001I attended a freedom of information uh workshop last Friday and passed a couple of these down. Um, and I became even more aware of the importance of transparency in our government and the ability to get information that we need on things like land or things that are going on at board or whatever the case is. So the uh the freedom of the freedom of information act and how it was created. It's fascinating. I encourage those to to look it up. Um, and uh we handle these promptly professionally in the office um for all those things that fall into into the purview of this this issue. But this little pamphlet is helpful in terms of what's covered, what isn't um how it's handled. Uh but again, it gives me even more confidence in um and how
002this works to again maintain transparency in governments both big and small. So I thought that was very very helpful. Again, I encourage people to pursue or look that up or if they need some information about the town they're unsure about, explore whether or not that's available. Uh and if it isn't or they think it's available, that is an avenue that they can pursue. That is all. I remind correspondents. Next public comment. Does anyone have anything they want to say tonight? >> All right. Good evening any everyone. Kelly Mullen 54 Strong Zav and this is just a follow-up question. We were just wondering if we had an update about our proposal that we put in for the lot at the end of Brazo's drive last meeting. >> So, nothing yet. Um I I have received it.
003Um it'll be uh we we didn't put it as a discussion item on here, but it raises a bigger question which I'm glad about is what do we do with with townland that we have. So, I think what we need to do and again uh the board may change in a couple weeks. Um, so I was going to put it into the next board, whoever's chosen, because we need to not only do that and see what's the policy, the town, what's the rates that we would charge, what's the use of it, what are the rules about that, it kind of opened up a bigger can of worms in a good way. So, um, it hasn't been forgotten. In fact, it's stripped a lot of other discussion about how we do it the right way. Um,
004I believe that your families have had discussions and talked. That's great. Um, but I think there's something more we can do. So, as a board, for those of you that will be here in a couple weeks, for those of you uh that may not and still want to pay attention, um I think finding a a good use for town land that is being unused right now and we can find another use for it in a way that makes sense and what the lease value is is something that we should look at in the same way that we had talked about looking at the charter and looking at some ordinances when it comes to flight. So, there's other things that we need to look at systematically. So, that's one of them. So, no decisions been made
005yet because we haven't had a full discussion. uh that'll be coming soon. But that is >> I know there's a lot of other things probably more important things on the table. But >> but but in fairness it is an important thing and I think it uh for me I've had a number of conversations with you guys with the other family and with others in town that have seen the discussion about this and I think it's it's well worth having and and seeing what we want to do. The fact that our plan of conservation and development is happening right now. We're looking at what we want to do over the next 10 years like when our town grows up, right? What do we want to be in 10 years? Uh that's part of it. So I
006think there's a lot of brain power going to be put into this to come up with something that makes sense. Uh maybe easy to implement but something that makes sense for everyone involved. So I think we can get there. Uh but we need to have the power I need to have the uh the other folks on this board. I'll be able to look at that and with feedback from everyone come to a decision on that. So so it is hot. It's active and it'll be looked at soon. That I can promise you. >> Thank you. >> Right. With that is there any any feedback from the board members on on that discussion? Is that are we doing that now? >> We hope >> because we're not >> even that whole that was more than we
007typically do in public comment. >> Okay. >> Just open to other people's thoughts on >> that's we we can we can come to >> terms of you're 100% correct too. >> All right. All right. Any more public comment? [Music] Kim Hannah, Boulder Lane, Portland. I'm here with an issue. Mike knows that we've had this on our street for quite a while now. It's a boondoggle on Butler Lane. Last year, we received a letter that for 20 minutes at the end of the school year, the gate would be open because there was um congestion on the high school driveway. And that morphed from 20 to 30 to an hour or so, but it was just in the afternoon. I brought up some security concerns. Then I brought up some problems. There's a lot of kids that
008walk to school and it's a narrow road and young drivers are young drivers. We've all had them. And I was concerned about the pedestrians and I got poo pooed on that. So this year with no notification, they've decided to open the gate from 6:30 in the morning until whenever they decide to close it. And it's a very confusing situation. Now it's a two-way road and it's people going in and out at the same time. And if you see in the pictures, I don't know whose responsibility that corner is, whether it's on the town side or the property owner side, but you can't see going around that corner. So cars are going in and cars are going out at the same time, and people can't see what's going on. There's tremendously less cars this year than
009there were last year. There is no congestion at the high school driveway. I sat there the other day. I didn't have my camera. There's two or three cars behind the buses. The buses are out and down High Street before the kids are leaving the parking lot. So, there's no congestion. It's also confusing because it's a dead-end road. If you look at the town maps, it's a dead-end road. It's emergency access. So all week long you can go in and out at will, but then come Saturday or Sunday, people still think it's open and they're zooming down the road and now they're aggravated because whatever they're trying to get to on time, they're late and they're zipping around and zooming back down the road. So I think it really is something that needs to be addressed
010from a safety standpoint. I also will go back to the construction of the middle school complex up there because when that was done, there was a um traffic study done on High Street. That intersection was deemed a very dangerous intersection. There's no sight lines. You're coming over a hill. It's a, you know, you've just got the in and out. When you're leaving the high school through the high school driveway, you've got a right-hand turn lane, a lefthand turn lane, and it's a three-way stop. You've got young drivers leaving there. They're they're they know. I mean, they're kids. We all know how they are. They don't see that car racing over the hill. They're going now onto a road that's in terrible shape on top of it right now. And I still think it's a it's
011an extreme safety concern. And I think it puts the town kind of in a liability position because it's been designated a dangerous intersection. And yet buses are going out of there, school vans are going out of there with students on them, kids are going out of there. And I don't know what the rules are now in school because I haven't had kids in school for a long time. But traffic during the day up and down is pretty constant. And not all of them are adults. So I don't know if now kids can come and go during study halls or whatever, but it's a nice little getaway road. I've also now seen more people and I it doesn't bother me, but I know that you really shouldn't have a lot of traffic on school grounds that
012doesn't belong there. And yet now people can go up and park and walk the track during the day. You know, it's juxtaposes what you consider safety. Now you've got an open driveway that nobody monitors and who knows what's going who's going in that property. But I but my biggest concern, you've got a lot of traffic going in and out through that narrow opening. It's it's a bad intersection for these kids to be leaving from. and it's been fine for 25 years or whatever. And there are probably a third of the cars in the student parking lot this year compared to last year. So, I don't see the congestion that they're relying on. I would I've Mike knows I've brought these concerns to him before. I've brought them to the school and then last year when
013I was degraded and threatened by the SRO, I stopped bringing it to the school. I just said this is I'm not going to be treated like that. So, but I think it's something that is a town issue also because you're liable if something happens regardless of whether it's a school decision, it's going to come back to you guys. So, it's something you at least need to look at and make a decision on. And you know, like I said, the 20 minutes morphed and morphed and now it's 6:30 in the morning till God knows what time. sometimes 3:00, sometimes 6:00, sometimes 8 at night and you know after dark coming around that corner is no good. And we're not mean that school that that road for special events. These kids have special events. It's wonderful. I
014don't I don't have a problem with that. We you know we invite people graduation and stuff park in our driveway. We shuttle grandparents up. we don't care about that special occasions, but for everyday traffic, I think there's some big safety issues going on there. So, and I just those are the you know, those are just it's confusing. You've got a sign over the street sign that says no outlet. You've got a sign that says no through street and yet it's a through street. So, I don't know what people are supposed to make of that. And it is a dead-end road if you look at town map. So, >> thank you. >> Yeah. >> What's an SRO? [Music] >> Right. Anybody else? >> Wait a minute. I'm not I have a question, too. So, the school
015resource officer sort of told you to go fly a kite. that if I didn't understand what was he finding if I contacted them again >> sounds like harsh. >> Yeah. >> How long ago was this? >> That's not nice. >> Thank you for the heads up, Kim. And again, we've been talking for nine months. Was this decision made by the schools on their own or was there conversation? We didn't talk about it. No, we didn't. No. >> The first I've heard of it. >> By this letter, it looks like it was Kate Lawson that made the decision. >> Well, I mean, I'm I'm looking at the photos and the bars across the road are a big issue. the pig proof right there anyway, but it says school emergency access only and as Kim said, the
016town map shows that as a culde-sac. I I would hope that there was some conversation amongst someone other than high school principal when this decision was made. There was there was discussion with uh not only Kate Lawson but also Bob and the SRO and their concern about safety entering and leaving the school. So they did have extensive discussion. I know it's not the outcome that was hoped for there. Um and the intention I believe when they started this the school season was only as they needed in the morning at night because oneway traffic through that way would have in their opinion been safer. Bob and Kate and the SRO the SRO officer that was their initial concern but there has been times multiple times when the gates been left open u after the morning time
017it hasn't been the 20 minutes or half an hour in the morning with the initial intent so there is some concerns and there's some legitimate understanding um I think what John's asking though is yeah >> this was all internal by the school not anything to do with the board of selectmen public works >> it's a yeah it strictly the school said, "Hey, this is what we're going to school the town overstepped school has a parking lot, but that is a town road, >> right?" >> And and I think for that reason alone, the conversation should have been mutual parties involved, the schools, the town crew, and and anybody because they're they're driving those folks to a town. Plus, if you dangerous, if you have an intersection that was designated as a dangerous intersection back when
018the when the studies were done, >> right, and that designation nothing that we would be made aware of at this point that has been done to remediate that, then we certainly don't want to be directing traffic towards that intersection. Right? If that's going to become something that get used on a regular basis, part of any study to do that would mean we'd have to improve the safety around that intersection. >> Right. I I think it opens up to liability, >> but I think also like like Kim was saying, >> it's not the fact of them using it in the morning and in the afternoon, it's that they don't abide by their own recommendation of the time frame, >> right? >> You know, if you open it at 2:15 and close it at 2:45 at the
019end of school, that's different. >> Yeah, >> I understand. But part of it also is for events as well. So there are some legitimate reasons they have events going on there, special events. >> That's always been the agreement. >> Of course. Of course. So So at a minimum there's there's gray area. I think there's very legitimate concerns about the traffic uh for the people that are there. I think there's legitimate concerns about about safety. Um I don't think they were trying to do anything other than what they thought was safer. I don't think their job is to is to try to annoy the neighbors there. I don't think that's the intention at all. It may feel that way, but it's certainly from all the discussion I've had, >> but >> yeah, but that right, he
020shouldn't threaten her. And should they have written this letter in the first place without checking with the town like the town administration because it's a town road, >> you know? It's almost like to me the principal overstepped her ground bounce. But >> yeah, this letter should come from the town, not >> right. They shouldn't be addressing the residents of the room, >> right? >> And I don't know >> to be to be fair, I don't know if this was discussed with the previous for selectment or not. I don't know. >> I don't know. >> So So until I know that for sure. So I what I will do if if it pleases the board is I will find out more details about the whole thing as well as some background. But I think it is
021worth the discussion at our next meeting at the meeting after to uh to work this thing through. It's again, I've heard a great deal about this over the last bunch of months, and it's it's a long-term issue that's happened there. Um, and I need to try to balance that against legitimate safety things. I don't think anyone would have that. So, right, of course. Yes. Us kids need to walk more anyways, get their steps in. So, um, I don't know if we need to do a motion on this other than I think we need to, uh, add this as an item. I don't think we need I don't think we need a motion because it was still right. But I do think it's I I appreciate you are going to take and get some additional information.
022>> And just for for the record so so that everyone watching is clear, this has been going on for a while. This letter is dated September 10th, 2024. So um you know, maybe it's it's just gotten loosey goosey and things have gotten worse. So you're right. This may have been something that was agreed upon with the previous >> administration, but >> I'm just surprised it's being brought to us now. We haven't heard of it soon, frankly. >> Well, I I wouldn't go back. >> No, I understood. Oh, yeah. Certainly. >> So, that's where it belongs. >> It's quite all right. Quite all right. That's how it should be. All right. Um, any more public comments? All right. Uh, next, the monthly budget report. Tom is unavailable, unfortunately, tonight. Um, he will not be able to
023make it here. Um, I will I will have him come to the next meeting. Um, and he'll be able to present the budget at that time. I'll make the amendment to to that budget or to that agenda um for that for that meeting. So, uh, next appointments of boards and commissions. >> Uh, we have one for tonight. Uh Sandy Castelli for the senior advisory board. >> I second that motion. Okay. Uh discussion for >> Well, I'll say I'm going to say to because we we had appointed Michelle Donghue to that previously and unfortunately that through an oversight with communication um Michelle didn't know that those meetings were at 11 o'clock in the morning. she thought they were in the afternoons and um as a as a result she was unable to serve in that so
024she declined the uh the appointment and that's why we have another individual now and Sandy Castelli would be fabulous uh with that group I I second it because I've worked with Sandy on many boards Sandy and and her her husband were was a great guy and I think she'll add a lot to that board so I I'm in agreement with that. >> All right, call for the vote. All those in favor >> I >> opposed abstension. Motion passes. Fantastic. >> Any other appointments of boards and commissions? That's it. Right. Refunds of excess payments. >> Um I'll make a motion for a refund of excess payment for Portland Boat Works Marina LLC. $18762. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I oppose. Extension. Motion passes. >> Motion for a refund of excess payment. Troy T.
025Lavine $140.88. >> I'll second that. >> All those in favor? >> I posted abstensions. Motion passes. >> Motion for a refund of excess payment to CCAP Auto Lease Limited $33028. >> I'll second it. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstension. Motion passes. Motion for a refund of excess payment at leasing limited $410.95. >> I'll second that. >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? Abstension? Motion passes. >> All right. Status reports. We'll start from my left. Anything down the center? >> Um, so we're gearing up for the next round of meetings, but I'd say just from the water and sewer side of things. Uh, first want to extend a thanks to to our water and sewer, our public works folks. Um, they've been working hard now for a couple of days. Um, some tough
026days trying to get the the the challenges with the backup at the at this high school resolved. Um, and the last update that I had gotten was I believe they were having a little bit of a power issue as well at another station. So, there's a lot going on and they're working hard. So, thank you. That's hours and hours and thank you to that team for what they're doing. And then I think the other thing that's worthwhile um is that Mike and I um went up to um to the um >> MDC to the waterboard meeting and uh basically just had you know basically the public comment we had made our conversations basically made our notes regarding um you know our thoughts on this this meeting is it's kind of weird they they do not
027even though it's a a negotiation that we're in with them when they're speaking speaking to the water board. We're not allowed to speak. We can only speak during public comment. So, we did uh uh we did listen to that. Um there's going to be some followup with the MDC. Um in in terms of right now they're s they're holding tight to the fact that they want one of those two options which would be either we buy more water or we give up our safe yield. We have explained that we, you know, cannot will not at this point um agree to lower the safe yield. Um >> Jim, for the record, yes. Can you just explain the what safe yield is? >> Sure. Well, right now we have our diversion permit. Um we have a guarantee
028of up to 1.1 million gallons a day. That's that's agreed so that we can grant get that and we occasionally hit that number. We also have in that agreement up to 2 million gallons instantaneous, right? um in instantaneous draw the 1.1 million G and when we have our peak usage that's kind of the number that we get to um so we need to have that in place to have that available. The challenge is until the new wells online um we need to have that full capacity as we look to extend the contract. What they're saying to us is that, and by the way, if we were to let that safe field go, there was a lot of um political push back 30 years ago from the Farmington River wershed and some of the environmental groups
029in that area about getting the water from the Farmington River wershed and basically making it available for sale as far east as Portland. So, we know that if that if we let that safe yield go, we're to a degree to reduce that that um the diversion permit at this point and then we had some sort of a hiccup with the well or delay or anything like that and needed to have that safe back, we wouldn't get it. It just would be that the challenges there would be would be u um be very difficult to overcome. So, we've made that clear. So, their only other option that they're agreeing to is that we buy more water. They've gone from their initial request was that we buy an additional 250,000 gallons a day um more water. Right
030now we buy 400. They wanted us to go to 650. That would have brought our annual that would have increased our annual cost about $480,000 a year. Um or in other terms it would have been a 27% increase. That's been a non-starter. They're holding right now at a 200,000galon a year increase which would be about $380,000 um dollars a year of additional water we would have to buy. So obviously again we'd be looking at you know a 21 you know 2122 that's back of the napkin. I haven't calculated it percent increase. Um so obviously that's that's also a non-starter with us. So so we're not in agreement with the terms that they're offering. We're asking for a status quo. We've got a 30-year contract where we buy 146 million gallons a year. We're asking basically
031to continue that for another two years with two additional optional years. That is uh we feel a good option for them because it gives them budget predictability for the next two years on what they're going to sell. Um but that's where the disagreement lie. anything you feel we should add or >> No, we're uh we have another meeting scheduled for this coming Tuesday to uh to follow up with the smaller committee. Um we were getting a lot of headwinds on a number of ways with them. Uh but they're following what Portland does very closely. So they watch the meeting notes. They see what's happening here. >> I do want to actually you know what can I add because I think this is actually important. One of the things that they are trying to do um
032and one of the reasons that they're trying to establish this with us and they they actually have said this there's two things that they kind of have um brought out. One if they can require us to buy more water then they can lower the rate for all their other members right for for all the members. So we end up as a municipality buy in another 200,000 gallons a day, but that rel, you know, reduces everybody else's cost like, you know, 1 to 2 cents or whatever it was or some some small amount. Um, and I think that part of this is that they've also said that this is part of their go forward strategy. So, one of the concerns that we have is that other municipalities that have, you know, tertiary type agreements, are they
033going to try to push those types of agreements, uh, non-member towns into the same type of things where they try to force them to buy all of their yield? So, there's a lot of different issues at work here in terms of what they're trying to do um, going forward. And there's a lot of there's a lot of interplay. >> So, it's going to be um, it's it's we're going to have to keep fighting it out. >> It's precedent setting. It's precedent setting and we want to be very careful and make sure to try to handle this uh appropriately. >> And and you put that to the backdrop of we probably have two to three years before the well that we have right now that just had a 7-day test is actually plugged in, hooked up
034and producing water for the town. So, it's the transition time. But the goal, I think, now not now that we've gone down the road and last year about a year ago, the town voted on a referendum to approve the water or approve the money for this project. Uh the town wants it, we want it. Ultimately, it will stabilize our prices and allow us to take some of the money that we would have spent in MDC water as their prices have gone up and invest into our system since we control and own our sewer and water. So, it's all things that will make us more self-sufficient, make us a better town, allow us to grow more, and perhaps expanded to places where there isn't water now. So, there's there's many good things that this could do
035for the town, but we've got to get through the next two, three years. So, we're just we're working hard to get that done. And uh we uh I'm looking forward to the meeting with MDC on Tuesday also uh to uh to continue that conversation. So >> thank you. >> Ask Jim a question >> on the water. >> Yeah. >> How much water are we going to need from them once our new well gets online? >> Um that's that's a a good question. The bottom line is that right now our average demand is about 680,000 gallons a day. Okay, that's our average. Um when our when our um if we're sitting in the summer and people are watering lawns and you know basically waters in full, we can peak at about 1.1 million gallons. Our current
036well that we have now is very stable at 350 um but can go up to about 500,000 gallons a day. Okay. Problem is it's 62 foot you know you know gravel well. It's not, you know, we we it is subject if you have a drought, but it's something we have to monitor. Okay. This well that we would we were actually testing it. One of the reasons it took an extra couple of weeks to run the test is we put a bigger pump in. When we ran the test in the spring for 48 hours, we tested it at 1.4 million gallons a day or 1.44. We actually tested it right now to 1.9 million gallons a day. So, if everything is in and running um on a steady state, right, sunny sunny day scenario, everything's up
037and running, nothing's under maintenance, we would be fully capable of supplying all of our water needs. >> And you mentioned that the town well that we currently have is a gravel well and relatively shallow. >> Yeah. >> The new well, can you just explain how deep it is? >> Uh yeah, the the new well is actually 3 330 ft down. Um and what's when you look at the geology one of the reasons that uh GSA right the hydraologists who we worked with and one of the recommendations and things that were when we did the core sampling is that when we go down we're actually going down through two thick clay layers which basically provide a barrier which helped protect that water course. So we're we're down it's uh the initial testing on the water is
038effectively near perfect. Um the only the only thing is I think that the initial it's slightly hard and when I say slightly hard it's borderline as to whether or not we'd have to treat it. Um so it's right now it's good quality water. It's in scale but we're obviously we're waiting for the test results to come back from the you know the the longer pump test and you know we don't have all of that data yet. We've got to get that and we've got to get all the data and look at the modeling of how everything worked with all the monitoring walls around it. Uh we know the report was on the 48 hour we didn't see any impacts at um when we ran at 1.44 44 million which would meet our current needs. But
039we need to see exactly what the monitoring wells around around this well. Um what those results all look like and when they then sort of um balance everything out based on rainfalls or lack of rainfalls and all that. They need to look at what the model looks like based on those to see to give us a final number to prove the well in. >> Yeah. I'll add two things to that. one is um we'll we'll always have a connection with MDC in terms of a tertiary as a backup because we need that. Um that's just going to be smart for us to do. We believe Berlin has that and a number of other towns do that with MDC. Um but we also have a lot of infra infrastructure to fix up and we've had over
040the last two three months we've had two breaks on a water mine on High Street that are old pipes that we're in the process of replacing. So we're replacing it just in time. Uh but that will give us more funding opportunity to replace more and get more of our infrastructure in place to uh be able to again expand what we have. So >> yeah, and and you're right that that's always been the plan is that we would maintain, right? And and you know, Rick Rick Rick served on the water and source subcommittee for several years. We were working on these issues, but that's always been the plan is to have um a tertiary connection, right? But in terms of what we would need to draw, um it would really be an emergency type or a
041connection when we're shut down doing maintenance um that we would have to have to use it. Have we discussed with MDC what that might cost us to have that tertiary? We >> we we haven't directly, but we have other agreements from other other municipalities that we can model that from and and we we have taken a look at those because there's a number of those. Um that's again why this issue that we're having now and these negotiations that we're having now are important. think to that question >> and Jim just to the issue of hardness with the new water. I had a conversation kind of with somebody who questioned the impact on the home uh pipes for folks. But my understanding is that that if there were treatment necessary for that water from the new
042well that would occur before it got into the pipes going to the homes. Right. >> Absolutely. That's that's what I'm saying. So I think the the hardness number that we had gotten before was 120 which is sort of it's slightly but it's it's really not >> it's not you know not really an issue. Um but when we get the final testing and then we get the better numbers if you know if we end up treating for hardness and I make the assumption that we will we would do it right at the pump facility itself. >> Right. Yeah. >> Okay. >> So the water that's going out of there and going to Portland homes would be treated when it gets there. That's we we would basically do the sanitization >> which we do already with our
043existing well. We do the sanitizing. We do the treatment behind us. >> It's a relatively easy treatment. >> Rel relatively easy. Yeah. That's the other side of it. Of the different conditions you can have. That's a pretty simple one to take care of. >> Portland is also blessed with a good water supply. Um there's other wells, different parts of Portland that have been drilled by other companies or whatever. Um so we have a good aquifer below us. So yeah, we have also the potential to expand and maybe add another one if we had to. >> Yes. So, and again, where the well is right now is where the Connecticut River used to go. So, I guess that was the original path. >> Yeah. The if you Yeah, if you look at it, it's I think
044that if I understand correctly, it's when you when the river was diverted, when we had the glaciation, it went down through there. >> But history lesson on geology. >> All right. Great. Any any other updates? Um I think well probably the only other thing would be would be again from the um from a parks and recck perspective uh they had a great they great event for the Portland 5K. Um I think they had 175 you know they basically just shy of 180 um people it was a great day. People were having people were having a lot of fun. So it was it was a really good event down at the riverfront. Um, so kudos to them for that for that work. >> And for all the people that ran and watched, I observed, but but
045for all the people that ran and watched, >> I was just asking how you place. >> Yes. >> I was I was one of the first people watched watching. >> All right. You all set? >> I am all set. Thank you. >> I'll make it quick and easy. The first item Jim talked about was a sewer backup at the high school and my meeting last night with board of ed was postponed because of that issue with the well with the water. So >> I'm done. >> Beautiful. um river while the 5k race was going on, the river access committee was participating in the Connecticut River Conservancy source to see cleanup and we had 25 people show up um at the new river access site and Rose Alleta um got us into the Meridan Boat Works
046where we had easier access to our property. We were able to drive a pickup truck down there. Um, we filled up the pickup truck with trash and we tied three old canoes to the back of the truck, filled them up with trash and dragged them up um, Airline Avenue to the old ball field where we had a dumpster that the Connecticut River Conservancy um, donated to us. So, we basically filled the dumpster with trash and um there's still a little more stuff from an old campsite down there, old window frames and some glass, but we've got a lot of a lot of that area cleaned up of of litter and trash. I mean, there's a lot of dead trees and limbs and stuff, more work to be done, but it was a good effort, good
047volunteer effort. And so, um, thankful for everybody that showed up. And this Saturday at 11:00, no, 10:00, 10:00, October 11th, um, Lupair, the committee chairman's organized a groundbreaking ceremony. I know Mike's going to be there. Um the selectmen are invited. Um anybody in town's invited. Um just a little uh commemoration that we're going to kick off construction and we'll probably if if anybody wants to, we'll take them for a walk down through the property, which is still a bit of a jungle. But, um, the good news is construction is going to start this fall and we'll probably have, uh, river access by the spring. >> I can just say I I they helped doing the cleanup, but um I the beach area is gorgeous down there. You're on the beach side, so it's very shallow
048for watching. But if anybody wants an idea of where it is when you're standing on the beach and looking across the river, directly across is an area that's where the railing is for Harbor Park in Middletown just north of the restaurant. That's kind of where we're across. So if you're looking at Meridan Yacht Club going down the river just before it bends, that's the area. But it's it's the view from there is absolutely gorgeous. It's also nice, by the way, that it's in an existing No Way, so you don't have to worry. >> Yeah, it's um it really can will become more than just a canoe and kayak launch because I mean, you can wait around there, you could fish, you can walk it. It's like a beach. It's it's sort of hardpacked silt, but
049um the river's shallow this time of year. You can wade right into the water and not fear a current. So, >> it should be nice. It's a beautiful spot. >> Yeah, it's a great spot. Can't wait. Right. Uh, I just had the I attended the library board of directors meeting on uh September 18th and they went through some policies that they approved and um and we had talked about one of the policies to do with um how when they fill events um whether Portland um folks are given priority for that and and I think they came up with language that was very appropriate it's going to address it >> and you know keep that >> and and as the technology advances they could do more with that >> right >> um the other thing they
050and I don't know how many people did this or not but the the chair the the chair situation for our meetings here and I don't know if they did any anybody go down and check out the chair >> I I test sat the chair >> you test set >> yes did you give the >> I gave a thumbs up to the I was hoping everybody else had a chance to do that >> oh I didn't I'm not going to be your >> That's why they gave us the orange ones tonight. >> So, so we'll see. We'll get an update on that. I just absolutely absolutely >> And that was it. >> Okay. >> Uh nothing Mike. >> No. >> Good to see you. All right. Um I have two things. Um well, first a question
051for the board. It came up earlier today. I haven't put on the agenda, but I will on the next one. But, uh, now that the school now that the, uh, strategic capital improvement committee has done the work and passed in the report, um, we'll need to dispand that, um, and then go on to the next step. So, I know last year, uh, we end up making a motion to dispand the previous committee that we put together. So, uh, we won't do it today, but that I think in the next one, um, is the next step with that. We've received the report and whatever whoever the next board is made up of will have to deal that >> in terms of that that committee though and the report at what point will this board kind of
052have a a more formal discussion and talk I I don't know that the board of ed has actually voted on on that report or not. Do you know John if they have? >> They discussed it at their September 2nd meeting. I I would guess I'd call it an informal discussion. I don't know if they they formalized anything, but actually Tim, I was I was going to bring that up tonight as well in our informal discussion because I you know I looked at the schedule and we had the joint meeting on August 28th and board of ed had an informal discussion on September 2nd and I've had a fair number of people asking me when it's going to be on our agenda because they're following the agenda closely because they want to listen and in some
053cases participate. So, I think we got to get moving on it. >> No, I agree 100. Yeah, we've had a lot of conversations with the community and I' I've heard the same thing >> and I don't want to get behind the eightball like last time where we don't have enough time left in the calendar to do what we need to do and I really I still believe that this needs to be some public meetings where folks can see the plan and ask questions. >> Yeah. And I als I also would I would actually I I agree with that. And I think the other side of it is is that us having a um a discussion about it. If there are any additional questions that come up, we should probably hold off to spanning that committee
054until because we may decide to ask them some additional questions. I as well if I can interject too. I would agree on that as well because at the previous board of education meeting uh the superintendent said that we in a um presentation he attended with new legislation and potential changes there may be additional state reimbursement available to towns for for school renovation and new school building. So, you know, with that discussion, it maybe there would be still be a need for that committee to kind of rehash how you how we deal with the state with the state reimbursement. So, it may be a good idea to hold on to that idea. >> I know Dr. Britain was was putting numbers together on that because it could be save us quite a bit more money. >>
055It may be substantially more so. Um, no, I'm fine with that as well. I because there's still a lot more to talk about. Um, we we have a couple decisions though. So we could at our next board of selectment meeting uh bring him in and have a more detailed discussion about this uh the meeting after after the election there may or may not be people on here as well but I think the sooner we start talking about the better with that >> I think it's especially good for the public to possible >> more is better than less so I think that's good. So so I will add that to the agenda next time. Yes. I will invite Dr. maybe some of the committee members should we want to engage in uh some >> and I
056don't know how to how to do this but I mean you you understand you know the the media approach probably better than any of us here but I think we really need to get the word out >> that the meeting week after next we'll be discussing it'll be on the agenda formally we'll be discussing it and you get that get that word out so that everybody knows if they want to come or listen in >> absolutely I'll make sure that everyone in town knows >> I'm sure you I have to knock on the door. >> Yes. >> So, and they may do that. So, all right. That's a good idea. And again, it's it's so much time and effort and money has been put into looking at the schools. They've been looked at a hund
057different ways and I'm looking forward to having that come to us and all of us talking about that. Just another perspective. So, agreed. All right. Um, any public comment? and additional. >> Good evening all. My name is Joe Engel uh to Highland Avenue. Um it's kind of a followup. Uh we had a uh discussion with Blake Farm. Um it was a really nice meeting. I think we got any uh I guess inconsistencies just straightened out. Um we uh wish them the best. Hopefully everything works out for you guys in your lease and if you guys need anything, we'll uh be there to support you as well. Um, as far as our condition is concerned, I think we did find a different uh plot of town land that may be acceptable for us if it moves
058forward with the uh with the board and anybody else involved. It's a plot of land on a Nolan Field. It's approximately an acre of land um that we'd be interested in farming. So, I know I spoken about it with Mike. There are some details to work out as far as uh I guess sporting events that may happen down there, but it's a great spot for us. It has two gates. There's parking. Um water still may be an issue. Uh but that may fall on us again. Um so just putting it in front of the board. I don't know what if this needs to be put on for next agenda as a absolute normal talking point. Um, but that's I guess what I'm doing. So, all right. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Fantastic. All right.
059Um, informal discussion. >> I got something. Oh, beautiful. Um, Jim McCabe asked me if the board I don't know you may recall we in one of our updates a few months back we talked about storm water getting mixed in with right our sewer water particularly down lower main streets some of and he wanted to know if we were doing anything about it. So, I said I'd bring it up, you know, at the board meeting to say, and you know, maybe we're the new public works director. >> We should have them. >> He um he's aware of the issue. U Mike has filled them in as has Ryan O'Halpin on the issues we have with that. We've talked to one of our consultants that we use for sewer. um so it will be looked at closer
060um for us because it is a real problem and it needs to be done but we finally have all the people in place to be able to do that. So um that'll most likely fall onto our next board to follow up with it. But um I'd like to add that to the next agenda as well. I'd like to have all of us here that have been here for the last two years um go through this and understand it whether they're on or not uh the next month. So I will add that to the agenda. Um, okay. Then I have uh unfortunately I'm not going to be around um the next meeting. Uh I'm going to be way out of town. So I just want to say this about the schools. Um, you know, I think
061we need to look at or just I'm just throwing it out there that with all this these studies on schools on our school buildings, we're still ending up the town as a whole, we we're still going to be maintaining the five buildings. I don't see where we're we're really saving ourselves a lot. um we might save a little bit of overhead but not that much. And um I just think people should be aware of that and and file it in the back of their minds. I mean, as a town, we're not in the real estate business. Um we don't necessarily need to maintain all these buildings and maintain ownership of them because by owning them you have to maintain you have to keep them up. The goal of the town should be to get properties
062on the tax role so that they are producing income for the town. And that income then allows us to be more flexible with being able to add services and spend money for the good of the people. Um, I'm not going to be on this board that much longer. I'm going to be 75. I'm getting old. It's time for other people to step up. But I just, you know, want to plant the seed because I started talking about these schools and why are we maintaining all these buildings when we have declining uh enrollment and not as many young people in town. And um I don't know. I think for all the studies we've made, we're we're still going to end up having the same five buildings that we had. So, I just question if that's the
063right path we should be following. And I'm not anti-education at all. I mean, I I believe we need to have good schools and um um and up-to-date schools, but I'm not sure we need to have five buildings. >> Thank you. >> So, I have just two corrections for you. You're getting older, but not old. >> Okay. >> It's a little bit different. you are getting older, so that's okay. >> Um, no, but I think you're 100% right. For me, the two main factors are, um, what's the total cost going to be? >> Yeah. >> And are the numbers accurate? And will whatever happens to most likely brownstone, what is that going to be and how is that going to look in four years or three years, however the plan is laid out. So, we need
064that. It's got to be accurate. It's got to be real. It's got to be um definitive because it is a lot of money. Um, I know I talked about this at the last meeting. Weatherfield just passed an 86 or $83 million bond. The total project was like $230 million. Um, to build a brand new school, do some other renovations, a lot of things. um and their citizens, their residents were convinced that it was the right thing to do based on all those different factors. But the the data that they had, the information they put together was crystal clear on what it is, what's it going to cost, how is it, is the bond going to roll in so that I can explain it to anyone in here in 30 seconds and go, here, here's our
065declining bond cost right now, here's the new ones, here's what our tax base will be, whatever the the balance is. um explain it simply and easily so it's believable because it's true. If we can't do that, those that are in favor of this project can't do that, then people aren't going to vote yes because they'll go with whatever we're doing now versus something that might be a risk. Um or maybe might on two. So accurate, real, and easy to explain. And I know that's what they did in Weathersfield. Um, and they approved it based on it made sense for them for their needs. I think from what I've heard that our buildings probably needed more and are older than the buildings over there. Um, but that's because I think I I bidded most of them
066so many so many times over the last couple years of this project. But either way, accurate. We need to know what to do with the school and you're right. We need to make sure that we can get it off the rolls so that someone else or the hotel would do something else with it. But we should be getting tax. So >> as you as as usual, right? So >> well, I'm a businessman by profession. >> There you go. Okay. Um any other reformal discussion? Any other topic? All right. Um I have nothing for ethics ordinance or charter revision. I'm going to wait until the next board uh members um were to adjourn. Want to make the motion? >> I'll make a motion we adjourn. >> I'll second that. >> No discussion. All those in favor?
067>> I post extensions and passes. We are done by >> pass this meeting we're going to have in here.