001Good evening. Welcome to select board meeting of April 6, 2026, 6 p.m. in room 3 of town hall. First item on the agenda, gentlemen, is the signing of the warrant. Uh, Mr. Chair, I make a motion that we sign the warrant, please. >> I would second that, Mr. Chairman. >> That is unanimous. The next item is approval of the regular session meeting minutes of March 23rd, 2026. >> And a motion to approve the minutes of the regular session uh meeting of uh March 23rd, 2026. >> And I would second that as well, Mr. Chairman. And >> that's unanimous. It is approval of the executive session minutes of March 19th, 2026. >> A motion to approve executive session minutes from the March 19th, 2026. >> And I would second that, Mr. chairman and that is unanimous
002public hearings. Uh the first item is classic crust of Milford DBA classic pizza of Milford common wine and malt with cordial license. >> Thank you Mr. Chairman. My uh >> please feel free. Yeah, please come forward. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh my clients are on their way. They should be here just in in a moment on the way. Do do you want to um >> we'll recall it? Yeah. Okay. Sure. when when they arrive. Just give me a one now. >> Well, actually, look at the timing. Couldn't be better. >> Perfect timing. Come right up. >> Don't go blaming Mill for traffic. Now, >> traffic. It was so much fun. >> We're going to mark you absent. >> Apologies. >> Last time you were on the TV when I was here. >> Yes.
003>> And I up right up there in front of you. Thank you. >> Could you please introduce yourself? >> Thank you. My name is Greg Metraus. I'm councel for the applicant through here and uh introducing the u the other parties in place through here. To my immediate left to Costa Brego and to his left, Sydney Rodriguez PHO. And we are uh applying for a beer, wine, and um cordial license from the from the uh the board. Um briefly a little bit about the um business that he's operating down there and then I can go into a little bit of background on them. If I might, I'll just quote you with a >> menu of the operation. Thanks. >> Sure. >> Can we go now? >> I just had some of the steak tips not 15
004minutes ago and those are well worth getting. So, and I think you won't open till 10. >> Steak would take them. >> Okay. Um, uh, Pizza Chef used to be at this location for many, many years this way. That's that's the u the facility in which the business is being operated. uh Pizza Chef sold um um back around the first part of this year. And my client um is uh as you can see on the menu on through here is operating a family style restaurant um you know heavy on on a pizzas uh grinders, Brazilian style dishes that way. some seafood platters, salads, pastas. A very much of a family style restaurant that emphasizes, you know, good value and good quality um you know to that. And they they were of the opinion that Go
005ahead. >> Replicating the one in Malbor. We made it the same. >> Yeah. Yep. And he does have a um a classic pizza in Malbor that's been there since 1995. right around the corner from my office as a matter of fact and and um similar menus uh again uh family style uh uh restaurant uh to that to that effect. Um as as he made mention he's been in Malbor since 1995 operating his business. He also has a license from the city of Malro for a beer wine license. It's been two three years is it four years? >> Well, time flies. And uh has operated that with uh with absolutely no problems that way. He's uh tip certified. uh his business partner uh Sydney here I don't think is tip certified yet but would become tip
006certified in the operation uh if the board saw uh due to to grant the application >> good questions gentlemen I >> I don't Mr. Chairman, I reviewed the application and I'm satisfied with that >> and everything is passed with no problem. I have no questions at all. >> Uh in reviewing just the uh various town departments that uh the licensing request >> there are no issues from the building commissioner, the town planner, treasurer, collector, fire chief, police chief or the board of health. Um, and they've been off to a great start. I know that, uh, in town. So, uh, thank you. You've >> been welcomed in town. So, >> most certainly you have. >> You just have to look at Facebook and, uh, you can see that Michael, any questions? >> I have no questions
007at all. Thank you. >> Um, well, you're well represented by council. He uh, >> spoke very, very well on your behalf. >> Very good. Thank you for that. Um, Paul, if I could have a motion. Yeah, sure, Mr. Chair. All paperwork is in order like you mentioned and uh there's no concerns from department heads and I move that the uh select board approve the application of Classic Crust of Milford LLC doing business as Classic Pizza Milford 191 179 to 181 Main Street from common vict uh wine and malt beverage license uh with cordials where uh Costa Ru uh would be the manager uh and that's contingent upon compliance with all local uh state and reg uh local regulations. >> I gladly second that Mr. Chairman. >> That is unanimous. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you very
008much. Good luck to you again. >> We're just waiting on the if I might ask something >> for on the uh building department the for the signs to put they pulled a permit but they still haven't gotten an approval yet. >> Is that something that comes to them or is that just for the building department? Do you know? Yeah. Yeah. >> That shouldn't be a problem because we already had him before. >> Don't get an approval on science from us. >> You keep him happy and you don't have to deal with us at all. >> Signs up. >> Great. Well, thank you. >> He's not happy that you deal with us. >> We appreciate your efforts all the way through too as well. The communication has been excellent. You've got great staff in through here.
009So, we much appreciate that. So, much obliged. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Good luck to you. >> Good night. I get gentlemen. >> Did anyone else want to speak on that public hearing? I didn't ask. >> The same. They didn't want to speak to that one. Okay. >> Um the next item is National Grid. That's probably who's online. Yeah. Actually, the next two items are National Grid. First one's a location of a poll on Ceda Street. The second is a pole location on Depot Street. So, we can probably just take those matters up. um at the same time while we have the person from National Grid with us. >> Yep. Yeah, I'm on the uh I'm on the call. >> Hi, good afternoon. Um what can you tell us about you want to
010start with Cedar Street or depot? Which is a pleasure. >> Uh uh let's go with depot. Um my name is Al Galvin, design engineer, National Grid Hopedale office. Um both both jobs are more or less the same as far as our our end goes. Uh they're installing a uh a new new pole for a new recloser um to basically uh cut down outage times and it's a more automated automatic uh shut off an isolation um piece of equipment. So we can if there's an outage on the line in on the feeder there at some point, it'll lock that out so it can be reinstated quicker and keep those outages short. and uh while also not impacting anyone else further down the line. Um so when when they want to put these uh these uh feeders
011out, these reclosers, they um typically want a a a newer large pole in a in a straight span with with so it's fully supported and stable on the line, that type of thing. So, uh, in this particular case here, they they after doing their research on the area and where the outages were were affected and things of that nature, that that was that spot there was where they determined was a good a good spot to put it. >> Any questions, uh, gentlemen? You know, >> I don't, Mr. Chair, anyone else in the audience? No, I see no one. No one else online. There's no one else online. Do I have a motion? A motion, Mr. Chair, seeing there is no uhbody in the audience that's having a comment or online. Therefore, I move the board
012to approve petition as presented and detailed an application um uh materials before the board and presented by Mr. Al Gavvern. >> I would second that, Mr. Chairman. >> And that's for both Cedar Street and Depot Street. >> Yes, >> that's correct. And >> that's unanimous. Yes, it is. Thank you very much for uh zooming in. Thank you. >> Have a good night. >> Thank you. You too. Thank you. schedule appointments uh finance director um with regard to FY27 budgets. >> Sure. >> Thank you. >> Fire and police chiefs are here as well. Deputy chief from fire as well. Yes. Seat there. >> Thank you. >> Zach, I'll let you uh >> All right. Great. Good evening. How are we doing tonight? >> Thank you. >> Good. Thank you. And yourself? >> Very good. Thank you.
013So, last time I was here, I presented that we were going to have quite the challenging budget year, and it was. It's proven very true. Mhm. Uh we're still in the midst, but I'd like to report some good news that we seem to be on target, which again was quite difficult to get to. We tried targeting a 2.5% overall budget, which I assure you we have not done in quite some time now. So knew that was going to be difficult. I've been making the uh tours around town. I've been in front of the school committee a couple times. I've been in front of the uh water department, finance committee, obviously you folks. Um, everyone's been understanding, not happy, nor am I, but certainly cooperative and um, I had a fabulous conversation with the superintendent last
014week. I don't want to go into too much details cuz it hasn't been presented to the school committee yet, but let's just say if um, if they go with the recommendation, we're going to be in pretty good shape. And uh, that's a lot to do with these gentlemen here. So, um, also other departments like Border Health and whatnot, great job. They've looked at some programming, uh, eliminated what they could again out of necessity. It's one of those years where we just, we had to have it and people are really pulling together. So, very happy and proud of that. And, uh, I'll turn it over to these gentlemen at this time. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman, the board. So, I gave you a summary of where we are, and I want
015to be cautious in how I how I talk about this because it's a it's really not a budget cut, so to speak, right? We're still increasing the budget by 3%. We're just staying within the parameters. Um overall it ends up being a cut because where we need to be in order to continue our operation the way we have been we need more money. All right. So we're going to maintain the 3% but that's going to result in operational changes for us. So that's why I'm I just want to be careful in how how we state our budgets being cut. We know what we need. we know what we're going to have and we know what the result is and that's that's pretty much you know a long story short. >> Um so the increase for
016us uh salaries alone is 8%. Right? So it's an 8% increase. I have to cover that. It's contractual. where I'm going to take from is overtime because overtime is kind of fluid. Uh and we have some flexibility there. We're also going to maintain two open positions. So, we're not going to fill two firefighter positions. Those are not salary cuts. Those are taking those salaries and moving them to overtime to lessen the blow in losing the overtime. Where we all gain as a team is the reduction in benefits. So two firefighter positions were not paying health insurance and and and the other benefits that you'd have to pay. So know it gets a little confusing. We wanted to keep those two positions funded so we didn't lose them cuz we believe in the future we're going
017to get those positions back. But for now, we want to eliminate the benefits of two positions so it ends up being a net, you know, a gain for for the budget, right? Uh the overtime has to be cut and you know, we look at how our shifts run, right? We have 10-hour days and 14our nights. Our days are typically busier than our nights. So, what we're looking to do is to from the beginning of the fiscal year uh cut back on one firefighter in our staffing. The downside to that is the loss of two people on the ladder truck. Um that's that's been an outstanding improvement. I I can't overstate how how great uh you know it's it's been you supporting our budget, the fire department staffing. Um you know, we saw great progress, really
018great progress, and we think that's going to come back, but we know we're going to have a couple bumpy years. We're going to have to eliminate that in the overnight. The trickle down to that is that I don't cross staff that second rescue truck. we'll just run an engine on medicals from Bir Street. So that's it's it's kind of like well you're only you know you're only cutting back one person. It's a huge deal. Like I said I can't overstate it. You know we had a fire a couple weeks ago um on Midway Road. You may have heard about it at that time. We had two medicals that happened. We had a medical that happened about 8:31 at night. 8:32 second medical. 834 was the fire. So there was medical in district two, medical district
019one, first do uh pumping truck was the ladder truck with two people. And they did a phenomenal job in knocking down I'd say 80% of the fire with that one truck and basically two people. >> Same scenario. We're down to one person on that truck. We're not going to get the same result. I'm surprised we got the result with two people. Be quite honest with you. They did, you know, a phenomenal job. But this is what the trickle down's going to be. Our last five fires, we've had split squats. If you go back to the fire in Main Street, Bird Street was on the highway in Bellingham at a at a vehicle accident and when that fire came in. So, the squad is split. You know, we have half a squad, basically, half a shift.
020and you wait for recalled personnel and you wait for mutual aid and that's how we operate. Um, you know, Cedar Street, another fire where we had a split squad. You know, ladder truck was was mutual aid on a call and we had, you know, we had waiting for recall to come back to the station and we get a fire. That's just the way it happens, >> you know. Um, we learn to to deal with it. we work to the best of our ability in those situations, but I I just want to make sure um that that you know that we'll be a little shorter than what what we've been. But we really appreciate the support with the budget. When I took over in 2020, I think our overtime was under a half million a year
021and now we're over 1.1 million. So that's through the support of you um in in helping us to grow and helping us to staff more properly. But we know you know as a with the financial team we know that we have to dial it back a little bit and so we're going to do that. >> If I may real quick so the budgets as you see presented from these gentlemen not the first round wasn't the second round some cases the fourth round. So again, I know it's painful, but we have they they've really come together here, and I I hope this can work. >> Yeah, I think that, you know, just what the chief said with regard to the fire department. I mean, we're not talking about, you know, the term cuts. We're not cutting
022the budget from where it is today, but we are cutting services from where they are today. So this is not level service. Um, and I think as you indicated, it's not that the need for two firefighters on the ladder truck has been diminished over time. In fact, it's increased and the evidence is there from the point where we had two on the ladder truck. The impact that they can have. Um, as you know, it's something that I have focused on. Um, it's a re very real concern for me. I I and and I'm still concerned and I just want to state that I think that myself and my colleagues I think we at the point where we're able to even if it's mid stream midterm on the budget to bring back that second firefighter onto
023that truck. I think we should do it. Um I I hope people appreciate that you arrive with a ladder truck. One person >> can't put down you know the stabilizers to stabilize that truck to use the ladder and then as you indicated that truck operates as well as a pumper. So now we expect that person not only to put the stabilizers down, they have to pull hose and >> start to connect to a hydrant. Um just you're asking one person to do the impossible. Um, and while they're doing the impossible as best they can, the fire is still there, you know, and so even their ability to use the ladder, say, to rescue people, um, it's really people have to appreciate that it just doesn't happen. It it takes manpower, takes people power to accomplish
024that. Um so that is a concern for me u to reduce the number of firefighters on that particular truck. I understand where you spoke about the rescue you know and can we work you know because we do work in tandem with the EMS professionals. So, you know, there is some give and take there. And I think mutual aid is a lot more fluid there in the sense that you can get an ambulance a lot quicker from a neighboring community than to move fire apparatus from a neighboring community. Just the size of the equipment that speaks to it. Um, and then they have to backfill as well. um with with the ambulance I I just my sense of things from my experience. I just think it's a much easier protocol to uh accomplish. So um I
025am concerned about reducing number of firefighters and that's why I really respect you holding those positions even if you're doing as a police card so that the impact the funding impact is coming off of the kind of so-called extras the benefits you know whether they be health care or other benefits. Um but I I for one just think that that should be one of the top priorities that if there is any give as we move through the process that that's something that I think is really truly in the public safety interest. Um I was going to say I agree Mr. Chair you know like I said I've been through this several times with ups and downs of our budget. Next year will be 50 years. And I've seen it come and go. And like I
026said, we're in a very um challenging uh budget cycle that I've ever seen in in in years to come. But public safety has to be a priority as well. I remember when we were going over our budget with the board of health. Of course, we have to honor contractual uh obligations and like for instance, if rubbish went up 5% instead of 2 or 3%. We'd have to find a way to cut that extra 2% from our budget in order for it to meet that. But that was rubbish. You know, this is this is this is public safety and I agree with uh Chairman Olaflin just said too. I mean, it is the most challenging times that we're ever experiencing, but we can't put people's lives and health and safety in in in jeopardy, too, over
027really when you come right down to it, a few extra dollars when it comes right down to the entire budget. So, I I definitely agree with that, and I appreciate the work you and the police and also Zach did to make this budget work to the best. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess the first word I think of is discouraging. I look at the progress that we made over the last year in both departments and uh as the chairman said, you know, we're not cutting the budget, but you know, we're cutting services that we made a step forward, you know, that really need to be done on a daily basis. And when I saw that, you know, if you go back and you look at what we watch on the news in the last
028year, situations where personnel was added after there was a catastrophic condition. And I've always said, let's be proactive and not reactive. And now I feel like, and I understand it's necessary, but now I feel like we're back in the position where we're going to be reactive instead of proactive. Instead of having the two men on the fire, I should say two firefighters on the ladder truck, which we determined that by your recommendation, thank you, was very necessary. Personally, I couldn't understand how you run that truck with one person, but but now because of budget, you know, the coming in the way that it is from the state, from the federal government, we're forced to do what we have to do. And and makes me very nervous. And to the chairman's point, thank you for not
029cutting the budgeting of those positions so that as we go through the year, hopefully things may change a little bit, we can make a shift, not promising anything to anybody, but hopefully that we'll be able to look at it again maybe down the road. But also the message that I think we need to send is, and I'm not trying to prioritize one board over another, having the financial director here with us tonight, but um to the other boards, I'd like to say this is a very difficult stance that we've taken with public safety and as we all know is critical. It's critical with what goes on in our community. Everybody else has got to come in with the same mindset. It's it's going to be uncomfortable, but you have to figure out a way to
030get it done for now because these are the cards that were dealt. And again, I want to commend, you know, the both of you and I know Chief Dino, you're going to present yours in a second. And and I know I know it didn't happen in one sitting. I know that. And I know there was a lot of frustration, but thank you for being able to work it out. I know it's going to be difficult and I can assure you that the three of us are here to help in any way that we can we can but uh like I said it's it's just discouraging because I really felt we were making forward progress to get to where we needed to get to provide services level services that you know are needed to run the
031equipment and run the departments that we have. So hopefully, you know, we can revisit it and and get back to to where we are. And uh, you know, Selectman Master Kelly's point having been around for a few years and been through budget cycles, we we've been through this before and it's hard when it happens and hopefully it'll turn around soon. But again, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, I mean I I manage budgets where I lost positions and the rest but you know the the two largest budgets on the municipal side of the ledger and that's you know how much can you cut from a department that consists of three people that you need the three people to perform that function. So you folks are going to take a larger hit
032and the greatest proportion of your budget is people. >> Yes. So, >> you know, we we know that's where the hits are going to take place, but you know, as has been mentioned and we're following the queue of the finance director, the he's been great in providing us with upto-date information as as he receives it. But, you know, the the cuts are at the state level. That's where they're coming from. Um, you know, the state legislature has prioritized monies elsewhere. Um, so as a result, the communities, and we're not the only community, you know, you only have to go on to social media and you can see town after town, whether it be overrides, you know, debt exclusions and frankly just battles, financial battles. Um they they're there every single day. Um you know I
033was pulling different articles and etc and sending them off to Zach and I just gave up. I stopped because all I was doing was you know sending him information one that he was aware of and you know the sense of misery likes company it doesn't. So, I stopped sending my uh newspaper articles and other information to Zack Taylor. Um, I'll send it to the rest of you, though. Um, Chief Dino. >> Yeah. Good evening. Thank you. Um, you know, first I want to thank, you know, Zack Taylor and his team. Um, certainly I'm no financial wizard. That's not my forte. Um but I know that when I'm told we have to make some cuts and we have to you know as um um select member wall said it's really not cuts it's realignment. And if
034you remember when I I sat I think it was in this very seat from my interview for chief I said you know it was uh you know the chairman said well Zach's telling you got to cut money. Where's it coming from? What did I say? Vehicles uh vehicles and maintenance. You know, I'm I'm lucky. I have such a core group of uh men and women that understand this and that'll work with us. So, we did some movement with Zach. We did some things for our car aotment. Um the increases in the budget are strictly contractual. That's it. Not a dime went anywhere else. And you know, I'm here to tell you, and I know you appreciate this, it's going to be a problem. It's going to be a big problem. Um, but we'll get through
035it. You know, it's, you know, not something I guess the comforting thing about it, the warm blanket is, you know, like the chairman said, pick up the paper, watch the news. It's everywhere. >> You know, this is not a a Milford problem. Uh, this is a problem across the country with funding and grants. Now, we we have a lot of other grants out there, and if they come in, that's great. Um, but if they don't, I can't rely on grants to run the department. Um, we do things at the PD. I I had a good teacher. We break things down. This will look familiar to the chairman. We We break things down weekly at the police department. I run the budget every single week from rubber gloves to payroll to overtime. It gets done every
036week. And and you know, my my admin, Gene Davvern, I wouldn't be able to do it without her. Relentless. Doesn't matter if somebody's on vacation. We run every penny every week. Um, and it's it's going to be tough for us cuz the unforeseen is the overtime. You know, the unforeseen is the overtime. Um, and I you know, I know I can speak for the fire chief. I mean, you want to guarantee us that we're not going to have a a major incident. Where do I sign up for that? >> But but we don't. And you know, those things are costly. They're costly in personnel hours. They're costly in damage to equipment. um equipment uh life expectancy. You know, I have an article uh this year for TAS to get back into the TASA redoing things
037and I think it was, you know, the chairman chief of Lawan at the time that got TAS to agree to a 5-year plan. >> Um well, they don't do that anymore. TASA doesn't do that anymore. And then I broke it down to the finest number saying I'm not even going to commit to the total contract. I'm only going to commit year to year pending on approval. And the rep from TAZA was like, "You're kidding." I'm not kidding. This is the way we're doing it. Well, you can't do business with us. Um, so thankfully they're keeping the relationship and I know the town meeting members, I'll explain to them that, you know, how important Taser is, but it's an article and we've whittleled it down to literally the dime and we're going to pass that on
038over the next couple years with trading in our tases and getting the the trade in value. Um, but you know, overtime is going to be a problem and you know, we'll work on it. I'm worried about gas. I mean, look, you don't have to be you don't have to be, you know, Zack Taylor to know that gas uh is going to croak us moving forward, the price of gas. >> Uh, so we keep running it week to week and you know, like you know, the chairman was talking about and and Mr. Walsh was talking about. They're not cuts, but I've said this before over and over again. Milford could easily easily have another four or five officers on the street. I mean, I'm inundated with with correspondence about traffic. You know, like I tell everybody,
039um I can probably guarantee with some certainty that everybody in this room isn't going to get into a shootout. Um but I can't guarantee you're not going to get t-boned by a reckless driver. And I'll guarantee that the more you drive, the more likely you are. >> You know, like my father used to say to me, you're paying for insurance betting on you're going to get into a car accident. They're betting you're not. Um, so we need to do more with that. And when I, you know, have officers deployed in the neighborhood and they're doing traffic enforcement and it's answering the community's need, but then they get a phone call, they're like, "Chief, they were here for 10 minutes and they left." Well, that's because they had to go to a domestic. That's because they
040had to go do this, >> you know. Um, so we put it on the back burner, you know, a traffic enforcement unit and and that's okay. Um, you know, we put that extra SRO. How many years we've been trying to get the SRO, right? A third SRO. The two SRO I got, they, you know, another uh my father phrase or one armed wallpaper hanger. Um, very busy, the two of them. Um, we need a third. And I know that the school department, you know, understands that and they be like, "Yeah, we'd support that in a second, chief." So, so not adding these things now, taking a moment of pause, not increasing these other things we need. That is, lack of a better word, cuts. >> And you know, I I like like uh Zack Taylor
041said, how many phone calls back and forth, you and I? >> Quite a few. >> Yeah, quite a few. You know, uh Robbie, come down and see me. We got to sharpen the pencil with this. We got to do this, we do that. Okay, let's get into it. Uh but that's where we are and like I said the only increases are contractual. Everything else believe it or not is zero. It actually on the bottom line if you calculate it's less than we we subtracted. So that's that's good fiscal sense in a tough time. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. And I looking at your budget, you know, the number of items and you touched on gasoline, but right across the board at a level funded and many of those as far as purchasing
042power goes are affected by gasoline. Um, those vendors, they're going to increase their prices. You can see it now out in just the regular market. you know whether it be Amazon for instance putting a search charge. Um and I think US Postal Service is putting a search charge. Um, so I I again I I think that you're in the same position where you know you're in the 90 percentile as far as personal services meaning your personnel's people make up your budget and you indicated the bite the bulk of it is related to uh contractual agreements. Um, so I I applaud you. I think you did a great job in working with Zach. >> Committed 3%. I I know it's not easy, you know, been there. And I appreciate also that you I know the fire
043chief is always uh his predecessors going back to John Tui was, you know, uh, a budget guru. John was real good. And I think that after him, his brother Bill, and then Mark um have picked up that mantle as far as managing a budget, you I know that I knew that you were doing the weekly um because that's what I did. I broke that budget down every single week to make sure that I was living within the budget. And the net result is you'll end up doing that for many, many years. Um, you know, I'm I'm grateful that taxpayers trusted me with the amount of money that they did to provide the service and I respected that and I know you do. Um, so I'm happy to see that you're still knocking on the one
044week. Every week. >> Every week. >> Um, because it's the only way you come out at the other end. Um, as you should because you can't overspend a municipal budget. So >> is Zach anything final comment as it relates to these gentlemen here. >> Uh as Chief Tino mentioned like you never know if you do have that major incident. So I tell them I just want to reassure that I'm serious about it that if that happen you do what you got to do. Leave the financing to me to figure out. So I don't want to muzzle to that level. So if something happens they're the professionals that are on the beat taking care of it. and if it results in some kind of budget overage, I will figure it out. So, want them to know
045that I got that back. >> Yeah. And I think that, you know, you can't plan for if we planned for the sky is falling, these budgets would be four times what they are and we were just bringing money back that we didn't have to use. So, you're going to you're going to hit those extraordinary circumstances and that's the nature of the beast. But you you still have to work as best you can. You know, it's not, oh, gez, I spent, you know, on a homicide, you're going to spend $40,000. There's no if, hands, or buts about it. So, it's not just I spent 40,000, let me go back to Zach and say, give me the 40k. As the chief said, that's part of working that budget every single week and making sure because potentially you
046you might recover from that deficit um properly managing it and you might end up where you need some funding um to come back. And you know, in the case of fire, it was, you know, every time they were lighting the wooded areas. Um, you know, you the the cycle of dollars is just swinging. Um, yes, these guys have no control over whether someone's going to go out there two days later and light another fire. So hopefully that won't be happening. Um, Zach, you've done a fantastic job. I think just keeping everybody else everybody on the same page to include us. Um, so that's much appreciated. Paul, would you like to offer? >> Yeah, just as all all three uh gentlemen, you know, Zach, first of all, for keep keeping us in the loop of a
047realistic picture that we're facing, you know, and that was you you did an excellent job. And also the two chiefs, too. Um, you know, you're you're you're more or less dealing in difficult times with rising costs, limited growth for for taxes and whatnot, and you're doing the best you can, and we appreciate that. And I glad to hear what Zach said, too. If you do come into a situation where it's an emergency and a dire need, we're there to help you really. And again, thank you for doing what you're doing and and all your credit to our town and we appreciate it. Thank you very much. >> Chief, thank you very much for your comment on patrol. I was thinking no matter where I am in the community, whether the church, grocery store, main street,
048probably the number one even emails correspondence that I get from people is well, you know, they were in my neighborhood and they were watching that stop sign that we asked or um the traffic at the intersection of 109 and 16. The cruiser was there and 10 minutes later it was gone. And I try to explain to them that's cuz it's just like going to the hospital. the triage and calls and something comes in and they got to respond to it and almost always the next response from the citizen and I don't mean this in a cruel way. Why don't we just put somebody else on? And this is an example of of of decisions that are made that are very difficult because we just it's not as easy as just putting somebody on. It's not.
049And and I and I want people to understand that, you know, calls are being triaged and when we get into situations like this, it makes it even more difficult because we're looking at overtime and we're looking at how many people on a shift. And so, you know, I I I want to commend you, you know, for that. And I want people to understand that we're going to do everything we can to provide the utmost service, but the stop sign probably's going to move back a little farther and the traffic on Route 16, I'll be honest with you, it's been like that since I arrived 40 years ago. But it's probably it's going to stay and and you know and you just be patient with us because there are calls that are coming in and as
050the chairman said and some of them the serious we can't predict them and so when they happen you know we we've all got to work together to get through these difficult times. So, thank you very much. And to you, Zach, you know, and to Chris who's sitting back there, the people that are handle the finances, thank you very, very much because this is only the beginning. >> And I'm not a I'm not a, you know, a downer. I try to be positive all the time, but this is only the beginning. And if we can get over this hump and and get into the new fiscal year, let's hope the sun will get a little brighter. But again, I want to say thank you to everybody involved in this process. Thank you very much. I have
051a motion to approve and support the police and fire budget. Um motion, Mr. Chair, to approve and support the of fire and police budget. >> And Mr. Chairman, I would gladly second that. And thank you again to everybody. >> That's unanimous. >> Thank you, gentlemen. >> Thank you. >> Good to see you. >> Thank you, sir. Good night. All right, good to see you. Thanks. Thanks, Mikey. Thank you. >> Next item on the agenda is the town administrator's report. Uh he's on a well-deserved vacation, so >> um there'll be no town administrator's report this evening. Uh old business. Uh gentlemen, do you have any old business you'd like to raise? >> I I do not, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you, gentlemen. Um new business. Uh the first item on new business is uh Dunkin Donuts
052at 31 Main Street. Uh an amendment to the common victual license, a change of hours and could you state your name please? >> Yeah, my name is Raj Patel. Good evening everybody. >> Good evening. >> So Patel, >> so we have >> Let the audience know what you're trying to accomplish. >> Sure. So me and my family own this location from December 2020. It's been a little bit over 5 years now. And our family owns multiple locations of Dunkin Donuts, including four in Milford, which is 31 Main Street, 146 South Maine, 350 East, and then 35 Medway Road. All four belong to us, my family. On top of being in Milford, we are present in Frammingham, Ashlin, Nic, Sherburn, Hopkinington, uh, East Boston, Rivier, Winthrop, Cambridge, Somerville, and Salem, Massachusetts. That's a total of 26
053Duncan locations that we own. We have made improvements over the time whenever it's needed, whenever it's called by the first responders, medical staff, people who work through the night and early risers too, especially construction company or anybody present in the population or in the community who needs coffee and beverage and food services during the night or early morning time too. We have made a lot of improvements to all four locations in Milford. In last five years, we have renovated all four locations and with a total spending of little over $2 million for total four locations to make the services available and um investing with the new equipment and bringing up to the standard of Dunkin Donuts. The time when we acquired these stores was end of December 2020. So that was during the COVID 19
054timing. Of course, everybody, every business had uh struggle with operating hours, operating payroll staff, meeting the demands, meeting the budgets. But then as time improved, we saw a tremendous increase in the demand, tremendous increase in the traffic in the area. And over the past few months, especially last one and a half years, we have seen a huge up upwards growth in the sales and the demand in the area. And also we have direct requests from the neighbors, from the first responders, from the medical staff that we need something that is available during late night and early morning as well. Our current operation hours for this Main Street between 4:30 a.m. in the morning till 10 p.m. right now. Current closing time is 10 p.m. But then since we have been having requests from the community
055about from the citizens that we need services more for the extended time, we would love to entertain that request and we would be willing to operate this 24 hours. But the overnight hours starting from 10:00 p.m. till 4:30 a.m. in the morning will be drive-thru only because we want to keep the noise in our mind that we don't want to keep operating with all the foot traffic and everything going into the stores and making noise or something. So with if approved by the board, we would like to make this operation 24 hours, but that would be drive-thru only between 1000 p.m. till 4:30 a.m. in the morning. >> Mr. M Kelly, >> I was going to ask to uh Mr. Patel. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh out of the other locations that you have, um
056do you have the same type of uh setup from 10:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. in those two as well or at least some of them? >> Not in Milford, sir. >> Right. No. >> Yes. >> In other ones? >> Yes. We have one store in East Boston, which is 951 Bennington Street, which is about 5 minutes drive from the Boston airport. We have the same request going on and we have a hearing tomorrow as well for that. So since the Dunkin Donuts locations many of them used to be 24 hours before COVID er era but during COVID because of the demand being declined the stores were asked to not operate 24 hours because the franchiseor and franchises were having problems supporting the payroll because of the stores not being busy overnight because of COVID 19
057era. But since now we are almost out of it and the business and the demand is increasing in almost every town. We have been going back to the Duncan franchisee and they're supporting that we are willing to take up uh that initiative to make it 24 hours. So out of all our 26 stores, this is the first one we're going to request and the second one lined up is one in the East Boston area. >> And and do you have any like plans in case the first is out? When I was a kid, remember my dad used to say make sure you're home early because nothing good happens after 12 after midnight. And you know, I was going to say from 10:00 to 4:30. Like I said, if there's some plans you have because sometimes
058you may get some, you know, people out there who, you know, were gonna act up, you know what I mean? Yeah. >> So, also all for our uh Milford locations, more than 50% of our staff are local and we are proud to say that we support local growth. We support local employments. People aged from, let's say, 19 to people age at 55, they work in our Duncan. They are Milford local. So we want to make sure we are a safe environment for people who are in Milford and also for the surrounding towns who drive and work at our place. But also for the contingency plan, we rely heavily on the emergency services around in the area. But over the 5 years of period, we have never had an incident where we had to go extravagant
059involved with police or fire or something. So we are lucky with the God's blessings that we we have been able to keep everything quiet and operationally smooth. There might be instances of people messing up with the bathroom or this or damages or stuff, but since this will be drive-thru only, nobody will be permitted to enter the premises after 10:00 p.m. >> until 4:30 in the morning. >> Very good. Thank you. I'm satisfied with that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Chair. Mr. Patel, for clarity, do you have three locations in Milford or four? >> Four. >> Where's Where's the >> 31 Main Street, 350 East Main Street, the plaza with the solar canopy, the big one? >> Sorry. the goldfish. I think the swim school is there. Then there is 146 South Main
060by the Rockland Trust, the Riverside Gas and the Dollar Tree. Correct. >> And then the 35 Medro right next to the Walvoline got >> the oil changing location. >> Okay. And according to your application and every all the department heads, including the police chief as well, everybody is signed off and approved. Nobody has any objection to your request. So again, for clarity for people that are are watching right now, um really all you're trying to do is run the drive-thrus from the 1000 p.m. to the 4:30 a.m. in the morning. Then the restaurants will re or I should say the facilities will re >> open the doors again at 4:30 a.m. >> at 4:30. So they're currently open at 4:30 right now or 5:30. >> The doors open at 4:30 a.m. >> 4:30. Okay. We
061have crew coming in at 3:30 to meet the baking needs because they have to prepare the bagels and croissants and make the coffee and everything. So the the crew starts at 3:30, but the doors are closed for the customers. And then at 4:30, everything's baked, prepped, and ready to serve to the customer. So we open the doors at 4:30. So our first customer could come in at 4:30 and either walk in or use the drive-thru to get their product. >> Okay. So again, for clarity, the really the only change is you you're looking to run the drive-thrus on all four locations from 10:00 p.m. till 4:30 in the morning. >> It's just for the one location. >> Just the Okay, that's what I'm saying. 31 Main Street. >> Yes, sir. The other three locations will
062operate normally. They're not going to be operating overnight. Just for this one. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. >> Right across from town. Okay. Right on Main Street. >> Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a motion. A >> motion, Mr. Chair. Uh I I move that the board approve uh the request of Main Street Donuts LLC doing business as Duncan to amend the common vict um to permit a drive-thru only uh operations between the hours of 1000 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. >> I would second that, Mr. Chairman. >> That's unanimous. >> Thank you. I have a question. What would be the next step >> to reach out to the licensing or >> just uh the town administrator's office and they they'll reissue your hours to you. >> Got it. And then when does this
063become effective? >> It just did. >> Just did. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Welcome. >> All right. >> I'll see you at at 3:00 a.m. >> I say it's nice to see someone's up at 9:00 a.m. >> Don't wait for me at 4:30. >> Yeah. Anything we could bring? >> I'll be looking for you. >> Thank you. Anything we could bring to the team members over here for this week for donation? >> Coffee, donuts, bagels, croissants, let us know. >> Fire and police. Fire and police. Yeah. And legal. >> I know that in engineering. >> Thank you very much, Mr. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um the next item on the agenda is uh from the town administrator. He sent us the annual town meeting warrant uh seeking the board's
064approval. Now I know that we've had an opportunity to work our way through Yeah. I see it. >> Um the annual town meeting warrant which is the agenda for town meeting. >> Mhm. >> Um do you have any questions, gentlemen? You do not. >> You do not. Mr. Chair, I have a motion. Motion. Sure. I move that the select board approve um and execute um May annual town meeting warrant as presented. >> I would second that, Mr. Chairman. >> That is unanimous. Next item on the agenda is the uh Greater Milford Community Chorus acceptance of a gift from Leonard and Katherine Aderola. Um it's a donation of $200 um which is uh very generous uh to the greater Milford Community Chorus. The funds do go through uh the town. Do I have a motion? >>
065Motion to accept the donation from Leonard and Katherine Idorola uh for the Greater Milford uh community chorus of $200. >> And I would second that, Mr. Chairman. >> That is unanimous. Next item on the agenda is the Commission on Disability uh resignation from Ronda Crosby who served for eight years on the commission. Um do I have a motion to accept? >> Um motion to accept Ronda Crosby's u resignation from the Commission of Disability and we appreciate and thank her for her eight years of service to this commission too. >> And I would second that, Mr. Chairman, is unanimous. We'll get a letter out thank you. >> Yeah. >> Thank you very much. >> Next item is the uh youth commissioner resignation um from William Perrell. Um I'm not Billers served on that. I can't remember
066the number of years because I remember appointing um old Farrell to the commission. In any event, um I have a motion to accept. >> Yes, Mr. Chair. Motion to accept William Farrell's resignation from the youth a Milford Youth Center uh commission. >> I would second that, Mr. Chairman. >> That is unanimous. He indicated that he enjoyed his time. He said it would be an understatement that he he enjoyed his time. Right. I know that he was of great help and benefit. And if we could just flag for Rick Vani um as well to send him a thank you note invitation to speak. I see no one in the audience invitation to speak. There's no one online. I'm being told for invitation to speak. Correspondence, gentlemen. >> I don't have any, Mr. Chairman. Nor do I.
067Um the last item is executive session. We do have an executive session. Uh we will be going into executive session to meet with the treasurer collector concerning tax title foreclosure property taken in May of and uh consider the sale of town on property real estate and assets. Um both of those matters reasonably anticipated um to be discussed at this meeting and uh that public dispos disclosure, excuse me, at this point in time uh may be detrimental to the town's interest. Do I have a motion to go to executive session? Motion, Mr. Chair, executive session. >> I would second that, Mr. Chairman. >> That is unanimous. Uh roll call. >> I And again, that's unanimous. We are in executive session.