001[Music] and welcome to the Milford select board meeting of March 10th 2025 at 6 p.m. in room 3 of the Milford town hall tonight we're uh very honored to have a special guest with us as well as members of the uh Milford Police Department we have officer Yan Wade who has received the 2025 Black Excellence award from the MBL lllc for his unwavering dedication and his compassion to the service and his service to the community and it's very prestigious award that the officer has won received and so I'm going to open it up I'm going to turn it over to the chief of police chief Cino hello hello and uh good evening thank you for having us here and thank you for uh honoring officer Wade I I'm very happy that uh Chief ol laughin's
002in here and cuz he actually hired Yan back in 2016 um you know I don't know where to start with such an individual as Yan Wade um to say that we're lucky to have him the town is fortunate um those are R statements it doesn't happen often that you have a young officer that starts in a department as a dispatcher he actually was an intern with us and became a dispatcher and it wasn't just a passion to be a police officer but you saw in him compassion and the need and desire to interact with people and you know for me as an administrator and you know a 33-year paramedic and a police officer um I've always been taken back by Yen um compassion first Authority after and he's just a credit to the department he's
003a delight to work with um to say that we're lucky to have him is an understatement you know the showing of support from his fellow op um Special Operations officers his commanders his Frontline supervisors um and it's you know bit of sweet cuz when people find out they they could have came tonight they they would have packed this place for Yen uh that's the kind of reputation that he has so to see that it was on it to you know be contacted by uh rep uh Brian Murray and you know because I know um attorney Murray's been moved by Yan's exploits through town um it's just that constant right he's that constant compassion weighed with authority um because we don't want that pugilistic sense of policing and Yan knows how to be compassionate he goes
004above and beyond he's good to his fellow officers um when he comes in the station with his small children he has his hands full um but that's the way it's supposed to be you know when you have small children um I can't say that he's a better police officer than I am yet but he's certainly a better person but he's a better person than I am that's easy to say yeah yeah he's a better person I am and I'm just uh lucky to have him working with me and um I hope he enjoyed is working with us as much as we enjoy working with him thank you thank you very much State Rep Mari thank you Mr chairman so um each year the uh Massachusetts uh Black and Latino uh legislative caucus which is a
005very active group at the state house uh looks for nominations uh for black leaders black leaders of Excellence who uh make a difference in their Community uh serve their community in in remarkable ways so as I saw that notification circulate um I I thought of office a Wade and what he's done uh in Milford whether it was uh uh buying food for a homeless person um getting involved in some of the very dangerous operations uh that he does with his team uh or just patrolling the streets of Milford um I've known him to be very dedicated very compassionate so I reached out to the chief uh because I didn't want to tell him I didn't want to indicate that I was going to nominate him for this award so the chief was able to get
006me a background information on him uh we submitted the nomination and the nomination was accepted and uh officer Wade got the opportunity a couple of Fridays ago I think to go into the State House um at the uh ceremony um where they recognize black leaders from all across the Commonwealth so I think that the work that he does is a tribute uh not only to the town of Milford but also our police department and I was certainly proud to have him there uh representing the town and the police department at the State House great thank you Paul sure thank you officer wait you know uh congratulations and and and Rob for your guidance with officer Wade and Brian for nominating him too you're you are an inspiration uh for all of us to actually the
007acknowledgement that you're getting this this evening is definitely an inspiration to everybody um you are like they mentioned a credit to our town and we're very very proud to have you um we so happy that you are continuing your service with us and we are again to repeat myself for effectiveness youred and we're very lucky to have you keep that diligence and compassion that you have and disguise the limit thank you so much you Tom well there is so many good things I could say about this young man um I first met Yan when he came in as an intern as was mentioned by the chief and his internship was up and he never left um he continued to come to to the mil police department and help us in any way that he could
008so I figured he ought to get paid for some of it so uh we put him on as a dispatcher he may remember and reflect back that his original intention was he wanted to be a federal agent and uh I was able to persuade him that you're going to end up anywhere they want to send you in the world and that's not always a great thing uh especially if at the time he was engaged and I don't know that his wife now would appreciate uh World Travel I persuaded him and uh he's been with us ever since and um we're the beneficiaries of uh just a good person um who does care about people I can remember coming out of church sacred H and I mentioned to Mike Walsh um and an elderly gentleman came
009came up to me and asked me what his name was and I told him and he said to me you know he's so pleasant and he's such a nice person and that's what you generally hear about Yan way that and people will tell you that he's related to me and he knows that um he he likes to tell people that we're cousins just a great kid phenominal police officer um fortunate to have him and um to say he's deserving of an award of this kind any type of award that would speak to his leadership his commitment um well deserve well deserve congratulations Ian thank you thank you Tom so I can tell you you're uncomfortable sitting in that seat because you don't like all these kind words said about you because of the type of
010person that you are and it's a testament to you um select manol Laughin made reference to uh Sacred Heart Church and I've watched you many a morning uh working that intersection and always with a big smile people crossing the street and I listen I'm very observant I hear you always say hello good morning and and people respond and you know that's just a just a great trait to have as a police officer to take the time you know to the citizens to to reach out to them and select Mel Laughlin and chief tacino have always said anybody anybody can put handcuffs on somebody and throw them in a jail cell and thank God the philosophy of the Milford Police Department and I congratulate all of you behind the chief and Yan and state reper Ryan
011Murray for your compassion to our community because you really you know anybody can do that but you don't you don't and that's a testament you know to you um we use a word compassion around here a lot when we talk about our police and our fire department because it's true we that's that's the number one word compassion for the citizens in our community and I've witnessed your compassion firsthand and it's just it's unbelievable the kindness the caring you know the kind words the patience the calmness in a very very difficult situation and you're able to go in and just diffuse it that's a testament to you you know and so it's I thank representative Murray for putting your name in for this award I congratulate you because in my opinion if anybody deserves it in
012the state of Massachusetts it's you because you are in my opinion a true leader you V every single day on the streets of this community and try and set an example every single day and the chief made reference to your family and you got a family to raise and you know you're trying to balance all that and you just do a great job so congratulations I'm going to let representative Murray give his citation away first and then I'll give one from the town of Milford but again congratulations well deserved well thank you Mr chairman so uh as you know this is a citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives uh it reads as follows be hereby known to all that the Massachusetts House of Representatives offer its sincerest congratulations to Gan Wade in recognition of
013receiving the 2025 Black Excellence award from the Massachusetts black and Latino legislative caucus and for serving your community with dedication compassion and diligence the entire membership extends its very best wishes and expresses the hope for Future Good Fortune and continued success in all Endeavors this is dated February 28th 2025 which was the date of the ceremony at the State House this is signed by the Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano and offered by myself state representative Brian Murray yeah thank [Applause] come on right up here sir get to stand up for that one yeah congratulations appreciate it deserve it so the town of milin Massachusetts be it known that the select board hereby offer their congratulations to Yan Wade in recognition of receiving the 2025 Black Excellence award from the MBL LLC in for your
014unw dedication most important word and compassionate service to this community on behalf of the people of Milford the select board extend their very best wishes and express the hope for Future Good Fortune and continued success in all your endeavors given this 10th day of March 2025 sign Michael kol's chairman Thomas J Ola Esquire [Applause] conrat thank you to all the officers that are here this evening for everything you do every single day thank thank you thank you thank you guys hang up can't wait yep you want to you want [Laughter] sure appreciate it come on you say something it's easy I'm honored thank you all set it it was tough just getting them to the state house sometimes Chief silence speaks volume yeah I know yeah you know so well thank you very very much
015congratulations well deserved thank you thank you so much you're a great representative to this force all right thank you everybody thank you thank you youo sure [Music] absolutely uh Chief I'll cut you out and put you in US Photoshop quick good evening thank you we took a slight pause to uh take some pictures with the officer that received that prestigious award from the state of Massachusetts so we're back and our first agenda item is the signing of the warrant yeah Mr chair make a motion that we approve signing of the warrant I second that Mr chair and I would make that unanimous roll call roll call roll call I I and I as well okay next uh on the agenda is the approval of the Reg regular session minutes from February 24th uh Mr chair
016I'll make a motion that we approve the regular session uh minutes uh of February 24th 2025 I would second Mr chairman and I would make that unanimous roll call please I I and I as well okay and the last we have under agenda item a is the approval of the executive session minutes from February 23 4th 2025 I'm sorry the regular no executive session minutes February 24th 2025 at 6: p.m. okay we have the two of them so I would uh make a motion Mr chair that we approve the executive session minutes uh for the 5:00 p.m executive session uh uh on February 24th 2025 we already did that one okay that that was the regular meeting vote on that because that was a regular meeting I was not and I can vote on half
017of it I was not presid okay the water about a negotiation so I I believe that we have to do two votes for the 5:00 p.m. uh executive session because I was presid okay Union all right and executive and then a uh approval of the executive session minutes uh for the um um police um negotiation section of the 20 uh February uary 24th 2025 meeting held at 5:00 p.m. I second them Mr chairman and I would make that unanimous with a roll call vote please I I and I as well okay this now you going to do the 600 p.m. but is this where we had the uh yes you have to do the 5 second half of the 500 p.m. I'm sorry yes yes yes and also approval okay exactly um approval of the
018executive session minutes uh of 20 February 24th 2025 at 5:00 p.m. the second part uh which included the negotiations of the uh water company employees and I would second that as well with a roll call I and I I as well so that's the executive session for 5:00 p.m. what was the what was the moment with the correction is there a correction on this ask was that one I'll take that one okay good okay thank you thanks Rick all right and now we have the approval of the executive session minutes for February 24th 2025 at 6: p.m. um Mr chair motion to approve the executive session minutes for February 24th 2025 at the 6 PM executive session meeting I would second that Mr and I would make that unanimous roll call please I I and
019I as well okay so that's assigning the warrant and approval of all the minutes next agenda item is public hearings do we have any public hearings tonight we do not see no public hearings we move right on to scheduled appointments and the first scheduled appointment is our police chief to discuss Staffing in the Department chief toino good evening once again good evening even um good night to be here right a lot of good stuff that was great thank you to the board um for honoring Yan um I don't think there more deserving person and um you know the Department's very grateful that he was acknowledge so again thank you for that um so we have a couple things I know we have to go over in front of you but what we have is this
020is a request to increase the Staffing and I'm going to quote the great Alara tell me what you want tell me what you need and tell me what you can't live without so in this we're talking about uh four different things actually it's three different things but four positions so the first position we're talking about a school resource officer um and let's pause there you know as we go through these these positions the school resource officer we have two okay we have two School resour uh resource officers Officer bosi and officer Cano and I'll tell you other towns that are close to our size have at least three some even have a fourth um the Milford Police Department is structured as such that our school school resource officers um when it comes to any type
021of sexual assault or indecent assault even outside of the school uh Family Services Unit and the sro's are the ones that investigate that they're trained investigators they work with the District Attorney's Office the detective division of the Milford Police Department certainly can help out but they're so busy in inundated what I did is they handle adult sexual assault so from 18 up um because it makes it it's it's become its own unique you know there's a way to testify this evidence to gather and there's a certain approach so they're inundated with unfortunately This Is The Life and Times we live in whether it be cyber crime um actual physical crime RS rsro handle a multitude of that not to mention um these are the guys and gals in the schools that have you know weapons
022on their hip um they the first responded to a mass casualty incident at the schools um I don't think there are two better school resources resource officers than officer bosi and officer canero um to say that they are beloved at at the schools is an understatement and you know I've had both of them come in off duty um when couple of the students were involved or victims of crimes and when they saw Anthony B boy or Cody canero um to say that they lit up um had honest candid conversations with them I mean that's what you want it's just amazing the U Rapport they have with these students uh with that said you know I'll be quite honest with you we spread them thin we spread the two of them very thin um they're covering
023a vast area they don't have a lot of time to spend at the elementary school and and of course you know the incidents of occurrence will call them at the elementary School are very low mhm but they still need the attention and you know I know Anthony bosi feels like things go by the wayside because there's only so many hours in the day for the things that he handles and they work together right they all work together so this would be somebody that we'd add to our school resource division but also working with Family Services Unit so mental health intervention this is what our school resource officers do it's a coll of effort um and that's why we see Piper the the care dog in a lot of the schools right cuz Sergeant Pinto from
024Family Services has this working relationship and goes in so that's first and foremost and that's you know a need I'm here to tell you I I I we need that that's a position we need uh I'll jump right into another need that I have in here is a training Sergeant's position is that's a sergeant whose sole purpose you know main part of their job is to conduct monitor Implement and be compliant with training I'm here to tell you uh police reform I believe got it right training is the Cornerstone of any successful organization and certainly policing uh I would say it's Paramount uh what we find when it comes to judicial review and and in court I think that our training is Forefront okay to say that it's scrutinized as an understatement and certainly the
025post commission really really beats the drum of active Progressive training and that's something I agree with um it's its own thing we just went over our our CPI first responder training we just redid All Our officers and one of the sergeants who does training we had to split it between him covering Patrol and doing training I I mean that's not a good look um you know we're lucky that we have a bunch of other people who are trained to do these things but you need somebody whose name is on the dotted line that's their responsibility they run Training Division um I think that you know I tip a cap to the fire department they've had training officer for for quite some time um because they know how serious training is and to monitor that training
026and make sure that you're compliant and Beyond um so that's the training Sergeant's position um the other position it's actually two positions is the traffic safety unit I think everybody in the room uh especially the uh select board and um attorney valani will appreciate traffic safety and traffic enforcement we get inundated with complaints uh traffic I know the board does um I certainly do and again a traffic safety unit a traffic safety team would be able to address these issues um and you know you can look at it and say well the police should be addressing them we we do address them um we are diligent in our traffic safety and we've had a lot of uh good response from the community the problem and again I'm not mentioning names of locations for a reason
027I like to tell everybody when I'm intentionally being vague so I met with a resident cuz they had continued complaints about speeding and when I met with this person I went out to location and they said gez it was great Chief they were here they came out just like you promised they were here for 10 minutes and I said well I can't have them sit here they have to go answer calls and that's what this answers um to have a Traffic Safety Division that could follow up on you know accidents they would be part of the Recon team um they would do Direct Ed Patrol um they would um do a lot of Grant work grants that we would be able to get because we had a traffic safety unit uh we do pretty well
028with the grants now uh but we're Limited in the scope because we don't have a Traffic Safety Division I'll also argue their towns our size that have Traffic Safety units and this is also a unit that would augment Patrol having these two officers assigned to this unit um that could go out and do directed enforcement and oui um because like I I can you know I can tell everybody in this room I can't say that you know you're going to have direct impact by uh overdose but I can promise you the longer you go without getting to a into a car accident the closer you are to getting into a car accident that's a fact the insurance companies aren't in this business just for practice um it's a matter of time and my father used
029to say the best thing you can do is get car insurance because at some point you're going to you're going to use it um with that said I've also had great conversations with Zach Taylor um the finance director about what we can afford to do what we should do and what maybe we can wait until October to do and Zach um again my thanks to Zach and his whole team um I think the vision would be if we have to come out of here tonight with anything it would be that SRO position and that training sergeants position and plan for the traffic safety unit down the road in the fall at October uh when October comes around and bring it up then at town meeting um but that's what you have in front of you
030you have the cost breakdown in front of you um and I ask for your serious consideration of of at least those two spots uh the school resource and the training sergeant and again we can revisit um the Traffic Safety Division the reason why we did all this is again these are the needs I believe of the community that we serve uh and certainly um that Traffic Safety Division once it's up and running and I I know at some point we'll get there um but it's it's really going to make a difference thank you Chief sure Paul yeah Chief thank you so much uh like I say this is um uh actually shows that uh you know you're uh really concerned about the future of the apartment where it stands now and where it's going to
031be it's a proactive approach in in addressing the growing needs of the community and to me I think it's a unique approach uh for the simple reason you're not just asking for for offices that are going to be more or less taken up a certain shift you know walking the beat or something like that you you more or less have them uh strategically located you have a position or in a responsibility for each and every one um which is what I what I liked about it you know in other words I want for officer but they're going to be doing this in the specialty work sure you know of course with the police uh reform that we had uh back several years ago um we we we need a training officer and you know someone
032that does it on a continuous basis not every now and then that he needs to probably go answer a call and then come back and continue where did I leave off that's a very important part of police like you said without training what good is the department correct you know which which I really appreciate um the uh U um uh uh school officer um definitely uh we have two now is that usually based on population of of the of the school or or what yeah yeah it's based on population but you know unfortunately it's also based on the life and times we live in right um there's a whole another world that you know kids adolescence are living in in the cyber world mhm and to say that our officers our detective Bureau um spends
033a considerable amount of time addressing those complaints addressing things like cyber bullying uh predatory uh responses I mean we HED Yan Wade here um but not long ago himself um with detector of Laughlin and people from the detective were honored by Homeland Security because of the work they did with uh sex trafficking mhm I mean that this is what's going on so to have another person to build in that unit and that collaborative team um really has benefit that's right and like I said it also builds that relationship up with the with the with the young students at that age so they're getting a very good positive image and a very good you know feedback from the uh a police officer absolutely you know and that's what we need today more more than ever um
034again again you know which is what we really appreciate too is the traffic offices and I'm glad you asked for it uh too cuz that's something that is uh become something very big in this town not only traffic wise but the parking part of of the situation and they would do both I know and and and and and that's where we you know as this select Board gets a lot of the um concerns from you know when when people call it's about traffic it's about parking uh it's about situations like that that people could actually see the general population could actually see police work select board working together at work for them sure you know and that and that and that goes a heck of a long way um again I I I appreciate this
035I what I like for what this uh um with the presentation now cuz I was going to ask you if you did speak to finance because what we have to do as a select board is balance the need to the financial responsibilities that we don't want to have other um essential Services being cut or or diluted because one department is getting more than the other and and whatnot so that's something we have to watch as well but anyway I really appreciate it and it does show commitment uh you know from from you uh that you you're more or less fostering both safety and um Community Trust and we appreciate that thank you thank you Tom yeah I think that you know we have to take a look at the police department as well as the
036fire department we have had an increase in um housing units and and population over the past several years I I do think that we're going to have to take a look at you know some of the impacts of those increases uh upon those two Public Safety Services but I just want to caution that we also have to be very mindful of um just what we're seeing in the newspaper the past couple of days where the state government is very concerned about whether or not they're going to face substantial budget cuts um as far as Federal funding and otherwise so um impacts on local Aid I just think that you know to commit to something this evening um I I would caution that we wait till we know a little bit more particularly in having some
037conversations with Zach Taylor and Brian Murray thank you Chief a couple of questions that I have for you so adding the school resource officer and adding the training Sergeant are you going to pull from your current yes um number of Patrol men and women on the road are you looking to pull from them and then hire two to replace the two you move into these positions yes yeah the second the second example right so obviously those positions would go to in-house candidates correct and then we'd back fell higher right so in other words it is hiring it's adding to the department two new two new people okay that's correct um you know as far as a school resource officers all you have to do is turn the news on yeah every single day every day
038that when you watch the news there's something going on in some school and I I like what you made you know reference to you don't have as many issues in the elementary school but you still have them yes you do you know which is important so yeah a lot of the issues are going on at the high school but we do have them at the elementary school so we have to cover all seven schools in our district and you know we have a great department but you know if something happens you know we as the board have a responsibility to give you and I've said this for a long time to give you the tools that you need to protect the citizens of this community and this and and that includes the students in our
039school district and you know and and I can understand what selectman ol Laughlin is saying and there is a lot of uncertainty coming out of Washington right now um but we can't turn the Blind Eye to it because I I go back to what we what we see every every day on the news is just it it's it's heart-wrenching to think that you know and and I joke about it when I say and I know it was a long time ago when I went to school I worried about what was for lunch and what sport I was playing and I didn't want to know anything else these kids young you know children today that are going to school you know are I really believe some of them are going to school with fear true and
040that's no way to live your life and you made referen officer b u bosi building that trust with the student you know we've done a great job of putting police officers you know just walking around the Youth Center trying to build trust so that the the children will talk to the police officer you know there's an old saying if you held up a plus sign and a negative sign and said what do you think of a police office in the old days it was a negative sign it should be a positive sign police offic is there to help and so we work very hard to build the trust you know of of the children of the students and and so I I agree with you I think that we need to make sure that our
041school district is staff properly and and and to the best of our ability you know um safe you know and I commend you for looking at that and and and putting that under a need and not a want you and I both agree you can never train too much absolutely you know it's it's if you look at our military when you start in basic training all training ke word training yeah you know and um you just you you you can't you know and again I go back to and I hate to repeat myself turn on the news and watch what's going on and if the offices that are responding to these calls aren't properly trained shame on us shame on us because we have a responsibility to make sure that to them as well as
042to the citizens of this community we have responsibility to the offices to make sure that they when they're responding to a call that we have given them the training necessary to handle that situation and and so you know again I I I commend you for putting that under under a need traffic safety we witness it every day every single day somebody say to me all the traffic in this town I've been here almost 40 years and Route 16's been backed up since the day I arrived and almost 40 years later it's still backed up so I commend you for looking at it it's definitely something we need to look at um you know again you look at the road rage and everything that's going on um you know I I I agree I think it's
043you know it's something that we need to look at um but again I I I agree with you I think school resource I think a training Sergeant you know um you know and and I like the way you worded a training Sergeant to give a little bit of authority so that when you're training you know your patrolman you know um are cognizant of that they're being trained by an officer right you know and I'm not saying that in any way they're disrespectful I know they're not but just the level of command absolutely you know somebody that's seasoned that's been on the job for a while that understands knows the street that's right it's so important you know it's not somebody that and again no disrespect but somebody that's worked their way up but spent 15
044years working inside these are people that have been out on the on the street you know at 2 3:00 in the morning answering calls by themselves absolutely and I think that's imperative especially especially for a young officer I really really do so I I commend you for bringing this forward to us and uh I I I couldn't agree with you more I couldn't agree with you more I appreciate you and your department every single day and if I could steal chief chief Nelson's Thunder for one second he makes reference in here that there increasing calls of service there's over 16 calls per 24hour period well every single one of those calls needs a police officer yep so how do you how do you go out on the street and and and you know do your
045regular Patrol work or your detective work whatever you're supposed to be be doing and then you have 16 or more calls in a 24-hour period whether they're medical and I think Chief would agree most of them are medical okay but you still need a police officer responding with the fire department yeah you know so it's right there and and we have such a an amazing working relationship probably one of the best in the state I would say yeah and it it is so you know dynamic our profession there's nothing static about it you know you think you walk into a medical it turns into a fight you know I've had the fire department bail me out on a fight years ago um you know getting overwhelmed and thank God they were there to help me
046uh so it is that collaborative effort there is no dividing line Police and Fire EMS it's this team that addresses these evolving situations um and you know for a little context um Franklin uh police have more police officers do half the calls y That's crazy um but as far as the training go I appreciate the consideration I I think that it's really going to be on the Forefront of what we do and as well the school resource officer and um you know those other things certainly we can look at down the road a little bit okay hopefully soon because like I said parking is is is something that the whole town would see yeah you know what I mean I mean the board could make a motion or it's I another alternative would be uh
047for your next meeting I just finished completing the select board budgets I know Zach is waiting for some other budgets there are a couple of areas of concern I will relate that to you um Tom indicated that perhaps he wanted to see if unless I'm misreading him where we are on the other budgets Michael I was going to suggest why don't we do that until the next meeting that way that we can digest all this get some some feedback from uh the chief and if any that we may have and also from Zack as well yeah I recomend having Zack in he can maybe give you a better overall picture next year next year thank you very much yeah absolutely with you yeah absolutely anything else for me yes all the Surplus and stuff y
048okay oh okay yeah the [Applause] vehicle I feel I feel very important I respectfully request an audience see that see that royalty oh well you know where's your crown Paul yeah L it a long time ago I got to hear up yeah no I got it I got so what you have before before you is um the long and short of it is we replaced some canine vehicles um within the town and it was was actually um Lieutenant olofin that overseas K9 division that we actually put him out to other K9 handlers and you know um you're talking about cars that we typically would get you know Chief Al Laughlin knows about this you get Pennies on the dollar at the Town auction um the town is doing very well with the system that we
049came up of basically selling them to another department when we we're done with the use of them so it's the 2K9 Vehicles that's what you have in front of you um I know Zach is very pleased with this um thinks we did very well um and it just needs the board's approval for consideration oh yes yes um I uh think this is the most effective way to do it because like I says it's us it's usually you know like I says they're um all the vehicles um they're probably not costeffective to even maintain anymore you and they're no longer needed so I uh and I believe any funds that they get from this method as well which is a little more than you do if you had to auction them off could go back to
050the to the police department to pay for equipment or anything else well it goes in the general fund actually okay yeah and it was a lot more than we got in yeah the auctions sure so so unless Tom wants to say unless I Tom you have anything You' like to add no just that the funds do go back to the general fund I think that this was a an Innovative approach to try try to see if um the town could recoup greater value um from agencies that you know otherwise frankly that their equipment is uh in in poor shape um and this will at least put them in modum of uh some decency as far as uh the safety of the vehicle um the vehicles that we're um trading out you know we uh cut
051from them what we expected to as far as the life of the vehicle and what we expected as far as performance and Patrol so um I believe one of them may be vehicle that we actually drive um when a K9 Officer transferred to us that we purchased from that department um Lo so um we're doing pretty much what they did and uh I want to congratulate the chief because I I do believe he's bringing in a substantial amount of money compared to if you just went out and did uh bids you know SE seal bids you get Pennies on the doll so um good job Chief and uh I would second a motion to uh approve this ahead and make Mo a motion to yeah sure a motion to allow Chief to will sell the
052vehicles that were listed in in in the letter sent to attorney balani for this request and I Che before I make that unanimous just for the general public we're talking about a 2018 Ford Explorer and a 2020 Ford Explorer this being 2025 and those vehicles used in Patrol they're tired and ready to go sure so I would gladly make that unanimous roll fall I I and I as well thank thank you very much Chief thanks thanks Chief that's it right have a great night okay than gentlemen thank you thank you see you [Music] okay our next agenda item under scheduled appointments is our fire chief chief Nelson and our deputy chief the tor good evening gentlemen good evening good evening hello all right so it's it's budget time again but I just want to take
053a moment uh on the police cruisers we've been the beneficiary of three now um which I know has saved the town money because of our admin staff and the fire you know fire prevention duties and we have an administrative captain now so we're using former police cruisers we you know we delet them and and restripe them red and um for very low cost you know those cruises continue to run so and you know not on patrol obviously you know less emerging activities but um you know a great deal for us so so I appreciate good to hear I appreciate that um it is budget season right so I want to bring you back to last well fy2 in the beginning we talked about some projects some programs that that we wanted to achieve and we
054got great support and I really appreciate it I want to tell you where we are um we have established the the fire Captain's positions and we have promoted lieutenants so now at both firehouses we have supervisors Around the Clock um it it took a while to to get the captain established you know through civil service and writing the job descriptions and and all that uh you know all the paperwork um but it's now you know almost permanent because they have to go through testing with civil service everything just takes time um but I want to tell you that our operation is night and day now and I'm not exaggerating that it we we're able to run two incidents at a time um we're able to be more efficient and separate you know the on duty
055staff to to do different things and it I just want to tell you that that support really paid off it it has been tremendous and I think the thaty chief would gr very good um so that was part of the program part of the project that that we wanted to achieve the other part of that uh was increasing the minimum Staffing during the day and we we wanted to get to you know where we could run seven firefighters and two supervisors around the clock for most of this fiscal year we've we've done that during the day but dropped down at night and that was to conserve overtime because that's basically how this is funded is through overtime so we were we were um we agreed on a set amount of money on on an overtime
056increase at the beginning of the fiscal year and we were using that conservatively to make sure that we got through the year there's been some staffing changes some retirements and now we're at the point right around beginning of March right beginning of March that we're running that Staffing Around the Clock M so the nine that I'm looking for the seven firefighters and the two supervisors we're doing that around the clock and if we have another person on duty right um if we're at our full compliment and then there's just that one more but the key is minimum during the day is 7 with two and we've been able to staff the ladder truck around the clock with two people which is so much better were that was that was a concern for us as well
057Chief right and and so you know as a team we got together and you know we had to figure out something right we had to make it better we we did and I appreciate that so we we have the supervisors we have the seven with two around the clock right now what I'm looking for um is to you know increase the overtime Staffing money or overtime money to maintain that 7 with two next fiscal year and We Know by the numbers that we ran last year or the year that we're in before the money was appropriated we know we need $275,000 to do that around the clock we know that we know what the day shift cost and we know what the night shift costs um so we we need an increase of 275 in
058overtime to maintain the 7 with the two at a minimum around the clock for FY 26 that would be Priority One um that's what we feel is most important to continue mhm priority two and I think I have you have it in the hand out is to start to hire one firefighter a year for four years that would bring our shift compliments at maximum to 11 people and at minimum to nine people where we are now and by doing that we're effectively effectively going to decrease overtime um because there'll be that much that many more people on duty and it requires a certain amount to be out before I hire overtime so the more people on duty um with with less leave benefits the less overtime so that's that's priority to um and I just
059wanted to interject so when we have seven with two one of the one of the new response methods we want to try is to staff a second light duty rescue truck at ber Street and this would be done through what's called cross Staffing so I'd still maintain four people on duty at ber street but instead of taking the the fire engine um on a medical call the first vehicle for a medical would be this risk vehicle and we already have one makes sense right and you know I'm concerned about the cost of fire engines right now you know we're looking at one for the fall and you know just as a side it's we're looking at about $1.2 million wow so I'd like to reduce the wear and tear on those and use the you
060know the pickup truck model vehicle that we have uh for a fraction of the cost and um try to run things that way and by having the minimum Staffing of you know the seven firefighters that keeps it standardized from day and night I don't want to run it one way during the day and another way at night I want to standardize the response um so basically we're looking for overtime money possibly hiring one firefighter and um and I want to see what you thought about that deputy chief anything you'd like to say uh the chief pretty much in but one of the main things before we had the reshuffle the ratio for fir FR is out before we had higher overtime was three previously and now it's two um and in some cases one per
061shift as we navigate through the promotion but when we're back to normal it it puts us at two but by hiring eventually we'll get back to our old ratio so thank and I would say that if we could if we could approach the maximum complement of nine firefighters on a shift with two supervisors we would be well protected okay it's it's approaching a standard we're trying to reach we haven't gotten there even with even with you know 11 people on a shift we will be approaching that standard but we won't be there every day but we're but it's definitely a positive step we have to look at that thank you yeah Michael thank you uh Chiefs what what you're saying makes a heck of a lot of sense and like I said the main crucial
062role of both police fire as well as the select bers is to makeing sure that our residents well-being and health and safety is protected at all times this sounds like a good plan for you what I liked was the part that you're only going one Higher per year for four years which you know makes it a little more easy to to take you know as as tax payers um but um uh like I said the uh main thing to me i' I'd like to have you go full full full steam ahead but like uh Tom was mentioned and Mike was was mentioning too it's you know the the times are tough right now and like I said I'd love to get the approval in the in in in in in the okay from Finance you
063know Zach and uh um um the the other two two of my board members wants to hear from Zach because that plays a crucial role too in whether other departments like I told Chief tsino you know we don't want other departments to you know to uh uh be hindered either you know when they when they off for some pretty good services to the town is as well but like I said safety and and and security is very important to us and we'll do what we can for you you know I can tell you that but like I said I'd like to hear from Zach as well like we told Chief Tazo uh let's digest this let's any questions we have we can call um uh uh the two chiefs or or Robbie uh for what
064we uh help us to make this decision and also hear from from Zach okay thank you Tom um I I have a question Chief how much do we spend in overtime now as far as just trying to maintain uh shift step in other words we're increasing the request is 275,000 what are we spending now so we started the project um of promotions late because we were delayed with the captain so that started in o October of 24 um October November of 24 right with with uh so at that point uh you know that's being tracked by the deputy and we were at $56,000 I believe um for the day shift and it would have been uh 70,000 do I have that right for the night yeah to this point yes right to this point so
065for basically 5 months it was 120,000 that we were that we were going uh that that we should have spent we didn't spend that because we weren't running the night shifts we were just tracking it to see where we would be so totaling all that together through the fiscal year so far you know last U when we were presenting this project we thought we would need 375,000 we got roughly $100,000 to put towards the project and we're pretty much right on with with the other with the additional 275 to make the 375 so we we figure we have 100 if we maintain the overtime uh funding another 275 will put us there the I'm I'm very happy to hear hear about the lad truck um to run one firefighter on a ladder truck is dangerous
066abur I mean to suggest that that person is going going to stabilize that vehicle and start to run lines to you know put water to that vehicle and all the rest of it one person it's not going to happen um you're asking them too much of them and keep in mind you know where the structures in town we have more and more buildings that are greater than two stories and more coming so you know to have one person on a lad truck I found it to be dangerous not only for the firefighters which I believe it is um but as well for the general public so I'm very very happy uh to hear that that's been addressed um I do want to remind the board that the Chief came in with a proposal the past
067couple of years and when we arrived the town meeting there were changes in uh budgetary circumstances where he had a forego parts of his plan that this board approved so just to keep that in mind that I believe that his proposal that he's coming in before us is not new it's simply he's regathering the facts and circumstances as he presented them to the board into town meeting um and he was Will to forego um pressing I'll put it in that term that I would use pressing that we meet the needs that he had presented and we agree to so um this is not a new proposal to look to hire one fighter fighter over a period of four years and even doing that I agree with my colag Paul mazak Kelli that I think that
068also shows um the strength of the chief's conviction his understanding of the budgetary concerns of the community um his willingness to spread things and and he was willing to do that from the beginning so I just didn't want us to institutionally forget the fact that um what he's presenting tonight is not new um it's something that we already approved and he was willing to forego some things for period of time so but I again as was mentioned by my colleague Paul mazak Kelli I I do think it's very important that we do have a conversation with Zach Taylor so that we have a better understanding of what he sees coming or not coming and I think that's going to be hard to predict um and likewise with ran Murray in his position as a state
069breath but uh I you know Chief and deputy chief I thank you um for bringing this information forward as I did uh the police chief so that uh we have a clear understanding and I think that you've articulated um exactly what going to take place and your thoughts of using a vehicle that we already have as contrasted to an engine as the backup on Rescue calls um I think in the long term is going to save this community a lot of money um given the value of engine so I'll leave it at that and and I you already took enough time thank you gent thank you thank you thank you Tom You Know Chief I just want to make a point you know you make reference to the the number of calls in a 24-hour
070period a month ago I was involved in a meeting at at the hospital on a Monday and it came up that on Sunday prior day there were over a 100 patients inside the emergency room forget the number of people that were in the waiting area and people were actually walking out of the emergency room it was so overwhelmed um the reason I bring that up is that one of the nurses was saying that people don't realize the number of ambulances that are backing into the back of the building and I bring that up because the number of Ulin that are coming with citizens from Milford always are considered a medical call from the fire department so in one day in one day in one instance we had over 100 people inside the emergency room with
071ambulances still coming now I understand covid flu the four viruses that are going on medical calls is what I'm getting at and it's overwhelming it's overwhelming to the hospital to the emergency room it's overwhelming to our fire and police departments that are responding to these calls and so I I again I go back to what I said to the police chief we have a responsibility to make sure that our departments that are providing Public Safety have the tools that they need to do that you know when you came before us and you told us that you know the ladder truck was going out with one firefighter I'd have everything I could do to drive that with five firefighters you know but now you get to the scene of a fire and you know we talked
072about leveling and this and you know we corrected it so you know I commend you for for coming you know to us and to select minol Laughlin's Point really this is something you've already proposed to us before the question that I have for you though is one question that I have under your uh example priority two if you add that one firefighter do you have an idea what the impact would be to your overtime budget so we were we were looking at it if we had four if we had hired if we have four new firefighters what would the impact be on the overtime would it decrease it by 100,000 would it decrease it by 200,000 it's got to be in that ballpark so one firefighter is only 25% it's only that person is going
073to be assigned to one of four shifts so it it really only impacts one out of four I it takes a little while I'll say roughly eight months to get somebody onboarded through the fire academy and where they count as Staffing so so we we have to kind we have to we we're responsible for that salary right it's not it's not going to decrease overtime for that eight months but I can only see it as a positive impact right it's going to decrease the amount I'm not quite sure I hate to put a dollar figure on it we just know that once the project is complete if approved down the road it will decrease over time okay and the reason I bring that question up is I and not in a negative way it's just
074that you know if in fact you know after we talked to you know Zach Taylor and the finance committee and we did decide to move forward with hiring you know the first year one firefighter it really is not going to have an impact on the overtime budget so I want that I I want people to understand you know again not in a negative way I don't want them to say well you know if they got their hands on this report it's going to cost us roughly $115,000 to add a firefighter you know I don't want people out there saying well that should cut the overtime budget by you know over 100,00 no that is not going to be the case because it takes time to get that person trained get him you know into the
075line of duty and so I just want to be clear with that that we're still going to be dealing with our overtime situation which we have to we have to provide the Staffing to handle you know what the fire department is dealing with in our community agre you know and to your point adding that one firefighter is a positive step in the right direction that's all right yeah so I I I commend you for that so um you know I I I agree with you know um selectman maak Kelly selectman ol Laughlin selectman olafin makes a great point we don't know what's coming from the state so we need to keep our State Rep involved um we need to have a discussion with Zach Taylor I can tell you personally I'm with you 100% um
076you know I'm in town pretty much all day long I witness what's going on um I commend you for trying to use the rescue vehicles instead of the the fire engines but I also understand that there are times you have to use sure the fire engine but you know I I I commend both of you for looking at that looking at ways to be you know saving you know funds for the community you know cuz ultimately you know that's where they come from they come from taxes you know so um again you know I agree let's you know I'm with you I like your proposal very well done again you know when I saw that number over 16 calls on a 24-hour period I'm like wow you know how do you do that with the
077staff you know but you you know we do it you do it every single day so thank you very much and you know let's get Zach Taylor involved and we'll move forward okay all right thank you okay and then we have you on as well for Mutual Aid yes so we have mutual Aid agreements um in our fire within our fire district so we belong to um Massachusetts fire district 14 that's our number and so everybody in that in those 23 um cities and towns we have mutual Aid agreements with that that are written that are signed there are some others that we do not have written agreements with um that we would like to establish and I began that process through uh through a form a template a mutated you know agreement from one
078of our neighbors um that attorney Marin and attorney um bani looked over and and approved and I'm just looking for the board's approval to go forward with those Mutual Aid agreements in writing one of them um is Medway yeah and I had also approached Upton and mendan um for written agreements um just to just to have it solidified and for licensing purposes for there are neighboring towns too right I mean very convenient makes perfect sense we're just looking for your approval for that motion to approve the the mutual Aid agreement it also combines other resources not not one municipality has every resource imaginable so therefore by you know sharing and and and using other municipalities they may have a resource that we don't have you know so that helps you know improve public health and
079safety and I make a motion that we approve the mut could you just add in there giving me the authority to sign the agreement so we can get it that's how it was done up giving me the authority to sign yeah right okay then give give uh Town Administrator try balani um authority to sign the agreement for us as well I would second that I just remind the board um the tanker truck that we picked up that goes Offroad MH Into the Woods I believe it came from came from mway yes it did one of them right the it was like a real old one right but it still ran it's never too old of it carrying water that's true that's for sure that's my motto and you second that Tom I most certainly do
080and I will make that unanimous roll call please I I I as well thank you very much very well done thank you thank you than you very good job thank thank you very very [Music] much than next agenda item the cwnter administrator's report yes thank you Mr chairman three items tonight one I'm very pleased to report the the new flooring project at Town Hall is now completed I think you've all seen it it includes carpeting of all offices uh vinyl laminated flooring in the first floor common areas and we also were able given the nice uh low bid that we were able to replace the stair treads on the stairways uh special thanks to facilities director Carlos Benjamin and maintenance Supervisor Jay vas they were the two primary uh people overseeing uh what I call
081a very successful project um I'm also happy to report with we've received final confirmation from State Rep uh sen state senator excuse me Becca Rous that the town will be receiving an earmark in the amount of $20,000 this will be used to make needed repairs to the sprinkler system here at Town Hall so I want to thank her for her work and effort in securing the earmark for the town and then finally I have been notified by Tyler Newall he's the legislative director for the emergency assistance and livable communities there is a planned closure of the Milford Best Western in as an emergency assistance family shelter it's scheduled to be closed no later than Wednesday December 31st so the end of this year this is part of the state's efforts to phase out the use
082of hotels as emergency assistant shelters by the end of this year in the coming months uh the organization called making opportunities count they will continue to support families with case management and to secure permanent housing it is their shared goal to support as many families as possible to exit at the shelter system into stfe safe stable housing prior to it closing so we our plans in place for the transition that's all I have tonight Mr chair good to hear PA any questions for no just to thank uh Carlos and and and and Mr vase for their supervision because they this company did do a fantastic job on nice job very pleased yes Tom I I have no comment on I thank you RI for the information thanks and again if I could Echo uh selectman
083maak Kelly's comments please thank Carlos and and Jason vas if you came into town hall when the carpet was being done and you saw everything in the hallways and the boxes and the furniture and it was quite a job and and and to you as well uh Rick thank you very very much for a job well done thank you and it's encouraging to hear that the state is working towards an end date uh for the use of the hotels particularly in in our community but all communities around the state that's a positive so thank you very very much thank you okay next agenda item is old business does anybody have any old business no Tom I do and I I do not I do not as well so the next is new business and we
084do have a uh common vehicular license uh request from uh saber day Tiara auu Incorporated which is looking for a common Vic license um it's located at a business 296 Main Street in Milford their operation hours are Monday through Sunday 5:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. uh we do have a department head review form and the Building Commissioner uh CB Zone occupancy load is 60 building and restrooms are accessible the town planner is okay no change of actual use Town treasure collector there are no outstanding leans the fire chief has no objections the police chief has approved it as well and the Board of Health has no violations and again this is a request for a common vular license uh located at 296 Main Street and it's SA B de Tierra ACU Incorporated and with that
085I'll ask for a motion a motion Mr chair to approve the common V's application for saber D meteria um uh for a new common V's license the business is located at 296 Main Street Milford and all paperwork is in order and I make a motion that we approve it I second and I would make that unanimous next on a new business roll call I'm sorry I I I as well thank you thank you and next on a new business Town Administrator the award of the contract for installing showers and lockers at the police station yeah this is something we were able to do because again we received a very good uh bid for the demolition of the lockers and such at the uh police station so we're going to be able to uh do a
086little additional work uh we did send out uh three requests for quotes only one uh responded that was Fox painting Inc company Inc and the quote amount is 48,000 [Applause] okay motion Mr chair to approve the bid for the installation of shers at Milford Police Station to Fox Painting Company Incorporated at 2 at 26a Woody Hill Road Hope Valley Rhode Island for a qu of $48,000 and I would make that and I would make that unanimous roll call please I I and I as well and again under new business we have the Town Administrator uh article three recommendations yeah before you are the article three recommendations um I'm believing the Personnel Board is uh going to give 3% to other Personnel the recommendation here would be 3% again we'll look at it in the overall
087budget but that would be the recom recommendation yeah uh Mr chair recommendation to approve um the um article three for full-time and part-time uh employees at um 3% uh that was uh um brought by the uh Personnel Board second and I would make that unanimous with a roll call vote please I I and I as well okay next agenda item is invitation to speak seeing nobody in our audience tonight is there anybody online no one online and so there is nobody online so we do not have anybody for invitation to speak next agenda item is correspondence Paul do you have any correspondence no I do not Mr chairman not this time Tom I do not Mr uh I do I receive correspondence from the mwta which is the bus authority MH um that runs the
088buses here in Milford that you see running around um with the help of Jim NE who's the administrator of the MW which is located in Framingham he submitted for a grant to enhance the bus service uh within our community um to allow for um the best way to describe it is it's kind of almost like a an Uber service where people are going to be able to request um particular times and days that they need to be picked up um because they can't you know necessarily get to the the bus stops um Jim submitted for the grant it was awarded to us uh we're in the process or I should say he's in the process right now of getting a meeting with the senior sener but you know the commission on disability all the people
089that are involved all the people that will be using this enhanced service to our bus service in this community and then there'll be a a meeting within our community but it's good news because um I was in a meeting over a year ago um with uh Jim and representatives from the community and it was really you know they were strongly recommending that we come forward with something to you know service individuals that needed enhanced you know services with other than the general for example the bus stops here at Town Hall Stop and Shop um they needed more you know um uh they needed more service individually I guess is a way to put it uh prioritize services and this grant is going to allow us to do that so that's good news um and that's
090all I have thank you Michael and uh we did have an executive session this evening it has been cancelled um so there is no executive session this evening even though it is listed on our agenda again I go back to saying it has been cancelled so with that I would ask a motion to adjourn our meeting motion Mr chair to adjourn I second then Mr chairman I would make that unanimous with a roll call please I I and I as well and with that we say good evening thank you very much for your patience earlier when we put a little delay in our meeting to take some pictures with the officer that received a prestigious award again thank you for your patience thank you for watching and we hope that you have a nice rest
091of the week thank you good night