001Good evening everyone. It is April 16th, 7 o'clock. It is time to start the first selectment and board of selectment meeting. Let's stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. Great. My apologies for those watching that we started a little bit late. Um, all right. I need the approval of the minutes. We had a couple over the last couple weeks going through the budget season. We can uh approve them all at once or we can do them one at a time. What does the board wish to do? I've read through them all. I have no problem approving them all at once. Is that one through? I
002had a correction March 25th meeting, I believe it was. I had sent it by email, but I was told it would have to be corrected at the meeting. Okay. What correction do you have? is I um I'd have to go back. It was comments that I made. It had to do with a percentage I had referred to. I'd have to go back and look at the meeting minutes. If you me that I'm going to suggest then we approve the three meetings with the caveat that we'll get the adjustment or correction that you're talking about and we'll make sure we add that. Yeah, I sent it in writing to Michelle into uh um Oh, all right. So, it looks like it looks like we do have that. All right. It looks like we do have that.
003Did you want to is you able to read that, Sharon? So, we can at least put it in the record, right? Is that right, Jim? Did you hear that? Yeah. I cannot hear her well, but it it had to do with the percentage. It had to be with a comment um about she said she said Tim she put seven and she said it should have been 70. Does that sound right? Yes, that's exactly right. Yeah. Okay. And was that the only change that you saw? That's the only change I saw. Okay. Okay. So duly noted that instead of 7% it was 70%. In the meeting on March 25th. All right. Don't duly noted and change in the minutes. So, how about if I'll make a motion that we approve minutes from March 25th with the
004change made by Selectman Lavoy, March 26, 2025, and uh the special and the regular meeting and the April 2nd meeting. We can we'll approve them as one group. I'll second it. All right. Any further discussion? All right. All those in favor? Opposed? Abstensions? Passes. All right. Very good. Um, on the agenda, I have just one addition to the agenda. Um, and it it's a small one. So, um, we as a as a town have charged $25 over the last bunch of years for return check fees. Um, it's now been reduced to $20 by legislation that the maximum allowable is. So, occasionally when when there's a change in either bank policy or legislation, we make a change. So, I'm I'm suggesting that we add that to 8D, right after 8 C, of course, but it'll it'll
005just be a quick resolution, but if we can add uh to after 8C a resolution for the fee for return checks resolution and that's my only change with that change. We have to vote on that. Um I think we do it. Uh we've gone back and forth and we voted for it last time when we need to change years ago, but it's been quite a while. So I'll make a motion that we approve the agenda as amended. Right. I second. Okay. Any discussion? All right. All in favor? I abstensions? Nays. All right. Let's move on. Great. Passes. All right. Um cor communication and correspondence. Um, I'm going to actually save this for the um general informative discussion, but I have a number of updates to pass on, so I don't wait on that. Um, all
006right. Monthly report committee on solidarity. Do we have someone online ready to go? What about public comment? We did, excuse me, we did speak. We did jump over that. Yes. Any public comment? Thank you. Okay. Sorry. No, it's good. Not trying to rush that the better, right? Any public comment? Anything online? Nothing online. Nothing out there. I think the I think the lack of audience I am paying attention. I It was all a test. It was all a test. You passed. I did not. It was from the big audience that we had threw me out. All right. Now, without the public comment with no public comment necessary. Uh it is time for committee on solidarity. The update. Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me? We can. We can. I'm Hope Jones. Um and this is
007our report from our April 8th meeting. We had five members present us the library director and one member of the public. We uh as correspondents and public comment we have been offered a table at the core day on 531 which we will be doing. And then uh comment from the public when addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion. It's important to remember [Music] accessibility. Now, the equity and inclusion efforts in the Portland schools and the town departments, um the pending selection of two student representatives were approved by you, of course. Thank you very much. And Dr. Britain to participate in our committee. And um Ryan Audd, a teacher of black and Latino studies at Portland High School, invited our committee uh some representatives to give a presentation to his class in late May or [Music] June. Uh
008moving on to the discussion group called the state of black America. Um, they've invited interested participants to a meeting on April 22nd at 6:30 at the Portland Library and they're still recruiting for this group through social media and the River East. Um, for fair housing month month in April, the committee is supporting a screening of the documentary Americans with No Address followed by a discussion and the film will show on April 28th at the Portland Library at quarter to 6. And our committee is going to help with setup, cleanup, and water water bottles. And then for Asian-American Heritage Month in May, the committee is hosting a book discussion on They Called Us Enemies by George Takai. It's um a graphic story of his childhood spent in American relocation centers during World War II. And that's
009going to be held at the library as well at 6:00 p.m. And that book is available at the library. Our pride workg group is working on shirt designs for the pride march in Middletown t-shirts. And our junth work workg group which will be um June 14th at the Portland middle school from 12 to 5 has acquired three food has actually booked three food trucks including the ice cream emergency which Liberty Bank is helping with. and an American Legion group from Middletown is going to cook hamburgers and hot dogs. And we've hired the band from last year. It's called Atlast. Everybody loved them. We'll also have merchandise andformational vendors and a flag collection with Portland American Legion and Veterans Affairs Committee because it is Flag Day. and then in the auditorium presentation to start off the
010day um including history, veteran stories, and singing and we're continuing to work on promotions for the event. The Voices of Portland team is working postp production details and grant requirements. Ryan A at Portland High School would also like to include panelists in late May, June to speak to students in his class. And then solidarity in the community. This month's solidarity column for the River East has been sent. I I don't know if you knew, but they've agreed to do a monthly spot for us there. Um, and the committee discussed hosting a panel discussion to learn about the experiences of Portland residents living with and caregiving for family me members with disabilities. So that's the report. If anyone has any questions or comments, jump in. I'll I'll jump in first. First of all, thank you very
011much for for all that you guys do for the town. Um it's a lot of activities that you have scheduled. Um it gets a lot of involvement in town and I think it's a wonderful thing that you're doing. Uh, is there any thing that this board can do in terms of promotions or help uh with what you're doing in the next couple of months? Um, I don't know. I um I think someone may be asking if someone from the board can um do a presentation at Junth before that. That's always a good speaker. And then um yeah, I I think we're doing pretty well and you know, we'll just keep you informed and if anything comes up, you know, Cindy or Liz or somebody will be in touch. That'd be wonderful. Any any other questions?
012I had a question. I kind of lost track. You talked about the Middletown Pride event and you talked about Junth. When are they like specifically? I know they're in June, but yeah, the um Junth is is June 14th and the Pride March is the first part of June. Okay. Do you have the date on that? I don't have the specific date. It's probably on my phone, but I don't have my phone. There you go. What? That's all right. That's close enough for now. Yeah, that's great. That's great. Right. Very good. Thank you very much, Hope, for doing that. We appreciate it. That was a nice summary. A lot of activity. Sure. Thank you. All right. Thanks for all your help, too. We're we're really happy to have the students coming on board. I think I
013think that's great. Yeah. They they'll have ideas that we wouldn't. So, so, so I I recently had a student that just graduated high school, first year of college that wanted to intern at a local town um to understand politics and what happens at the municipal level. Um, I think that's a good sign that you have students at the high school level that want to get involved, see what's going on, are concerned about what's going on in the world or in their town. So, um, I think that's great that you're doing that and giving giving outlet to that voice. So, keep doing what you're doing. They're very, very important voice. Absolutely. Yeah. different perspective, right? Yep. All right. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks. All right. Um All right. Uh appointments or
014reappoints of boards and commissions. So, I spoke with you a little bit earlier today about um the boards and commissions. I only have three additions to add on to the existing ones. I think all of you have already spoken. You you're either settled and and happy with the with the boards that you're on right now. uh the only three additions I have and then if anyone else if I'm missing anything let me know but I know uh selectman Lavoy was interested in being leazison on the economic development commission that's open think that's great he also was interested in the library board of directors uh currently there's no leazison on there leaison is on there u so that's uh Tim is going to step up to do that and as well as the senior citizen advisory
015board so those are the three that Tim wants to get involved with and he'll be able to relay back to us the activities and things that they're doing at those boards for us to know and support. So, is there anybody else that has a board that they're interested in or has a question? Well, I'm sort of de facto leaison with River Access Committee. That's um I mean I'll keep doing that if it's okay with you. Absolutely. Um we we sort of assumed I didn't see my name there so I didn't know to bring it up. We need to change that right now. I mean, I don't want Mike to come and Jim, you're welcome to come. Absolutely. Please. Yeah. All right. Exclude you at their peril. So, all right. Very nice. Um All right. So,
016that's good. So, Tim, welcome to those uh layers on. Thank you. You are very welcome. Um with regards to um um appointments for uh some other committees, the America 250 committee, we still have one slot open that we've saved for board of ed for a teacher. They have not uh come with they have not come to us yet with that and the committees already had believe two meetings and they're going full steam ahead which is great. I'm going to hold it until the next meeting because of the holiday week. Um they just weren't they're just not available right now. Um, I believe they said they had someone that was interested in it, but if they do not come forward with a selection by the next board of selectment meeting, I do have someone uh that
017is interested in that last spot. Um, and I'm and I'd like to offer that as a name in the next meeting. So, I don't want to delay the work that they're doing and they are enthusiastically approaching this project. I can tell you that. So, u but anyways, that's that's all I have on that particular committee. All right. Um, next is a new business, uh, ADA. So, we once we adopt the budget as a as a board, uh, we then adopt the water and sewer budgets because they're separate as a board. So, um, does anyone want to first of all, anyone have any actually, first we have to make Yeah. No, I I I'm happy. That's why I was looking at I thought you would jump right in. Um, yeah. I'll make a motion that we
018adopt the resolution dated April 16, 2025 titled adoption of the water and sewer budgets for 2025 2026 fiscal year which reads as follows. resolved that the water restore budget for the fiscal year 2025 2026 as outlined on the attached in the amount of $1,997,422 in the water budget and 1,339,582 in the so budget be and are hereby adopted. Do I have a second? I'll second by Bobby. Any discussion? Seeing no discussion, all those in favor? Those opposed, abstensions. All right, motion passes. Thank you. We did take as much care with the water and sewer budget as we did with the rest of the budget. So, I feel good about that as well. All right, we have a fair housing policy proclamation. It is fair housing month. And would anyone like to read this? I'll do
019it. Thank you, John. fair the fair housing policy statement. It is both a policy and strong commitment of the town of Portland to promote fair housing opportunities in all its programs and housing development activities and to take affirmative action through education and implementation of policies which ensure equal housing opportunity for all persons and families. The town of Portland will take affirmative action to ensure that all tenants, applicants, and residents are treated fairly without regard to their race, color, religion, age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, political beliefs, mental disabilities, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, including blindness, lawful source of income, or because the individual has children. The town of Portland will continue to make a good faith effort to comply with all federal and state laws and policies which speak to fair housing practices.
020Is the policy of the town of Portland that all housing related personnel be trained and educated in the principles of fair housing and equal opportunity so that equal housing opportunity may be available to all qualified applicants. This fair housing policy statement reaffirms our commitment to the principles of fair housing and equal opportunity housing practices. The fair housing officer first selected Michael Belton or his designated representative is responsible for the implementation of the fair housing policy statement and the enforcement of this policy. The fair housing officer may be reached at 860-342-6715. Complaints pertaining to discrimination in any program funded by the town of Portland may be filed with the fair housing officer. The town's grievance procedure will be utilized in these cases. Complaints may also be filed with the commission on human rights and opportunities. Housing
021discrimination unit 450 Columbus Boulevard sweet 2 Hartford, Connecticut 06103. Telephone number 8605414343. fax number 860-541-4701 or 1 800477-5737 extension 3403 readed the 16th day of April in the year 2025 town of Portland Connecticut County of Middle Sex signed Michael Aelton first selectment thank you John anyone second that second um quick discussion housing is a huge issue not just in our town, but in the state, in the country. Um, anything that we can do as a town to make it easier for folks to find find housing, uh, is helpful. Um, I take it very seriously. Uh, it's something that's a huge issue and thank you for the reading and thank you for all the support this board gives to that. But uh, any other comments? Call for a vote. All those in favor? I I post
022abstensions. Motion carries. Fantastic. Thank you. All right. Um, refunds of excessive payments. I'll make a motion for a refund of excess payment or logic centralized refunds. $2,87520. I'll second it. You can do them all three at one time. Yeah. Perfect. Yes. Uh, $4,453.86 and $3,261.76. I'll second it. Right. So, quick discussion. I brought the backup because this is a larger amount of a refund. Uh, it was an accidental overpayment from these folks. Uh, it's a real estate corporation. So, um, the documents do documentation is here if anyone wants to look at that, but they just overpaid um through an error, which is why the refund's going back. So, So, was it three properties? Um, it's three properties in a consortium of a of an organization that does this. So, okay. Yes. That's here. Um, all
023right. Call for the vote. All those in favor? I opposed. Extensions carries. Thank you very much. All right. Status and committee reports. One second. Let's do item D, which we your added item your your return. Oh, I'm so so sorry. Thank you very much. So, what happens? That's two strikes. That's two strike. I got one more. Right. There you go. There you go. All right. So, it's a quick resolution, but again, it's because the uh the max fee has been reduced down to $20. So, fee for return checks uh resolution board of selectment, town of Portland, Connecticut, dated April 16, 2025. Again, fee for return checks resolved that the fee to be charged for the issuer of any check returned to the town for whatever reason be and is hereby set at $20. I'll make
024a motion that we adopt the the resolution as presented. I'll second that. All yours, Jim. Any discussion? See no further discussion. All those in favor? I opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Hey. Hey, Michael. I have a question. The uh under new business under the uh B, were we supposed to approve the proclamation separately or was that part of the policy? Um because you had two there's two documents here. There's the proclamation for fair housing month and then there's the policy fair housing policy statement. Yeah, I read the policy statement. Did you read both the proclamation? So I don't know if it was a requirement. I just wanted to point out we didn't do the proclamation. So Bobby has suggested that we uh we acknowledge that proclamation. I think you're I think you're
025correct. That might be the third strike. I think you're correct. We got It's been like this all day long. All week long. So, would you like me to read the other side of it, too? I think I'd like to have you do that. All right. Okay. Unless you want it, Tim. I'm still recovering from a little illness. So, I'll I'll pass. I'll tell you, please. Okay. Proclamation Fair Housing Month. Whereas, April 2025 marks the 57th anniversary of title 8 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, known as the Civil Rights Fair Housing Act. And whereas this act provides equal housing opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, as well as to ensure fair practice in the sale, rental or financing of property. And whereas the Fair Housing Amendments Act
026of 1988 added new rights, remedies, monetary penalties, and strengthened its enforcement procedures. And whereas the Fair Housing Amendments Act seeks to provide equal housing opportunities to affirmatively further housing choices to eliminate legal barriers to equal housing and to emphasize equal housing as a fundamental human right for all. And whereas recipients of funds from a town must carry out an affirmative marketing program to attract prospective buyers or tenants of all majority and minority groups without consideration of race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, gender identity, familial status, or national origin. And whereas the town of Portland, Connecticut fully supports the intent and purpose of the federal housing fair housing act, local fair housing laws, and follows policies and practices in order to achieve its goal. Now therefore, be resolved that I, Michael A. Pelton, first select meant
027to the town of Portland, Connecticut, do hereby proclaim the month, the month of April, 2025, as fair housing month. In witness whereof, I do hereby set my hand and cause the seal of Portland to be affixed this 16th day of April in the year 2025 by Michael A. Pelton, first selectman, town of Portland, Connecticut, board of selectmen, John H. Dylan, Michael S. Hernandez, Robert W. Hetrick Jr., Edward J. Shar Jr., your Timothy E. Lavoy and James K. Trip. All right. Very nice. Do I get a second for that? I'll second that. I'll second it. Any additional discussion? I'm going a little slower right now. Can I call for the vote? I'm going to call for the All those in favor. I All those opposed extensions. Motion carries. Okay. Number nine, status of committee reports. Anyone
028have any updates across the board? I have no board of ed since the last meeting, so I'm good. Yeah, just um there water and sewer Monday there. There was there was um I was not really able to attend the parks and wreck. Um, so I what I can report is I know that the forum uh Tom Bransfield went in and did present to the to the rec park parks and recck commission sort of the plans that what's going on with the park and really talked um I think you know primarily present in the fact that I think it's May 31st there's going to be the uh the quorum event down there. So, kind of talking about that and some of the other grant work and things that are going on. Just making sure as we
029usually do that we're aligned with what's going on with the town. Uh water and sewer. I was able to get to the water and sewer meeting. Um couple items there. One just still in that sort of that holding pattern with with GZA. Um you know, while there's work that is going on behind the scenes on items that have to that have to take place, uh the big one which is going to be the pump down test, obviously we're waiting for the flooding to subside. Uh right now the water levels in the surrounding areas are still too high to to do that. So hopefully that will will calm down. Um there's discussion about co and the fact that the co-av project is still um on hold and my understanding is that there's a push a greater
030push now with rhino help to understand what's going on. Right. This this is you know has been reported to us that it's been a materials issue. Um it it's just something's not really adding up in terms of the rationale as to why this is getting delayed. So I know Ryan is pushing on uh pushing on them to try to get a better answer for that. Um the good news was no major breaks or anything in the last month. So that's always nice to see when we don't have that. the I will say the um MDC normally the normal pattern we see with how they manage the water facilities is that we will run a little bit heavier with water in the fall in the back half of the calendar year. Um we have our fiscal
031year right that runs July 1 to June 30th for budgetary purposes but the MDC year in terms of us doing our take pay runs from January 1 to December 31st. So generally speaking we end up running the well uh we run MDC a little bit heavier in the back half of the year because you typically that's when you hit the drought months and things like that in August and we're trying to make sure we get our 146 million gallons to meet to satisfy the take or pay and then in the spring when we usually have more water we run the well a little bit more um and try to make sure we land the actual make the town budget. Uh that's been the pattern. What was noted is that for whatever reason the well usage
032has been a little lighter. The MDC usage has been a little heavier for the first three months. So, they're keeping an eye on that to make sure that we're going to be landing things the way we need to land them. And probably the last thing I did want to put out um is I think we should all kind of congratulate and uh thank uh Jim Lynch for his years of service. He's been running the waste facility um down there. Does it very well. He is an expert. for anyone who's had the opportunity to go down and kind of take the tour and and learn about how that facility operates. And um after I think it's it's what 34 years or 38 or near even near 40 years for a very long time, he's been running
033that facility and he's announced his retirement. So I think he's given a two weeks notice. Do you know what his last day is? Next week. It's going to be next week at this point, right? So So just thanking him for his service uh and the work he's done done at that facility. we have a replacement um plan. These are all great questions that really should be direct directed to the first select. No, I mean it's it's relatively new news, right? So we we know we have folks that are in place um that and folks that have been working through the qualifications and all that. I think we've got somebody who's actually going to be either either just sat or will be sitting the exam. Uh, so we have folks that are in the pipeline, but
034uh, but I I'm not sure exactly what the status is. And and Jim is willing is willing to work with us. Yeah. Afterwards, just to make sure because he's put a heart and soul into that over the years, so that's his plan. He knows how that works. Everybody not going to be high and dry. Not going to be high and dry. We we have a transition plan in place. So, we're working on that. But it's it's a very fluid situation. I think high and dry and fluid situation are all very That last part was unintentional, but I'll pick it up. So just don't say that the situation stinks. Oh no, that that will not happen as reserved for you. So all right and I will keep everyone the next couple certainly the next four to
035eight weeks will be a lot of transitions. A lot of things happening. So I will keep the board and the town very very updated on on what's happening and how it's going. And if I need to enlist some of the help of the folks here, I will be happy to do that. You know, you know I'll be there. Absolutely. 100%. So um all right, John, you said you don't have anything. Nothing. Um, Rick, anything at your end? You're going so fast I can't keep up with you on that riverfront and I missed the water and sewer meeting so I don't have anything to add to Jim's comments. Um, is the sign up at the riverfront yet? It is. Okay. I haven't I haven't driven by it to see if it was up. Uh, I have
036a picture on my phone I can show you. I look forward to this. [Music] Um, no. I don't think uh I understand you have a is it you that have a cleanup date? We have a clean we have a clean up date this Friday at 9:00. So, anyone that can come down there and wants to pick up trash behind following the trail all the way back is invited at 9:00 a.m. We already have the bags got the gloves. That's sort of what we similar to what we did in September when we did it with the Connecticut River Conservatory. Yes. Yes. Are you planning to get all the way down to the All the way to the end? Yes, we're going to try to walk all the way to the end because there's that pile of
037stuff that's there. So, yeah, it's still there. And I know I haven't walked the entire length of the property back there, but I know there's a lot. So, um I don't know if you want to do this in general discussion, but we should talk about the logistics of getting in there. Yes. Because it's kind of a jungle. Absolutely. If we're going to just go in from behind Tilcon, it's it's a long It's a long way out. Yeah. Unless we can get in through Merit and Boat Club. That's what we did in the fall. Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. You can get closer to the where most of that junk is. You know, what might be good is we meet that we're meeting at 9:00. Maybe we we meet and plan how we're going to do that.
038Um but we we should talk we'll talk before. Okay. I there's I know somebody um I think it's Rosaletta who has let us in. Okay. To the vote there. Okay. I don't know if she's still an officer there. I can reach out to her, too. Yeah. So, all right. Or if you you can talk then that'd be great. All right. We'll talk after. Okay. About that. Either way, that's 9:00 a.m. on this Friday. 9 a.m. this Friday. It's going to be a good Friday. You're on my calendar. Unfortunately, it is still a work day. There you go. I did notice um Norm Needleman wrote an article. There was a se blurb from Nor in the River East about how he um got money for various coastal towns and river towns for their for their docks
039and sports and um I don't know. I was thinking of sending him a note. Nice job, Norah. But don't forget, you know, because we're going to have a spot on the river soon. Absolutely. Absolutely. I know. I saw that, too, but he listened to bunches in his town right around there. So, yeah. Yeah. So, um, no, I think what you have coming up and I don't know if you want to talk about, well, u the, um, the easement adjustment or correcting is being, um, going to be signed off by Tilcon. That's all set to go. And um I think we're waiting for Jeff Jacobson to um come back with the final plans so we can submit to Inland Wetlands. Yep. And I think we already have um a meeting scheduled for the first meeting in
040May. We already talked to Dan and what's going to happen with that. So I think I think it's and again I'll I'll go offline and and confirm everything with you, but they already have that scheduled. So and and Jeff knows Jeff Jacobson knows he needs to get that done by then. So, he's actively working to get that. All right. So, um yeah. So, it uh anyway, the the river access project is finally starting to move forward and might be we might be able to actually start doing some construction down there this summer. Yeah. Be great. So, I know Michael Stren's got I think all the material he needs down there in order to build that road. How long how long is the road from uh Is that like a good half mile to get back
041there? Maybe it wasn't. No, I don't think it's that long. I mean, but I guess if you count from the ball field all the way down maybe maybe a a good quarter mile. Yeah. But once you get behind Tilcon, it's I don't know two 300 yards. Okay. Yeah. So it's it's half again. It's not his guy that cuts it in half. That's why we were pushing so hard to be able to get some parking down near the river. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be It's going to be good when it's done. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe by end of year. Maybe by end of year. I'd like to be able to put we'll put our kayak. I got a kayak looking to get wet. I'm ready. There you go. Okay. There you go. So, that's great. Thank
042you, Rick. Um, anything you Okay, gotcha. So, just quick quick updates. So, Nordic Spa, last time I spoke, um I was I was hoping that they would already be uh digging and getting some of the found not the foundation work, but the ground work done. Uh they have not done that yet. Um part of the issue was firming up a GMP, a guaranteed max pricing for their new contractor that's going to be doing the work there. Uh they are signing that early next week. Uh they should be starting in miday, uh which is four weeks from now. um they have that locked in. They also need to do something with Eversource that was dragging up. They were able to get that resolved uh this last week. So, those two issues are the only things that
043were holding that up. So, um I will keep everyone posted as to when they walk in and do the first actual work in that project, but right now it's middle of May and that seems solid. Um and again, they're still expecting 16 to 18 months of construction time. So, you're looking at the end of next year. Um at the end of next year is what they're looking at as a soft opening. So, so that's coming along. Uh they've already paid all their fees and whatnot. Permit costs are ready. So, it's just a matter of getting the contractor which they already have selected uh just locked into what they have. So, uh that is the Nordic Spa. Um farmers markets. I don't know if anyone's seen uh some of the uh some of Facebook and some
044of the uh um some of the uh Facebook messages out there. We uh it's a project that I've wanted to get started for a while. Uh we have a group that got together about two weeks ago. Um and it was 16 to 18 people in town that came together for their first meeting. Um there's a couple people that are running and headlining it, but it was fantastic to see um artisans, uh farmers, etc. A lot of energy. Uh they're putting together the plan right now. They're going to set up their 5013C and go through all the paperwork uh in order to get it set up and and and go to town. But uh a lot of excitement, a lot of people in town are jumping on it. Um, I'll keep everyone posted on what happens
045with that, but um, that's part of the whole let's give people a reason to come to Portland and stay here. So, I think that fits in very nicely and they have some big plans and again I will keep everyone posted this year. This year, yeah, they want to start. Where do they plan on putting the market? That's what they're looking at right now. Um, they've looked at where they put them before in the past. Um, I know it's been sometimes uh near the police station, you know, kind of in our our little town center. They've done it there before. They've had success in the past with that. Um, but they're looking at it right now. That's actively they're actively looking at it. When the next meeting happens, I will inform the board. So, if you
046want to go there and and and hear what's happening. I think it's worthwhile. I will be there for the next one as well. And I'll keep everyone posted. But that's an exciting time. That one um I think that's going to go some places. So, and it's been at least seven, eight years since we've had that. From what I've been told, it's been quite a while since we've had that, but when they did run um they they ran quite well. Um, I think that's important as well. So, that is going there. Uh, grand opening brand new place, they are doing the official grand opening celebration on Tuesday, April 29th. Um, 3:00 to 5 is the event. So, it's open to anyone from town that wants to go there. They'll have activities, free samples, face painting, a
047bunch of things, raffles, and more. Uh, 4:00, I believe, is when the official ribbon cutting will be. So, all the members here are invited. Please attend if you can. Uh that'll be four o'clock on the for the coffee house for the Starbucks and it's April 29th. April 29th. It's 3 to 5 for the event. Uh but four o'clock will be the ribbon cutting ceremony. So please come and wear your Sunday best if you can. So that will be there. We've already talked about the river access project, but that is real exciting. Um we may have access by the end of the year there. Uh, and for those that don't remember, we we have $300,000 that um we're able to get for this project. Uh, and we're ready to spend some money to get it done.
048So, uh, that is exciting. Um, I was approached over the last couple weeks about charging stations for the town. We've talked about that um, a couple years ago. I think all the members of the board were here when we talked about that. Uh with the activity going on right now with Brainard Place who has several charging stations built into the first building. I believe it'll be in the second building as well. Um I think there's time for another discussion about that. Um especially as the spa comes online and everything. So uh it's not yet not ready yet for tonight of course, but I want to put it across the bow with everyone that I'd like to bring that up either the next meeting or the meeting after. I'll be gathering up some information. I may
049ask a couple speakers to come here and talk about that. Andy and a few others. Well, the last time we had a presentation, Andy did a good job. Did a wonderful job. Um, but I think with the activity going, I think it's time to revisit that. I think we had kind of left it as we're not sure what's going on in town. We're not sure where we would place them, but with Eversource building up the capacity to provide power to Eversource or to uh the Brainer Place and to the spa. I think I think the ability for Eversource to be able to support that is now available whereas it wasn't really a couple of years ago. So, I just want to throw that out there. Brainer required to have any in with the state law.
050I don't know. I don't know if they're required. I know they're putting them in. That may be because they're putting them in their buildings for their tenants. What are they putting them in the parking lot for the general public? I don't know. I don't I believe based on the permit they have, they weren't required to based on what the state law is at the time, but I don't know. You're required to unless you do some program through Eversource. Um, the new state law says new development is required to based on how many parking spaces you have, right? But they put in for their permit before before it was a law. That's what I'm saying. So, okay. So, they may not Yeah. But they're also pulling other permits as they go along. So, I don't know
051if the retail the law applies to them for their future buildings. From my understanding, the permit that they did for the whole project covers them on the whole project, but they didn't pay for the permit for the whole project. That is correct. I was going to say the permitting that they've done is it's been it's by building. So, when they start looking at the building for the retail side, my guess is that they they probably will have they may fall into that. We should we should look into I will absolutely look into that. But and that'll be part of the research before we start talking about this. But yes, absolutely. And again, I know uh the spy has already talked to Eversource as I think almost a year ago in terms of so Eversource has
052been very aware of what they're doing. So I don't know what their situation is with them as well or if they're interested, but that'll be part of the discussion. But I think it's worthwhile looking at where what public spaces in town as we're talking about it. I think I remember when we had the last discussion, one of the options was potentially in the parking lot right over next to this building because we thought at that point the police might be able to and town vehicles maybe have have access where went that way too, right? But this may be one of the places. Yeah, there was there was sort of a circle right to the downtown areas because of how the funding and all that works. So, right. Well, and with the uptake of, you know,
053more people are driving those cars, more people are aware of it. They have a number of apps and they're not all connected together right now, but there's probably a half a dozen different apps where you can look on a particular app and see where the charging station are. They're all not communicating with each other yet because it's still early adoption. Well, not as early adoption, but uh but once that's in place and you can just look on one place and find it. So, I think it's important that we at least look at this. So, I think the time's right for examined. Now, would these be where the people using them have to put their credit card in or somehow pay for? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. But the initial price was very expensive. That's why
054we didn't move forward. Right. Very expensive. Yeah. And and there's three different chargers. There's the one that you have at your house which takes all night to get it charged. There's there's the intermediate one which can charge in a 45 minute to an hour period. So, there's different levels of charging. Yeah. The one, two, and three, I think. Yeah. And three is like that 20 minute 20 minute. You go there, you grab a coffee and it's ready. I think that's why when we have this discussion, Andy's got to be here because that's he'll be able to explain that. I've already spoken to Andy about this or whatever. So I gave him the heads up. But yes, and there's other people out there that do it. So I think it'll be good to see. Yeah, there's
055fair amount of competition. Yeah, but I think the more we know, the better off we are. But I think it's worthwhile. So So do your homework, come up some questions. And I will tell you, a guy approached me about my commercial property. Um I I have the information. It's like last month. And they have a program where you just sign a lease with them and they do all the setup. They they charge the company and they just want your space. They want your space. You don't make as much but you start making from day one. You have no cost, right? You have no cost. And if you want and you want to be on that map of towns that have those that might be a way to go. As a matter of fact, I can
056get I'll get you to contact here in Connecticut down in Seattle. That's great. That's great. Yeah. I mean I think especially it's getting a critical mass right now where things like that are making sense. So it gives us more options. So no I agree. So that's great. So yeah, everyone kind of keep your eyes open, bring it to us. Um I don't know if it's going to be in the next meeting or the one after. Um I prefer to have everyone here. Um so um but we'll we'll talk about that. I'll let you guys know ahead of time. All right. Uh just a couple more things. Um so I have it here. I do. So before since the last meeting, I had the opportunity to attend the fireman's annual um annual I guess meeting convention.
057That's not it. Banquet. Thank you. Banquet. A banquet. Um and Saturday night or something. Yeah, it was it was Yeah, it was um it was Saturday, I believe. Um but it was um they did a great job. Uh Chief Pua did a fantastic job. He MCed it. Um it was awards to a number of the firefighters who had served for you know 10 years, 20 years, 40 years, you know, 45 years I think was the longest. Um but but just the commodery there was great to see. It's the first one in the time I've been here that I've attended. I've never felt that I didn't want to interfere with it. Even in the time on the board of select when I didn't feel it was it was appropriate for me to be there. It was
058it was kind of a band of brothers and sisters there. But it was really good. But they also um honored uh honored Shawn during that time with a commemorative coin that they provided to all the attendees. Um I we we did have a couple extras for their family that was given to the family. But uh it was a very moving um time when they were talking about everything that happened and and memories about Shawn and the whole bit. But I thought that was a real it was a wonderful touch to it. Um and it was but uh it was it was wonderful to be there and and I appreciated the time and um they they do so much in the town. They don't do it for the money. They certainly don't do it for the
059money. So and if they didn't do it, we'd be in big trouble. We'd be in big trouble. Yeah. So I thought that was that was I was I was I felt privileged to be there. A good one. Great. Great. So um that is it. about a another about a week and a half ago, I had a chance to uh get interviewed um on uh was it Dennis House's show or whatever. Um and we talked about Portland. We had about seven or eight minutes to talk about things in Portland. And I'm only bringing this up because it was it was interesting. I I threw out there that um that Portland, you know, we we do a lot of golf here in town. And I I I made the comment that we are the unofficial golf capital
060of Connecticut because we have three courses. We have two driving ranges. We've got Chris and and his shop in town. We do a lot of stuff. But I was reminded and how many state championship golf teams? Only six only six years that we've won that, right? State champs is so we have we we we have that street credit. We've checked all the boxes. And I think it's great and I I think that's wonderful. It's only going to get better. We also have an a tired miniature golf course with a with a T-Rex missing a head. Yeah. That's also in town. That that's coming back. Someone wants to do something with that. So that that's going to come back as well. Um, but I was reminded that we also are a town of marinas and on
061the eight miles of sea coast or river coast that we have, uh, we are also a town that has five marinas, I believe. Um, and we have another one right on the border, the Glastonbury Marina, uh, that makes it almost five and a half, right, with their six. So, we we have a lot of water activities. We have a lot of um, entertainment activities. Portland is a great town and we have a lot of things to be proud of this town. But again, I was reminded from all the voters that, you know, we've got golf, but we sure got boating, too. And with the access to the river uh in step one, and hopefully we'll have public access soon. Yes, absolutely. So, wanted to put that out there, too. Put that out there, too. Um,
062that's all I had. Anyone else have anything else? When I just saw that wire in front of you. When is that again? I'm gonna I'm gonna let you see it. Oh, you're gonna let me do it. Yes, absolutely. Join us for a celebration. Ruth Mayo has retired. Ruth has retired as director of the food bank. We want to celebrate her longtime dedication. April 27th from 1 to 3:00 p.m. at St. Mary's Church. I should have known that. Yes, absolutely. Please come. She's a amazing lady. Done a lot. Not just a food bank, but visiting nurse before that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Please do. All right. Um, last last thing. We went through a budget season. We came to a budget. We put it out there. I have not heard much out there and
063I've been told that no noise is is good. You know, no no issues is good. I'm hoping that's the case. Um I um there should be a note for me in this week's River East encouraging people if they have questions about the budget, if they want to know about their situation, whatever the case is, to reach out. So, I encourage all of us here to get the word out. They have questions about the budget. They want to know what process we went through. I want this as transparent as possible. Um, I think it's a good budget. I'm looking at towns around us and uh and most, if not all, are have a higher increase. Um, I think we've done a good job. I feel good about it's not perfect. Um, but I think we're able
064to put together one that I feel good about and I'm willing to, you know, really stand behind. I can make a suggestion. Yes. I know you periodically have little snippets in the River East. Yes, I suggest when you put in one of those articles, you give the folks the link, the date, and the time so they can watch the video on some of our of our YouTubes. So, I would so I I think that's a great idea and I will do that. Um, one of the things I wanted to do and select me want to help out on this as well is I'm going to do a kind of a video u as Ryan and I think Susan had done some as well explaining the budget for those that want to just watch it either
065I do it on on my my my Facebook for selection page but get it out there um so I can explain to people want to know uh maybe over the next because we have the the uh the meeting is May 5th Monday night uh it's going to be 6 pm I'm sorry 7 p.m. at the middle school cafeteria. So those people that want to know more about it, they're welcome to come. I will be uh putting that everywhere if I can. Um but between then and the week after um when we have the referendum, it's up on the 12th. I want to, you know, maybe they want to they want to meet down at the restaurant, right? They want to talk about it. Maybe do a quick tour out there. But I encourage everyone here
066if they can get the word out as well. I'll do everything I can to educate people on the budget and why the numbers are. or if you get questions, please relay it back to me and I'll make sure I get the answers to those questions out there. So, have you had any questions on the other item we voted on the change to the vehicle? No. Surprisingly, no. I've I've people have asked me general questions about the budget and I've told them one of the things we did that allowed us to keep the mill rate down to 1.0 was adopting the local option. And most people didn't know what that meant. And as I explained it when we had it, I said it basically shifted some from the homes spread out to the three times as
067many cars that we had. And because of the way it works and because of the depreciation was significant over the year before to now, uh, most people still saw a decrease in their car taxes. So, um, so it ended up being a positive, but I've had very little feedback from people. Um, some positive, most neutral, and just wondering, you know, how it was done and and what it was. So anyways, but yeah, that that's been my experience. Anybody else had any different experience at all? That's maybe a good sign. So anyways, all right, that is all that I have. Right. Are we ready to wrap this up? Any public comment? Yes. Any public comment online? Any anyone out there? All right. Um informal discussion. We've already gone through that. All right. Follow. I just have
068two things for the informal discussion. Um, I wanted to bring it up. We can talk about it at the next meeting as we talked about it before was the food recycle program at the transfer station. Yes. If we still want to go on with that. Um, we're currently paying three times the rate of what we do for bulky waste for that program. Yeah. Um, and the other thing I have, um, it'll involve, uh, Michael Lrina as the public works director. We need to look into crack seal at the high school and middle school complex. Got it. That parking lot is starting to be in horrible condition. And the price I was given last was to mill it and repave it is $1.2 million. So, we need to start doing some work to it before we
069get to that bill of $1.2 million that we can't afford. That has that has been discussed in the building group. And I know that that's been discussed in two different ways. One would be just putting a a seal type material on it and the other would be to pave it new. And the the new pave, you're absolutely right, is extremely expensive. Yeah. Because they're they're talking 1.2 million for that. The tennis courts they were saying was 1.1 million and we need to do something to preserve the parking lot as long as we can. If we can get away with, you know, whatever the number is, 30 $40,000 to seal the cracks this year and then chip seal it or something else next year. We we can't let it fall apart. We need this. And this
070is what happened with the track. We just kept pushing it down the road and pushing it down the road till it got to the point that you had to replace it. We can't replace that parking lot. Prevented maintenance, right? I think that's great. You know, um, shopping centers like Portland Plaza and my center in Colchester, we crack seal every year. Really? Yep. And just stay up on it. And it's not that expensive if you do it every year. Exactly. Mhm. But it it comes down to with that it's who's paying for it, the board of ed or are we paying for it. We both should be paying for it. Whatever it is, but we can't keep putting it off, right? And it's I haven't even looked at the other schools. I was just up there
071for a baseball game today and it's horrible. Yeah. I I'll talk with Mike tomorrow. I'll let you know. But that I I agree with you. We have to and touch base. I know um Bob Sheay in the the committee discussions has some fairly reasonable and new numbers on that. So you can because when they did a they did the larger cracks a few years ago uh from Bob Sha's maintenance budget they paid for the material and then the public works crew went up there and it was them that did it right. So they split the cost time wise. Yeah. So maybe the two guys need to get together on that. Yeah. Yes. I mean, they're smart. They've done this before. We got to get on it. So, that's great. Thanks for those two. That was
072good. Um, what's that? You mentioned a food recycle program. You can save what? They take the scrap and waste food from the homes. Yeah. And at the entrance of the transfer station, there's two cans outside. I believe they come and empty it weekly and they'll give us a total of what they take away. But with what they're taking away and what they charge us, it comes out to be three times what we pay to get rid of bulky waste. If just so I understand it, if we collected enough food scraps then might it be pro profitable? No, there's no profit because it's free. We keep we pay I think it's two. Oh the company hauling it doesn't No bio I think we every month. Oh we approached it as kind of like offering it to
073town citizens as an environmental thing to do. But even at the time we said let's give it some time and see what it costs. Yeah. I think we're a year and a half or almost two years into it now. And Ryan O'Halpel and did the numbers and for the weight that they pick up and take away compared to what we pay, it's over $300 a ton that we're paying them to take it away. Yeah. And it's just over $100 a ton for us to get rid of garbage in. So it's three times the cost. And what are they doing with this when they take it away? I don't know if it goes to one of the bio I think it was a bio situation. They make they make mult digesttors compost. Yeah. Compost or something.
074So, but I mean it was it was something we wanted to try. It was the environmentally friendly thing to do, but we also kind of hedged our bets. We want to see what the costs were going to be. Yeah. Yeah. That's Yeah. We were just asking the bills on that. Yeah. I mean, not everybody can do it, but if you kind of live in the country or have an acre or so, I mean, we just compost our food. I think roughly we're over it's just over $3,000 a year that we're paying. Y it's like $260 270 a month something like that. It adds up too. But there's not enough in my opinion. There's not enough going into it to justify what we're paying for it. Yeah. Okay. Good points. These small things add up. They
075add up quick. So, well, I was going to say too, like, you know, we came out of the budget season with not with only a 1 mil increase or under 3%, but I think our spending side was like what four and a half 4.7 I think. 4.7. Yeah. I mean we were fortunate that our revenue increased but we got to be careful because you can't sustain those kind of increases 4.9. Yeah. Uh well obviously our our revenue side increased enough to effectively effectively have a lower you know only a 3% increase but still you know so I mean no I think we did okay but I think we can't get complacent enough. No, I I agree. I mean, I I personally think maybe we could have even done better, but yeah, but anyway, we we
076came to an agreement and um now we got to go forward and and and make it work. Well, and not only that though, I think even what Bobby said, like there's things as we go forward that we don't have to spend all the money in the buckets or we may be able to find ways as we're going to minimize well like on the water on the water side there was, you know, that may not all get have to get spent, right? I mean, I think it's good that we had the numbers in there from a contingency standpoint, but right, we need to be careful how we spend that and septic, right? It maybe once we get the flow up at that end, we might be able to use that as additional revenue or whatever. So,
077there's a lot of there's a lot of a lot of things can happen, but we have we can't we can't I guess ease back, you know, we got every every week we got to look at the numbers. Yeah. I mean, it was very heartening when all the various town department heads came forward and Yeah. Yeah, I thought that was great. They put in some so they if nothing else it was a everybody was aware of, you know, we got to count every every penny or every dollar. I I think we were lucky, too. If you if you listened really quietly about a week ago, you could hear the screaming and yelling over in Middletown when they had their town meeting about the budget. There was a lot of a lot of upset people about two
078and a half mills or whatever the increase was over there. So, like I said, I think we were civil and well, and also you want to put a budget out there that it's going to pass on the first crack, so we're not doing this over again in May and June and No. Yeah. Um, do we or has even gone out to bid yet for the Main Street sidewalks or Highland Avenue sidewalks? Has that contract gone out yet? It has. It has. Um, I know I talked to your brother today. um he had to stop by a house and do something there for part of the you know engineering that they had to figure out. So yes. Yes. So and and we still haven't heard yet from the the big the uh the second stage where
079put the $200,000 up with a million dollars to finish high street. They uh the they were going to announce it as early as I believe the 7th of April, but they pushed that back. They haven't made any decision yet. So we still feel pretty good about that. I'm hoping that's a good sign. Um because we have a number of things that go in our favor, but that has not been they have not issued that out yet. So, as soon as that happens, you guys will be the second one to know. Um with the sidewalks, I know we were saying with Main Street, there's going to be enough to complete the Indian Hills. We were going to start down in this side of Main Street in downtown. One small piece I would like to see us
080address. Yes. and I walked it with John is the end of Waverly Avenue when you cross East Main Street. Yes. And it's only 150 ft. It's like three houses. Waverly extension. Waverly extension. Yeah. Um and one way to save money, there's sidewalks on both sides of the street. You just do one. There only should be sidewalks on one side of the street, but the sidewalk on one side of the street is unwalkable. Okay. It is. And I know highlighted with paint to let you know it. That's my neighbor and I spoke with she spoke with with town officials numerous times. It's I mean they're craters. Yes. Okay. They're three four inches deep and they're a foot wide. It's a curse house right on the corner next to me. But like you said, there's only, you
081know, it's three houses on each side of the street. So I don't see the point of having a sidewalk on both sides. But to have a walkable sidewalk would be nice. Actually, the one on the other side isn't isn't nearly as bad as the one you're talking. Yes. Okay. And it's and it's basically it's a dead end. It's not a through. No. Right. And like I said, that's something for for public works to say this is where the sewer line is. This is where the water line is. And that'll determine which side you leave the sidewalk on. And I and I will tell you too because I mean we talked about a lot of these initially these grants were for for accessibility to schools that there are young kids on that street but that's also
082a bus stop at that corner. Right. So you don't want any of those kids goofing around before the bus comes and taking a header on that sidewalk. Well, and I can also tell you because when we were evaluating as part of the sidewalk subcommittee, you know, several years ago, this was one of those that we said, okay, you know, the goal was trying to get large segments done in one shot, right, to maximize the money, but we always knew we were going to have to look at at the tail end one of these projects, say, okay, we need to find that 150 ft. And that's exactly what we talked about really. It should go down to one side. Y it's it's the right it's the right way for us to go. I agree. I'll start
083when a few weeks ago when you saw me and John walking, that's what we were doing. Oh, really? Yeah. We walked up East Main Street, we walked Highland, we went to Spring Street, we walked all that and we were looking at stuff. Any other suggestions? Yeah, I was suggesting I just wanted to make sure that like when they do Highland, there's a big tree that should be taken down because it's destroyed the sidewalk on the corner. And there's another one. There's an old stump that's got to be 4 feet in diameter that did the same thing. I just don't want to see them put a new sidewalk behind those two obstacles and be like, "There your sidewalk's done." Then as the sidewalk collapses, there you go. And the other thing, as we're talking about it
084on East Main Street, because Spring Street was recently done and the intersection of Fair View and East Maine was done with in the early going of the project. Yes. So you have little stretches of new sidewalk coming in from either angle on that stretch of beast main street, but then in the middle nothing of your work some miracles and get it all done. But I think Waverly is the worst at the end. Yeah, that's that's it's not a huge overpowering project. Yeah. And I know somebody's likely to get hurt there. Yeah. Right. Those kids will. They were there at the bus stop there every day. Gotcha. No, it's it's time. We've done all we've done all the surrounding things. It's it's time to Absolutely. Absolutely. And just just a small thing, too. Things like that.
085They're they're small, but they're a big deal to the people there. Um I got a I had a couple complaints from people even on from where Dunkin Donuts is running back to where Zaz is, just that part of the sidewalks or whatever. Always has rocks in it, kind of messy. And I know we used to clean the sidewalks up. So, a couple of people called and said, "You know what? Um, you know, can can the town do something about that?" So, we're cleaning that up. We asked that last year because we were saying if it could be initially years ago, I don't know, five, six years ago, maybe more. We had grant money. No, but we had grant money to do that, right? And the public works was doing like from the post office to
086the bridge, right? I think it was once a month, right? They'd clean the parking spaces, blow off the sidewalks, and then come through and sweep it all off. And I said, "That's something we need to start doing." I mean, Middletown does it. I think it's weekly or bi-weekly. And it looks great, though. If we could just do it quarterly, it would be nice to clean up Main Street. So, I'm I'm happy to announce that I talked to Mike today and he's doing that, you know, with the next couple days and we'll get it regular routine because first thing you see in uh when you come into Portland is kind of messy street, messy side or whatever. So, oh, one other thing. It's h it has to do with coming into Portland. Um I was talking
087to and this is a shout out to Chris Cody just because I appreciate it. He probably doesn't even want this but um I met with him a couple days ago and he had uh done all of the flower work around the original welcome to Portland sign that we had for a long time. Right. He did that. Yeah. Right right on Mar Street. He did that and then I think we tore it all up for some triangle because the triangle got smaller. Right. That was it. Yeah. I follow why it was but I knew that. So, so when I met with him, he said he is happy to uh to do where the new location is when you come over the bridge on the right side where the welcome sign is welcome is he said he
088will carve out an area and doing that and I thank him for his willingness to do that and he's going to start working that whenever the weather gets it but um but I appreciate and it's that kind of thing with business people in town wanting to do a diff wanting to make a difference and again it's the first thing you see when you get into town the last thing that comes out so those small things are big things and it may cost them a couple thousand dollars to do but it's a huge impact Right. It's a huge impact. So, I think he probably figures indirectly positive effect on his business. Oh, 100%. Well, and listen, his business is making perfectly manicured lawns so you can golf on and putt on. Yeah. So, his idea of
089perfect, they might be a little bit more precise than our but but that's good. So, anyway, so I appreciate Chris if you're watching. I appreciate what you're doing for the town. But that was something I I really thought was great. And all these small things. So, if you see things like this, is he is he gonna add a little sign that says welcome to the golf capital? Well, don't tempt them. So, your horse says come on over. I'm going to add a sign that says to call on the big side. We'll line up. So, that's very nice. I I know when when I start my wheels start turning, I end up putting something out we don't want to do. But you're talking about Chris doing that and I'm sure there's other areas in town where
090maybe other businesses might want to do something similar. Do you ever go to you go down certain streets or highways and you have the signs along the way that like it's maintained by this business and maintained by that business? I wonder if that's something we want to look into. I think we should ask with Birdon and with Brainard and with other places and and that might actually um get more businesses interested in in taking on a little section somewhere as long be an EDC thing. Absolutely. Yeah, I think it's a great idea for them to talk about. But I think that, you know, it doesn't have to be huge sign, but just something just something that says, you know, thanks to maintained by Chris Cody's golf shop, right? Something like that. You get some advertising
091100%. And it's good for the town. And I got to tell you, those small things add up and and it makes a huge difference. Yeah. Say, if I recall, originally that triangle, I believe, was done by Pine Ledge. Pine Ledge. And they had a sign in there that said that. Yeah. So, it's I think that's a that's a really good thing for us to do. Yeah. I I just But but I but now I drive around town. I'm not sure if they do the same thing. I drive around town and I see mess everywhere, right? Like just because I'm looking for it now. Well, it's that time of the year, too. 100% 100%. But but now I can't help but see it, right? So, maybe you can find out just people have been asking the
092old ankles and McCoy. Yes. They sold out. The building was empty for a while. Company came in, did a lot of work in the region. Now it's empty again. What is their plans with that building and what they're going to do? Richard's back. I was gonna say that was the work that was being done there that was um with all the fiber work that was getting done from telecom they was that company was staging there. Yeah. To do that and I that works now those deployments are done. That's a that's a large piece of commercial property in six. Oh yes. Yeah. I'll try to get as much of an update as I can but that's that's what you that's what you're aware of. Oh yeah. No, no, absolutely. I could see the fiber reels in
093there and I could see the So, what was the name of the company? Something Mass. Oh, mastec I believe that was in there. Because they've done work they've done work for the company that I work for um as part of it and they they they do work for other um you know you know other CV providers etc. But but that was part of that fiber deployment. [Music] Um, and I I think specifically they were doing because it was actually we it was a different we used a different vendor in Portland who did a very nice job but I believe they may have been doing some work in East Hampton and they were basing the old Mike I got something just I forgot to ask you about or mention Mike Lrina called about a week ago
094about um he's got a group I think it was the VFW. Oh yes. Yes. That they need to get some hours in before end of May was it or end of Yeah. Like they want to do some community service work. So he was asking me about the riverfront park and um they wanted to uh they want to do this work on May 3rd. I think it's a Saturday. Um Okay. And I mentioned, well, if we if we're cleared or we can get down to the riverfront area, that's a possibility. Or I checked with Lou Pere who happens to be away, but we could touch base with RZ. There's some work too on the airline trail where they want to spread some um road tailings. They've been they've been filling in that section kind of near
095your house from the parking area up to the trail and we did some work there last summer, but we didn't complete it. So, we need to I guess we need to decide I need your help to decide like how to direct. Okay. Mike and where we want to Okay. I've got that Saturday that May 3rd. Yeah. Is the date. Okay. I mean, I told Mike if it ended up well, either either site, I would help him arrange and it was a riverfront, I'd go down there. That's why I was hoping that maybe we had it remarked, but we'll get a better look Friday to see if we can Yeah. figure out where the path is supposed to go. I mean, if they want to go down there and just knock down some brush, I mean,
096it's not going to hurt anything. It's hope in the long run. And honestly, I think we're probably a week away from having the markings done because they were pretty close to it. Um, there wasn't a whole bunch left. So, I'll I'll reach out to Jeff again, but I I'm thinking next week like we may get them the markets ready. We have two weeks till May 3rd, I think. Yeah, I think May 3rd is a safe week, but if I can get it sooner. So, that's okay. So, yeah, I just tell everybody about that. And Mike was I don't know if he's member or working with that group. I'm not sure, but he's connected with a ton of stuff. So, so no, that's great. I I'll find out for you. I'll let you know. All right.
097Is that now on? We almost made it to 9 o'clock. We got 15 minutes. We got some good stuff that came up. We do have stuff. The way you were going. I thought we were going to be on at 7:45. I got a date at 8 o'clock. Right. That was great. Um, all right. So, I think we are all set. Um, follow-up items, ethics ordinance, and review town charter. Um, not something I'm ready to look at right now. Um, I think if the after the budget referendum, we talk about the town charter. Okay, we've been talking about that for four years. Let's do Oh, that was even back even more than four years. That's the thing. I think the last update is 2004. It's over 21 years since and it really just it's a matter
098of just trying to kick off the charter review committee again. Y and that's going to take some time anyway. We all know that. Well, I I have a suggestion with that because we've all got a town charter, right? Um what I would suggest is maybe we as of say June our first meeting in June um by then could everyone please go through the charter that they have mark up questions they have suggestions and let's have a discussion about that um either at the next meeting or executive session whatever whatever we need to say. We talked about that before because then we can give them a direction to go of look at these specific areas that you can't just hand them a chart and say go to it. No, no. And and and it's it's it's
099a waste of time to talk about them, but I think we all look at it. We digest it. I've been I've looked through it all over the last three or four months for a variety of reasons. So I have a much better handle on it now than I did before to just so that I think would be really good. So let's let's go for June. the first the first POS meeting in June between now and then if you need another one but mark it up put suggestions down I think it should be it's under the town clerk y so and I have a funny feeling my prediction is that we're going to find 80% of what we find will be the same thing because a lot of it's pretty straightforward but there's some stuff um
100that I think we'll all agree it needs to be changed and modified so uh it may be it may be easier than we think but let's just do that so we're good with Yeah. Tim, you good with that, too? Yes. Fantastic. All right. I think that's a great idea. All right. Are we really really done now? I'll make a motion we adjourn. Yeah, that'll end it. Second. All right. Any discussion? All those in favor? I extensions. It passes. Good night, everybody.