present time the second is the Wildwood district and that where that's pointing at that purple that is the 100 Chestnut Street um project that is currently in construction and then pwn street so item D over there points to Pawn Street it's right on that ashlin's border it includes both the 501 Pawn Street Lot which has an approved project a project that was approved for that lot it is not in construction at this time and it includes the um residents of Valley Farm um um facility next door and and we did that because uh those Parcels weren't big enough to be included on their own so we put them together as a Zone okay so um just to go through these various zones um uh uh let me start with Cirrus which is at the bottom B just because the way the letters were um this is the one project that is currently completed and built um the current density of that it it's a little tricky in this Zone in Zone A and B because we also have to take into account are zoning that is currently in effect in those districts so in this District in the rail Transit District it says you have a certain acreage but you're not allowed to build on 30% of it right according to our current bylaws in that District so we have to Discount that a little bit right so in effect if we the current density say for Cirrus um on the books it would say 20 but really the effective density is only 14 because you can't build on 30% of the lot right and the state looks at all of that you have to submit all that to the state right so um so the same with ugc right the property a is ugc that's an that's been an approved over 55 friendly 40b Community um but it is currently in litigation that site um so the same thing with that the density is proposed dens it if we talk about both of those property as being proposed if we put it at a density of 22 the effective density is 15 because you can't build on 30% of the lot what why why can't you build on it's in our bylaws right now District this this is this is redoing the bylaws so I don't understand how I I don't understand that it's complicated right you still have to build that into your model and so when you get into your when you get get into your compliance is when you get into your compliance module with the state there's a compliance model right you have to build in certain aspects what's required open space parking all these other items right so we've had to do the reverse math into to provide what is the base of 15 units per acre once you start working within that bylaw and so we came up with 22 and that's going to work for us um and that was reviewed by our consultants and it uh it's a number that was kind of hit and I understand what you're saying like well why can't you just wipe it all out and start from scratch we can but it's complicated right it's complicated and if you remember our first premise use what we have right so but the part about 30% because our current zoning I I'm just having a hard time because this is this is new zoning that's being proposed yes and no yes and no I mean um it's not none of it is entirely new because even if when you're in the Wildwood District you still have to pay attention to the zoning of the Wildwood District you still have to pay attention to that you don't just get to ignore it so but but just to clarify what Kate is asking so what would pass in town minut if these gets voted positively would be an overlay District or is just for compliance with the state that is not a zoning District they are separate districts separate yeah yeah separate zoning districts respect the own L zoning District that exist I think I think Kate's point is I think what Kate is saying is can't we just rezone entirely from scratch and I think what Peter is saying is that this is a more viable option you take the zoning as is and then you essentially edit it you create an overlay District on top of it that's a separate one you're not creating a new overlay not overlay but Ed right and you're making them compliant right and because there's all different criteria at the state regulations and so what we're trying to do is we're trying to make a current Zone that we have RTD we're trying to make that compliant with the state regulations and we have to make some changes to it some edits right so we're proposing to make edits to the existing bylaw of the RTD to make that opposed to deleting it and creating correct that's why and that's what everyone's doing yep but it but it seems like you're taking more of potentially taking more of the parcel out which makes makes us look at other Parcels to be added right like I I guess the point is I mean I respect the process that we said RTD the town agreed 20 something years ago to make a rail Transit and if there's more acreage to be squeezed out of there for MBTA I I'm just wondering I I get it but right now this is the warrant that has been submitted we can't make any of those changes now right so I need to present this as it is now right and then yeah I I will say it is consistent with how other communities are doing it like it's consistent with practice to how this is being done yeah so there's a there's infinite number of ways we can do it this is the approach that taking at this time yeah okay so let's go on to the so that's that's real Transit District okay the other two districts um are a little simpler thank god um uh 100 Chestnut Street again the the current density what is being um what was allowed um what was approved is the density of 29 units an acre and we set that at 29 units an acre pwn Street has a a which was approved a a density of 32 units an acre we set it at 32 units an acre we did also have to include the residence of Valley Farm which is already built that obviously doesn't have the same density um but those two those two um projects are to those two lots are together okay so um what uh yeah something happen obviously that side is misaligned yeah sorry what is going on was it Mis lined on your screen as well yeah it is what's going on just put it up I think if as long as we can see everything a minute I think this was just about the this was I think explaining the unit count um there you go okay so this was just it's kind of almost aligned but this was just trying to go over um oh okay this was going over the um the ugc and the TW and the Acres that are going to come back to the town um regarding the development yes so was also trying to explain was also trying to explain as part of the complexity of this also having to do with the rail transic District once um once the last parcel of the rail transic district is developed which would be ugc in this case the Covenant on that property which is also still in effect and also still has to be taken into account the Covenant says that 20 acres are donated back to the town right so that's something we also had to take into consideration which lowers the effective acreage we have available in those areas so even though those sites seem very big they're not as big as they seem because of the layers of Covenant and Zoning that's already there and really those 20 acres within a covenant that we have when we purchase that land area within the RTD District um that land is going to come back to the town of Ashen right and so and that's with Ed development agreement for ugc and so one of the restrictions of the state from the state's point of view is you can't no town can Zone their own property right and so what we're doing here is we're subtracting that acreage excuse me we're retaining it to we're retaining that acreage so we're not even taking putting that into the calculator so we're not so we're not getting ahead of ourselves so we're not impacting public land correct Yeah in our future public land and we're taking account for it yeah so I wanted to have in that in there but it's hard because it's not quite reading it's not aligned but anyway that's what that slide was about let's hope the next one is aligned yes okay so this was where I was this is where I was trying to explain about the acres and the 30% I mentioned it earlier this was talking about taking the Acres minusing 30% and then you have the Acres that are left to work with so you're removing the public land no not on this part so you're taking away your 30% of the land that needs to be open SPAC indor imperious servic you're leaving the open space as is correct I think this is really important for the public to know and I'm not sure it's clear enough from the slides like we are not taking or removing open space we're not taking or removing public land like yeah that's really key let's get through and go back to anything that we need to go back to because it is really hard to understand okay but the important thing as we tried to I'm sorry for these alignments this align two weeks ago as you know because you guys were here you're such an architect like no it doesn't it TR you don't worry I'm like on the words I'm fine you guys are so much in pain yeah so but what what all this is trying to do is to show that the unit count adds up to what it needs to we have to tell we have to be able to say to the state we are Zoning for 1,124 units and the numbers we have placed on this thing on these four properties that we're dealing with add up to 1,124 units no buffer no buffer but we don't really need a buffer um Alvaro has already had a preliminary conversation they they agree it seem well it it's not like a it's not guaranteed till everything goes through but they already Tak a preliminary look at look at all this and it it seems okay we've already sent everything all the all the numbers have been looked at and reviewed by our consultant rkg that did the feas the economic feasibility study all the bylaw changes have been checked out by the AG's office okay so that's where we were let's say a month ago what's the next sline okay this is what started to bothers a little bit um of the projects that we have that we're considering on this cus is obviously built right it's highly unlikely that it's going to be torn down and changed um but the 100 Chestnut Street is in construction right it's it's going it's they got their Bild building permit they're rolling the other two projects which are 501 Pawn Street and the um ucg project um which is the friendly 40b are not in construction um not starting to be built and so there's a risk there that if we change the zoning in those areas and both of them are 25% affordable the friendly 40b is 25% affordable 501 Pawn Street is 25% affordable that's the agreement but if we change these two MBTA communities we're not allowed to put that restriction on them so given that those two projects are not yet into construction they could potentially say I withdraw my project I'm resubmitting the project at the same density without the affordability compon component except for 10% right that's the risk not the risk that you'd have more units the risk that you would lose the affordable component yeah so that it's a risk right so um that's what that slide is explaining so this is where we are today however many weeks ago two weeks ago maybe a little bit more I don't remember anymore the town received notice from the state that we have a 40b application for 10 to 60 Main Street um that um what is being proposed there now is 32 units in acre right on that site that's the 250 units so what we are wondering and this is this has come out of the working group and also some other voices as well um is if since now we have this 40b project that obviously isn't finished it's obviously not you know it's just the beginning of its process and we have a second 40b project that is looking to come in that seems to be in process I do not think we haven't received notice from the state yet on that project is that right we have not received it but it's imminent it's imminent so to us on the working group to the four of us on the working group to us we label this a GameChanger that this is new information that we didn't have before it didn't exist before and we feel that it's information that we should use in our process to make a better approach for Ashland um because things over the next six months can change quite a a bit both with the two projects that we have currently approved but are not in construction and with figuring out what's going to be happening with these 40b projects all of that information is up in the air and um we're now concerned or that the proposal that we put forth as the best option for Ashland because of the circumstance things changing totally Beyond anyone's control May no longer be the best option for Ashland so I as I expressed two weeks ago when we discussed this my personal view is that this should wait to fall town meeting so that we can see how these other factors beyond our control play out and thus Perhaps Perhaps present the exact same thing at town meeting or perhaps not depending on the how everything swirling around us plays out as much as it will play out in the next six months I think that's kind of the last slide that's where we are Trisha when you say play out can you can you define the the what is the upside and the downside like simply the um so forb come they start developing so what what will play out so what would play out is that the acreage that the the acreage that the 40b projects take that use right and again if we look at just 10 to 60 M what's currently proposed we don't know if it's going to be that way what's currently proposed is 32 units an acre so even if we said we want to use that property that's housing right that's providing housing providing housing near our downtown even if we set it at 15 units an acre half of what's being currently proposed we can use those acreage to lower the um the needed density on maybe ucg maybe on 501 it so that it makes it less lucrative for those projects to change pull and to eliminate the affordability component so it's it's all geared to retain that affordability that those projects are provided to mitigate risk I would say yeah so let's be clear a 40b right now is 25% affordability and the proposal that you're making is that we make that area by right which means the exact risk you're indicating that applies to Pond would apply to this project it's the exact same problem if we now make this Main Street project by right as part of the MBTA zoning we're essentially eliminating the benefit of 40b 40b scares people because they feel that they have no control that is a myth 40b allows communities 25% affordability in a real way and it gives the state direct regulation over how those apartments are controlled which we at the Town level do not have and so there are massive benefits to keeping this situation as is especially since no offense but the current owner of that property has a history of withdrawing projects so to me this is not a GameChanger I don't feel comfortable changing the approach based on the will of one applicant who has a history in this community of withdrawing applications and moving applications around and I personally think 40b is an opportunity for the zoning board of appeals in this community to negotiate correctly and the regul ations for 40b allow for a very substantive analysis of proor of viability and environmental issues that frankly by right we do not have if we make it by right if we Zone this for MBTA we're going to lose a lot of the statutory benefits of 40b that we as a town don't have we're not the state of Massachusetts so I'm not I don't see this as a game Cher if anything the 40b project of Main Street reiterated my position that absolutely should not include Main Street as part of the MBTA work that we're doing and I will add I will add one last point which is that our thinking before the priorities that we set when we started working with the working group as the planning board and select board together was to honor prior elements of this community that we already had public hearings on and we already approved actual projects with density this project no no one has had a public hearing yet no one has approved so to think about it as something that is a game Cher I strongly disagree with I think we we talked about this a little bit at the last meeting if we include that property it doesn't it doesn't impact their 40b they still go for it at 40b at the 25% affordable if they want to if they want to because we have no uh we don't need the threshold but I think but if they don't they would lose they would lose the benefit for them of it of right they lose theity it's a Hu so as Trisha proposed it we we could obviously play with the numbers but it's a drastically lower density that we would propose right it would be a major trade-off for them to sort of pull the 40b and and what they're currently proposing to reduce down to what it would be zoned by right for and then the unless they're in this room to tell us that they're going to agree to the density that we're going to establish by right and withdraw their 40b you're purely speculating we have no evidence of that letter finish but I also think that the it's not we're not saying this is what we're going to do and re and tweak for ftown meeting we're saying let's buy ourselves six months and information gather and give ourselves time because it's not just this property it's also concerns at um plot a and or Zone a and I think that we have the ability to gain more information and mitigate the risks that exist because the only our only path forward to minimize our exposure to 40b is Affordable units in town and we have two projects that are currently approved at 25% affordability that we that would be included in this proposal that we have exposure on if we go forward in this way and it it's sort of I think it was our best it was a fantastic proposal sort of and then now we have additional information and it's it's just a matter of we're not saying let's absolutely include 1060 in the next proposal or for the for a fall town meeting it's just saying let's take a minute and use the time we have between now and the fall to glean additional information and then make a decision is how I understand it and I'm personally all for just sort of getting some more information I I think that's that's exactly right this is not about oh I we have a new plan that we're just not telling you it's about whoa there's a lot of different things that have been happening there's a lot that could happen over the next six months don't we want to use that information to put together the best plan for Ashlin not that we not the one that we thought was the best plan for Ashlin two months ago wait but the best plan for Ashland in six months as close as we can get to having all the information that's just where that's where we sit on the committee after filtering through all this information for six months I mean with all due respect there was a ton of work done by um by everyone to get us here pushing this to fall gives the public very little chances at a second shot because we have a deadline with the state this argument that the better plan is to make Main Street by right is is exactly the kind of argument that should happen at town meeting the spring um I think that would be a really interesting argument to present I disagree with that argument I like to see the Public's reaction to that argument oh instead of making it by right the areas that we've already approved as density why don't we make Main Street density and I have a feeling that's not going to fly now if you want to push it to the fall and you think in six months we're going to have an approved project at Main Street that's naive we're not this project is going to take severe time it is an environmentally complex project project the state regulations are very vigorous for 40b the zoning board of appeals is just starting to look at their obligations there will not be an answer in six months all this will do is push it to the last minute with the state and that's not appropriate but I I don't think this is looking for an answer in that way I I guess I'm having trouble understanding all but I I get the points but adding that site at a different density is not at all an incentive for them to change the 40b it in fact is an incentive to just see it through and maybe negotiate with town to see it through because is is the owners and the developers is in their best interest to get as much density as they want that's what they that's what they're doing they're doing it that's what they're doing otherwise they would have done the project that Richard had had submitted before so I don't think that one is there's nothing to to what we're going to see in that 6 months and that's what I'm trying to understand I know that there's Joe said before there is a litigation on the other side that could be resolved in that period and that would be that's a risk because if if if if it if if if we go ahead and keep it I guess it could become an incentive for them to withdraw it realistically realistically they don't no one seems to expect that litigation to resolve itself in the next six months but if it if if it if the project if it did get the resolved and the project moved forward that's less risk because the project we the project we didn't approve it was the onlyon board of appeals but that project would be moving forward as the town intended right it's important to know that the 1060 project 1060 main project that we were looking at I believe the units had gone down to 180 that's correct is that right 100% y so at 188 I believe the density it's about 8 Acres correct the density would still be the project we were looking at the density was still 23.5 units an acre which that the proposed project is at 32 we maybe not having a right answer on this we could set it as low as 15 so it's really hard for me to understand how a 40b would be dropped at 32 units an acre but yet they could make it viable at 15 units an acre if they could great but I don't see that I I don't see that happening I think the proof of the process that we went through actually proves that that it would not because it was the argument was that it was not feasible then at that number correct and nobody partnered with Rich Gordon to move that project forward he couldn't Finance it correct so you're saying propose it at 15 and take density down elsewhere correct I'm not yeah just to take advantage essentially of the fact that there's going to be high density there anyway right on a project we have not yet approved so um it's a it's an interesting concept the problem I have with it is I we need to meet the state deadline number one number two is we've already have approved areas of density again this project has a history coming in and coming out approve it disapprove it it's a little bit of an unstable history so but that was not this project that was a project that did not have a partner that's specialist on there's we have no we have no evidence of control remember so don't assume it's a different project no I I assume it because it is in in the sense that let's let's let one person talk at a time Marcel can you finish your thought because a a project that that knowing the side and the complications that the site has which which we all looked way back then there's no way to me as an architect I I I and I think we mentioned it back then we were looking at that project so that project is not feasible not as being proposed and and they struggle with it because of that now what what what whatever they end up building here this is a project what that that Richard found a person an entity that does this type of work for for a living and and that that that got the interest only I think because they can do it at a higher density so in other words that that proves to me that there's absolutely no incentive for them to to go back on it the the reason before they withdrawn they withdraw was exactly what what what Richard was lacking that he now has Amanda you were going to comment yeah I think um just to build on these points I think the idea of including it at 15 units an acre Which is far lower than what it had gotten down to when it was before the planning board far far lower than what it's proposed on as a 40b again this isn't about what actually is going to be built right we could include that parcel and have it at 15 units an acre and it could say exactly the way that it is if they withdraw the 40b that's fine I think as a board we probably have enough information to say it's not viable at 15 units an acre for just from the experience of this project and where it its trajectory is so I I view the risk of someone I view the risk of saying like we're going to make that by right and then end up somehow the state and the consultant going to look at this if it's not viable at 15 like is that going to fly like are we going to if we if we use this it's not about what's being built it's just about being built they don't care they just they don't care it's about the Zone they're not looking at a per there's no perform just hedging to say like this is this is a property that is you know it is not going away I think is is what we had said last meeting like it it is it's maybe it does and it comes back in another form like it's not I think the idea that it's going to like completely evaporate forever is probably not true and so I think knowing that you know 15 years Saker probably not viable we include it in our analysis or in our proposal and retain what we what we do have that is valuable elsewhere which is the 25% affordability which we could lose because we have two Parcels in our proposal that don't have building permits out and aren't built and they could withdraw those parcels and complet and do withdraw those projects and do something completely new under that zoning where we lose that 25% affordability I think there's a loss there and I don't see a loss at 1060 but I also think it's not that's not even the decision we have to make today all we have to do today is say like do we want time to consider this given the information that came to us two and a half weeks ago that's correct 100% so the I don't understand why this can't be brought to town meeting and simultaneously evaluate because we will not have any other answers we we're still surmising right and so that it it does need time to investigate and unfortunately like the applications said we knew about this way back in January the town was notified I don't know if that's true but it's on the application so the the notion of a couple weeks ago I I don't think is true it might have filtered down to be considered a couple weeks ago but what's the harm of going to town meeting explaining all of this including where we are this proposal partially accepted reviewed town lawyer looked at it's all good and explaining that there's another option that we're investigating but get it voted on things can change none of the 10 to 60 Main Street will not be given an permit between now and November town meeting the other parcel that's in court I don't think will be decided withdrawn and submit a new application by to me I think that's probably nearly impossible and I don't know about um I guess there is probably possibly Pawn Street but I don't know what the holdup is but I know Peter talks them maybe we can get some more information but I also feel strongly about as I said from the beginning that town once people do not look like it's they're over a barrel you have to the first time I'm seeing it is November town meeting you have to pass or else we're going to be in whatever mitigation with the state getting sued like Milton or whatever if it doesn't pass I I think we're in a very different position position that to comparing ourselves to Milton I think we have we've that that view has surfaced a one a little bit of fighting back and not doing this but generally I think the town has approached it in a very systematic way and also shown over previous years that we are providing housing we are providing exactly the type of housing that they're asking for almost over 55 doesn't count can't be over 55 you know there's some little restrictions that we'd have to take off but we've been providing dense housing my my personal my personal question to myself is is as a person who has been working very hard trying to understand all of these bylaws and how they fit in and going through different iterations and whatever my personal question to myself is how do I how do I put forward something at town meeting and support it when I actually am not sure it's the best solution for Ash and that's what I'd say here and that's what I would say at town meeting that two months ago I thought it was the best solution for Ashlin and now I don't know and as much as I would like I said this before as much as I would like to just cross this off my to-do list and go on with my life I I think I still want to do the best job for Ashland and now I don't know maybe this is maybe this is the best we can do but I don't know if that's true so originally when I heard your comments I was concerned that you were proposing meeting the density by right if 15% is what you're proposing and we know that that's going to remove density at Pawn Street or actually I'm in a butter so I can't comment on that that it will remove the risk at the other sites right so if the M the math can be done there could be a point there like for me how quickly can we do the math how quickly can we see if we do 15% me Street what can we remove from the listan last meeting we were running it and this is the thing right with zoning bylaws right once we put have a bylaw we worked our tail off Alvaro I can't tell you how much Alvaro worked myself Trisha Joe we worked right but in the grand scheme of things you know our whole thing was we're not going to we're not going to include 10 to 60 you know with the whole process we stayed away from it the whole time right and we tried to work around what we've had what permits are already out there right but regarding what the numbers are so you do have a big major compliance model that it takes that's that's a huge process to to run the numbers right it doesn't happen overnight the entire situation is is that we have to come up with these bylaws and finalize them right way before our public hearing and advertis them in the newspaper right so there's just this lag time that goes in and forth this this approach and I'm can to tell you right now as a town planner was the best approach that we could come up with as a town taking advantage of it right but due to these changes things change right and that's what we're trying to do an is we're saying okay the the the the field has changed right it's starting to Tilt at a different angle so let's understand where the angle where the water is going to run and let's catch it and let's take advantage of it and then let's redistribute right and so what we're saying and and we've kind of said a couple different times is um we can re cture the numbers and redo them and reduce that stress other places but we just can't do them overnight right and we can't we couldn't do them at the last meeting in time to change the bylaw yeah well we can't change the bylaw in time correct but we could do the math we could do the math 110 where and that's what I think kind of finished that's what we want to do is we want to redo the math redo the model and see what makes sense with those pieces right now in the meantime I understand Kate your point regarding you got one vote you got one vote you know however we've worked with very closely with the state right we have submitted our bylaws to the attorney general we are working with the state we are trying to work towards compliance so I think we're in a different situation than a Milton right but I can tell you right now as a town planner if we have information for the next coming in for the next six months and we have six months more months of information to run and to calculate and to figure out what is the best option for Ashland I can tell you right now we can come to fall town meeting with a better bylaw for the town of Ashland and that's what we're trying to do and that's what we're trying to get for the town of Ashland and I don't want to think that the town's over Barrel in the fall but I want to say you have this is the best option to move forward into gain compliance but in theory we can come to tell meeting next week with this draft and the numbers of what would happen if Main Street was % we could we we don't need the full draft to have that conversation with the public but but I think it's just the ideas of that because 10 to 60 is just it's just one component what what about what about the other one which is what that's because the only new thing is 10 to 16 so what else could be changed well we have a second 40b that's knocking on our door right so there are other things maybe 501 Pawn Street will go into Construction in the next 6 months that will be that will take away like oh they're going forward right with the with the with the 25% as permitted right so there are there are other things like almost all everything that's not in construction and not built there's something else that could happen I'm not saying it will I don't know all I'm saying is that I would like those facts 6 months from now so that I personally could present what I think is the best plan in six months to the residents of Ashland that's not my choice that's our that's our vote together that's town meeting but that's my personal perspective that I think I have another opportunity to that I think I could do a little bit better given the things that have changed and I agree that with the concerns about you the public and wanting to give people an opportunity I think we all wanted to go for it at Springtown meeting for that reason at I think we were all on that same page I just think this is a very good reason and there are there are you when I'm at the regional collaborative meetings there are a lot of towns deferring to the false town meeting and it's not necessarily for like a super compelling reason like this it's because like there was a glitch with the consultant or the math was wrong or they can't like they can't get it out in time and like that I feel like we're not coming to the town of Ashton in the fall and saying like you know it it things were nuts up for whatever X Y and Z reason so we had to delay to the fall and now you have to decide and again completely understanding those things happen we're not in that situation we're in a situation where we're saying listen you know at fall time meeting we say we think that we we took the time to put a better bylaw together for the town of Ashland to come into compliance with this requirement that we have from the state this is why we're coming forward in the town meet we don't in the fall we're not we are not trying to put the town over a barrel this this is the context and this is what we have now and this is the best and this is why we believe this is the best proposal maybe it's this one that's in front of us now and maybe it's a better one so for me the Crux of it is 30 or 15 because if we're going to push it to fall and we're going to end up with 30 at that site that's a problem because then we're going to run out of time and we're going to present the public with a strict deadline by the state and we could be non-compliant unless we approve high density at Main Street so to me that's that's also a risk right because once we open that up I mean we're not voting today on 15 we're voting to open it up and have a conversation so I think we all just need to be aware once you open it up you could be looking at high density above 15 by this September so but I don't think that we I don't think that the working group would propose density of 30 at 1060 that removes the Strategic Advantage we we're not proposing anything right we're right now we're trying to say let's look at the things that are changing and see right if we can do better maybe we can't maybe we can't yeah let's see if we can do better let's have the opportunity to do better versus throwing away the opportunity to do better and it's that exact point that maybe pwn Street goes under construction and like the risk of that 25% affordability evaporating goes away any of those I guess what I'm saying is I am actually comfortable with that risk if I'm not getting 30% density of Main Street me personally and so I just want to I don't I don't want to be naive once you push this to fall there is a risk that you're going to have high density at Main Street above 15 I but that would happen regardless anyways there the chances that not by right it would be a 40b project that has State regulation including now right now but if you have MBTA proposal it would be by right at higher density but but remember that the mpta proposal is us it's us and we're going to have the we'd have to have the same forums which which we had in this time and we would have the same public hearings and the same disc discussions with the planning board and the select board it's not the four of us just sneakily putting numbers on things right everything has to be approved by the board everything has to be it's dis you know it's like and guess what I'm saying is we already did this analysis we already thought about density at Main Street we already voted against it right so opening this up simply because there's a 40b right in order to Red discuss high density at Main Street is directly contrary to the analysis we already had but I think we're not discussing density and Main Street that way the density is taking place we are reacting to what is happening so that's the this is the Mis misconception you have to let him finish his thought Anna so what I think more on the lines of what Kate was was thinking I think that the the town does have a like there is a pressure on the on the vote but it's not because of this the state is putting the pressure on all these towns to do this or else you lose these grants and that that is the real pressure the the this Vote or the vote on the fall is a decision on do we want to be more um conscientious and fastidious about the numbers to make sure the vote that we are being pressured to take is as as wealth thought out as possible that's really I I I I don't I I I think maybe if we getting too much into the WIS like we are not creating that pressure the pressure was put upon us right by the state so we are reacting and I think if there's a group and I trust this group because I was not part of it but I know there's a lot of work that has been done and by default a project or two projects of 40b that are coming it's a by default is a game Cher to the downtown is game changer I don't know where the other one will be we'll find out but it is it it it is another level of pressure why not consider it carefully I do want to have an opportunity to take public comment if anyone wants to talk about uh MBTA communities and that goes for online as well please raise your hand online if you wish to speak Peter can you watch well can you manage the yeah I'll manage you online but Mr Mark do is at the microphone how much time do I have our meetings only always go long so I'd appreciate three minutes Mark and no more okay thank you Mark the 49 hathon Road it's it's group talking group thinking but but it's a big PowerUp of what NBTA is putting the pressure on set forth the housing excuse me I don't want to yell the housing no wait a second let's get back the zoning before anything goes through has to be Rewritten and weo through town Meen and then bring over to the attorney general and have them then State out what they want to say and have pass a fail the math is the math is numbers but what I'm hearing is two words maybe and if if that can't get past those two words and hoping the Attorney General can get things going this is going to be a round round circle discussion with no in thank you jungen Friday one road um I'm here as a resident right now um I this just boggles my mind truthfully um but I'm trying to understand um there's a couple of questions that I have um if we pass pass it at in the spring if we pass the current proposal in the spring can you then go back and change it in the fall yes yes okay um to because to me so far I mean I think you all know I I hate the whole thing but that's beside the point is you've done a huge amount of work and I've totally respect that I I really really do I can't even imagine having to do it um but I do think that the plan that you've come up with is it incorporates be careful how I say this I guess but it incorporates how it incorporates things that are basically already built or planned for and I think to Anna's Point by opening up 10 to 60 Main Street the worst thing to do there is to allow them to build by right and I and I know what they're building what 40b is this close to that so it's I I don't really honestly know how you're going to come with the answer but I I guess if we go to town meeting and it passes in the passes the spring town meeting and and things change and you really realize that it needs to change then yes we have to come back to fall but for right now this seems to be the best plan for us um my other question is why can't add into the zoning 25% affordable across the board or or 12% or some number I I I I know but why I I don't understand why I I'm just asking the question are um are you asking it in terms of Ashland or in terms of projects at hand um Ashland yeah yeah so I mean we were looking at an inclusionary zoning bylaw um a few years back um that uh that didn't make it through the planning board meeting and so we decided at that time to wait until the comprehensive plan to have more input on the next hopefully iteration of an inclusionary zoning meeting we're not allowed by the state to make the MBTA zones 25% affordable we we actually had a consultant that came in and do did an analysis that gave us the numbers about what would be acceptable for the affordability the state will allow us to do 10% in MBTA districts and I think one zone which one was it Pawn Street the pawn Street overlay district from a financial standpoint would support 12.5% at affordable rate but that's all we can that's all we could put in our Zoning for these areas as part of the MBTA as part as the MBTA as part of the MBTA technically the town can always reone separate from this right we can always be the MBT process we can't go above 10% or 12 for that one District but as part of the comprehensive plan we could have inclusionary Zoning for the entire town or sections of it that are different from what the state considers viable for the NBTA District you just have to remember that there's other complexities with um inclusionary zoning you can't just put a blanket on something and say that now everyone has to provide 25% affordable because it has to do with property rights and the value value of property because as soon as you say now you have to have 25% of your property affordable you've now decreased somebody's property value instantly right because they have to provide for those units thus when we had the inclusion area zoning Proposal Part of That was if you had an increase in affordable units you you got compensated by an increase in density or a decrease in parking things like that so you're trading the value so it's a little bit more complicated you have to trade you have to trade the parking space you can't take away someone's property value with zoning the bottom line inclusion or zoning is a is seen as a density I mean it's seen as a density but SE it's a bonus right so if you're what you're doing is if if you're allowing 100 units you're allowing really you're asking them to build at 110 right so that 10% those 10 units are discounting Excuse me yes those temper those 10 units are discounting the impact on the town subsize housing inventory and there are other considerations too that other communities that have increased their um affordability thresholds are observing that they're experiencing far more 4bs and because developers are just choosing to go the 40b route rather than comply the difference is so small rather than comply so why go go through the town and go to the planning board when you can just do the 40b and have a very comparable affordability number so there's a lot of pros and con I think it's a complicated yeah the now around the head right there there's pros and cons to each tactic right and if you know areas of you know urban areas not Ash right uh east of us right have a have a higher sa have a higher um inclusionary zoning percentile right but also though their demographics their densities their their the value of the the property and the land those are also going to support a higher subsized housing inventory I mean a higher inclusionary zoning percentile and I think you know say it's 15% right um and so yeah what is the difference it's 10% but in some cases yes it's driving people towards a f 40b and they're asking for all waivers of a town bylaw and so there's a pro and a con to everything um that's what I'm pretty that's what a takeaway is so not to take away from anything that you work that you've all done absolutely as I said I totally respect what you've done I know it's hours and hours of work and days and days of work um but it seems to me that the state is now mandating 40b it's now mandating MBTA and it's mandating what we can do for affordable and I think it's just insane so that's just my personal opinion but um thank you thank you for the hard work okay good luck thank you okay all right so um another gentleman sorry yeah uh Curtis Hoffman um hildale Road forgive my naive in this because I'm fairly new to the um historical commission if the total number of units at Main Street were reduced though the number of affordable units remained the same would that not help with the percentages so you're you're saying so if the number of units decrease correct yes so say the project went from 250 to 200 yeah okay cuz I'm looking at a fivestory tall and what's the what was the Second Step but they the number of affordable units in that remained the same as it was when it was 250 correct So within a 40b process a comprehensive permit 20 the and this is a law that hasn't changed since for a long time right so regarding 40b conference and permits 25% of those units in total have to be considered affordable and those are protected to folks making up to or less than 80% of air immediate income which allowed the town to add all 20 units on a rental project excuse me all 200 units on a rental project to the the subsid the subsidizing housing inventory yeah no I understand that yeah so I'm just wondering whether if just hypothetically uh the Main Street project were four stories instead of five but the number of affordable units were the same as it was when planned with five if that would not assist in the percentages that you're trying to achieve but the MTH the mouth wouldn't work though yeah the the problem is that as as the number of affordable units goes up relative to the overall units no I'm not saying the number of affordable oh relative to the Rel right the project is more it's it's less it's less profitable yes for and and so they it doesn't get built ah so that's the other kind of risk in other words yeah you you the numbers don't work out mhm for them they work out nice for us but they don't work out for them okay thank you thank you I misunderstood so um I don't see anyone online our big crowd on these discussions so we do need to figure out what we're going to do with this tonight there are several options and I want to say that because this situation is unusual uh it's way past my level of experience earlier in the week I requested a meeting with our working group and with um Michael Herbert and with um Jen ball to understand to understand things from the big picture to see if I was missing anything from their point of view right um and they didn't they didn't really say that we were missing anything like why wouldn't and Joe and I were both like why wouldn't we wait until fall and they didn't they didn't think we were missing anything in that conversation that there were no risks except for the one that Kate has been fearful of um that there were no risks and in waiting till fall as far as the relationship with the state and and or anything like that right right so um then we had a I had a conversation with me Jen ball and Alo had a conversation with Lisa me to try to understand again the process are we doing things correctly how would we do this um and she gave us some information about ways that we could options that we options for us to proceed as a board and then finally I had a phone call today with me uh Jen ball and um um Adam Schuster the town moderator because because of trying to understand how these complex situations work at town meeting so it's been a very busy week um to try to get all this information to understand the best ways forward our ways forward are one we don't close the public hearing we're in a public hearing right now for any kind of vote to happen we first would have to vote to close the public hearing we simply don't vote to to close the public hearing if the public hearing is not closed the warrant cannot go to town meeting the meeting is not done we're still talking about it we're still thinking about it we're still potentially changing it right it's not done the me the it just stays open the public hearing stays open till the fall or whenever we want to take it up again right option two um we would recommend we make a recommendation to table we we close the we close the public hearing and we make a recommendation to table this warant article um until fall town meeting right whenever ever whatever date that happens on that it will come forward at fall town meeting um option three is that we close the public hearing and we make no we make no recommendation and I believe that was also a matter of that the the town um so with that option the warrant goes goes through because you don't make a recommendation so this has already been submitted so it is voted on I I believe that um that town meeting because it is a um because it is a zoning article the town meeting can't can't take it up because the planning board has made no recommendation that's true so here the the the public hearing is within 21 days of town meeting and so therefore there has to be a recommendation made on town meeting floor by the planning board fourth option is that we vote to approve it as is and the fifth option would be to vote it down as is um that's the one option that I I won't say this that's that's certainly one option that would look very bad at the state level that we turn that we voted that we voted it down so um but if the public voted votes it down at the meeting what is the effect on with the state would they wait for maybe the fall and see if maybe in the fall he passes or no under which if um you mean if we approve it and the town votes it down yeah um yeah you can is the same you can take it up again at at fall you can re as long as the planning board as long as the planning board makes a positive Rec recommendation in the fall then it goes back then it goes back correct now is it how is it going to be seen I'll tell you right now it's probably not going to be seen in the yeah I can imagine bright Sunshine of light you know and and it's probably and uh but I don't think here's the thing I don't think that's the mo of the town right the mo of the town is to reach compliance right so I think U my personal opinion uh if you're asking is that um you know if a if a negative occurred I think it's I think it it would link ashon with a to a negative in it would put ashon yes in a negative light and that but that's not the light where that we're trying to that we that's not the position we're in right we're in a positive position and we're trying to make the best plan for the town I I have to say I'm struggling and the reason I'm struggling is the history of this project is one that is very complex and I'm talking about Main Street where there is multiple years of very close work between the applicant and I'm going to refer to the applicant that we have worked with um and the town relative to this site and obviously there's been continued Communications through this 40b process since January so I'm struggling because I understood the process to be the planning board and the select board work together we had a working group that created a draft for that entity to work together which we voted for and approved and it sounds like that entity kind of separate from the planning board select board vote already sort of has doubts about this work um What entity the the working group so I'm struggling because whatever I vote for there is no person who's ready to show up a town meeting next week and actually support what the planning board and select board voted for so I'm really struggling and I think I will have to abstain from this particular vote because frankly it's extremely contrary to the process that I thought we were going to follow which is planning board and select board came together in a collaborative process we asked for the working group to draft something for town meeting in the spring we voted excitingly for it and now we have a working group that no longer supports it without any vote from the select board and planning board that we are concerned well the the planning board obviously the the the planning board is the one that sends voting uh um zoning amendments through so we obviously we don't need the select board to to send anything through I think the thing is that that um what I would say is that we actually followed the process exactly the thing that we couldn't predict are the things that were outside of our control and so it's a matter of do you ignore those things and plow ahead anyway or do you want to step back and say hey I'd like to take a better look at it now that factors have changed you can feel however you want to feel about it that's why we'll no that's fine I think Rich has threatened 40b for a long time I don't think any of this is a surprise or a shock or some kind of O we didn't know this was going to happen until two weeks ago I think this has been discussed openly for quite some time um it's come up at planning board meetings that 40b is a threat the planning board in Prior discussions with the select board has heard arguments that it's the planning board's fault essentially that we were not flexible enough with this developer and so I don't view this as some sort of new data I view this as a jeopard jeopard of a process that was working really well so I will not be participating in this vote well does anyone else have a um I guess I guess it really depends on how you what what what I wanted to ask um Adam Schuster about was would we have the opportunity and here I'm talking basically about the working group to explain at town meeting why we took the turn that we did you know um and and he it he was figuring out how it fits within the structure of town meeting because that also has a structure but he understood why I was asking for that and he is willing to accommodate that so that it isn't just um nope we're moving on that there's a a brief explanation why there's not a discussion why but there's a brief explanation why um so that's kind of where we stand Deepa you've been The Quiet One on this is it because you're right in the middle kind of I'm torn between the two sides of this um and after she asked as well what happens if the town votes and it goes forward you still have an opportunity for fall to change gears um so I am torn a little bit between the two um I hear your side of it and what an I was been saying but I don't think I have a clear path on this for me is that the and and I don't know how big of a risk it is of the two projects we've already approved but the risk that even if we wanted to change things at town at fall town meeting the risk is still open until that change happens right the risk is still there it's not we get a pause on the risk until we actually decide what we want to do that the risk is still is that is there then for that amount of time so um yeah so I mean is this that you know this is just this is just where we at if there had been no yeah I've explained it enough times so again the the options are um the options are just not to close the public hearing we continue the public hearing until the first meeting in September or the last meeting in August or whatever we want to set set it for that's correct that's correct and then we would read advertise obviously and then obviously that also gives time time and for the planning office to recalculate and to to reali the model understand what's going on at 1060 Main Street at that point you know let that project take take a little bit of shape uh love the second 40b you know obviously we'll get more information on that and then also from the information I am collecting I think they're going to that I am confident there'll be some movement at the 501 pwn Street project and so I think you know if that'll limit if if if project if process there eliminates our concern building permits are pulled right then yeah you keep it in and you can keep you obviously you keep it in and you keep it at that density um and then you could look elsewhere you know within you know look elsewhere in town you know 10 to 60 the second fl0 be a project then you can reone from that point to see okay this is what we need to do and this is where we need to go and it could in what we theore do we is we're depressing the the pressures right off the two projects that right now do not have any building permits out and that's the ugc project and the 501 Street project we by the Fall you're not going to have a permit for 106 minut no you will not have a project for that but you'll know but it'll be it will be filed it will be filed with the zoning Bo of appeals I believe at that point they'll be public heer for that and then you could take that land area and you could build it in at a minimum of 15 units per acre by right then you're adding that into your density calculator what in turn you can do with that right those units that you're plugging into the calculator and is that you're depressing the number of units in the other developments right and so for the 501 Street project right right now we're right up at the 120 we could therefore say okay going to be by right at you know I think it's 23 units per acre so you can drop that down to 17 units per acre so you're reducing the risk that somebody comes in to try to rep permit that entire project to get away from the 25% affordability the math was not done so I'm getting throwing out now I'm just I'm I am taking I've run the numbers so many times Anna that I can I can calculate the numbers in my head okay but I but these are no numbers to to to set a moing on I I want to be very clear that we need to be open that we're not proposing 15% density we're opening up the room for a conversation about density 100% so in the middle of a negotiation because a 40b is technically a negotiation with a developer we letting the developer understand that hey we might give you high density by right so I just want to be clear and not naive I'm not going to pretend that we're going to get 15% there I mean 15 density we could technically get 30 through this process just remember that you would be part of people that would be voting for that I already voted we already had a vote where we already evaluated whether Main Street should have density I already voted I remember doing that with the select board and we decided not to include Main Street in this analysis okay so [Music] um yeah so so but there's really just two options whether we continue the I have five options here but not all of them some are kind of a distinction without a difference right it's either it goes to the spring or not that's a variation within those options that's what they do right yeah one or the other that's really the Crux um so I think that's the yeah uh I think you know where I said I don't want it to go in Spring I want to take the time I want to do a better job I want to get all the information I want to go and fall Anna sounds like she is going to abstain is I I I I'm I'm inclined to agree with you I think I think there's value on that so that's that's my position I I think that I will have to abstain because I feel like this the way that this could play out is just not seeming like good public process and I feel like that's going to um I think we could recover from that by the option of not closing the public hearing and setting a very detailed plan and check-ins and how this is going to go because I feel um we did take a boat with the select board and planning board to go forward and then I feel like my perception of the working group was to bring stuff back to the board not to make decisions so I feel like that a little bit happened and I'm not saying it's for bad reasons but that all matters to me and it matters to me how it's reflecting to the public so um the option of not closing the public hearing with very detailed check-ins plan not what I'm afraid could happen is we're still looking because I know it's a lot of work but there's nothing and now it's like oh it's um October and the first time people are hearing about it again and that that's that's what that would be my concern Kate I can promise you as a town planner that this is not going to sit on the back burner and we continue to work on this through the oh I understand it will be worked on what I my concern is communicating to the public and among ourselves and to ourselves along the way I I absolutely believe you'll be working out and I believe that people didn't stop which is why we're here I I do get that so so you're saying Kate that so if with the with the meeting open right uh if there is a um a consistent schedule of checking in on where the numbers are things so that everybody hears it yes and we're getting better prepared along the way I I could support Reon it's reasonable I can live with that too all right so but I what I'm just going to be clear I don't want to what what would not consider support to me is putting here but we never get to it like I so we I I would make if we're making some kind of motion it really has to be way way better than it's on our agendas we have to figure out how that's really really communicated and on the website and regular so I'm I'm understanding this right right the that process is uh uh by means of its effects um leaving the time for the process to get done or or is different I'm trying to distinguish between I'm not sure I understood the question no you said okay we said what one option is to say no it's going to go to the to the fall town meeting but that's what this alternative one of the five that Lisa gave you that's what this would be doing only with the caveat that Kate says that it would not be just oh we'll we'll pick it up right before that no obviously work's going to be being done not so you're worried about not closing the hearing looking like option five which is voting it down I'm trying to to to understand that this the the the the difference because I mean in in principle I already said it I I agree with you and and I think I I I like the opportunity to get the best option for the town is that equal to this the option of not closing the meeting Trisha the worry actually voting it down the worry that like that looking bad to the state is more about like we as the planning board have like refused to put a Warren article forward and also like are disagreeing with our own proposal essentially that we right I mean I think um the option one about leaving the public hearing open is from from Michael's view from Jen's View and from Lisa me's view was really saying we have something in process here we're just not done with it we get done with it in time we're working on it we're not we're not saying we don't want to do it and they did not cuz that was one of my concerns that was one of the reasons I wanted to meet with Michael and Jen is how does this look from the outside I don't want it to look bad because that's not what we're trying to do we're not trying to not do it we're trying to do it in the best way we can right so they um um both Lisa you know thought that number one is is the is the way that she would go is to leave the public hearing open and for the town moderator's perspective separately he said that that was the best option as well is to leave the public hearing open so that accomplishes that and what Kate just added was that that we have uh an overview of the process continuously correct I yeah I think that's the thing like like like I've been saying it's like I wish I could cross this off my to-do but instead we're having El run more numbers right we don't know what the results of those numbers are yet right we don't know I think and I think they're going to be changing over the months as we get more and more information yeah you know we have an option of changing something in the uh the whole um rail Transit District if you wanted to eliminate that 30% we have that option too well I mean if we're leaving it and that's if we are leaving it open I I want a plan and opportunity to revisit some other things as well that I I believe could be tightened up I I think that's exactly right I mean none of those things have come up in any of these meetings but that doesn't mean that they can't come up as we go forward right it it it opens up to it it opens back up again and like I said I'm well let me be clear I I was a supporter of it bring and I didn't bring it up but I am bringing it up now if this gets some way not at Springtown meeting I would like that Revisited what Revisited um the the rail Transit District thetion that's left open because it was like an overview way maybe not the best way of getting the best um for the town right it was it's something we'll have to look at just just know that as as I keep saying it's not as simple it's not as simple as everything we're describing because there's covenants on the property it's it's layers of stuff so that's why it's you know that's yeah so under the option where we don't close the public hearing the warrant doesn't go forward at town meeting but the moderator is willing to let you give an update to the public and then we also retain it on our agenda for regular updates between now and the fall that's right we would simply be making a motion to continue the public hearing until I guess we would say C what C CA da oh I skipped that one but we can make it sooner an end date yeah without an end date I think the biggest thing the public hear for this right with for the zoning regulations we're always going to have to republish it right to meet the criteria of passing a zoning bylaw in the fall right so I think that's going to have to happen from a from your standpoint Kate is you updates where we going to go you know I think you know if we can have a month right now we have to get through town meeting you know things are very busy here and if we had a month we could say yeah let's change the numbers let's work on it let's plug this stuff into the to the algorithm of the model and then yeah we could come back to the planning board and and give a report and say Yep this is where this could change in the future this is where this could change in the future and in a month we may have more data about the projects that are going on in town so I think that don't close the public hearing like a technicality now for everyone to um essentially save face in a positive way that we are still working and It ultimately though has to get closed because it won't be the same warrant so that that's a technicality but um it it's not like it's left open until the fall right right now we you know but I guess that's where I I'm the one that say I'm willing to entertain that but I want a really really solid plan or or I will be abstaining as well um but I can see how that option makes sense and could work when you when you say you'll be abstaining you mean tonight like I I can't write a solid plan in the next few minutes that we have right all I can say is that I am willing to and I'm sure Joe is as well I will speak I will speak for the I will speak for the working group saying that we'd be happy to have a solid plan about how to proceed you know I mean we we have our own plan that we make and our meetings and our investig mations but I think we're we're trying to do this transparently which is why I brought it up two weeks ago as soon as I knew something about it and our concerns I brought it up I was transparent about it right so um so yes I mean our ultimate goal is to make the best plan for the town I'm not trying to say what that is I'm just trying to say I don't know what it is right now and so so let's figure it out and the more voices we have in figuring it out I think the better I mean in terms of pro like in terms of having a solid process and not being able to do it tonight like just thinking about I don't think the process as the working group did it this last time was wrong I think it was so like if if we sort of mimicked it just with the new information and you know the working group it puts together runs the numbers puts together options comes to the meeting presents the options like I feel like if if that whole process is just like rerun in the next six seven months like that seems to be a way to like keep it you know we had it on the agenda we had it regularly like we were checking in on this topic because it was so important I feel like would that be just sort of saying that or agreeing that like we we would just handle it the way we did this round I that's helpful I I yes and no I mean I think uh I think we we hand handled it really well could we do better sure we can no I think that process was great that's what I'm saying like if we reiterate that but just with the additional information yeah yeah and obviously like I said public forums we want to you know um it's just that we're being yeah we're just being hit by a lot right now and I feel like I'm I'm I feel like we're being pressured to make it a a decision because of these external factors that we're being hit with you know and uh I'm not comfortable with that I can't say I'm doing my best job so so I think the question is when would we we'd be making a motion to continue the public hearing um and do we have to put a date on that like the first week at First do we put a date on it to the first meeting in September that was what people threw out September October November but maybe it would be better the first meeting in August or the I'm happy to say the first me in August I think that's a good point so it's even we start the formal process even earlier and in and in the meantime between may you know in May June July um you know we will be running the numbers and collecting more information and and and we can bring these back things back up to the planning board you know in in a proper time timetable but uh obviously with a with a with a with a fall to meeting probably scheduled late November um but sometimes it's early November sometimes it's early November tell you right now it's an early Thanksgiving it's going to be on the 22nd this year um no I'm sorry it's going to be late it's going to be on the 28 I lied um but uh yeah I think you know the first Mee in August is probably the best bet so so in Fall you will go back with option A that you have in your hand and poten repl is potentially with with 1060 m is that how you'll approach the fall meeting no I'm I mean unless I'm misunderstanding you I'm saying that I don't know what the option is yeah that's why so when you go back would you take it as two options to present to the community or would it no we can't do that you have warrant is a warrant you have to within a public process without within a forum that we open the public forum we had two of them for this for this process we could say yep these these is this is an option to go here to go this way we could present a different set of numbers and I think within that public forum is where we would D gather consensus you know the working group we had two public forums um and we had people at the forums right and and they supported this option and I think that was all done prior to the new information with the 40b proc with the 40 BS and so I think that's but we can take those options to a public forum once you hit the bylaw regul ation you're really kind of roll you need to roll with one option so what's stopping us from swapping 1060 main for the spring for this upcoming town meeting and seeing how the community reacts we can't do that the warrant the warrant's written yep written it's not advertised it's not discussed there that we can't we can't undo what happens if this gets rejected and fall then we're the same thing it would happen if something got rejected in Spring and it got rejected in fall like that could happen too would fail to meet the state deadline that's what would happen which would open us up for losing funding it's a risk that we should be aware of yeah and we can come back in the fall with the same plan that we have today you know we're not going to there's no gold there's no star out we're not going to get a star because we applied because we adopted a only bylaw today you know this bylaw works and I'm going to make sure that this bylaw does work at the state level to make sure that it does get approved so we do have an option to move forward within the fall so um I was waiting for Amanda to come back so she just doesn't I know she can't vote but just so that she can hear what's going on so just we need a motion to continue right now correct I think we' be looking for a motion to continue Community public hearing until the first the first planning board meeting in August thought I saw her coming she's coming back I said she's I just don't want to yeah have things happen while she's out of the room for 30 seconds okay I'll make a motion to continue the discussion the open hearing for the MBTA communities to the first uh plan board meeting in um August is there a second second and a roll call vote de I'm abstaining Marcel I Katherine Jersy I and Trisha Kendall I so we will continue this until August I yeah and we will continue the effort and based on that deep knowledge that we have now we can start looking even broader even deeper at different options to get us like I said so that when we're ready to go in front of town meeting it's not the option that was best two months ago it's the option that was best its best at that time the closest we can get to where we are in in the fall that's what so I I apologize I really I think I have to have a hard stop at 10:30 okay um then we have people here from the umal kind you understand I but I do apologize so so just real quick joa Friday will present uh in your packets you do have a presentation put together by Joan um it is six slides we don't need the slides if you want I can do it real quick if you have just be done uh Jim neelon uh sent over a map and this is the proposed local historical district not on the warrant for this town meeting no we're going to put that forward in the fall so I want Joan to go okay she's we're on for her for the spring meeting next week yeah I'm sorry I'll just briefly say a couple words after she's done came today I'll give you all a chance to look at it I'm happy again at a different time hopefully earlier in the evening when everybody's and then the third thing was the third thing was s by you Joan correct it was a gym this is a preliminary study report draft um and so I don't know if you'll get this tonight but obviously I printed up for everybody to take home and to Breeze through uh and when John's concluded I'll just give you a brief some what we're doing what that's okay okay microphone is yours John okay hello all please don't hold my previous comments against me so it's really good to see you all in person I'm Jon G FR wsha Road member of the Historical Society or historical commission sorry um we're hoping for your support of an update to the demo um delay bylaw hopefully you've had a chance to check to look at it in your packet but if you haven't um currently a person anticipating a sale of their property with a dwelling over 70 years old can just go through the process and wait out the delay there are two changes we're proposing first the property is sold and the new owner must go to the go through the process themselves second if 3 years go by with no approved plan the owner would need to go through the process again we've just basically added a sunset Clause the hope is that you can support these changes to encourage owners of historically significant properties to seek out options that will preserve ashlin's historical buildings that's really that's really all it is so if um if there are any questions I do have a quick one sure it's one that I I think I I made in the past so I I I get it so 70 years is being the threshold for any structure just for the town to potentially evaluate correct whether it's historic or not and it comes before the historic commission they and and they they do an evaluation and say yes it's significant or not no it's not significant correct okay I guess my question is um wouldn't be and I guess this is probably more broad but would would wouldn't be also necessary for the historical commission or with the help of others to to to create a list that is known of what is significant because it's it's um it's kind of spreading the net out without to see what you catch whereas if there's a determination there's a let's say there's a let's say that this is the historic like this but this is a survey and there's a list that the town knows uh very specific houses or buildings that have significance uh would would wouldn't that be the way to address it from a more specific point of view I Jim Neilson uh Ramblewood Drive we already have done extensive work on that it's called the macis list and these properties are listed with the state um it's part of its in the back of the fly that I put out that gives you the actual properties that are considered historical in the town as we inventory more they're added to the list and registered with the the state so what they're what they're how old they are what kind of intrinsic artistic value it has or any kind of architectural um style that kind of thing so the change is just to to extend the demolition delay all this yeah this is just for the demolition delay because what's been happening people have been getting the demo delays and they're just sitting there and nothing's happening I can name four properties in this area right by the town hall they got the delays they waited the 9ine months cuz now it's 12 months but back then it was nine and nothing's happened and so they don't have to go through the process anymore what we're proposing that if nothing happens in 3 years then they have to go through it all over again this is not something that's unique I mean a lot of other towns have this it's just something we should have put in when we amended the bylaw in the first place and didn't think of it until we saw this happen again what what what what is the incentive that you're seeking with that that that that you you make the owner have incentive the the owner is supposedly theoretically supposed to work with us to preserve the property in some way um if they don't we don't have a lot of teeth to do you know it's it's private property you there's only so many so many things we can do but this is a prevent um somebody just just filing this and and and like sitting on it for three years and when they eventually get around to developing it um they'll have to go through the process all over again you understand what I mean it gives a sunset Clause it's a sunset Clause I understand the process I'm just trying to understand the the objective and how the the the potential pitfalls okay it sounds like it gives it sounds like it gives gives a second chance for a property to be saved yes exactly you know versus a one-time deal like you did the demolition delay and now from now until the end of time you can take it down whenever you want but but but isn't that the process of evaluation of a demolition delay like Joan just said before or maybe it was Jim the the the the delay takes place there's an evaluation they go they work with you it's established okay this building is significant or not if that is if that the decision is made then why do you have to go back to do that all over again I mean it isn't that the point of the demolition delay in the first place well I think the demolition delay you know it it there's only a demolition delay when it's judged to be architecturally significant no it's by time right if you're 70 years old no no but they still cons right so whatever property is no matter how old it is it goes in front if if they decide it's it's not architecturally certificate added on to too many times falling down exactly economically in feasible to to to fix it up had that happen we we don't vote on it that just goes and they go their merry away yeah then there's no delay no they can go on demolish it because you you confirm that it's not okay that's the process Hoffman 58 uh I guess the the idea is that we have people who are gaming gaming the law that is they're making they're taking advantage of the lack of a sun said Clause to wait out the process and this would put some kind of a limit on that yeah maybe maybe I said big maybe incentive to work with the town the commission to try to preserve some of it or parts of it or you know there's no there's no incentive to do anything they're supposed to follow all these um you know procedures and possibly move it all this other stuff which almost never happens because of financial reasons for yeah you know but but we have no no teeth to do anything as far as you know enforcing anything so this is just one one tool that we think uh will help the town and hold preserve some of these properties and the hope is that that someone someone comes before us they have the they do the demo delay it runs out in a year they still haven't sold the property but then they sell it a year and a half later and they sell it to someone who would prefer who would like to preserve it who who act and they come before the they come before the historical commission and we say yes you know we'll work with you and we try to help them to find the right help to get it preserved and I think the other the other thing is that um if it if they just run out um over time they have to come back and I think that's the as they said if it's property sold the new owner has to come right do it again yeah and the new owner hopefully will want to do something and that's you know and we'll work with them and I think the the heart well or not but I think that the hope is that um either we help the person who is trying to sell their property find a person who wants to buy it to preserve it or we help them to figure out how to preserve it themselves and we're trying to give that a second option was it just a second or that's in perpetuity does it renew time again or just one time for the same honor it's just one time I think I believe that's the way it's written it but if it changes hands if it changes hands clock starts restarts yeah yeah okay correct yeah okay okay and I'll just say um while I'm standing here um what this is is um we've hired a consultant a professional are you done I don't know oh I'm sorry oh you're sorry does anyone else okay any have any questions anyone have any questions question I question about this but when you get to it okay all right okay go ahead sorry just I'll be brief um because it's late um like again I'm Jim neelon I'm the chair of the historical commission and um when I first we first Recon uh cons configured the commission again back in 2019 um I was on the uh original board um and you know we have no histo we have nice signs on either end of of Main Street saying welcome to Historic ashin and those are just signs they don't signify anything someone just put them there um we do not have a local historic district and I was looking around with all these demo delays going on the only thing that preserves these local houses the the historic places like the town hall right here is not even the national register of of historic buildings it's a local historic district because that is the only only way that they're saved by the state in you know forever um there's a lot that goes into this um I I want I would like every I'd like to come back when we have more time so I I could take all your questions about what this actually entails but just briefly the map I'll give you the outline of what we're proposing will go from the Historical Society the ocean house across the street to the mill buildings yes I know it's all the mill buildings it's got to be contiguous that's the whole point of this it's a district that's contiguous uh the mill buildings whether they preserve some of the Granite structures or not that's still there um down the church the buildings next to the church around the corner down to a library next to uh Erica stopping there going back around um up Street to left on Main Street to Homer AV to the old train station across the street to the brick buildings so are still going to remain uh then we go up to the Post office then along Main Street back towards the ocean house to The Corner Spot here we're not including the buildings on with a bagel table is not like that because that's all been redone that's all new construction um now not everything in this district is going to be historical that's the first question I get like the the cleaners for example or the liquor store um but they're placeholders so if anybody wants to come in there someday and put if it's in the district they'll have to conform to what the district bylaws are and this would be a set of bylaws as a separate commission from the historical commission it's a local historic commission District commission and it'll have like bylaws and guidelines of what they can do to the outside really only allowed to deal with the outside structure of the structure what they do with it usage Interiors none of our business it's what you can see from the street as long as it's to preserve the character of what's left of downtown ashin you know so that's and other thing like what happened on the corner here doesn't happen in the down we and the reason we picked downtown first I mean Ash's got a lot of historic houses but they're spread out all over the place and we have to go through we get two-thirds of the town uh meeting vote and some some places like Somerville they'll do individual buildings um as a historic district because they can because they're a city council and it's a lot easier to get the thing past um here because everything's so spread out we figured that it would be easier um and there's also less residences in the downtown um because we're not about take we're not into taking anybody's property rights away or anything like that it's just simply the facade and the things that would be put into the um the bylaws there's some examples in here to be voted on but uh we wouldn't be concerned with like paint color or uh you know or air conditioners or siding siding or any of that stuff as long as it conforms why not why because uh a lot of that stuff is can be up to the individual we don't have like sturb Village out here it's already a hodgepodge of different styles and different colors and someone said at the meeting once uh well we don't want somebody to paint their house purple well we already have a purple house in the in the district and I she doesn't have to change it she'd be grandfathered in but that's that's kind of where we're going with that I I personally uh we don't like we don't have the prettiest downtown but it's worth preserving what we do have um as far as in some of these structures the histories are in here too are very historic and have been here since I mean the town hall is the oldest building in town I believe uh that's still used as a municipal building uh there's a few houses that are older but uh the church we don't know what's you know whatever is going to happen down the line then the uh the new owners or present owners will have to conform to that so I have two question go ahead go ahead um my question is just I was looking at this list and I was curious like 949 Homer for example yeah you listed that as contemporary style is there a reason like one or two properties in this list fall in that style as a contemporary style and why would you consider that theoric property the pre the preservation is she does this for a living her name is Stacy spies and she's from Hoppington but she does this all over the country that's the the uh the uh the name that she put on it because it's not not like I said not everything's going to be quote unquote historic contemporary style or different yeah go the terminology is contributing or non-contributing elements that's the language that the mass historical commission uses yeah and so that would be an example of a non-contributing yeah and therefore would not be subject to the regulations of the local historical district commission 9 to1 would be is I believe that's the brick building but that's the old eert drugstore and that's that's that's as is and that qualifies on its own as its own yeah style whereas you know which is completely different from the town hall or the house at the Ocean House Down The End of the Road there you know the different style so it's not going to conform to anyone's style and this does not also say that you have to preserve the facade as is but you have to try to preserve the facade is is what can be seen from the street okay so the for example if they wanted to put something in the back where you can't see it that's that's out of the district's purview um if it's already there it's out of the districts per of you but only if it's contributing as long as it's yeah yeah you wouldn't do it with the dry cleaners no no no but if the dry cleaner goes away and somebody wants to put something there it would have to conform to the district okay they couldn't put a a you know five three-story apartment building right there yeah not that they would but you know I don't think they have space but if they took the liquor store in that who knows you know so uh this will be out for public hearings the next part we are going to submit we got a vote on this and we will be submitting it to the state Mass historical commission for their feedback and eventually there's a whole process it gets approved by the Attorney General's office and eventually once it's all approved and voted on a time um at town meeting uh it'll be registered in the registry of deeds it'll be attached to every property here as part of the part of the property every contributing element property yeah yeah yeah so I just two questions I I in principle I agree that this is the right area to do it downtown I'm not sure about the the the details of what you just said um because I agree we don't have the preious downtown or or or or structures that are it's a m with some exceptions yeah that are like really um that significant um so so I I guess the IDE it would be ideal that that the the change incentivizes to to change what is not contributing not significant to become uh something that that is harmonious with that but my question to me it's just jarring to see the geometry of these district and I want to know what what what is the why you get to here and take take a turn if if we have a district my sense of a historic district would be like or the downtown if you will would be to have a recognizable boundary that you say okay you're entering like the sign uh and from all sides when you go in all these different directions it seems just theography that's topography the assessor Lots no it's not because in some some Lots you get to the middle of the lot and then you turn the corner and don't I don't know if that's complet I don't know if that's completely accurate like on this one for example yeah which one this is the topography here and and and by Homer renue is the same but then you turn the corner just include this one but not that one and and that goes all over the place the's say behind the library well that road is the one they the the library and next to the library Erica's no behind because that's included right we're not going behind the library that's just that's just included as see my point yeah like like here you go like that and maybe not this peninsula but the topography around here is the same but you go like that even but isn't it about looking at isn't it about looking at the street facade and not the plan I know it looks it looks kind of yucky on the plan right but it's about looking at where you're trying to protect the street facade right I think that's one of the considerations cuz the plan doesn't matter you know or but does it because I'm seeing that the the street I I agree that that there's the value of of of a pedestrian scale or textures materiality that's all important no doubt but but the the especially the I mean this town has an industrial birth right and and and is more like the the district itself yeah the the street and the facades are important but it's more of like like the experience of what is the historic district if if if if I can recognize it if I if I can if I can walk around and say okay they St District there's a boundary but but it's not like that and I get I mean I think it's just a because this isn't coming up obviously next week no this is so so it's just a point taken can I me just make one one comment to that because so Stacy spies said something to us that made a lot of sense and maybe this will help you to to picture it if you the the intent of an historic district is to be able to stand in the middle if you put yourself in the middle of the road in the middle of that district and you looked around that those are the historical buildings not so much the back of the building and the back of that you know it's not the it's not the the squares of the of the plots it's the the side of the whole downtown I also think we have to be careful because a lot of what's not in it is private residential versus what's in is actually quite it's more likely to be commercial and publicly owned that was exactly the point also that that is that was exactly the point we didn't want to include too many residential uh houses in this one because I mean they're other candidates for a neighborhood that could be but then you run into everybody you know worrying about taking their property what they can and can't do with their land however this is why we wanted to do downtown the commercial area and the public buildings first so that people could see that it's not the end of the world kind of thing and we've done it I mean yeah I think this is more likely to fly that H me relative to that I I have to say there's streets in Ashland like I that are like historic is obviously uper a definition and this is based on the state the state thing which I appreciate because it's kind of subjective otherwise so I like that I like the fact that there is like a state piece to it this is a state uh project we have to get approve from the state um and this is I mean I I've been to a couple different seminars run by uh the mass historical Commission on getting this going yeah I think we should we should just realize it's not people have tried to do this for years in Ashlin and it just gets stalled at one point or another we had a lot of stuff inventor back in 2010 which you can you can see online and some of that's Incorporated in here but we had about about seven or eight other properties added to that which went into what I spoke earlier of the macas list which is the the master list of historical properties in the state the one thing I was going to suggest is when you and I haven't read this entire thing but you may want to my understanding is that when you get State recognition there could be grants and other things that are available to us I would put that front and center like page one because that's a massively related to Economic Development yep um so like well this kind of dub tails in with a comprehensive plan the downtown revitalization the whole thing um I I think the timing is kind of ctitious so it's serendipitous thank you Kurt the I was looking for it's too late for me to speak to me it's important to underline it's not like a random thing it's actually State based state has to approve no no this is state approved y yeah so I'll I'll be happy to come back um we're going to be doing a couple of forums we'll be at the farmers market uh we'll be at Ashland day hopefully it doesn't get rained out this year I've got a big blown up map of that that little map there that Peter helped me make a while ago that uh you know for for educational purposes and one other thing we've done a we're in the process of doing like a fold out a walking tour of that area with QR codes so we're going to put those at the Town Hall the library blah blah blah people can take it out and give to give themselves a SE self-directed tour of a lot of these properties when you just put the co you know the phone on the code give you the whole macros listing will come up in the history of the building and all that stuff so that's almost done do you need anything else from us I just have one last thing and that is if I don't okay thank you I'm like to take them please feel free we are having restoring I would say next time when you need to come and talk about this remind us how that you were patient and waited and demand to be put on first thank you no one does can I ask one question about this like if there's some consensus that the planning board likes this concept I think it might help us as we comment on the 40b I don't think I don't think we should jump into a vote for something not a vote okay but that's fine we can yeah I mean yeah so I will be I will be looking at some point U with with this application from letters of approval from the select board and from the planning board so if if you agree that I at some point down the line I'll be in touch have more meetings yeah yeah yeah I'll come back and we can uh talk about that time okay okay because they do want to see the the state wants to see that the town is kind of behind this sure you know you want to have a yes vote before you yeah okay app thank you the only other thing is our on our agenda is the specialized code just just right now I I would personally recommend that we just don't take a vote on it we don't have to right we obviously have different opinions they haven't asked us to take a vote yeah we obviously are in different places we can discuss it more if we want but if we're going to take a vote obviously this is the only time we had before town meeting and I'm just throwing that out there I'm happy not to take a vote on it we we're not obligated to it's 10:40 you guys you guys know how I feel about it so of feels that way but just not no I I mean I I don't know I don't think it'll it's it's not going to be a unanimous voice a unanimous vote you want take aot right now but I'm I'm fine again I'm looking for I don't feel like we need to if if you three feel like we need to then we'll take a vote sorry what are we voting for potentially specialized code if we're going to offer the planning board support of the specialized code it's not a zoning Amendment we don't have to do anything we could speak individually if we want at town meeting I think if we're not required to do it at this hour I would not do a vote just for the sake of a vote I I agree I just want to make sure we're not going to say that we didn't support it by not voting like we're just completely silent and we're up to individual citizens is that correct that's that's my belief yeah the board is not we're not going to gu well I don't I I don't think that well I don't want I that was the question I don't think we should be presenting any position from the board not agnostic not yes not no what is agnostic no faith I would I would I would say that the V you know if asked which I don't have to say anything at town meeting I would just say that the planning board did not take a vote we you know we we had we had discussed it at various times over various meetings but we didn't take a vote so and I would email Ash just to piggyback on that just to say hey Ash just to give your heads up the Plenty board did not vote and we are not making a motion to go one way or the other just so as doesn't present at town meeting that the py board voted to support and to not support I don't think he would do that but I would just be clear that we would not want him to portray that the pl board voted to support indor voted to not sort so but if someone feels strongly that we should vote then I mean honestly almost 11 o'clock at night I think the messaging should be the planning board did not have sufficient time to discuss and vote this we're sorry like that's the proper message we're not required to take a vote everything we can speak individually as individuals and not as the planning board if we did so wish at the at town meeting right yeah get out of here see you later have a good evening have a good evening all right morning I think I think that is actually the end of our agenda unless I mean I have public comment Mark you spoke once are you good with that yes thank you make a motion to adjourn at 10:43 p.m.

two one good evening everyone and welcome to the ashin select board meeting for April 17th I apologize for the delay we're having some technical difficulties hopefully everyone has been able to join us at this point remotely and we're ready to begin I will um we'll start with the citizens participation is there anyone here for Citizens participation uh either on remotely raise your hand uh anybody um I'm not seeing anyone here uh for Citizens participation we'll um we'll go to our first agenda item which is the Comcast ascertainment public hearing good thank you all right um I will you know that reminds me I will um this meeting is being recorded and broadcast live by waca TV and line stream on Facebook remote participant available using the zoom video conferencing platform any disruption with this platform will result in us uh either shutting down the platform or removing uh the offender from the meeting okay a meeting will be broadcast on waca TV and live streamed on Facebook Okay so the first um we're a little late with this um public uh hearing but I will read the uh legal notice uh the town of ashin Select board is cable television license issuing authority under under mgl 166a will hold a public cable license renewal ascertainment here on April 17th at uh will be at around 7:30 at Town Hall as part of the town's uh Comcast cable license renewal process interested persons May attend and directly participate remotely through um this link that I've talked about um the other thing I just want to do to introduce it um this is our hearing on Comcast as cable license renewal and federal and state law require the holding of a public hearing for the select board to consider approval and execution of the town's proposed Comcast renewal license this is uh the Public's opportunity to have an opportunity to comment on the renewal and provides an opportunity for select board to vote on the we will be voting on the proposed renewal all right so um I'm going to at this point turn it over to um um bill uh Bill August who's our representative in this and he will I think introduce the Comcast uh contact person who is also here I believe so uh Bill why don't you take it away thank you very much uh we this hearing by the way does follow a prior uh public hearing so it it is a second one and I just mention that because at the um uh first public hearing um there was very strong uh testimony um in in in favor of uh the license uh continuing to provide uh funding for the uh local uh uh television channels uh the public educational governmental access channels um as well as many other uh uh consumer protection uh needs and interests and license Administration interests um substantively I substantively the the license has met uh the needs of the town and and I'll just mention some of the the highlights that give us a very very high confidence level about this um and I I'll mention at the outset Katherine Maloney the representative of uh government relations representative of Comcast is here um and I would like to at the outset thank Comcast for being very fair negotiation Partners I also see that Barbara Chisum is here and I think that should be noted because Barbara is uh the experienced um uh executive director or manager of the three local channels and local studio and we also thank her uh we being the town for the public I'm the legal counsel to the the town of Ashland Selectmen the issuing authority and uh barbar uh con we consulted with Barbara in great detail about their equipment um and Technical needs and budget needs and we have a strong vote of I I want to speak for Barbara but I this is so important to the select board because I I know from representing Ashland for like 20 years and through about three or four licenses that the select board has consistently you valued having a vibrant local studio and the government meeting coverage and the sports coverage and we have Barbara's uh Barbara will speak for herself but I know that I have uh my recommendation is in part based on hearing directly from Barbara that uh we have uh uh you know a very strong package here and in terms of the the the facts and numbers the annual uh funding the maximum permitted under the federal cable Act is 5% of gross revenues and that's what we are negotiated we have that in the existing license so we're continuing at the 5% and we are grateful to Comcast for that we could not do better in that that category which is the uh primary source of funding the second major source of uh financial support for this you know very uh uh important local uh channels is the capital and Equipment fund and also in this license we did better than we have ever done previously the expiring current license had to uh uh funding uh allocations for this what's we call the capital budget separate from the 5% and uh this uh renewal license uh Capital funding is approximately 25% higher than the prior license despite some loss of subscribers due to cord cutting so you know we're very confident that those are good numbers in terms of the you know thousand And1 little terms and conditions and not so little covering everything from you know uh restoration of the street after Street Cuts uh RightWay management uh you know five different kinds of insurance coverage and performance bond and annual reporting on complaints and the whole non yards through everything we are using a uh a licensed document um which has it's not the Comcast boilerplate it's really the municipal draft that we started with and we're also grateful to Comcast for working off our draft it's also Comcast draft to the extent that although it is not the comast spoiler plate it is a municipal generated uh draft that we have vetted and have the uh the test of time we've used a very similar document in about 15 of the last renewals we've done with Comcast over the past two or three years so we have a certain uh experience level and comfort level with the document for the benefit of the public I'll mention a lot of people ask why don't we have more competition um it is a non-exclusive license just like the last license uh you know we do have competition from Verizon but there is no exclusive everyone assumes there's exclusivity why are there only two companies or why is there only one in some towns it's a totally uh an unequivocally uh a non-exclusive license and in in addition to the annual funding I I would like to and the equipment funding mention one other substantive Point that's very significant um um this license provides for the first ever uh Community Channel that will be in high definition the current three local channels are in uh standard definition and everything is evolving towards high definition including the Studio's equipment they have production equipment to cablecast in high definition they haven't been able to use it for high so this will have high definition I forget if it's in 24 months or 36 but it um and it's uh the town should this language about the town confirming uh that it wants the company to install that so there should be a uh uh a reminder to the company to proceed with that um so that that's where I stand I feel pretty comfortable with it going forward the you know there is cord cutting going on uh people are migrating to uh some of the new technologies that are coming down the pike and that does create some uncertainty for the future so in terms of like long-term thinking I know that Barbara and the town you know have to keep an eye on that because we're hearing about Studios that're getting creative as the cord cutting continues cable still is you huge I mean it has you know with cord cutting and loss of subscribers they still stand as the single biggest uh infrastructure so it's not like it doesn't take away the need to continue with the cable license it's still the biggest infrastructure going up and down your streets for telecommunications and Communications it's enormous but it's but it's decreasing in size and people and that means less revenues and Le less revenues to Comcast means the 5% of revenues you get for the operating budget is going to continue to uh e and slip there will be some slippage so that has to be looked at in terms of uh access corporations looking for uh grants and uh uh um you know uh underwriting sources and uh some towns are seeking you know to to slightly supplement the budget one way or but it's overall good and I congratulate the the uh the town for it the last thank you I want to say which is the most important to me is because I couldn't uh Michael Herbert Sue Roby Diane mornon uh at every Twist and Turn they're so they get back to you with uh suggestions and and the details and the support you know to keep on uh plotting through this kind of long-term process so they were fantastic and Mike even took you know and and Mike did some of the important heavy lifting like there were some basic uh uh infrastructure issues about undergrounding and getting things over uh railroad tracks or a bridge that had to be worked out and Mike handled a lot of that very proficiently with uh Kathy Maloney so I'm very grateful to them uh you know they're they're they're perfect team for this that's all I have really thanks Bill so um is there and this is a public hearing so we'll move to the public soon but I think Barbara did you want to say anything um thank you rob um I just want to say thank you to Bill August Michael Herbert and to Comcast for negotiating negotiating us a very um great package which will help us keep our operation moving forward and being able to continue to serve the town um for the next 10 years so we thank you all for that and um we look forward to uh working with you all with all of you thanks Barbara and I think we appreciate the efforts uh your efforts and everyone else uh associate with the studio um is there uh any anyone else uh who wishes to speak on this at this public hearing about the renewal of the light license uh if you if you can use the raised hand function I think we have everybody we can see everybody on the screen right now is that right so at this moment I'm not seeing any raised hands um and there's no one in the audience that wants to speak on this um so I guess I will I think um in the public hearing part of this I don't know if we have to close the public hearing before the board makes comments so I guess we'll need a motion to close the public hearing I'll second that motion's been made and seconded all those in favor of closing the public hearing say I I oppos None So the public hearing is closed so board discussion on this I have a motion to accept but any questions or discussions about this before we move to to the vote to renew the license uh Mr chair just as long as Barbara's happy with the uh contract and uh ACA can work within the boundaries of that contract and then I'm happy with it as well we okay with that Barbara yes uh okay great youand go ahead no I was just going to see if there's no one else then I would go and make a motion the only thing I would say is just um you know thank you to everyone who's been working hard on this um and thank you to Comcast for being such a good partner with the town um and you know waca TV is a great partner to us um and we rely heavily on on them to help us communicate to the public and um so we're we're looking forward to working with Comcast for the next 10 years so thank you thank you okay any further discussion ask for I'll ask for a motion I move that acting in its capacity as the statutory cable television license issuing authority pursuant to Mass General laws chapter 166a and finding that the cable license renewal proposal of Comcast cable communications Management LLC reasonably meets the license and cable related renewal needs and interest of the public and town and finding that the Comcast financial and Technical qualifications and Comcast support for the local programming Channel Studio facilities and services are reasonable to meet Town cable license needs and based on support for continuing Comcast as a licy serving the town that the Ashland select board approved the Comcast proposed non-exclusive renewal license effective July 13 2024 immediately following the expiration of the current license on July 12th 2024 great thank you is there a second to that motion I'll second that motion's been made and seconded all those in favor uh of renewing the license as stated say I I opposed none the license is passed unanimously thank you all right thank you Bill and thank you bar thanks thank you all thank you for being such a supportive town to the whole project thank you thank you for doing it thank you thank you B thank you everyone thanks bar Catherine thank you take care um the next item in agenda is the proclamation um um May is mental health awareness month so I'm going to I'm going to read the proclamation um it's ALS uh May is mental health month in Ashlin Massachusetts whereas mental health is an essential part of overall well-being impacting individuals families and communities across Ashland middlex County and Massachusetts whereas one in five American adults experiences a mental health condition each year and everyone faces challenges in life that can impact their mental health uh whereas despite its prevalence me mental health remains shrouded in stigma preventing many from seeking help whereas early intervention and access to Quality Care are crucial for managing mental health conditions and improving quality of life whereas May is recognized nationally as mental health awareness month provided an opportunity to raise awareness combat stigma and pro and promote Mental Health Resources therefore we the select Board of the town of Ashen do hereby Proclaim May 2024's mental health month in ashin Massachusetts uh we encourage all residents of ashin Massachusetts to educate themselves and others about mental health conditions treatment options and available resources challenge stigma by speaking respectfully and inclusively about mental health seek help if they are struggling with their mental health encourage others to do the same support organizations that provide Mental Health Services and advocacy create safe and supportive environments for open conversations about mental health together we can create a community where everyone feels empowered to prioritize their mental well-being and seek help when needed um signed Robert chair chair Ashlin select board um any comments or um thoughts on that I think we're all proud to issue this Proclamation and understand the importance of it so all right all right thank you well all right so the um all right the next is um public discussion about the sanctuary at Ashen Mills um the 40b project located at 1060 Main Street and as I think um as most of us are aware we started our process what about two weeks ago about putting together uh the public process in in uh discussing with the the uh the developer and Mass housing uh and our local boards uh about this project and um this is a discussion of that um just kind of a a touchbased discussion about that process and an update I think we have some more information to impart that uh I'm not sure what's already been uh put out on the town manager's newsletter I I understand we've gotten a number of um uh comments already and Michael do you want to just update and talk about the process that was discussed uh by this board on Friday about the um the for and things like that sure I mean do you want me to just kind of give a overview of the process probably makes sense in general review things um so okay as Rob mentioned uh the town was notified a couple of weeks ago by Mass housing which is a subsidizing agency that they had received an application from SLV development uh that they for a site eligibility letter uh for a development at the Mill site which is at 10 to 50 Main Street um Ashlin Mills uh that development was uh a mixed use development that consisted of 250 units uh 25% of which is Affordable um in basically a a building that can reach up to five stories tall if you look at it from the street it's actually six stories tall from know the the sunken um section of the U of the property and so what and Mass housing let us know that that we had received that and that's important because that is the first step of what they call a 40b process um and a 40b process it's also known as a comprehensive permit process and that is a law 40b is a law that's been on the books since 1969 and what it does is it promotes affordable housing by allowing developers to override local zoning and local bylaws to build developments that have at least 25% of their units designated as affordable so that mean when I say supersede or override local zoning what that means is that if the town has a zoning in downtown which it does that limits height to three stories a 40b application a developer doesn't need to abide by that they can go up to like in this case five stories and not have to necessarily worry about obtaining uh local approval to do that um again it's super preds the zoning so all the rules that a community puts in place um to help regulate growth and regulate development is basically for all intents and purposes null and void uh in the case of a 40b process um that's that's a very very simplified way way of putting it and so what happens now is Mass housing has asked us to provide comments as the community towards this on this application and uh they've graciously given us a 30-day extension so those comments are due on May 29th and so what happens is Mass housing reviews those comments they review the site physically which they've already done a site walk and uh so after reviewing that they will make a decision whether or not to issue what's known as a site eligibility letter uh and in almost all cases they do issue that and that is the green light for the developer to go ahead and submit to the town specifically the town zba an application for 40b so like I said that's a long way of of saying that we're in the process right now of determining basically our comments to Mass housing as part of the site eligibility process so what we've done is we've put the materials online and we have provided a comment form that residents can utilize to Prov provide comments on the proposed development um I have asked boards and committees uh to evaluate the um the project and provide comments to the select board uh by May 8th um and then we have also decided that we are going to hold a public forum on May 7th to talk about the project itself and collect further public comment um and that will be right now the the details are to be determined but we anticipate having that in this room starting at 700 p.m.

to 7:00 p.m. and Friday May 17th uh um 7 a.m. to noon okay and we do did have something in here to look at yeah we something from Cindy so my understanding and I chatted with Cindy quickly on my way in is we don't have to do early voting um we that's why we're having to vote on this but in my conversation with her my feeling was since we've been allowing early voting why not allow it for this election uh I think this is one of those local elections that's not going to bring a lot of interest unfortunately because I hate to say this there are no contested races I mean we've seen that before but not with a seat for select board that was open and only one person pulled paper so it's rare but I think it's I think because we've allowed early voting before I would support this for these two days they're not extra days it's not on a Saturday but it allows people to get in and vote if they're not available on the 21st do we know what percentage of um of our vote happens in the early voting days I don't have that in front of me Claudia Sor we talked about it in the past I thought we had some pretty good had good participation I think so too it would be interesting you know we'll need to look at that to decide going forward if we want to do early vot I think for local elections it would be to your point Claudia good to sort of look at that and this might give us an indication it's tough though a post as a yeah it's pretty convenient yeah yeah absolutely what's the sense of the board we're going to continue with early voting I I think it's a good idea I move that we opt in to inperson inperson early voting to happen on May 15th 8:00 a.m.

again on May 7th and so I've invited the developer to attend to give a presentation on the project uh the developer has agreed to do that we've also invited Mass Housing partnership not Mass Housing Finance but Mass Housing Partnership to attend as well and provide the public an overview of the 40b process and and what's reviewable and what's allowable or not um so that is basically the public process that we have outlined um I want to reiterate that while a lot of us I think all of us um understand the importance of redeveloping that site um what is being proposed by this developer I feel confident in saying this after discussions none of us agree to um I think just to summarize we feel like the impacts are too much it's too big too many units um that being said as it's a 40b project we are limited in what we're able to do and what we're able to to limit Michael can you speak to as briefly as possible how we got into the situation where a 40b is able to come forward because I think we've spoken a lot about working on ways to not let that happen and now it's happening that a 40b is coming forward and we don't have a lot of ways to I mean we can work with them but we can't necessarily stop it can you speak briefly to briefly that okay you know couple of minutes at least and I and I expect we'll go into a little bit more on May 7th but if people can't get to that why now are we having a 40b come forward whereas we haven't in the past okay so to basically uh put yourself in a position to deny a 40b project you have to get what is known as Safe Harbor okay and there's two ways you get into Safe Harbor so first you have 10% of your housing stock deemed affordable by the Department of Housing and Community Development unfortunately Ashland is a little under 6% right now so we don't meet that qualification the second way is to have an approved housing production plan uh the town have have an approved housing production plan when I say approved approved by the state and if you're making progress towards that each year or every two years you get to basically uh be in Safe Harbor in that case and so that is the approach that the town has taken over the last several years to try to get into Safe Harbor so in 20 20 um 2021 I don't remember exactly the zoning board of appeals issued a comprehensive permit for ugc well development proposed by a company called ugc off of Memorial Drive that was issued that was 180 units those would have been counted on our affordable housing inventory and were for a period of time um which gave us safe harbor but but that project is actually in litigation right now between the landowner and the developer so that has not moved forward and so those units dropped off our affordable housing inventory so unfortunately we weren't able to count that the planning board issued a permit not too long ago a a little over a year ago for 120 units at 501 Pawn Street and they approved uh 25% affordable at that project which would have allowed us to count 120 units towards um our subsidized housing inventory that would have given us safe harbor as well unfortunately that uh has not moved forward yet so due to concerns between the developer and the land owner the person who permitted the project so there have been attempts at trying to get us into Safe Harbor good faith attempts were just not there I I just wanted the public I mean I wanted the public to understand how we got here and I think it's very important that we that they realize it's not that we haven't been trying it's that different things have come up we have a question from the public I don't know if you want to take that or first the board yep yeah I just had a couple of questions um you know Mike I just um what regulations are 40 BS subject to they're not reg not subject to any of our local zoning but are they what sorts of things are they subject to that's question one and question two um when you said almost all cases that that go before Mass housing ultimately they proceed that that communities even with feedback um could could you elaborate I think that I heard that there may be six out projects that have been successful um when the communities had offered a testimony to Mass housing that out of how many might that have been so you know to answer answer your first question so local zoning and local bylaws so those that are passed at town meeting so those um a developer does not have to abide by those right um they can get waivers what they call waivers the specific process they are subject to state laws like the wetlands protection act okay so they'd have to go before the con Conservation Commission not under the local wet bylaw but under the wetlands protection act so that's number one uh number two I don't have the exact figure Claudia uh of of how many projects have been basically not issued site eligibility letters uh the ones that I looked at and reviewed over over the weekend I didn't see any that had actually been um been denied what you might be referring to is as part of the process and it's further down the road um the there is basically if the zba does deny a project or issues conditions on a project that make it uneconomical in the case of the developer they have the opportunity to appeal it to what's known as a housing appeals committee which in that case and that has happened there have been appeals and in very few cases do the housing appeals committee uphold the decision of the local community they usually find in favor of the developer not all the time but but a large majority of the time okay so then um in in terms of the the state laws and regulations that might um still um you know have some kind of authority over the building process or project um anything besides Wetlands that comes to mind or is well like the building code um State still more like safety items right yeah as opposed to anything that would be how it looks or whether or not it fits in our Community those kinds of things there there's nothing else correct and and I should point out also um so nothing that I've said precludes us as a community from engaging with the developer and trying to negotiate a better project um it's just we don't necessarily have leverage the way we would under the standard permitting process right and I think you know in our discussions with the with the developer he at least sounded um like he was interested in discussing things with us and happy to do that but of course they have their economics that they're going to be going with but he seemed like someone that could discuss things with so yeah and uh so that wasn't I will admittedly that wasn't the best explanation that I just gave that there's a um again it's very complicated it's extremely complicated and I'm trying to give like a you know F minute overview of it there's so many bits and pieces I've left out and that it didn't cover fully other yeah sure go ahead so um you know people might be familiar with the with this project that had come before the planning board and was before the planning board for probably what a couple years um and I know that you know basically it was a much smaller version of this project it was I think um was down to what 186 units or something like that with 30 ,000 squ ft commercial this is that's being proposed is 250 units with 10,000 commercial 10,000 square feet of commercial um and I think like the um the idea of the planning board is like the negotiation of design and give and take and things like that as far as that process goes with the zba is that something that they have the ability to do is it is it a negotiation similar to what the planning board would go through um yeah um so yeah the zoning board or you know representatives of the Town yes can engage with the developer and try to negotiate something better it's just like I said you don't necessarily have the leverage of a that you had before and we no longer have um the ability because we currently have a sewer and water moratorium in place but that's a local that's a local initiative so this would bypass that as well so there wouldn't be a okay thank you other I just want to um we are willing to um entertain comments from the public just use the raise hand function if you're uh if you're Remote turn the camera on and uh we do like to have people turn their cameras on so we can um as part of being a public meeting process that's our preference um any discussions or questions from the board before we entertain comments go ahead you um Claudia um Michael when people there's a feedback form on our website and currently I know that you've pointed to it um link to it from your newsletter um it it is under the planning board current projects before the planning board on the on the website um where people can give feedback um you know what it would you say um I don't want to discourage anybody from giving any type of General feedback right for example one of the things that strikes me and probably anybody that drives through town is the idea of putting 250 Apartments there and all the cars and then I mean I had a conversation with you about parking and how many parking spaces um there would be for 250 apartments and it's it's only 1.5 um per unit so um I mean in my Common Sense tells me there's probably going to be 500 cars that come out of there and where do they even Park and now they're parking up Pleasant Street or they're parking in any private uh business owners Lots all around the town in our public parking spots so um and never mind the traffic itself right Beyond just vehicle storage um pieces but are there some areas in particular um that you would suggest that people might offer comment about yeah I mean I would um I would encourage everybody to to be open and submit everything that they think are going to be issues what is going to be reviewable is very limited and I would focus on Water and Sewer issues I would focus on traffic um everybody is making every comment that I've seen uh references the schools and school capacity which is important unfortunately the state doesn't care about that um but still I I think you put that in um and also I would point out how many units the town of Ashland has already built and or permitted as well and make that point as well and then also I think the design the the way the the project as it's presented fits within downtown could I make one quick request um just to Claudia Point like to find to find the the um the feed back form um if you're not knowing where to go it's kind of tough to find could we put something under our news thing on our do maybe a banner yeah I looked at I looked at trying to do it under news flash and I think I messed kind of difficult so if we could do something just because it's a limited time frame that we're going to be collecting it is the town website not the Facebook page it's the website that people should go to okay sure go ahead Joe uh thank you Mr chair uh with respect to this this project I mean I think we're all a dead set against the size of it right as it as it stands um but I have some concerns and and Michael brought it up with the water and sewer uh capacities that the town currently has and uh there may be a lot of people that don't realize that asland has to pay Framingham uh an exorbitant amount of money to have our sewer go through their pipes for for the repairs and general uh use of their pipes to get that to uh the island yeah Deer Island so you know one of the things we could look at possibly potentially is to you know talk to the developer about providing you know um additional funding because of the increased number of units that go in there um and you know Framingham is going to definitely you know jack up our initial you know cost to to run that those pipes you know run that sewer through their pipes so whatever the difference is maybe they could offset that and maybe that could be part of the negotiation uh I mean like you said there many different ways TOA to work on this but that may be something to consider uh so that way the taxpayers don't have to uh end up you know flipping the bill for somebody that's going to build and then move out of town and collect all their their profits and leave us high and dry okay I I think I I think we have at least one person remotely Amanda W who would you like to speak on this matter um if so you can unmute yourself and go ahead Amanda would you mind identifying yourself hi yes of course um my name is Amanda Walsh and I live on Pine Hill Road in Ashland um I really appreciate the opportunity um I'm really glad we're having these conversations um I did fill out the survey and I really appreciate your response Michael um you know I think that if this almost always goes through then what's going to be key is can we get the developer to work with the town you know I know the developer was far along with the planning board and I was a part of those meetings and their previous application was great like um they're going to have tons of commercial space the units were much smaller um you know is there an option that the developer would ever reopen their last application and work with the town like is that an option I could I could address that from the discussions that or the point that the developer made he thought that last cuz we asked that exact question and he he he said that that was an expensive um design and that he he didn't find it economical to use that design and the other thing to make note is this is now a different developer this is not the same developer who came forward with the other proposal through the land owner yeah right yeah Amanda unfortunately I I think that ship has Saed U that doesn't mean that we can't try um like Rob said we did directly ask that question because it was a much better project but um you know unfortunately we had that opportunity and um well it didn't it didn't work we don't have that opportunity anymore no worries um you know I really like the idea of you know can we tax these types of projects more is there a benefit the town can get out of this if we know they're going to create all these units is that a potential option um and then my last point is you know I think for me the big things are going to be traffic you know looking at the application the front parking space is going to back up traffic onto the main road there's already issues with the current building doing that the entrances and exits also don't line up with Pleasant Street I don't know if there's a way they can reconfigure it so that way they can use the traffic light but if you have all these units trying to get out with no traffic light Crossing all those land of traffic it's going to be an absolute nightmare um the height of five stories like that's insane um I'm hoping that we can somehow reduce that height um to have it more in line with downtown and then finally in their last application they had a really nice River Walk that was going to go behind the building it'd be nice if there was a way the developer would be able to continue that as it would be a huge asset to the town so those are my thoughts thank you so much great thank you Amanda um any F further um public comment U I don't see any raised hands I don't see anyone in the in the real uh in the physical meeting room anything else can can I make a comment sure we have a little time so yeah and Amanda thank you for I did get your written comments as well but you know Amanda I want to thank you for providing thoughtful rational comments in this in this forum um I think there is such a tendency among some people uh in this town to really raise the vitriol um of the conversation and it what happens is that we end up fighting with each other and we end up expending a lot of energy um you know basically getting nowhere because we're fighting with each other but I just really wanted to thank you for your thoughtful comments and your your constructive comments on how we can help make this better and I think it's important that that tener of our conversation stays that way let's save the vitory all for the developer you know so other thoughts on from the board or discussion at this time I just want to remind everybody as as Michael announced we're going to have a public form on May 7th um time has not been finalized but it will be in this room it's probably be 6 or 7 o' so people should plan on that and get your comments in anyone else be before we move on do anyone else want to uh say anything you think we should try to um get an idea of how many people might attend so that we could determine whether or not this would be the best um you know location for that or you know maybe we should at least be prepared to have like a satellite space in the basement with um some kind of projection and the opportunity for people to participate from down there I know that I've been involved in previous meetings where you know there would be a satellite room kind of yeah I I I think because we have the online option I think we try to keep it as simple as possible I think we see I mean like we're seeing tonight and other other meetings that we've had even larger forums that we've had a lot of people show up in Via Zoom when we did the Valentine event we had some people here in the room but we had probably just as many online so yeah it's an interest I mean do we have I know the mindes school is a relatively new but we have any other good meeting space that's larger than this I don't High scho besides the the High School auditorium I think which isn't as and to B that's the place that's probably best equipped for right oh is can you do Zoom can you do hybrid from there yes yeah from the high school audition well I guess the only if we're of course you know so if we're serious about from the high school we can we can broadcast it over we can broadcast via cable don't know that we live stream from we want to do I mean it would be through the owl which wouldn't be a good place for that right because they don't just do I don't know that would be interesting to find out I don't think we've ever done hybrid from there I don't think we've been done hybrid but I know they live stream it like Facebook or something like that but whether people who are watching can participate that would be the question that would key be key and so I guess I think if we're seriously want to look at that alternative we need to have some mechanism to your point of saying saying who wants to come in person versus uh but otherwise we just kind of go with this plan is that where we're leaning at this point I think so yeah okay all right the the other thing we could do is at town meeting right because town meeting is before this meeting is see if there are people who attend that in person who would want to come to this in person and if we get a feel it's going to be too much then we could look for something else yeah but if there's no place that has the hybrid option other than here then it's kind of a good point right that's true yeah it works pretty well we should definitely make an announcement at town meeting definitely yeah yeah good point okay okay so uh we do have another meeting scheduled um at 7 um 8 I'm sorry 8:15 um do we want to do anything cons set agenda before that we have a little bit of time um Susan did you had any response on regular session minutes or are they all good they good okay I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented second um motion's been made and seconded to uh approve the consent agenda all those in favor say I I oppos None So the consent agenda is accepted okay I think we can uh why don't we move to uh cce's presentation I see that she's here um and um so we put aside 30 minutes for that and CCE communicated to me that she will speak for 10 minutes as and there'll be a presentation from uh Dr Brown is he on this is he it great and for another 10 minutes then we'll have 10 minutes for Q&A if um that's what the board likes and uh or potentially you know that's up to the board at that point so um just a little intro CC has has requested that she have a little time to speak uh to the board about her um her concerns about Wireless radiation so we've scheduled her and your your colleague Dr Brown is all right so um so CeCe if you're ready I think you've got all the technology ready in the presentation at this point so um go ahead uh okay well thank you so much I'm once again so grateful that our select board has been supportive of looking into technology safety over the years and and many of you know that we became sort of a pilot program here in the United States where we became the first Public Library to put a radio frequency radiation detection meter on loan and I just got word today that centerland public library in centerland Mass has just done the same thing Welsley and Bedford have done the same so thank you guys for listening I'd like to introduce Dr Rob Brown who is a radiologist and he has additional information about his credentials uh Susan are we able to give him screen sharing privileges should okay Rob if you are able to do screen sharing then we'll listen to your presentation for the next 10 minutes and then I'll come back great okay thank you okay hold on one second please let me just uh okay can you see that yes yes great CC thank you for inviting me to speak with you today uh yes I am a diagnostic radiologist I work for a group called Radiology Partners in Phoenix Arizona and I'm also the vice president for the Environmental Health Trust uh for scientific research and clinical Affairs so this is a passion of mine uh I deal with ionizing radi ration at my day job and in my spare time I'm concerned about the wireless the effects of wireless communication radiation which is becoming all too prevalent now this is considered a fringe science to some and I think the reason for that is because it does border on the intersection of four different scientific disciplines they include medicine biology physics and Engineering with my education and career I have some background in three the four my experience with engineering is not great but I do have the Good Fortune of working with some excellent engineers at the Environmental Health Trust now first to for you to understand what radiation is radiation is actually a word that means radiating from a central point and radiation travels in waves and those waves have a frequency the frequency of x-rays is so powerful that can cause ionization and we know that that's dangerous but the one thing that I want you to understand is that the radiation actually travels through the body we think that we're solid we look at our bodies and we think that we're solid because we only see the surface but when we're exposed to radiation that radiation does not respect our skin surface except there is some reflection off the skin but the radiation penetrates into the body so what we're looking at here in an x-ray the darker areas are those areas where the x-rays have an easier time penetrating through the body and the lighter areas are those where some of the x-rays are being absorbed now light is also a form of electromagnetic radiation and again we're used to seeing light reflect off of the surfaces of of things such as this finger on the left but if you shine a bright light on the fingertip as the image on the right shows you can actually see that the light is transmitting through the skin and you can do a simple test at home go into a dark dark room close your eyelids turn on the light and you will see light come through your eyelids even though your uh even though they're closed MRI is a technology that uses radio frequency radiation and magnetic fields if radio frequency radiation didn't penetrate into the body and magnetic fields didn't penetrate into the body we would not be able to get images like this MRI uh of a shoulder now radio frequency radiation is also being emitted by our devices and here's a a short list uh at this point there's probably many many more but each one of these devices is a source of radio frequency radiation and many of these are found in our homes and what happens is you have this source of radiation which is demarcated by this uh Ed figure with the spikes on the left of this uh room the radiation uh projects waves of energy that reflect off the services penetrates and becomes absorbed and you can see that the figure in the middle is being bombarded with radiation from all sides but this isn't really accurate what actually happens is that radiation travels in waves that that scatter and so we end up with really more of a cloud effect and that cloud effect uh reflects and refracts and does all the other things that waves do and we can consider this a form of Electro pollution I mentioned that radiation travels in frequencies the the range of frequencies can is represented on this electromagnetic spectrum and I put the three images that I showed you previously where they are where they belong respectively on this uh Spectrum 5G is in this area right here now if you will remember uh old style radios the AM radio had a dial on it and you can see up here with this Arrow the AM radio is around 600 khz to about 1.6 megahertz on the dial and you could turn that dial about five or six times to uh go through all of the stations on the AM radio from one end of the bandwidth to the other and each time you would hit a station it would go from a static to you'd hear the sound clearly 5G is encompassed by this oval here you would have to turn a dial about 275,000 times to go from one end of the 5G Spectrum to the other that's how many frequencies are in 5G now we I'm sure you've seen these antennas in your in your town or if not in your town then in nearby towns these are 5G antennas the longer antenna are transmitting the lower and mid bands of the of the uh Network and these Square uh antennas which are really comprised of a n of a grid of small very small antennas are the high Band frequencies these uh high-band uh frequency antennas are also being installed on poles and here's one uh in front of this house now you may walk by this pole and you don't hear any anything you don't feel anything and you don't see anything but if you have the right kind of detector you can actually measure the radiation coming from it and I'm going to show you a simulation so this is a detector that I have and you can see that it measures from 20 to 40 GHz which is in the range of the high bands if I aim it towards this uh antenna I'm getting values up to 10,000 microwatts per meter squar which is very high and background should be zero this is not a natural form of radiation now the second thing I want you to understand from tonight's talk is that non-ionizing radiation can cause damage to yourselves it does so in the form of of cellular oxidative stress what does that mean stress is like any kind of stress if you stress a bone you can end up with a stress fracture if you don't take care to me to rest the stress fracture you can end up with a complete fracture when cells undergo oxidative stress they are not functioning normally and what happens is you end up with too many ions and those ions can then look to steal electrons from other atoms and you can end up with damage to cell membranes to proteins and enzymes to the DNA itself and to mitochondria which are the powerhouses of the cell now the the P the parts of the body that are at risk is Up For Debate and it really depends on the frequency that you're being uh exposed to the lower frequency bands penetrate deeper into the body and the higher bands penetrate less so but all the superficial structures including the thyroid gland the testes the elements of the skin including blood the immune system neurons your eyes and even the brain and heart can be affected by these bands of radiation the PID gland is particularly radiosensitive there was a study done at the bottom of this uh this uh description here in which medical students were study they use cell phones for one hour a day and after two months they had hypers stimulation of their thyroid glands now that might not sound like such a big deal except that the thyroid emits thyroid hormone and thyroid hormone has remote uh actions on different parts of the body including the immune system system so if you're hyperthyroid or your hypothyroid it can cause a depletion of your immunity it can also affect your heart and people with uh thyroid abnormalities can end up with arrhythmias this type of radiation can also affect sperm Studies have been done on animal models including rats and mice as well as on humans and the sperm can lose their motility they can have abnormal morphology and they can actually lose their survival their survivability and this may be one of the reasons why we're having a problem with male fertility in this country particularly for men who place a cell phone in their pocket the radiation is traveling very close from that pocket through just a very thin barrier of skin to affect the test itself I mentioned that if the thyroid is abnormal you can have immune effects well the thyroid uh the uh radio frequency radiation can affect the behavior of the immune cells themselves it can affect natural killer cells macres all different types of cells immune system and this can uh predispose you to develop viral infections this is a particularly concerning effect that has been shown on the blood uh this is done by a technique called live blood cell analysis on the left is a smear of blood that is considered normal the same patient was exposed osed to 10 minutes from a Wi-Fi router and her blood was re resampled and you can see that the blood cells are all clumped together this is called rof formation it's a reversible phenomenon but the problem is when you're in this state of of aggregation you're predisposed to develop blood clots it also en hampers the ability of the blood cells to deliver oxygen and for them to remove carbon dioxide from your tissues now all the things I mentioned don't cause symptoms so you wouldn't have any clue that they were happening to your body until it was perhaps causing a disorder but there are people who are having symptoms from these forms of radiation and the the ones that probably will ring uh familiar to many of you are insomnia difficulty sleeping idus ringing in the ears and a short-term memory loss and anomy or thought block not remembering what you're going to say now these are all non-specific symptoms except they're incre ining in frequency and I do believe they're being caused by this wireless communication so what can we do well some people talk about you know jokingly uh or disparagingly they talk about this the tinf foil hat of course now that you know uh that this can affect your entire body that would certainly have no effect at all on protecting yourself but what you can do is you can increase your distance from antennas radiation follows something called the inverse Square law so when you double your distance from the source of radiation you're actually diminishing your exposure by 3/4s you can also turn off devices when they're not in use I don't even own a Wi-Fi router anymore but when I did I turned it off and I wasn't using it you can also hardwire devices like your computer your laptop your TV your peripherals all things that are now available with wireless options but you really don't you know what's the problem with having a wire from your mouse for example to your computer it's you can spare yourself the radiation when possible and finally I recommend increasing your intake of antioxidants because antioxidents help uh restore the balance that gets Disturbed from the presence of radiation so it's a very brief uh talk but I hope that uh gives you some information I want to thank you again for the opportunity to talk and CC I'll hand it over to you all right thank you doctor now just before CC starts is there any uh should we wait hold our questions to the end of the presentation or is that the okay go ahead uh CCE and doctors please stay on online okay thank you Susan do you want to help me pull this up what you need to do just as a note I I think you know we should have some time for U discussion and question and answer including um some folks from the audience are physically here so um yes I will um I will ask for that when we get to that point if you're if you're on uh remotely and want to use the raise hand function um if you'd like to speak okay so are you all set CeCe I think I am let me go into presentation mode okay so um when the video from this is available I will go ahead and um put this on my YouTube channel and include our slides from both Dr Brown and myself so what we want to do um I won't go through how I got all involved in this but I'll leave this for you anybody is welcome to look at the uh links that'll be included in my slides and um what I want to talk about is the solutions so as Dr Brown alluded to it's not rocket science to fix this simply run ethernet cables from the back of your router you can get something called a switch that allows you to hook many different devices up at once even in a classroom you could hook up 20 or 30 devices at the same time and then you just need to get separate ethernet cables for each of the devices like your cell phone or your laptop with a little adapter and then that's step one for hardwiring the second step is to go into the settings of each one and turn off the wireless the Bluetooth the hotspot the locator and any 5G antennas that you might have in your devices today and then the third is to measure because the industry is forecasting that we will have 200 wireless devices in our homes in the coming years that's 5G in The Internet of Things So as Dr Brown said that is a whole lot of electrolution that we are going to be immersed in and we're already well on our way so let's look to see what our exposures are here in Ashland that we don't have control over 247 with your personal devices you get to choose how you want to use those but these Wireless utility smart meters for electric gas solar water propane they're putting these radio frequency radiation transmitters as part of that we always paid employees to walk the neighborhood and get our readings industry came in and said hey we can save you some money let's just hook it up electronically and then you don't have to pay those guys well when we did that we started doing a big trade-off with our health and then the other area is the cell towers and macro the big antennas and then the smaller antennas for 5G for those small cells and then the wireless access points in our schools and our public buildings that transmit this radiation 24/7 and we know that children are especially vulnerable their DNA is still developing their immune system is under construction their central nervous system is under construction their skulls have a thinner bone and their brains have a higher water content so inch per inch our children are absorbing more of this radiation than you and I and it's not good for you and I and then we have to acknowledge that risk is cumulative with dose as with any toxin so the longer we leave ourselves immersed in electrolution the more we can anticipate that we're going to hit that Tipping Point and if we're not already seeing it that we will be seeing the Fallout that Dr Brown mentioned uh the Centers for Disease Control has something called the allara principle and the goal with radiation is to get to as low as reasonably achievable and it's not rocket science to fix we know how to do it okay one of the missing pieces to my puzzle when I fell down the rabbit hole back in 2013 is as I'm reading all the signs that Dr Brown highlighted I kept thinking surely somebody's got to have our backs on this and then in 2015 Harvard Law School Center for ethics came out with this free 59 page report called captured agency how the Federal Communications Commission is dominated by the industries it presumably regulates so we have captured agencies with the FCC the FDA the CDC and more and sadly it goes all the way up to the World Health Organization if you do a quick search on electromagnetic radiation you'll see something that makes it look inconclusive you'll be hardpressed to find this link that shows you that when our government completed a $30 million study that showed clear evidence of cancer and DNA damage and the ramazan in Institute in Italy concluded another one on cell towers found the same thing they have reopened their investigation at the who but it's not easy to find so Dr Martin Luther King Jr talked us that when we have important changes in our society it comes through three channels first the public becomes informed which is what we're hoping to inspire here and then gets engaged because there's no Cavalry coming we have to fix this at the local level the courts do their rulings and eventually public policy gets enacted so I'll spend just a moment going through some really amazing inroads that are happening in all three of these areas but we won't hear about it in mainstream media because it's owned by the industries that promote these toxic products so here in Massachusetts in all of our towns everywhere the industry rolls into town and says here's our applications we want to put cell towers we want to give you you know better service what they're really doing is building out capacity for their next Revenue stream by law we only have to be sure you can make a phone call we don't have to allow them to put Clos range cell towers next to our homes for all these other services that they're spinning up with streaming and iot and all of that that's not what the law provides for that's their revenue Stream So they come into town and say oh if anyone says anything about environmental health concerns those are just the nimes not my backyard folks well that's not true there's more than 150 groups across the United States working on this and here uh we can see that with um just local towns you can see that people are working on this throughout the Commonwealth okay okay so these are all cell tower actions and then towns themselves are stepping up and protecting themselves the city of Boston has filed with the FCC to say we know this is not safe they sued the FC C along with Mayors for many other um towns across the country they didn't win but it's showing that people are paying attention to this Burlington came up with a small cell policy that had the industry withdrawing their small cell applications and I can teach you more about that later but it became part of a national example with a group called Americans for responsible technology that has a whole toolkit to help our towns get to Safe technology we did a presentation out um at the hansam Maria Town select board with these towns and others have started adopting these policy changes that I've been asking Ashlin to take a look at for years and then look others are doing this all throughout the Commonwealth and uh Dr Brown was actually part of a panel that I was invited to participate in in Stanford Connecticut but I was on vacation but after presenting the facts Stanford rejected the governor's plan which had been cooked up with industry to put 5G small cells right outside of people's homes in the public access way so with education there's a lot that we can do and these kinds of actions are happening all over the world now legal Solutions there was a docket open with the Federal Communications Commission for six years there were thousands of pages of scientific and medical evidence of harm along with citizens who have been harmed the FCC completely ignored it the FCC got sued and lost the courts found that the FCC was arbitrary and capricious meaning they didn't do their homework they just said we're going to stick with these 1996 radiation limits which have nothing to do with the way radiation is exposing us today the face school here right in Southboro there was a little 10-year-old boy who kept getting all these symptoms that Dr Brown mentioned or many of them and it turned out it was the wireless r radiation in the schools and there was a federal lawsuit that for the first time us courts recognized yes there are biological effects and it has nothing to do with heat it's these low-level non-ionizing non-thermal radiation exposures that are causing great harm and did you know that the Massachusetts Board of Health at the state level has legal guidelines that now has four pages in it about Wireless radiation and there's a big lawsuit happening out in Pittsfield right now where Verizon put a cell tower right on top of a neighborhood where everybody got so sick they had to abandon their home so there's so much happening but we won't know about it until somebody like me presents you with the facts and then as a town we can decide how to use technology but without the harm so the third area is public policy and we have six bills right now that first one Senate resolve 155 has been voted re uh voted out favorably by the consumer protection committee to do a commission like New Hampshire did which is that report that I shared with all of you a few weeks ago the smart meter bill is still out there too with an emergency Preamble because we should not allow these industries to roll in and tell our towns it's mandatory it is not mandatory and everybody should have the right to choose an analog meter that doesn't radiate into our homes and there are bills all over the country as well and you can look at other things there in my slides so School actions the New York Times did an expose on what Silicon Valley executives are doing they're sending their children to schools with no technology not hardwired not wireless and they're going so far as to have their nanni sign contracts that there will be no screens around their children yeah they know Claudia they know the Netherlands and F no they won't report on the radiation in the article they have too much conflict of interest with their advertising Revenue C wrapping up because we did talk about 10 minutes so yeah okay so there are so many tools and resources to help us the Massachusetts breast cancer Coalition has already built kindergarten through grade 12 prevention curriculum so we have everything we need to start protecting the children um and so next steps we need to have an opt out here in Ashland on all of these utility meters we should not voice these toxic exposures we should continue to educate the public and I would love to partner with you as our town leaders to conduct forums and please invite the industry they generally don't show up but go ahead and invite them um there's some examples of where we've done this in other towns and let's see if we can protect our kids as soon as possible when when you flip those Ruckus wireless access points over you see that there are two ethernet ports all you got to do is drop a cable down at desk level use a switch and plug all the devices in and then just turn off the antennas and you have not only safer technology but your signal is far faster more reliable you're not Buckshot the children's data out into the air for privacy and data security issues so aside from convenience hardwire technology Beats wireless hands down every time and then um when I was talking with our planning board Lisa me our town attorney was there and she I asked her if she's a specialist in Telecom law and she is not in Burlington they hired Donna Brewer who came in and helped them to write their policy on small sales Andrew Campanelli is used all over the country he used to work for industry so he knows the Playbook when he figured out what they were doing he switched team so it's not long money to get an expert in here and get our town as protected as we can be so thank you and we'd be honored to answer any questions I'll go ahead and all right thank you um so I I believe the board does have some questions um both for you and Dr Brown but uh is there um did we have anyone who wants to question I think one of the the things that we're dealing with is the strength of these uh the research studies and the connection to uh health effects which we have at least I have not experienced it as a conclusive study so I I know you've made certain representations and I think is there anyone either you know online that could address some of these research studies or fill out some information on broad-based epidemiological studies that show these kind of connections I'm i' see um yeah that would that could be Dr Brown do you want to point them toward the Environmental Health Trust where you can actually sit and read the science it's also on my website at Massachusetts for safe technology the epid I'll tell you yeah there are tens of thousands of studies that have shown these effects tens of thousands and if you talk to anybody who uh is is in this area they recognize that the science is conclusive there's no question about this you don't know about it because you're not taught it and it's certainly not being covered in the media but the science is done it's it's full baked um the problem is politics so if you want to look you if you want to do some research and go to like one site where you're going to find you know a hundred papers to look at and and study the uh the group that I'm of the VP of is called the Environmental Health Trust their website is eh trust.org they have a lot of science there um tons to look at and of course every study that you look at will have tons of references and citations so it's a great place to start all right well thank you um so I will I believe does the board members have questions um that they want to and then we'll see is there I see my husband online who's member of the Board of Health all right I see David up there and I it's hard for me to actually see him but he can unmute himself and uh David Kinsman is a member of the ashin Board of Health and I think he had something he wants to say so go ahead uh David are you yep he there he is good go ahead yeah thanks Rob uh yeah David Kinsman 6 Lucy frenchway um member of the ashin Board of Health um I have a few questions for Dr Brown um I apologize doctor I didn't get to see your entire presentation from the beginning um but my first question is uh so you're you're a doctor of radiology a radiologist is that correct yes okay so um so what is what are the effects of um this radiation look like in the body like what are the if if somebody comes in and they're complaining of headaches or so forth um from the effects of uh this radiation what does that look like um in your radiological Imaging but there is no there's no specific finding because you're not talking about uh an an an anatomical insult to the body you're talking about something that is is so uh it's it's Atomic we're talking about the generation of uh we're talking about what happens actually to the cells is the cell membrane has ion channels in it and the ion channels open and the the interior of the cell floods with calcium and that causes o oxidative stress and then the oxidative stress causes cellular damage so that's the mechanism of injury okay and so it's not it's kind of like well you're it's like if you're exposing somebody to radiation uh and you don't see any physical damage had you know that any damage has occurred we wouldn't know that ionizing radiation caused damage either except for what happened in uh the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki where we actually could figure out while people were so far away from the blast site that they were had a certain risk for developing cancer but if we didn't have that data we probably still wouldn't have regulation for ionizing radiation either right but I I guess I'm confused then because your specialty is in medical imaging and you're saying that you can't see these effects with medical imaging so I'm not so you want to know how I got involved not necessarily um so the next question I had was um in your presentation which of course was kind of all over the place um in that it doesn't really seem to deal with science so much as it seems intended to scare if you if you pardon my characterization um so on your slide there we have the radio frequency radiation emitting devices I noticed that everything there is something that's come about in say the last 20 or so Years yet electromagnetic radiation has been around us for much longer than that from from any device that uses electricity of course generates electromagnetic radiation right the the range of devices that you that you list here are all ones that deal with communication radiation but of course for some reason television is excluded and as well as shortwave and longwave uh radios so um I find it interesting that you've selectively identified things that are relatively new and somewhat less familiar than um other parts of our of our modern day existence would you care to comment on that sure well you know I I had 10 minutes to talk so I can't be too exhaustive I've spoken six hours on this topic and you're right electricity emits electro magnetic fields very low frequencies extremely low frequencies it's you know 50 or 60 hertz and they have health effects too um there have been tons of studies done on what's called ellf EMF and television stations and radio broadcasting stations people that live near those have had health effects too and there have been effects on Wildlife as well so the reason why this is so important now is because these antennas aren't on hilltops miles away from our cities they're on the street right across from your house or perhaps right on the corner next to your house so we' brought these emitters of radio frequency radiation right into our neighborhoods and people are walking right next to them people are trying to sleep in their room which might be 10 15 ft away from an antenna the game's changed yeah no I'm well aware of that because I live uh less than a quarter of a mile from one of those Towers it's at the top of the hill within uh sight of the front my front window and behind me I have um power lines and um my wife and I have lived in this house for um getting close to 10 years now and we have not noticed any any effects such as the ones that you've described um it's interesting people you know people have a different tolerance for it and it may be that um you know people have a different uh setup with their immune system some people have more antioxidants on board some people have other stressors that are reducing their their levels of glutathione which is the master antioxidant in the body so you know everybody's kind of an individual and they have individual responses to this radiation it's like some people go out in the sun and they'll get a sunburn somebody else won't some people get skin cancer other people don't right and they're both some forms of radiation so getting back to your presentation there was you had some interesting you were you were trying to draw connections that didn't really seem to exist so in your um I don't you don't have numbers on your slides I apologize so on the one about the thyroid you refer to a study that that that caused thyroid hypers stimulation in students and then the very next slide of course is full of all kinds of scary things that have to do with hypothyroidism and hyper thyroidism neither of which is thyroid stimulation so would you care comment on that yeah there were three studies that I mentioned on that th I didn't I didn't go into each of them on you know in detail again because of the limited amount of time but there have been a lot of studies to show that the that the radiation can cause hyper thyroidism and it can cause hypothyroidism and they don't they're not quite sure what you know what the difference is except it may be chronicity of exposure so it could be kind of a learned helplessness response when you when you are first exposed to the radiation your thyroid lets out too much hormone and then over time it becomes depleted and you end up with hypothyroidism so it more research needs to be done but there have been uh there there are definitely many studies many more studies that I've included on that on that slide that have documented uh thyroid um activity or lack of activity from exposure right sorry Dave could you hold on just a second please I just want to kind of pull the board we've got a a bit over our time we' put aside half an hour I I find this an interesting conversation I but I do want to get a sense from the board if you want to spend a bit more time with this or are we ready to move on or what are what are people thinking here well the thing of it is I you know I I would so my husband is a chemist he he's a researcher um he's done a lot of digging into the Articles and things that you have provided um so my personal perspective is if you know if um you know hopefully this conversation is sort of the I don't want to say the last one for a while but the last one for a while um on this topic um if there's questions that people have if Dave has questions and you know I'm I'm happy to to do that but I know we do have a full agenda tonight so Claudia did you I just I would like to just make a couple of brief comments um you know CC I know that you had asked me a few weeks ago if I had read what the material you had supplied no but I've done extensive reading through the years back from 2013 you know in part because of my position um in the schools and um there's never been any conclusive um and and over and over again you will read that it isn't just the FCC that that um oversees the and sets standards for the devices in our homes it's the Food and Drug Administration it's um there's all kinds of medical use companies that provide standards for medical use uh nuclear power FEMA um the US Customs and Border Patrol actually provide some health and safety Authority United States health and safety author there's many many um you know organizations and agencies that provide standards in terms of what we put into our homes a lot of the research that's been done is on animals and if anybody delves into it they'll see that sometimes it cannot be extrapolated to um humans um many of your links CC in your presentation actually take us to um discussions about screen time and and students using and children using screen time time and their time and and I think you know we could all have a conversation just about generally right the use of of um screens and and that with our kids regardless of radiation um aspect of it um and and over and and I you know worked hard to find articles um that are in particular uh Health healthline.com had several articles um one you know that I thought was both very open to all the the ideas and all the different studies um and and provided some suggestions um about but the other thing is like cell phone radiation is often one of one of your articles too I think in reference to um this the Southboro family um the that that's really more about probably cell phone uh radiation than it is about Wi-Fi again and I know Dr Brown mentioned about as soon as you move away from these devices from the uh Wi-Fi uh access points as soon as you move away it's dramatically drop in the radiation so all those things um are true um and I I think that one comparison I see is that you know when we came out with a covid vaccine several years ago there was a lot of misinformation that was used to to frighten people and I feel that there's a taste of that or flavor to this um and so you know I just feel as though it's something we need to be continue to observe um and certainly study but to date there there is nothing that that survives um really close scrutiny and so I would just uh Rob can I respond to yeah just a quick response to CL thank you for doing your research um when you were serving on school committee when you were the principal at the what is now our new beautiful David Mendes School building that was back in 2013 in 2018 the US national toxicology program which is arguably the gold standard on Research in the world they concluded a $30 million study that found clear evidence of cancerous tumors and DNA damage from cell phones clear evidence is the highest of five categories they can assign the FDA commissioned that study the gentleman who is in charge of the FDA today isn't the one who started this 20 years ago they're all long since passed away or retired Dr Jeffrey shuran Even though three days unpe unprecedented peerreview at the National Institutes of Health concluded clear evidence of cancerous tumors in DNA damage Dr Jeffrey shuran went over to the FCC and said ah we don't believe that let's just keep doing doing what we're doing and you have to do the Deep dive when you looked into uh Jeffrey sher's background you see that he's married to a partner in a law firm that represents the wireless industry so we have these captured agencies up and down the chain and we have a huge regulatory Gap because not one single agency has done the top to bottom research that New Hampshire did with their legislative report um and if you're just doing cursory searches that's all mainstream messaging from industry they they intentionally impose doubt you need to talk to the scientists whose life's work is microwave radiation and we are fortunate to be able to put you in touch directly with them so it sounds Claudia that you've been drinking the Kool-Aid a little bit well let me just inter so but I want to comment on those wireless access points if you look at the communic I sent out today there's one in one of our class class rooms at Mendes there is no safe level of man-made radiation in the scientific literature I was getting readings in the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands at desk level in the Mendes School in our sleeping areas the science recommends we be at 10 microwatts per square meter or less literally thousands and hundred of thousands in those classrooms and there weren't even any children in there during the open house so it is a very very very toxic environment and I hope that we will keep this conversation going and as far as the articles that I did send on what Silicon Valley experts are doing with their children when I was brought down to the National Institutes of Health to run the technology panel for the health and buildings Roundtable conference Ronnie Raven is a New York Times Reporter and she was working on a story to talk about the wireless radiation effects and it got killed and this is what's happening in mainstream so I I do want to I think Dr Brown did mention that eh trust.org as a as a clearance so I suggest that people look at that um I do want to I do want to make a comment because you were talking about like research and I also had done some research as well I looked at the New Hampshire um document that you had sent I had done quite a bit of digging in some of the links and I also okay so what else the only thing I wanted to just mention was that you were you were saying that um get my CA you know I was looking at I was looking at some research including a a journal of American Medical Association article on um that looked at radio frequency radiation and cancer and the um and just I just want to read the conclusion in relevance it says the evidence from these combined strands strongly indicates that claims of an rfr cancer link are not supported by the current evidence base much of the research to date however has been undetermined by uh methodological shortcomings and there's a need for higher quality future research Endeavors which I think is needed finally the role of fringe science and unsubstantiated claims in patient and public perception on this topic is highly relevant and must be carefully considered so I would suggest that you know I I was looking because I I figured if if there was all this data which I actually didn't see like causational data in anything that I looked at something that came out 2022 and who was the author on that um I would have to there's a lot of Industry plants even with our most trusted areas that used to be very trusted sources there's heavy industry influence so and I and I I I I just I just find it very troubling that if there is all this evidence it has not risen to the point of publication in mainstream wellknown um Publications like the Journal of American medal Medical Association or the New England um or the New England Journal of Medicine like there like where is the research being done you know we we look at things like lead paint in the80s and what had happened with that and there were clear there there was clear studies cause and effect of things this is not a clear cause and effect the symptoms that are described are literally every symptom known to man and if you can if if there is evidence that is clear that actually shows the the the causation canc tumna so so I hear you I hear you but I'm saying I cannot see any evidence that that that shows me that we should take action on something that to me is not clear science I so that no nope that I'm I'm just gonna I'm just going to say that like that that's my that's my personal St on it so we have one person with a hand up all right but let's um Joe or good thank all right so let CeCe know that I did read that that report took me a while to get through it because I don't have the uh the knowledge that everybody else has when it comes to you know that scientific uh report but I did read it uh I have some sort of understanding to it but again I'm I'm trying to to learn yeah basically and that's what we're asking for Community B all right thank you Joe and I see there is one person with their hand up uh virtual so if you can unmute yourself and maybe identify by yourself and your relationship to this hearing yes thank you my name is Janet Fitzgerald I don't live in ashin however I am one of many people who are part of Massachusetts for safe technology and I would like to speak up on behalf of people Millions really of us who are sensitive to electrolution and to let those who are doubting the science what's the science there's a lot of Science and there's tons and tons of signs that the FDA refused to look at for 27 years this is a follow the money story now I'm going to tell you a personal story I happen to have come up close to a 5G antenna in January while on vacation uh but like Placid anyway within about 50 ft I didn't even know it was there but all of a sudden I was in a stairwell on my way up you know touring and I became very faint and I had what I now know is picardia I also had a massive migraine I went back home here to Massachusetts and saw a cardiologist explain what happened I had to have testing and he told me yes we are seeing a lot of this okay yes they're seeing it this is for real and I'm telling you you whoever wants to doubt this why don't you go up close to a 5G antenna and sit there for a while and see how you feel because it is not fun it is scary and by the way I'm the cancer Survivor and I don't want this anywhere near me I'm hiding out in a smaller town in Massachusetts right now my husband has a cellphone brain tumor right here where we hold our cell phone okay um as did many of some celebrities that we know John McCain uh Ted Kennedy Bo Biden can we swear they were by cell phone we don't know but pretty coincidental it's right here anyone who wants to say there's doubt or that someone's trying to scare them that's a judgment call not based on science and by the way speaking of science um Mr Kinsman you said you missed some of of Dr Brown's presentation it might have included the part about the ruo effect you were saying well what what can we see that shows that something happened to someone's body go inside the body and that's what Dr Brown was trying to tell you and on the slide about the low effect matter of fact on this call right now there's a very famous scientist named uh Dr Magda Havis and she's in this audience I saw her and I happen to have witnessed a live demonstration that did of this relo effect before and after the exposure to RF radiation than and it's blood clumping blood clumping serious and Dr Brown can tell you thank you I think you know our time is I appreciate your your testimony this is life in depth stuff I'm telling please do not cut this whole topic short and cut me short but please listen to CCE duet she's a nationally recognized expert she can lead you to all the experts in the world and Dr Brown also and mon Dr M I certainly appreciate I think we appreciate your passion no it's not passion it's it's I'm I've been affected but Tel has is the largest and most powerful and most evil okay thank you I appreciate that we just um we are a small town select board I I think we appreciate people taking the time and effort to educate us and bring these efforts to us uh I don't think we have the resources and the capability to spend a lot of time on this um I for one felt it was important enough to have this hearing and that you've given us some um good information I appreciate Dr Brown and the others testifying and CCE I think we all acknowledge your passion and concern on this we've dealt with you uh for many years on this um I think you've given us some information that perhaps the board members will feel that they will continue to consider as we go through this um I I think our you know ability to um act individually is somewhat limited but I think you know we've been given some tools and some awareness and uh you know if that's how the science keeps moving in that direction perhaps that's something that could be um that could um you know affect how we make decisions I would you know I appreciate Dr Brown's um um you know website with the with the information and that's something I'm going to try to take to look at um and uh were there any other other concerns or or thoughts from the board I think um so with that I think I will conclude this portion of the meeting but uh you know CCE thank you again for coming um and perhaps we've started you know a longer dialogue but we can continue on this and I do want to um thank you for the concrete you know things we're talking about that things affect us such as being able to use um wired devices for versus Wireless and you know how we handle our cell phones and things like that so hopefully there's kind of more certainty to come on this that will uh help us make decisions in this but so thank you yeah and I appreciate you continuing to do your research because I think once you get away from mainstream and look at the actual credible peer J Journal articles you will find the answers because they're all right there in front of you so right thank you and I hope we will partner to bring further education to the community because tonight children could be sleeping better parents could be sleeping better headaches behavior issues could start calming way down with just a little education so thank you thank you and uh David Kinsman thank you um and the other folks that Dr Brown thank you and the other people that came on okay so with that we'll move on to our next item on the agenda um which is we old new business but we're pulling item a which is the agreement between the town of ashin and ashin cable access so the next item would be the FY 25 budget to be brought to town meeting so go ahead Michael okay you sure um so obviously we're kind of like at the 11th hour here um with the fy2 budget uh the board uh needs to take a vote on uh the budgets and preparation for town meeting on May 1st um so we've had considerable discussion at previous meetings about not only the general fund budget but also uh several of the Enterprise fund budgets um and so those have been presented to you um just to summarize uh the general fund budget is 82,9 1,066 uh the Water budget is 3,733 555 sewer budget being 6,446 55 trash budget being 1,864 668 the fields Enterprise fund at 13,956 and the storm marer budget at 500,000 and then we also have I'm sorry it's not included on here3 yes correct I was about to say I think we missed the cable fund but it was got them confused y Michael just before if if you don't mind Mr chair um just before we vote this I mean we've we've talked about this for a little bit and we've heard from the schools um and I mentioned this to you a little earlier today can you just chat a little bit about the change in our budget from the last two years and how um how we're where we're at in regards to how we're using some of the funds and some of the funds that have increased our budget the way it has yeah so specifically this year um I I'll go to specific um specifically FY 25 I'm sorry I should say next year next year's budget yeah um so there's an increase of almost $5.1 million so it's important to note that um almost $3 million of that is related to arpa funds so um I'll try to explain this as clearly and as succinctly as I can so we are if if you recall when arpo was first coming out uh we worked together and the board determined um what projects those arpa funds would be used for and so unfortunately because of the budget deficit this year we need to use some of those funds for Revenue replacement but what we're going to do is we're actually going to use all of the remaining arpa funds for Revenue replacement and have a corresponding line item on the expenses for Capital and that is going to include the capital projects that you agreed to as part of um the original arpa plan so if you subtract that out that's you know you're looking at more of an an increase along the lines of you know a little over $2 million so follow-up question for that is those funds then won't carry over to next year's budget which means our tax levy is not going up by that it's just we're seeing that in this year's budget but knowing that when we go into fiscal year 26 budget we won't have those funds available correct thank you other questions on the budget or discussions I mean it hasn't I think it hasn't changed no no Michael when do we anticipate getting some solid figures with the state to return to the i' say I know that's a I ask it every year I'd say probably August yeah and I'm I'm I'm I'm serious um um I mean we won't have a finalized budget till August uh so the house Ways and Means did release their budget they actually had a little bit better state aid numbers than the governor's but as you know it still has to be voted on by the full house senate has to go through their process then they'll meet together in conference and come up uh with a compromise so using your conservative style approach that you always have um I'm assuming you're to those same type of figures conservatively again this year as you know for 2025 as you have in the past so correct maybe some of the shortfalls may not be as bad as we anticipate if the money's come in from the state potentially yeah but again that's all hypothetical and so we know what the after figes exactly yeah I mean my suggestion would be if we have state aid numbers that come in over what we had anticipated once they're finalized we don't take as much out of arpa on the revenue end so there's no other questions I'm willing to take them up to present a motion okay you good I'm good I move that we approve the budget as presented for the general fund water sewer trash Fields storm water and cable I'll second that motion's been made and seconded all those in favor of approving the full FY 25 budget that's right you name right y um say I I I oppose none so the budget's passed so thank you Michael right thank you thank you Michael thank you thank you to Michael and Britney and the staff for pulling this together so the next item is um the vote sign and post the annual town meeting warrant which um you know so has there big any big changes last time I think we probably I don't know if the upper Charles Trail design thing was on it but that's been dropped I presume right um correct um what what we did include in your packet this time was um just a map with those Parcels that uh we're proposing to accept as gifts of land so that should be in your packet um both those boes four actually well technically it's the hopkington area land trust okay and the same as the voice SC property correct okay I just want to make people be aware of that because if you look at the math it's kind of confusing I can understand that yeah kind of the same area so um in the warrant that you presented it has article seven appropriate funds for preserving the library interior painting and then oh never mind I read it wrong I apologize never mind okay I I pull back my question it's like oh it's the next page we're good I had the same thing then read as yep now I so I don't know if we are you going to go through each of these or I can if you want me to or I had a I had a I think we should touch based on the nbk communities act and we think that's at in terms of town meeting because I know there's been some discussion about it stat and article 14 yeah the last one which I when I printed this out I only printed one first paragraph the rest is just goes on and on but I don't know do we have any updates on that or thoughts Joe or Michael or I I know that out the last discussion that we had um we were contemplating pulling the article but we wanted to meet with the planning board and the select board together before we made that decision time to do that before town meeting it's like AR we meeting next week okay so you might the comprehensive plan meeting that's tomorrow I mean tomorrow that's right yeah what's it's not on the agenda I thought we're meeting AGA tomorrow we're meeting on the existing conditions conditions yes it's a comprehensive plan steering committee where JM goldson's presenting the existing condition but we're not necessarily talking about no we're not talking about it's we could I was I always thought it was be discussion okay my bad so we're tell means May 1st which is two weeks right y crazy so I don't so it's we'll keep it on for now but potentially it could get pulled is that it could get pulled at town meeting yes yeah oh all right okay there was a lot of information under that no there certainly is but is that something that we would vote to um say that we would support it or or not or an interesting question if we're not ready there may be some changes with respect I know I agree I think so I think typically Michael or people correct me I think once we vote the the warrant at least I see it that's we're approving everything that's on it like we may be approving this subject to final resolution I suppose but we can at town meeting decide to pull it if we feel that it's not ready which it sounds like from the subcommittee's perspective and even some of our thoughts there's still some questions on it we can always post a meeting before town meeting too to make sure that we so whether or not like as a board we decide that's a would we if we were going to withdraw we would have to have a meeting before town meeting well a motion can be made on the floor of town meeting to withdraw it but if we as a board want to discuss that ex yeah I mean we typically a meeting anyway for night town meeting okay yeah yeah because there's things in it that I'm like really that has to be part of it but yeah unfortunately we didn't add that we the subcommittee didn't add no no there's certain things that have to be in it be based on yeah right all right so other questions or points from about any of the others I think um when will this I'm sorry Rob I didn't mean to interrupt you when will the U recommendations the finance committee be added to to this we're scheduled for April 23rd okay thank you I found it interesting that the rail Transit District language had to be changed because of the overlay yes like so I know it's yeah okay all right and then the other thing the go ahead you're um and then Michael are you planning on having some kind of forum yeah it would probably be the Thursday before um so the to finalize that 6th 25th if that's the Thursday before it's either the 25th or 26th okay I believe the 25th a week from tomorrow yeah Thursday before the 25th yeah yeah okay and we had um you know this the specialized stretch code I was at another meeting um I think oh sustainability had has had two I went to the first one um and it was an interesting discussion but I think they're ready to move ahead with that um and I don't know did anyone else did want they're having another Forum Monday night I thought it Builders and yeah for more detail for Builders and things yeah that's Monday night VI Zoom for the so they're putting in a good effort to uh get the word out and talk to people so that's good yep um anything else on the warrant I think we're being asked to uh approve it tonight vote to close and post it I move that we close sign and post the town meeting warrant for the annual meeting that's happening on May 1st 2024 is there a second for second motion's been made in second all those in favor say I I oppose none so Mo uh motion passes the warrant is closed and posted all right thank you all for that um okay the next thing is the votes act to propos early voting for the May 1st uh local election and early voting no can't be May uh May 1st uh May 21st May 21st and uh so the early voting would include Wednesday May 15th um 8:00 a.m.

to 7:00 p.m. and Friday May 17th from 7: a.m. to 12:00 p.m. again it's just during the week There's no Saturday day but I think that's fine and then um and that's in town hall it's in town hall correct so L 11 yeah y I will second that all right motions been made second about adopting the votes act all those in favor say I I oppose none so we'll do early voting this year in person um vote to sign and post the the election warrant which I think was in there any further discussion just just one note again um I was noticing this that uh on the what we got in our package was uh in inaccurate in that it said school committee vote for two for one year and it's actually vote for one for one year and I know Cindy has updated that and given us an updated one but just that we know when we're voting it where it's really just one confirm any other questions on the uh on the the election warrant all right I move that we vote to sign and post the May 21st 24 election warrant as amended I'll second motion's been made in second all those in favor uh say I I oppose none so the uh election warrant is is sign and like do we actually physically sign it do I have it here somewhere you've got a lot of signatures tonight oh you're going to do it at the end okay and and just one note for people to know that there's Board of Health vote for two for three years but only one person has pulled papers so it's it's a wide it's going to be a wide open seat so if no one doesn't you know a write in or something then we'll have to be we'll have to be um appointing somebody and did you say the um it's too late for nomination papers it's too late to do papers yeah those were due beginning of April you could do a wrin campaign could a right in candidate win with one W in technically this is why it's good to have candidates that take out nomination papers a minimum yeah there probably should be right yeah all right um okay the next is discuss and vote on the renewal the intermunicipal water supply agreement uh between the town of Ashton and the town of hopkington actually I printed that out made don't look at people had a chance to look at it um yeah I meant to but didn't get to it but is there any it's pretty straightforward right yeah Michael do you have anyone to say about it no I mean we did delay this from the last time because I didn't really have a chance to to kind of go through it but I did uh since that time and I feel comfortable with this and as you can see Hawkinson signed it yeah yes yep yeah all right well glad we got this back in place um two years right I believe it's three years two yeah two think three yeah two years with two additional terms right and that's good CU I I know there was some issue about them changing their water supply it's good to we continue if you look at this they still have the right to terminate early but okay yes so they're actually in the process of potential um pursuing an MW connection themselves through Southboro so directly y yeah so but that's um as we know that's a long Hall um I believe our town meeting vote to approved the hookup was in 2017 and uh that didn't get approved through all the state procedes processes and everything till 2022 so takes a while I mean it took us a year to get it done and that's yes for us it's emergency back why hkin in doing that they geographically they have a lot of land you think they'd have a water supply that they well they have plenty of Wells but they have a real issue with pasas yeah um and a real issue with it okay that that makes sense okay y all right uh I move that we uh vote uh the approval and the renewal of the intermunicipal water supply agreement between the town of Ash land and the T town of hopkington with an expiration date of June 20th 2026 I'll second that motion's been made in second all those in favor of the motion say I I oppos None motion passes unanimously thank you okay next one is review and vote to authorize the chair to execute the Covenant for payment of road maintenance with Boston MSA known as Memorial Drive which we touched on last meeting I believe and yeah um so this is yeah this is this is interesting um this is a blast from the past if you will uh so if you recall it was in 2015 that the board signed a development agreement um with Bob Gainer for the entirety of the RTD and one of the things that was part of that was a $75,000 payment annually to the town imp perpetuity for the maintenance of the NBTA access road now known as Memorial Drive so but the the mechanics of actually getting that money were never spelled out so when we were discussing with um ugc their development agreement one of the things that we did is we were able to get as part of that development agreement a $25,000 payment annually um from them um and so that left $50,000 to that we still needed to find a way to do to get and so we've been working with Cirrus um in trying to basically effectuate that and so we we're successful so so they're going to do the full 75 the 50 the the balance the 50 oh okay so is it always 75,000 every year or so 75 total every year and so when ugc when that goes online I don't remember the exact date after it goes online but they'll pay us 25,000 a year and Sirus pays us uh 50,000 a year but it never increases based on no inflation or that no but it's um Lisa's never seen an agreement in perpetuity so um all right okay and perpetu would be worth like five bucks crazy um I hereby move that the select board authorize the chair to execute the Covenant for payment of road maintenance with Boston MSA multif family DST the owners of lot 1A known as Sirrus Apartments pursuant to that certain development agreement dated September 24th 2015 oh oh good so I don't have to read this that's the bond Joe that's the second I'll second okay the motion uh on the um the Covenant for uh road maintenance has been made in second and all those in favor say I oppose none so that's believe you have to read that whole thing oh boy we have a clerk review and vote on the sale of the should we take a break we can take a break while well that's so Joe I I believe all you have to vote or read to is basically the end of the second paragraph where it ends foregoing vote Claud are you serious about want to take a break because we can take five minutes well the next is the um the subcommittee all right okay go ahead Joe all right I won't read the whole thing but you want me to read from where what did you say uh how about you start at the top and I'll I'll tell you stop all right and just to just to introduce this is start at the beginning I'm at the beginning this is we're reviewing and voting on the sale of the MW sewer bond in the amount of 2 $227,200 with an effective date May 15 2024 and so this is for inii work and I believe Dan and Becca when they were here previously they gave you an overview of of what that work in reminder okay so with respect to that I the col of the select Board of the town of ashon Massachusetts certified that at a meeting of the board held on April 17th 2024 of which meeting all members were of the board were duly notified and at which a quorum was present we're there we're there the following votes were announ we passed all of which appear upon the official record of the board in my codyy voted that the sale of $227,200 subor of the Town dated May 15 2024 the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority or the authority is hereby approved and the town treasurer other appropriate Town official is authorized to execute on behalf of the Town a loan agreement and a financial assistance agreement with the authority with respect to the bond the bond shall be payable without interest on May 15th of the years and in principal amount as follows and it starts at 2025 to 2020 uh 2034 in the amount of $2,720 annually for the next 10 years further noted that each of the select board the Town Clerk and the town Treasurer be hereby authorized to take any and all such actions and execute deliver certificates receipts and other documents as may be determined by them or any of them to necessary or be convenient to carry the effective provisions of the foro vote there you go and that's it very good oh look we're back perfect timing look at this they were waiting outside okay okay waai do we have AUM you a so I think this is a simple motion right to uhct approve the the sale of the MW sewer Bond someone want to make that motion I move that we do the sale of the MW sewer Bond as presented second all right motion's been made in second all those in favor say I I oppose none so the um motion's been approved okay the next is review the recommendation from subcommittee and vote on the baa and Community grants and we did get a spreadsheet who's doing this presentation uh I'm going to kick it off and then Claudia will uh thank you for all your efforts by the way Claudia will will join in um so we had opened up our spring baa Grant round and um Susan did a lot of work on this so thank you Susan for for all your help um and so we had received um 20 applications for well we received a total of 24 applications 20 under the baa Grant which is um 501c3 organizations and four under the select board um Community Grant which is which comes out of our gift account um and so if folks remember um let's see fall was our first cycle under this new policy but we had we had made some changes to um to the grant program basically allowing 501c3 organizations to apply for up to $4,000 or if they apply backtack um uh Grant Cycles uh a total of $6,000 and um bless you sorry bless you and for the select board Community Grant um folks could apply up to $1,000 or 1,500 in backtack Grant cycles and the purpose of this is really to um you know our Runners we had um um 15 Runners that ran on behalf of our town plus our partnership with Nord um so we had I think probably I don't know how many how much we we raised this past year I mean Susan you might kind of know ballpark how much we raised this year 25 * three right well some of them raise more yeah yeah and the money's still coming in so I would say we'll have a better number come this week okay I'm just just to break in do the runners in your experience they find that they're able to raise the the money fairly consistently or I think it depends upon who you ask and how creative they get because not everybody wants to ask their family and friends especially if they've already done it before Oh interesting but people are able to do it sorry I interrupt no worries no um so what we do is we put out the application we ask organizations to to apply Claudia and I take all the information that um Susan puts together for us on all the applications and we review them and um and then we uh what you have in front of you is the recommendations I want to make one small change because we were going back and forth with emails and there was one number that didn't get included in that which is on the second page the top the energize Ashland um the 500 for the grant needed to go under the 5 like it got swapped so just it just didn't get included in the final calculation but um we are supporting um all the organizations that have come to us which is which is amazing and it's all the organizations from the clocker club and the Cub Scouts the Ashen emergency fund for the food pantry Garden Club uh ashin Music Association the PTO ashack um Youth Baseball lacrosse soccer um energize Ashland the um Ram Clinic that we're putting on um llusion Greenup Metro YMCA for Camp um Stone Park music festival sportify which is a um a local sporting event um the friends of the public library the friends of the Council on Aging Veterinary chapy Services which provides um support for those who have pet um either um with diagn with diagnosed U with an illness or has passed away um and we are thrilled to say that the 20 grants for the baa um we are recommending to the select board that we fund those Grant requests at a total of $69,500 um this leaves our runner's account um still very very um uh robust at uh 107,000 in change after these grants um these Grant calculations so we will have plenty for the next go around and I'm thrilled just that that we're able to um utilize These funds at sort of a higher rate and be able to use to use use them um more in the community so um thank you Claudia and I are like good partners in crime in this and Susan is like our our Sherpa so so couple of questions so the Veterinary chapy Service they're in Ashland yep company it's an ashin it's an ashin resident it's actually been in existence I talked to I actually talked to the um talked to the person that had uh submitted the application and they've been in existence for about 5 years but they became an official 501 C3 about a year ago and they're getting started and so um I offered to connect um connect her to like our senior center because there's certain populations that are would be more um needing that connection and being able to to offer assistance what they're doing is um wanting to establish what she calls a warm line so people can call in with um with needs and get there's graduate students that are kind of like going to to um um man those lines and services and that's what this this funding would be for so and and then my other question is we had talked about also requiring company you know people who received Awards if when they come back potentially for other Wards to really show us what they've been using it for um were there any in this group that we had that because they had received Awards before we had gotten a lot of so Susan that was all Susan so Susan had to go back to a lot of these um organizations and require that documentation okay so okay um and so so we did wind up getting it and we able you guys were able to review and Y so when we were kind of going through all of this um we wanted to make sure that that that that we had received all the the the information about the previous um previous Grant and also just all the documentation that Susan requires to make sure there are 501c3 one last question so when I'm looking at account balance I see two different balances here so one is the baa funds and the other one is the the select board gift account y that's correct the the lower one the 36 is the select board gift account that's correct okay so so I think the good thing about the gift account is we're able to still Grant those those requests um and you know we use that account for quite a bit so um in fact we just used it for the runner's breakfast and we'll use it for we used it for the volunteer breakfast and things like that so um so I think I think it's I think it's a I think I think the program has kind of worked I don't know how Cloud yeah no I think it's a you know the program itself is a great program it it really um you know it helps Runners who want to get in and and it's a little bit less money then they have to raise other wise um gives them an opportunity and it really comes back to the community um and you know ultimately it's really a nice connection um that you see because all of a sudden you hear stories um about why people run and and how it supports um sometimes their their personal lives and um but ultimately in this way them supporting their personal lives is really another way for them to give back to the community M and I think um it it really was you know great to read a little bit about different um the types of organizations that we're supporting um you know I you know I have a special place in my heart the the supporting some of the kids things the kids uh the camps um in particular the kids that might you know I I've seen firsthand what it's like when summer rolls around for some of our kids who who don't have a lot of opportunities and and um when they're out of school they're really at a loss so to see that some of these kids will be able to go to summer camp um and then the link clusion which is a new 501c3 um you know that actually will support students to go to camp with special needs because frequently they might need a oneon-one it's actually uh 501 C32 again an Ashlin uh family and um former School athletic director who who kicked this off so um just some really great stories it's it you know if you need to have a feel-good moment um go on at line and and read a little bit about these so and how many Runners did we actually have was it 20 25 total and that's how many we can have right right so we have a minimum of 75,000 that comes in as a result of that right and did did did we have to turn anybody away this year we did but you never know like where you're going to get the probably the last four or five that I had to fill I went through probably eight people to fill those spots right so this time of year everybody wants to run ask them in October and one one other question regarding the budget the account balance that we're seeing here of the baa Grant does that include any funds from this year a lot of the funds from this year are are in there not all of them because they still coming in okay so yes you won't so even though we're saying we know we're going to get 75,000 some of that's already in here so it's not additional to what we're see already okay that's okay that's important to know Susan just to follow the did did you end ever did you um did you were all of them from Ashland did you ever get to the point so so it's really to do this you really should be an Ashlin resident seems realistically because everybody else puts in gets put on our list but unless we go through which has happened before unless we go through all of our Ashlin Runners we don't to so we typically get enough Ashlin residen this year we did I think this is probably the first year I was going to say I think it's been some of them has have been like employees but who didn't live in town and then I remember a couple years where the runner was associated with someone who either lived in town or worked in town but they did not so yeah it was nice to hear that they were all Ashlin residents and I think um Susan you had put together like a like a a thing about like cumulative grants that that this program has provided and I think didn't if I remember correctly it was over it was a million dollars or just shy of a million dollars so you know over the years this has really made a difference and I know that these organizations you know I've heard from people that just that that this this this makes a huge difference for them yeah so um so anyway I I'm I'm I said it's it's it's like the holiday is only better yeah so I move that we I just want to add I appreciate all the work that you guys did it's very appreciative um we get shut out of our 5013c because we were inactive and I'm talking about the Ashland Day committee um we we we crested some monies we we got $500 out of the because because of the new policy which is great um I'm a little I got a little concerned when I saw U Ashland uh music festival I don't know if that person comes from Ash or not but I know they're they're doing at Stone Park um and they they received a good sizable amount of money they were 513c I get it I understand it but are they I I guess my question is do they have to be from Ashland or this the location or the venue is located in Ashland does that make it okay to use that funding so I think the way that we've looked at it is that it either has to be an Ashland organization or benefiting the Ashland Community okay so something that is located in Ashland is okay so and Joe I I do believe like the the organizer of that event that you referring to I think she does live in as I think so too she does okay yeah how she found out about the grants yeah okay not a problem I'm just yeah little sensitive to me right now that's all so Joe I would encourage you know we'll put put on the agenda for the next meeting then please yes thank you I would appreciate that okay okay let's remember make a note for the May 17th meeting does anybody else have any questions on anything specific on or anything no okay I would like to make a motion that we accept the recommendation from our subcommittee with our thanks to the subcommittee for the work they did in reviewing these and approving them and of course to Mrs as well yeah uh do we have a second second all right motion's been made in second all those in favor say I I oppose none so the motion passes congratulations and thank you for these recommendations and um Good Luck to all the groups getting the getting the funds okay uh the next was discussed accepting the crosswalk uh located on cival road so Joe you're going to have a presentation on that well I we we've had a couple of presentations already uh but if you go down cille Road uh you'll see the work that's already being uh done and it's not completed yet but uh as you take that 25 mph corner by Johnson Street um and cille Road you'll see the crosswalk that's already been put there they actually Mill the road area there uh to repave it and resurface it so it'll be nice and smooth around that corner um the only thing that we as a board need to do is to approve the fact that we will maintain the Lights I've already talked to dougy small this was at a traffic safety uh committee meeting and it was it figured it's about 12 cents a day to monitor the uh the electricity to use the because it's not solar powered unfortunately thought they would be but they're not are the lights up no no not yet the B the Bas is there the bases are there uh was because you said they weren't going to that's a St turn them on until we approved it at our last meeting I'm like well there's nothing to turn on in other words they they're not going to do anything until we move out tuition so well all right so um a motion and I know that Evan is waiting very patiently for that answer really oh my gosh would do have anything to add yeah anything you want to add Evan maybe give us an update on the timing uh yeah sure I um I I just uh spoke with uh my contact from the state last week about this um they're basically on hold with the contractor until we accept it um Ju Just to be clear the what we're accepting um is is the maintenance of the unit itself going forward the state's paying for the install they're paying for the unit um I think we just have to be on the hook for the electric to it which is very minimal and um and the maintenance uh this was something that from what I understand from the state that um the uh residents uh that live in that area had asked them for um to install that to put a crosswalk there with the buttons uh and they obliged them and now they're just asking the town to um accept that in the future if if we do need to do any maintenance to the um crosswalk signals that we would we would take ownership of that so just to be clear it's just the one crosswalk right as you take the left off to Oak Street and it's right there because they're also they're also they also updated the crosswalk um a little further down by Winter Street right they put in some handicap but there's no uh there's no blinking there's no crosswalk there okay so correct we voting to accept the the maintenance y of the electronic of the light yes okay so I move that we accept the electronic crosswalk that will be put in on uh near on cville road I'll second okay motion's been made in second and all those in favor say I I oppose none so the motion carries thank you for the update Evan yeah good thank you Tuesday all right all right just have some reminders here May 10th is the deadline to register to vote for the annual Town election which will be held on May 21st 2024 um a um reminder that April 18th at 5:00 p.m.

to 7:00 p.m. and Friday May 17th uh um 7 a.m. to noon okay and we do did have something in here to look at yeah we something from Cindy so my understanding and I chatted with Cindy quickly on my way in is we don't have to do early voting um we that's why we're having to vote on this but in my conversation with her my feeling was since we've been allowing early voting why not allow it for this election uh I think this is one of those local elections that's not going to bring a lot of interest unfortunately because I hate to say this there are no contested races I mean we've seen that before but not with a seat for select board that was open and only one person pulled paper so it's rare but I think it's I think because we've allowed early voting before I would support this for these two days they're not extra days it's not on a Saturday but it allows people to get in and vote if they're not available on the 21st do we know what percentage of um of our vote happens in the early voting days I don't have that in front of me Claudia Sor we talked about it in the past I thought we had some pretty good had good participation I think so too it would be interesting you know we'll need to look at that to decide going forward if we want to do early vot I think for local elections it would be to your point Claudia good to sort of look at that and this might give us an indication it's tough though a post as a yeah it's pretty convenient yeah yeah absolutely what's the sense of the board we're going to continue with early voting I I think it's a good idea I move that we opt in to inperson inperson early voting to happen on May 15th 8:00 a.m.

Thursday is the last day that was a correction um is the last day to withdraw nomination paper so that's the April 18th which is tomorrow right um reminder town meeting May 1st at Ashland high school that's in 2 weeks from today basically or roughly um free covid tests still available town hall and um collection Monday April 22nd this is um yard waste right uh oh no um from April 22nd through June 3rd no no collection on May 27th okay and we did the consent agenda so that brings us down to town manager report yeah so I'll just start off uh as everybody knows the marathon was Monday um so I want to give a um big round of applause to a number of people first of all our police fire and DPW and everybody who is involved in the logistics and making sure the marathon ran smoothly uh people don't understand how much work goes into the marathon and how long that work happens I mean it it starts you know months prior with the planning uh people have no idea just how involved the security apparatus is and and everything that's that's involved um so many thanks to uh all the all the town employees that um you know contributed and made the U made the marathon a success uh speaking of employees we actually had two run uh Rebecca nvar from DPW and then detective Frank masiello uh Becca actually ran on behalf of Ashland and Frank ran for uh cops kids with cancer uh both finished um so congratulations to them and then congratulations to everybody that ran on behalf of Ashland as as you all pointed out it was um you know it's a great program and they're um it's it's nice to hear all the stories and and the reasons why people run so as I was watching I actually saw someone who had on their back the Nord yeah I'm like yeah that's the first time I had seen that that i' been able to other than when we met them at the breakfast but they actually had the Nord on their back I'm like oh that's cool help them out um and so so next on here I just have priority project updates and I'll just give you two um so just want to up update everybody on downtown so we are still in the process of putting bid documents together to do the undergrounding work in with buildings um it is taking a little while longer but what we're doing is we're going through each property and making sure that we have detail in terms of what needs to happen uh for each specific property for each specific utility um only because we want to minimize the potential for change orders uh in the future so we're trying to get everything um put in place um so question on that so how long before they are actually completed and because the longer we wait to do to get the bid Out means the longer we wait to do the to do the undergrounding connections the longer we have to wait to get the polls down yes so we'll be sending our final comments to um to in order to incorporate it into the final bid documents this week okay so I'd say probably two weeks to put it uh to get it out there so what does that then do to the removal of the polls cuz I'm getting lots of questions of when are the polls going away um yeah I would say you know best case scenario end of the year it it depends on how how quickly um how it it really depends honestly on how quickly eversource can a get a couple pieces of equipment and all the utilities get their wires taken off okay so as that piece and then um just upper Charles Trail update so um we uh initially there was uh going to be some funding from CPC for uh the the Dyke Trail portion of the upper Charles Trail um and so what we did is we actually went and looked at getting some engineering quotes and some engineering estimates we only were able to get one but it was significantly more expensive than what we had anticipated so we're kind of I don't want to say we're back to the drawing board but we'll probably present something at the fall town meeting for that motion to go past 10 o'cl all those in favor going past 10 o'clock say I we go past uh last but not least a comprehensive plan it's been mentioned before earlier so we'll be meeting tomorrow night uh to hear from JM Golds and go through the existing conditions plan and so essentially that is just kind of a a state of the Town type of uh report where things are now and it looks like you know demographic information different initiatives and stuffff so should be interesting it's a real Milestone and that's we'll be basically joining the planning board is that the logistics of this planning board no it's not the planning it's not a planning board meeting oh it's not it's a steering Comm compehensive steering committee sorry it's a comprehensive plan steering committee and they've invited the select board and the planning board to be part of that and that will be here correct okay like I said that's a that's a big milestone for the rep great and I'm sorry did you say the time is it seven seven okay a little different okay um and materials have been sent out so if you wanted to it would I would recommend you take a look at them because there's a lot of detailed information because it's existing conditions and it's was it sent to us uh directly yes it was okay yeah um and are people is this a hybrid are people thinking about being here remote or in person as a select board do we care one way or the other um I have two meetings that so I have to be yeah okay so that's I'm planning on being in person but that's because of steering committee so are we meeting I think brand bry's not able to make it so and we're invited as a board so we'll actually be in called to order okay and you're posted just okay very good all right Michael um anything else on that that's it okay that brings us to board report we'll start with our usual and Claudia did you that was quick um no I just wanted to comment um you know on the marathon that that it you know was it's always a very special day for Ashland and uh that you know indeed Mike I did have an opportunity to talk to a couple police officers somebody from DBW and I do appreciate um you know I think uh it the uh police officer said they'd been in training for it for N9 months um and so pretty remarkable stuff um and one other thing just in terms of the police I've noticed I feel like there there's been an effort um on their part to to be you know friends in the community and um you know just the other day I I saw a police officer in front of me he stopped to let somebody come out of uh Tilton a you know which is always a challenge to get out onto Pleasant Street and and so it there's been a couple instances like that where I've thought that they are making an effort to be uh friends in in the community and do be kind and and that so that's nice to see um you know I think we we were all all attended and at our sponsored uh breakfast for the marathon runners again like I mentioned when we were talking about grants it was um really really uh moving to to hear different personal stories and uh sometimes it's easy when there's such you know so such a massive event going on to to think about the real personal things uh that are going on in people's lives so you know really that was a great event and uh my first time as a select board member so I really appreciated that thank you and then I did um have the opportunity to attend um the planning board meeting or most of it last Thursday evening in which there was conversation um you know two points of particular interest for me was the was the sustainability committee there was a a stretch code presentation that they made um you know I I think um it was good to hear some of that again um you know I I have concerns about the costs associated with it for for building homes it feels like here we are we're looking at 40b and then we're looking at this other um end of the was not homes though right stretch code stretch code yeah any new homes yeah yeah new construction new construction yeah in any case interesting yeah I'm sorry to interrupt yeah so so I was just sitting there thinking about you know here we are looking at this and then we're looking at it seems like we're at two um opposing end years ago too and they withw it a because it was just I think it was last spring yeah it was last spring I I remember Joe yeah I remember so in any case um and then then again we talked about the MBTA plan um and again on that you know I share some concerns with some of the changes some of the new information we have regarding um you know the Main Street issue and that um that being a 40b and about whether or not it would be wise to go forward this time or to take a deep breath and and uh wait and maybe look at it in December so um so that's all I have thank you thank you U Brandy thank you um just a couple things one um I'm wanted to ask for all of your help so our comprehensive plan uh public engagement period ends on the 26th we are at it's what 70% of goal it's that 80 no I don't think we were at 80 70 a little over 70% okay we're we're getting there but not there yet so we're running out of time um so my ask to everyone here and everyone that's still listening is um share this with your friends if you haven't if you haven't done the comprehensive plan survey yet um please do the survey ask the other members of your household to do the survey um and then send an email to um like 50 of your closest friends in Ashland and ask them to do the survey um we want to try to get as much of much participation as possible possible in this and we're running out of time so um the survey is really our best tool to kind of get as much participation as possibley much sell with the meetings in the Box pretty much we're still we're still doing meetings in a box I have one next Wednesday right we're actually doing we're actually doing a few at the high school next week so um with kids which is good our high school our high school student hini is um running running with that which is awesome um so kind of into that we are going to be at um the comprehensive plan steering committee is going to be at Earth day which is this Saturday at Corner Spot from 12 to3 and um I saw Yolanda on there I'm going to fill into we were trying to get uh get some more people to to kind of step up and I can now take that off of my board report but um I encourage everyone to come to Earth Day anyway because it's going to be a great a great event at Corner Spot um but come say hi to us over at the at at the comprehensive plan steering committee table um and then the one last thing I wanted to just talk about um because the um the Board of Health is doing the ram Clinic again this this next summer um August 10th through the 11th at ke Tech um and they are putting together their volunteers so um they are looking for medical personnel they're looking for dentists they are looking for um most importantly translators because they realized last year that they were um under they didn't have nearly as many translators as they needed so um they're looking for Spanish for Portuguese um because this is really um going to be a a a regional a regional event and again the dates are August 10th and 11th at ke Tech if um if you want to volunteer or know somebody who could volunteer um there's a website it's ramusa.org and there's a um a a link on there to to sign up so what does RAM stand for remote access medical so um they come in they set up and they have all the equipment and they have all the the staff so it's free free that yeah absolutely free medical free medical and dental and vision I believe for um for as many people as they can see and fit in in the course of two days which is um not nearly enough because the need is huge so um so anyway looking for volunteers there too so that's it for me thank you right thanks Joe thank you Mr chair um I'd like to uh piggyback what um Claudia said about uh marathon and and Mike about the great job that uh everybody did um it was a lot of fun I spoke with u Joe tomz this this afternoon and I asked him how his event went up there he saw a major change up there he said it's family with children he said it's not the old biker crowd he said all of a sudden it's like at tjs at tjs he says it's um it was a great time he said families brought their kids he says now he said we loved it it went there was no issues there was absolutely nothing it was a family event and uh now they're going to start having games and stuff for the kids now from this point on where they saw that it was family orientated and they were very very pleased as the weight staff was too because it was capacity and there was not an incident at all so thankful to them and and Joe just wanted me to say you know make that make that a point so which was very nice uh the DPW did a great job getting the roads ready even though uh WCVB made a point to saying that the dot did a great job getting the roads ready for I saw that and I really you didn't you didn't you didn't come by and see what the guys were doing down here from each individual town really no thank you guys you did a great job under staff and you did a super job um I do have a concern real quick um there was some vandalism over at uh The Pavilion at Stone Park and and and I don't know why it needs to be done that way but uh we had some windows that were broken uh that they're they're kind of high Ed the thick glass windows uh just to let light through and three or four of them were knocked out uh we went into look for the the bins for green up a land and uh they weren't there but long story short we saw this vandalism and glass was all over the place so we have to go clean it all up um but everything will be ready for uh next week we'll be opening up the bathrooms and uh at the Pavilion cameras up there yeah we do but uh Unfortunately they uh they moved the camera head so it's uh you just wasn't pointing in the correct direction yeah it was pointed in the wrong direction unfortunately so you know I just don't know why so I know the police will be doing extra checks as well uh the other thing is that U kidspot needs to be really take Tak taking a look at uh just my observations uh briefly uh that it's it's kind of R run down uh some of the rides uh some of the kids rides and and swings need to be replaced uh General pickup and that location is for kids to have fun it's not a dumping spot for broken toys uh we took 10 of them out the other day and they're broken they're no good so people are just taking their toys or their kids toys and if they're no good they bring them down and they throw them up over the fence no that's not it's not it's not a location to get rid of your junk you know if you want to to drop off some nice toys for the kids to ride along that would be great but don't don't throw you know broken toys and stuff over there it's just it's not conducive to uh the environment nor is it conducive for the kids to have a good time that's not what that's for so um hopefully that will uh make an impact to everybody else so with that uh the only other thing I have to say is that we won't be meeting until uh a after May after this one so I just want to uh wish Michael a happy birthday because I know his birthday is coming up on the 21th and you thought I wasn't going to mention it did you oh boy oh yeah oh yeah for I forgotten about it no you have not you the 21st the 21st of April April y so one day after 4:20 anyway exactly I wonder if there's a yeah I know there isn't there isn't anyway that that's all I have to say Mr chair thank you and again thank you too for that the work that you did and you know didn't mean to take it out of you just it it's it's near and dear to me we've been doing it for over 30 years and uh for us to get shut down because of the state not because of anything that you guys did just if we can get that funding that we can get that 5013c back that would be awesome so God bless you great so thank you and make sure you put it on the agenda for next I've been warned okay go ahead you'll not warn just been ADV so a couple different things so I too want to thank our DPW and First Responders for being out there on Marathon Monday it was amazing how quickly they cleaned up afterwards they came with the sweepers they picked up all the things it was it was great the roads the last Runners probably went through at about 10 after 12 that you know visible and the roads were available somewhat by about 1:5 and they had cleaned up so they did a nice job uh we had a mindes school building committee last night things are still moving forward there's still some parts of the project that are't completed there's some field work they're changing some of the parking lot to make some of the access in and out out a little bit easier so that work's being done and then there were some issues with our consom and that's being worked on as well uh let's see next Wednesday I'll be heading into the state house for the 495 Metro West partnership day at the State House oh it's been a while since one that they've done it or two that I've been able to go it's a fun way to meet with people who all the cities and towns that are under the 495 Metro West partnership you get to meet with the legislators and have a conversation uh Metro West regional collaboratives meeting is happening next Thursday 4:25 at 8:00 a.m.

to 7:00 p.m. and Friday May 17th from 7: a.m. to 12:00 p.m. again it's just during the week There's no Saturday day but I think that's fine and then um and that's in town hall it's in town hall correct so L 11 yeah y I will second that all right motions been made second about adopting the votes act all those in favor say I I oppose none so we'll do early voting this year in person um vote to sign and post the the election warrant which I think was in there any further discussion just just one note again um I was noticing this that uh on the what we got in our package was uh in inaccurate in that it said school committee vote for two for one year and it's actually vote for one for one year and I know Cindy has updated that and given us an updated one but just that we know when we're voting it where it's really just one confirm any other questions on the uh on the the election warrant all right I move that we vote to sign and post the May 21st 24 election warrant as amended I'll second motion's been made in second all those in favor uh say I I oppose none so the uh election warrant is is sign and like do we actually physically sign it do I have it here somewhere you've got a lot of signatures tonight oh you're going to do it at the end okay and and just one note for people to know that there's Board of Health vote for two for three years but only one person has pulled papers so it's it's a wide it's going to be a wide open seat so if no one doesn't you know a write in or something then we'll have to be we'll have to be um appointing somebody and did you say the um it's too late for nomination papers it's too late to do papers yeah those were due beginning of April you could do a wrin campaign could a right in candidate win with one W in technically this is why it's good to have candidates that take out nomination papers a minimum yeah there probably should be right yeah all right um okay the next is discuss and vote on the renewal the intermunicipal water supply agreement uh between the town of Ashton and the town of hopkington actually I printed that out made don't look at people had a chance to look at it um yeah I meant to but didn't get to it but is there any it's pretty straightforward right yeah Michael do you have anyone to say about it no I mean we did delay this from the last time because I didn't really have a chance to to kind of go through it but I did uh since that time and I feel comfortable with this and as you can see Hawkinson signed it yeah yes yep yeah all right well glad we got this back in place um two years right I believe it's three years two yeah two think three yeah two years with two additional terms right and that's good CU I I know there was some issue about them changing their water supply it's good to we continue if you look at this they still have the right to terminate early but okay yes so they're actually in the process of potential um pursuing an MW connection themselves through Southboro so directly y yeah so but that's um as we know that's a long Hall um I believe our town meeting vote to approved the hookup was in 2017 and uh that didn't get approved through all the state procedes processes and everything till 2022 so takes a while I mean it took us a year to get it done and that's yes for us it's emergency back why hkin in doing that they geographically they have a lot of land you think they'd have a water supply that they well they have plenty of Wells but they have a real issue with pasas yeah um and a real issue with it okay that that makes sense okay y all right uh I move that we uh vote uh the approval and the renewal of the intermunicipal water supply agreement between the town of Ash land and the T town of hopkington with an expiration date of June 20th 2026 I'll second that motion's been made in second all those in favor of the motion say I I oppos None motion passes unanimously thank you okay next one is review and vote to authorize the chair to execute the Covenant for payment of road maintenance with Boston MSA known as Memorial Drive which we touched on last meeting I believe and yeah um so this is yeah this is this is interesting um this is a blast from the past if you will uh so if you recall it was in 2015 that the board signed a development agreement um with Bob Gainer for the entirety of the RTD and one of the things that was part of that was a $75,000 payment annually to the town imp perpetuity for the maintenance of the NBTA access road now known as Memorial Drive so but the the mechanics of actually getting that money were never spelled out so when we were discussing with um ugc their development agreement one of the things that we did is we were able to get as part of that development agreement a $25,000 payment annually um from them um and so that left $50,000 to that we still needed to find a way to do to get and so we've been working with Cirrus um in trying to basically effectuate that and so we we're successful so so they're going to do the full 75 the 50 the the balance the 50 oh okay so is it always 75,000 every year or so 75 total every year and so when ugc when that goes online I don't remember the exact date after it goes online but they'll pay us 25,000 a year and Sirus pays us uh 50,000 a year but it never increases based on no inflation or that no but it's um Lisa's never seen an agreement in perpetuity so um all right okay and perpetu would be worth like five bucks crazy um I hereby move that the select board authorize the chair to execute the Covenant for payment of road maintenance with Boston MSA multif family DST the owners of lot 1A known as Sirrus Apartments pursuant to that certain development agreement dated September 24th 2015 oh oh good so I don't have to read this that's the bond Joe that's the second I'll second okay the motion uh on the um the Covenant for uh road maintenance has been made in second and all those in favor say I oppose none so that's believe you have to read that whole thing oh boy we have a clerk review and vote on the sale of the should we take a break we can take a break while well that's so Joe I I believe all you have to vote or read to is basically the end of the second paragraph where it ends foregoing vote Claud are you serious about want to take a break because we can take five minutes well the next is the um the subcommittee all right okay go ahead Joe all right I won't read the whole thing but you want me to read from where what did you say uh how about you start at the top and I'll I'll tell you stop all right and just to just to introduce this is start at the beginning I'm at the beginning this is we're reviewing and voting on the sale of the MW sewer bond in the amount of 2 $227,200 with an effective date May 15 2024 and so this is for inii work and I believe Dan and Becca when they were here previously they gave you an overview of of what that work in reminder okay so with respect to that I the col of the select Board of the town of ashon Massachusetts certified that at a meeting of the board held on April 17th 2024 of which meeting all members were of the board were duly notified and at which a quorum was present we're there we're there the following votes were announ we passed all of which appear upon the official record of the board in my codyy voted that the sale of $227,200 subor of the Town dated May 15 2024 the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority or the authority is hereby approved and the town treasurer other appropriate Town official is authorized to execute on behalf of the Town a loan agreement and a financial assistance agreement with the authority with respect to the bond the bond shall be payable without interest on May 15th of the years and in principal amount as follows and it starts at 2025 to 2020 uh 2034 in the amount of $2,720 annually for the next 10 years further noted that each of the select board the Town Clerk and the town Treasurer be hereby authorized to take any and all such actions and execute deliver certificates receipts and other documents as may be determined by them or any of them to necessary or be convenient to carry the effective provisions of the foro vote there you go and that's it very good oh look we're back perfect timing look at this they were waiting outside okay okay waai do we have AUM you a so I think this is a simple motion right to uhct approve the the sale of the MW sewer Bond someone want to make that motion I move that we do the sale of the MW sewer Bond as presented second all right motion's been made in second all those in favor say I I oppose none so the um motion's been approved okay the next is review the recommendation from subcommittee and vote on the baa and Community grants and we did get a spreadsheet who's doing this presentation uh I'm going to kick it off and then Claudia will uh thank you for all your efforts by the way Claudia will will join in um so we had opened up our spring baa Grant round and um Susan did a lot of work on this so thank you Susan for for all your help um and so we had received um 20 applications for well we received a total of 24 applications 20 under the baa Grant which is um 501c3 organizations and four under the select board um Community Grant which is which comes out of our gift account um and so if folks remember um let's see fall was our first cycle under this new policy but we had we had made some changes to um to the grant program basically allowing 501c3 organizations to apply for up to $4,000 or if they apply backtack um uh Grant Cycles uh a total of $6,000 and um bless you sorry bless you and for the select board Community Grant um folks could apply up to $1,000 or 1,500 in backtack Grant cycles and the purpose of this is really to um you know our Runners we had um um 15 Runners that ran on behalf of our town plus our partnership with Nord um so we had I think probably I don't know how many how much we we raised this past year I mean Susan you might kind of know ballpark how much we raised this year 25 * three right well some of them raise more yeah yeah and the money's still coming in so I would say we'll have a better number come this week okay I'm just just to break in do the runners in your experience they find that they're able to raise the the money fairly consistently or I think it depends upon who you ask and how creative they get because not everybody wants to ask their family and friends especially if they've already done it before Oh interesting but people are able to do it sorry I interrupt no worries no um so what we do is we put out the application we ask organizations to to apply Claudia and I take all the information that um Susan puts together for us on all the applications and we review them and um and then we uh what you have in front of you is the recommendations I want to make one small change because we were going back and forth with emails and there was one number that didn't get included in that which is on the second page the top the energize Ashland um the 500 for the grant needed to go under the 5 like it got swapped so just it just didn't get included in the final calculation but um we are supporting um all the organizations that have come to us which is which is amazing and it's all the organizations from the clocker club and the Cub Scouts the Ashen emergency fund for the food pantry Garden Club uh ashin Music Association the PTO ashack um Youth Baseball lacrosse soccer um energize Ashland the um Ram Clinic that we're putting on um llusion Greenup Metro YMCA for Camp um Stone Park music festival sportify which is a um a local sporting event um the friends of the public library the friends of the Council on Aging Veterinary chapy Services which provides um support for those who have pet um either um with diagn with diagnosed U with an illness or has passed away um and we are thrilled to say that the 20 grants for the baa um we are recommending to the select board that we fund those Grant requests at a total of $69,500 um this leaves our runner's account um still very very um uh robust at uh 107,000 in change after these grants um these Grant calculations so we will have plenty for the next go around and I'm thrilled just that that we're able to um utilize These funds at sort of a higher rate and be able to use to use use them um more in the community so um thank you Claudia and I are like good partners in crime in this and Susan is like our our Sherpa so so couple of questions so the Veterinary chapy Service they're in Ashland yep company it's an ashin it's an ashin resident it's actually been in existence I talked to I actually talked to the um talked to the person that had uh submitted the application and they've been in existence for about 5 years but they became an official 501 C3 about a year ago and they're getting started and so um I offered to connect um connect her to like our senior center because there's certain populations that are would be more um needing that connection and being able to to offer assistance what they're doing is um wanting to establish what she calls a warm line so people can call in with um with needs and get there's graduate students that are kind of like going to to um um man those lines and services and that's what this this funding would be for so and and then my other question is we had talked about also requiring company you know people who received Awards if when they come back potentially for other Wards to really show us what they've been using it for um were there any in this group that we had that because they had received Awards before we had gotten a lot of so Susan that was all Susan so Susan had to go back to a lot of these um organizations and require that documentation okay so okay um and so so we did wind up getting it and we able you guys were able to review and Y so when we were kind of going through all of this um we wanted to make sure that that that that we had received all the the the information about the previous um previous Grant and also just all the documentation that Susan requires to make sure there are 501c3 one last question so when I'm looking at account balance I see two different balances here so one is the baa funds and the other one is the the select board gift account y that's correct the the lower one the 36 is the select board gift account that's correct okay so so I think the good thing about the gift account is we're able to still Grant those those requests um and you know we use that account for quite a bit so um in fact we just used it for the runner's breakfast and we'll use it for we used it for the volunteer breakfast and things like that so um so I think I think it's I think it's a I think I think the program has kind of worked I don't know how Cloud yeah no I think it's a you know the program itself is a great program it it really um you know it helps Runners who want to get in and and it's a little bit less money then they have to raise other wise um gives them an opportunity and it really comes back to the community um and you know ultimately it's really a nice connection um that you see because all of a sudden you hear stories um about why people run and and how it supports um sometimes their their personal lives and um but ultimately in this way them supporting their personal lives is really another way for them to give back to the community M and I think um it it really was you know great to read a little bit about different um the types of organizations that we're supporting um you know I you know I have a special place in my heart the the supporting some of the kids things the kids uh the camps um in particular the kids that might you know I I've seen firsthand what it's like when summer rolls around for some of our kids who who don't have a lot of opportunities and and um when they're out of school they're really at a loss so to see that some of these kids will be able to go to summer camp um and then the link clusion which is a new 501c3 um you know that actually will support students to go to camp with special needs because frequently they might need a oneon-one it's actually uh 501 C32 again an Ashlin uh family and um former School athletic director who who kicked this off so um just some really great stories it's it you know if you need to have a feel-good moment um go on at line and and read a little bit about these so and how many Runners did we actually have was it 20 25 total and that's how many we can have right right so we have a minimum of 75,000 that comes in as a result of that right and did did did we have to turn anybody away this year we did but you never know like where you're going to get the probably the last four or five that I had to fill I went through probably eight people to fill those spots right so this time of year everybody wants to run ask them in October and one one other question regarding the budget the account balance that we're seeing here of the baa Grant does that include any funds from this year a lot of the funds from this year are are in there not all of them because they still coming in okay so yes you won't so even though we're saying we know we're going to get 75,000 some of that's already in here so it's not additional to what we're see already okay that's okay that's important to know Susan just to follow the did did you end ever did you um did you were all of them from Ashland did you ever get to the point so so it's really to do this you really should be an Ashlin resident seems realistically because everybody else puts in gets put on our list but unless we go through which has happened before unless we go through all of our Ashlin Runners we don't to so we typically get enough Ashlin residen this year we did I think this is probably the first year I was going to say I think it's been some of them has have been like employees but who didn't live in town and then I remember a couple years where the runner was associated with someone who either lived in town or worked in town but they did not so yeah it was nice to hear that they were all Ashlin residents and I think um Susan you had put together like a like a a thing about like cumulative grants that that this program has provided and I think didn't if I remember correctly it was over it was a million dollars or just shy of a million dollars so you know over the years this has really made a difference and I know that these organizations you know I've heard from people that just that that this this this makes a huge difference for them yeah so um so anyway I I'm I'm I said it's it's it's like the holiday is only better yeah so I move that we I just want to add I appreciate all the work that you guys did it's very appreciative um we get shut out of our 5013c because we were inactive and I'm talking about the Ashland Day committee um we we we crested some monies we we got $500 out of the because because of the new policy which is great um I'm a little I got a little concerned when I saw U Ashland uh music festival I don't know if that person comes from Ash or not but I know they're they're doing at Stone Park um and they they received a good sizable amount of money they were 513c I get it I understand it but are they I I guess my question is do they have to be from Ashland or this the location or the venue is located in Ashland does that make it okay to use that funding so I think the way that we've looked at it is that it either has to be an Ashland organization or benefiting the Ashland Community okay so something that is located in Ashland is okay so and Joe I I do believe like the the organizer of that event that you referring to I think she does live in as I think so too she does okay yeah how she found out about the grants yeah okay not a problem I'm just yeah little sensitive to me right now that's all so Joe I would encourage you know we'll put put on the agenda for the next meeting then please yes thank you I would appreciate that okay okay let's remember make a note for the May 17th meeting does anybody else have any questions on anything specific on or anything no okay I would like to make a motion that we accept the recommendation from our subcommittee with our thanks to the subcommittee for the work they did in reviewing these and approving them and of course to Mrs as well yeah uh do we have a second second all right motion's been made in second all those in favor say I I oppose none so the motion passes congratulations and thank you for these recommendations and um Good Luck to all the groups getting the getting the funds okay uh the next was discussed accepting the crosswalk uh located on cival road so Joe you're going to have a presentation on that well I we we've had a couple of presentations already uh but if you go down cille Road uh you'll see the work that's already being uh done and it's not completed yet but uh as you take that 25 mph corner by Johnson Street um and cille Road you'll see the crosswalk that's already been put there they actually Mill the road area there uh to repave it and resurface it so it'll be nice and smooth around that corner um the only thing that we as a board need to do is to approve the fact that we will maintain the Lights I've already talked to dougy small this was at a traffic safety uh committee meeting and it was it figured it's about 12 cents a day to monitor the uh the electricity to use the because it's not solar powered unfortunately thought they would be but they're not are the lights up no no not yet the B the Bas is there the bases are there uh was because you said they weren't going to that's a St turn them on until we approved it at our last meeting I'm like well there's nothing to turn on in other words they they're not going to do anything until we move out tuition so well all right so um a motion and I know that Evan is waiting very patiently for that answer really oh my gosh would do have anything to add yeah anything you want to add Evan maybe give us an update on the timing uh yeah sure I um I I just uh spoke with uh my contact from the state last week about this um they're basically on hold with the contractor until we accept it um Ju Just to be clear the what we're accepting um is is the maintenance of the unit itself going forward the state's paying for the install they're paying for the unit um I think we just have to be on the hook for the electric to it which is very minimal and um and the maintenance uh this was something that from what I understand from the state that um the uh residents uh that live in that area had asked them for um to install that to put a crosswalk there with the buttons uh and they obliged them and now they're just asking the town to um accept that in the future if if we do need to do any maintenance to the um crosswalk signals that we would we would take ownership of that so just to be clear it's just the one crosswalk right as you take the left off to Oak Street and it's right there because they're also they're also they also updated the crosswalk um a little further down by Winter Street right they put in some handicap but there's no uh there's no blinking there's no crosswalk there okay so correct we voting to accept the the maintenance y of the electronic of the light yes okay so I move that we accept the electronic crosswalk that will be put in on uh near on cville road I'll second okay motion's been made in second and all those in favor say I I oppose none so the motion carries thank you for the update Evan yeah good thank you Tuesday all right all right just have some reminders here May 10th is the deadline to register to vote for the annual Town election which will be held on May 21st 2024 um a um reminder that April 18th at 5:00 p.m.

uh a couple things coming up and to Joe's point we're not meeting again in this kind of meeting until May 17th 15th something like that yeah and so a couple things to think about we've talked about Earth Day coming up on 420 we have Greenup Ashlin day coming up on May 4th it's a Saturday they're still looking for people people to either uh adopt a street or just let them know that you're going to be showing up to grab your yellow bag and clean up an area uh on April 27th is mini golf at the library hopefully you uh if you if you don't get the email from the asham public library or from the friends of the library talking about different events so 4:27 it's a Saturday at night it's the sort of adult version and then on Sunday uh 428 is the family version and then the other thing I have is also on May 4th you can go to Greenup Ashland in the morning and then you can go to the mini renaissance fair that the library is having uh on that afternoon it's a new event um it was fun Mina our Li um Library director is so excited and they're going to have actually Renaissance dance and food and a lot of fun things that's going to be happening outside at the farmers market location some or I forget exactly we but um so that should be fun if you like Renaissance Fair it should be fun that's on May 4th and that is on Saturday May 4th so again will there be sword fighting uh there is fighting think it was jousting I don't think it's jousting but there is some there is some um sign me up fighting I do I get to pick the person I Jou I said I don't think it's jousting but it's it's showing how to do yes so we'll have to see about getting you there Michael no B there you go I don't any that's medieval right it's slightly different yeah little few hundred years later I think oh and one oh sorry one other thing um sorry so we have heard from the community restoration of ashlin's V Village burial grounds so they are looking for volunteers they have two events coming up the first is brush cleanup and treatment of invasives and that is April 27th and 28th from 9 to 2 uh the first day they're starting at the library to talk about what needs to be removed and then they're being trained uh volunteers will be trained on how to remove invasive plants then the other cleanup volunteer training weekend is June 22nd and 23rd from 9: to 5: with the rain date the following weekend and this is the big cleanup to learn how to clean headstones and other light cleanup of the cemetery uh and again if you're looking they're going to train people as well on how to do some of that if you are interested you can contact h Nicole and that's spelled n i c k l e at AOL.com that's Helen Nicole um they also have a bunch of stuff on Facebook so they're looking for volunteers to help and i' let them know that I would help promote this tonight so hopefully we can get it done um other places as well okay now I'm really done all right thank you I just had um you know we talked about all the upcoming dates and especially um town meeting uh May 1st in two two weeks uh which we may as usual we are reserving Time ahead of head of town meeting in case we need to meet briefly but um that's in two weeks um so the only other you know I had the um we had the pleasure of attending the Hop the celebration of hopton's 100th celebration of the marathon started in hopkington so I think Michael was there and Yolanda and Claudia um and we had a we worked on our attitude we wanted a posi of attitude so uh but they were very gracious and we did uh and um I don't who who uh was it Susan that who selected the the wonderful clock worked on the clock yes it was a great nice a lovely clock that was very appropriate that we gave to them uh and I think doesn't work ever yeah it slow always yeah it look nice so it was very nice and there was actually some you know um the you know Tim kilduff who's the I guess the executive director of the 26.2 Foundation which I think or originated in hopkington but is now spreading out and he made a very effective I think pitch to um um have Ashlin and Hopkin working together and Ashlin being part of that whole effort so you know I would think something we should keep them in mind and how we can work with this important foundation yeah they supported the the mindes uh Marathon run that the kids do at mind for for many years they've B you know t-shirts or or sometimes numbers or a variety Runners coming from to at some point oh yeah we had Runners from around the world come with with their help yeah um to come and speak to the kids so yeah and he told a heartwarming story of how we lost the start of the marathon due to the convenience of the British royal family I thought damn it they didn't want to walk a mile they didn't want to walk a mile from their their house to the finish line so they asked the runners who already running 25 miles oh can you just run another Mile and 285 yards and that's and that's they redid the marathon they had they wanted it to start in front of Windsor Castle and then end in front of their box yeah in the stadium right so anyway um but I did want the other thing I did want to mention uh connection with that um you know I I was chatting with Jack Fleming the head of the baa and um Jack did um indicate interest in coming to visit us at one of our meetings so I said great so I may call him and see if he's willing to come interested uh to come to our May me just to chat at the beginning of the meeting and say hi and stuff like that yeah he might be yeah so not not not now but that's in what three three or four weeks he'll get over it but that that sounded Jack so wait who are you he's he's the executive director of the baa oh okay he was there that night and yes yes and um I thought you said Jack leuk but no Jack we should invite Jack too yeah we'll have him come at the same time good suggestion and it was it was just a fun night we did give Muro Kramer as I said that the clock so that was uh very nice yeah what's that they gave Jack some nice the other day Channel 5 did a little oh that's nice yeah yeah that's great it was a nice yeah it was good to see Jack and Karen there that's great all right and I think that's all I have um we did get the invitation to Eagle Scout ceremony I think some people are going I may go too I'm not sure we got another one as well yeah so that's a little later I think but anyway it's always good to see that so people are able to go yeah and I may go as well I don't know who else will go sure we've got at the last minute Michael has something oh I'm so sorry folks you reminded me so just two things really quick uh yesterday we swore in our newest officer cam cassella um so congratulations to him but um it's public now so I feel like I can talk about it but um Roy karea one of our longtime employees uh was unfortunately diagnosed with with cancer and um so uh we're um not we as like a town but um people affiliated with the town and and really I think Doug is heading this up holding a fundraiser I believe it's on the 18th um over at the fishing game May or April May 18th I'm sorry okay at the fishing game that's great yeah so if you're so inclined um you know please please stop by love to come to that $20 yeah $20 ahead so uh Roy hope you get better and uh hang in there we're with you buddy yeah Roy he's such a good guy yeah thank you for bringing that up M yes thank you um is there like wait how do you get tickets can you forward stuff to us we can forward that' be great perfect 18 okay I think U going directly the right okay all right I guess I will entertain a motion to adjourn mer second and we'll see you at town meeting all right thank you all good night we have to vote I

Thursday is the last day that was a correction um is the last day to withdraw nomination paper so that's the April 18th which is tomorrow right um reminder town meeting May 1st at Ashland high school that's in 2 weeks from today basically or roughly um free covid tests still available town hall and um collection Monday April 22nd this is um yard waste right uh oh no um from April 22nd through June 3rd no no collection on May 27th okay and we did the consent agenda so that brings us down to town manager report yeah so I'll just start off uh as everybody knows the marathon was Monday um so I want to give a um big round of applause to a number of people first of all our police fire and DPW and everybody who is involved in the logistics and making sure the marathon ran smoothly uh people don't understand how much work goes into the marathon and how long that work happens I mean it it starts you know months prior with the planning uh people have no idea just how involved the security apparatus is and and everything that's that's involved um so many thanks to uh all the all the town employees that um you know contributed and made the U made the marathon a success uh speaking of employees we actually had two run uh Rebecca nvar from DPW and then detective Frank masiello uh Becca actually ran on behalf of Ashland and Frank ran for uh cops kids with cancer uh both finished um so congratulations to them and then congratulations to everybody that ran on behalf of Ashland as as you all pointed out it was um you know it's a great program and they're um it's it's nice to hear all the stories and and the reasons why people run so as I was watching I actually saw someone who had on their back the Nord yeah I'm like yeah that's the first time I had seen that that i' been able to other than when we met them at the breakfast but they actually had the Nord on their back I'm like oh that's cool help them out um and so so next on here I just have priority project updates and I'll just give you two um so just want to up update everybody on downtown so we are still in the process of putting bid documents together to do the undergrounding work in with buildings um it is taking a little while longer but what we're doing is we're going through each property and making sure that we have detail in terms of what needs to happen uh for each specific property for each specific utility um only because we want to minimize the potential for change orders uh in the future so we're trying to get everything um put in place um so question on that so how long before they are actually completed and because the longer we wait to do to get the bid Out means the longer we wait to do the to do the undergrounding connections the longer we have to wait to get the polls down yes so we'll be sending our final comments to um to in order to incorporate it into the final bid documents this week okay so I'd say probably two weeks to put it uh to get it out there so what does that then do to the removal of the polls cuz I'm getting lots of questions of when are the polls going away um yeah I would say you know best case scenario end of the year it it depends on how how quickly um how it it really depends honestly on how quickly eversource can a get a couple pieces of equipment and all the utilities get their wires taken off okay so as that piece and then um just upper Charles Trail update so um we uh initially there was uh going to be some funding from CPC for uh the the Dyke Trail portion of the upper Charles Trail um and so what we did is we actually went and looked at getting some engineering quotes and some engineering estimates we only were able to get one but it was significantly more expensive than what we had anticipated so we're kind of I don't want to say we're back to the drawing board but we'll probably present something at the fall town meeting for that motion to go past 10 o'cl all those in favor going past 10 o'clock say I we go past uh last but not least a comprehensive plan it's been mentioned before earlier so we'll be meeting tomorrow night uh to hear from JM Golds and go through the existing conditions plan and so essentially that is just kind of a a state of the Town type of uh report where things are now and it looks like you know demographic information different initiatives and stuffff so should be interesting it's a real Milestone and that's we'll be basically joining the planning board is that the logistics of this planning board no it's not the planning it's not a planning board meeting oh it's not it's a steering Comm compehensive steering committee sorry it's a comprehensive plan steering committee and they've invited the select board and the planning board to be part of that and that will be here correct okay like I said that's a that's a big milestone for the rep great and I'm sorry did you say the time is it seven seven okay a little different okay um and materials have been sent out so if you wanted to it would I would recommend you take a look at them because there's a lot of detailed information because it's existing conditions and it's was it sent to us uh directly yes it was okay yeah um and are people is this a hybrid are people thinking about being here remote or in person as a select board do we care one way or the other um I have two meetings that so I have to be yeah okay so that's I'm planning on being in person but that's because of steering committee so are we meeting I think brand bry's not able to make it so and we're invited as a board so we'll actually be in called to order okay and you're posted just okay very good all right Michael um anything else on that that's it okay that brings us to board report we'll start with our usual and Claudia did you that was quick um no I just wanted to comment um you know on the marathon that that it you know was it's always a very special day for Ashland and uh that you know indeed Mike I did have an opportunity to talk to a couple police officers somebody from DBW and I do appreciate um you know I think uh it the uh police officer said they'd been in training for it for N9 months um and so pretty remarkable stuff um and one other thing just in terms of the police I've noticed I feel like there there's been an effort um on their part to to be you know friends in the community and um you know just the other day I I saw a police officer in front of me he stopped to let somebody come out of uh Tilton a you know which is always a challenge to get out onto Pleasant Street and and so it there's been a couple instances like that where I've thought that they are making an effort to be uh friends in in the community and do be kind and and that so that's nice to see um you know I think we we were all all attended and at our sponsored uh breakfast for the marathon runners again like I mentioned when we were talking about grants it was um really really uh moving to to hear different personal stories and uh sometimes it's easy when there's such you know so such a massive event going on to to think about the real personal things uh that are going on in people's lives so you know really that was a great event and uh my first time as a select board member so I really appreciated that thank you and then I did um have the opportunity to attend um the planning board meeting or most of it last Thursday evening in which there was conversation um you know two points of particular interest for me was the was the sustainability committee there was a a stretch code presentation that they made um you know I I think um it was good to hear some of that again um you know I I have concerns about the costs associated with it for for building homes it feels like here we are we're looking at 40b and then we're looking at this other um end of the was not homes though right stretch code stretch code yeah any new homes yeah yeah new construction new construction yeah in any case interesting yeah I'm sorry to interrupt yeah so so I was just sitting there thinking about you know here we are looking at this and then we're looking at it seems like we're at two um opposing end years ago too and they withw it a because it was just I think it was last spring yeah it was last spring I I remember Joe yeah I remember so in any case um and then then again we talked about the MBTA plan um and again on that you know I share some concerns with some of the changes some of the new information we have regarding um you know the Main Street issue and that um that being a 40b and about whether or not it would be wise to go forward this time or to take a deep breath and and uh wait and maybe look at it in December so um so that's all I have thank you thank you U Brandy thank you um just a couple things one um I'm wanted to ask for all of your help so our comprehensive plan uh public engagement period ends on the 26th we are at it's what 70% of goal it's that 80 no I don't think we were at 80 70 a little over 70% okay we're we're getting there but not there yet so we're running out of time um so my ask to everyone here and everyone that's still listening is um share this with your friends if you haven't if you haven't done the comprehensive plan survey yet um please do the survey ask the other members of your household to do the survey um and then send an email to um like 50 of your closest friends in Ashland and ask them to do the survey um we want to try to get as much of much participation as possible possible in this and we're running out of time so um the survey is really our best tool to kind of get as much participation as possibley much sell with the meetings in the Box pretty much we're still we're still doing meetings in a box I have one next Wednesday right we're actually doing we're actually doing a few at the high school next week so um with kids which is good our high school our high school student hini is um running running with that which is awesome um so kind of into that we are going to be at um the comprehensive plan steering committee is going to be at Earth day which is this Saturday at Corner Spot from 12 to3 and um I saw Yolanda on there I'm going to fill into we were trying to get uh get some more people to to kind of step up and I can now take that off of my board report but um I encourage everyone to come to Earth Day anyway because it's going to be a great a great event at Corner Spot um but come say hi to us over at the at at the comprehensive plan steering committee table um and then the one last thing I wanted to just talk about um because the um the Board of Health is doing the ram Clinic again this this next summer um August 10th through the 11th at ke Tech um and they are putting together their volunteers so um they are looking for medical personnel they're looking for dentists they are looking for um most importantly translators because they realized last year that they were um under they didn't have nearly as many translators as they needed so um they're looking for Spanish for Portuguese um because this is really um going to be a a a regional a regional event and again the dates are August 10th and 11th at ke Tech if um if you want to volunteer or know somebody who could volunteer um there's a website it's ramusa.org and there's a um a a link on there to to sign up so what does RAM stand for remote access medical so um they come in they set up and they have all the equipment and they have all the the staff so it's free free that yeah absolutely free medical free medical and dental and vision I believe for um for as many people as they can see and fit in in the course of two days which is um not nearly enough because the need is huge so um so anyway looking for volunteers there too so that's it for me thank you right thanks Joe thank you Mr chair um I'd like to uh piggyback what um Claudia said about uh marathon and and Mike about the great job that uh everybody did um it was a lot of fun I spoke with u Joe tomz this this afternoon and I asked him how his event went up there he saw a major change up there he said it's family with children he said it's not the old biker crowd he said all of a sudden it's like at tjs at tjs he says it's um it was a great time he said families brought their kids he says now he said we loved it it went there was no issues there was absolutely nothing it was a family event and uh now they're going to start having games and stuff for the kids now from this point on where they saw that it was family orientated and they were very very pleased as the weight staff was too because it was capacity and there was not an incident at all so thankful to them and and Joe just wanted me to say you know make that make that a point so which was very nice uh the DPW did a great job getting the roads ready even though uh WCVB made a point to saying that the dot did a great job getting the roads ready for I saw that and I really you didn't you didn't you didn't come by and see what the guys were doing down here from each individual town really no thank you guys you did a great job under staff and you did a super job um I do have a concern real quick um there was some vandalism over at uh The Pavilion at Stone Park and and and I don't know why it needs to be done that way but uh we had some windows that were broken uh that they're they're kind of high Ed the thick glass windows uh just to let light through and three or four of them were knocked out uh we went into look for the the bins for green up a land and uh they weren't there but long story short we saw this vandalism and glass was all over the place so we have to go clean it all up um but everything will be ready for uh next week we'll be opening up the bathrooms and uh at the Pavilion cameras up there yeah we do but uh Unfortunately they uh they moved the camera head so it's uh you just wasn't pointing in the correct direction yeah it was pointed in the wrong direction unfortunately so you know I just don't know why so I know the police will be doing extra checks as well uh the other thing is that U kidspot needs to be really take Tak taking a look at uh just my observations uh briefly uh that it's it's kind of R run down uh some of the rides uh some of the kids rides and and swings need to be replaced uh General pickup and that location is for kids to have fun it's not a dumping spot for broken toys uh we took 10 of them out the other day and they're broken they're no good so people are just taking their toys or their kids toys and if they're no good they bring them down and they throw them up over the fence no that's not it's not it's not a location to get rid of your junk you know if you want to to drop off some nice toys for the kids to ride along that would be great but don't don't throw you know broken toys and stuff over there it's just it's not conducive to uh the environment nor is it conducive for the kids to have a good time that's not what that's for so um hopefully that will uh make an impact to everybody else so with that uh the only other thing I have to say is that we won't be meeting until uh a after May after this one so I just want to uh wish Michael a happy birthday because I know his birthday is coming up on the 21th and you thought I wasn't going to mention it did you oh boy oh yeah oh yeah for I forgotten about it no you have not you the 21st the 21st of April April y so one day after 4:20 anyway exactly I wonder if there's a yeah I know there isn't there isn't anyway that that's all I have to say Mr chair thank you and again thank you too for that the work that you did and you know didn't mean to take it out of you just it it's it's near and dear to me we've been doing it for over 30 years and uh for us to get shut down because of the state not because of anything that you guys did just if we can get that funding that we can get that 5013c back that would be awesome so God bless you great so thank you and make sure you put it on the agenda for next I've been warned okay go ahead you'll not warn just been ADV so a couple different things so I too want to thank our DPW and First Responders for being out there on Marathon Monday it was amazing how quickly they cleaned up afterwards they came with the sweepers they picked up all the things it was it was great the roads the last Runners probably went through at about 10 after 12 that you know visible and the roads were available somewhat by about 1:5 and they had cleaned up so they did a nice job uh we had a mindes school building committee last night things are still moving forward there's still some parts of the project that are't completed there's some field work they're changing some of the parking lot to make some of the access in and out out a little bit easier so that work's being done and then there were some issues with our consom and that's being worked on as well uh let's see next Wednesday I'll be heading into the state house for the 495 Metro West partnership day at the State House oh it's been a while since one that they've done it or two that I've been able to go it's a fun way to meet with people who all the cities and towns that are under the 495 Metro West partnership you get to meet with the legislators and have a conversation uh Metro West regional collaboratives meeting is happening next Thursday 4:25 at 8:00 a.m.

four Mr Z for operations so operations fun and we have a lot of good things to talk about we welcome Mr Richard am I saying is Elder Mr am saying the yes okay uh he was there virtually to present the committee and update on the status of the rodad grants he informed the committee that the district had received fully ex executed Grant agreements and also presented his firm's proposal for architectural engineering Services required for the broad gr projects and the advisory service of navigating the complicated reimbursement process required by the state reced it I have any comments Mr no sir I think you all it well okay we also talked about I don't want to talk about the final budget presentation which we took care of tonight and the the administrative team at the board for working together and putting everything together that was that was incredible so we really appreciate that um talk about 2425 School Enterprises and P and Food Service management the uh Dr Min provided the committee with a full pomptonian proposal which delineated delineated an approximate 1% increase in management which is under the index rate defined in the RFP approximate 1% increase by the recomended um basic they just say that school lunch prices will be going up a little bit uh there'll be a slight increase in lunch prices by 10 cents for students all schools except for breakfast which is free the need to increase the per rate other cost inflation we are as a town fortunate that the last audit demonstrated that the fund was not need a sorry the need to increase the peral was R due to the I have some notes B is fortunate that the last a demonstrated that the fund was not in need of a transfer of funds from the general fund to provide solvency the committee recommended the lunch prices in the pan contract for the board we also talked about the um how would you say Mr gy this is our auditing firm yes uh presented the committee with an engagement letter proposal for for from our auditing firm for the year ending 6 through 24 the committee reviewed the 11 proposal including the fees delineated on page 8 of 11 comme recommended the engagement letter proposal for feed through board we also talked about faroh's final payment requests um it's permitted to present to the committee uh for a final request number the pay request byous other close out documents Mr explain is an obligation district attorney and other UNS construction be by warranties and or other legal needs the board recommended this is an agenda item this is item that I I I was most excited um this our southbound work representative Miss Carlton representative from the South Pound Brook Board of Education and um presented a consideration to the operations commit an ad H Committee compris of three bound members and three south bound members excluding both districts board presidents to deliver to talk about mutro board interests the committee be hosted at the South B campus and the meeting would be attended by South presidents committee members would be asked questions before uh committee members asked general questions before recommending the consideration to the governance committee I on a personal note I mean communication is something that is vital for both communities so I hope that this is something that can get L um other than that the operations committee as usual was well attended we enjoyed really incredible conversation and thanks again to our administrative team for a phenomenal phenomenal job so that's a presentation Mr President questions please let me know thank you so much Mr Z any comments or questions on operations all right 4.5 the Somerset County Educational Services Commission so as you know somerson County it's SCC that meets every other month so therefore iort month but um from the superintendent there the enrollment is going on it's tending upwards or trending upwards I'm sorry one of the things that the students are doing is that they're working with the Building Trades and on outdoor projects they're gardening they're doing lighting painting blind replacement it's just very Hands-On it's nice to see um the contract with their teachers was settled which was good news and two new teachers were hired um along with some support staff and they continue to have openings that they've been experiencing a tough time getting um you know finding the teachers which isn't unusual because a lot of places are having problems with that um they are also working with Architects just to reconfigure the classroom because the enrollment is increasing so um you know they've looked at purchasing buildings they've looked at renovating another building it's on the property but it's so very costly that they're now looking inside the building just reconfigured classrooms there and that really is the G thank you Miss hi any comments or questions regarding SCC all right over to Miss Carlton for our first official South thank you so um I want to start with since we talked about the Bound Brook uh District budget South Bound Brook finalized their budget last week um and I have to say that Dr gouki and Mrs Bessel are our business administrator business secretary they worked really hard with some challenging numbers to keep the um the tax levy down so the the residents in town um I write this down because I know I'll forget uh house the the average house assessed at $238,700 terms of balancing it and there's a lot of reasons why for both the high school and Charter Schools um transportation costs salaries and benefits um capital projects but like I said Dr GOI and Mrs Bessel worked really hard to make sure that they maintained existing programs um we did have to make some big cuts um we did eliminate a position a World Language teacher position but that was an open position it just hadn't been filled yet we did eliminate our class three officer some curriculum we did have to eliminate our summer program um and you know those are just a few of the items but again they did what they had to do um to balance our budget so with that said I'd like to go to some more positive items um last month I mentioned that our students participated in witness Stone program and they rece they're receiving an award from Somerset County uh in conjunction with the friends of Abraham st's house for contributing to County History our eighth grade students went to santae to work with uh scientists on site two students were challenged two students teams were challenged to create a design for wind tur turbines and one of the teams exceeded the most tools ever created in the program um one of the programs that we kept and this seems silly but I don't know it excites me um we have a new ukulele program nice and uh it's an fascinating interest and the kids are excited um and that's it excellent any questions for M Caron regarding the South all right we are then up to item 5.1 and we are open for public participation for agenda items home so anybody either online or uh in the room that would like to make a comment regarding item on the agenda can feel free to do so at this time for online you need to fill out the form naming your name and affiliation in the room there is a sign sheet I have this every time should sck for hey yeah I'll bring my own stamp next time appreciate itome back thank you yes it's proud dad Mr Schaffner here uh now I get to speak as a proud assistant drama club director that uh this weekend and this weekend only uh we are putting on Chicago right here the teen Edition of Chicago we're doing things a little bit differently uh this is a artistic vision from our director Mrs shner that we are going to put our audience on the stage and they are going to be kind of in a U-shaped we're going to bring in some risers bring in some chairs uh where a lot of the action will be kind of concentrated right in the middle of our stage um so we're trying to replicate what would be like a blackbox theater uh type experience you know still costumes lighting the whole nine yards um but just a little bit more intimate because uh we kind of like the model that we've been doing this year where we do something more familyfriendly like Willy Wonka or susal in the fall uh maybe with other students from smaller the middle school and do something a little bit more serious a little bit more mature for our high school kids to really hone their acting craft and everything like that so that's our goal um going forward so I have Flyers that I will pass out for you so because we are doing it uh on the stage we're asking that we uh you reserve tickets online so we can put groups together if you're in a group of four we can seat you and make sure that we have enough seats to accommodate everybody uh but we hope to see you there um it's May 3rd at 7 o'clock pm.

and we will be back here in Columbus North have some more recognitions while retirees that evening as well as that check from the South Asian Network for the foundation good good right thank you meeting adjourn

um the uh warrant can be found on the website uh the warrant includes the warrant articles themselves as well as the fincom finance committee recommendations um again that the moderator is pretty strict on starting on time as has been that's been his practice I I don't see him changing that um this year so if you want to get there for the first article um make sure you get there on time but but again town meeting it's an opportunity for you as a citizen to come and actually participate and be a part of major decisions that affect the town not just now but in the future so I hope to see you there and um everybody have a good afternoon you

all right good evening everybody and welcome to our Board of Education again as always happy to see so many of our families here uh and can't wait to recognize our students and Educators what we do let's clear some administrative items I start with the reading of the open public meetings law we do the Pledge of Allegiance and then we'll get right to the so the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advance notice of and to attend meetings of public B which time any business affecting their interest is discussed in active in accordance with the provisions of this act Board of Education policy 162 the Board of Education of the bur of B has caused notice of this meeting to be posted in the board office at B high school and mail the facts to the C southbound Board of Education and any person who has requested individual noce please stand join Sir Mr mron here Mr Carl here Mr Z here Mr here Mr Min Miss H here here Mr J here board president you have AUM president this even thank you sir uh now I will turn over to Dr Freeman well good evening everybody and welcome to our April board meeting it is great to see everybody in the audience parents students and teachers alike um we will start as we always do one of our favorite parts of the meeting our recognition of our students of the month we'll start the M school with Dr [Applause] s congratulations to Jessa Arias Alberto Jessa is enjoys music class and language arts Jessa enjoys playing with family animals magnetic letters and puzzles he also enjoys reading arts and crafts dancing and singing in the future he will like career and language arts um reason Yesa was selected was he made so much progress this year he knows all of his letters colors shapes and numbers he's able to express his wants and needs using an iPad he is he is a pleasure to have in my class congratulations [Applause] yosa B okay ready congratulations to Bonnie Sher her favorite school subject is math her favorite hobbies that I like to play t- ball her career plans is I want to be a hairdresser um so from her teachers we are proud to select Bonnie as a student of the month Bonnie is a good friend to all to others and shows kindness both in class and on the playground she loves learning new things and sharing her new sharing new her ideas with the class we are lucky to have Bonnie in room 15 love Miss dhy and [Applause] Mrs one more one two three all right [Applause] [Music] next up we have Miss KS from [Applause] lafette uh our our first grade student of the month I don't think he's but it is Jacob Aragon from Miss ragged class he has three siblings his favorite school subject is science his favorite hobbies are soccer basketball and video games and he wants to become a scientist so congratulations [Applause] Jacob our second grade student of the month is Jasmine Lopez [Applause] Jasmine is from Miss henningson class she has three siblings her favorite school subject is math she loves learning about numbers and she's good at it she likes watching movies with her sister a famous singer one day congrat [Applause] [Music] next up from Smalling school we have Mrs [Applause] [Music] garone Right good evening today we're going to start with our third grade student of the month and we have khil seichi khil are you here okay so khil is in our third grade class with Miss rehea um he has two siblings named Y and Sebastian his favorite subject in school is science his favorite hobbies are Lego and YouTube and when he gets older he wants to be a pilot now khil and his and his classmates have been working on skip counting it's their favorite game and currently we are up to skip counting by 10 260s are our um our records so let's give khil a big [Applause] hand our fourth grade student student of the month is Matthew Mesa Lopez from Miss Stern's [Applause] class right Matthew has a little brother named Ethan he's one years old and is right here with us and his favorite subject in school is math and his f hobbies are running around and playing Roblox and he's been working really really hard on his vowel team sounds and won a lot of cheers and classes the other day in the batt game do you remember that yeah I'm very proud of you congratulations [Applause] [Music] [Applause] our fifth grade student of the month is Josh Vallejo [Applause] can you come stand with me over there can you Josh is our Josh is our fifth grade student of the month Josh is in Miss helman's class he has three older brother his favorite subject in school is gym class he loves going a Sky Zone playing with his brothers and watching movies on his phone just right now we don't have any career plans just yet but we'll figure them out ready [Applause] one yeah let's have another round of applause for [Applause] John our sixth grade student of the month is Donna Valentina sanria Mendes [Applause] okay it is with great pleasure that we recognize Donna is the sixth grade student of the month Donna exemplifies outstanding qualities that set her apart as a remarkable student and individual Donna consistently demonstrates exceptional dedication to her Studies by consistently following directions completing her homework and achieving excellent grades ma her commitment to academic Excellence serves as an inspiration to her peers and is and is evident to her diligent work ethic Beyond her academic achievements Donna's kindness and generosity shine brightly she is not only a great person to her peers but also a reliable source of support and assistance both inside and outside of the classroom Donna's willingness to help others coupled with her compassion nature creates a positive and inclusive environment for all Donna's Relentless pursuit of improvement and her solid determination to excel are truly admirable her eagerness to learn and grow not only benefits herself but also serves as a Guiding Light for those around her furthermore Donna's welcoming demeanor makes her an example of support for new students her willingness to extend a helping hand and offer guidance exe exemplifies the values and compassion empathy that we strive to teach in all of our students in recognition of her outstanding achievement her exceptional character and her positive influence Miss kavid am Miss Fernandez present Donna with sixth grade student of the mon [Applause] round of [Applause] appuse next up for Community School [Applause] Dr hello everyone the Community Middle School first nominee for student of the month is jasreet PU Jas might not be here tonight JRE was nominated by Mr Wiggins and Miss Zang his Math teachers uh jreed has one brother and favorite subjects arts and physical education his favorite hobbies include reading a book drawing video games watching TV and playing soccer and this is a first for me career plan is to be a paleontologist uh just a few words from jre's teachers he was awarded student of the month for April uh and due to his commitment and learning and eagerness to succeed and contribute to the school community at CMS jreed has helped several of his peers understand various topics in math this year and is ultimately in assisted in maintaining a positive learning environment in the classroom while Ela and physical education are Jasper's favorite subjects you would not be able to tell based on his work ethic determination and positive attitude towards learning overall jreed is a young leader and role model who embodies all of the characteristics of students of the month [Applause] congratulations our next nomination for student of the month is Emily gardo [Applause] em Emily was nominated by her language arts teacher Mr Crowley Emily has one sibling and favorite subjects are language arts and math Emily's favorite hob hobbies are reading and drawing and sees a future career in business Mr Crowley wrote about Emily the following Emily is a deep thinker an inquisitive analyzer and a persistent learner she's currently trying to verbally participate more in class and when she does she clarifies her own thoughts while giving her classmates a different perspective on a topic or skill that is being taught Emily's goal in ela has been to approve her active reading and writing skills she's student of the month because she works more for uh more than just for a grade she works to strengthen her thinking through her reading and writing this is clearly shown through Emily's desire to tackle an extra novel so as in her words to read the classics it is that desire to continually stretch her mind that makes Emily student of the month [Applause] next we have Mr Smith from our high [Applause] [Music] school good evening in recognition of the Crusader citizen of the month the following recipients for bambro school will be recognized just a little uh background about the Crusader citizen of the month me and recognition for students demonstrating positive Crusader citizenship traits such as responsibility respect kindness Integrity cooperation tance and perseverance our first recipient zier [Applause] [Music] Amaker here ready [Music] one one [Applause] two the second recipient Brook Cooper [Applause] I forgot to read zier's description so I will read that in a moment after I read Brook uh Brooke has one brother Ryan Cooper who's a proud Alum of B Brook High School um her favorite subject in school is chemistry and any science uh her favorite hobbies are um hanging out with her friends going to the beach and of course shopping and her future career plan um she is going to attend East sturg University and she's currently undecided that she wants to be a therapist of some sort in the future [Applause] okay smile one two three perfect okay all right we're going to rewind Z Amer has no siblings his favorite subject in school are art in English he enjoys drawing football weight room and tracking field in the future he wants to be a therapist as well so he can be an open ear for people in need so let's here for zer [Music] okay our next recipient Jessica Rivera Gonzalez Jessica has two her favorite subject in school is math she enjoys hanging out with her sister and friends they in her own nails and cheer in the future she wants to become a radiolog technician and a real estate agent as well [Applause] so and last but certainly not least we have taliana Santiago Tana has two siblings Christian and Juan Santiago her favorite subject is Art because it is one of her greatest strengths which which she can help uh which she can develop all of her creativity and express her ideas in a genuine way her favorite hobbies are listening to music because she can interpret the melody and lyrics of the song out of her reality and helping her to relax her future career plans include studying interior design because it allows her to be creative Express her style and also gives her the opportunity to transform spaces and create welcoming and functional places for others [Applause] thank you okay let's have another round of applause for all of our students of the and we have one we're going to announce so congratulations to Yesa Adia sabero and Mrs Burn's class this month student of the month [Music] [Applause] [Music] I [Applause] Beau let's have another round of applause for okay one last round of applause for all our students of the month congratulations keep have a great work everyone okay next up we have our employee of the month now supposed to be one but this is a special month because we had a hard time choosing we have two employees one is at home and With Us online is one is in the audience one that is home online is expecting any minute so we're going to take care of her first and that isney we would ask Carone to come up and read her reward [Applause] recognition that all um SMY Elementary School nominates Miss Brit keeper for the prestigious title of the employee of the month for April this year I've had the privilege of witnessing the incredible impact Miss keeper has had on our student students and on the fifth grade team Miss keeper consistently goes above and beyond and she creates positive and engaging uh learning learning in her classroom she inspires her students not only academically but personally and she Fosters a love for learning that will stay with them for years to come Miss keeper always has a smile on her face through her entire nine months of pregnancy too um she incorporates a great deal of fun into her class she's always smiling her students are always smil smiling Miss Keeper's class is one where the students are always in groups they're always seated flexibly they have clipboards sometimes they're lying on the floor doing stepping over kids and they're just always engaged no matter where they're sitting or what they're doing um Miss keeper utilizes responsive classroom to promote collaboration Community respect and empathy and she teaches them valuable life skills along the way Miss keeper Fosters the development of compassionate and responsible individuals who are ready to make a positive impact of the world Miss Keir is a model for what she teaches for her students because she actively contributes to our school Community she assists in all of the fundraising that the fifth grade team does and she even teaches in our win program she cheers on present and past students in sporting events at the middle and high school Miss keeper embodies the qualities of an outstanding educator she has dedication passion inovation and Care her unwavering commitment to Student Success and wellbeing makes her truly deserving of this teacher of the month of work Miss keeper we love you we miss you we wish you were here today we're glad you're not here today so you can take care of yourself we wish you the best of luck and [Applause] congratulations okay next have this SMB let me hear [Music] you the lafette staff has nominated an educator of the month who embodies the very essence of professionalism dedication and Excellence Dean fishbach Mrs fishbach exemplifies what it means to be prepared and professional in every as as of her role as a teacher she consistently plans with her students needs and learning styles at the Forefront of her mind and ensures she has all necessary materials at hand ready to tackle any challenge that comes her way but what truly sets her apart is her ability to prepare for each students's unique personality understanding that every child is different Mrs fishbach approaches each interaction with Grace and empathy fostering an environment where every student feels valued and understood professionally Mrs fishbach M aains an outstanding rapport with parents colleagues and remains up toate with curriculum advancements her dedication to her craft is evident in the way she approaches each day as a fresh opportunity to make a positive impact Mrs fishbach Embraces each new day with enthusiasm and optimism Mrs fishbox commitment extends far beyond the typical expectations of her role she arrives really early every single day demonstrating her unwavering dedication to both her students and her profession stepping into her class one can't help but be impressed by the vibrant learning environment she has created her walls adorned with student work and her engaging discussions with students reflect her work ethic and passion for Education Mrs fishbach's collaborative Spirit shines through in her interactions with her co-teachers and parent professionals she is not only a reliable team member but also a source of inspiration and guidance colleagues often turned her her for suggestions and ideas recognizing her wealth of wisdom and experience Mrs fishbox tireless dedication professionalism and passion for her work make her the epitome of an employee of the month she goes above and beyond for her students day in and day out leaving an indelible mark on those she encoun encounters it is my honor to nominate Miss deian fishbach for this well-deserved recognition [Applause] round of [Applause] oh at this time all of our students and parents come up to the stage to take a new picture care keep going I know h Coopers are coming the Coopers are coming looks yep all right big smiles good there you go I'll see you [Applause] [Laughter] I'm gonna get some new spice for today say get you see you anything [Music] enjoy your board meeting oh yes [Music] AG final at this time I'm actually turn the Flor over to Mr read through resolution motion Mr thank you Mr janzi because the final adopted budget it's unchanged from the tenative Bud we going to give an abbreviated uh introduction to it and read the resolution then this is a unique meeting because it's a public forum on the budget so after we read the resolution and we get a first in second motion on the budget it'll be open for public forum public is welcome to speak to the budget specifically and then it'll open up to board questions and then we'll take a vote so the 2425 budget is one that we reviewed administratively from the preliminarily adopted budget to where we are now we have had approval from the county office we have advertised according with statute and this budget provides for an increasing number of students at least 45 additional students are projected where not surprised if it meets the trend and that could be as high as 75 this budget particular allocates an increased amount of resources to programs and construction that is is the theme of this budget if there was one we are really doubling down on resources to really make a difference in the classroom push the needle on performance expansion of curriculum programs and Staffing um to meet New Jersey student learning standards and performance data we're also budgeting for Capital Outlet projects required for health and safety we're budgeting for inflation especially in the areas of Transportation maintenance and energy and we're developing a budget that supports an educational program that meets The Learning needs of all students while giving strong consideration to fiscal efficiency and the impact on the local taxpayer for many years boundbrook has been one of the most severely underfunded school districts and the school funding Reform Act of 2008 was modified by two to bring all school districts to full funding which the the formula failed to mean in the past because there wasn't enough revenues so for the first first time since the Corine Administration this budget is representative of full funding according to the school funding formula this is the first time it's been done to its Fidelity since 2008 so we are catching up with spending we are meeting a lot of pinned up needs in the district and all of this information tonight and from the preliminary is available on the website if anybody would like to see we've closed the under adequacy status here in the district in 2223 we were $3.4 million under adequacy under the adequacy model that the state calls thorough and efficient that got cut to 1.5 million last year and now it's 1.4 general fund Levy is increasing not to the maximum amount that it could but it's going to grow $294,990 and the healthcare cap adjustment of approximately $270,000 will be unappropriated and carried forward for future views state aid increased over $5 million in the general fund that's 16% increase we've waited for this money a long time and Dr Freeman and Educators here have very good plans on how to use this and concentrate in the classroom and on facility and also included in this budget is Capital Improvements this school we have all of what's called Gang bathrooms replaced that's all of the multiple use bathrooms are going to be redesigned and adaa compant we're going to do Paving throughout the district flooring we're going to buy a couple pieces of Machinery including a tractor and a grooming machine for the field that will extend the life of of field we're going to buy a new sound system [Music] for and um numerous other items and through numerous cost savings uh from shared services that are also posted on the website we've um been very efficient with this budget and shared costs with the municipality and other school districts including southbound Rook to create efficiencies for all parties and after all that is said and done the school tax rate because of the growth in ratables is going to decrease and the average assessed home in boundbrook of $418,500 will experience a school tax decrease of $140 so at this time I'd like to read the resolution and ask for a first and a second and then open it up for a public comment as recommended by the superintendent of schools be resolved by the bber Board of Education that the 24 25 final general fund budget be adopted in the amount of 55 M21 2016, N20 and a final general fund local tax levy in the amount of 13 m965 571 and a final special Revenue Fund in the amount of 3,364 616 and a final debt service budget in the amount of 1 M 66384 and a final debt service local tax levy amount of $777,500 2425 budget totals 60 m, $245,400 and whereas the bber board of education has been notified of state aid amounts and whereas such state aid amounts are for 2425 Equalization Aid is m381 1837 for 24-25 school choice Aid is $126,300 the 2425 categorical special education Aid is $2,241 787 for the 2425 categorical security Aid is $1,494 for the 2425 categorical Transportation Aid is 155,000 401 and the 2425 preschool education Aid is $2,507 196 and for the 2425 de service Aid is8 8 6,788 and whereas the bber board of education has estimated a state a amount pursuing the application and for 2425 the estimated extraordinary Aid amount is $300,000 whereby policy 6471 and NJ 6A 23A d7.3 provides that the Board of Education shall establish in the annual school budget a maximum expender children out that may be allotted for travel and expense reimbursement for the 2425 school year now therefore be resolved that the Bound Brook Board of Education hereby establishes the school district annual Travel maximum for the 2425 school year at a total of $57,500 and be had further resolved that the school business administrator shall track and record these costs to ensure the maximum amount is not exceeded and whereas due to consistent student enrollment growth instructional Staffing and program needs facility needs and other priorities set forth by the superintendent of schools the board is budgeting to maximum spending Authority an automatic enrollment adjustment to cap of $2,752 63,800 pleas thank you Mr I would be glad to offer [Music] first Mo a second M thank you and at this time Mr Jan to please the Lord we'll open it up for public hearing part if anybody from the public wishes to speak to the budget only you're welcome to come to the okay um seeing none we will close the public hearing and um open it up for board discussion any questions or comments regarding the budget for board members come I won't use that good I just want to you know I'm looking at all this and just looking at the documents that we've been set and everything that goes into this budget what a tremendous amount of work and what a job well done Mr Cory thank you [Applause] know as um as the operations committee and the board understands this is one of the largest group projects in the district we do every year so as much as I'm flattered by the comments I I really would like to share that with the whole administrative team that's here couldn't have put this together without your help and especially Robin and [Applause] Dr all right Mr G please do a roll yes sir Mr Dawson yes M Carlton yes Mr zco yes Miss M yes Mr minhas yes Miss Hy yes Mr Fulmer yes Mr Court president yes motion passes thank you thank you uh we are up to agenda item number three our student so now that we are approaching May a lot of the students and the sports teams have been ramping up in terms of like their classes and sports so to start um the boys tennis team are currently four and five with their senior night on the ninth at for Colonial Park we have a new team this year the boys volleyball team starting off as a JD team for are currently uh two and five with their next game being home at for at the gym the girl softball are current are currently fifth in I believe the county or the Skyland conference um they're 82 with they're SE night on May 13th at four on T Street field the boys baseball team are currently one and six with their next home game on the second against sou Amboy and Shack and field um there's been a lot of them so we have a full bter who's currently seventh in the State uh we have our senior night tomorrow at four at the field um we the team currently well not currently uh they won the hell relays a couple weeks ago for small teams and yeah so in other news uh there were the first world championship in Houston Texas where their executive board gave two presentations to a room of Judges about their effect on the community the our history Honor Society Rapa volunteered at the Battle of ground Brook on the weekend of April 12th at the Adam strats house uh basically they demonstrated the fight uh people got to T the house dress up I was there myself it was pretty fun I got lost in the house njsla testing is currently ongoing for freshman Juniors uh today and tomorrow is the science tester Juniors and those two days and Wednesday and Thursday are for the Freshman uh I believe sat tutoring is on going until late May AP testing will be starting on the 6th of May until the 17th which um we've been including more a classes in our curriculum starting a couple years ago and yeah basically all the classes are now studying and preparing for it which is important for college and stuff and lastly our it office is starting a student future professionals program where students will be able to basically get internship there and get hands-on experience with the application deadline will be May 3rd and will run from July 8th to August 15 excellent report thank you very much any comments or questions from our members so good no questions thanks [Applause] job all right at this time we are up to committee meeting reports item 41 is education Mr B thank you Mr President the education committee met uh recently there are two main topics that we focused on uh bilingual programming and some changes in the elector programming of the high school with regards to bilingual programming the district teachers and administrators have done a lot of work this year to um take a look at the Bilal program and there's a lot of positive changes to report uh the district administrators shared anecdotes from several different classes that they visited seeing students very excited about their work a lot of enthusiasm and engagement among the students um we are currently offering programming um in Spanish that many of our students have benefited from um there's a lot of feedback from uh School staff that the program is working particularly well for students um from other countries who are multilingual Learners however we've also gotten some anecdotal feedback from the families that there may be some concerns about um students losing gains they may have had in English in previous years the district continues to invest in looking at ways to on these students and are looking at some additional options for upcoming years that might promote um additional support such as an academy for students who are brand new to the country as well as bilingual ESL coaches to support social grou with respect to the high school there also a lot of great work going on there that we've spoken about in previous meetings regarding the program of study um particularly with the idea of changing some of the uh electives from a full year course to a half year course and how that might afford our students more flexibility with the that they might um need to graduate but also that might UST them uh the teachers are excited about creating new course offerings having some flexibility in how to present these materials and we're excited about potentially having more options for students so there may be some items coming forward uh to support that work over the summer so all in all is a very positive meeting about good things that are happening in our classrooms and behind the scenes with administrative support that the board can be excited excellent job thank you Mr Dawson any comments or questions for the education committee all right we'll move on to governance as you will have noted Mr B is not with us tonight I will just give you a brief description of some of the items that were discussed and then ask him you have any questions or comments afterward uh so we talked about the Strategic plan so we completed uh the exercises with our ref from njsba we just AIT for final report which we would then take and uh confirm uh how to transfer that to actually being a fiveyear plan that can be brought back to the board of education for adoption uh we also talked about how to incorporate that document in our meeting and planning process uh moving forward uh one of the things that we had spoken about as a board was the fact that the prior fiveyear plan really wasn't well known to all the members it certainly wasn't um a road map that we were conscientious and following as we tried to undertake our duty so we wanted to rectify that this new fiveyear plan um we intend to make it a part of the annual planning process so as we're setting our board go go goals for each year we intend to revisit the fiveyear play to see whether or not we are on uh Pace to accomplish the goals that we set out to achieve uh we would also uh plan for a state of the District of report from Dr Freeman on behalf of the administration uh likely two times maybe three per year maybe at the beginning and the end of school year once in the middle we're going to work with dran and the administrative team on exactly when how that would materialized that be a step Direction uh the second item that we discussed was actually the process for our superintendent valuation um so we just noted that that timeline is uh quickly approaching knowing that we have to have it completed by June 30th by Statute and then there are a number of checkpoints along the way so you can expect that process to kick off via email uh over the next week or so and then the last item that we talk about was actually a proposal that came from our operations committee meeting uh to create a special committee to partner with our friends from South Mount Brook um it was something I think that the governance committee confirmed just like operations would be a positive Improvement and help to um improve our our areas of communication with South Brook there were a couple of comments that they did make so I wanted to just confer with you on that after the fact I think everybody generally is support undering activity I will stop there because that's about the most that I remember but uh again happy to entertain any questions now or you can feel free to follow up with my all right hearing now let's move on to Human Resources this I'm G try this is better yes um this was I don't have many items to report on but one of the first things that we do when we get into the committee meeting is we always look at um just as Staffing so what we of course looked at was you know this includes transfers within the district Etc renewals non-renewals retirement Rea absin so with that on tonight's agenda two things that are very nice to see which is um the position of the director of special services uh the Behavior's position and also looking at the summer Aid rate for um the AIDS coming in to help with the teachers this summer the other thing that would suest is Mr Gorski has been working with our broker insurance broker just really trying to keep cost reasonable and we're looking at an increase actually less than a two-digit increase which has been much better than most districts so that is not going to and actually that's all that I have for this report sounds good thank you Miss H any comments or questions on human resources all right here we come you're on to item 4.

uh May 4 Saturday at 7M and Sunday at 3 right here on stage and while all that's going on the creativity show will also be in the gym so that will be featuring artwork from our other high school students that they've been creating throughout the year so we hope to see you there thanks for coming in for the update sounds like a fantastic progam great appreciate it thank you [Applause] com there are no responses on all right before we move on to uh our general business in item 6.1 I just want to acknowledge and thank Mr K who in the audience [Applause] tonight really appreciate you coming out uh at this time we are up to item 6.1 be it resolved that the bound report of education on recommendation of the superintendent approves the minutes for the following meetings regular and executive session meeting minutes for March 13 2024 have a motion motion thank you Mr Dawson a second second thank you Mr Z any comments roll call please yes sir Mr Dawson yes M Carlton yes Mr zco yes M yes Mr Minos yes Miss H yes Mr yes Mr yes motion pass thank you item 7.1 we resolve that the superintendent for approval resolution District personel resolution these are items 7.2 through 76 have a motion motion thank you Mr Dawson a second miss high thank you any discussion I have to abstain from 7.9 um yes get it on record as soon as we take uh quick question on 7.4 yes Mr um any reason why we can't ruce it yeah I think that's an item that we can talk about in session we have discuss executive okay fair enough and the other question is uh 7 forgive me my back 725 uh it's my understanding that um the gentleman is retiring at the end of the year so my question is why are we sending someone to a conference who's going to be retiring July it's part of the contract contract we Haven do it yet okay thank you Mr yes sir I asked I've asked this before but on 7.48 we're approving a leave of absence that took place from October 23 to March of 24 how does that happen that somebody goes on leave of absence and we didn't approve it until after it's done so it's a revision to something that was previously uh approved and rised the because I believe okay the other issue there was a question on 7.4 which you said have be referred to Executive session would be proper to table a v on 7.4 until after executive session so moved so now we have a motion to table item Mr janzi motion to table is a priority motion so we'll just go right to a vote sure please this is the table 7.4 move by Mr bmer is is there a second I'm sorry I miss um Mr bmer made a motion to table 7.4 we just need a second second okay we will go right to a vote um as that has no deliberation this is the table 7.4 Mr Dawson no Miss Carlton um hear no thank you Mr zco no M mus no Mr Minas yes m h no Mr Palmer yes for pres no motion to table fail okay so we are back to the original motion which is the resolution 7.2 through 7.60 with the inclusion of 7.4 any additional comments or questions all right hearing done give me a roll call please Mr Dawson yes M Carlton abstain 7.2 2 and 7.36 to 7.60 approve everything else yes to everything else Mr z um 7.9 exstension but yes to everything else 7.9 yes on thank you m m yes Mr Minas yes m h yes Mr bmer yes with the exception of 7.4 on 7.4 so and Mr Jan yes motion passes thank you Mr Gori we are up to item 8.1 be it resolved that the B Board of Education approves resolutions as outline the district education resolutions 8.2 to 8.17 have a motion thank you Mr Z second second thank you m any discussion s please I just want to say one thing that I'm always happy to see is the professional development that's offered to the staff I I think it's very important to just look for opportunities and bring it back to those who you work with and there was something else but I can't remember it's a good start any other comments or questions I'll just say thank you to the PTO specifically for item 8.13 um with all the extra that they put in the fact that they're able to help cover costs uh for the classrooms if there are any other comments we can go ahead and take a Mr Dawson yes M Miss Carl abstain 8.7 to 8.17 uh yes to every thank you Mr Z yes m m yes Mr minous yes yes m h yes Mr Palmer yes Mr pres yes motion passes thank you item 9.1 do you resolve that board of education approves the resolutions as outl board action resolutions this is 9.2 9.42 have a motion motion thank you Miss carlt a second second thank you Miss mus any discussion I do for 9.32 I think there's a typo in there it said 2023 instead of 2024 9 yeah sorry 9.32 this is the professional development for board members yeah is it supposed to say 2023 no but you may have older I have the one okay I apologize correct I missed the update sorry just want to thank the uh donation from prevention resources to the district appreciate it thank you for um 9.15 um R family medicine there's an op in for coverage at football games are we going to opt in yeah any other comments or questions I just want to acknowledge that in addition to the donation that Mr Z pointed out we are graciously accepting one two three four five other donations so I won't acknowledge each one by name but just thank you to everybody who continues to support our students in the community uh Mr Gori can we please do a roll yes sir Mr Dawson yes Carl uh yes with the exception of 9.28 to 9.30 9.35 to 9.36 and 9.38 to 9.42 obain not thank you Mr Z yes M yes Mr yes m i yes Mr bmer yes Mr Ji yes thank you we have not provided any other matters to come before the board so we now open bus committee I have one topic so a student came up to me last week and he was asking me why um grad 2024 graduates are allowed to basically wear country schools gu um and I just wondering if there was a reason why something that I wasn't aware of um so if you we can have a conversation tomorrow about we can have a conversation about tomorrow okay sorry any other from the members all right then we are open to the public for discussion hello everyone Joe Santa Community Middle School I know we've thanked a lot of people tonight but it's an ongoing support every year for the Community Middle School like to thank specifically um Hagen chamber Hagen chamber funeral home as well as the elves for their generous generous donations and ongoing support every year thank you very much [Applause] any other comments or questions all right uh one other uh member in the crowd that I forgot to acknowledge here Dr Christen M just wanted to say thank you for attending the meeting [Applause] all right at this time you're up to 13.1 move to ex session resolve that the B Board of Education enters executive session as by njsa 101 purp outl the motion under ite and motion Mo Mr thank you Miss allv your e e e all right we are back session it education approves resolution appr HIV cases under high school this is item 14.2 have a motion thank you second thank you [Music] m Mr yes M Carlton yes yes yes Mr Min yes m h yes Mr Palmer yes Mr President yes motion passes 151 be resolve that the B Board of Education approves the resolutions as outling approval of HIV cases on middle and elementary schools this is item 15.2 and 15.3 have a motion thank you m m second second thank you Mr Man house roll call please Mr Dawson yes M Carlton abstain Mr zco yes yes Mr minus yes m h yes Mr bmer yes yes item 16.1 I will now entertain a motion to miss and Miss Carlton all in [Music] favor Jo a couple

Rock Creek Elementary Allison lyans media [Applause] specialist Schmidt Elementary Ashley Brown secretary Smith Elementary Kimberly heson Administrative Assistant Southside Elementary Amy Warren mm L teaching assistant Taylorville Elementary Liliana Paula Lam Madrid Vasquez media specialist yeah you start around so okay Central Middle School Nicole Hollander library media specialist Norths Side Middle School Kelly Bose am ministrative assistant Columbus East High School Jackie Jones assistant senior project coordinator Columbus North High School amilda ly Vasquez goar family engagement interpreter CSA new Tech High School derell and brown Administrative Assistant Johnson Early Education Center Kathy stoton special education teaching assistant medal adult education center and Bright Beginnings Brooke Ching ly teaching assistant ISC Carrie Meisner student records Clerk operations center Andrew mccom Supply and delivery lead so before you and standing we have almost 300 years of service anywhere ranging from two years to 44 years of service with bcsc so standing before you remarkable people and we have about probably about 1,400 of them, 1500 that show up each and every day to serve our students on behalf of bcsc I thank all of you and congratulations on your recognition and um let's have a great end of the school year at this time we'll shake hands with the school board and have a great evening [Applause] [Laughter] conations you congratul congatulations [Applause] so you need to license [Applause] oh [Applause] okay next on the agenda I think we have Mr David Clark to take us through Columbus North High School cohort spotlight good evening we're getting the timer ready for me here U thank you for allowing us an opportunity to present on a practice or something that we've done here at Columbus North High School clearly you've got uh the packet ahead of time so you know we're going to talk a littleit about the cohort model the um first thing I want to talk quickly is the infographic that you get share shares a little bit about Columbus North High School you know obviously things that we think stand out for us are some of the academic successes with the AP test the Dual credit uh and the this past year the Indiana Department of Education college readiness award which has been very very uh helpful for us as we've done some a lot of good professional development this year other things that stand out are around our our foundation our pillars udl PBIS um and of course I think this is one 156 years that we have been a school in this city so those are things that stand out for us as our infographic tonight we want to talk to you a little bit about the introduction of the cohort model you've heard about it you've made some decisions last year about it we felt like we wanted to share some things about 15 months ago we were approached by senior leadership here at bcsc with a about a model of Education that included building relationships which last it emphasized employability skills and it helps individuals with things such as long-term memories even when they all learn differently so after some preponderance of the data we felt that we had been given an offer we couldn't refuse so we went with that and it's been very We Believe very helpful we're going to share with you tonight some really anecdotal data I know that Mr Edwards is prepared in the near future to share some hard data about it uh personally I feel like anecdotal data the story trumps the data and that's why we wanted to set a foundation for you with the story and how that has worked here and then let Mr Edwards build upon that with the hard data quickly you know your our cohorts freshman cohort won't spend a lot of time with that sophomore cohort Junior cohort and our senior cohort so those are our four different cohorts ton our goal again is to share some foundational things for you I'm going to turn time over to we're going to do the ABC's squared here so our goals have been around attendance behaviors credits and communication so we call that our ABC squared and I'm going to let each cohort principal talk to you a little bit about each one of those goals uh to start us off tonight we be Mrs Hester Jen thank you thank you I'm going to talk a little bit about attendance and it is through a story of a young lady who missed 56 school days last year and earned only five credits as a freshman this school year she's only missed four days and already in one semester has earned 10 credits so she's double what she did in a year in just one semester the strategies that we use to get this young lady to move forward the first one would be relationship building through Sparks so we have a slide basically for every student I have 600 roughly it fluctuates just a little bit and so we talk to the kids about who's your trusted adult what are you interested in what are you passionate about what are your goals and how can we support you from there we move into doing onetoone meetings with either our counseler academic coach or sometimes myself and those meetings result in developing strategies for the individual child we talk to them and try to have them tell us what their barriers are so we can work with them to develop strategies that will work also we do checkin so that would be our third um strategy and I've already talked to you a little bit about the outcome the attendance increased by 26 percentage points with going from 56 stays absent to four and again the credits from 5 to 15 so I've enjoyed working in this model and watching that kind of success with attendance and now Braya noting will talk to you a little bit about our behaviors okay good evening we have a couple examples up there one is a whole group example one is an individual uh student example through consistent review of data weekly we meet with our cohorts um our team we were able to identify some behaviors and how we could address those proactively and reduce the number of major referrals so one cohort went from eight major referrals what first semester to one the second semester um student B we identifi at the beginning of the year as a student that we may need to wrap around had a parent meeting um all these services in place connected with them and they've gone from 16 days of OSS to zero so three key things there communication relationships and consistency so uh that has shown an outcome of decreased unexcused absences decreased office discipline referrals and really we just look at how we can support them so they are in the office but we're supporting them rather than writing that office referral and then increase in credits all right and Levi Simpson I get the privilege to talk to you a little bit about our credits the first one uh we have up here is looking at uh someone who's starting their High School career and we're able with the cohort model have those relationships and those Communications very early on to be able to provide those wraparound services and uh change uh what program that individual may be in uh to help them find their strength and what works best for them the other individual someone who's a little bit later in their High School career uh came in we're at 23 credits and we're sitting here today at the end of April and we've uh got a cap and gown ready for that individual they're uh actually at a part-time employment right now looking at full-time employment starting this summer and he's this individual is tickled to death that that's going to be happening so these wraparound services that we're able to provide leading to academic Su success early middle and late in their in their High School career which is a lot of exciting to watch and and be a part of and I'm Corey Williams talk a little bit about our last C communication so we have a goal to contact 100% of our families by the end of the year um so last year when we pulled data uh we had just over 2,000 parent contacts or family contacts for the whole school year we're at over 9,000 and that's through the end of quarter three so um we will be easily over 10,000 by the end of the school year confirmed family contacts um and that's 84% of our families we have reached right now um and a lot of that's through intentional planning um we as cohorts keep track of which families we've communicated with so it's a lot of communication within our cohort um to know who's touch to base with what families and then intentionally reaching out to um you know the kids that are always here doing what they're supposed to be doing um but maybe we don't see the full picture so making sure we intentionally reach out to those families um and know that we're here to support them um so a lot of collaboration within our our cohorts to pull families in and make sure they know we're here to support them so our again our goal was to share some stories because you hear about the individual and you see the changes in their lives and you feel the impact that it's had we're very supportive of this particular model we've also done some surveys we've did three surveys we got feedback from families I would highlight a couple things the first one connected the last one connected it talks about connecting to school with their child teacher feedback we've uh did a survey with our uh teachers and again I would highlight better relationships communication and support and kids keeping kids from falling through the cracks is what this cohort model has done for us the last survey was student feedback so we interviewed a few students and we want to take a little bit of time and let you see let those students tell you in their own voice how that worked uh my name is Elijah Murray I'm a part of cohort 24 I've had a lot of positive interaction with my cohorts my counselor Miss fresh hour she's been a great help and helping me apply for schools and scholarships she's also provided a lot of recommendations for school schools and scholarships my principal Mr Simpson he's helped me receive the M Community scholarship back in January at the beginning of the year also I was experiencing some family troubles with my family moving and me wanting to stay out here that I kind of had to navigate around um Miss FES Mr Clark Mr Simpson he was they were all a great help in that process to ensure that I got my diploma here in May um I had some um trouble um organizing my classes so I went to the cohort and they really got me through it I think uh you can get um close with the cohort like make sure you guys have a good relationship with each other and not having to uh have a new cohort every year it's it's nice to have someone um someone that you already know um it's allowed me to connect with the administrators and you know have weekly or bi-weekly meetings with them about my grades and just how I'm doing um allowing me to feel more comfortable in the school because compared to the last system they didn't talk to much but this system you get to get to know them you get to work on your grades I mean it's way much better than last year's so I will get a pass from M knock using M knock and we will I'll go in there in her office and we'll talk about my grades and based on my grades we'll make goals off of those grades and you know what I should prioritize on working on so I can raise those grades up um because I because I have a set group of people that I work with um I come into the office clot and I talk with you know Miss uh miss manto or Miss molting miss stemnock any any of the co 2024 2025 excuse me cohorts about anything and I mean I feel comfortable enough they call me an honorary office member because I'm here so much I think the cohort model has definitely helped me move closer towards graduation my first two years I kind of struggled and I F I thought like oh I'm have to do a ton of summer school work but now it's just been limited down to like one or two classes and I feel like I'm on the track to being you know being able to graduate next year um I feel like a corer team means like more outgoing and like the team we have is very caring and like you stay staying with more people gives you like reassurance and like it feel it makes me feel better about it since we don't have to be switching people over and over since you stay with that same people makes you feel better you get to know them you just feel comfortable in the place you're at I think since last year wasn't like very supportive I didn't feel very supported I would just come down here a little bit and it would just be like oh you're doing not too great great and like not you need to get better this year I feel like it switched my personality it just made me feel more motivated that we have more people supporting you with the gore yeah so I want to conclude with just saying we realize that any system we're new and this is our first year we feel like we've made some good strides already but every system has some things to improve on we've identified a few things where we need to be um contact with students who consistently follow expectations so some of our kids who are always doing things right haven't had those contacts we realize that even those students need to touch base so we need to get better at that and then tracking the increasing number of options for graduation you'll hear more about that if you stay on the board very long different diploma types and different Pathways and different points instead of credits and and those so we've got to be able to stay on track of all that and monitoring all that and then just continuing to improve communication with various programs that our students attend U around a CVP CSA mcdal C4 improving those processes so that that is our sharing this evening and would open the board to any questioning that you might have for any of my assistant principles questions Mr um first a a comment I thought it was um very telling that um the first two attendance and behavior um credits seem to come up in everything and in a positive way so um I thought that was very encouraging my question is um oh well two questions first first one is um how is the work that igrad has been doing how how do you dovetail what the new part of the cohorts along with what igad's doing to get kids to graduate they've been great partners with us they have uh at Columbus North they are part of each cohort so we've taken our igad coaches and they they actually are part of one of the cohorts and so they've been able to specialize as well it's a little change for them but yeah they they attend uh the leader of the IAD program attends each one of the cohort meetings they meet every Monday morning for an or whatever they need there and that igad person is there with each of those meetings talking about the students and their their needs that they have and my other question or comment maybe it's a comment which isn't necessarily directly towards you I think this is more towards Mr Edwards but U the work you said he's coming to us with in the future um when this was first proposed there was some push back in a survey from teachers I supported it anyway because I thought any program that focuses a group of adults working on attendance behavior and homework can't be bad um but I would love to see down the road a a survey of the the teachers at East and North and and their reaction after a year to what they think of this program but thank you for the presentation sure yes other questions Rick I'd be curious how any of the assistant principles here would reflect on how their job is changed from uh maybe two years ago to this year what the experience has been how is the way you spend your time different um as you've moved into the cohort system well I would say my collaboration time has greatly increased um and my working kind of on my my own different tasks individually has decreased which I find to be rewarding and wonderful I have loved working with the team we all did a a very um intentional interviewing process to figure out which personalities would fit best with each team and I I'm thrilled I love coming to work every day and I love working with a team and I love being able to work with students and families more and by myself less so thank you Miss Hester would be the only one really who came from the old role of assistant principal to the new role but I don't want to keep anyone else if you want to share okay last year when we voted on this I was a little bit hesitant to vote anything other than no because at the time we didn't have job descriptions Clarity around how this process was going to work but having a senior at East and then her her boyfriend actually goes to North Elijah that spoke first on the video um I've kind of seen both perspectives from both schools um I think the thing that I really like is that uh you've got even though you haven't hit all the kids there's probably some kids that are making it through High School relatively easily uh those touch points help from a parents perspective but the fact that you've got kids that are probably at the opposite end of that that have had struggles in some way shape or form um I just want to commend uh both Columbus North and East uh with the effort that's taking place to make this work I know early on there to Dale's point there was a lot of questions about how it was going to work out um but I I think from what I have seen uh just the experience of talking to my daughter and talking to most likely my future son-in-law um it just really feels like uh there's been a good outcome in the end um The Challenge will be uh finding a way to have more regular communication like we had tonight throughout the school year to help all of us and the community understand how the extra money we're spending by putting more people in place is going to help give us better outcomes so the challenge I would give to you is think about how you can do this more often um to just help us be reassured that we're doing the right things thank you yeah thank you yeah I think the only thing I'll tack on is and kind of going with Mr nen I'd like to see an update from the teachers that was one of the hesitancies that I had going into the vote um so I think I Ted that to Mr Edwards yep over there and then I really appreciate everything I've talked with a lot of my friends that are teachers and a lot of some students that I know as well and they've they've spoke very highly of the program um and even the team's members so I appreciate the the support you brought and I think anytime you can bring 80% of your time around those 20% of at RIS students we're going to get a good bang for the buck on that I I think the only other thing I would say is like when we're doing the review at a higher level is is I'd like to see your reflection of the aggregated data just to see before and after I know that was you said it's coming so I just want to like the attendance I think those are all critical inputs into the success uh of the future bulldogs and Olympians in that case and then the last piece is just because East isn't represent here I'd like to add to that reflection the support structure for the one assistant principal that's being shared between two cohorts because I I know that was one of my concerns going in was how would you stretch across two classes so not necessarily for you but when we get the update over overall I think that would be great stuff to hear and I've just got a couple quick comments and first thank you all very much for the information on the ab c squared and um I I will be anxious to uh to see some of the hard data in terms of graduation rate attendance and so forth and then um lastly it was especially great to see and hear from the kids I thought so so thank you very much for that thank you all I'd just like to say thank you for doing a great job who that okay thank you Mr Clark can I see one more yes of course Mr okay I thought I was done but but I the other thing that hasn't been mentioned is this was kind of made as an offer that you couldn't refuse with a very short notice and I am totally impressed how quickly you put it together and rolled it out I can't say enough about it it didn't seem like a year of chaos it seemed like um a great startup here yeah uh if I could clarify that when I said that uh it wasn't like it was forced upon us right it was an offer I couldn't refuse because I saw the value of it so just a point of clarification from that and and I've been blessed I've got four very good assistant principles and they've been AED ing not only in my life but for the students and the staff here at Columbus North so that has really made things work really well here my assistant principles and I would say great job getting your infrastructure built out I mean I already see the cohort names on the offices I mean you wasted no time in this shows good thank you M Clark and team appreciate it I I will add uh first of all thank you for the presentation very good to hear the stories I know we're going to have some data coming to share with you and and we're seeing some some really good numbers um on the topic of data uh CA did survey teachers back January or so I think we had the conversation I pulled up the te survey results from maybe our February collaboration meeting uh and and and very very positive outcom from that from a numbers perspective rating things on a scale of 1 to five and also the comments they did come up some opportunities for improvement they they're practical things about about this seems to be working really well but maybe we could tweak this a little bit so we have a page of those as well but overall with them um surveying the teachers and bringing that back to us uh we're continue to work but we do have some data to to work through on that thank you okay next on the agenda we have school board member reports can I start with Mr Brian at the end do you have any Mr major nothing new for both Redevelopment or Health Trust thank you Mr Stenner business Advisory Group met uh last week uh and spent time on uh uh Mr Edwards shared with the community members on the community Advisory Group uh about senior projects and it hadn't really occurred to me until Mr Edwards started to talk about it with uh different high school buildings somebody says senior project and I think I know what they're talking about because I had two boys that did senior projects uh but with so many different buildings when you say senior project it might mean something different between East and North uh virtual pathway McDow um or the CSA school so there's been some effort and Dr Edwards was getting some feedback from the community on ideas about where senior projects go from from here uh do we continue to see the the diversity uh is it time to uh look at Best Practices um so those are some of the decisions that'll be coming up thank you Mr St I have no new uh reports Mr Grims um a couple things here uh first all from the school Foundation some of this Mr sener shared on my behalf at the last board meeting but Saturday we had great weather for the fourth annual good better best uh 5K that the proceeds go to support um recognizing a bcsc teacher for What's called the Grimes Wallace outof thee boox award we had a record number of nominations this year just as I believe Dr pleek shared that there were a record number of nominations for building Teacher of the Year this year as well but uh to repeat what Mr Stenner said we because of the record number of nominations outstanding nominees um Kaa Hill third grade at Rock Creek and Christa BTO uh special edit Smith were our first ever um duel winners this year and then um also um from the school Foundation the annual campaign begins May one and anybody out in the community that's curious about um the future of the Wizards game that has not been forgotten about it has simply been shifted this year um and that will take place closer to the beginning of back basketball season uh November 9th and then lastly uh from the legislative front uh the Indiana school boards Association two or three or four of us that regularly attend the regional meetings uh are missing that meeting tonight and see more for this one but Mr nen uh went to Indianapolis and picked up some information from us I would say I don't like to do this but at the risk of maybe kind of sort of tooting our own horn uh this board was recognized by the Indiana School Board Association uh for being a recipient of the exemplary uh government's award for participating in professional activities put on by isba and um yeah so lot of uh new things that came out of the short session that uh we will be working on uh in terms of policy so that's it for me no updates from my committees I don't have any updates okay cabinet reports Dr Phillips thank you I just have two slides this evening so I will uh just present in from here this is just an update from the February ADM count I know it's hard to see on the screen there but uh we are uh down 61 students from the fall count to the spring count which is um well below our usual decline uh from a budget standpoint I always budget for a loss of 150 students in there um that's about been the worst year in the last decade or so um so from a financial standpoint it's a net um gain against budget here but the really interesting story is on the next slide um around the senior class so uh I looked this year wondering about the cohort model looking for data um for the most part in the past this is just high school students loss from uh the ADM change from Fall to spring so between 2017 and 22 we had an average of8 fewer high school students in the February count compared to the fall count these past two years was 76 and 80 so two years is at least getting us closer to what we could call a trend um but when you net out the early grad so the the students who graduated uh in midterm uh the average of the previous five years was 59 and last year was 42 this year is 39 so the lowest that we've been in in the last seven or eight years so it's a positive trend um and our high school staff deserve credit for their work building relationships with students now these are not EX exact we don't know that these are the same students they could be some students that left and others that enroll but from a net perspective it's a a nod to the cohort teams work and the staff at CSA C4 and CVP who really build relationships with kids and try to keep them keep them engaged in school any questions about the the February ADM count the the only question I had was do we understand the numbers enough and the reason why they're changing are they changing corporations are they dropping out of school or are they moving all of those things are included in all the historical data but to I have not broken it down any more granularly than what you see on the screen at this point questions thank you Dr Phillips looks like our slide jumped ahead to Old business but public comments would be our second opportunity right now actually it would and and again we did not have anyone sign up for public comments tonight okay okay old business so have some items uh I'm requesting for approval starting with the old business just one uh two sets of minutes uh minutes of the public hearing of April 15th and the regular Schoolboard meeting of April 15th so I would ask for your approval of the those two sets of minutes I move that we approve the minutes from the two meetings mentioned in uh number 3A as presented by Dr Roberts second thank you Mr Grimes Mr Schultz all those in favor of approving um meeting minutes as as shown in item 3A please say I I all those opposed say nay motion carries thank you that'll take us into my request for approval new business items you have a list of supplemental contracts in your packet as well as one field trip no professional leaves uh tonight uh school fundraisers I think just two both of them from this building uh you have claims in payroll uh dated April 29th a little over $1.1 million the payroll for March 8th through April 5th a total of about $3.7 million that only actually covered one work period also have student handbooks some changes were listed out for you uh those changes primarily just alignment and catching up with policy changes that we make and then getting calendars and names and so forth else correct uh letter G is permission to award a change order to the HVAC Improvement for the GMP contract for Schmidt Elementary also the last one permission to award a change order to educational Improvement for the GMP contract that covered a lot of things but specifically we are concluding the High School athletics piece of that right now and I believe that is it ask for your approval please thank you I'd like to move that we break out line item F 2024 2025 student handbook recommendations second okay thank you all right do I have a motion for uh for B through e and g& H I move that we approve new business items in Number Four uh items B through e and g&h as presented by Dr Roberts second thank you Mr gron Mr Schultz any questions or comments by the team on those items no okay all those in favor of approving item Four B through e and G and H please say I I I all those opposed say nay motion carries I have item F left so do so do we start with a motion here I move that we approve um item 4f as presented thank you Mr Nan second thank you Mr Grimes any questions or comments by the team I have a couple questions consistent with last year uh just so everybody understands what this one is a student handbook change one of the changes is for uh both fod and Southside to no longer have visitors during lunch I think we just heard some very great work at a high school level of Engagement with parents and family um it'd be really good I think to uh continue to allow parents and family to engage during lunchtime and get used to being in the schools so um my hope is is that we actually someday change the student handbooks to allow parents to re-engage with their with their child in a lunch setting at school I I do have a question on on this one in the handbook so a parent cannot necessarily go to the school but if they'd like to go to school and collect their child for lunch is that still available to parents in all schools okay and I would just add to Mr Major's comments there because we did talk about this last week or last year um 10 of the 11 buildings uh there was some some Waring there with with fodrea that's a little out of uh fodrea does actually we just need to make sure this clarification is in their handbook they do allow visitors um they allow parents to come in and and eat with their students in the building they just do not do it in the cafeteria because of of crowding and so forth so fabria does have that Southside we approved last year again after conversation so we had that listed again this year but it wasn't necessarily changed for Southside that's what they had but fodrea was listed as not allowing and they do actually allow parents in the building to have lunch just clarification okay and I have a question on it looks like point two it says updated School Meal prices I haven't seen an approval for School Meal prices yet or did I miss it Dr Boseman do we have those coming up yeah May 13th we'll have those those changes so just coming okay it's coming and then I mean I Echo with Mr major I I know like when we discussed uh prohibiting parents from eating with their children's in the school cafeteria a lot of the discussion was around safety space and uh obviously bringing in outside food I would applaud I believe the smallest school is still the one that is allowing uh parents in um and so not necessarily the way I would engage with the school but I have had several parents that have emailed frustrations around this and so I think although they can take their kids if you look at where Southside is located I think you're on at least a 10-minute drive to any restaurant uh and so by the time you circle around and I know one of the accom ation was eating outside but as you can see the school calendar does not exactly leave itself to the best of weather it's between rain and snow um so I don't think either of those accommodations are adequate when we're trying to seek parental engagement but at the end of the day um that is the face and so I just want to make sure the parents of CSA fadri and Southside are made aware that that's they ask before us thank you so I have a motion in a second to approve item 4f all those in favor please say I I I all those opposed say nay nay passes 52 thank you Dr PL I request approval of the HR recommendations presented this evening in the packet you will find 17 recommendations two are retirements seven resignation seven appointments and one leave of absence I move that we approve the HR recommendations as presented by Dr plee second thank you Mr gramson Mr major all those in favor of approving item five Human Resources recommendations please say I I I all those oppose say nay motion carries I do request additional HR recommendations this evening there were two names listed in your packet thank you Dr ple I also move that we approve the additional HR recommendations as presented by Dr ple second thank you Mr Grimes and Mr major all those in favor of approving item six additional Human Resources recommendations please say I I I all those opposed say nay motion carries thank you thank you very much a isn't that sweet okay we starting with me Mr Nan could we please um so I won't tell you how many years ago was when I started teaching but one of the first things I learned was that two of the most important people for a classroom teacher are the custodian and the secretaries in the main office and and I know that it goes Way Beyond those people that that help teachers and students do a better job at what they're trying to do and I just appreciate that we do a little bit to recognize those people tonight I want to Second all the classified staff I mean the great having so many nominations um I know my mother was one of them back in the day when I was Taylorville and all that these Tas and janitors and everyone in the building to keep it running like a smooth operation it's great to see uh the celebrations uh take place I do have a couple asks um and we were actually discussing this just ahead of the board meeting was looking to the administration to give us a brief on S sp1 and what does it entail in terms of high school graduation Pathways uh we've seen a couple of them on social media not that we want to trust everything that's on social media but it seemed very legitimate and what how they were breaking down but it'd be great to hear um how that may impact us especially given our cohort model and how are we better prepared to support it um I I've also asked um to reiterate the reading risk and understanding what is our exposure in terms of uh incoming third graders um at the risk of being held back I know I mean personally that affects my family I have one daughter that's on the bubble um I know a lot of others that are fearful as as well that have children on the bubble and I think seeing what what Solutions we may have to get those childrens off the bubble or come around them the best we can and then lastly I think I just challenged this board um we made a move around the public and the public wasn't able to see the ask um so again I think this is a good challenge about this board packet although I I recognize there's some sensitive and I would never propose the HR data to be shared but I don't think there's any harm in being transparent and sharing that packet so that the parents of Southside and the parents of CSA fodrea if they so choose to have a comment could have been here and given those comments and so I received two emails late yesterday um as a Southside parent I encourage both of them but neither of them had time to make it today due to sporting events but maybe they would have if they would have known that ahead of time that this was here and I think again we as a board have to recognize we're making changes in people's lives giving them the visibility to be able to answer and provide accurate feedback in terms of a question rather than just a generic 2024 2025 handbook changes I don't think that's on the error of transparency on that one um first of all congratulations to Dr Phillips congratulations and uh congratulations to all the classified staff that uh we're recognized here this evening thank you very much to the north administrative team for sharing info regarding the cohort model and lastly um best wishes for a safe and fun May the 4th be with you prom this weekend good um my my predecessor on the build board was Jeff Caldwell and um I get to speak with him from time to H time and we talked about the upcoming decision tonight and um he said wien don't screw this up this is the biggest decision you're going to make on the board so I I again am excited for our choice and think we're in good hands um last last board meeting we don't give names and such um in the HR recommendations but we did actually approve um Dr pleek leaving us in our last board packet we sort of skimmed by that it wasn't highlighted but there have been some very public um announcements regarding Dr ple and her own superintendent um spot that we're just so proud of her for so I wanted to acknowledge that and say congratulations um thanks as other board members have said I want to express thanks to North both for their report tonight and for hosting the board meeting um additionally feeling grateful and want to Express gratitude about the search process that we've been through a lot of folks to thank I want to thank the students the parents citizens uh taxpayers other stakeholders who all participated in our survey and helped us identify the kind of superintendent that we need moving forward as a corporation uh special thanks to all those folks in the same categories who reached out um directly to me as a board member reached out to other board members um to help uh help us make better decisions I think I want to thank the Columbus Educators Association and their leadership for their input that they made into our selection process again that was helpful and helped us make a better decision want to thank Dr Phillips for his strong application and uh great interviews with the board um excellent uh harbinger of what's to come uh thank Mrs Weldon for her expert leadership on the recruitment selection process uh brought it in on time on budget is that kind of a C thing to say uh thank Miss Chrisman for her Steady Hand and organizational abilities keeping everything running smoothly I know that Mr Schultz um helped us out with a excellent design for the process that we used for second interviews uh with our candidates that was that was stellar and I want to thank Mr Grimes for putting in extra effort uh with the reference checks that's an important part of the process and it was very helpful uh at this juncture I just see good things ahead for bcse I'm very excited about the future thank you so Logan mentioned the board packet one thing that was in the board packet was a field trip that was being requested approval for and that field trip is for Smith Robotics and their trip this week to the Vex World robotics championships in Dallas so I just want to wish uh all the students and family and and faculty that is attending that event uh the best of luck uh the other thing um I want to congratulate all seniors who have likely now completed their senior projects and rang their Bells at their respective schools I was lucky enough to be interviewed by four different students and it pays again to have a senior uh that's part of that process so I was interviewed four times and my wife was interviewed as well so we feel very grateful that those students had trust in us to talk to us um but what's really important is to to be able to thank all the teachers the teachers AIDS the mentors coaches coaches friends and family who supported those seniors along the way uh this last week I was able to attend two different uh senior project presentations one at this school and one at East and uh it was really nice to see um all the different people people that come out and support uh to sit and listen to the kids talk to give those kids advice and guidance and to then shake their hands when they're finished uh as they exit the room so I just want to thank all those people that participate in that process along the way because it is super helpful for those kids to be successful in the end so thank you I want to thank uh Mr Clark and and I won't call you all assistant principales I'm going call you principls for being here and showing us how great of a job that is being done here at Columbus North I also want to uh congratulate Dr Phillip even though he didn't come up and Shake our hands I'm done yeah we missed that goodness come on sh everybody does what Pat says the eyes and cross the te right okay our next school board meeting uh will be on May 13th at 3 6:30 p.m.

e 5 Four 3 2 1 good afternoon it is Monday April 29th um 2:30 p.m. and uh my name is Michael Herbert I am the Ashland Town manager I'm joined here with our assistant Town manager Jen ball and we're here to discuss the town meeting warrant scheduled for May 1st um Wednesday May 1st 7 p.m at Ashland High School um annual town meeting you should say um this is a town meeting that we're required to have every year by Statute and by Charter um it's a meeting where we handle a lot of the I guess you could say routine things that need to happen in the operations of a town uh most notably the budget and again other operational warrant War article items um that we go through each year and so our purpose here is to run through those um and give you a little bit more background information on them we have some people in the audience and people online so we'll open it up the questions after each warrant article after we describe each warrant article and again the purpose is to really uh give you the the resident and taxpayer a little more information so you can come to town meeting a little bit more informed um and again we do this as a service to the community and uh hopefully you find it helpful Jen do you have anything you want to add okay all right so we'll just jump right into everything so um so article one is Town reports uh this is going to be an opportunity for uh myself just to give a basically an overview of some of the bigger projects that were authorized by town meeting and the status of those and where they stand um I anticipate also seeing a um a presentation from the school committee regarding the fy2 budget so pretty routine thing um we'll try to keep it brief so we can get on to uh the real business of the evening if you will and with that being said we'll go to article two which is the fiscal year 2025 budget um so this is my 10th budget uh since I've been here uh I started as the assistant Town manager and finance director and sub subsequently moved to town manager and I will say this has probably been the most challenging budget uh since I've been here um and there are a number of reasons for that notably we're basically Limited in how we can raise revenue plus just like everybody at home we're seeing their cost increase we're seeing our cost increase here in the municipal budget and so the bottom line is that when we put everything together and we put all the requests together and we made cuts and cut back on on different uh requests looked at our fixed costs and look at what we're getting into Revenue um we actually were faced with a $1.2 million deficit that we needed to uh make up and so this this year we're using what's uh what we call one-time revenues um to help make up that deficit and onetime revenues are not a sustainable way to fund a budget an ongoing operating budget because again it's one-time revenues so we we had to get creative this year and uh to make up that deficit we dipped into arpa Funds American Rescue plan act funds that we had designated to help fix up the uh Valentine property um we also utilized uh what we call our overlay Surplus accounts to um to help make up that deficit um plus we're also using the special education stabilization fund again this year which is something that we did last year um but just to you know give you an overview of how we get to this point um I think probably the the simplest quickest and most illustrative example I can give is um each year our property taxes are allowed to go up 2 and a half% not individual homeowners property taxes but the tax levy itself so 2 and a half% plus whatever we have in New Growth um New Growth are things like new developments that happen if you do an addition on your home that usually increases the assessed value that's classified as new growth and historically what uh the town has done and this goes back to the 80s is relied on new developments um to basically increase the tax base for the town um and of course you know new developments they bring in more Revenue but they also have costs associated with it and they impact our quality of life uh but again traditionally this town um as opposed to some of our surrounding towns have chosen to utilize new growth and new developments to essentially help subsidize the budget but over the last 5 six years what we have done is we have proactively taken a slow growth approach so one of the things that we've done probably remember is we've bought a lot of property over the years and so not only do we basically incur the expense for acquiring that property but we also take it off the tax roles so it's kind of a double Financial impact again you get the benefits of increased quality of life open space Etc but there is a cost to it um and so this year we actually have less New Growth than we had last year and if you look at it all we're probably about $800,000 less this year in New Growth than we were at our Peak a few years ago um and so just again that's kind of a circular way of getting to my point but um our 25% increase is $1.3 million this year so 1, 328,000 so against that just our health insurance expenses and our building and liability expenses went up $1.1 million so before we even start looking at programs Services Etc out of that $1.3 million2 and a half increase 1.1 million is already spoken for right off the bat just to pay for fixed costs like our insurance um so that is kind of an example um a quick example of the the financial squeeze that that we find ourselves in and this is something that we're going to have to have a discussion about over the next year anytime you have a budget situation just like at home it's the same way for an organization or a company same way for a municipality when you have a budget deficit there's two ways to fix it you either increase your revenues or you reduce your expenses and so we need to have a conversation over the next year about how we're going to address this are we going to look at cutting expenses and I would say given our expenditures and some of the common metrics that we utilize across the state to measure basically efficiency uh of our spending we're really very very efficient if you look at if you look at those statistics so um you know obviously if we make Cuts it's going to have an impact to Services uh significant impact to services so then if you're not going to go in that direction then you have to look at increasing your Revenue base and again there's two ways really that municipalities have control over that the first is to basically authorize or approve new developments uh again which increases your new growth which add to your tax base and like I said before there are tradeoffs associated with that um you know I I'll just uh um basically quantify it as as quality of life issues or you look at a vote which is called an override boote which would basically allow you to go over the 2 and a half% increase and at this point in time I'm not advocating for any one of these approaches but we do have to have the conver ation as a community um over the next year or else we're going to be in a in a a whole world of hurt next year so that's kind of the overall budget situation um there is one uh little unique thing about this year's budget compared to previous budgets is this year um basically we're required um basically so I I mentioned the arpa funds American Rescue plan act funds and so the select board had chosen a number of projects to spend that money on um but we have some deadlines that we have to uh basically um deal with and address and so the way we're doing it this year is we're actually taking that arpa Revenue the remainder of that arpa revenue and using it as a revenue Source again partially to pay for the operating budget but then on the expenditure side you're going to see under capital projects a list of the projects that we plan on funding with those arpa funds so it's really more of an accounting U mechanism uh as opposed to a policy change but it is something different that we're doing with this budget uh compared to previous budgets um so before I get into the detail or any questions related to um what I've said so far Mr Don see see you there okay be gentle Mark I'll be I'll be gentle but my my camera is not being on because a host doesn't want it on okay so I'm gonna be talking into the dock here okay um the growth of the minus growth of housing in this in the town is a negative but you know and I I I agree with not doing an override but I would also like to see if any of the uh housing reasons how zoned reasons to change the bylaws to bring in newer personalities of of growth that's that's my comment so Mark when you say personalities of growth are you talking about things other than residential so like businesses mix science climate okay yes yeah so I think you know you so the question is um we're talking about residential growth but is there an opportunity to bring in businesses and not um just residential and is zoning a part of that um I would say yes um our economic development director uh is always looking at opportunities to bring in businesses and we have some unique programs and she's been uh pretty successful at bringing those in and we we're always taking a look at our zoning and seeing if it makes sense and seeing if it incentivizes businesses to come in but whether or not businesses come in is more of a function of Economics than it is of zoning and for a business to come in a number of things have to line up so it has to if you're talking about like a retail store it has to be financially feasible meaning that the business owner has to feel that if they make this investment in the community into a brick and mortar store into Personnel they have to feel comfortable that they're going to get that money back and make a profit that's just common sense um and B also as an extension of that if they are looking at getting financing to help uh open their business or make Renovations the bank essentially or the lender has to feel comfortable that that business is going to generate enough money to pay back the interest in in the principle on that uh on that loan essentially so again you know a business has to feel like they're going to make money um especially for a retail situ situation and um I will just you know my personal opinion is that ashin likes to talk a lot about having shops you hear that a lot in retail here but when we do have it here they get very little support um and I think you see that with some of these downtown businesses so we can't necessarily say on the front end that we want to have businesses but then when they come in here not support them uh financially uh so that's one thing if you're looking at uh businesses like biotech and stuff like that you know there's ALS there's obviously the financial component associated with it and they have to you know meet those requirements but then there's other things that they have to look at as well one of the things they look at is is their adequate housing in the region to um basically support support that businesses that business and bring in workers there's other infrastructure things that they um they look for so like with biotech they're looking at water right so they're looking to have adequate water to basically do their operations so um it pretty long answer Mark so I wasn't successful in making it succinct but hopefully that was helpful and I know that town had a uh and this town and States having a hard time with the MBA housing community can that be involved in in the um zoning too um Mark can we hold that one off until we get to the end where we just talk briefly about MBTA zoning is that okay okay all right I can hold on to that thank you thanks um okay that that was actually a really good question um so I gave you again just the general budget overview um and I'll give you some uh basically some particulars um another thing that we did with this budget in order to address the deficit is uh We've shifted a lot more onto things uh that we call revolving funds um these are thing these are funds that are really Department specific and help fund operations um they're kind of used as a supplement to uh general fund which is what you vote on um but again we're leaning on them a little bit more heavily this year than we were in previous years um so that being said I'll just go through the general categories that that um town meeting will be voting on so um under Administration which includes things like the town manager's office purchasing Town Council clerk uh Human Resources so in total all of those departments that's going up uh $93,900 which uh include the town accountant the assessor's office the treasur office that's actually going down uh $7,000 or a little over 1% um going to development services which include departments such as the Conservation Commission the planning board and inspectional services that's going down 20,000 uh a little over $20,000 or 4% that is a good example within those departments is a good example of Shifting more towards our revolving funds um going to our Public Safety departments um that is going up a total of 191,000 or 2.76% um you'll see a big increase uh in the police department budget but not necessarily a huge increase in the fire department budget again that's because we have a revolving Fund in the fire department that we are shifting more of our expens ensus to I think uh 150,000 150,000 more than in previous years uh moving on to Health and Human Services um which includes the health department Council on Aging Recreation veteran services uh prevention and Human Services in the public library so that is going up a total of uh almost $75,000 or 6% um and then getting to Public Works which includes obviously Administration the highway um Cemetery parks and trees um are public facilities so that's actually going up $68,000 um or a little over 3% and a good I'd say a good chunk of that is an increase in our facilities maintenance budget to um basically help take care of some of these new buildings that we brought online so going to education um so that is going up a total of 1.5 million um or 3.8% School Department's going up by 1.6 um Keith Tech our assessment to ke Tech is going down 62,000 um you know I I I spit out these numbers I get to the school department you hear 1.6 million when you're hearing other numbers like like going up 70,000 and stuff like that and obviously that's going to jump out um first of all that is not an an anomaly with any Massachusetts cities and towns School departments generally take up you know roughly half Municipal budgets um and I again this this isn't strange um I will say that the school department does a very good job of creating value for the town if you look at some of their objective metrics um like expenditures per student uh we're actually I think below the state average um and I think you know those of you that have kids in the school system or have had kids in the school system I I think and I hope you would agree that we provide a pretty good value for for what um what is spent next is debt which includes um what we call non-excluded debt and then also excluded debt an excluded debt is that debt that has been authorized to go above that 25% uh tax levy limit um and so basically those come in the form of what we call debt exclusions uh our most recent two being the new um School the new mes school and then also the new public safety building so between those two that's actually going down uh almost $700,000 or almost 9% so we got a little bit of relief there um and and and that's based on basically the amortization schedule and everything so um again a little good news there um we get to the capital projects so traditionally this has been funded four years ago it was funded at 750,000 um over the years because of budget squeezes that got whittel down to zero but again this year we're using that arpa funding uh scenario which I described red earlier uh to fund those projects um and that total is about $2.7 million um and that includes uh basically uh 430,000 for the Valentine project 700,000 that we've put in for uh land acquisition $465,000 for sidewalks a million for turf field replacement and then also $95,000 for small business assistance um so that's capital projects and then we get to uh basically benefits and insurance which I described a little bit before but you know that includes our retirement assessment uh health insurance workers comp unemployment that is going up a total of $1.1 million uh almost 99.5% so again that's um a pretty significant increase so overall uh in our general fund uh that is going up up $5.1 million 6.75% that's a little bit misleading because you've got an additional basically $2.7 million in capital through the arpa funds that again is an anomally that's not necessarily included each year so um I think your real increase is about half of that so 2.5 million bucks so that's the general fund um then we have what's known as our Enterprise funds so these are separate funds for individual uh services that are provided for the town and they're based on user fees so um the water Enterprise fund sewer Enterprise fund trash collection field management uh cable access stations storm water all of those are individual Enterprise funds and so uh that is going so the water Enterprise fund is going up $237,000 and that's mainly to pay for some Capital EXP expenses some large Capital expenses uh for our infrastructure sewer Enterprise this year is going down uh 154,000 and that's uh essentially because we're using one-time Revenue that's available in the sewer Enterprise fund we call it retained earnings um uh to decrease that trash collection is going up 79,000 um field management is basically level funded cable access is going down 45 5,000 and storm water is going up 51,000 so when you take the general fund and you add in the increases and the decreases in the Enterprise funds that total comes out to five that's an increase of $5.3 million or just a little under 6% um and if you just go through the warrant you'll see um also basically some of the revolving accounts that we're utilizing to offset things um and then we also have the Economic Development Special Revenue fund that you'd be voting on which um total is 306,000 and that is funded through the local options meals tax so yeah does anybody have any questions mark you got your hand raised yes yes I do you mentioned infrastructure MH is there any chance that this town could get some monies to fix some of the roads and bridges oh that's a really good question mark that's a really good question um so so you can fund roads and bridges through basically local funding right so appropriation through the general fund or you could get State funding um whether through what we call formula based funds or um grants and I can tell you it's we you know I've described the financial situation I think fairly adequately so you can see the opportunity to fund it with local funds is very limited um roads are there's a state funding program called chapter 90 which again is a formula based uh funding system from the state we had about $450,000 each year in chapter 90 um it's something that we have advocated at the local level a group of local officials have advocated for doubling that over the years and we just haven't been successful so $450,000 might sound like a lot but to fully reconstruct a mile of road just a mile is about about $900,000 and that's to fully reconstruct it so you can do things like fully reconstruct it which is basically removing all the pavment all the all the subbase redoing all of that again or you can do something called Bill and overlay which is basically scrape off the top and put a new layer of asphalt on it um if you do Mill and overlay it's a little bit less than full depth what we call full depth reconstruction um and then also Bridges we don't have formula grants but there's also compe of Grants out there so um there is State money out there just not enough of it Mark how's that is there is there a CH a way of a chance that you can take out from the uh monies for buildings or municipals to build up the funds for at least for the bridges to be more solid so that the buildings can have B may have businesses municipal fire department public safety building whatever but you got to need strong roads and bridges to trans transport through to get get the vehicles emergency extras and stuff like that to have it but if you don't have a strong sturdy structure of bridge or roads it's going to be a it's going to be a problem later down on down the road pardon the pun right Mark well down the road or there'll be a dead end there you go so yeah Mark you can always change how you appropriate funds but so you're talking about taking money out of the faciliity budget to fund roads and bridges so but if you take that money out of the facilities budget you're not keeping you're not maintaining your buildings so you're basically you got to pick your poison in some way you you know when you get in situations like this you know where you're basically robbing Peter to to pay Paul you know those are judgment decisions so the short answer is yes we could always divert funds from facilities to help pay for roads and bridges but that means that the buildings are not going to get maintained and so that's going to lead to higher costs in the future okay so I'm try to do my two away Street cup my understand um the buildings the public safety building the new Mendez building they're all done and ready and and and separate from everything else so they don't have to be funded quickly right away why can't that money go to the bridges yeah so Mark I you know you're always doing maintenance I think even from the very from the very beginning uh obviously not that much but so there's repairs and then there's also preventive maintenance so um you want to fund preventive maintenance because it's BAS basically a lot less expensive to basically do that preventive work than it is to let things go let them break and then do repairs so you know the preventive maintenance making sure that your HVAC systems are doing great um you know things like that that's that's a good investment um and that being said even if we said okay we're not going to fund that I I think you know the amount that we're talking about um is probably not really going to make a dent in the road repairs or the the bridges I mean you're talking 00k maybe okay my and my last couple parts for this for this before before I put myself on mute is uh one the Corville Road Ridge was worked on mhm and that was money that was put aside from how that how was that money put aside for that okay that's a good question because before we funded $150,000 I believe for cville Road the so the civo road bridge so um actually the repair of the bridge itself is going to be paid for by the state um but the money that we put in locally is we have to basically um we have to set up like a temporary um temporary Bridge structure while those repairs are going on so that's the I think that's the money you're referring to and my my last somewhat knowing this answer already DPW Personnel is not exactly Citywide mended because of people the number of people that's in the DPW how would that how would they be affected by the um Capital plan [Music] um so how are our our DPW Personnel affected by the capital plan basically they they they work for the town they have all the they work 20 they work all throughout the year MH and this town is not exactly granted City bonds we're a small town so we don't get bonds right no we we have we have bonds Y and that help expand the Personnel in the DPW for their work loads no so bonds you don't use for personnel or like operating expenses bonds help you finance capital projects okay I'm sound to lose myself and I'll just be quiet for a little while oh you're fine Mark these are good questions um anybody else have any questions regarding the budget if not I'll move on to article three um okay so article three is a transfer to our opep trust opep stands for other post-employment benefits and it's a fancy way of saying retiree health insurance so this is a liability that um we're now accounting for and we're now planning for um whereas 10 years ago we didn't um but uh we started doing that because it's good long-term Financial planning and so each year what we do is we basically take um a portion of money for each new employee that we bring on and basically allocate it to this opep trust and so that is what this um this appropriation is so any questions okay okay so Article 4 it's a transfer from special education stabilization fund to the general fund I referenced this before when I was talking about the budget overall so this is the second year where we're taking $250,000 out of this fund which is designed to pay for out of what we call out of District special education costs um taking 250 out of that and basically using it to pay for those costs that are within the budget um so we have a a cap of 600,000 on this fund um I believe it is still at its maximum because even though we took money out last year we have a way to replenish it whenever we get our free cash amounts and so I believe we replenished it I have to look um at the full amount so we uh still have 600,000 in there so this would be taking 250,000 out of that and again when we get our free cash number in the fall um there will be a percentage of that free cash cash that basically replenishes that fund any questions okay um so Article Five it's uh an annual consent article um so this basically has a number of different things within one article uh they're really routine that's why they're bundled up is um as what we call a consent article it includes uh grant program authorization Road contracts uh other types of contracts lease purchase agreements and then also revolving funds uh I mentioned revolving funds before when we were talking about the budget some of those revolving funds have to be authorized each year and so that is what um that's what this portion of the consent article does um and again it's usually very routine this year is a little bit different um Jen do you want to explain a little bit why what we're doing differently this year sure so if you um so the only change we're really making um is that we previously had a revolving account um that collected fees or rental fees from our community center so um there's a large room there that Community U members will rent for parties or other things um and so we're just expanding that revolving account to include all Town buildings um partially this is an anticipation that will start to receive rent from the old fire station um that will be a brewery and will be receiving monthly rent and then also down the road if we're able to uh rent potentially Valentine or other properties we'll have one place that will collect the funds and that way if we do have a maintenance um issue we'll be able to utilize that funds okay any questions regarding the consent article all right CN none um then we move to our second consent article which is actually uh related to the community preservation act and following that uh we do have a CPA Standalone article and Jen I'm going to turn it over to you so you can um discuss those okay and give my voice a break sure um so each year we have a consent article for um CPC and that really is just ping out the Appropriations each year and then um the um payments for previously authorized bonds so if you go through there's previously authorized bonds for um Oak Street um as well as the purchasing of the High School athletic fields um waren woods and then lastly our Valentine estate um and so those are pretty routine we've already authorized the uh purchase and these are just the payments any questions on that that one so we can move on to article seven so that's appropriating um CPC funds so each year um at both annual and sometimes also at our special town meeting um in November CPC will um recommend uh funding applications to town meeting and town meeting has to approve those this year um they're recommending an interior painting project at our Li Library so as part of the in in the older section of the library we had some peeling um over the last year we did have a um preservationist come in and do an analysis on the type of paint to make sure that we maintain um the historical integrity and so they um gave us a quote for $40,000 to do uh painting and then also that includes having somebody from the preservation um somebody from historic preservation that will be able to do administrative oversight to make sure that the paint matches and it's being done in accordance to maintain the historical nature of that building um and typically CPC funds U run for two years and if it's not spent then it's given back to CPC any questions on that one okay um so we'll move on to the next article um which is to authorize the select board to accept uh a gift of land and and actually it's several pieces of land um and this is property that is being gifted to the town from the Hopkinson area land trust uh which owns these parcels and um they feel like it's in their best interest if the town takes over those Parcels uh they're relatively small about four of them and um yeah I mean that's that's about it um you know right now there there's there's no plan to do anything with these Parcels other than to keep them as open space and essentially this gives the select board the ability to do that um any questions it's always I I I think it's always good when a municipality has the opportunity to acquire land um obviously there's opportunity costs as I mentioned before associated with that but um again these are relatively small parcels so if no seeing no questions on that one I'll move to article 9 UM and this is reauthor reauthorizing a borrowing that was done at a previous town meeting um and essentially what happened here is there was a miscommunication between um the town and bond Council which is essentially the legal team that is associated with um signing off on borrowings um there's there's a lot of legal work that has to happen because you know some of these borrowings can be very very big and investors want to make sure that all of the the eyes are dotted and the t's are crossed and that you know they're going to get their money back um and again there's all types of um you know legal nuances that have to be met um so essentially uh what we're asking to do here is basically increase the authorization by 200,000 the way we had it written is is we thought we didn't have to do that uh when it was authorized when we went to bond Council uh they interpreted it a different way and so um essentially there's no new authorizations that are I mean no new projects that are being authorized here it's simply for uh the tower truck or what we call the ladder truck for the fire department and then also um a couple hundred thousand to do the um girls and boys locker rooms at the middle school um anything you want to add about that JB okay um any questions yeah Claudia what's the what's the B renovation at the um so that was the uh yes it was old Mendes school so this is basically what you're seeing in that chart is money that was borrowed to do those projects um and then after those projects were completed we had to some ofy money left over so um that's the amount of money that we have left over to be reauthorized probably it's a good question it's a good question um okay any others all right uh moving on to article 10 which is reauthorizing the public safety building Bond um so if you recall uh there were two authorizations um Bond authorizations related to the public safety building so one for engineering and then one for essentially construction costs and related expenses um one of the things that uh came I I think we realized as we were going through the process is that it was in the town's best interest to actually acquire the property owned by faford that was surrounding the property that the public safety building was built on and reasons are are multifold so the first is to really give more parking uh for the public safety building um you know increase the amount of parking there um there is also an interest by the Opera Charles Trail committee um in the town to in basically put a portion of the upper Charles Trail along that property um it fits in with the planning and and connecting to other uh points on the upper Charles Trail um potentially uh we could use it with a lot of site work for expanding a Wildwood Cemetery which is believe it or not running out of space but uh essentially in order to um use those funds to help um to help acquire that property we need to have a vote which enhances or expands the authorization to include land acquisition so I want to be very very clear that this is not increasing the amount that was authorized it's just change or expanding the purpose for which that money can be used I cover it pretty much okay any questions all right we're getting there folks um so article 11 it's another Bond related article um and this is to basically authorize improvements in our water treatment plan so specifically what we're looking at doing is replacing what we call our own ozone system which is our essentially our Primary in in filtration system and our essentially our first line of defense um so so the water treatment plant was built a little over 20 years ago so obviously some of the components are 20 years old um and there's wear and tear just like again you experience in your own homes with mechanical equipment um and so this is a request uh to borrow and appropriate um $4 million for the replacement of that ozone system um again it's it's a really really important um component of our water system and uh you know there's there's you know obviously some health uh and Public Safety um issues related to that if if we don't replace it but then there's also um I'll classify it as aesthetic issues so this ozone filter is what gets your water clear um basically filters out a lot of particles mainly manganese um and there's one other that escapes me right now um so we're looking at basically the cost is $4 million um but we also anticipate getting a million dollar from the town of Hopkinson to help pay for this so the amount we actually end up borrowing could be closer to $3 million um and the reason for that is that Hopkin Hopkinson actually gets a portion of their water from us roughly 25% is the superintendent going to be present to a little presentation on this or not so yes so Dan Mau uh who is our water sewer General Foreman will be there to answer questions on um on this article and Mark okay thank you 20 20 years old has been built that means 20 years old the pipes and the instruments to to regulate and get data out of the build to read Haron saying they're going to help pay for is there is har 10 going to help pay for because of their um the lmir property no so Hopkinson is looking at paying for it because they actually have a contract with us that says that they pay for a percentage of the cost associated with running the treatment PL so that includes operating costs so um it equates to roughly a quarter of the operating cost they help pay for that but then also Capital costs as well so okay what about the T ton Reservoir Ashland part of it that says that go with the cost of upgrading that say that again Mark I'm sorry the train Ashan Reservoir Harin Reservoir they're almost like borderline together mhm AR pend is going to help pay 25% is that going towards updating the reservoir input to the water tower to the water to the water treatment plant no what I'm referring to here Mark is hopkinson's portion would be there to help pay for the ozone uh filter and ozone is is the um if I'm wrong please say I am the EPA part of things um so I'm sure the EPA has something to do with it Mark but uh basically the ozone is the ozone filter is one of our primary primary treatment methods uh for the water so you take you know you take the W raw water out of the ground right um from the aquafer goes into your water treatment plant it gets treated and then it gets distributed out to the homes so is a purifier yes thank you cool all right um so that's it for our borrowing articles um next we'll move to uh to bylaw updates um and changes so uh article 12 is updating our demo delay bylaw for historically or architecturally significant buildings I saw Joan was Joan G Friday was on here but she left um but um essentially what this change does is it says So currently the way it sets is set up so if you own if you want to tear down a historical building it essentially has to go before the historical commission who has an opportunity to place a demo delay on that property now a couple years ago that demo delay was nine months um we went to town meeting um last year or the year before increased that to 12 months but the way the way it worked is that once that demo delay was put on basically um whether or not the property changed hands or um and came up with a new plan or changed um uh yeah essentially changed ownership um the new owner the new plan wouldn't have to go back and have another demo delay so you could theoretically have a property let's just say well I'll give the mill property as as an example so a few years ago the owner of the mill property T to 60 Main Street um was looking at redeveloping that property and submitted a demo application because they were looking at demoing a couple of the buildings so the historical commission heard that and put a demo delay on that building um and so the you know the owner had a plan I think it was it was around 200 units uh 34,000 ft of commercial space demo delay went on 9 months passed okay demo delay is done so what has subsequently happened is that the landowner has entered into an agreement with a new developer um to basically do a different plan uh which consists of 250 units um and significantly less uh commercial space and it's being done as a 40b project so that plan doesn't have to go through the demo delay process process again so because it's already gone through the demo DeLay So essentially these changes to the bylaw close that loophole and it basically says if the building of premises changes ownership the new owner must res uh resubmit a request for a demo permit and the demo delay process will be repeated and uh likewise after three years from the date of the determination so in the absence of an accepted plan by the planning board the demo delay process will again will have to be repeated um regardless of ownership so if an owner/ developer gets a plan um goes to the demo delay process or gets a plan approved I should say goes to the demo delay process in three years after that they haven't acted on that plan they'll have to go through the demo delay process again so that's uh essentially a summary of the changes uh that are being proposed anything any questions okay um Article 13 is again updating a bylaw to accept the specialized stretch code um so this was a an article that was brought before a previous town meeting um that either got voted down or it got tabled I don't remember exactly what but um the sustainability Comm committee uh went back and worked with a number of other stakeholders to basically revise this um basically revise the presentation and answer a lot of unanswered questions that basically existed and essentially what this does is um basically it imposes new requirements for Energy Efficiency on new construction uh moving forward so I don't have the exact um requirements but I believe that all buildings all new buildings if if this is successful and the town adopts it um all new buildings will need to be basically solar ready or electric ready I think Chargers you know EV charging stations will have to be incorporated as as part of the building there are a number of things and the sustainability committee will have um essentially a um a presentation at town meeting that describes those uh more specifically you think there are any big ones I missed JB on that one okay that's about that Mark you have a question sustainability my extra little what what I want this town to have through and through for the future this this bylaw that trying to put up first town me was a misunderstanding of the information was the first time that the regular people did not understand it and other and other community people said it was just not made for this town or ready for this town that was the first town meeting this one has like you said it's got been worked on been brought around to public forums and talk other other C of peoples and everything this is new construction yes electricity part of the construction of the new buildings and to um to go with what already the state has working we're just going to try to we want to add into what they have set to understand what's going on on new construction and this will also help the new developers with new construction to understand what ashon is going to be asking for and the two-way street talk through compromise and understand together for what it is so substainability is working on this this new construction it should be voted almost 2third but I'm I'm going to vote for it as as it goes through but that's basic what it is thank you thank you Mark appreciate that any other questions okay oh Julie you have one will this app to just like buildings I believe it's all buildings cool all right all right the last article um is related to the MBTA communities act that was passed a couple years ago by the legislature um and it was going to be a zoning change that put us in compliance with the NBTA communities law um so this is on the warrant however ever at the April 25th planning board meeting the planning board meet the planning board made a decision to keep that hearing open um which is a fancy way of saying that this is not going to be taken up at this town meeting so um it's still in the warrant however I believe the moderator and correct me if I'm wrong Jen plans on after the budget after the financial article yeah after the financial articles basically moving this up and explaining to everybody that's not going to be voted on so if you're there specifically just to vote on that you don't have to wait all night um now according to the law we have to have um basically compliant zoning in place by the end of this calendar year we normally have a town meeting in the fall we can also have a special town meeting basically any time of year that we want and so it's anticipated that um basically this would be coming back at the at the fall town meeting the reason this is being done is severalfold um I think you know the town feels like it's probably prudent to see how some things play out at the Statewide level um before moving forward with this but I think more locally um what has happened since this was originally proposed is we've had two 40b projects which are large multif family development projects that basically are outside of our zoning 240b projects have been proposed and um again it's it's prudent to [Music] see basically how those shape out for a little bit before making a decision on this really important um and critical zoning moving forward so hopefully I didn't make that more cryptic it is okay anybody have any questions yes Mark I was at that planet board meeting when this came when this came up I said I said at the time they gave me time to speak is uh it's just going around in circles and the two words that stuck out to me was maybe and if if the state could look can look and be uh helping us to recognize what it meant to be and maybe the town can fix things for for the 40b housing for the housing itself I myself like to see the 40b housing not be 40b hous but to be a mixed use buildings so the tea the tea can bring people in so they can work in this town and then you and then use the turny to get back so it could be working both ways for business economic and for the te workings but right now the planning board is hoping for for the fall to meeting to bring this up so I'm Sten that they were going around circles and with the maybe is and ifs they got a lot of questions they haven't got a lot of answers thank you that's actually a pretty good summary Mark a lot of questions not a lot of answers out there so um okay so anybody have any questions about the Articles town meeting in general um if not uh that uh concludes our special pre town meeting Forum um again town meeting is this Wednesday May 1st starting at 700 p.m.

four Mr Z for operations so operations fun and we have a lot of good things to talk about we welcome Mr Richard am I saying is Elder Mr am saying the yes okay uh he was there virtually to present the committee and update on the status of the rodad grants he informed the committee that the district had received fully ex executed Grant agreements and also presented his firm's proposal for architectural engineering Services required for the broad gr projects and the advisory service of navigating the complicated reimbursement process required by the state reced it I have any comments Mr no sir I think you all it well okay we also talked about I don't want to talk about the final budget presentation which we took care of tonight and the the administrative team at the board for working together and putting everything together that was that was incredible so we really appreciate that um talk about 2425 School Enterprises and P and Food Service management the uh Dr Min provided the committee with a full pomptonian proposal which delineated delineated an approximate 1% increase in management which is under the index rate defined in the RFP approximate 1% increase by the recomended um basic they just say that school lunch prices will be going up a little bit uh there'll be a slight increase in lunch prices by 10 cents for students all schools except for breakfast which is free the need to increase the per rate other cost inflation we are as a town fortunate that the last audit demonstrated that the fund was not need a sorry the need to increase the peral was R due to the I have some notes B is fortunate that the last a demonstrated that the fund was not in need of a transfer of funds from the general fund to provide solvency the committee recommended the lunch prices in the pan contract for the board we also talked about the um how would you say Mr gy this is our auditing firm yes uh presented the committee with an engagement letter proposal for for from our auditing firm for the year ending 6 through 24 the committee reviewed the 11 proposal including the fees delineated on page 8 of 11 comme recommended the engagement letter proposal for feed through board we also talked about faroh's final payment requests um it's permitted to present to the committee uh for a final request number the pay request byous other close out documents Mr explain is an obligation district attorney and other UNS construction be by warranties and or other legal needs the board recommended this is an agenda item this is item that I I I was most excited um this our southbound work representative Miss Carlton representative from the South Pound Brook Board of Education and um presented a consideration to the operations commit an ad H Committee compris of three bound members and three south bound members excluding both districts board presidents to deliver to talk about mutro board interests the committee be hosted at the South B campus and the meeting would be attended by South presidents committee members would be asked questions before uh committee members asked general questions before recommending the consideration to the governance committee I on a personal note I mean communication is something that is vital for both communities so I hope that this is something that can get L um other than that the operations committee as usual was well attended we enjoyed really incredible conversation and thanks again to our administrative team for a phenomenal phenomenal job so that's a presentation Mr President questions please let me know thank you so much Mr Z any comments or questions on operations all right 4.5 the Somerset County Educational Services Commission so as you know somerson County it's SCC that meets every other month so therefore iort month but um from the superintendent there the enrollment is going on it's tending upwards or trending upwards I'm sorry one of the things that the students are doing is that they're working with the Building Trades and on outdoor projects they're gardening they're doing lighting painting blind replacement it's just very Hands-On it's nice to see um the contract with their teachers was settled which was good news and two new teachers were hired um along with some support staff and they continue to have openings that they've been experiencing a tough time getting um you know finding the teachers which isn't unusual because a lot of places are having problems with that um they are also working with Architects just to reconfigure the classroom because the enrollment is increasing so um you know they've looked at purchasing buildings they've looked at renovating another building it's on the property but it's so very costly that they're now looking inside the building just reconfigured classrooms there and that really is the G thank you Miss hi any comments or questions regarding SCC all right over to Miss Carlton for our first official South thank you so um I want to start with since we talked about the Bound Brook uh District budget South Bound Brook finalized their budget last week um and I have to say that Dr gouki and Mrs Bessel are our business administrator business secretary they worked really hard with some challenging numbers to keep the um the tax levy down so the the residents in town um I write this down because I know I'll forget uh house the the average house assessed at $238,700 terms of balancing it and there's a lot of reasons why for both the high school and Charter Schools um transportation costs salaries and benefits um capital projects but like I said Dr GOI and Mrs Bessel worked really hard to make sure that they maintained existing programs um we did have to make some big cuts um we did eliminate a position a World Language teacher position but that was an open position it just hadn't been filled yet we did eliminate our class three officer some curriculum we did have to eliminate our summer program um and you know those are just a few of the items but again they did what they had to do um to balance our budget so with that said I'd like to go to some more positive items um last month I mentioned that our students participated in witness Stone program and they rece they're receiving an award from Somerset County uh in conjunction with the friends of Abraham st's house for contributing to County History our eighth grade students went to santae to work with uh scientists on site two students were challenged two students teams were challenged to create a design for wind tur turbines and one of the teams exceeded the most tools ever created in the program um one of the programs that we kept and this seems silly but I don't know it excites me um we have a new ukulele program nice and uh it's an fascinating interest and the kids are excited um and that's it excellent any questions for M Caron regarding the South all right we are then up to item 5.1 and we are open for public participation for agenda items home so anybody either online or uh in the room that would like to make a comment regarding item on the agenda can feel free to do so at this time for online you need to fill out the form naming your name and affiliation in the room there is a sign sheet I have this every time should sck for hey yeah I'll bring my own stamp next time appreciate itome back thank you yes it's proud dad Mr Schaffner here uh now I get to speak as a proud assistant drama club director that uh this weekend and this weekend only uh we are putting on Chicago right here the teen Edition of Chicago we're doing things a little bit differently uh this is a artistic vision from our director Mrs shner that we are going to put our audience on the stage and they are going to be kind of in a U-shaped we're going to bring in some risers bring in some chairs uh where a lot of the action will be kind of concentrated right in the middle of our stage um so we're trying to replicate what would be like a blackbox theater uh type experience you know still costumes lighting the whole nine yards um but just a little bit more intimate because uh we kind of like the model that we've been doing this year where we do something more familyfriendly like Willy Wonka or susal in the fall uh maybe with other students from smaller the middle school and do something a little bit more serious a little bit more mature for our high school kids to really hone their acting craft and everything like that so that's our goal um going forward so I have Flyers that I will pass out for you so because we are doing it uh on the stage we're asking that we uh you reserve tickets online so we can put groups together if you're in a group of four we can seat you and make sure that we have enough seats to accommodate everybody uh but we hope to see you there um it's May 3rd at 7 o'clock pm.

agreement are not the city's responsibility according to a separate operations and maintenance agreement okay if that makes sense and that's it they're just basically restating the city is not responsible for maintenance okay for any of the passes or just the one that's on just this one oh okay we've never s m. approval and we still never um for any of the other underpasses okay is doing multiple right no the project is just doing hereon and it's because we need lane closures that's why M that is involved so for the entire from from June 10th until probably the middle of July from 3: to 5:00 p.m.