Board of Selectman - Regular Meeting - December 15, 2025

001Hello. Check. Checkeroo. testing Test test test. [Music] Good evening. Today is Monday, December 15th, 2025. It's 7 p.m. I'd like to call the regular board of sleeves meeting to order. Troy Lamir, >> Kevin Bishop, >> Paul Marino, >> Paul Harrington, >> Todd Shalashi, >> Glenn Alberius, >> William Hester, >> Cheryl He McGlin, >> William Po. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I >> pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item three, agenda review. Anyone have anything? Item four, approval of minutes from our regular meeting on December the 1st. >> See moved. >> Thank you, Troy. Is there a second? >> Thank you, Bill. Any discussion, corrections, additions, seeing none. All

002in favor? Unanimous. Moving on to item five, citizens comments. The board of selectman welcomes public comment. Speakers will be limited to three minutes or less and may speak once. Please give your name and address. And just a reminder, this isn't a back and forth between you and the board of selectman. It's your opportunity to share your comments. >> Please turn the microphone on. >> We do not sign. >> Got to push the uh little microphones there till it turns green. >> There you go. N you got it. >> Thank you. >> Um Carrie Taylor to Sadler Heights. Um I'd like to inform our community of the circumstances surrounding the safety of four dogs of which the town has temporary custody from the Sarah Small cruelty case that broke in our town earlier this year. Sarah

003Smallac, as a reminder, is now charged with 42 counts of animal cruelty. During the civil proceedings between the town and Smallac, the court expressly stated Smallac could not have any control over the dog seized under the search warrant. Further, the court approved agreement between the town and Smolac, states that the Simon Foundation, who was charged with finding foster placement for the dogs, had until July 1st to find suitable fosters before Small X suggestions could even apply for consideration as fosters. However, per details of the police report, prior to July 1st, not only were Smallac Associates applying, but and I quote from the police report, the Simon Foundation was advised by Harington acaco Kim Tutill to place the dogs with some of Smalls recommendations, which is a violation of the court order. and it was told

004that there was an agreement with the town attorney and small acts attorney to do so. Why would our town attorney purposely place the dogs in jeopardy against the terms of the court agreement? Attempts at wellness checks on the dogs with all Smalluck associates were uncooperative with Norwok ACOs's and Winstead police on multiple attempts to check on the dogs, citing instructions from Sarah Small's attorney, James Sarasini, not to comply. Sarasini's direct involvement with these fosters is stark evidence of Small's control over the dogs against court orders. Additionally, the fosters are in direct violation of their foster agreements with their non-compliance. The foster agreement states that at any time and for any reason, the town of Winchester may retake possession of the animal. Clearly, the dogs are being controlled by Smallac and you have every legal and

005moral right to move the dogs to safe foster. However, instead of doing so, you remain steadfast in your decision to keep the dogs in imminent danger. What could possibly be the motivation here? A dog is the only thing that loves you more than itself. These dogs are victims of abuse, and yet the town is making intentional decisions to put them at further risk. This is not only morally and ethically reprehensible, it is also placing the town in contempt of court. I'm calling for the town to act immediately to place these dogs in safe foster unconnected with small act. Because if town leadership is not only refusing to protect victims, but also willingly endangering them for reasons you are holding in the shadows, how can we trust you in any other respect? Thank you. >> Anyone

006else wish to speak? Moving on to item number six, town manager report. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and good evening, board. This is a recap of uh the first two weeks of December. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of all the fun stuff that have been going on, I I do want to uh start off by acknowledging something that affected both this board and other boards and residents who follow our work. The video feed failure at our most recent meeting two weeks ago. I know how frustrating that is when transparency tools break down. Whether you're watching a local board or turning into the news, if you expect things to just work, so do I. Um, having that feed fail in the middle of our meeting isn't something we take lightly or want to ever see happen

007again. So, I apologize for the disruption uh and the inconvenience it may have caused two weeks ago. Our commitment to open, accessible government means we need to be available to the public in real time without technical hiccups getting in the way. After the feed went down, we did a deep dive in what happened. We updated the firmware on the Blackmagic cloud device uh which runs our video setup. As a result, we not only fixed the original problem, but we also managed to fix our local cable channel. So again, we are back live on local uh cable channels as well. We ran multiple tests and everything seems to be working except tonight at about 3:30 when we went to go try and schedule this meeting to go live. We saw that the uh device went down

008again. We brought in our IT company. Uh thank goodness for them. They got online with me. We took the upgrade away from the device, then put it back on and it seemed to work again. Uh, in essence, um, we are going to bring the IT company in. My recommendation, I don't have prices yet. I think it's time that we actually replace the hardware that's over there and hardware that, um, either the town clerk or I am more familiar with. Um, we couldn't even get into that particular uh, device um, until we brought in IT companies and got the actual company on the line. But the device is uh, roughly about six years old. it may be time to replace the device, the cameras and all that work, but I think relatively it will be an

009inexpensive price to just replace what gets us on our YouTube channel. Furthermore, in addition to possibly upgrading that device, we did purchase a new Zoom recorder. It is not a tasia device. As you can see, it is sitting in front of our town clerk over there. Um, that device is recording all the audio that goes on. um according to some that is the uh benchmark of recording devices. Uh it's used in musical applications as well. So at a minimum if the feed goes down, we will have an audio version of this board of select meeting or any other meeting that we could place on our YouTube channel. So long story short, you might not see all of our smiling faces at the feed go down. Unfortunately, you will have to listen to my voice because

010we are recording the audio v uh version of this board of selectment meeting and anything else. Um, more on it later, but again, I do want to apologize to the community. It bothered me a lot that, you know, people may have felt that we were doing something, you know, improper. Long story short, you know, I I had my wife tell me, you know what, sometimes even the big news channels feeds go down, so don't take so hard on yourself. That's not the world I live in. Everything should always work all the time. We're going to get it back to working again. It's working right now. Um, moving on. 2027 budget development. The capital committee uh consisting of the department heads met to review the 27 capital improvement uh request provided an opportunity for departments to

011gain an early understanding of the upcoming capital landscape and collaborate to identify efficiencies and shared priorities. Town manager's office also sent out proposed budget request sheets. As you know, those go out very blank. Zerobased budgeting is something we're going to employ again this year. We do give them some factual numbers of what they used last year, but we sent out blank documents to our department heads and say, tell us what you need, justify what you need, and they're going to come in beginning end of January and February to create this actual budget that we will present to you guys on or before March 15th. A little bit further on the capital plan, Pearson school roof. If you've uh been watching the board of education uh meeting, they talked about it at uh their last week's

012meeting. I don't want it to be any surprise, but the Pearson roof replacement, current early estimates, puts the project around $2.8 million. It is a full tear and replaced roof. Um the b the board of education is actively discussing the proposal. It is expected, and I do meet with the superintendent often, that they're going to come before us sometime in the new year to get the project uh started. We are going to require authorization from our voters for roughly about $800 $850,000. Um the good news is the state law did change that typically when you were doing roof projects or school projects or any type of project that has a reimbursement, you would need to go out and get authorization from your residents for the full amount. It is no longer the case. You only

013need authorization for the portion that is nonreimburseable. So roughly about $800 to $850,000. I don't have timing or anything on that yet. I'll let the board of ed do what they want to do. But I just wanted no surprises that when they do come in, talking about the Pearson roof, again, it's roughly going to be about a $2.8 million project. Deep recreational trails grant application. Later this week, we're going to submit our trail recreation grant in the amount of $749,450. Um the real uh great part about this application is I think we have a a well-written application, but the letters of support um and I'm just going to name a few. They came from Senator Blumenthal, Representative Larson, the DOT commissioner himself, members of our town and state delegation all sent letters of support for

014our application. So we stand pretty strong with our application, especially with some hard-hitting letters of application. Um I just want to take a brief moment and really thank the dedicated volunteers that are working on the Sudro Sue Grossman ad hoc committee. Um their tireless effort um the amount of work that they're doing is is just indebted to the town forever. It is just wonderful to see the group of people come together. This would be the last stretch if we fund this. We're building a Sue Grossman Trail. So we're we're that close away and I think we got a strong application. Um, moving on and I am wrapping up quickly. Uh, resident assistant fund. Previous meeting I recorded that re the town received a $3,000 gift from the Northwest Community Bank Foundation for the resident assistant

015fund. In addition, the town has since received an additional $10,000 grant from Northwest CT Community Foundation. Made possible through Marian WM and Elise Edwards Fund, the Karen M. Okconor fund and the Claire and Robert Dambi fund. Um, a special thanks go out to all of them for not only uh doing this year after year, but again awarding a $10,000 grant to help our residents in most need. If you are in need, please reach out to the town manager's office. Applications are available. Speed camera public hearing. Just a short uh reminder, this coming Thursday, uh December 18th at 6 p.m. in this room, the town's going to be joined with Andrew Noble of Sidream creator and also owner. We'll review and discuss what the proposed program would mean for drivers and residents, including how the system

016would operate, enforce uh and parameters, and also process considerations. Uh the hearing will include an opportunity for public comment, and it will be streamed on our YouTube channel. Fingers crossed on that. Um, if you do want to participate, you obviously know if you're at home, YouTube is not a two-way. And two other quick things. Um, part of the 27 budget development, the town has executed an agreement that will reduce fuel costs for gasoline and diesel. This agreement is expected to generate a savings of approximately 23 cents per gallon on gasoline and 15 cents per gallon on diesel, translating to an estimate $12,000 in annual savings, assuming fuel usage remains consistent. Um, something that I've done in the past, I'm constantly looking at the fuel, deciding when the best time to lock in. And you can

017see locking in by saving $12,000 a year. I think we timed the market perfect. And last but not least, I just wanted to update that I want uh the RFP process for town attorney services is closed. I did receive the bids for tabulating them and I should have that information to you sometime uh at that first meeting in January. With that, I'll open up to questions introduction and oh, don't fall. Um if you follow us on Facebook, um Harrington Elf made his appearance shortly after Thanksgiving. He gets into all kinds of devious uh issues around town hall and tonight he decided that he wanted to come in and explore the board of selectment meetings. So this is Harrington Alf. Um he's having a lot of fun around here. Staff like it. Staff are fighting over

018whose office he's going to appear in after we all go home for the night. But this is Harrington Alf and he's saying hi to the town of Winchester right now. Thank you. Mayor, >> how many do you know how many bids are going to get on the Pearson roof? >> I don't know until we send it out to bid. Um we'll it'll be a very open process. Um you know the state usually likes uh you know a minimum of three bids, but it'll be a very open public process and any roofing company will have the ability to uh bid for it. Keeping in mind if it's a roofing company, you're going to have to follow the state rules. Um you're obviously going to want to, you know, be on their list. You have to pay

019prevailing wage, but it is a very open process and no bids are selected until it goes out to bid. >> Thank you. >> Questions? What is the state reimbursement percentage for the roof? >> I believe it's 70%. So roughly it's a a little over $2.8 million roof. We are expected to pay about $830,000. That right now is worst case scenario. The experts that we're working with are giving us worse worst case scenarios. It's always good to plan worst case and then obviously as it gets finer and finer and you go out to bid and bids come in a little bit less, that's great news. But um the the experts that we're dealing with feel that this thing's going to come in about 2.8 million. >> Is the roof leaking now? >> Yes, >> it is.

020>> Has been. >> Yeah. >> We got a little area of asbestous. Uh the moisture test did come back. >> I saw that >> failed completely like absolutely. >> But there's physical water in the school. >> Physical water in the school. Buckets are there often. >> So we ain't got time to play with that. >> We we don't we we don't. We just, I think, as a board need to discuss timing of a potential referendum of when we think it's best to do this. Um, let's get all the numbers in. Let's get the board of ed at least here, you know, for the ask. And then if you want, I I'll definitely weigh in on what I think, the timing of it, uh, of doing it and all that. Ideally, you want to do the

021project over the summer. Um, if you've ever done a roof, ever seen a roof, um, the smells aren't the best, that the tars aren't good. There's a lot of noise, especially with a tear and replace, you're not going to be able to to do it when school's in session, but we do want to time it and hopefully get it done during summer of 26. >> Are we looking at to remediate the mold that's probably in the ceilings because that needs to go as well? >> We're going to have to do that obviously if we find mold. That's a a a big question mark because as we tear things out then we're going to see exactly how >> a couple years that's been leaking. Yes. >> So I'd be shocked if there's no >> I would

022be be shocked as well. Yes, I would be shocked as well. >> Would that be part of the bidding process or is that be a separate contract? That's going to probably be a separate contract for remediation, keeping in mind that's going to drive the price up. And that's what's we all know is the unknowns until you really get in and rip this thing off. You don't know what kind of damage you're looking at until you actually tear the whole thing off and actually get to see it. So, this 2.8 could easily be 5.8. Bill's laughing at me because he's done stuff like this in a short period of time because you don't want to send your kids to a school with mold. um and you want to remediate it as quick as possible. So um

023this is this is going to move quickly in 26 um and I just wanted to advise you right now again the board of ed I do speak with our superintendent often. We have meetings every other week. We try and you know know what each other are doing. I thought it was important to know that there's a $2.8 million bill possibly on the horizon. But I commend, you know, the board of selectman uh at the last budget um I think the last day you all funded $50,000 and the town did because they approved the budget which got this process going. Um if we didn't do that, we wouldn't have been able to bring in these experts, do all these tests and actually determine um so we're well on our way. Um, but it was good that

024we at least funded a little bit, started the process, and now we're getting >> anybody else. >> Item seven, finance director support. >> Hey, I'm pulling double duty tonight. Um, I was the Well, I'm pulling triple duty. I was the IT guy. I was the town manager. Now I'm the finance director. Uh, apologize for Ann Marie not being present tonight. She had a commitment that she could not get out of current. Uh so this is for general fund uh results um as of November 30th, 2025. So numbers have changed a little over the last few weeks. Current property tax is 16,618,487 which is 56.93% of the budget versus last year 15,175957 which was 55.49%. Past due taxes $223,794 63.94% of the budget. Last year 180,36 which was only 30% of the budget. Total revenues 20,570548

025which is 50.15% versus last year 18,470 360 which is 45.26% of the budget of last year. Expenditures 17,735266 43.24% versus last year 17 million 398745 which is 42.64%. Municipal aid receives so far uh in November we received just under $7,800 from early voting grant. We received 38.56 for the EMPG grant which does pay for our emergency services director. We did receive $4,66 for the Case Avenue Bridge. Uh we received $175,587 for the lead service line replacement. And the big one because I couldn't wait uh to tell you this week, I want to tell you two weeks ago, we did receive 2.8 just about $2.9 million in the DWSRF tank uh reimbursement. So total cash flow in the general fund as of November 30th 26,36,78. Of that 20,933,472 is invested. 457798 in a Northwest suite. Stiff

026has 2,65 605 605,552 in our stiff account and uh 17 million870122 in Northwest Community Banks. Total expenditures for November for capital uh capital expenditures just under $1,400 in the police station repairs, $1,000 in the police department feasibility study study, $537,356 in the SCBA replacement project. If you remember, um we did receive a grant from that. Uh we do get funding of it. Um so, uh that amount was actually paid for with the grant. $5,000 for public work facility upgrade, 16,231 in annual road maintenance, $41,118 in digital radio upgrades, $2,431 in plow truck number nine purchase, $ 38,674 Price Road Mill Paving, $10,000 Elm Street release of retainage, $783 in Wani Road, and $35,472 for drainage that was part of the bond. were up there obviously in Highland Lake. Um any particular questions or anything you'd

027like me to talk a little bit more about on our actual uh budget performance so far this year? >> My two cents we're doing very very well. Um expenditures are coming in a little bit less which is nice to see. We have picked up a little bit of savings along the way by just um having some good conversations. So I feel very confident on the revenue side and also on the expenditure side uh with this budget so far being uh six months into it. >> No questions on finance. >> We got to item eight correspondence. Does anyone on the board want to address anything? >> Item nine boards and commissions. Kevin still >> tonight we have um one resignation uh from Joseph Santoro on the economic development board uh party Republican alternate seat. We received

028a letter of resignation. >> Thank you for your service. Joe, >> we have um one person applying for the zoning board of appeals. Uh Tyler Aspbury, party Democrat, alternate seat would be a term ending in December of 2030. >> We have a motion. >> Motion second. >> Thank you. Thank you discussion. >> Seeing no discussion, all in favor? Unanimous. Congratulations, Tyler. >> Mr. Mayor, if I may. >> Yes, sir. >> Um the economic develop uh commission um there is an alternate seat. Um, it does have a term per state statute. Um, get a little I get a little little excitement here. Uh, it does get seated by the town manager. So, if you are interested in possibly serving on the economic development commission, please get a hold of my office and we'll see what we

029can do and uh and get you on. It's a wonderful commission. They do great work. Um, they support all of our businesses in town. So, if you're interested, come and see me. Thank you. Anything else? >> Moving on to item 10, unfinished business. Item A, charter revision discussion. Tom Andrew Harrington. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, this was brought up obviously at the uh uh last meeting that we held. Um I believe I don't know if you had a chance to to look at your packet. I believe I've captured everything um on my notes that you had all wanted to talk about. It was a possible town clerk position transitioning from appointed to hired. Um then there was the uh four-year term for the board of selectmen. There was the limiting uh concurrent service on

030multiple boards. And then there was the uh uh budget reform uh piece of it as well. And I think those were the four items that you wanted a little bit more background. You wanted my thoughts on it. I had written down a a few things. the goal, the proposal, the rationale, and potentially, you know, the section uh the amended section that we could potentially give to to a charter uh revision commission. Um but again, this is something that you all tasked the charter commission with. Um so I just took what you had said at last uh meeting, put down some thoughts, talked uh with some uh people and and gave you the document that uh was in your packet. So it was available online as well. Um, I turn it off to the board now

031so you all can discuss what you want to do and I'll be here for any supportive questions. Take my water. >> Well, I think these these list of items are definitely things that we need to look and consider, you know, and have the commission consider. Um, I think the first thing we need to also talk about is like the number of people we talking about. It can be five to 15. I think five is a reasonable number because there's less meeting scheduling issues, less um potential conflict, the ability to work better in a group or smaller setting than larger. Just curious what other people might think about that. >> So, I'm in favor of a smaller group as well. I think 15 would be chaos that we would, you know, not get the uh not

032get things accomplished very well. It it has occurred to me that that um I might suggest or throw out there to the board that we take five to seven and the additional two be two of us to be part of that commission. >> I don't think we can. You can >> actually we can but the the only reason I and I and I've thought about that as well >> just kind of feel like if we're on it it's more political than if we just have people on it. I just just feel you know if we stick to five and not have anyone from border cycling we just have other people who are willing to volunteer their time that would be a very fair way because if we have the people coming and giving us information

033you know about what the process is what they're going through um I think we can play a role in that way by giving information but I think to have two members of the board it would have to be you know one from each party and I think we just keep it out of the politics. >> Yeah, I think we could be part of it without being political though. I think as an advisory, not necessarily driving the meetings, but there to answer questions or to, you know, give some of our experience that the commission may not be familiar with. Um, I just think it might be helpful to move it move it along constructively. >> Well, I was thinking of asking um Candy Perez. We should have a lot of, you know, we did, I think

034we banned her name about last meeting and two, but um >> yeah, actually I think Candy would be a great choice. She was in favor of many of the things actually that we've talked about here during her time. So I think she'd be a great advisory. She's also aware of smaller is better um to that degree. So um >> I don't know if we want to throw out names just yet because that start process, >> right? I thought we were trying to start the process because you we want to try and get this to get this done fix efficiently. It' be nice to be able to have it, you know, ready when we do the budget referendum. So, we're not just doing a vote on the charter separate and it's not also going to detract

035from the election, you know, any elections. So, >> I would say this, Cheryl, the referendum gets a fraction of the vote turnout that we get for municipal election. And I think if we're going to talk about charter revisions, and I know it feels like it's a hundred years away because we all just got seated a month ago, but I would see I'd rather see us have this discussion or this vote happen during a municipal election where 2500 people will weigh in as opposed to what did we get in the last referendum? >> 500. >> Yeah, it's a much smaller number. >> But then doesn't that become a campaign thing? Then we are making it political. It's going to be who's going to support it, who's not going to support it, who's going to support what

036and not. So that's another reason to keep it away from more than municipal and also maybe it'll draw people to our budget referendum which would be nice to see more people have input into that instead of minimizing the electorate in that way. >> Is there a number that we have to reach for charter version? >> What do you mean by >> is it 10% of the registered voters or more than that? I'm looking at our counter attorney right now and I can see he's racking his brain. >> Yeah, there is a minimal elected non-election day. >> I think it is 10%. >> I think it's 10% if you if you do it on a non-election day. >> But there is a threshold. >> If it doesn't meet the threshold, even if it does pass, it

037still fails. >> So, we're not um this is not set in stone. I to be honest with you, I didn't I wanted to look over the charter and I didn't have a chance because of work uh stuff here, but I wanted to look and see if there was anything else. That's not set in stone what we're doing right at this point, right? >> No, it was just discussion. >> Okay. >> There are a few other things that we've looked at in the past. Um trying to uniform the requirements to be a member of a board and commission as currently they're all over the place. You know, it seems like >> every board has a different criteria. uh would make it easier to have the same blanket across the board. >> I agree that was one

038that was >> although that got solidly defeated last time unfortunately. Um I don't know if we want to put too many items on it as well though because that may just confuse voters you know having to read through eight 10 um charter changes. I I just want to point out when you open up the the the the door of charter revision, you could send them with a list, charter revision can then suggest many other things. So you could task them to say we do want to narrow the scope, but once the door is open, >> they come back with 20 items. >> I believe I I mean I I agree with Selectman Marino about the um having board of selectman members. I believe you can have up to one-third um elected officials as part of

039the commission. I think seven would be a great number because I believe what's happened in the past is that there's been some disconnect between the committee and the board of selectmen. So I I like your idea about um you know maybe not being too directly involved but being there as you know so that when it comes back to the board um we feel invested in it. We're ready to support it um and it doesn't get killed here uh before it goes to referendum at all. So, I I like that. And and also to to Cheryl's point, um I I am also a little concerned if it if it I mean, I understand needing to reach the 10% threshold, but I'm also um a little concerned about, you know, it becoming I I think that the

040charter revision needs to stand on its own for its own merits. And I'm worried that if it came at the same time as the municipal election, it would could potentially become a political thing. Um, I mean it doesn't have to, of course, and if we're all if if we have the select men, you know, there and supporting it and we're all completely on board with it, we could really maybe push it forward together. Um, but it does run the risk of of becoming a party thing rather than its own merits. >> I think to your point though, if we after the commission does its work, if we're in agreement, you know, this board is unanimous in in the agreement that the changes we want to make, then it's really not political because we're all working

041on it together. >> That would be past example of this board being unanimous in first the budget but then not every member of the board supporting the budget you know and advocating for it. So because that became a political issue. So that's where my concern is. I'd like to try to remove this process from politics completely if it's at all possible because I think that's in the best interest of the town. >> I just don't want a thousand people or 1100 people making the decision when we get double that on on a municipal election. That's all. I just I'd like to see the that much more many more people come out to to be in favor or against it. >> Well, I think the same thing goes for, you know, our budget resolutions. It's really

042frustrating when you've gotten such a small number of people thinking if you package these two things that might be enough to get people out so that we do make our minimum and you know, maybe people recognize how important is to participate in these things too. Historically, it just doesn't happen though for referendums of any sort other than um the municipal election. All the referendum counts are half. >> Well, I believe you may know this, but I believe the water and sewer referendum last last year, the year before only had like 39 votes. >> Yeah, there wasn't very many. >> Um >> you know, one thing too, if if we did do it at a budget referendum, a concern would be is that budget supported? Um because if we have a a budget go down, we

043wouldn't want the charter revision to go down by default because so many people were just against the budget or for the budget. Um I suppose would be okay too. Um it's about what $5,000 $6,000 for standalone referendum. >> Yeah, roughly maybe a little bit more. >> Not not the end of the world. And what happens if it just hypothetically if it were a standalone referendum and we didn't get a big enough turnout, what would happen? Is that just the total end? It fails and >> it fails. >> Start over. There's no other option like that. >> What does starting over look like in that case? Paul, you have to go back to the commission. Do they have to do all their work again? >> You'd have to do they'd have to do all their work

044again and then you would have to do your work again. There has to be public hearings um you know right when charter revision commissioners called to get ideas and concepts from the residents. They would then you know continue to meet um and then come back and they they're free to call as many public hearings as they wish. But by state law they do need to or they are required to have two public hearings and then when the information gets brought over to you you're required to have one public hearing before it goes to vote. So, you're realistically looking at 8 10 months. >> I I don't I don't want to judge people's speed. So, it it >> could be a little less, could be a little more. >> Could be less, could be a little

045bit more. Um, >> and then you have the guessing of, okay, if it we didn't get the turnout, did they not like the changes? Did they like the changes? Does did it rain and nobody came? I mean, you just don't know what the results are there. I I will put out and it's not something that you all don't know but there is another election coming up follow in November of 26 which is a a gubernatorial election. Um I will say >> um this town has tremendous turnout in presidential and in statewide elections. We're talking 70 80% of the population comes out and votes in those. Um >> so that might be a good alternative. That may be another alternative is trying to line this up >> to be November of 26. >> I like that

046idea. >> Um, you know, I going out that far, you know, they only have 18 months of to do it. Um, because once they call it, they only have 18 months. So, I think you'd have to wait to call it. Um, I think you guys are eager to to to get it going. But I think you tell them that we want this with a bow tie on it. So we could put it with Now there's no additional costs. Okay. So the argument of it's five, six, $7,000. We're already paying it. Um because there's uh there's that. The question that I do need to ask though, and I don't know the answer, and I'm going to look at our town attorney, and that's put you on the spot because we may have to research it because

047it's all new to us. Is does that is that allowed to be on early voting? >> A charter revision question. Yeah, >> because I I would agree but I don't >> referendums are not typically >> but I want to >> a lot of our referendums are set by charter you know all those days >> right >> all of them referendums are timed by our charter charter revision would be timed by the statute >> you know what kev can you no one's going to hear you at home I'm sorry >> I I think it would be I mean I look at it >> yeah we got to look I don't want to disenfranchise any voter who's taking advantage of early voting who couldn't vote on a charter revision. It just popped into my head that you

048know early voting early voting and people take advantage of it. Great. I don't want to disenfranchise those people because they came in on a on a Saturday to vote but they couldn't vote on the charter. So we got to look at that. That may be an argument not to maybe not an argument but a a question. >> Well, they could still do absentee >> still. That's the can >> do they have to be locked in before the election for early voting? How long do you have out the ballot fixed? How how far out from the election do you have the ballot fixed? >> Um >> like three weeks >> I think so. Yeah, >> roughly that. So it would be the same. So we would need to meet the same deadline >> middle of November

049and we should be able it's questions asked. I mean we're still >> we got plenty of time now. >> Yeah, we got plenty of time now. But I just wanted to throw out that there is another date. It may be different because it's actually on the date of the statewide election because I know that referendums are um previously if they're separate have not been able to be early vote. >> We got to find that out. But I just wanted >> but I think that's a good plan. That gives us >> 11 months to get this thing in a bow as you say >> and then we would hear from probably the largest percentage of the town with that election. >> No question. This town could definitely get a pat on its back for the for

050the uh participation in presidential and uh statewide elections. It's it's up there. I do want to win the award from the secretary of state. There is an award. Whichever town has the the most voter turnout, >> we came in like third in the president. Yeah, we that's we have great participation. Um, so I, uh, and I would just remind the board, um, we've talked about it. We received some emails from some residents wanting to participate, but we haven't really pushed it out to our residents yet. If you'd like, if you're in agreement, I can begin a active marketing campaign to gather names. I can funnel them through me and then send them. I'm sure you guys get a lot of emails. um I can take them and then create a list for you and then

051you know present the list at whatever meeting but I I just we've gotten some but I think to to really you know push it out >> I think we need to push it and give it some time so we get it out there so we get all types of applicants >> yeah diverse pool of candidates >> diverse pool >> seeing a lot of heads shaking yes you want me to start pushing interested in charter revision I'll get it up uh probably >> start of it anyway Okay. So, you got to start that process. >> Any other questions we'd like to look into for charter revision? >> No, but Paul, if you could copy >> I'd like to revisit that. >> If you could copy us on any of >> read it yet >> for the

052introduction or the invitation or what the whole >> process. >> Missing the question, but that's okay. You want to be copied in on >> You said you're going to do a marketing campaign of of of reaching out. Just copy us on any communications and and all that, too. Yeah, it's it's going to go on our social media channels. It's going to go on our website. Um, you know, it's going to I'll describe briefly what a charter revision commission is and looking for, you know, uh, residents to step up. Um, it'll be, you know, it'll be >> I'd be honest with you, I'd rather see people that are not involved now be involved in this. >> Yeah, I think we should have some criteria for uh, who we put on the commission. I mean, I think

053um people that are not necessarily associated with the inner workings of what we do here in town hall, um people that are currently on boards and commissions, not ad hoc potentially, but at least if they're current members, I don't think, you know, given that one of the topics is about boards and commissions, we should steer clear of having any members on the commissioner that are that are currently on that. Um, and obviously the list will come before this group and we'll make the selection of the five and the two of us that if we all agree that two of us should serve um who that would be. >> Uh, yeah, I I think there should be seven. I think there should be a couple being on this commission before we kind of did get down

054some rabbit holes and it was a little bit tough to stay focused. Um, also and I'll repeat what I said last time. I think we ought to keep this language very simple on these questions as simple as possible so people aren't standing there for too long having to read four or five different questions. They have to be simple. Town clerk elected or uh an an appointed position. Same with the rest. As simple as possible to make it simple and then push it once we we get it and we can push it out there. >> And I see the two of us that serve as facilitators to just help the discussion move along. keep them answer any questions about the specifics and you know not necessarily directed. So >> yeah, and I have no issue not

055being on it. So I was the last time around I had my swing at it. So >> I just wanted to comment on Sleekman Hester's uh recommendations in comments. What I gave you in in the revision I I know it sounds as simple but you are literally replacing words in charter. So, we can't just say, well, the town clerk's, you know, shall the town clerk be appointed or elected. You know, you're seeing that there shall be a town clerk who serves as a custodian of the town's public record, land records, vital election documents, blah blah blah. The town clerk shall be appointed by the town manager subject to confirmation by the board. This is just an example. I'm not saying we can put out a cheat sheet, so to speak. Yes, you >> so that

056clearly this is what this is about and that being the small simple. >> Yeah. How how big would the question? This wouldn't all have to go on the referendum question when they're in the voting booth, right? That you just keep it simple. >> Oh, I'm sure Attorney Nelligan will be weighing in multiple times on this. >> Usually one sentence you try to do explanatory text that they can read if they wanted to. >> Okay. Our our charter revision commission will have access to Kevin. That is for sure. We want to make sure we follow the laws. >> Anything else? All right, >> I got my marching orders. I'll get it out uh probably tomorrow. >> Thank you. >> Item 11, new business. This is the second meeting for the discussion on the draft speed camera

057ordinance. Meeting number two of three. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Again, no changes uh to the actual ordinance that was written by the town attorney. Included in your packet was a reading. I had some time one night. I think the kids went to bed early. A brief uh Q&A that I hope you had some time to look over. I do want to publish this on social media and also on our town's website. I think it may answer some questions prior to the public hearing, but by all means, come to the public hearing, ask many questions as you want. But this may actually spur some additional questions once people read it. Hope you had a chance. Really, I didn't want to go live with this document without, you know, you all getting a chance to weigh in

058on it. I have no pride in ownership, although I did write it. Um, tear it apart, like it, hate it, which direction you want me to go with the Q&A for our speed camera ordinance. >> Well, I did go through this and I appreciate you putting that time into that. Um but there was one question that got posed and maybe it was discussed here before you know I can remember when this when the whole study was done there were some questions about why was the um dam area on 44 utilized because it doesn't accurately reflect what's going on through t through downtown. Do you remember whether that was the company chose that we chose that or what? >> Great question. At the time the board of selectman had uh uh engaged our chief of police

059for his recommendations of where we should put this. So this that was a recommendation from our chief of police and that's why that particular area um and why a potential proposed cameras going there um was by our chief of police as well. And I think it has to do with sight lines of how these cameras actually work and getting clear view of items is what it boiled down. >> There have been a couple fatal accidents at the rock cut as well. >> Okay. speed related >> which is one of the reasons why I think you chose there. >> So I have a question on the 247 question. The um it says cameras may run continuously or only during designated hours. >> Yes. So by statute we can designate time periods. Um this board has not

060discussed that but you can say we want them on from 8 in the morning till 5 at night. You can run them 24/7, but that is up to this board as they set policy. Um, and it would be completely up to the board of exactly when these cameras could run. Um, I always in my head, and I shouldn't think this, I always thought they would run 247, but the board does have its uh uh purview of deciding if cameras run certain times of the day. >> Yeah, I would be in favor of 247. I was going to say, is there anybody on this board that doesn't think 24/7's the time? >> Okay. So, I think 24/7 is the answer to that question. >> Some people come flying through that through town at midnight as we're

061closing up shop. >> Well, the record speeds were not at 4 in the afternoon. They were the ones that >> Yeah. >> were crazy at night. >> 148 miles hour. >> That one. >> I think that was very important and it's why I wanted to put it out there. We we've tried to put out as much information and and I think it's important because when you have more than 75% of your traffic speeding, we have a problem. >> We have a problem. >> It's and when the people are complaining about it are saying, "Well, I'll speed elsewhere then. Now I'll speed through the school zone." It's just kind of like, "So, you're not going to you're just or that it's a money grab and we're just taxing people." No, we're keeping people from hurting people.

062We're trying to keep our town safe. make it safe. You know, that's I just I was kind of shocked by some of the comments I saw about people saying, "Well, I can't speed. Then I'm not gonna go stop doing business in downtown." >> I I don't want to go too deep down into the woods because we have a meeting on Thursday, but in essence, just just to that alone, and and you hit the nail on the head, >> this is not a money grab. A money grab would mean be putting police officers hidden in that you didn't know about. We're being very transparent and very open. We're going to let you know where these cameras are. Then we're going to put a sign,000 ft before you enter it, 500 ft before you enter it to

063tell you slow down or you're going to get a ticket. And if you disregard all of it, the first 30 days, we're going to give you actual just a warning to tell you you were speeding. So if you come back to that area, slow down. There's no, you know, slight of hand or anything. We're literally telling you many times where this is going to be. >> I just want to say thank you for putting this together. I think it's great for transparency and I think a lot of um the comments and stuff that that we read and hear are just, you know, from misunderstanding of how how it works and, you know, just assumptions made from not really knowing all of all of the facts. So, thank you for bringing this together and I think

064that we should get it out there as much as we can. >> Be busy. No, it won't be. Um, yeah, I'll get it out tomorrow. Um, and just one last thing, if you're just coming to say, um, we don't have money to pay for cameras. You'll know on Thursday, the cameras don't cost us a dime. >> All right. Can we have a motion to accept this as a second meeting and to send it to the third meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. Thank you. Any other discussion? Just a reminder, Thursday 6 PM this room is the public hearing on automated traffic enforcement safety devices. 6 pm this Thursday. All in favor. Unanimous. Item B, roads update. >> With us tonight is our director of public works. Um, this is a uh uh uh what we've

065done now for two years in a row, the work that has been completed um this uh past season with a quick view of what's going to be happening in over the winter. um our public works director and our intern will be coming to a January meeting to preview and to show you our wonderful uh software that we purchased um to show you the conditions of the roads and how it grades roads and the dollars assigned to those roads. So, tonight is just a uh an overview of what we've done and where we're going. I got an advanced look at it all because I meet you on Fridays. Uh for the record, Jim Rollins, director of public works. Um, as we did just after the uh the budget passed, we sat down and the board had

066asked for a, you know, fiscal 26 rule work attack plan. So, we put something together and I basically just grabbed that now that we're halfway through the work the the fiscal year. We wanted to do an update to let you know, you know, the status of the projects, both the bond projects and the capital projects from fiscal 26 as well as other uh capital projects that we've done. And there's a few miscellaneous things at the end. Um the sheet that I handed out to you, that spreadsheet, this is the results of the paving work that we just completed. Um, I broke it down, you know, we did several several roads, several sections of roads and a couple of, you know, kind of parking loty culde-sacy kind of things. And the reason I brought this this

067copy, I was just showing it to Paul. He says, "The select want to see this." Everybody asks, "How much does it cost to do a mile of road?" You know, we talk about a million dollars a mile and then, well, it's half of that if you don't have to do this. Well, it's less than that if you do this. So, we took some real prices for real paving on real roads that we just did and I broke them down to dollars per square yard. The those are the the green columns, dollars per ton of asphalt placed and then dollars per mile. Um, and it's just a good representation to see how how big the swing is from one type of a project to another. And um, I did tell you kind of what the treatment

068was. I gave you a brief overview of what was included. You know, how how thick the pavement was, how long the road was, and this is what we're going to use as a template when we get into what roads do we want to fund next and get you an idea of what they're going to cost without having to get engineers involved and spend time and money on that. We can come up with a a basic amount. Keep in mind, you'll see across the very top I have a red uh a red row and it says kind of the miscellaneous stuff that hasn't been included. This is really just what we paid paid to the paving contractor. Doesn't cover the drainage, doesn't cover the tree work that we do if sidewalks or curbing are included. Actually,

069some curving is included, but this is basically paving prices. Um, I just haven't had time to put all the drainage prices in and add it up. When I do, um, we'll have those numbers, too. So, that's what this is and it's a pretty pretty user friendly document and you can play with it on your own. Look at your own street and say, geez, you know, I drive in, it's, you know, 3/10en of a mile. How much would that be? Oh, wow. My road would cost this much to pay. Something. It's nice and easy to use. So, have fun with that. Share it with your friends. It's a It's a nice quick easy way to look at things. >> Jim, I'm gonna talk quickly on that. So, this alludes to what we're going to do in

070January with all of you. We're going to we're going to bring in our new AI software that went and drove every road in town and you're going to see the points it took. Selen Bishop, you saw you happen to be in that day. You saw all of the all of the pictures that this machine takes. Um, we're going to preview that to not just the board, but obviously to our residents as well. We'll have it on the TVs. But this is now important that we we've laid the groundwork where, you know, the numbers that's been thrown around is we're going to give you a million dollars next year in the budget. Okay, great. Then we're going to be able to look at all the roads and we're going to be able to determine, okay, if

071we want to spend a minute, we may get one road because that's the road we've elected, but we've done all of the heavy lifting and now we know exactly what the costs are going to be as we do it. Keeping in mind, these are numbers today. We wait five more years, put an escalator on it because everything goes up. All right? So, you know, if you want to start addressing the problem, we're going to show you all the worst roads in town. We're going to tell you in the dollar amount. You guys are the board tell us where you want us to go. We're going to come with recommendations, but ultimately, you know, it's your budget once I turned it over to you. Um, we're going to come with a recommendation, but ultimately we're going

072to show you exactly, well, what about this road? We'll tell you how much it costs. I think it's moving forward. If it's funded, we'll pave it. >> Jim's got no issue with paving. >> Mr. drainage, all this stuff before is the question. But anyway, um >> so the bond projects um that we were planning on doing this year. Um we did not get to the old Colbrook Road. It was a 100 foot section of that that we just couldn't fit in when we did the cover over there. And we have a contractor chosen. The bid, the documents are signed, but he ran out of season before he could get to it. Um, the Oakdale drainage project is, you know, same thing I told you in July. We're researching lowerc cost alternatives for that and probably

073scaling it back um and not going all the way to the top of the hill. The worst of the problem is at the bottom. So, it's a reasonable solution. Uh, that is a high priority project for ne for this coming fiscal year. Uh, Hallebert Avenue. Um, this one's a very high priority. The two problems that have held us held us down on that are there's still questions about the lot availability. That's that's the funding source for the lower half of that road. Um, I haven't gotten clear answers from the COG. And the other uh the other issue is the engineering. You know, BART just started reviewing those plans maybe a couple weeks ago and he's just finding a lot of things that don't make sense. Very the engineers chose expensive options. And when we realized

074that last time, we told them what we wanted and they didn't seem real interested in changing it. So, the the project stalled. So, we're we're going back to the engineers. They're under new ownership now. We're going to give them one last chance to do it the way we want it. And Um if they don't, we'll find somebody else. But that's the that's the status of those projects. Um now on to some of the projects that did get done or done is is an interesting word, but uh have moved forward. Um uh West Wakefield Boulevard at the bottom of Forest A, there was three catch basins. We added we replaced added, you know, nice deep sumps to them, pipe down to the lake. Um that is that one is done. Um there was an area 817ish

075to 825 East Wakefield Boulevard um where we get a lot of icing and a lot of water bleeding through the roads. We added some under drains. Uh that section is done. Um last year we had a a new problem with ice flows coming out of an old well over there and we don't know why. It's never happened before. Apparently, nothing has changed. We didn't do anything yet to address that. We're going to watch it right from the start this year to see what happens. So far, we haven't had any issues, which so go figure. But, uh, but the the under drains are done. Um, we did a section of roughly 400 feet of under drains um in the 229ish area of West Wakefield Boulevard. That's completely done. And there's still four projects on West Wakefield

076that are delayed mostly by surveyors. Um, in order to design the proper storm water treatment devices, you need to have an accurate survey and we've just had a hard time getting surveyors. Um, we got one on board, but he's so far behind that he's just not getting to it. So then the engineering firm we're using just acquired a firm with an with a surveyor. So we're we're looking at all options to try to get, you know, get these things moving. Um so we'll know more on that soon. The Grantville Road Bridge, um public comment is being evaluated and you know that's what happens before they go to final design phase. uh just maybe a month or so ago, two months ago, uh DOT postponed the start of that until spring of 2028. It was supposed

077to be spring of 2027. I don't know why. Maybe it's because they're changing the design so much. They didn't they didn't tell us. They just said this is the new date. Um South Road, that's that's one that's always at the top of the list of people to to want to have done. We are we're kind of scoping that project with the engineer right now. Um, fortunately we chose an engineer who lives on the road and knows the drainage problems and so I think that's going to really help you know every little detail on that. Um, Wani Road, uh, the paving is done. Uh, we just need roadside restoration over there. Uh that's another one of those really nasty roads up in Winchester that was almost unplowable and it's really nice now. Um sidewalks we have

078contract we we've signed a contract with with Martin Lio. Uh it's a construction company out of Bristol and they you know they're ready to start in the spring. We just have to decide which of the sidewalks. We did unit prices for that so that we can just take that bid and go to wherever the uh you know the most important or the most important most strategic is probably a better word uh sidewalk is. We're going to try to wrap those into big chunks to help the, you know, the unit prices come down just kind of the the quantities of or um the, you know, the economy of scale. Um the very first one that we want to do is on Park Place. It's in front of the uh cemetery there. Uh the reason that's number

079one is it's a town owned parcel. So, we're responsible for that sidewalk and we want to extend the offer while we're there to those businesses along Park Place and we will do the work and then they will pay us back over time. That's the sidewalk revolving fund and we've mentioned it to a few people and they're like, "Wow, that makes sense. We can leverage our money. We can get economies of scale. we can do the leg work, but we're still consistent with the uh the charter that says that sidewalks are the responsibility of the property owner and not the town. So, it's like the only way we can figure out to make this work for everybody. Um, Newfield Road, we've begun the internal planning of the drainage. That's really the that's really the first step.

080Um the project the drainage part of that project is budgeted for fiscal 27 which we're going into and then the paving will follow. I've been working with Ann Marie a little bit about how to phase the borrowing so the money is available when we go. This is the single biggest project I believe on the list. So we've got to be careful of when we go out on the project and when we uh have the money to pay for it. >> How long is that Jim? How what's the distance on Newfield? I don't think I wrote that down. Don't I don't think I have that here. >> You're a Winchester guy. >> It's It's It's a couple miles from the town line to the center. >> Are we doing that much of it? >> Is that

081the plan? >> Yeah. The plan is to do it end to end. Y >> Okay. It's pretty You Well, you've driven it. >> It's pretty much shot end to end. So, >> yeah. So, it's >> um >> You know when you hit the state road, that's for sure. >> Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. You know, you know when you hit Torington as well. >> And you hit Torington as well. Torington did theirs what, five years ago? >> Yep. And it's still in really nice shape. >> And then when you went and that's when our complaints went through the roof. As soon as Torington did their end, you got to ours the phones just started ringing and they have >> Did you drive that AI unit up Newfield? >> Yeah. >> And it survived. >> It's It's

082isolated by the suspension of the vehicle. >> That's good. >> Um anyway, so that's the um you know, that's the plan for New Field. We really want to get that get that one started to get the drainage in. And part of the drainage is to assess when we do the crossover pipes uh on the drainage, we'll be assessing what there is for for actual pavement depth and aggregate underneath to know what we need to do to supplement that. Uh that's what we did on Wani Road. And we ended up having to add like 63 triacal loads of aggregate to the base material and grinding it back in just to get the um structural integrity back into the base. So we'll do the same thing on uh on on uh Newfield. Um that was Newfield. [Applause]

083in that. So those were the bond projects. In fiscal 26, we were given some money for the drainage on uh Price Road. It was worse than we had realized when we speced out the you know the paving price. So the board gave us money to do that drainage. The drainage is done. The paving is done. The site restoration is done. We're in and out of there nice and quick. Um nice brand new 29 foot wide road. Um And that's a complete industrial area. So, you're serving some of your commercial businesses. The residents don't see it so much, but you know, at least you're showing some love to the uh the commercial area. Um, we got $75,000 for guide rail. That's all been spent. That was the last half of the Taylor Brook Road guide rail.

084Uh, the old stuff was rotted off. We replaced the guideposts a couple of times with stuff we took from the state when they stopped using it. They gave us all their stuff that wasn't rotten. We used that until it rotted away. Now it's been replaced with, you know, the good uh the good steel stuff. Um Chapel Road has been there's three sections here that were really bad. The plow turnaround at the end. We're talking the Winchester center side of Chapel Road. Um the plow turnaround is paved. We had a drain two drainage areas that were problematic and the pavement was just garbage. Now that we fixed those, there's a couple other sections that look pretty bad, but we we did the sections that we were planning on doing. That's all done. Uh Dayton Road was

085about 650 ft. That was uh peeled up the old stuff and paved uh with 4 inches of new couple of aprons which uh topped off the uh the drainage the drainage problem we did the year before. So all those that was all the those were the the three you know road projects that we had in the capital budget for fiscal 26. In previous fiscal year capital projects there's a few projects I'll give you an update on. Um the white street bridge is still there was public comment. We had a big public hearing and there was public comment and all of that has been brought back to DOT who is kind of the lead on this. any bridges that are more than 20 ft in span um go through a DOT project which reimburses us 100%

086the cost. So we're kind of you know stuck by their rules, stuck by their timelines uh to some degree stuck to to their design. We can have input but they don't always take it because they're the ones paying for it. Um so they're evaluating you know everything from the public comment. uh hurlbut and birds all. We had money in the budget to design a an an improvement to a failing retaining wall, fencing, drainage, sight lines, and a few other things. Fortunately, we didn't spend any of that money because we hired an intern this summer who was an engineering intern from Yukon, and she did it. And so we've got that $50,000 that we can put towards construction. Uh we don't have an estimate on that, but at least we've got some seed money for that

087and the design is done so we know what we can do to the intersection and then we can know what we can do for water quality and just visual appeal there. Um the Risha Beach intersection, the intern finished the lot and intersection design. Um, so we know basically what that pattern is going to be, how many cars it fits, how it works for the wreck department. And then we still don't know what to do about the drainage because partly because of the Hurl Button Birds All intersection um the water from the beach parking lot ends up in there. So we we need to do a little little bit of drainage couch just to make sure that everything uh everything works. Skinner Road received $100,000 from capital money a couple years ago and that is probably

088enough based on the drainage prices we had on Wani Road. That number should be just about right for Skinner Road. We'd like to get that in and then there's going to be another need for again based on these paving prices for another two $225,000 for the actual paving of that road. Um that's another one that's nearly unplowable. Um, narrow, deep gullies on the sides, poor pavement, terrible base. Um, really a a brutal road. Rockwell, Superior Ridge, and Spring Streets. They're all in a, you know, combined in a basic area where the gas company did work. Uh, a few years ago, we got uh fe of money for their pavement. Put it in a in a pot so it's ready to go, but we didn't have them pave it because we need to improve the drainage.

089So, that drainage has been bid. Uh, the contract is signed and ready to start in uh spring of 2026, if not late winter. You know, if the if the weather looks good, the contractor wants to just pick a section and piece it together. So, that's that's the status of those projects. What we did for annual the annual roadway uh maintenance budget that's a $485,000 budget that we have basically goes to crack seal, chip seal, hazard trees, line painting, shimming, you know, tire ruts, patching potholes, and all that stuff takes up, you know, about 400 or about 350,000 of that, leaving 135,000 for everything else. Um at the halfway point through the year, we've completed the paving improvements on Holmes Drive. Uh that was 300 ft. We did about um a th000 ft on Mountain Road.

090That was one and we only did one lane there because only one lane was in bad shape. We did maybe a third of the uh crossover pipes on Danbury Quarter Road. Another road we get a lot of complaints on. Uh we did this north end of Suckerbrook Road. We uh fixed a sidewalk and curb issue on Oak Street. We finished the drainage on Morning Side and Brookside. The paving isn't done, but we do have uh some fee in lie of money from the gas company for that and the water company for uh for Brookside. We've bandaged a few um drainage structures on Oakdale Avenue and that was bandaged only because Oakdale is planned on having that big uh drainage improvement project. Um other crossover pipes and catch basins just steady progress on that. We just

091keep banging away at those and that's typically done either through our drainage bid or through the guys um in order to keep the prices down. If we have oneoff drainage issues, uh the public works crew does those. If we can lump them into a big, you know, geographic area, then we sub them out and we can avoid the mobilization costs. Um dirt road repairs, again, steady progress on that. Uh some years ago, probably seven years ago, we changed to a different type of material, which has allowed us to catch up on our dirt roads. Um, the town had always used a very fine aggregate because it's real easy to grade. We put in a much heavier, bulkier aggregate and it just holds in place during those rainstorms, holds up to the snow plows a lot

092better. Uh, gives us a lot, we have to do a lot less maintenance, which allows us to catch up on a lot more of those roads. Um, and then out of that 135 that we still haven't spent doing all that, it's just whatever comes up. you know, you get calls that just keep coming and coming and you can't answer them all. In the miscellaneous topic, the Bridge Street intersection, as you all know, we had a public hearing on that that that bombed. Um, so we took the um, you know, where it hit bomb. So, so, so we took the we took the comments and uh Bart and I sat down and there was really there was really one comment, you know, keep Bridge Street open, make everything better, similar to what you did, but keep

093Bridge Street open. That was made that was made perfectly clear. So Bart and I went back through, you know, the plans, uh, sat with Paul a couple of times. We talked over the options and we've come up with, you know, an improvement that keeps Bridge Street open up and down both ways, but still streamlines the intersection, makes the traffic flow more obvious. Um, so we're going to we're going to push that along and and see where we can get that. And I don't know if there is a time limit on that that grant, and I don't know what it is, but it's Yeah, we went out for an extension. We're waiting to hear, but that's Tom and I. >> And then, uh, lastly, I don't know why this was put at the miscellaneous, but the,

094uh, the Holland Beach parking area and then, uh, you know, several hundred foot section of West Wakefield Boulevard was redone. Uh, all new drainage, all new road base, parking lot, paving, uh, handicap ramp. Uh, still needs curbing. uh that'll come in the spring and then just top soil and seed. So, we got off to a slow start. Um a lot of that because we just didn't have manpower. The uh we were down five guys in the street department most of the year. They just keep getting hired away from us faster than we can bring them in. And so, yeah, it was a busy we finished strong. Started slow, but finished strong. So, a lot of stuff there. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer. If you have any requests for the next

095time we do an update, if you can get those requests specifically written to Paul ahead of time, that would be helpful. >> Questions from the board. >> Just one thing before um Jim, can you send and and I that report would have been included in your packet, but knowing Jim, it was printed at >> probably 6:45 before you came over here. So, get it to I'll get it to board, but I'll also most importantly get it up on our website, public works section of the website where we've listed at least >> five or six different road reports uh since I had gotten here. So, um we'll get it out on the web. So, if you weren't following along, um we'll get that report. Yeah, we'll get that report on our website for you, but please

096>> So, so by the way, Jim, it was really nice to see the end of the year push, right? It was exciting to see all this stuff getting done and and some nice clean new roads to drive on. So, great job. Um, I have a question about the lake drainage in particular. We're doing little spots of changing catch basins and you said putting in deeper basins than are there. What is the rest of it like? I mean, how much, >> you know, how bad how bad are we, you know, hurting the lake with runoff? I know that I see in in rainstorms as I drive around, I'll see where the big conduit comes out of the walls and it's a brown stream that goes out. So, there's definitely stuff in those catch basins that's not

097being caught. So, how bad is the rest of it? And is do we have that on the the sites? I mean, obviously preserving the water quality is paramount to everybody in this town. So, >> yeah. So, there's a couple answers to that. Um there's a lot of sources of for lack of a better term contamination to lake water. You know, everything from fertilizers to imperous surfaces to road runoff to salt to heavy metals to pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides. Uh the brown water that you speak of that flows out of these pipes and into the lake is typically from heavy rain events that happen kind of in the perimeter of the lake. Uh, one of the big ones is uh, Norcross Road. That one, if you get a big enough storm and it lasts long enough, you'll

098get a big pump of water. You get a lot out of Suckerbrook. Uh, there's a lot of ATV damage behind Suckerbrook Dam, and as the water flows through, all that mud just finds its way in. Um, surprisingly, you even get some dirty water, dirty looking water from uh Taylor Brook, and that's virtually all woods. There's almost almost zero developed area behind that. Um, and that's a good indicator of just the dust and dirt that falls to the ground every day. Decaying leaves, dust, dirt, you know, whatever. and you get a rainstorm, it washes in, hits that river, comes down and I mean it looks it looks bad. I've been out there and I've actually taken samples in glass jars of that. You let it sit for a couple hours and it's crystal clear. It just

099looks that bad because it's just all in turmoil. But to answer your question, what's being done? So in the bond there's a Highland Lake drainage, you know, chunk. It's essentially I think we you've probably heard the term MS4. MS4 is municipal separate storm sewer systems or something like that. And it's a program that we are soon to be required to partake in where you need to document all of your outfalls wherever they wherever an outfall is. That's the end of a pipe. the um end of a swale uh wherever a stormage storm water treatment device discharges. We need to document it with GPS. We need to photograph it. We need to test it. We need to sample it. We need to know what pollutants are coming out of there. We need to know the sizes

100of every crossover. That's actually not part of MS4. That's part of another requirement that's been thrust upon us. But anyway, this program is is really in depth and the money that the that is in the bond has two phases. There's kind of the Highland Lake drainage and then what was the other one called? Do you remember what that other was part of the drainage one? Retrofit. Highland retrofit. That is the beginnings of this MS4. And we have contracted with a uh a firm tyin bond to help us start that off on the right foot and do it efficiently. Everybody has their own idea which is the worst offender to the lake. Some people think it's the big one that's throwing all that that water in. Some people think it's the little tiny one. Some people

101think it's their their neighbor that's mowing their lawn into the lake. We need a little help. I have my own opinions and nobody seems to be in agreement. So, we've enlisted a, you know, a professional firm to help us with that. Um, it's a relatively modest start, but they're going to get us started in an efficient manner, which will help us identify exactly which of those products or which of those problems are the ones that should be addressed first or where can we get the most bang for the buck. You know, we've got a limited amount of money. Where can that money go? In the meantime, we're just going after low hanging fruit. Um, where we are doing basin work, we're putting in deep sumps. The deep sumps are great for the big sediment, but

102the high nutrient loads are on the very fine fine fine stuff that makes its way through. Catch basins don't really help that. >> Is there a fix for that? >> There are fixes, but there's not fixes that work well in small areas. Ideally, you would run it through a grass swale, but that takes up property that people want to use for partying at the lake. So, it makes it really hard. There's mechanical systems, hydrodnamic separators. >> They help, but they don't eliminate the problem. So, >> the answer we're going to find is all of the above. There's going to be where we can find room for a grass swale or infiltration or hydrodnamic separators or improved, you know, vegetated buffers or better drainage in the roads. Um, absorbance in the catch basins that catch metals

103and nutrients and hydrocarbons. It's going to be it's going to be all of that. I just don't have the I don't have the ability to know which are the best treatments and where. So, that's why we're bringing in a professional. So, we got them on board. Um, I got a meeting tomorrow. Um, and I think we're going to, you know, pull the trigger and now we got to have to start getting them all the data, all the Highland Lake water quality reports, all of that stuff. They've seen some of them. They want more of them. So, they want to be able to track what's going on. Um, and you know, let's use their expertise because it's it's way over my head. >> Do we clean out the catch basins every year? We clean out the

104catch basins around the lake in the very first thing in the spring and then the very last thing in the fall. And then we sweep the lake roughly every month uh throughout the summer hoping to keep those basins from filling up. And that's going to that's going to continue. There's no reason to stop it. Um, yeah. So, it it's but those are the things we should be doing all over town and that's what MS4 is going to tell us. You know, how often you have to do that. >> Got it. >> One of the document documentation aspects of it is every time you clean a basin, you're supposed to document how much you took out. So then instead of maybe doing them every year, you can do them every two years, every three years. So

105there's also some savings you get from doing that. But once you get there and you open it up, you might as well clean it. So that's kind of the what we're in now. And we'll start developing, you know, we'll start seeing trends. This is not an overnight thing. This is a this is a decade long project before we really see, you know, benefits. But yeah, you asked a big question. It's a big answer. And I and I just >> which which got me thinking because I've seen containment uh uh apparatuses that will fit underneath the catch basins and catch all this stuff coming in. But they're about the size of almost half this room. So because you want to separate that water because you have that's where your specific gravity comes in. Your lights and

106your heavies your lights will just run right off. So I'm just going to jump to sidewalks. Um since I'm talking now um you mentioned sidewalks. I remember back when we were doing the bonding. I think you were talking about doing them around the schools because there's still a lot of walkers that are going to school. >> Yeah. >> So around Pearson and Hinsdale and >> there was there was a map called critical sidewalks and it was basically the sidewalks where you have the most school activity, most recreational activity and most senior citizen activity. And it was basically a loop kind of around the schools around Willow Street and then down towards kind of the the >> you know the Gay Street area. Um that's still the plan. Um the Park Place is part of that

107>> that stretch. Um Main Street also wants sidewalks. So we've got we've got to look at we got to balance it all out. >> Which sidewalks you do is kind of It's kind of dependent on what road work you want to do, too. >> Yes. >> You got to be careful not to do a sidewalk. If you're not going to do the road or if the road needs a treatment, simple like a mill and pave, you can do the sidewalks ahead of time. >> Sure. >> You got to put your hand if you're going to do a sidewalk, you got to do your ADA ramps. You got to do all this stuff. So, >> y >> what looks looks like a simple map that we put in for the bond. There's going to be extenduating

108circumstances. um where some roads or or some sidewalks may get skipped and some may get added, but that's we had to put out a map just to at least communicate the point. >> Yeah, because I remembered that when we were going for the bond way back when uh the last finance director was here. >> Yeah, >> we talked about the sidewalks and stuff like that. >> He's actually the one that developed the map. >> Every lunch he went out walking and he did an inventory of what he thought were the the most important ones. >> So, you don't have to go walking anymore. I just wondered how a how a finance director has lunch. >> So, if you're going to do the sidewalks, I I ask that you do the entrance to Pearson School because

109that is a cluster. >> Every day that we have an election over there, people's cars get destroyed going out of that parking lot. Whoever designed that ramp was a nipple head because it the driveway is bigger than the ramp and you're driving off the side of the sidewalk. So, that needs to be fixed. But that's not my question. Um, my question is, um, did you save the millings from the milling paves this year? >> I don't know. >> I think some of you did some. >> All right. Because I mean, we're really trying hard to get you money to pave. Um, and and as you know, there's a lot of cost in dirt roads and stuff. When I was at your thing for the invasive class, um, I noticed some large piles out back. I'd

110like you to consider crushing. Uh, if you want to, I can hook you up with a couple of people that do it, give you a cost. In the long run, it save the town thousands and thousands of dollars. There's a lot of roads that you're going to be paving that are going to need to be, you know, the the the base is going to need to be upgraded. Millings is perfect for a base for paving roads. I've used it. I I'll swear by it. All my dirt roads are millings. I even chip sealed some of them because they were hard before you couldn't even drive on them. They're like mud foot thick. So, just, you know, we're really trying to that'll help steer maybe some more money that we can't afford to give you um

111towards payment if we save on the So, if you pay $10,000, you got $50 $60,000 worth of process. >> Yeah. >> So, yeah. So, let me let me answer that. Um so, we end up with we end up with millings, you know, they they come in, they go out. Um, by the time the roads that we've been milling are so bad it just turns to dust. It's not they're not the best mill. You can see that pile was gray. It didn't even have black left in it. Um, so they're not great. They can supplement uh the crushing. Uh we did get money in capital a few years back to crush that big pile. I don't know if you made it all the way out back. We got a huge pile that's ready to crush. >>

112Go that far. We've been holding off on that until we can get the invasive species under wraps because we don't want to be crushing that ant and spreading that whole town. >> So, we did our we did our first treatment of uh spraying while we still had um Chuck here. He was a licensed applicator. So, he we did all of public works once. We want to do that at least one more time before we crush and then we'll have that. >> That's a smart idea because I got the same problem. >> Yeah, it's it's wicked. But, you know, we're really I mean, I'm pushing hard for this board to give us give public works more money for paving if we can in the budget. And that is an avenue for us to save and then

113put towards that, too. So, >> yeah, we we save all the stuff that the contractors bring back. We separate out the stuff that can be crushed and like Elm Street, all that stuff. All the pavement, all the aggregate came back here. We cr we put all the good stuff in one pile where we can crush it. All the the the glacial till underneath went to a different spot that we just graded out. So, and we we have a huge Now, we've been doing that for ever since I've been there before that they just dumped everything in that big mountain back there. So, it's all mixed up. What we do with that is a whole another story. >> You can pick through it, get the rocks, and then you >> have to deal with that's kind

114of our thought. I got lucky this year because of the wall for uh >> Oh, >> 44 there that was caving in. I got all the rock from that. Oh my god, the process came up beautiful. >> Nice. What size you making? >> 3/4. >> Okay. >> So, yeah. And I do the same with the melons. And I also have the screener. So, if you need that, >> I screen the millings when they could have just sort of chunks around. But I mean, I don't know if you you want to do your dirt roads, but you don't have to do that if you do it as a base, >> but I screen it for the dirt roads and then I I grade it about 3 4 inches and then roll it in August and it's

115hard as a rock. We're plowing it. Not not a problem. >> We can actually salt it. >> Yeah. See, our millings don't hold up. They're just they're so dried out. >> So old there's no oil left. >> So we don't get as good a benefit. You got to do that sooner, which is hasn't been our struggle. Gotcha. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> See you back here in January when we really get to have a little >> Oh, that's the Violytics one. >> Yeah, the Violytics where we get to show them all the fun software. >> Oh god, great. >> Sounds really fun. >> Thank you, Jim. >> Oh, this is going to be fun. >> Moving on to item 12, citizens comments. The board of selectman welcomes public comments. Speakers be limited

116to three minutes and may speak once. Just make sure you turn on the mic. >> You just hit the red microphone button. >> Say we're on the edge where the microphones are. >> There you go. There you go. You're good. >> I'm just here to inquire on um the committee that was supposed to be forming for Walls Hill project the development because I haven't heard anything. I've inquired, sent emails, made phone calls, but no one's answered my question. So, >> so as you see, we're going to executive session to discuss Wallen Hill and Mountain Side. So, um, coming out of that, I may have a direction on which way we're going to move. >> Okay. >> Yep. Anyone else wish to speak? Moving on to item 13, executive session. Discussions regarding 508 Main Street, wall

117and sale mountainside property, 52 White Street. Taking with us town manager Harrington. >> We're going to bring our real Dave Satarana. >> We're going to bring our town attorney, Kevin. >> Town attorney, Kevin Nelligan, >> and we're going to bring in our zoning enforcement officer for 508 Main Street and Wallins Hill. Uh but he will not be present for the 52 White Street uh discussion. Jeff Green. >> Yes. >> Motion. >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor. And it is 8:35 p.m. >> Just uh when you're walking up, if you don't mind just turning your microphones off, >> YouTube will have I have [Music] [Applause] Yeah. And we are back from executive session at 9:13 p.m. >> Mr. Mayor, I move that we move the following properties to a town meeting for the

118sale of 508 Maine, 516 Maine, 30 High Street, and 52 White. >> Second. >> Oh, I'm sorry. to be held in this room on January 20th at 6 PM. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Discussion. Seeing none. All in favor? >> Unanimous. >> Thank you. We'll get that scheduled immediately. >> Next. >> I also move that we authorize Paul Harrington to request proposals from Stoneleaf, Canelli Development Group, Caribeta Development to accept proposals for Wallins Hill. Just >> one correction uh and I want to say it right. It's uh Germal >> Gamali >> Garamel. Okay. >> Not the >> so Stone Leaf Garamel Development Group and Carabetta to accept proposals for the Wall and Hill property. >> Submission date >> uh submission dates on the uh RFQ RFA. So I believe it's February 1st.

119Okay, we have a motion of >> favor 1 or 15. >> We have second discussion. >> Seeing none, all in favor. >> Thank you. >> Item 15, selectments, comments, and reports. Anyone have anything? >> No, but I saw you. >> No, I just I'm done talking. >> That's how I was. I'm done. Need a sneakers. Well, I just want to wish everyone a happy holiday, merry Christmas, Hanukkah, whatever applies for you. Enjoy. >> Yes. >> Stay warm and safe. >> I just wanted to thank um Sergeant Hubard from Winchester Police. I got an opportunity on December 6 to do my third ride along with the police department to get an idea of what they experienced. And and uh I will tell you that we had one incredibly busy night. right after roll call at 4

120o'clock. We were going non-stop until I well she we couldn't go out anymore because we had a prisoner in uh in the house. So um about 10:30 I left, but it was a really busy busy night and we had four people on and literally we couldn't get to every call in a timely manner. So I will tell you they worked their tail off down there and uh we tried to do radar on Main Street for a little while. We got about 8 minutes in before we were called off to another emergency. So, um, they work very hard and I want to thank them all for the work they do and thank you for Sergeant Hubard for letting me tag along for the evening. Anyone else? Uh, this past Friday night, uh, the YMCA held freezing

121for a reason in East End Park. Um, it was very cold. The Boy Scouts spent the night out in their cardboard boxes. the VFW Post 296 was there and there were several members of the YMCA and the Winston Fire Department there as well including our real estate former fire chief. Um this coming Saturday from 9 to 11 once again I'll be at Stop and Shop ringing the bell. It's going to be a very cold day so come and bring your pocket change. Once again echoing what Cheryl said. Merry Christmas to everyone. Happy holidays. Happy New Year. Happy New Year, Henry, if you're watching still. There's Glenn. >> With that, >> make a motion to adjourn. >> Is there a second? All in favor? >> Next meeting, 2026, >> January 8th, >> I think it is.

122>> Is it the Yeah, it is.