001[Music] Good evening. Welcome to the select board meeting of June 9th, 2025, 6 p.m. in town hall, room 3. The first matter is the signing of the warrants. Gentlemen, a motion, Mr. Chair, to sign the warrant. I would second that, Mr. Chairman. That is unanimous. Approval of uh regular session minute meetings. Motion to approve regular session minute meetings of uh May uh 12th, 2025. You want me to do all three or one at a time, Mr. Chair? Whatever you pledge. Yeah. Um and also May 20th, 2025 and May 29th, 2025. And I would second that, Mr. Chairman, that is unanimous approval of executive session minutes. Mr. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve executive session uh minutes for May 20th, 2025 and May 29th, 2025. And I would second that, Mr. Chairman. Next agenda
002item is public hearings. Do we want to take care of do the citation first? Yes. Citation first. Go to that now. That would be Mr. Chairman. Yeah, we're going to go off uh schedule for a moment. Probably for a more important matter than the others that are coming up. Um, we do have a citation this evening for uh Chris Peeler who serves as our treasurer. Uh, Chris has served as the um president of the Massachusetts Collectors and Treasurers Association. So all of his associates across the Commonwealth and uh in doing so uh his performance was rated very very high which brings a good light to the town of Milford but as well as Chris. Um but the fact that uh just shows his professionalism he's out there leading a professional organization um in that same
003uh spectre. So, uh, Chris, um, I have a citation. Um, be it known that the select board hereby offer their congratulations to Christopher Piler in recognition of your dedication to the Massachusetts Collectors and Treasurers Association. During your tenure as president, your contributions and service will continue to be continue to inspire future leaders of MCTA. On behalf of the people of Milford, the select board extend their very best wishes and express the hope for good future good for future good fortune and continued success in all endeavors given this ninth day of June 2025. Thomas Olaflin, Paul Mazaklli, and Mike Walsh. Um, congratulations Chris. Thank you. Just quickly mention a couple of things. We're very proud of Chris. first of all started out as the treasurer, now is the treasurer collector here in town. I just want
004to point out that as president, he o oversaw the legal and educational aspects of the association and at that time the new tax title law uh was being written and drafted and he actually testified to the house and senate on behalf of the association um as president. So uh again, he's doing yman's work. Uh we're very proud of him. He's reorganizing both offices together now. So, and to serve as president I really think is a feather not only in his cap but for the town of the town of Milford. So, thank you Chris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Now, he has a lot of spare time on his house, right? So, we all think when we do those things, but Chris, congratulations. Nice. You're welcome. Congratulations, pal. Congratulations. Thank you. Here you go, my friend. Nice
005job. You're on camera. Your daughter, she's going to stay. She can stay. You're famous. Congratulations. We have a public hearing this evening. I'm not sure if the attorney is online. I think I see his name up there. Is he up there, Andy? Attorney Arthur Pearlman. Yes, he is. Okay. I did see him up there. Good evening, Attorney Pearlman. Good evening. I don't know. Can I be heard and scene? My name just came up. Yes. What happened? Can't see you, Arthur, but we can hear you. Can't see you. So, if you want to, you might want to click on the camera on uh the Zoom. Usually down the left corner, bottom left. Well, audio you I'm not It doesn't have a video. I don't see a video. Okay. Okay. Well, stick with us. We can hear
006you, Arthur, if you want. We can hear you very clearly. Loud and clear. Not a problem. My My hair is combed and everything. This is terrible. If it please the board, my name is Arthur Pearlman. I represent Bancha LLC. It's a Massachusetts limited up liability company doing business as MAC Package and it's located at 96 Pleasant Street in Milford. It is seeking a transfer of 50% of the ownership interest in the limited liability company from Vero Patel who was a 100% owner to Atul Patel who will now be a 50% owner. is also seeking a change of manager on the alcohol license from Viral Patel to Atelkuma Patel. The limited liability company holds an all alcohol license and therefore the transfer of ownership interest and change of manager on that license must be approved by
007the town of Milford as well as the ABC. Published notice of this hearing was accomplished by the town. Mailed notice to a budd is not required for a change in ownership interest or a change in manager. Atel Patel is currently living at 71 Jones Road in Oakdale and is working at PAC Mackage already working at Mac package. The current operating hours will be maintained. The layout of the store will be maintained. Nothing regarding the operation of the business is changing. This is all about ownership and a change of manager on the alcohol license. The owner is familiar with the laws relative to the sale of alcohol. He will continue to uphold the statutory law as well as any rules or regulations of the town of Milford regarding the sale of alcohol. I am requestfully requesting
008that this transfer of ownership in the limited liability company and the change of manager on the alcohol license be approved by your board. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um any qu any questions by any of the board members? I don't I don't either Mr. Chairman and this is a public hearing. Is there anyone that wants to speak on this matter? Anyone else online? No, there is no one else. Only person online, but they're not saying if they want to speak or not. Okay. The only person online besides me is my associate who's there in case I totally mess up the computer. Maybe she has a photograph. [Laughter] Okay. Can I have a motion, gentlemen? Um, yes, Mr. Chairman. A motion to approve the application for um Van Vansaw uh L LLC uh doing business
009as masks package store at uh 96 Prospect Street who filed this application uh for an amendment uh for its all alcohol license for a change of ownership interest and change of a manager. The new manager will be Alkrar Patel and all paperwork is in order. I would second that Mr. Chairman and that is unanimous. Thank you, Attorney Pearlman. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good evening. Take care, sir. The next matter is scheduled appointments. We have an appointment with the uh building commissioner, John Ericson. Good evening, Mr. Ericson. Good evening, gentlemen. Good evening, John. Thank you for seeing me this evening. Um so what I what I have um in a memo to you is an outline of proposed permit fees for the department of inspection. Building permits, plumbing permits, wiring permits, gas
010permits. Um these fees were updated at various times over the years. The building fees um have not been updated since 1994. um they are based on the cost of construction which of course has increased um dramatically since 1994 but nonetheless the the rates are per thousand were um much lower than um I think they should be and much lower than any other surrounding community. Uh similarly or not maybe not similarly but um as a next effort we we just reviewed the um plumbing, gas, electrical fees to see if they were really um commensurate with the scope of services that were performing meaning the number of inspections for a certain project um primarily and we found that some were um just you know a little bit low. Uh some some um code requirements have changed over
011the years um such as on four inspections I'm not named ground pool rather and so we tried to you know adjust the fees so that they were you know proportional to that scope um and as I think you guys are all aware we're rebuilding our building department software um basically from the ground up it's the same program but there's been so many developments and there was a number of um new modules that are available that are going to help us with some of the tracking some of the housing and working handinhand with the board of health um for registrations of those rental properties. So um we're in the middle of that process. So it just seemed like the prudent idea to be now to look at adjusting these fees because they all have to be
012reinput into the software. So um it just seemed like now is the time. The one big change is done on the commercial certificate of occupancy. Um for for decades going probably back to the 70s. These fees were due at the end of the project before the certificate was issued. It becomes problematic for some of the bigger projects. They seem even though the fees are well published, they seem to take some companies by surprise. So, I thought that the increased fees would adjust for the certificate of occupancy fee and just move it into the building permit fee to really expedite things at the at the tail end of a project. Um, which you know have it some pro some projects have seen some um some developers have been really surprised by these fees at the end.
013So, it it just wants to move everything up in in into the beginning of the process. I can go through any or all of the fees at at your will. One that just jumps out at me, John, is it if it's a typo and it's a typo. Otherwise, swimming pools on the first page, it's going down by a dollar. Yeah, it's based on the cost of construction and um for some reason the the swimming pool fees were more than any other type of construction project. They're up to $10 a thousand. Um, my proposal for the fees more or less across the board is $9 per thousand. It didn't make any sense on why swimming pools were were at that level, but a lot of these fees just kind of developed over the years without maybe
014a lot of the comparisons put into place. You have any questions, Michael? No, I have no no question. Just a just a comment too just to be based on what John was saying cuz we were mentioning that the fees haven't changed since 1994 which would give a reason why most of these other cities and towns that you compared them with probably came up with the uh you know kept up with the economic times such as the increase in building materials and construction costs and uh whatnot. uh also u not only the economic conditions but keeping up with inflation as well uh which is why you have that plus you also mentioned too John the software that will be needed uh in in the department to keep up with the times um especially now where other
015departments can also participate in that and like you mentioned too it's very important uh that the board of health have access to that as well because what like the town meeting a year ago um overwhelmingly uh passed you unanimously Finally, uh the um occupancy inspection was uh reinstated and that has started and um we're in the process of uh scheduling and inspecting u uh homes to make sure that there is no illegal conversions or overcrowding or any uh uh any other uh condition that could be uh a safety hazard or a public health hazard as well. And therefore, you know, where the building department's involved, the board of health's involved, and also most of the task force such as police and fire are involved in this as well. So, they'll need all access to that.
016So, I I I really encourage that. And like I mentioned too, it's um not too hard to ask for an increase to keep up with the time since they were last done increased since 1994. And I and I appreciate that. Thank you. I will just add that the um that our our proposed fees are still put us less than any surrounding town. Any town that touches us um and then extend into like the Millers, Framingham, Natic towns, we're we're still significantly less than than any of these towns. So where I see Thank you, Mr. Chairman. John, as always, thank you very much for taking the time to put this together. And I know there's no easy task. Um, and you know the time and as you just mentioned to do the comps in other communities.
017The really the only question I have and it's just a a personal question coming from me. I see in every category where you you you highlight in red for us what the change is going to be and at the end you put the fee you know with the with the word minimum. Is there just for my own curiosity is there a maximum? Um so so just as an example you look at demolition residential going to $9 per thousand of the estimated cost of construction a $75 minimum. Yeah. So it's based on the cost of construction. And if you were going to knock down a building and it was $30,000, it would be 30 time 9 or $270 fee, but with a minimum of whatever I have proposed there, $75. My question is, is is there
018and maybe there isn't. It's just again, it's just a question coming from me. Is is there a maximum or if if a if a knockdown is 2 million, it's $9 per 2 million. Yeah. Same as fairly the same as construction. There is no max, so just a minimum. Okay. All right. Okay. I didn't know if that was, you know, left off or wasn't, you know, wasn't there. That's all. So there there's a minimum charge, but no, right. It's just proportional at that point. Okay. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. That's all. I have a motion, please. Motion, Mr. Chair, to um accept the revised fee structure that the building commissioner would recommend for the building department. And I would gladly second that. That's unanimous. Thanks, John. Thank you very much. Have a great night. Thanks,
019John. See you tomorrow. There is no old business on the agenda. Do either of you gentlemen have anything you want to raise at the town? Oh, yeah. Yeah, Mr. Chair, just I skipped the town administrator. Oh, nothing big. Don't take it honestly. Not personally. Okay. A problem. Sorry about that. Very brief. Very brief tonight. Three items. Um, I've been informed by Senator Becca Roush. She has submitted a nearmark in the fiscal year 26 budget that not less than 25,000 shall be expended for renovations and improvements to the Milford Town Park. So this will be an assistance to that project. She submitted a second year mark which was a request in the fisc year 25 state supplemental budget that provided that not less than 50,000 shall be expended for bridge replacement in the town of Milford.
020So that will help with obviously the bridge project that just recently started on June 1st. As the board knows, the next steps still has to go to conference committee in discussion and then to the governor for signature, but both look like they will be um approved and be of great benefit. So I want to thank her publicly for that. Uh a reminder the public to the public the fireworks display is scheduled for July 5th. We have added a rain date of Friday, July 11th. So, if there is rain, seems like every weekend it's been raining recently, so hopefully we won't have to deal with that. And uh just an update on the uh closing of the Best Western Hotel Shelter. The governor has informed us that due to the significant progress of the executive office
021of housing and livable communities and their emergency assistance providers partners have made uh they have uh reducing the shelter case load and diverting and exiting families into permanent housing. The state is moving forward with the plan to close the Best Western by July 31st, 2025. Families who are still eligible for shelter but have not secured permanent housing by the hotel closure date will be transferred to another shelter site. They're making every effort to keep families with school age children in their current location through the end of the school year, which is fast on us. So, just an update for the board. That's all I have, Mr. Chairman. Very good. Thanks. Thank you. Uh as I indicated, no old business. Yeah, just I just wanted to mention something. Uh just to let uh the board know
022too that at a planning board meeting on May 20th, 2025, the ad hoc uh comprehensive plan committee formally uh motioned for approval of the um uh Milford comprehensive plan 2025. The planning board unanimously adopted the plan recognizing it strategic importance for guiding Milford's future development. And anybody who would like to see the plan and see what um uh key point discussions that were made can go online and they can get the whole uh plan itself and and and um review it themselves. But that has been approved just to let you know. It took a tad over a year. Thank you, Paul. Thank you. A new business um correspondence from the police chief concerning handicap accessible parking at uh number six South Main Street. Mark, aside from the memo, is there anything? Uh, there was no
023uh additional information. Um, Chief Tino did review it. He said he was familiar with the request even before I had received it and it had his uh support. the young man that uh this is going to be utilized by. Um unfortunately he was going to a concert up in Worcester and he and some of his friends and some other people involved in gang activity which this young man had nothing to do with. They started shooting at each other and they got caught in the middle of it. Oh Jesus. Yeah. and he actually was shot in the head. Um, and he survived. He is a quadripolgic, but um, very very nice kid. So, and I know that this will help them out immensely as far as Sure. Absolutely. Doctor's appointments and things of that kind. Yes.
024Um have a motion to a motion to approve this um request especially where where you know we can make um uh e accessibility for residents with disabilities more more accessible. It uh much needed as you mentioned uh uh uh uh chairman Olaflin. So anyway, I recommend that we do approve uh the um handicap parking space for six South Main Street moving mask. I would gladly second that and extend to his family our prayers. Exactly. Thank you, Michael. The next item is from uh police chief Robbie Tino as well. Um requesting uh a caution sign on Purchase Street southbound prior to Camp Street. Any questions on that? No. No, Mr. Chair. I read read this over and um on Mr. Skiavi is right. I don't know if I know you uh folks have actually had that
025uh road up there to get on Percher Street and it is a little difficult to to see oncoming traffic coming uh like uh it was explained in this. So I I would definitely approve a caution sign for that. I would gladly second that. Mr. Chairman, that is unanimous. The next item is from the Commission on Disabilities. Um it's two resignations um from Scott Wilson indicating that he will not be seeking to be recommissioned. Um and the other is from um Masha Manuso. Um and as brief just uh I wanted to be uh reappointed. Uh any questions gentlemen? I don't have any. Mr. Chairman motion to accept their a motion to accept their uh resignation from the commission on disability. I would gladly second that. Mr. Chairman, that's unanimous. And Rick, if we can just send
026thanking them for time that they did spend on the behalf of community, I'd appreciate it. um town administrative uh senior citizen disabled citizen transportation services the award of a contract. Yes, we did uh go out to bid. We did an invitation for bids. We received two um bid responses. Uh Travelers Transit, Inc. of 8 mil River Street Blackstone was the low bidder uh at $56 per hour. uh if you're familiar, as I know all of you are, they're the current uh provider. Um and again, they were the low bidder of the two received. So my recommendation would to reward the contract to Travelers Transit Inc. as the most responsible vendor again based on their quote and again we do know their service history. I have a motion. Motion, Mr. SH based on the recommendation from
027our town administrator and also the quote that was given to us by travelers transit to def to uh uh make a motion to appoint uh the uh u this transportation service for the senior citizens and disabled citizens. I would second that Mr. Chairman. That is unanimous. Thank you. The next item is the Milford Youth Center acceptance of gifts and there are three different gifts. Uh the first one is uh AAA charitable giving committee $1,000. The contact person is Maggie Mc Mcmeni Meny. Little tough on that Irish name for I don't should have come to me. He just blowed off. Um the uh endodontic uh group um at 16 Congress Street um I talked to Greg Nagels very very good doctor. Mhm. Fortunately have had the pleasure of going there several times. Yeah. I think we
028all did. His annual appeal support uh community friend sponsor uh in the amount of $2,500. The third is um a donation from Heyman and Shirley Hill Charitable Foundation. It's their annual appeal support and it's a $2,000 donation from Lawrence Hill, the trustee. Could I have a motion to accept those gifts? And yes, thanks. A motion, Mr. chair to accept these very generous donations from the three parties that you just mentioned. Uh and again, there's very um appreciated because these donations help make the programs more affordable and accessible to those to our uh youth of of our town. So, a motion to to accept, Mr. Chair, and I would gladly second that, Mr. Chairman. And again, thank you very much to the to the businesses that made these donations. And uh you know, it's Thank you.
029um for taking the interest of the youth in this in this town because uh it's programs and it's donations like this, corporations like yourself that support the youth center. Um it gives those you know the children and also the ability the director and and the people that work at the youth center the ability to put programs together to keep these children in a safe you know environment and learning as well. So again, thank you very much for your kindness and I echo uh Michael's words and these uh three different people or organizations that um you do see time and again who make charitable donations to this community to make it a better place to live, you know. Yes. Thank you. um from the board. The next item on the agenda, um invitation to speak. Is
030there anyone online? No, no one online. Um correspondence from the Milford Youth Center. Um it's a memo from the director concerned with uh a number of the different things that have taken place and as well as donations received. Um, thankfully quite a few as you uh move through the list. If uh it's very lengthy, so if people have an interest in who's donated to the youth center, they're welcome to go on to the selectman's uh website or to the youth center website and you can peruse the list. Any questions? No, no questions. But just like as we all mentioned too, we grateful for these donations and the and in and the grants uh because it more or less um keeps the youth center um accessible especially after school programs, community events and whatnot. It makes
031it more affordable uh for for the summer camp. and um without these contributions, some of these programs will be struggling to to exist. So, we we appreciate every every every dollar they these individuals would give. Thank you. I think what's important too, Mr. Chairman, is and I again I want to say thank you to the people that made the contributions, but all of us having been in the position you currently is chairman, you know, and and we get out to the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts giving out citations. We go to the youth center fundraisers, give out citations. along the shorter is we get to see these these um groups and and what they do, what their efforts accomplish. And I go back to a weekend or two weekends ago, we had a very
032very large very significant event in our community um a rally and um one minor minor incident and it really involved the youth of this community. Um, and it was amazing that to me, and I was pretty much there through the whole thing, that we could get all these youth, young people together, uh, to express their their, you know, their support for a fellow student in our community. But where I'm going with this is that it's programs like this, the Milford Youth Center, the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, the Little League, all the programs that corporations and people in this community privately support, that make a difference that that make the youth in our community act respectfully, respect one another, and and obey the law, and still get their point across. And so if you when
033you give these donations, if you if and I know you do believe they make a difference, but if you think they don't make a difference, they really truly do. When you sit there as an elected official in this community and you watch an event like that, and that's only one of the events that we all of us attend. Um would you look at the the maturity level, the respect level and and and everything that you would expect from the from the youth in our community, it's programs and it's support like this that make it happen. And so again, thank you very very much. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And just to give a sense of, you know, what you and Paul touched on, the donations, you know, you have a very large one from
034a uh golf tournament, which is significant sum of money, but the donation here of $20 and that $20 will be multiplied in the end results of the impact on the kids. That's right. Being able to provide positive outlets. So, um, thank you very much to all of those who donated. I apologize and just not having the ability to read through the list. It's three pages long. So, it just really shows the support for the youth center in this community. The only thing I have, Mr. Chairman, and we talked a little bit about it. Yes. The gentleman that reached out to us from Walden Woods, and I thought I heard Rick say that the police chief is looking into it. He's going to look into that. Yeah. Okay. I just want the gentleman from W the
035Woods to know that we did get his correspondence and it is being looked into. Thanks. Thank you, Mike. Thank you. Um, aside from that, we uh do not have an executive session this evening. Um, I have a motion to adjurnn. A motion to adjurnn, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. And I would second that, Mr. Chairman. That is unanimous. Good evening and thank you very much for tuning in. uh those who did or those who will watch this subsequent to the meeting, we appreciate your involvement and uh we appreciate the support to the community that we saw in tonight's agenda. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. Thank you. Thank you.