001all right good evening at 7 o'clock I'd like to call the first ele meeting to order everyone please rise the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and the stand naice for right um like someone to make a motion to accept the agenda so moved second second all those in favor I opposed stained passes um everyone has the minutes from the last meeting want to make sure that any changes any updates or edits on that or can we have a motion to approve the I we approve the minutes from February 19th I'll second that any discussion all right all those in favor passes um I have no Communications and correspondence for right now uh it's going to get busy when we start doing the budget starting another
002week or so we'll probably get more of those but right now none um public comment is there anyone here or online that has public comment i' like to say something nothing online no one in the audience very very nice um so tonight um I've spoken to Tom we've been working on preparing the budget for you um everyone should have that John I got your copy there as well um Tom will not be coming down tonight he's working on some additional budget needs um I know some of you I think had some specific questions about Capital outlays believe but Bobby I think you had W think M had as well he's working on that right now um he will send that out tomorrow morning um but he's you know he was out for a couple days
003with an injury that put him back so he's catching up today so I hope everyone is okay with that um he sends his best wishes wishes he were here but you'll get the hopefully by tomorrow at noon time so all right uh let's go to appointments of boards and commissions do we have any appointments um yeah I have a couple of appointments here we were uh for the Brownfield area steering committee we'd like to nominate Mike dski Mike's the EDC chair now has expressed an interest in being on the Brownfield steering committee okay is there a second I'll second okay any discussion I'll make a a comment Ian I've known Mike for a while he's done um very good work on the EDC he's passionate about the town he supports the businesses um I think
004he's got a good Vision um and he's open-minded about what he thinks would make the most sense for the town I think he's expressed an interest in be part of it um I think he uh can be a contributing member of that so I feel good about that that's been my experience with yeah concur 100 % all right all right so we ready to vote all those in favor those against those abstaining motion passes then a second nomination is also for the Brownfield area uh steering committee it's uh Bob Ellsworth I'll second that right any discussion good choice J Jim I think the same thing to I think you're right good man I I got a chance to meet with him and have a nice long talk about Portland and his experience so Bobby Bobby's
005a longtime Portland person a lot of lot understands things well his role planning and zoning and he's certainly has a good grasp or yeah well and and and what I like most about it was he sat there and thought long and hard because he knew the commitment that he had to make he didn't just say yes willly nilly he thought about it make sure he could do the time and and do it the right way so I thought that said a lot of bu's character so all right no further discussion all those in favor all right those opposed stains motion passes and then if I may be so bold one more the uh for the Inland Wetlands for an alternate opening for a uh term that ends in 2027 I believe we um nominating Bob
006wildermuth to serve second second by Bobby discussion where's the Bob on it report was he on I don't believe he was he was on conservation Comm I went to both yeah yeah was on conservation yeah he was also a member a long time ago of Brownstone quum he used to work with another oh did yeah yeah Bob Bob's good guy yeah no Bob's he's great he's uh yeah he's a real uh valuable valuable Community I don't know Bob but he's been involved in town for a while and he he knows things all right any more discussion all right all those in favor I opposed abstained motion passes U there is notice any request to amend the makeup of the committee in solidarity to allow up to two high school students to serve as non- voting
007members on the committee solidary said students to be selected by the Portland high school facility so the committee approached me about a week or so ago and wanted to bring this to the committee uh and their idea is to include the high school uh at least two high school kids onto the committee so they can see what they're doing assist they would be non- voting members uh but the committee felt strongly that uh getting the high school age kids especially younger ones um aware of what's going on those that want to contribute or participate um should be able to and they felt that that might be something uh that would add to their committee and add to their Insight um from from the town point of view from the younger people's point of view so
008I thought it was interesting um I like the idea but I wanted to bring it to the committee for discussion I think one of question how would they be selected do we know would they be appointed by by you know would it be something that's chosen within the schools or um it says here The Faculty would the faculty yeah and I don't know what the exact procedure would be based on volunteers and then reading them out um I don't know but I know they they had a vetting process or a selection process they felt good about and they would put that in writing for us too no I I think it's again I think getting getting our young folks engaged and in a lot of things is a good idea well that has a kind
009of a blowover feel too because I the voices of Portland a couple weeks ago yeah they were talking about ways to to get that into the high school and let the kids hear from that too and this this would not only get them involved in a presentation like this this might help them have a say in planning it which would be great yeah by the way nice job at the just took over for the big guy you you did a better job the way it should be um any any discussion suggestions on the other side they gonna bring a a proposal to us to they haven't they wanted to bet they wanted to bet it first because it would be a change of what they did but they wanted to see what our feeling was
010on it um before we can move forward with that yeah I mean I'd be interested in seeing what they you what they propos writing yeah see like what they would like to propose but I don't see how it's any different if they were just interested in going to the meeting like well I agree I mean if you're really truly interested just show up to the meeting there something to say you can't and I think the proposal is that it's two nonvoting members but they get to be there maybe participating in the conversation so I think that they're trying to include them in the discussion as well as feedback so well watch for example last night I was at the Board of Education meeting they have their student representative and he actually participates in some of
011the conversations and you know they they they consider his opinion which is good this might just be another like that yeah I I would suggest that we approve this in in in my feeling because we can have them come back with the details but it sounds like the details are pretty simple uh they're going to set up a process to find uh you know two students that are willing and able to participate but it's up to the board to decide if you want to wait till the next meeting or um I mean I love the idea yeah I would rather something to to read we've got a proposal the only other question I have is has does the Board of Education also need to sign off on this because it's the High School faculty that's
012selecting kids so that's kind of where I was going yeah good question um I'll find doubt that's a good question I think that would be addressed in their proposal you know you see it in writing but I think it's a great idea but I think maybe we just have to tie up all the knots and do and I agree I just to say about the student reps on the board of that that's that's the model that's a great model yeah you know because those we've had a variety of students and I think the students that have been serving now have been you know Stellar than what they're participation and input on the board absolutely one of the comments yesterday uh with some some folks uh at the Town Hall was it's hard to get people
013to get involved in things right now um so getting people in town to join the committies we have and and step up and serve is great if we can do that with the kids as well they're busy with everything so we can get them to stop and and focus on something that's meanful that's a good thing so I think it's great so I will I will reach out to them let them know we've discussed it we' like something in writing um I'll confirm what the Board of Ed would need to do if anything specific um and then at the next meeting we'll put this on schedule for that everyone everyone good with that yeah fantastic I'll let them know um before I go on from the um appointments though uh with those two um appointments
014of brownfields area steering committee that committee is now filled we have five people in there so I believe the next step is I made some help from from you is we need to set up a meeting with them pick a chair and then they go off and do their work yeah there's a there's a model set up in organization so so that will happen so I will now that can's filled I will uh go back to the office tomorrow make sure the process starts right away and get we get them to work all right um let's go through expired we have Donald Roy he's out Joseph beta has expired resignations we have all right let's go right we have no access payments that's even better all right let's go right to status and reports and
015I starting starting off on really on water um it was an odd site I I went to the parking it was no longer a drilling Z there so that's a good sign I hope no it was a very good sign so they yeah they've got the they've got the well in they've got the 12-in pipe in um you know I'm not sure if they've got any of the gring left to complete I know that they were working on that you know when I was there um basically to to fill in the gaps to make sure they fill in the gaps completely between the 12-in pipe and the 20-in pipe and and the whole you know as it's coming up U but I think for the most part that's going to be either complete or pretty
016close to complete or they might need to have somebody come back to do the cap on the on the well there basically a requirement for I believe it's a Concrete layer that's that's in the upper part um to to seal it in place um so that may be what's left but um bottom line is that um it was not an easy process they ran into a few bumps along the way um but they they've got their cameras you know they they've done the camera they've inspected it the Integrity of the well looks good and uh when they were doing their pumping um and they did a pump test to sort of like a preliminary to kind of flush things out um they were getting a very high quantity of water so I believe the next
017steps are going to be um effectively to get mve towards the the pump testing um at least do something on a preliminary basis get some results we got to get the permit moving and uh and then obviously we'll be getting into the permitting phase so um you know they still got to put the the final configuration in terms of the pump and all that that's going to go in place but bottom line is it's moving along um we're in good shape at this point it's moving along nicely absolutely so everyone has a pack that should have something from Rich to roia I don't know if you saw that that get I asked them to summarize that for at least the next you know four to six weeks so that covers a lot of it as
018well um I've asked him once we get more details once we get closer to the pump test and all I've asked that maybe come here if anyone has questions if the board feels that that's something important to ask him um then he's happy to come in yeah and then I think the other thing we have to make sure that we are staying like on top of keeping that process moving because we're going to have a window um you know when we go to do the the longer pump down test which we'll need you know that's going to be done when the conditions aren't too dry or when they're not too wet you know we're probably going to want to try to I'm hoping that maybe we can get some of that moving um before we
019get so much rain in Spring it pushes us off more towards the summer we would lose some time right so we got to try to manage that make sure we we're on top so we have that availability as soon as as soon as we can get done absolutely yeah John anything Bor to that I just yeah I I'm gonna cheat and and look at my my minutes because I forgot my notes on the desk at home y we have the minutes here it's I got I got here we should have the minutes from the meeting there were a couple statistics that were provided last night which I I thought were interesting and I don't have those but um um there was a presentation by Julia McGovern who handles the multilingual student program uh and it
020it was very interesting and a bunch of young multilingual students mostly um English Spanish students came forward and spoke uh it was it was very interesting I believe the number um they gave like in 10year intervals and I believe 20 years ago the number of uh and don't quote me because I'll check my notes but I believe it was like under 10 that we had were bilingual students and in 2023 the number is 48 uh and most of them are are um English Spanish but there they said there were some Portuguese and a few others uh and some of the kids last night gave the little PowerPoint presentation and you know had their pictures of the statues in their country that they were proud of in their Flags I mean they were Mexico Puerto Rico
021Venezuela uh and the kids did a great job I it was very proud of them they stood up there and did their their presentation um part of the student representative report um uh quite a Liam gave as he always does gave a lengthy report but the most important thing I wanted to get to everybody is the play Anything Goes is March 21st and 22nd tickets are on sale um and then there was some discussion about three new classes uh that will be available at the high school and these were quite interesting one of them was introduction to data science um which I believe there is a small fee to that but they're also going to be submitting a request to the gilders S um fund to see if they can get some money for that
022that sounded great they're doing a um Advanced Fitness class which I guess is it's a non-credit but you know there are kids that want to do a little more than Jim uh and this is an opportunity for they said probably that you know the the students and seniors that have a little Gap in their schedule give them something to do um involving Fitness and probably have steps in you know changing their life on how they go forward and then the third one is an AP a college course in graphic arts and design which um sound sounded really great um then there was some discussion obviously about the budget the upcoming budget meetings uh and that was that was pretty much it all right anything at this end um Capital Improvements is wrapped up and planning
023and zoning um they just have a couple small things on the agenda for their meetings yeah has been going smooth okay good smooth is good is good um I have a couple you set to any updates you want to hear me talk about strategic capit I watched on YouTube but I don't think so all right um I have a couple things a couple updates um I guess I'll start with the first one that was kind of timely today um I don't know if you guys have been following the legislature but today they passed I think it's Bill 7067 that um that allowed towns to uh make a change locally with their car tax and how that's done so uh two parts of the bill were vetoed but the other parts were not so um it
024if we do changes if they allow the town to make the changes on the car tax it spreads out the tax base there's some compelling there's some compelling reasons for a town to do this um but it revolves a lot more discussion so it just happened today um I will send information out to everyone with the details on this but um for those that knew when they when they CA the card tax uh several years ago uh we probably lost a half a mill at least at least 500 or $600,000 a year in taxes it had a huge impact on the way towns and municipalities raiseed money put the burden on tax on homeowners so this was um after all the push back from the towns uh this is the state legislator's kind of answer
025to that giving towns a chance to spread out the burden and bump the the car tax up a little higher in each town so uh it just came in today I've reached out to Carri I've reached out to Folks at cost to get more details on what's involved um I will let you guys know more as I get it I'll let the town know more as we get more details on that uh we are talking about um you know the budget right now so that's a big impact on the budget for example following the plan as I understand it from today and and don't hold me to the specific numbers but uh with this in place it may reduce the the uh the mill rate increase uh by almost 40% 50% as a percentage of
026what it may need to be uh versus what it could be so it it could have a a significant impact on the on the budget of our town so I will let people know about it I have more information here but I'll email out the details and as I get more relevant information from those that know better than I do the legislators Christie others um I'll I'll make sure that you get that but that'll probably be something we'll need to talk about at the next meeting and especially as as our budget discussions go forward so that's something I want everyone to be aware of um speaking of budget um everyone should have their budget now Rick hasn't seen yet John you're just getting it now but I know you looked a little bit uh we're
027going to start those uh meetings soon so uh the first public hearing on this will be the 11th it's coming Tuesday um I will present the budget that I put together in there um and then we start our Workshops the next day so everyone take a look at this make sure you're schedule accommodates it we need you here um especially the department workshops we'll have the department heads here uh spending their time answering questions so uh as as we've done at least as I've done 10 times over the last 10 years um I know we look at at every line I know we examine every dollar um that's either in there or that could be in there um on both sides of the equation both taxes as well as uh what we're spending so um
028I think we're in good hands in terms of everyone looking at so I look forward to that next couple weeks with everybody here so um you'll see that coming next um everyone should have something for for Carl anyone see that so I'm gonna give two shoutouts for employees one uh is Carl Carl um we'll have something more from Carl Richards I think all of us know has been working through the town for 30 plus years in a number of areas he retired last Friday after 30 plus years of service5 years 35 35 years lots of years a lot of dedication if you've been in town for any amount of time you know you've seen him out there um so we'll have something for him um when uh when when our next meeting gets here but
029I wanted to share that with with the selectman you let you be aware of that I also made um one promotion recently uh that I think will also help the town we've just promoted Mike lrina to supervisor of Public Works um and that's something that I think is going to be very helpful given that we're in transition right now with a public works director I right now have not found a right candidate for that we're actively looking we have uh this out there networking I'm trying to find anyone we can in the area so uh if you're out watching right now and you are a public works director and you're looking to change come to Portland um but we're looking for that so that should make a difference uh going forward so uh that's one
030of the changes other things um I know we've been following the spa to pass this little on this is it's just a mockup of the presentation they did a little more than a year ago um you can pass that around as well but they are Full Speed Ahead right now I spoke to them two days ago uh they are going to be breaking ground um on the groundwork uh by early April they found a developer or a builder I should say to do that uh they they're all up on the permits they're ready to go um they are anticipating that they could be ready to open as early as summer next year summer 26 so they want to really get this thing up and running they had nothing but good things to say about the
031town both how we've treated them uh with Ryan um and uh and the administration before they have made themselves feel welcome here they are looking forward to doing it they they they didn't want me to throw the number out so I'm not going to but they anticipate a significant amount of people coming every year to this uh to their facility um and because of that uh they're interested in looking at other lands that we have that they might be able to develop or work with so the riverfront property is something that they are looking at and if they can't do it uh they know developers that may be able to assist in in terms of ideas so they are very invested in putting roots in Portland and growing with us in the years ahead so
032it was nice to hear that and they uh they're excited about it as much as we are so so that's going on with the with that um rard place I was just there earlier evening uh this evening um for an update of meet and greet they are um filling up uh building one right now they are believe at uh eight leases um just under 10% they have 99 in the first building they have a number of people that are interested they're showing it every day um they have I mean this is not the ideal time most people want you know they're not going to do it middle of the winter you know there's better time to do it but they've got a lot of strong interest in it uh the pricing uh from the group
033that went with me today uh and heard it um thought it was very reasonable um so it's very comparable to what's in the area so they feel confident that they can get this thing filled by maybe September October um that's what I suggested they said it's possible they they would like to do November December but um we're g to try to push them along but they are very happy about that they're pursuing other businesses in the space there or the commercial space um they feel they have a couple folks that are ready to do something they wouldn't share with Who U but that um but that's something they're excited about positive I talked to Dan while and some of the others there um uh and that's what going any questions about oper place okay good
034um Airline Trail next um one of the one of the areas we've been stopped with the airline Trail for the last couple years is at Butler's um for a number of reasons not just figuring out a way to get past there also funding and East Hampton has to get their part of it done that their th000 feet or so uh of of a of a trail figured out uh that looks like it's going to be next spring so they're about a year away from getting that part of the trail which gives us a year to try to figure out a way to get maybe to uh to downtown Portland so I have a meeting this Friday with Dan La um the owner of Butler to talk about what we could do we haven't met with
035him for a long time I think it's been five six years um we had a good conversation on the phone um I will let everyone know um if I could bring someone else with me and someone's interested let me know um um but uh my purpose of going there is not only to discuss the trail but more importantly how how's it been with him I know we purchased another uh another property near Paley Farms um that he acquired for more work um but I want to talk about what how he enjoys being in town what expansion plans he has but this is a big part of it so um so that's going to happen I'm hoping to get that pushed I know uh you know Lou and Riz and the rest of them they're anxious
036to get that moving forward uh with that um the Central Connecticut Loop which is a bigger project right now I think it's 111 miles the way they Envision it um this is a part of that Loop so they're trying to get a trail that will connect all the way in one big loop about 111 miles so they have put in I think it's $2 million a mile for the last 13 miles they need to do between Portland and the Marland line so they're going to go through new uh through Middletown they've got a beautiful plan they go through pass to high school um but uh they have the plan out they think they can make it happen but um you know we need to get it to over the bridge so um so that's what
037we're gonna try to do so all hands on deck whatever everyone on this board and those out there can do to assist with that um that would be very helpful but I think it'd be a great thing for the town great thing for the town and and in a couple ways um you know once we get the trail and the design where it's going to go um having a Spur go to the Route 17 park or down toward the the Nordic spa or other things is something that would be really good so there's a lot of other possibilities we could do all right um steep Grant we voted uh a couple meetings ago to put up $200,000 for a potential project um on High Street continuing that we won't know until April but that's it's
038submitted I don't know if I told you that last time it's submitted it's in um I'm not going to curse it by saying I think you got a good shot um but I'm glad it's in and it's a continuation of a project we already started which gives us an advantage and we have another third part that we can do after that which gives us gives us an advantage that's per the folks that I've talked to at do so um they're not telling us but but I'm I'm hoping that's a good thing and if that happens it'll be a good thing for the town we continue the good work we did before so that's happened um any questions on that excellent um the bar Grant um we had seven um companies um offer to help um
039do the bar grant that we got for $200,000 it's a uh Brown area remediation grant for connectivity in our downtown area figure out what we could do to connect all the projects that are going on and improve that so we uh looked at all those um all those um presentations we narrow it down to three um I believe uh next Tuesday we're meeting with them they're coming back for presentation of the final three and we should make a decision within the day PR there so we should have that that group that group decided picked and selected and then with the brownfields committee that we just filled today um they can get to work and and start looking at what how best to connect all the project we have going on for me getting everything connected
040properly is I think the most important thing because we have so many things we got to get it all right so I'm glad we have this board and others helping us to kind decide how we're going to move forward and what we're going to do with the input of course of our town residents what they want what they're feeling um and and making sure we work together with all the shareholders so that's going on with that the parking leads uh the parking leas for the property near um the Infinity uh Center that one I have sent out um a request we're supposed to be tomorrow we should get the signature the things that you had talked about in terms of where they were parking um we've resolved that it's all going to be in the
041front the number of places I'll fill you in on that later as well the rest of the board as well um but there should be no issues with that I should have a signed contract um by tomorrow or Friday depending on when we get together but right now we're planning on getting together tomorrow so um there is a another possible lease that's connected with the uh with the spa um when before Ryan Ley started discussions with them to lease the top parking lot where they do a lot of parking in the summertime and for the concert series um where you know across from where they're going to build the spa um I have a copy that I will forward that to you I got a copy back from our attorney that has just an outline
042of the lease agreement nothing has been solidified I need to talk to Ryan and them um I need to talk to Ryan before I talk to them in terms of what they discussed right now I don't think they've talked pricing or anything so that is right now on the horizon I will talk to you about that in the next couple days um you got you all get a copy of that and then at the next meeting I think it should be something we either talk here or an executive session so um but that that we'll talk about that later are we also coordinating and talking with um parks and W and our sports leagues I know we have that that needs to be part of the compeition there there's times that gets fairly busy down
043there yeah and we need to make sure it's shared they now part of the discussion was they talked about Paving the rest of it there's an unpa section of that so they would pave at their expense to expand it to allow for multi-use and others to use it um but we also have additional space beyond that so there's a lot of questions we have to do and usage that they have and they they'll have a number of employees that need parking as well as the day spot guests so that but that'll be part of discussion but we need to equip them all in so um so yes don't worry if you're worried about that out there we're looking at that we'll examine that we'll make sure it's the best for the town um but that's
044a good problem to have you know so all right next uh the river the River Park Trail uh trail behind Tilcon um we um we did the easement of concer or the the Covenant the Ean Covenant that they needed to protect uh the various Wildlife there that that need to be protected the state has that they've accepted that the only thing we need to get is the parking easement we're waiting on on Jeff Jacobson to provide us an updated map once I get that tomorrow we could send that in and then we could send that to the state and then we're ready to take the next step and actually look at what to do uh with the design and maybe break round in maybe four to six months we have a December 25th deadline um
045to get substantially or all of it done by then but because it took so long during the pandemic to get things done state has said that their understanding and as long as we're moving the project forward which we have um then we shouldn't have a problem with that if we have to extend it but we have that 300 ,000 from before and one of the ones that delayed it the most was the one that approved the last easan so she's kind of on her side and she was the one that was pushing back before so anyway so that that's what that's looking forward um Lou and RZ are both anxious to get that thing going and rck as well they they want that going so that's that um berdon I spoke to them this morning
046um they have a lot of good things going there as well um they're expanding their um it looks like they may be some may be doing something with the 405 with boats um so may need to do some expansion I have to meet with them um on Monday again if anyone wants to join me for that um you're welcome to let you know what the times are um but that it sounds like they have lots of things going on it'll be the first time I've talked to them since I've been here um so I want to get an update but they have a lot of things they want to talk about and expand they also mentioned that EB has talking to them about doing some subw work whatever that means so um so I think
047um I think nothing but positive for them so that's good for us it's good for our tax Bas for a number of things so that was good um um two other things uh spoke with Chris Cody and the reason I'm bring it to all of you maybe to those listening is um he's been fantastic he has done a number of good things in town but there's some there's a lot of things he does that no one knows so one of the things that stood out when I was talking to him was just a side thing he through he threw at me while we're chatting but he said I don't know if you know this but June 27th to 29th they're hosting a world a world Drive Championship um event there long drive long drive where
048they are doing all around the country all around the world it's a worldclass event it'll be televised it'll be three days it'll be at his golf course there um and um and with that he's like you know I'd love to see the town you know get everything together I I want I want to see the town looking as good as possible um but he was excited about that but he threw that as just in the conversation didn't make a big deal about it so I want to do that so so he does great things down there that event should be on TV um it's a big deal it puts Portland on the map and it segment Segways me to another thing that I probably shouldn't but I'm going to Chris had a suggestion he's been
049working since the last eight or nine years he feels at Portland with the golf courses we have and with the quality of our high school team that's won the state championship a number of times with the interest he feels like New Haven is the pizza capital of Connecticut Portland has to be the golf capital of Connecticut so I think that makes a lot of sense to me I don't know when that will come up again or when we'll discuss that but I'd like everyone to think about that it certainly is The Unofficial golf capital of Connecticut to me as I'm sure it might be for all of you as well but anyways but I want to discuss that some other time but um I just want to a shout out to him and what he's
050done but those kinds of things I think a lot of businesses are doing they're doing good things in town we don't know about it so I think our board myself the rest you know we need to jout this out because we have a lot of good things happening in forland so it's exciting for me what's the date for the long drive it's uh June 27th through 29th it's a Friday through Sunday I don't know if Watkins are allowed him so you know I'm not true no fear there no no fear there I had a my niece's boyfriend did that a couple years ago they HED it there I'm was surprised at how B deal yeah it's a huge it's a huge and these guys bang it I think they crushed it to where the fair
051was which I think was close to almost 400 yards yeah they're like 400 which is kind of crazy um and I think that's all I have for updat Qui question sorry for I I thought of it when you were talking about the the kayak launch on the riverfront and deep I saw in your update to us yesterday about the solar yes that were kind of getting stalled by D yes there any other avenues we can get to try to get that moving so I've reached out to deep and I've reached out more more Jacob's and I want to understand exactly what the hold up is like where is it I don't know who yet um and where in the Cog it is so so I'm working on that as well if anyone wants to jump
052in and help out on that or if you have connections at at the state um I'll I'll tell you what I know if you can help me out that'd be great you know and it maybe it's just one phone call um but we need to move that forward so yeah well I mean that's when we get those panels in that's that's revenue for us got to get it done absolutely absolutely we had we had to sign something that that we had to delay the contract because we couldn't control when the state did so any other discussion not status no not status I I'll wait until uh the general [Music] inform um public comments anyone want to say something now anyone online from on and so we were of oh you mind going up there just
053so people can hear you I know you knew we were gonna ask you did I'm sorry only because the people at home are for watching that's why so I'm uh Nancy Goodwin and I'm here with Cindy Tyler we're from the committee on solidarity and so we're very happy that you are um agreeing with us that it would be a really good thing to have two high school students who attend our meetings thank you do you mind do you mind have ask you a question so so I I I like the idea I think it's a great idea um have you have you guys talked about how they how they would do that or what they would do to well one of the things that Liz hibino has done is to connect with uh the principles
054uh at the at all the schools and what we're trying we have other events as well that like for example juneth where we would like to get uh the students more involved and so that's how this is coming about is that she has met with them and it's a really interesting good idea to have the younger people get involved in town committees and events and yeah it's all good absolutely thank you so much sorry we made your talk up there it'll be easier next time I promise you did great B great right so no public comment all right General discussion formal discussion uh yeah just a few I had a few things for General um one I also wanted to congratulate uh Michael scina um very well earned um he's a supervisor of the public
055orations over 40 years and anybody who knows Mike they know two things right he loves Portland and will work his his backside off to make Portland better and he's always got a smile on his face while he was doing so I was happy to see that I also want to extend that thank you um getting where we are now for the wealth to Public Works um in general there the conditions let's just say the conditions when they were on site were not ideal um between the mud you know we got first we got the Deep Breeze the mud the and there were several times where they needed some some assistance um and our Public Works were able to jump in and I can tell you having talking with the folks who were drilling the well
056that one they very much appreciated um how much the town was willing to assist and to make sure they didn't have any hiccups they didn't if they needed to get the pit where they were Drilling and where some of the the water and the and the tailings and all that had to go into they didn't have to try to bring another piece of equipment on site and delay a day you know you know the town was able to help that really helped through the process um and even you know even right down to the the first day when they went up there and and uh because of the rain and everything else the trucks just started sinking in the mud I mean it's just along the way at several points along the way they really
057helped so thanks the public works for that and then uh flipping over the water um our current operations real quick one of the things and I know we've spoken about it but we authorized um as a board in this year's budget um a half an FTE to look at January to try to provide some relief to our current folks in the water department um I don't know if a lot of folks know but right now with the two people that are there they're currently on every other weekend because we have to have the weekend coverage um we have to have it you know both from um you know any callouts and things like that but also to take readings and do all the things that we need to do um I'm hoping that that's something
058that we can be moving forward on because I believe this budget we're looking to fund you know the other half of that FTE right so it becomes a full-time position that's why we waited till January so but that's uh that's all of that um I just have one thing do we know the status of the repairs on The Pavilion at the River Front Park I do so they they're going to have the material I Believe by April 21st is the is the date when that's going to be done and and received and then they can install after that so it'll be I think the first event down there is like the middle of May I believe some somewhere on there right yeah so it's so but they're they're looking at that I asked them if
059they can do it quicker they said it was partially weather dependent but by the 21st of April it should be there um I'll reach out to him again to confirm last time I talked was like a week and a half ago Mike that photo that I gave I text did you get that to Ryo helpin I did I did yes I don't know who was at the meeting that night but um when my wife and I went to um L Bean up in South Windsor they have a front porch with large wooden beams that are sitting down on a steel bracket that sits about six inches off the ground and I said that would make perfect sense so Ryan said to get it the photo to him he was going to check with them to
060see if they have access to such a thing it would make sense that as they do these they can get him up off the ground so I I don't know what what he end up doing I'll double check that yeah so so I'll keep it posted once we I know we also have the uh to put the welcome to Portland sign up waiting for the weather to get better before they put it over there so that's probably be about the same time middle to the end of April so someone asked me about that yesterday so all right anything else Michael you all said got nothing okay good no i s all right guess what it's it time to Jour the meeting any anyone want to J the meeting I'll make a motion we adjourn with
061the understanding that this is a nice one because next couple weeks are going to be busy yeah okay that second that a discussion all those in favor allos right passes right