Selectboard Meeting (October 15th, 2025)

001Good evening and welcome to the October 15, 2025 select board meeting. I call this meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live by WACA TV and livereamed on Facebook. Remote participation is available using the Zoom video conferencing platform. Any disruption with the video conferencing platform will result in the platform being shut down. In the event of this disruption, broadcasting will continue on WACA TV and livereamed on Facebook. Good evening everyone. And right now I will ask for anybody that's here this evening or watching on on Zoom if we have citizens participation, anybody uh that's here for citizen participation, please come on up to the podium, identify yourself and you have the floor. Hold on one second, Mark. We need There you go. There you go. Now, now we can

002hear you. >> Okay. No more sign language. Okay. >> No sign language. >> Good evening, Mark. It's only 1119 Main Street. >> I am would like to ask through the whole select board for about a town result so far about the 40B projects. I know it's on the agenda and the um idea of how the how the town's running with all the equity waiverss and stuff like that his own board went through last night. Is it going to be still state run or is it going to be town in um influenced? When you say staterun, Mark, I'm a little questionable as what do you mean by state run? >> How much does the state have an input to our bylaws? >> Well, if they they passed the 40B rules and regulations, so apparently uh those

003supersede our bylaws. So, that should answer your question. It doesn't. And it hasn't changed, but it's trying. It It's not exactly helping this town with what it is right now because last night's um zoning board, they had they had the um mill building and they had the um the Waverly Street one on last night. They had the waiverss and I was I says, "No, this that was there's a lot of state input that's in those." And that's just want to make sure that the town is going to be the recipient of these and hopefully the town can be comfortable with the state because the state is not making it comfortable with the town's citizens. >> Well, at one point 135 was uh run and operated uh by the state. Now we have taken that over.

004So I don't know how the state's going to get involved on on a project that's on Route 135 which we have control over. not like 126 where the state has compliance of of of the roadway and has the has their uh responsibilities for maintaining that that road. So >> well the not the road itself but that project that's there is a 40B. >> It it is a 40B. So the same the the same regulations that are up being upheld now for 1060 will be similar to what's at 61 wavely street. I don't see much difference between the between those regulations and the current regulations that are being uh you know bypassed. So it's going to be the way it is no matter how the town reacts. It's going to be a state basically run. >>

005No, go ahead. Elan. >> So, so Mark, a couple things to clarify. So, 40B is a state law as to how you can how housing can be created and how developers can be allowed to come into your community to build housing. right now and I have not been following the ZBA quite as much as I know other members of the board have. What happens is the our ZBA has our guidelines but they also have guidelines from the state and my understanding is last night at the ZBA they were going through some of the issues that we were hoping to get some waiverss on because of what's going on in Ashland. So I think the state when you say the state they're not necessarily actively involved in the program right there's not someone from the state

006going okay you have to do this x y and z but there are guidelines from the state that we are working with that the developer comes in with that we then and our zba work and hopefully can create a project that works as best as it can for Ashland that I mean if that's what you mean by the state I think that's where we're at. I don't think there I I I could be wrong, but I don't think personally there's anyone spec one person from the state >> coming and watching our ZBA meetings to make sure we follow the guidelines. I think our lawyers and their lawyers are making sure things are happening. But I think that's the extent of the state involvement at this point. >> And that what happened last last night with

007doing the waiverss of GBA and the the lawyer that was here, the council that was here was is is our council, but he has to go by what the state guidelines are too. Yes or no? >> Well, go ahead. you you were paying for. >> So last night basically what happened was they our ZBA went through the waiverss that they've requested because they have to still request waiverss of our bylaws, right? Um and so we have to have good reason to not allow them to wave certain things. And so what LA happened last night was they just reviewed each of the waiverss that they've requested. Um and then what happens is our ZBA will respond about on each of those waiverss and in some cases they'll put conditions in place um based on what the

008waiver is requesting. And some of the waivers are just very um you know administrative. They're just a matter of kind of checking a box. But some of them are very substantive that needs to be um responded to and we have to think about what the impact of that waiver is to the community and um to whatever that waiver is addressing. You know, we have bylaws for a lot of different reasons, right? And they are to protect the community and the people in the community. Um and so um >> with the public safety matters being one of the top priorities when it comes to conditions. So anyway, so that so that's what'll happen next is um maybe the ne the next ZBA meeting there might be some more questions regarding um the waiverss before um we

009will then adjourn that hearing. That hearing is set to be adjourned at the 10:28 um 25 meeting um at which time then that they'll start a clock ticking for us that we have 40 days to respond to the waiverss and put conditions um if we so choose. And um and so that we'll have 40 days from that closing of the hearing. >> And my main my main part of that is the conditions. How far can they go if they put if the ZVA puts them in? How far can it how far can it be a person p a good thing to keep in or is the state law going to overgo the conditions? >> Well, the contractor has a right to appeal any decisions that are uh that are put on any of the conditions

010that are put on this project. So, if he wants to take that and go into the legal aspect of it, he has a right to do that. >> Yeah. mass he can appeal it to mass housing but I think there's a a fine line to walk with the conditions in terms of making sure that you know we can that there's that they're so strong on our end any conditions we put in place that we we actually stand a chance of having them um you know live through an appeal with the mass housing and we could we also even walk the fine line, right, of um making conditions kind putting conditions on there that are kind of weak and maybe are just a matter of trying to make the project become uh uneconomical for the developer.

011In which case, then we could kind of lose our ability to make any adjustments to the project and allow him to kind of go forward exactly the way he wants. So, it's kind of a fine line that we walk. If I I don't know, Michael, if you want to I think that was a pretty accurate take. It's um you know, I think it what the developer has to make a decision on when a condition or when a decision is issued with conditions that they don't agree with is they have to the technical term is they it has to make the project uneconomical. uh for them and so they're required to make that case before the HAC and show how a condition is you know either un um I don't want to say impractical I don't

012think that's the that's the standard but um you know whether or not it it makes the financing of the project uneconomical that's the key >> and then Mike and then from that would be how ethical is it for that this town itself, but the developer can step up and go to mass housing court and have a hearing and that would almost cancel out the economic things for this town, how the housing would think about it. >> Yeah. I mean, Mark, I think, you know, you use the term ethical, and I'm I'm from what I've seen so far, I'm not necessarily sure ethics uh have much of a role in 40B. Um if it feels that way sometimes. Um but yeah. >> Yep. And that's why that's why I've been handing things over, writing things down,

013passing things in to the town hall here. My thoughts that um the town is going to be outgrown and with traffic and housing authorities can rule over traffic conditions in their hearings. Let's see what happens in the future. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mark. Appreciate your your concerns and your questions. Kathy, good evening. >> Good evening, everybody. Um, so I brought something that I found months ago when I was cleaning up in the front of my house and it's um I wanted to bring it in person because it's of great concern to me. It took me a couple of days to figure out why we should all be so concerned. I'm sorry I cleaned it off because it was a lot filthier when I found it. It was under a bunch of leaves. Is why

014don't we ever find them full? And I'll tell you, it's because if a kid finds them full, they get their friends and they go take a taste. find out how it tastes. The problem is is that these nips are everywhere in our town. It's an epidemic. I hear there was some guy who brought in like bags of them that they pick up. I'm I was really sorry to hear that because I would have saved all mine and brought my bags in because there's tons of them. So, for starters, we should be seriously lobbying whoever we need to lobby to get the state to recycle them because it's just trash and plastics. This one happens to be glass, but that's a rarity these days. Um, we need to put up um signs at all the entrances

015to our town of the state finds for trash because trash is an insane epidemic in this town, too. People just go along. I hear it when my windows are open in the summer. I can hear it hitting the road. I'm like, "Oh, great. There'll be something out there when I walk the dog." Nine times out of 10, there is something out there. And it's mostly fast food. So, we need to really talk to every single one of those businesses and get them to put signs up. Dispose of your trash properly. And the nip bottles, I mean, that's something where they're disposing of the fact that they're drinking and driving. They don't want to get caught with that stuff at all in their car, so they throw it out. And there's no good way to do

016it other than to ban them in town. And I'm sure every single liquor store is going to screech and yell about it because they make a lot of money on them. So somewhere in here, we got to have a, you know, a better way to deal with this because this is this isn't Yeah. This uh subject was brought up a while back and we did some research and I believe there's one or two towns that had uh NIP um restrictions, non- sales in in their town. And I and I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but why I'm want to think Chelsea was one of the towns that was um that has a bylaw that says, you know, no sale of of NIPS. >> Everybody I talked to in every town that does

017is involved in trash cleanup, whether formally or informally, >> we all talk about the NIPS because that's the ubiquitous thing that we all find in every town. So, I I just think it's kind of a no-brainer to put up trash signs. The state fines are pretty hefty, actually. I think we should be putting them up at at the entrances. We have entrances. We have signs at the entrances to the town for other things. So, that's number one. Number two is the road I live on, Fountain Street, is a scenic road and it might as well be a super highway. We should call it the Fountain Street Freeway at this point. the amount of truck traffic in particular, tractor trailers, 20footers, straight jobs they call them, and then otherwise trucks with trailers is incredible. And they

018go by at a great rate of speed. Morning rush hour, evening rush hour, it's noisy, it's uncomfortable, and it is not pleasant. And same is true for the cars. We all are like guilty of, you know, being late and speeding to make up for time. We got to lower the speed limit out there. And honestly, when you come into downtown, there's one blinking light too close to downtown. And before that, the speed limit is 35 miles an hour. And people go, "Oh, I can drive 35 down here." here and then all of a sudden it's like and half the people are still going faster than the 25 miles hour you want them to in downtown because of where that sign is should be at the conquered street fountain street bridge intersection >> which is 30

019>> um speed bumps speed humps they're doing they're doing I know you say no but >> I say no because I'm on the traffic study committee and I can tell you that the DPW and not just the DPW W. But the fire department >> has issues with speed bumps. >> We I'm sure they do. I can see where the fire department had issue with that. >> But I got to tell you, in places in other towns, they work miracles. And people don't have to be afraid to drive out of their own driveways. So, I've lost two recycling bins this year. One of them got stolen and the second one got destroyed because somebody hit it. And that's crazy stuff. That's why I leave it out at the end of my driveway now. Check the cars

020out there because hopefully somebody will hit that and selforrect before they whack one of the cars. We did have a car hit at one point. Um but we got to do something. It It's an epidemic. And the people who live on my street, whether they're Republican or Democratic, one thing that unites them is the speed. They want something done about it. >> Well, they are doing traffic. They they are doing radar and unfortunately um during those rush hours that you have mentioned uh there are other parts of town that feel the same issues that you have and we're limited with the number of officers that we can put out there um to to slow traffic down. >> Well, it has nothing to do with signs and you can put 20 mph signs, 25 mph signs,

021and they'll slow that rate of speed. But the 25 mph signs means that when they're going 40 and above, they're at 15 mph plus. And that gives them um violations on their license that lasts for years. >> Even a 10 m an hour is over is still $20. >> Joe, we don't have to just sit here and not do anything. We got to do something. >> Can can I ask can I jump in here? I just have a question. First off, Kathy, thanks for coming and talking about some of these issues. I I actually see a lot of these issues where I live too and it's it's an issue. Um you know I think rather than try to solution here on the spot um I think that you know it might be best for us

022to try to figure out like you know what can be done do some hopefully some creative problem solving. I don't think we're going to solve these issues here tonight, but but >> and that that's huge, but but these need to be addressed and examined and and you know, like I said, your your your neighborhood is suffering from this. My neighborhood has a lot of s similar issues. I'm wondering if we can try to get try >> traffic study committee is the is the u the appropriate committee where Kathy should come forward, okay, and sit down with those issues. And that was one of the things I was going to bring up but I think let you spoke first. >> No I mean and that's exactly you know that's that's a good start like you know

023basically trying to figure out like where we can solution this where we can solution and get and have more in-depth conversation and try to figure out something you know um it might not be speed bumps it might be something else it may not be 247 traffic enforcement you know might be signing it might >> yeah but it might be yeah but it might be a a number of things and that we haven't we have not yet discussed. So, you know, going to traffic enforcement might be a good, but thank you so much for coming and telling us about this cuz like I said, I know that you're not the uh only resident who's experiencing some of these issues. >> Yeah, it it's really it's uncomfortable to walk on the street out there. Weekends are more

024pleasant, but I mean, it's it's noisy. It's there's untold amounts of air pollution, noise pollution, you know, it's just it's unnecessary. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. I would also suggest you uh draft off an email to Chief Rossi with respect to some of your concerns that you have and she can forward those down to uh roll call to make sure that officers are out there doing, you know, individual speed uh speed radar uh details throughout the throughout the morning hours and evening hours. And maybe maybe Michael can talk to the chief a little bit too about that. >> That would be great. >> And then just one other suggestion in regards to the NIPS. For it to really make any difference, it's going to have to be a state issue >> because if

025we ban them here in Ashland, they're going to get them in other communities and then we're just penalizing our liquor retailers for something people can get in other towns. >> And I think that's a great point, Yolanda. And also when we had that discussion before Joe um that's the other thing like we don't know if people are actually buying them in town and disposing them in town like there could be you know that nip traffic especially on the main thoroughares are coming from outside of town most likely people you know drinking and throwing in proc progress so um yeah I agree with you 100% Yolanda I think if we're going to do something about the nip situation and really solve it it's really a state issue but that's something we should take >> that's that's

026probably a topic that we can bring up at our legisl ative meeting. >> Yeah. >> Well, the other piece that you don't know is that I frequently find coffee cups from Honeydew or Dunkin Donuts or the other one, Starbucks, and bottles, same bag, smell the coffee cups, they've had liquor in them. >> I'm sure. So, I'm guessing that a bunch of that might be coming from out of town, but I think a a another significant portion of it is coming from our town. >> And in part, they're getting rid of the evidence. They might have it in a a a water bottle or some other thing in their car, >> you know, and it it's a problem for us, but we got >> it's a problem for everybody, not just Ashley. Other regional towns have

027experiencing the same issues. We're not we're not uh >> No, we're not alone. Thank you. >> And if I remember correctly, I think the state was pursuing a um a bill that had a um a deposit on NIPS. >> Oh, yeah. >> And that was the that was how they were um hoping to address it, >> but we haven't but to Joe's point, we haven't gotten an update on that. So, we can we can >> Do you know who was sponsoring it? >> I don't know who was sponsoring it, but >> I don't know how either. I think >> I'm getting a echo here. Um I think it was in the House. Um I think Representative Lewis >> um I'm not >> supported it, but I don't think it was his >> I don't know

028if he I don't know if he um >> I don't think he was a part of >> he wasn't the um >> he wasn't the author of it. >> Yeah, but >> Okay. But I'll find out see what's going on because >> it's time we got to do something. >> Yeah. >> So, thank you. Oh, >> thank you for bringing up those concerns. And that's something that we are not uh unfamiliar with unfortunately. But thank you. Okay. 7:30 or 7:25. Um we have a few minutes before our 8:00 appointment. So if you would like, I would uh skip down to the consent agenda and I'll ask Sure. We we could do that. I figured we could do the consent agenda. That's real quick on this list. >> I'll second that. >> All those in favor?

029>> I That's 5 Z. >> And sorry, I did not have my mic on, but hopefully I was loud enough. [Music] >> There we go. Now my mic is so close that I have reverb. So, okay. Let's see. Discuss the capital plan. We will go for it. Go for it. All right. So, we received approximately $11 million worth of requests for FY26. Um, and we're estimating uh about $1.2 million for capital. We do not have our free cash number yet, so this is again just an estimation. Um, and so you guys should have uh two spreadsheets. Um, and so I'll explain. We're going to look at the one that's highlighted green and and gray. So we used a project scoring. Yeah. I don't I don't know. Let's see. Susan, share that. >> Yeah, I'm working

030on it right now. Can I share the ability? You want to do that? Sure. >> While we're getting this ready, Kathy, I will email you our next uh meeting, roadway traffic study committee meeting. Uh I believe it's in two weeks. and I'll I'll send an email to you where it is and what time. >> So, if you want to be present for that, you're more than welcome to join us. >> Okay, I'll get it from her. >> Ready? >> Yep. >> Okay. All right. So um what we did is we used a project scoring matrix that's that was developed by the Collins Center to evaluate the capital requests and then we asked each department who had projects to rate their um projects in uh order of priority and then what we did is we incorporated

031both of those scores into a weighted overall score and we we were trying to reduce um subjectivity. Um and then we re reviewed the list to remove the projects that could be funded through other sources. So what you see in gray are the ones that are removed from the list because we had other funding sources other than uh capital and the ones in green uh were the ones that we were um putting forth for appropriation. We focused on projects that were under 200k for funding consideration and then projects over 200k we would require some further discussion and could possibly require some sort of bothering uh borrowing either excluded or non-excluded debt. Um and so we'll just sort of walk through from the top. So, $400,000 for roadway. Um, that was put forth by DPW. And

032the next one is $40,000 for the high school theater riggingly system. So, this is um during one of their inspections, the rigging system. So, this is where they hang their scenes um failed and so this would be to replace that. Um, >> Katherine, before you go on, I just had a quick question about the roadway with the sidewalks. So, is that amount what we typically like allocate from capital for for sidewalks and roadway or is that more or like I because I assume we have money that we put aside every year for that. >> We do. I believe last year we were close to this number. Um, >> it was close to this. And then you also have chapter 90 funding. >> Okay. So, in chapter 90 has been about 450 a year, 450,000. Um,

033I think they've doubled it this year, although I'm not sure if we've received our allocation yet, but you know, just to kind of give you some context. So, if you look at the 400,000 here and let's just say 450,000 for um chapter 90 money, you know, that's what 850,000. It costs about a million to do a fold out reconstruction for a mile of road. So it doesn't get you too too far. >> So will we So will we basically because I remember don't we like combine years for is it a chapter 90 money >> basically because of that so we get more bang for our buck. >> Yeah. Essentially so you you'll have like larger purchasing power. >> Yeah. you know, because you've basically rolled into two years of allocations worth >> and so yeah,

034you hope you get a better price just with economies of scale. >> Okay, so chapter 90 plus this 400 would be like our what we would spend this year and that's just sort of basic maintenance for this particular year. >> Do you have some I can jump in? >> Yeah. So, it would, you know, I talked to Doug a little bit and I know that we're still um in the draft phase of our um paving plan. Um but he mentioned, do you want to mention some of the roads? Sure. Um he mentioned, you know, some of the roads that um he was thinking in and so far in the draft plan were in poor condition, uh were Sudbury Road and Pine Hill Road, uh to name a couple. section of Winter Street. >> A section

035of Winter Street and then I can't read my handwriting, >> but that's what he gave me for sort of a a preliminary like what we would start with based on the draft. >> Would it be possible once this is re you know sort of resolved that I know like this past year they did a bunch and and people were notified after the fact once we have the funding and and could we be told can we notify people beforehand that this is what we're planning on doing? Would that be possible? Yeah. Um, for sure. Okay. For sure. I just I don't >> I thought we were I thought we >> I mean I think as we were starting stuff we heard about it, but I'm wondering if we could hear like rather than the week or

036two before it happens if like >> Gotcha. >> because this doesn't happen overnight. It has to be planned. So when it's planned, you know, a month or two before if we can get an update that says, "Okay, this is what we're looking to do and this is when we're going to do it." >> Gotcha. And >> a little more proactive for us. And the paving plan that you guys are working on, um, that's going to be a fiveyear plan. Is it a fiveyear plan? >> Believe it's a fiveyear plan. Yeah. >> So, we'll be able to see kind of like longterm, >> right? That would be good, too. >> Yeah. So, I think that would be great. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> All right. >> So, the four the $400,000 here is that's not

037the total amount. That is just the amount that we would be putting in. And then there's chapter 90 money that would go along with it. Do we know what the chapter 90 amount is at this point? >> Yeah. So, it used to be $450,000 a year, but it's should be 900,000 this year because I believe they doubled it. >> Okay. So, so we're looking at 1.3 million total. >> It would be Yeah. 1.3 million total if we did like spent our allocation, our entire allocation in one year. >> Okay. But current C currently we're looking to spend just $400,000 of that allocation or is it No, this is coming out of the general fund. >> The general fund. That's >> Yeah. >> In addition to >> I believe we are on dam maintenance. So >>

038which dam? >> Um so the dams are inspected and so this one was for Mill Pond. Um that came in as high hazard. So this would be um repairs to that dam. Um and we had the >> I'm sorry, Catherine. Is this the dam that's uh directly adjacent to the 1060 project? >> Okay. Maybe a point of clarification that maybe some sort of allocation could be >> made by the developer. >> Yeah. >> Certainly ask. >> Next we have the >> ask >> the middle school skylight railing. So, this is for the rooftop. So, when they have snow and whatnot, they're um rails that go around the skylights for safety. It's an OSHA requirement. Um, next is for a Toro lawn mower. This is 136 inch deck um for DPW for 125,000. Um, >> yes.

039It ain't a John Deere. >> No, it' be a Caterpillar. and then $48,000 um for flock cameras. So, these are cameras for our PD and um essentially would connect them with other towns that have flock cameras. Um and this would enhance public safety as well as um actively help in um police investigations. And I believe in 2024 it actually flock cameras assisted in um solving an armed robbery. So they they are um >> surveillance cameras. >> Yeah. >> Basically. >> Yep. Yep. And >> is that for I'm sorry. Go ahead. No. So those those are for cameras and the networking or just the camera is it what's that for specifically? So, the quote that they gave us, it was a total of eight cameras specifically for that would be in Ashland. Um, they're $3,000 per

040camera. Um, is this what you're asking for? Are you asking for more detail? Okay. Um, and then let's see. Then there's an implementation fee for each and then there's a yearly fee after that. So it's 48,000 for the first year and then 24 year after year >> and that's to stay within the system. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Yep. And they'll have used to cameras the flock cameras in other towns like it it it integrates with with all those. >> Do we already have some flock cameras in place? >> I don't think we do. And so if it's if it's possible and to um say publicly where would one of these cameras be for example I >> think the ones that we're talking about are downtown 135 and was there another >> look see when

041you say that they were used to help solve a crime not here in Ashland >> in another community because you just said we don't have these yet. >> Yeah. that this um >> so this is kind of a new initiative. This is kind of this because >> it sounds like it's >> this sounds like a new initiative. It doesn't sound like um these are replacing like or expanding like a local >> our local um camera uh local traffic cameras or anything like that. This is an entirely different >> local traffic cameras. >> Do we do we have do we current Yeah, we do. We do have local traffic cameras, but these are different. >> Um >> Right. These are interconnected through other municipalities. So, >> right, >> if there's an ongoing >> activity in one

042town, >> right? No, I get I get that that there. So, it's a system that obviously is being used in other communities. We're now looking to add and and bring this program to Ashlin. So, it's a new thing. It's a new program. They're new cameras. >> Okay. >> Just want to be clear on that. And the and the integration is it does it happen automatically by by our participation or does another town have to say we want to look at some video footage that was in Ashland on such and such a day and time question. >> Yeah. Yeah. I'd like to get some details on that too. I'm just curious to find out like what it is and how it works because it is a little bit of a different >> Yeah. It's a It's

043different than what we've been doing before. And I think residents would probably be very curious about what these cameras mean and how they would be used >> and and what branches of law enforcement might have access. >> Exactly. >> Okay. >> All right. So the next one is um the Warren School carpet removal and asbestous abatement for one of their rooms there and they will replace it with vinyl flooring for 18,000. Um that's one classroom. >> Yes. And I know I have the room here somewhere. Um >> surprised that wasn't done when they did it. >> I can tell you the numberest best. It's it's expensive to remove asbestous. >> Everything is self-contained. >> Yep. >> And the next one is uh 15,000 for the high school exter uh exterior elevator and their stand. So

044this has been down for a few years um and this would require some technicians to come out for 8 to 10 hours um and get it running again. Um, >> so basically it's maintenance, but we're handling it under capital or are they replacing it? >> And so this is for repair or replace. Um, it looks like they are saying find it hard that we're doing air work under capital. It's not handled in a maintenance or a So, it's been down since 2021. Um, and so this is a repair. Um, it will include battery replacement. Um, that's what it says. >> And is this the uh elevator at the uh turf field, the football field? Is it that is that the elevator? >> That's the only elevator there is at the high school is at the

045turf field. >> Well, there's elevators inside. >> Inside. Yeah. But this says in the grand stands, right? It says external Well, no. Exterior elevator in the grand stands. >> Yep. >> Okay. So, this is just a repair. >> Yes. >> Um, next >> a long time for it to be out of >> it. It's under a capital. >> Um, the next is the Ashlin High School rear entrance auto door and that's 25,000. And so right now it's not set up with auto openers um which it should have the um accessible the ADA openers um and they also want to put on a fob system and so this would be >> fob system for the whole building or just >> for those doors. Yep. >> Yeah. Um the next one is the heating um and what's

046the HVAC unit at the library for 32,000. So that unit is um has failed and so we need to replace the unit as it's one of the main units to supply heat and we're we're getting into cold season. Um the next one is the BMS system. And so this BMS system is actually at um a few buildings. And so we're looking to upgrade uh the town hall system. So this controls our HVA system. This is sort of like the brains of of what we um have here at town hall. And so right now the software and hardware is no longer supported. We need to replace it so that way we have a way to to control uh all those items. It says public from from the notes it says public safety building DPW substation lighting

047and garage controls. >> Yeah. So it does a lot of different things and so the main one that they want to do is actually here at town hall. It's the BM this is how the request was put in. Um but it is the BMS system here at town hall. They all need to be updated um in different buildings, but they want to start with the what they're calling the >> BMS stands for >> it stands >> building maintenance system. >> Thank you. >> Management or maintenance system. >> Yeah, it is on here somewhere. Thank you. Yeah, building management system. Uh the next one is the urban tree management plan. And so this is to create a um a plan for the trees a plan inventory risk assessment and then an urban forestry plan eventually for

048the trees in the right of way. So um and that Becca put together a pretty >> for the whole town >> plan >> for all trees and right ofways. >> It's a significant amount of them but it does cover the whole town. And this is um one of the reasons this is in here I think is if you remember as we were going through the comprehensive plan you know an urban tree management plan was part was part of the strategies that were outlined there. So >> what we're trying to do is we're starting to align or we're trying to start aligning some of our expenditures with more of the the strategic priorities that are that are listed as part of that. >> Great. Thank you. All right. Next is the new AV system at Ashlin

049High School for 137840. Does anyone have questions on that? >> Yeah. What does it include? >> Yeah, I was going to say is that >> hopefully a new projector. Hopefully a >> for the auditorium, right? >> Yeah. So, it's pretty >> Oh, they were having issues with their speakers and their sound systems and >> Yeah. They've actually been using a portable projector if you've noticed at our recent >> town meetings. Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah, they gave us a pretty comprehensive quote that includes everything. >> Okay. >> So, it's the new high school, but it's 20 years old. >> The new 20-y old high school technologies changed, you know, I mean, when it was put in, it had some deficiencies. So, >> so if these appropriations come into play in November, >> when will we start

050seeing these items being replaced or being worked on? you know throughout well you'll have to some of these have like a procurement process associated with them so you don't have to go through that even if it's just as simple as getting three quotes >> um and I think so there will be some time to do that obviously just with the personnel involved we're not going to be able to do everything at once but I would say through the course of 26 calendar year 26 probably going into calendar year 27 a you know, some of these things might need to be wrapped up. >> Thank you. >> Just that's the point time table. Yeah. >> All right. The next one is a tire machine for DPW. Um, so this would be able to replace tires small

051to large. So, right now, um, when we have the trucks that have the really large tires, we have to send them out. So, it takes the truck out of commission for a while. It also takes um you know a staff member out of the office for quite some time. Um so we're looking to to bring that in house to reduce that and and increase productivity. Um the next one is to replace the great room floor at the community center and that estimate was $45,000. Um so the last time the floor was replaced was in 2009. Um, apparently it's become it's um lifting up a little bit in places and they're gluing it down. Um, so it's potentially going to become a safety hazard. >> Was Was that part of the flood issue that we had

052>> uh in the recent >> No, it's on the other side of the building. >> On the other side. Okay. >> I have a question about that. Um uh was there some uh money allocated by the state for the community center um in this year's budget? And how does that how's that working with whatever amount you're proposing here? Is that I'm just kind of confused on like >> are you talking about the 125? You I believe that was specifically >> is that specifically for something? I'm just trying to >> the language is kept um I think pretty general in order to give us some flexibility, but the original intent was to help finish that p or do that patio. >> Okay, >> that was supposed to be on the side as you kind of walk

053in there. >> So, Rep. Lewis was able to get us $75,000. When we went out to go out to bid, it ended up being closer to like 150. >> So, we needed we needed some help, some extra help >> specifically for that. >> Yeah. But we did leave if you know, so we had 75 bid came in 150. So that's a $75,000 delta, but we got $125,000. I believe that was the amount in this latest year mark. So we needed to have some flexibility in the language if we had some money left over from the patio that we could use it for other things. >> Okay. >> Within the within the building >> within the within the community center. So, so what's that total amount there for the the green items there? >> Uh, that

054comes out to approximately 1.2 million.2 million. >> And we don't have our free cash number yet. >> No, not yet. >> No, we feel, you know, we feel like that's a safe number right now. Um there are a couple reimbursements that that we're still waiting to come in um that could maybe reduce that if they weren't in in time like according to the deadline that the state sets for free cash certification. So um that's just something that Stephanie and the state will have to kind of work through as they're going through the process. >> Any other questions? >> Okay. All right. So, >> so this will get presented at town meeting, but not it'll just be the full amount, right? You don't go into the detail of all these items. >> No, we will list

055the items, but it's not an individual vote on each one, >> right? It's a vote on the amount presented. Okay. >> And just as a reminder, what that does is that gives us flexibility. So, if we do go out, >> something goes over, something comes under, we can move around. Yeah. So, the um the other document that you guys had in the the packet on budget, are we going through that tonight, too? Or >> because that's more like a longer term >> Yeah. >> like how we're going to allocate capital for the next three or four. >> So, it's a fiveyear plan. So, when Yeah. When department heads put in their request, they fill it out for the next five years. So, I included that because I know you guys had asked for that information.

056>> For our for our information. Okay. >> Yeah. because it'll fluctuate pretty pretty significantly. >> No, that's good. That's good. So, so the things that are listed on here that aren't allocated this year are and I haven't compared it. So, but I assume they're in that five-year plan somewhere generally speaking. >> You mean the ones that we did not fund? >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, next year or coming up soon, I guess in January when we ask has to put in their requests, they'll put in the ones that they still need. Um, some will find other funding sources. >> Gotcha. >> Y >> So, are the the ones that were listed in green tonight, are were those taken out of the this uh five-year document or are they still in the fiveyear document still >>

057as well? >> They're listed. So, that document that you got is is all five years with no work done to it. I just pulled out the ones for FY26 to show you guys. >> And so when I look at it at it and I look at the the total number for FY26, um it, you know, it's 15 million. So we're running a little behind on that. So I'm just wondering you know I'm not really sure I understand how we really move this forward with in during this time period with at the same time other projects will be coming online right that would be need I mean I I know they've tried to capture that um by doing a five-year plan but nonetheless I don't imagine we make up $15 million in five years. >> No,

058especially not when like the subsequent years are around, you know, 10, 11, 12 million as well, >> right? >> So, I'm to assume that >> I know. >> Yes. It can be a little daunting. >> Yeah. >> Some of these projects may not come into fruition at some point because we don't have the money to do the things that need to be done. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean gosh I mean we could put in you know just2 million $3 million a year on roads and you know just kind of be keeping up >> and once we smooth the roads over Kath we'll have more we'll have more speed because now we have these beautiful roads that people can go flying >> right so we're damned if we do and damned if we don't one way

059the other >> y thank you thank you for the presentation >> any additional questions comments. We're good. All right. Okay. Um, we have about 10 minutes to go before, uh, so do we want to, um, >> I would suggest the Nord discussion. >> Yeah, I was going to ask that's something we get time to do that. You want to bring that? >> I Yeah, it's not it's >> okay. >> Not necessarily me. Okay. >> I thought, you know, one of the board members I didn't I mean I've brought it up a number of times that you know we're giving them numbers for only $3,000 and when you talk to many other places that do numbers they're doing 5,000 10,000 I mean I don't think we need to make that much of a jump but I

060think that I mean I know we still have a good amount of money in our budget and and you know that's going well and we don't want to do the increase for the our you know the runners that run for Ashlin. But I think it's something we should look at. I think even, you know, even if we jump them by $1,000, it will add what $14,000 to our to our budget. And >> I I I think we should at least discuss it because we are I mean, like I said, >> two other organizations that I know of and other, you know, nonprofits are asking anywhere for 8,000 to $10,000 to be able to run the Boston Marathon. So, so NORD, just so folks know what NORD is. >> Um, it's the National Organization for Rare

061Diseases, I believe. >> Yeah. >> And so we've had a partnership with them for many years where they take a certain number of our bibs because we get 25 bibs from the BAA total. Um, and historically we haven't had um a ton of people that have um gone into the lottery for for the bibs >> for our number for the numbers that we hold on to. Yeah. >> So, historically, we've given Nord 10 bibs. They fund they they use that as a fundraiser for their organization because they would never be able to to get 10 bibs from say the BAA charity um group. And so, they write us a check. You know, we ask our runners to to raise $3,000 each. They write us a check for $30,000 for those um those bibs and then

062they turn around and their runners run for specific kids, I believe, um that have rare diseases and research. And so, um it's a major fundraiser for them. I wasn't sure like do do we know if they only require their runners to raise $3,000 >> or do they use do they have to do their are their runners required to raise more? >> I don't know what their runners are required to to raise, but I know that that's like that's their that's their fundraiser. >> My thought when I saw this like my my head was thinking like do we want we've talked about this a little bit too in the past. Do we want to like we've had so many runners. I think I think Susan said um we had over 200 entries into our lottery for

063this upcoming marathon. >> Really? >> So I think which is which is which is amazing. And we but I think that's why right because we only require people to raise $3,000. >> So yes. So, we the $3,000 has been um really manageable for our runners to be able to raise, which is really great. >> Um and we've been able to use that those funds to fund our BAA grants and we've got a sizable amount of of grant funds still in that pot. So, um we're going to be going through that and the the grant requests coming up soon. But um you know I I think I think for me personally one of the questions is like you know do we want to continue to give NORD 10 bibs versus >> I I think the reason

064we have 200 people applying for our numbers is because we only required them to raise $3,000. >> I I'm I still feel very strongly like we shouldn't change that number just to change it. like and if we have if we have requests coming from the community of grant requests that are more and above what we have funds for, I would say then we should look at it. But I I love the fact that that we think that's why we're getting so many people looking for our numbers. that and and uh AI that helps people find these. >> That's right. >> The question I would ask is how many of of our Ashland runners aren't >> because then we give them priority. So how many are we turning away? And I I agree with you, Brandy.

065I think if we were going to look at what we would do, I would say maybe hold some back, um, in terms of raising the, you know, just without having had too much discussion about it or the thought about just raising it and charging Nord more, you know, they're giving us what the runners would be giving us. So, right, I feel like that's that's fair. We're we're getting that automatically. Yeah. Um, but I would consider if we have a lot of Ashland runners that we're turning away, then I would consider maybe reducing the number we give to him. >> I I I would agree with you, Claudia. Um, and and I think for all the things that we said, not to reiterate, um, you know, I think it's a good idea to keep that Ashland

066dollar amount where it is. Mostly because, like you said, it's really if if we've still got money in the pot that we can disperse and we're not like, you know, running dry on that, I don't see why we would raise that requirement right now. But if it turns out, you know, there's more, then we should look at that. And I do believe that I strongly believe that local folks should be able to have this opportunity to run for Ashland. Um, so if we can increase that number, um, and also just make sure that folks who are running for Ashland, we just need to make sure that they are residents in in town as well. Um, you know, >> or associated with, right? I mean, we've had it where they haven't been living in town, but

067they've been a school teacher in town or a firefighter or police officer >> within the town related to Ashley. >> As long Yeah. As long as we also get a little bit more specific on what related to means as well to make it more fair. Um because related to might be like, well, my cousin is related to me and I live in Ashley, so you know. >> So, might see some PO boxes on the uh >> no and in the interest of fairness for all the people involved. But yeah, I think I I love seeing the community spirit and people willing to uh get out there and run for the town. So >> I know Susan just just pulled the names for the the lottery for this this um for this upcoming April. Susan, do

068you can do you know how many off the top of your head um had applied that were that were affiliated with Ashland? >> We had 49. >> 49 through Okay, >> that's that's a lot. Yeah, >> we're turning away a lot of Ashlin, >> a lot of Ashlin folks. >> But then again, we have to make sure that, >> you know, >> related to Ashlin. We just need to make sure. >> Is it time to ask the BAA for additional bibs? >> They they gave us a couple. They gave us more and they took away from some other organizations about two two or three years ago. >> Oh, they did? Oh, wow. >> Yeah. So, I guess I guess the other question is I know Susan, you you talked to Nord. you're the you're the

069main contact with them and and I know they appreciate the the bibs from us. Have we communicated anything to them for this upcoming April? >> No. So, the reason I put this on the schedule is they reached out. They're trying to pull together their program and their funding. So, they wanted to know if we were committed to giving them 10 again and if so, um whether or not the amount of money was going to remain the same. Okay. So, I guess my question to you guys is would we want to step down that 10, maybe give them I'm throwing this out there, so feel free to disagree. Like maybe seven this year, five next year, and kind of keep it at five, which is still more than they would ever get through the BAA. I

070don't know. What do you guys think? >> I I I just go with the numbers I think are valuable, right? They they have a value and obviously people want them. And yes, right now we still have money in our coffers to be giving things out, but I expect that moving forward in the future, we might have more organizations looking for funding from us. So, you know, it's one of those things that basically we have bargain numbers and when you have a bargain, a lot of people want to get in on your bargain. >> So, that's >> So, it's it's it's it's just, you know, I I've even suggested we bump ours up to $3500 if we don't want to do $4,000. And I don't think we can do it this year because, you know, we

071certainly can't make a change for our runners this year. No, >> no, not not we can't. But I think but I've and I said this last year as well when I was hearing you know organizations that are are asking eight and $10,000 for their numbers for these nonprofits. So >> there are organizations that are asking for even more than that. You run for Children's Hospital you got to run like you gota like raise like what I don't want to throw a number out there for misinformation purposes but it's a big number. Um but on the other hand it goes to like yes we want to make sure that we're raising money for the town but we also want to make sure experientially that people get a chance to do this from Ashlin for Ashlin. So

072I'm sort of weighing and I hear >> I just I just think that yes we we've been doing very well. we have the funds and we're able to do what we want to do, but I think we need to look at in the future. You know, and I and I brought this up last year. I you know, I if you're doing 3,000, an extra $500 >> probably is not going to be that too that difficult. I mean, you've had the experience of having to raise >> say I I I think I'm the only one here at the table who's actually raised the funds. So, I think it depends, you know, I think there again, I it depends on on who you are. I mean, I I I'd like I'd like to think I'd be able

073to raise an extra $500 if I needed to, but maybe some other folks couldn't. I' I'd love to get some feedback. I'd actually love to get some feedback from some previous runners who aren't doing it this year to find out what their experience was with raising money to find out like what they might feel. >> Hi, Sue. >> Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt, but I just wanted to give you a couple points. So number one, one thing we need to keep in mind is when we're asking people to fund raise because the town of Ashlin is not a 501c3, we are ineligible for a lot of the partnerships that um people's employers have. So they may have a larger number, but in a lot of cases, they're not begging their family and friends for

074that money if they have a 50% match or something like that. So we do need to keep that in mind. >> So that's a good point. They can't get the tax write off. Okay. Okay. So, that's a valid point. That's a valid point because they're not a nonprofit. >> Okay. >> So, am I hearing that we want to keep it the same for this year? >> I think for this year, we have to change it. >> Increase the amount that they're fundraising this year for the Ashlin numbers. I think the discussion then is do we want to, you know, if we if we have people on a wait list, do we want to say instead of giving Nord 10 this year, we're going to let them know we're going to give them seven and then

075next year we're going to go down to five and then we're going to keep it at five moving forward. I think that's what I'm hearing as the discussion. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Yeah. I think I'd be in favor of bumping down to seven this year and then um and then consider maybe going to five next year. >> Looking at it again. >> Yeah. And and I think that one of the things that Brandy and I are going to meet next week to review um the grant applications and so I think at that time too when we come forward with that information we will also provide some um >> you'll have a better idea of >> some financial background. Yeah, I think that's fair. >> Yeah, I think it's very fair. >> Y >> Okay,

076>> so this brings up a good point though, right? I mean, is there a way or should we consider creating a nonprofit that these funds can go into? >> I we don't have to discuss it now, but I'm just going to throw it out there as >> is that something we want to do? Let's let's think about We don't have to do it right now, but >> do you think it might be problematic for the BAA because >> they're they're giving them to the town, >> right? It could it could be a town I don't know something to think about and something to talk to the BAA about. >> Yeah. >> Sure. >> Make sure that we're all within the the legal limits of what we need to do and >> Yeah. >> Right. If

077being a nonprofit is make making it so if being a nonprofit is making it difficult for our runners to raise funds then okay that then that's a reason to not raise the number. But is there something we could do to do a nonprofit? >> No. all points to consider. >> Okay. >> So, thank you. Good discussion. Thank you. And we'll bring it up >> in the spring when we're ready to start running. >> Yeah. If if somebody wanted to reach out to who who would reach out to BAA if we were going to ask >> her is raising her hand. >> Yeah. So, well, maybe we should consider just asking for a couple more bibs. Do you think >> I think Susan has information for us already? We're ready. Sue, go ahead. Go >> ahead.

078>> Sorry. So, ultimately, I just want clarity from you guys. If you're going to reduce the number down to seven, if you could just take a vote to that and then I'll communicate that to NORD so they can put that into their planning. >> Sure. I move that we reduce the number of bibs BA um bib numbers from 10 to seven for this year and five for next year. >> I'll second that. All those in favor of voice vote. >> I I that's 5. >> And thank them for their partnership all these years, >> right? >> But let me know that we have people who want to use them. >> Yep. Okay. Thank you. We have uh it's a little after 8. I apologize. 7 minutes after 8. Um but Rob understands tidiness when I

079when it when it comes for real reasons. So Mr. Shear, thank you for being here and your and your group. >> We do have a um just >> Oh, okay. Just to warn you, Rob >> Just to warn you, Rob, we do have a public hearing that we're gonna have to open in a few minutes. So, just >> I thought it was 8:15, right? >> Yeah. And it's almost 88. Let's see how we do then. Okay. And Susan, you want to come up here? So, um I thank you all for listening to us. Um I do want to just call your attention to other people that came that are supporters of this. Susan Broadster Jensen will also speak briefly, Chuck Lids, Rich Omen, Bethany Robertson, Kathy Rooney, some of the people here supporting this. Um,

080so I'm presuming you've all had a chance to read this are pretty much aware of um, uh, what's in here. And by the way, congratulations, Joe, on being clocker of the year. If you had started us seven minutes earlier, I would have given you a little speech. >> No, no, that's But uh, >> the irony of that. Yes. Thanks. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um so, you know, briefly, and Susan's going to talk a little bit, but briefly, what's in here is is really very simple. It's asking the um the town meeting members of the town of Ashlin to make a statement about our relationship and our feelings about Elon Musk and his his activities. And this is unique. Uh but these are unique times and he's a unique person. He's done unique things which have

081damaged us and our citizens of Ashland. So um for the reasons enumerated there and he is um you know he is still very active in a wide variety of ways. He's um for example threatening Netflix about the California election. So um you know just boil it down to its simple facts. just asked the town not to do business with his companies uh to write a simple letters to the um Middle Sex County in uh retirement board about not investing in his companies and there are probably millions of dollars of Ashlin employees in that pension fund. So it really is a real connection. So this is a real thing. The other main thing in there is to discontinue using X. X is his social media platform which he uses as his uh speaker to spread his

082thoughts in a very unethical and many people say racist and dystopian fashion. So the question to ask yourselves and I think it's a simple one is do we want to continue supporting that activity because every dollar we spend or may spend our support for X or continue investing in his companies gives him more power to do more things like that. So I know this this um um resolution is very careful to say within the within the law within what is allowable by law. So we're leaving it up to the agents of the town of Ashland to in interpret and enforce this properly. It's not but this is the sense of the citizens of the town of Ashland instructions to the agents of the town of Ashland and we're you know basically just taking a stand

083here um based on what we know. If you think that Elon Musk's activities are okay and not that big a deal, then simply vote no. But I think if you're like most of us, understand that we're at a uniquely dangerous point in American history right now and he is one of those agents. Do we want to continue supporting him or do we want to send a message? So that's my simple take on this and ask you to consider it. So >> good evening everybody. Um, thanks for having us tonight. Susan, I just need for you to identify yourself because some folks may not know who you are. >> I'm Susan Brostrip Jensen, Ashland here, a resident here in Ashland. >> Um, and I guess I would just sort of echo a lot of what Rob

084has already said in terms of the uniqueness of the time that we're in, the extent of the damage that's being done um to resources, programming, infrastructure. Um and it is even though uh we may not yet be feeling that significantly here in Ashland, it will trickle down to us eventually if if um if we don't continue to take a stand in ways that we can um against that. So, um, and I, as a parent, my children have just recently finished with the Ashlin school system, but as a parent, I think, um, you know, having X be the, uh, main way of communicating out to the public from the school system is problematic and draws, as we look at sort of the impact of social media on our youth, it sort of draws them further into

085um, that particular social platform um, which is problematic. Um, and then also from my perspective as somebody who has been trying to organize some momentum here in Ashland, um, you know, I think it's easy to feel like, you know, what's this one thing going to do? How is this one thing going to make a difference if, um, but I think if if people are have the wherewithal to stand up and do that one thing, then other people start to follow. um and we can build momentum within the state of Massachusetts around this and then it will have a much bigger impact over time. So this is an opportunity for the town of Ashlin to sort of be maybe in a leader role in that regard. Um >> Thank you Susan. So we're here also to

086hear your feedback and any kind of legal or technical review that you've done of the warrant article because we haven't heard back. So, we're certainly uh willing to entertain wording changes that may make it more acceptable or consider that. So, if you have anything like that to let us know about, that'd be great. >> I'll open up to the board if you have any comments or questions or concerns. And I know Michael, you sat down with Lisa with respect to this with some some legal >> got some cond. Yes. So, if you want you want to provide that and know looking for some guidance with respect to that from from town council. as it's 8 8:15. This might be a good breaking point. >> There's a good breaking point. So, I was waiting for that.

087Okay. >> That's why I keep looking over here. We have a clock over here and we have I have a hearing that I have to read because it's on the paper for 8:15. So, I apologize. So, have a moment. Notice is hereby given that the select board will conduct a hearing regarding the change of manager at Mexico City uh Takara Inc. Uh the proposed new manager is Maria Ramirez, Mexico City Tea, one West Union Street, Ashland, Mass 1721. The public hearing will be held on this matter on Wednesday, October 15th, 2025 at 8:15 p.m. Persons wishing to be heard on this matter are invited to attend the public hearing in person or by logging into the Zoom meeting. Interested parties who are unable to attend the hearing may submit written comments to the select board's

088office town hall 101 Main Street Ashland Mass 1721 or by emailing Susan Roby at s robyshanmass.com um Josephani chair select board. Okay well I'll ask if we can >> motion to open >> second. All those in favor? >> I That's 5 Z. And >> um how much time do we want to set a time limit because we have another hearing at 8:25. >> How about five minutes? >> Will that be enough time for >> for our discussion with Rob? >> Yeah. Oh, mine's really quick. It's real quick. Okay. And if there's any >> motion to suspend the hearing for five minutes, >> so be 20. >> Yep. >> I'll second that. >> All those in favor? >> I >> Okay. Thank you, Michael. If you have some legal uh comments, I know that Lisa couldn't

089be here tonight and I know you had an opportunity to speak with her on this. >> Uh what would be some of the things Robert just is looking for some guidance with respect to town council. So, >> yeah. and it it's around procurement laws specifically and I think where you did a good job was within the citizens petition put in there you know to the extent provided by law but regardless even if it passes just given the status of of municipal procurement in Massachusetts and the rules governing it we would still have to allow a Musk or or a Musk created entity I I should say to be able to bid on on certain projects and then we'd have to follow the procurement rules if regarding the award. >> If there's a phrase or something

090you want to suggest, you can email it to us or if Lisa has a suggestion. >> Not saying you need to do that, but I understand what you're saying. >> I'll have to think about that. >> I I do have a question uh Michael about that though. And first off, thank you uh thank you all for coming tonight to uh discuss this. Um but I I'm not and this is a question for Lisa too. Given that mass procurement laws don't allow for this kind of behavior, what a language change in the current petition even execute or um or uh have the outcomes that these folks are hoping for with this with this right now? But >> yeah, I I would say I would say no. Go ahead, Brandy. Y >> are you all are you

091all good? Okay. So, first of all, just I wanted to thank you for all the work that you're doing in general to organize and to speak out. I think it's important to have a voice. I think, you know, it's um it's it's important to feel like we're doing something to to fight um what is happening on a much bigger level. Um, and I know that, you know, as a person who just launched my kid out of Ashlin public schools too, out into the world, you just you just hope and pray that like there's not the world's not going to be completely on fire for their future. Um, and personally, uh, you know, I'm there will never be a dime in my household that ever goes toward anything that Elon Musk touches. And that's my personal

092that's my own personal perspective. Um but my question to you guys is so first of all what what do you think is going to happen on town meeting floor? Like have you thought through what that is going to look like? That's my first question. So, um I think it's important that we're making a statement that we're that the citizens of Ashlin acting as a sovereign town meeting are saying what they think should be happening with their money, with their public money. So, it's one thing to talk about your private stuff. That's good. But this is um this is tax money. So, we're asking the citizens of Ashland to make a statement to simply vote yes, we support this. We don't want money going to this guy. we don't like what he's doing. So, it's an

093important statement to be made as a citizen. >> So, so I comp I I hear that. Um I think I think my concern is a couple couple places. One, it's politicizing town meeting, which we generally do not um do not do and it's not something that we that we encourage to politicize it. Um, I'm also kind of concerned about targeting an individual because when when we think about targeting in general, like you know, that's the message that we're that we're sending here. And what if what if we open it up to people thinking that oh we need to have town meeting target groups of people that the town should we should have citizens petitions against bipo businesses or LGBTQ businesses or anything that is um against against like an immigrant population. Like I I feel

094like targeting um a person or a group town meeting is just not the place for that, especially something that is symbolic and that truly will just be unnecessarily divisive at town meeting >> and and based on what we're hearing from legal counsel is not something that we're really potentially follow through on. Bless you. >> Right. Due to procurement law, I mean that's for me the if if If this passes, if town meeting says yes, we want you to do this. But town council is saying due to Massachusetts procurement law, you can't follow through on this, then I don't know that we should move forward. >> Quickly address that because remember there's other things in here besides the procurement. But I think we want and we're going to leave it to town of Ashlin managers to

095carry this out which I admit could be challenging. But when when so for example, the chief police gets an offer of halfpric Teslas because he's desperate to sell them, she should at least have it in the back of her mind that geez, the citizens of the town said we don't want to do business with this guy. So that's that's my take on it. So let's you know >> it's 8:20. >> Yep. I know. Three minutes. And I'm not trying to put a time limit on it, but I have to follow. >> Yeah. So I I I really do I I understand where you guys are coming from. I don't think this is the place for this. That's my personal that's my personal perspective. Um and personally I don't I don't support politicizing town meeting and

096I I hear you that you want to do something but I don't think this is the place for it. And also I don't think it's going to be able to be implemented. So it's it's it's purely a symbolic thing. >> It's 22. >> I kind of I wonder too because it it of the legal implications here. Do we put ourselves in a difficult position, the town in a difficult position of trying to honor, you know, this the language in this against procurement laws? Do we open ourselves up for constant legal struggles around it? >> I think that's a good question to ask Lisa as well. But I I will say this, you know, I I think that, you know, for my particular my specific concern about this is around the fact that it it does

097not effectively do what you hope it accomplishes to do. It will not prevent the town from doing business from from it will not have a it will not blanket or prevent the town in any way from availing themselves of of Mr. Muff's products because of the way this is this is phrased and because of Massachusetts procurement laws um what what from what I understand what I'm reading what you're hoping to accomplish this will not accomplish that. Um, and so that's I think that's that's my central concern about what what's happening here. But I'm sorry, Chuck, go ahead. >> Go, Chuck. Yeah. >> Um, Chuck Lid's 150 Oregon Road. Um, I just wanted to address um point Brandy made, which I I I want to say I sympathize with, but you know, we're not in that

098sort of time now. People are being targeted. And are we going to say um you know it's okay for for um the I say the more conservative people to do this and um the rest of us are supposed to say, "Oh, well, we're not going to um we're not going to target anybody. We're going to be better than they are." I think it's naive. It's I understand it. I sympathize with it. I really would like it to be true, but I don't think we're in that situation anymore. One other point, um, one of the things I feel most strongly about this is using X as a mechanism of communicating to parents. Um, you know, Twitter used to have controls on um unacceptable speech. Um, they've done away with that when when Musk bought ES. Um,

099and we're still using this. I think we could be using um we could be sending people emails. It's really easy. So I I hear I completely agree with that. Like I think I I and my question to you is have you guys gone to the school committee and and made this request >> because I would think that's the mechanism for that. >> I think that's a that's a good point. it was a um part of of >> I'm gonna I'm gonna real briefly >> we're beyond that time frame and I do we did postpone the hearing that was supposed to be at 8:15. Um I allowed an additional 5 minutes and I'm not trying to be mean or anything but we have to follow you know the protocol for for parliament procedures. So, >> so

100I just So, if you have anything specific, legal advice or directives, I mean, people talking a lot about legal stuff, please communicate that to us. >> I would make a request that you guys pull this article on the town meeting floor or even before we vote the warrant. That would be my request to you. And I and I and I have to and I have to I have to make that request because you came to us to to discuss this. This is not something that I support because I do believe this is going to be incredibly divisive at town meeting. And I don't think again to Makita's point that it's going to accomplish what you want to accomplish. So my ask is think about that because I will not support it on town meeting floor.

101>> I am not particularly I I I want to make myself clear like I'm I'm not frightened of having serious and hard conversations about what we do here in town um and what our our values and morals are here in town at at town meeting. I'm not against that. What I am concerned about is this particular this particular article what folks are trying to accomplish with it and why from what our understanding of the law is this will not accomplish what you want it to accomplish. If there is another way to set up another article um to to look at maybe like I don't know there are different I'm not I'm not an attorney so I'm not going to say like I'm not going to be prescriptive here but um I guess I'm You know,

102again, I don't think this is it does not sound like it's going to accomplish what you'd like to accomplish. If you bring it to the floor, and even if it gets voted in, there will be no action taken against Mr. Musk or his enterprises due to this petition in this town for legal reasons for Massachusetts procurement reasons. >> And with respect to that, I will uh I'm going to end this discussion right now because we have a hearing that we we have to follow. Um, so >> I just want to make one comment. I just went to X and Ashlin Public Schools. It does not look like they've posted anything on there since February of this year. >> Okay. >> So, >> yes. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> I Mr. Chairman, I just wonder

103if folks need feel like they need to say some more this evening >> if they want to hear. don't want anybody to feel as though they come here and they >> I would agree with Claudia on that point like maybe after the hearings if we could hear if you guys want to sit and wait through the hearings Rob you know what those are like. >> Yeah. So all right with respect that I would like to reopen the meeting. >> Well actually we need to open the public hearing >> for the second one because >> and the second meeting was at 10 8:25 >> y >> and this is a legal notice that I have to read. Uh this notice is hereby given that the board of uh select board will conduct a hearing regarding the

104application for wine and malt beverages retail liquor license. The applicants are Niger Patel and I apologize if I mispronounce your first name uh Surreten Patel, owners of 227 uh uh 272 Pawn Street LLC DBA mobile. 272 Pawn LLC EBA mobile. Again, the address is 272 Pawn Street, Ash 01721. The public hearing will be held on Wednesday, October 15th, 2025 at 8:25 p.m. Persons wishing to be heard on this matter are invited to attend the public hearing in person or by logging into the Zoom meeting. Interested parties who are unable to attend the hearing may submit written comments to the select board's office town hall 101 Main Street Ashland Mass 01721 or by emailing Susan Roby at srobymash.com signed by Joseph Mñani Jr. chair select board. So this meeting is open and I would ask for

105>> motion to um suspend the hearing uh for the um 272 Pond Street. >> Is there a second? Second. >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I We will definitely get to you. >> Yep. >> Motion to reopen the public hearing for Mexico City change of of manager. >> Second. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Anybody that's here attending uh this meeting for that uh hearing city >> for Mexico City, please come front if you would, please. And I believe this is a um manager >> change in managership. Is that correct? >> Hi everybody. >> Hi. >> I'm Ramirez. >> How are you? >> I'm good. >> Okay. So, we you've provided us all the information and can you explain the reason why we

106were making these changes? >> Uh because um the manager was was my husband and we got divorced. own. >> Okay. >> He doesn't help at the restaurant anymore. >> All right. So, you're you're the uh you're the sole owner of the uh the business now. >> Yes, I am. >> Okay. So, everything else will change other than the fact that he's no longer involved in in in the business. >> Exactly. >> Okay. All right. Susan, has there been any um written notifications from folks as to this not being uh allowed or wanting to see this happen? Have we received anything? >> We have not received any comments. >> Okay. Thank you. I'll open it up to the board for questions and uh comments. >> Well, I think I mean >> we all know Myra has

107been running it even though her husband was the manager. Yeah. >> Um, so first of all, sorry to hear about your divorce, but hopefully it's a positive thing for you and uh it's nice to see that the restaurant is still going. Um, we don't have enough restaurants here. >> 13 years. That's amazing. Congratulations. >> I'm so I'm so like um happy with the town of Ashland. It's been very support of everything especially Susan. >> Susan, >> we're happy that you're still here. >> Yes. Thank you. Yeah, they'll continue to stay here. >> I appreciate it. Don't you help. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, I don't have any questions. I mean, like I said, you've been running the business, so I have no real issues. >> Anybody else? >> Then I'll entertain a a motion.

108>> Motion to close the hearing. >> Yep. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I I >> I'll entertain a motion to >> I move that we appoint and approve the proposed new manager of Myra Ramirez Gonzalez uh for Mexico City with continued best of luck in your business. >> Yep. Is there a second to that? >> Second. >> Third. >> All All those in favor >> I >> congratulations. Good luck. You're all set. You're all set on it. Thank you. >> Good luck. Considering we've just heard that a restaurant has closed here in town. >> Yeah. >> With Erica's leaving. So, >> good luck. >> Yes. >> Erica's >> just announced. Yeah. Today. >> Just announced today. >> Keep keep fighting. We appreciate it. >> Good. >> There you go. >> Good. Good luck.

109>> Oh, glad. Happy to hear that. Thank you. >> I remember >> you have a lot of work ahead of you, huh? graduate from >> Very good. >> Congratulations. >> Oh, awesome. Congratulations. >> Awesome. Congratulations. >> You're welcome. >> Best of luck. >> Okay, I'll entertain a motion to reopen the hearing for 272 Pond LLC. >> Is there a second? All those in favor? >> I. >> All righty. Do we have anyone here this evening? It looks like we have an an attorney here. You have your uh associates. They can come up as well so we can meet them and greet them. >> Good evening, Mr. Chairman. Board members. >> How are you? If you don't mind uh introducing yourself and >> Hi, I'm attorney Kevin Quinland. I represent 272 Pawn LLC. With me I

110have >> he's one of the two managers of the LLC. >> Okay, great. Um tell us why you uh are requesting this uh wine and malt uh license. >> Um well so I can tell you that um Mr. Patel and a relative of his shredin Patel have run that store for I understand almost a year and a half now. Um it's been tough since the change to the ability to sell flavored tobacco that's really impacted their business. Um so this would be an opportunity for them to help you know get back some of that revenue claw back some of that revenue. Um Mr. Patel resides nearby in Oxbridge. Um that's where I know him from. My office was there until it was recently destroyed in a storm. He also manages a store there with a

111beer and wine license. Um they're applying uh for this licensing as you guys you are very familiar with the area. It's a really heavily developed commercial area. There's my understanding is there a full liquor store directly across the street. Um tells me my understanding all the employees would be tip certified through the ABCC for beer and wine sales. himself is um and he tells me this is sort of a a it's not a big ask respectfully and that they're only looking to sell domestic beer and wine out of two coolers >> in the convenience store. >> Yeah. >> I would suggest respectfully that allowing this would be consistent with with the use of the area as it is now um by additional options for the consumers um but consistent with current use and so I

112just respectfully would ask that the board approve. >> All right. Thank you. >> I noticed um and I'll open this up uh to the other board members as well. Um I noticed in the packet that you provided us, you gave us a floor plan um of your store. And I do not see the area that you're going to utilize uh the area for displaying and or storing um your beer and wine uh beverages. So on that on this uh floor plan that can you at least try to show us where you're going to to place those items? >> I don't have a copy of it here. Do I? >> So actually we have the big restroom and we have one office that we we are not using. So our main concern is we're going to

113just like break the restroom and the restroom we going to move to the office and we can just put we need to put just like two door two coolers. That's all. >> So the bathrooms we come your cool is for the beer and wine. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. >> And we going to just put some regular domestic beer. We don't want to put like all the beers and wines and we have like so nice regular customers. So that's and it's really helpful for us too. >> Okay. Uh I do have a couple of quick questions. Um don't mind me. I just How many employees do you have currently right now? >> Three employees. >> Three. >> And what are their hours of operation? How long are they there throughout the day? >> 5 to

11410. >> Okay. >> And one guy and he's the man manager store. >> Okay. >> The guy. Are there any are there any employees that are under the age of 21 that will be working there? No. Okay. >> Um, >> so how many people will you have working in the store at one time? >> On the busiest time we have two employees. >> Two employees. So you'll have two employees. Yeah. >> All the time there. >> All the times. Not in the morning time because 5 to 11 is really slow. >> So 11 to 10 we have two employees all the time. >> Okay. All right. And you said you'll be tip certified. So when when will that happen? >> Actually I'm running the store from last seven years and I have tip certified certificate

115from last seven years. Even I'm running another store in Hollist. Okay. >> Already we have beer and wine right there too. >> All right. So how long how much how many years of experience have you had with yourself or others uh selling >> almost five to seven years. >> Okay. >> In the holist we got the license from last three years. Right. >> And has there been any issues with the at all that you hollen store? >> No we have the store right in the downtown and from the store we have the public garden. So they have like main concern like so many kids and all are coming. So we are using the lock cooler like once somebody kids comes that cooler is not open once like suppose you come >> Mhm. >> I check

116your ID you pay then we got to open the cooler from the downstairs >> and that's that's going to be your >> in the holl in the same cooler we are trying to use in Ashland too >> and that'll be the same procedure in the Ashland mobile station. >> Yep. >> Okay. So you'll have that special >> Yes. Uh >> yeah, sure. >> If I press the button then you it just like door open that's all. >> Okay. >> Otherwise it just like lock all the time. >> Mhm. >> All right. I'll anybody has >> Well, you asked the question about the the floor plan and not seeing it and I I'm also not seeing hours of when you want to sell. So basically the beer and wine after 8:00 we can sell by the

117law of Massachusetts 8 to 10 we can sell by legally 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. >> Monday through Monday through Saturday. Yeah. And then Sunday it's 10. Okay. >> Okay. >> All right. At some point we make sure that that's on the the license so we have that on record. And we did get a letter from someone saying they didn't want it to happen, but >> we sort of set precedent when we did this with the mobile on the other side of town. >> So, I feel like we can't >> No, but just for the record, there was a uh a letter that was received by us uh by by uh a resident in that area. And um I will make this part of the record if you don't mind. >> I will read it

118uh just so you folks have an understanding that Not a lot of people are on your side with respect to that. Um, this letter stats that uh, dear select board, I am totally against 272 Pawn Street, DBA mobile, getting a wine and malt beverage retail liquor license for the following reasons. There is Shar's liquor store, which is at 300 Elliot Street across the street from 272 Pond, not more than onetenth of a mile uh, walking or driving distance. There is also Sunnyside Liquors located at 7 Pond Street which is 1.3 miles from 272 Pond. I don't feel we need another place selling liquor in in this area. In the years I've lived on Elliot Street, five houses down from 272 Pond, I have been picking up beer cans, liquor bottles, small nip bottles, soda cans,

119candy wrappers, lottery tickets, cigarette packages, etc. from my property that have been tossed from their vehicles or as they walk by my house. I've had my trash barrels, mailbox, and trees damaged by drunk drivers. Uh, and if the tree wasn't there, it would have gone into my home and damaged the two cars in our driveway. Also, 5 years ago, there was another drunk driver that grazed the tree at the top of my driveway and crashed into a second tree. They got out and ran up the street and left their vehicle. I don't feel a gas station is where people might drive to should be selling alcohol and then get into their vehicles and drive away. The two don'ts go together. Thank you for taking time and hearing my opinion into this consideration on granting 272

120LLC DBA mobile a wine and malt beverage license and is from a resident at 330 Elliot Street. So, I just wanted to let you know that this is and it's on the record with respect to that. Susan, have there been any additional uh letters or emails that we have received uh for or against? >> No, Joe, that was the only thing we've received. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Can Can we request that they resubmit the plan? Yes. Yeah. >> Because I mean I hear what you're saying about what you're going to do, but it would be good to see what it's going to >> where it's going to look like. Yeah. Sure. Especially if you're going to be changing, you know, the the the floor plan itself with the bathrooms and stuff. >> And one

121more thing like we are not going we are not going to sell single bottle of beer >> and ns are too small even in holist. We are not in in >> So there's no no individual cans being sold. >> No. Just 12 pack >> six pack. So just six packs, some wine and no nips. >> Yeah. No nips. >> No. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Because in beer and wine like we >> that you don't usually have yet. >> No nipple. So >> Okay. >> When would the board like that floor plan? >> Well, >> now >> yes. I I wish we Susan. Go ahead. It'll have to be part of the packet that gets submitted. So, I would have reached out to them. So, I'm glad you guys brought it up. >> Yeah,

122I'm Yeah, I should have said something sooner, but um I would say as soon as possible. We don't meet again though until the first week in november. >> Yve. >> So, I can we say >> contingent? Well, we would, you know, approval is contingent on seeing the plans based on what you've described and then once they come in, oh, I just wrote it myself. Once they come in, >> we wouldn't have to have another meeting, but we could review them to make sure they match. Does that make sense to people? >> That works for me. Claudia, you have >> Yeah, I just had a question or a couple of questions. The store in Hollist, is that also at a gas station? >> Yes. >> Right in the downtown. >> That's the mobile right in downtown

123Hollist. Right around right around the corner from Goodwill Park. >> I manage one more store right on the Franklin exit, the mobile one. >> We have 660 Central Street in Franklin. We have beer and wine right there on >> at that there's a gas station there too. Okay. >> And then in terms of the um you know, you're saying that you wouldn't sell single beers and you wouldn't sell nips. Is that something that can be written into this or is that something that >> Okay. So, yeah, I would like those pieces written in as well because I do, you know, kind of agree with our um resident who wrote in and it, you know, the idea of selling liquor at a gas station is somehow >> doesn't feel like it is a good match, but

124we just did it at our last meeting for another mobile, so the exact same thing. >> I know. I felt that too. And I would like to also say that this gas station doesn't has more liquor stores in the area than the other one. But um just be, you know, I know we did it and I'm just saying it's it isn't something I'd like to see happen to every gas station in town. >> I I will also add that nationally I outside of New England having beer and wine at a at a gas station is actually quite common. >> Um it's just in New England that we don't have a lot of that going on. But I hear I hear what the resident's concerns are and I'm glad to hear that we're not doing nips

125and we're not doing single cans and that really helps. >> So let me see if I could Did you have something? >> I just what one question for for Susan. This is our last retail um beer and wine license. Correct. Correct. >> That we have to give. >> That's correct. >> Okay. So after this we have we have no more >> retail beer. retail bureau >> until they pass something with the mass the municipal in empower what that one of the laws >> that where they're they are looking at if not this time next time telling cities and towns >> you can determine how many licenses you need >> the state would give us some >> Wow >> imagine that >> wow >> okay >> it's not there yet but it's being discussed >> okay

126I move that we the hearing >> before. Yeah. Do we have to close the >> Oh, yes. We should close the hearing first. >> I'll make a motion to close the hearing. Is there a second? >> I'll second. Go ahead. >> All those in favor? >> I thank you. >> I move that we uh allow the sale of six-packs and full bottles of beer at the >> No, full bottles of wine. >> Full bottles of wine. >> Wine. and no nips with the understanding that they're going to provide a updated floor plan based on what we have heard. And once we have that, we would not have to come back to a hearing, but the they would then be approved for their liquor list >> along with the tip certifications >> along with Right. >>

127And no and no employee now in that store could be under 21. Is that right? >> Yes, that's correct. >> Correct. >> If you if you have time, just give me two minutes. So I'm going to call. Can I show you something? >> Sure. >> You get the idea. >> Pepsi is >> okay. >> So >> yeah, I just want to see on the plan where they're going to be. Sure. >> Right. So if just send it in, but otherwise you you don't have to come back. Just >> update update this document that shows where it's going to be. I'm going to break this one and just like put two pulas and two pulas. >> Good. We'll get that to the board. Perfect. Thank you. >> Perfect. >> Okay. >> Uh I made a motion,

128I think. >> Did you? Yeah, you did. Okay. It was a bit long. >> So, all those in favor? >> I I'll second it. >> Yeah, there we go. I did. All righty. I'm sorry. All those in favor? >> I I >> Those opposed. >> Hopefully that was clear enough as clear as mud for you, Susan. >> I I find this interesting that you don't have a back door. >> I don't I don't see a back door in this floor plan. Yeah, we just uh uh we just uh take over last year, so we don't have any idea about this. >> Wow. I >> I don't Is that >> I mean >> I don't think that's like >> I I understand that, but you know it it it's brought to our attention by a floor

129plan and >> Yeah. I mean, >> just >> I would think that if the building got approved at some point, I mean, the the the mobile has been sitting there for quite a while. >> It has been true. Yep. >> So, >> okay. That just brought to my attention that I can't help it, >> you know. All right. So, you're all set. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> We'll wait to see you uh have another good to go. >> Thank you for coming in. >> Good luck. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> Group effort, but we got it. >> Moving right along. >> So, we are going to go back to that discussion. I don't want to make it an all night discussion, folks. because we

130do have other matters on the uh >> on the agenda 10 minutes follow up >> till 9 o'clock Joe that's my recommendation >> okay and so it's 10 minutes and nine so thank you for hanging in for for that time frame but we needed to get these done >> Rob knows what it's like to get these >> done in a in an orderly fashion so >> while I'm while I'm here um I think I should come meet with you about the MBTA next meeting I'll send you an email with additional with additional stops. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Well, not additional stops, additional Okay. >> trains, right? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Thank you for having that. >> Yeah. Thank you for continuing the discussion. Um >> y >> I guess well

131I'm a social worker and I really want to pull a chair up to the table so this feels really awkward to me. So I'm just going to put that out there. >> Um >> there's a reason for that just in case. >> Yeah, I'm sure there is. Um, so I guess I had a couple things that I wanted to say. The first is, you know, I don't necessarily understand some of the legal pieces that you're talking about. I think we were looking to you all for help with guidance with that and sort of for that to be something that the town would be figuring out. um and that this was instead a um the goal was to be making a statement and to be during these um as Chuck had mentioned extraordinary times like when

132have we ever um experienced some of what we're experiencing right now. I mean, Doge and Elon Musk started the ball rolling that has now led to special education being decimated um in our country and other um resources and funding being cut um significantly people running losing food and benefits um welfare um I'm sorry, not welfare, but the cost of insurance going up. All of that stuff is all set in motion initially through those actions. Um, and as a country, as a state, as a town, we need to be speaking up about that in the ways that we can. And um I think that uh you know um I guess I react a little bit to the idea that town meeting is not for political purposes. Um it is politics town meeting. This is politics. Um

133when we have discussions about the housing development that people want to go, you know, that's we're talking about putting in for low-income housing because we're on the um the um commuter rail. That's politics and people object to it and it's politicizing when they do that. Um, and so the fact that we're raising this, the fact that it's political is not a reason to not pursue it and to not think about it and to not discuss it and to not bring it up at town meeting. I think that's what it's there for. Um, so that was the point that I wanted to make. >> Thank you. >> Hi, my name is uh Richman, 50 Bay Colony Drive. Um, this group spent um, a number of days uh, canvasing some of the folks here in town asking

134for this signature about this proposal. And we found a great deal of interest and support for this. And I think even if it is just a way to express our feelings about how things are going in the country at the moment. I think it's important to present it to the town and let the town folks um have a vote, have a say. And yes, it is politics. But that's what we're in at the moment and u I think it should go to the town and let the people have a voice. Thanks. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> So, you know, I'd like to I um you know, I I happen to feel very strongly um about what's going on in our country right now. Um I and I would love to see um our

135community stand up and say this just isn't right. This is not how we know our country should be or has been. Um, but I I do struggle with this on on town meeting floor. Not for the political reasons because I feel like is there something could we have some sort of a statement that we make and vote on that didn't involve um particularly the procure procurement issues, right? Could we just remove those? Um, you know, I I I do think it would be, you know, I I would appreciate being able to stand up and speak about how important what's going on in the world right now is for our country, right? And and I don't think any of us ever imagined that we would be living in a time like this. So, um I'm I'm

136not afraid to to do that and speak out. Um I just feel like I struggle with this piece in particular because of the procurement. Is there a way that we can have a conversation um make a statement as a community and and I and I get it. You know, it's not going to have any teeth to it, right? But it's it's meaningful in that it it says who we are, you know, as people. And I understand that not everybody in our community would support that sort of statement. Um but it it's okay. It's okay to even, you know, have conversations and disagreements. I mean, >> yeah, I mean, I have to agree with uh with Claudia here, and that's what I think I was trying to articulate before we went into um the hearing. you

137know I don't have any issues with uh you know talking about you know moral issues and some of these things go like beyond politics right I you know politics for me is the actual mechanism by which we you know we assemble policy right you know it's a ve for me politics feels very technical I think for for for what I'm hearing this group wanting to do is you know basically talk about morals and values um but also try to execute that into action. And I mean again I will I'll reiterate in saying that that's why I'm saying what you're proposing here will not will not accomplish the end result of preventing the town from being able to do business with Elon Musk. You know, but I I will echo the comments of my colleague and

138say that it is important especially in these extraordinary times for us to be able to vocalize um you know and in to to share like what what we feel our country should be and how we should be treating each other and I think that's essential. Um, but like I said with this particular >> and I'm that's why I'm I'm having the same struggles as Claudia here um as Bennett here because >> um it's just it's not going to stop >> it's not going to do what you think it's going to do. It's not going to stop um >> it's not it's not going to prevent anything any >> Yeah. So let me can I just summarize and so as I said earlier we're we're open to considering language changes. I don't want I know you

139people have a full workload so the idea of suggesting things about maybe that's something the town manager can think about and propose to us. I would um so we're quite open to that and understand how you're looking at it. Um I would also just say remember there it's not just procurement and purchasing here. There are other things that I think are very straightforward if you read them ask you to write a letter to the Middle Sex County urging divestment and then it's up to them to decide if they can do it. So, for example, and the and the and the X should be very simple. If they're already not using it, that makes it even more simple. So, um, but you know, I think we understand there is a, as I understand, there's a due

140diligence period here for these warrant articles. There is a there is the ability to suggest shared amendments at town meeting floor if I understand the process. So, um, by all means, if you have things that would make you feel more comfortable or address some of the issues we've raised, I think people would be open to that. So, so anyway, thank you for all your time unless there's any anything else. >> Yeah, I just want to real quick add so I think select board is not to me is not political, right? We run for office that could be political. we are governing as the town and town meeting is a place to govern the town. So for me being told that you think it's a political thing there might be politics involved but to me that's

141very different. Um I I would stand with the rest of my board in that you know as I was reading your open letter regarding this. I had a couple of thoughts and okay, you know, Elon Musk very strong feelings about that, but moving forward, are there then other companies that you're going to ask us not to do business with? Um, you know, the other comment that I was thinking of is are there other communities that have done this that have tried this and what has it gotten them if anything? And then I guess the last thing in in the letter that sort of got me was the fact that we will not tolerate private wealth no matter who's well then no one should be putting any money toward political campaigns. >> Yeah, that's that's a

142that's a letter a persuasive letter to you guys. It's not it's not what's in the warrant. >> I I understand that. But this is what I had in my >> I think it speaks to the age of oligarchy, right? No, it's a good point and that's it's not in the warrant. >> I understand it's not in the warrant, but part of the discussion here is >> whether we as a group support bringing this to town meeting and >> so he's a individual. >> It's it's you know, you've you've obviously done the work. You've gotten your citizens petition. You've gotten your signatures. It's you're right now you're you're you're planning on bringing it to town meeting. I just >> Right. I would echo what Brandy said. I don't know that town meeting is the place for

143this discussion. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Where would >> I'm not sure. I I I I would have to really think about that because in regards to the I mean I think it's discussion amongst your the residents, right? Or you as a group deciding that you might decide to write to Middle Sex to the retirement. I mean if as residents this is something you feel strongly about then maybe you do it as residents rather than >> we can certainly do that but you are the governing body here in Ashland and that oversee town employees we do not >> so that's why you know that's why this directs you or asked you to do that >> so >> I I do think there so you mentioned different elements of your proposal here and I think that

144the other piece you talked about was the divestment the requested for divestment Have you thought about, you know, maybe separating that out from this particular warrant article and and asking that we generate, you know, I think that's a I'm thinking the reason why I'm thinking about this and again, I'm not an attorney, but like, you know, I'm thinking about when u way back in the day when there were a a a movement to divest in South Africa or businesses that did business with South Africa, you know, there's they didn't target specific companies per se. it seemed like they had like criteria around certain companies that were doing things XYZ ABC around human rights, right? So, I mean just >> that's a good point. We talked about a general >> but that has its own issues

145and this is not to say that we won't come back with something like that. That would be you'd have to have a very complex set of evaluations for it to have legal law. So, we're not ruling that out, but we're doing Musk right now because of who he is and his uniqueness. So that's that's how we got to this point. Um so that's >> and just to kind of piggyback on what Makita said, you know, that kind of request can come to us like if we you know that doesn't need to be a town meeting that doesn't need to go on town meeting floor. like if if if there's if there's a discussion about us writing a letter to you know about about pensions and things like that that's something that doesn't need to go

146to town meeting >> but what's the harm of going so we have a whole package here together that includes so >> and >> I take your point but why are we voting against this why are we seeing this is such a big deal >> so I think part of it is >> so much of it is simple >> I think part of it is um you guys have put this together put a lot of thought into it. Got a lot of signatures. >> It's as written in the warrant article. We cannot make any changes once we vote the warrant tonight and close the warrant. We can't make any changes. The only changes can be made on town meeting floor. >> That's right. >> Right. >> So, you know, we're already talking about how the procurement

147is not applicable. That's going to be something that is talked about on town meeting floor that it cannot be it it cannot be um implemented the way that it's written like it just >> well we actually don't know that because I've asked for well I've asked for legal I haven't heard it >> so Bob you you sat in this chair for a long time you you know you know what procurement law >> yes and I I know that that we're just delivering um the sense to the agents of the town that they should have this in mind as they do procurement. It's up to them to decide how that works or if they can use it at all. We're not dictating that to them. >> So, so this is a conversation that we're having tonight

148and I think >> this is the appropriate place to have those discussions >> but I'm not an expert in procurement law. Well, I don't think town meeting is the appropriate. >> I think that's beside the point because town me is making a statement of the sense of the citizens of Ashland for you to carry out to the best of your ability within the law. That's basically all it is >> and that's what we do. That's what we do every every day. That is what >> you don't have statement behind you as to what what our what the citizens uh wishes are >> and that's why we have town meeting resolutions. I I mean I I firmly believe in freedom of speech and I firmly believe that people have the right to speak and bring bring

149issues to us, bring issues to town meeting. We have that that's what the mechanism for citizens petitions are all about. Um, I think that if we would have had this discussion two months ago, it would have been a much more productive use of everyone's time. And and I hear that you want to have a you want to have a discussion about making a statement of what the town of Ashland stands for. And I hear that. I think that that's that is absolutely something we should do. I I'm not sure a resolution against Elon Musk on town meeting floor is going to get us there. And maybe and maybe that's part of the discussion that we have of like what that mechanism looks like. Maybe there is a maybe we have a public forum not town

150meeting but a public forum where we discuss what we can do as a community and how we protect our I mean we're very concerned >> always about protecting and the safety of our community and >> you know I don't want I don't want anyone in Ashlin to feel like they're targeted. I don't want anyone to feel that they're unsafe. And and I worry about our our residents. I worry about people in the community not feeling like they can be in public for fear of whatever retribution may be coming. And >> and that's that that feeling of helplessness is is what that that that's hard. That's really hard. And this is why I think the purest form of democracy is town meeting and that's why this resolution is going there. So people talk about >> town

151meeting is a legislative our legislative session. That's that's where that is that is our Congress. That is our that's our >> and that's where we make the big decisions and the final approvals. That's what it's about. It's individual democracy. So that's why this is going there. I >> I think at this point, you know, it's in the warrant. we're about to close it. >> You know, it's, you know, as a group, you have to determine what you're going to do if if you're going to still bring this to town meeting. I think you've heard >> from all of us. Um, >> thank you. >> You know, I I think we need to close the conversation. And >> I'll just repeat if you have specific wording or if you come up with something that we could

152use, I'm sure we'd be happy to look at it. >> Well, that would be wording that would have to go to town meeting floor, >> right? They could they could write an amendment and say we're amending the language and that's that I mean it happens all the time. >> It absolutely happens. Well, >> thank you for your time. >> You're welcome, >> Rob. Appreciate that and we appreciate the efforts that you try. >> I mean, I wonder if you could take this and write it to say if we could, but we, you know, say we can't do these things, but this is what we wish we could do. Something like that even would get it all in there. There is the phrase of non-binding resolutions, you know, that they didn't quite use here, but it's

153almost >> But that I was just Rob, that's not a bad idea. Non-binding resolution. >> Well, it says extent allowable by law. >> Right. And so >> and that connects >> Makita what you just said is is >> to the extent that it's allowable by law, but it's not allowable by law. >> Right. Well, you don't know in all cases and all details. for some of the >> my point is you don't know in all cases and all details. Don't make the decision for them. Pass the resolution and let people carry it out. You know, that's that's my I guess closing point. >> Okay, >> that that makes sense. >> Yep. >> That makes sense. >> And and the other the other point that we may want to just consider with that, Rob, is that

154at some point in time your committee uh decides to withdraw that the only time that can be withdrawn is on town meeting floor. >> Correct. because it's a citizens participation. >> We'd have to do that. >> And not and not on the >> but they can make I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, but they can make amendments on the floor. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. On the day of without a doubt. The day of It's done all the time. >> All right. >> It's done all the time, >> just to be clear. >> So, >> all right. Thank you all. >> Thank you very much, folks. >> What time is the brewery closed? This is what I want to know. >> I don't know, but the mobile m open so you >> Thank you very much. >> Thanks, guys.

155and ladies, thank you very much. They use the general word. All right. Okay. So, we go back to old new business. Um, discussion B, special town warrant articles. How do we segue right into it? >> Yeah, I think Katherine will >> Catherine take this and I'll interject as necessary. >> All right. So, special town meeting will take place Wednesday, November 19th at 7 p.m. in the Ashlin High School auditorium. The last day to register to vote is Friday, November 7th by 5:00 pm. Uh there will be child care available. So you can sign up ahead of time for child care uh by visiting the town clerk's web page and then navigate to the town meeting page. Uh so article one um this refers to the transfer of free cash into um the stabilization fund capital

156OPED the special education stabilization andor the general fund. Article two is the uh budget amendment. So this would update the FY26 budget that was approved in the May 2025 town meeting to reflect midyear adjustments. So, these adjustments we actually talked about on August 20th here at the select board meeting. Those adjustments would include state aid updates, revised new growth, and the uh kef assessment. Um, article three is the uh senior tax exemption. And then article four are the CPA funds for Nature's Edge at Metro West YMCA. So, at 3:45 p.m. today, we were emailed by the Y asking to withdraw this article. >> Oh, >> well, wow. >> Okay. >> Um, >> yeah. >> Did they say why? Did they say why? >> Because we would have um >> So, as you know, anytime you

157put CPA funds, you know, attach it to something, you have to get a restriction, right? A conservation restriction. So, we would need um either a restriction or an easement that guaranteed public access, >> you know, in perpetuity if we were going to give them these funds. >> And so, the Y came back this afternoon and said that um after conferring with their bank, they felt like that could pose some challenges from a financing perspective. So, they had planned on uh withdrawing it. I mean, I would suggest if you want to go ahead and and post it tonight, you know, close and post it, that you go ahead and leave it on just because we did get this message at 3:45, we haven't really had a chance to >> and then if we could always withdraw

158it. >> Exactly. So, it gives that gives us the most flexibility. >> That makes a lot of sense. >> Okay. Well, >> uh, article five again, CPA funds for uh the appropriation of 40 for survey and appraisal work for potential land acquisitions bordering the town forest. Um, article six CPA funds uh appropriate a sum of money for the purchase of 11 acres at 41 Lincoln Road, otherwise known as the Collins property uh for town forest purposes and up to 70,000 for trail improvements. Article 7 CPA funds uh to provide up to $50,000 in uh funding for field data collection and invasive vegetation management at Beaver Dam Brook Conservation Area alongside Pond Street. >> Can you hold on one second, Catherine? Sorry, I want to go back to article six. Um my mind is uh working

159slow tonight. >> The um the monies, what monies are these coming out of? Uh what bucket will these be coming out of? Recreation uh Open space CPC monies. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you. >> I'm sorry. I didn't mean >> No, it's fine. I just lost my place. Um, we are on article 8 CPA funds for the high school softball field improvement and that is to allocate up to $25,000 to replace the softball fields playing surface dirt. Uh, article nine is the acceptance of mass journal law chapter 27273A. And so this would allow for the removal of graves gravestones or other structures in order to repair or store by community sponsored educationally oriented and professionally directed repair teams. Um, article 10 is the acceptance of chapter 13812D. So, this would

160allow on premise wine and malt beverage license holders to trade in their license for a non-transferable all alcohol beverage license. >> Can you explain that one? >> Yeah. So, this would allow for um an onremise wine and malt beverage license holder. So, that would be where you consume. So, um, >> so a restaurant that currently serves beer and wine >> and so they could trade it in for a non-transferable all alcoholic beverage license that would allow them to serve all alcohol. Um, but if they were to sell, they can't transfer that all alcohol. It would >> out of the capital of the >> right and it doesn't add to >> Okay. But this doesn't do anything regarding the number of licenses we have available or anything like that. And do we have any >> So

161we'd have to have a license available for them to be able to trade. >> We'd have to have a all alcohol license available. >> Yeah, let us double check because I believe actually it just converts. >> Exactly. >> Essentially that >> Susan if you do. So, >> so the license will not take away from your current stock of all alcohol licenses because it is nontransferable. >> So, it as long as we have three businesses that would qualify. That's Deliche, Ashlin Pizza, and who's the other one? >> Nicks. >> No, >> they give theirs up. Um, of course I I gave it to Katherine earlier, but anyway, there's there's three of them >> that can do it. But if they sell their business, if Pizza Palace decides to sell their business. Oh, the other one is

162Spice Kitchen. >> Um, if they decide to sell their business, it reverts back to beer and wine and then it can be transferred. >> Okay. Now if if they trade if they want to trade, do they automatically get to to um bump it to all alcohol or is it have to come before us or how does that work? >> So that's what you're being asked to vote on. If you accept the law, I think it's 138 chapter 12D. If you accept that, you're allowing that. It still comes before you so that you're aware of it, but it's just allowing to expand what they offer. >> So, you can't we couldn't vote against it. It's just automatic. >> Pretty much. Yes. >> Because if you said no, they could they could appeal your decision to the

163ABCC. >> I mean, all it's doing is allowing someone who currently just sells beer and wine to sell all alcohol. >> I mean, what's the >> It's like a conversion. >> It's a conversion. Yeah. What what don't you like about that, Joe? >> In retrospect, it has microphone. >> Let's look at Pizza Palace for an example. >> Yeah, >> they have one of those. Okay, so you're going to have a alcohol pouring license or spirits at a pizza shop >> that I don't know. I just it just doesn't >> I mean, they may not do it, right? Because if they if they change their license, they have more expenses, right? If you if you if you become all alcohol, you have more expenses because you then have to have a wider variety of what you're

164offering. >> So, I mean, all we're doing is accepting mass general law that allows them to do that. But they'd still have to come to us. >> But we can't say no. >> Right. >> That's Yeah, that's Well, that that's a big that's I'm sorry. And again, aren't we then offering allowing these businesses to potentially expand their business? >> Susan, go ahead. >> So, the only comment I want to make to to all of you is in our case, it's a little bit different than other communities that don't have any licenses to issue. We currently have licenses available. So, if in fact our beer and wine wanted to offer all alcohol, they could apply for that at any given time. So, I'm thinking if they have beer and wine, it's probably because that's what they

165wanted, >> right? >> They would have to pay an extra thousand dollars a year just to have that license on top of all of the other product that they would have to carry, >> right? >> Okay. >> Yeah. But then we'd have to vote against this because we otherwise if we vote for this then they have the option of applying for it which meaning and then they could transfer going forward or they could get there without having to do anything except come before us and giving where we would give them the nod is are we bringing this forward because mass general law and we think this is a good idea. >> Yeah. Why are we doing Well, I think because it's mass general law, right? So, >> gives us gives some flexibility, you would have

166to adopt the law, >> right? Well, that's what this is doing, right? By by if this, you know, I mean, the other thing is if town meeting decides they don't want to Well, that's a question. If town meeting says they don't want to support this, what would happen? >> Doesn't pass then. >> Yeah. I mean, >> so then we don't have to then we don't do this. And could the Okay. Everything would stay the same. >> Everything would stay the same. And the businesses would then not be allowed to just transfer. But as Susan is saying, we have available licenses. So they could still come to us and say, "We'd like to apply for the all alcohol license versus the maltton the maltton wine that we currently have." Right. >> That's my >> And is

167that just for sales or is it a pouring license? >> These are on premise. >> It's only for on premise consumption. So it would be a restaurant. Okay. All right. >> I I think we should I mean it's I I don't think we should pull it from the the warrant. Might be some interesting discussion on town meeting, but I think I would support this. >> All righty. Sorry. Sorry about that. >> That's okay. So, article 11, um this is a bylaw update. So, we're adding in the zoning standards for a true in-law apartment within a single family home. Um, >> did we not do this already? >> So, this was actually Yeah. So, the ADUs actually um omitted the actual in-law apartments within a single family home. And so, we updated it in in the

168Springtown meeting. We didn't do the Okay. Um, okay. >> And so, article 12 is a bylaw update for the dog and kennel regulations. So, this is updates to our dog kennel bylaw to comply with Ali's law. So, that was a 2024 state law. Um, and then a few other minor housekeeping changes. Article 13 is a bylaw for the municipal tax pay agreement. So this would authorize the treasur to set terms and structured payment agreements for properties in title I'm sorry tax title and then these terms uh are the same for everyone >> and this is due to some of the changes at the state level right about tax title takings and things like that. >> Yes. >> So they've of course you know made changes and have given us more work and make it harder.

169>> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> U article 14 is the acceptance of the Donnelly gift parcel. So, it's the acceptance of approximately 1.05 acres um on Myrtle Street for town forest purposes. Article 15 is the acceptance of a cons uh conservation restrictions that authorizes a confer goodness, excuse me, a conservation restriction on three parcels of land to be gifted to the town. Uh the parcels are on pond and bracket. Um these are known as the Beaverdam Brook Conservation Area or the Zany properties. Article 16 is the endorsement of the comp plan. So this would formally endorse the town's 2025 comprehensive plan. >> And then article 17 is the citizen petition. So this is the Elon Musk resolution. So we heard a lot about that. So, how are y'all feeling? >> Attorney. I think it's

170good. >> Okay. >> I move that we approve I move that we vote to close and post the town meeting special town meeting warrant for November 19th, 2025. >> A second. >> Seconded. >> All those in favor? I >> That's 5 Z. So, we have our town war ready to uh we all have to sign that paperwork too. >> By the way, this is I think the earliest we've been able to close and post. This was always the goal, but uh >> great. It's a month before. I think it's great that we are doing this. >> Yeah. So >> you have plenty people plenty of time to >> attribute that um success to >> well >> no I think Catherine Katherine and working with Cindy um you know they they make a remarkable team on

171this stuff. >> That's great stuff. >> So what you're saying a lot of long hours and >> so thank you. >> I'm saying it without saying it. It's okay. I'll say it for you. >> Thank you. >> That's good. >> Thank you. >> Good stuff. All right, we're good. That's Let's hope the town meeting is just as shot as what we just did. >> But I don't think >> You just jinxed it, Joe. Come on. >> Yeah. Now, now we're going to be >> I didn't jinx it. There's no There's no way I jinxed it. Absolutely no way I did. >> Should we tell people to bring their sleeping bags? >> Yes. Absolutely. And then some. >> Absolutely. And then some. Okay. We'll have babysitting for kids and adults. >> Kids and adults. >> Okay.

172So, that's done and we voted and closed that. We're good. Uh 40B projects. Discuss the 40B projects. >> Yeah. I So, I think actually, you know, earlier we had a discussion about the waiverss and the waiver list and I thought that was pretty comprehensive. That was one of the things I was going to cover. Um, I did have a conversation today with uh Jasmine Beth, Attorney Wy um as well as uh Jeff Engler and his um licensed sites professional George Campbell just about the ALU process. Got a little clarification on that. So with so George Campbell as the LSP will actually be the one who you know he's putting together the RAM the mitigation plan essentially they actually put together and assemble the AUL and send it to D which would be reviewed through the

173D process. Um so >> remind us what an AUL is. >> Oh I'm sorry. It's an activity and use limitation. Um and so currently the mill buildings as we all know it's it's a commercial property commercialindustrial property. Um and so uh right now currently there's an activity and use limitation limiting it just to commercial >> and no residential at this point in time. Um so the plan is that the mitigation measures will be put into place that will then allow um the AUL to basically be revised to say that it would allow for residential and that would only happen and be confirmed once testing has been done. So typically they do air canister testing to determine whether or not the particles in the air contain you know below the threshold amounts that D establishes. Um

174and so they have to do that. So um we talked a little bit about continual testing because I think that's important as well. Um and so I think we might not necessarily um be able to put anything in the decision that wouldn't be appealed. uh there is the opportunity for D at any point in time to basically require an audit if you will of the mitigation measures and what's happening. Um additionally there is standard testing that they have to do every five years. So that's part of their five-year report that they have to do. Um I quick question with respect to that the the buildings that are that are remaining um who use the uh the first building number 10. Uh it's there will be a component of commercial space in that building. >> Mhm.

175>> Is there parking underneath that building? >> I don't think there's parking underneath 10. >> Okay. Is there residential above the commercial? >> I don't believe there is. >> Okay. So, it's just commercial and that's it. >> Okay. >> I believe so. I'm pretty sure. >> Okay. Why is that? Is that just the way they designed it or is it just >> I I think that's the way they designed it. Um we had expressed that we wanted them to keep uh as many of the historic buildings as as they could. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Um and so, you know, I believe their original plan had all of them being knocked down, >> right? Um, and so they're keeping the full the full building of 10 and then the facade or like the front third to

176half I think is of the second one and demoing that back half and then also demoing the third building >> which is the all brick building. >> No, that's the fourth building. So we're looking at 50 Main Street, >> correct? >> Being completely demolished >> and 30 Main Street. and >> 30. >> It's the one closest to the brick building, >> right? >> Okay. Okay. Yep. Any other questions or >> Yeah. So, I just wanted to kind of follow up a little bit on about our the meeting that we had with um D and EPA and um you know, it was it was very disappointing on many fronts and I I think we've all kind of hashed that over a little bit. Um, but I do just want to ask that there were a lot

177of questions that were submitted by um, you know, residents. Um, and they were asked to submit questions because they wouldn't be able to have any conversation at the meeting. They wouldn't be able to ask questions at that time. Um, and and I appreciate that there had to be some controls around what that meeting would look like and how much time. And then of course, as we all know, it just kind of fell flat on its face with with not really providing any um substantive uh responses. And so I know that there have been some posted now on the website to the questions that were asked at our meeting, but honestly, and I think I maybe even said that to you, Michael, that it it feels like somebody just took the um the video and had

178AI try to match up the questions, which because there are sometimes the responses don't seem to match up with the like dust comes up in almost every response, Right. So what I would ask is that we take those questions and um you know I don't have a problem with grouping them according to similar themes you know like there were a lot around the vapor barrier right and then presenting those to um either the folks that were here or other representatives and asking for a written response to those questions that then could be posted on the website. Um, you know, I I think it's only fair based on what we were trying to do with that meeting and what we asked um and what were was asked of the citizens, right? I mean, basically, we said

179to them, you can't talk, but you're going to get your questions answered and and as we well know, that didn't happen. So, I'd really like to follow up with that. Um, you know, additionally, one of the things that has arisen a couple of, well, several times, um, is the height in and of these buildings. Um, and in particular, one of the things I had asked for this week were were the renderings. when they didn't come through with the balloon test, um I had they had offered they would be renderings and so the renderings that they submitted had no setback numbers. They had no height listed on them there. There's nothing that would give you any sense of what you're looking at. Um, and so I ask again because I'm not sure where that that was

180brought up last night, but I'm not sure we still got any place. They're going to go back now and put numbers on them. Okay. Well, how about a rendering that shows how it actually looks in comparison to the existing buildings, right? So, I mean, it shouldn't be too hard to do that. You can either take >> overlay. >> Yeah, you can do an overlay. You can take an existing building and just put it next to it. You can do a you know backup and and do a broader um you know drawing that would include several buildings say the the brick houses across the street um and then all the way down to one to the church and 128 Maine. Let's look at or or things on across the street the same now up at 61

181Waverly. So last night they said they responded to me, "Yeah, there's some numbers on there's already numbers on the architectural drawings." Okay. So I went back and I looked up the architectural drawings. Yes, indeed there are numbers, but all it is is is a it it's not even a picture of the building. It's just sort of shows the levels and it says 12.9 12 feet 12 feet 12.8. You know >> what's what's that supposed to mean to anybody? I mean these that doesn't give you a sense of what the structure is going to look like you know and and the and a couple other things I know that Mrs. confr times about and as have others brought up about water and um and you know I've asked what would it cost if we had to

182tie into Southboro right we have that ability but what would the cost be and and it doesn't seem to me that we're we have an unlimited amount of water I mean I think there was a time in the world when we felt like we did I think that time hasn't ended I think we all have to be thinking about water supply and you know what what does it mean to to have to tie in for financially and really uh I think Mrs. on Friday too had some numbers in terms of what we actually have for capacity currently right before we would have to >> and the other thing is the MWR uh not MWR but um the the sewer right the gallonage there okay so we figure that if this project or these projects go

183forward then Framingham will will let us buy some more gallonage right or the governor would basically say yeah you've got to give them more gallonage that we pay for, >> right? >> And so, >> and the cost >> that too is at a cost, >> right? >> Um, and you know, I I just kind of feel like we're we talk about these things, but we never get any answers. We just talk about them. And I feel like so often through this whole process, questions have been raised by many people regarding this pro these projects. And you know, if you're lucky, you get to say what your concern is, but you I don't think you rarely do you walk away feeling like you have a response. And it that it's there's just such an emptiness to

184this whole process that it's astounding to me. Claudia, can I can I jump in for a second because I do want to I do want to add and thank you for your comments that I've I've been reached out by few of my constituents as well, especially uh about the meeting with the EPA and the whole question piece. And I actually want to say that your your remedy around getting those questions answers makes a lot of sense to me if we can just get it in a way on the website that I mean the groupings are fine but we need to be able to display the questions that our residents have been asking and make sure that there are clear answers to them so folks know that you know they they they did abide by the

185process that we asked them to to abide by but they did not get the answers uh that they were looking for and that was a huge disappointment. I don't think we've had a meeting since that that and then so thank you for bringing it up and that's I got a lot of negative feedback about that and I would like to address that. It's not just because we got negative feedback but you know again we we asked people to follow a process and folks felt like they their voices were not heard and that that's that's not I think what our desired result for that was. No. And I think >> so that's the first piece. But >> go ahead, Michael. >> No, I was going to say I mean I I was disappointed just as disappointed

186if not more so than than everybody else just because I knew what the expectations were. I knew what our expectations were in terms of what we wanted coming out of that meeting and what we felt going into that meeting. We felt like everybody was all set to to deliver, you know, the product that we were all talking about. So, um, and, um, I can certainly take, uh, ownership of that. You know, it's a fine line. You, you know, you didn't necessarily want to prep, you know, D and EPA, but at the same time, you want to, you know, make sure and follow up and make sure that, okay, this is what the expectation is. Do you feel like you're going to be able to to meet that? Um, and I think that's the message that

187that we had received. So, we were surprised. Um, and I certainly agree if if everybody is comfortable with us summarizing the questions and kind of grouping them by topic, I'm happy to send it to D and EPA and and ask them to, you know, take some time and and and respond and respond thoughtfully. I >> I would say that it's very important as we're grouping those questions, we want to make sure that we have a list of the original questions and then like you know what that summary is. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So that people can see that their questions that they submitted >> were addressed under a particular topic area or rollup area. >> Wonder if we'd do like a matrix where you have like you know one column is all the individual questions

188and next to us like a block. >> That's what I'm sort of envisioning something like that. >> We think in spreadsheets Makita >> I know. >> So >> it's an affliction. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> It you know just one last comment. I think it's my last comment, but you know, one of the things that we're doing as a board and and you're doing um with your department heads in that is looking at what are our highest priorities in the community. And it it has struck me because I I brought this up even I think at at our uh July 12th um retreat is that to me whether or not you are okay with this or you're not okay with it, >> it's one of the highest priorities in this community. What it's going to look

189like and how you know what the community is going to look like based on whether or not like I say you're for or against it. It's really important. And >> Claudia, I spent 10 hours working with them to figure out the the the design and and and to work with them on that. I I understand it's important. >> Yeah. I I just feel as though we haven't it doesn't hasn't felt to me that I feel like and I think I've expressed it, you know, that I feel as though I've had to really struggle to um to even have some conversations sometimes around this. So, yeah. >> Can can I I'm going to interrupt for a quick second here. What about a public forum with those questions to be asked? >> Well, we talked about a

190public forum last meeting. I know we do, but and that way we can have follow-up questions because >> I love that idea. >> Um, but again, I think for I think I just want to make sure and and I think we we can definitely do that, but I want to make sure that those original questions that were submitted get those answers as quickly, >> right? Because those original questions may have follow-up questions. >> Are you talking about another public forum? Yeah, I'm not understanding the >> So, I think, you know, I mean, I I I I feel you, Claudia, because I I I believe too that this is like the biggest project, the biggest impact. It's going to shape our community for >> the next generation. And I think I think part of just listening

191to you and and hearing all of this, the one thing that just kind of popped into my brain was part of the frustration with this is because it's a 40B and it's not it's not in front of the planning board. So when when things are in front of the planning board and they have control over all of these things like you know they demand things from a developer because they're asking for a special permit or whatever like when you were talking about the renderings like they don't even really need to have anything concrete in front of the ZBA. That's like part of the problem is is that the process doesn't require like the specificity that the planning board has. And so it's um it's frustrating because you know I mean I I I have my

192own personal frustration that I feel like we kind of that the front end of the the the hearing we probably could have pushed harder at the front end and you know our attorney you know like we could have asked more questions and pushed harder. What I did recently, I I I sat and looked at some of my notes and some of the emails that I sent and the questions that I sent starting on January 7th. >> Yeah. >> No, I hear you. >> Well, I'm I'm proud of our team and and it's not been the best, but considering these came in when we had no planner, we had no assistant town manager, we had no CFO, we had no assistant planner, and you know what? the town owes those people an apology for the way

193they treated some of them and that's one of the reasons why they're not here. Um I'm I'm starting to get a little resentful. Um because as I I I feel like it's like there's some resentment coming at, you know, some people who are really just trying to juggle things the best they can. And if it's not good enough, then I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. Um, in regards to the priorities in the project, I was very clear on July 12th that those projects would happen after we talked about the tribe board and the 40B projects after those evolved. Guys, I get it. I get it. I've been here. I was here when Cirrus was going on. Like, that was my first meeting as a town manager was a public forum in

194the community center with Miss Kane, Mrs. came coming up to me and saying, "How could you let this happen?" And I think the town would be really, really, really surprised to find out what I put on the line personally when that happened. Like me almost personally getting sued. Look, if you want to fight, fight the right people. Fight the legislature. Bring Karen and Jack in here. Have the conversation with them. That's where it started. That's where it ends with the legislature. Don't pick on us. And you can laugh and you can scoff, Claudia. That's not fair. >> Michael, I don't think I'm picking on you or anybody else. I I am simply stating what has gone on in the last 10 months. And there have been many questions that I have put forth and others

195have put forth that haven't been answered, haven't been responded to or have taken multiple times. And you know and I understand is there an element of frustration with the fact that it is a 40B and that and an element of powerlessness absolutely but that doesn't mean just because it doesn't mean that we just walk away you know and I think maybe sometimes I feel differently about things than than others you know and I don't I don't think you just walk away I think you have to stand up sometimes. And I think that that's been >> Yeah. I just I wish I I guess, you know, I wish we could feel like we were frustrated at the right things and not at each other. >> And um well, it's not easy when you have a developer

196that even even at last night's meeting there was I'm sorry, I'll use the word arrogance and just and it and it bothered me and to that point where you know I wasn't at the meeting physically but I was watching it on Zoom and I have to say to myself wow you know he was going down and he started getting on John you know and and I'm saying to myself really really this is what 40bs are allowed to do they allowed to crap all over people and and do what needs to get done uh on their part and don't give two shakes of a monkeyy's tail about what the effects uh with the town. I'm still waiting for answers from the traffic study. >> I'm still waiting for answers. >> You know, we're all waiting for

197answers. And what when I guess the frustration is when when do we say, "Okay, enough. Mr. Angler, what is your response to these questions?" And if you don't have responses, then it's up to the ZBA to put down certain restrictions. And if he wants to appeal them and take it to court, that's his prerogative. But we have a responsibility for this community. We have a responsibility to our heritage. I'm sorry. I mean, there's too many things going on here. Too many people just lost people because of the things that are underground. Marie is ever, you know, she she was our crusader with respect to this, as were others. Um, but but just to have this cavalier attitude, it just doesn't it doesn't rub me the right way in any way, shape, and form. And it

198just and he knows that he's going to ultimately going to be, you know, not held responsible for what happens after this building is built, you know, after the traffic problems are are looked at, after, you know, the NBTA adds additional trains downtown creating additional traffic concerns. None of that is in his report. None of that was even factored in his traffic study. And I brought that to his attention. I read that 486 page report not once but twice and I can tell you that none of that stuff was even discussed or even thought of after. All right. So, and and I'm a little upset with the people that we had that were our consultants throughout this whole process who just like he was rubber stamping and I used to, you know, just very loosely he

199he agreed with everything. No, you're supposed to be representing the town. You're not agreeing. You have to push back a bit. And and I'm sorry, I won't mention his name, but it begins with an M. Last name begins with an M. did not do this town justice and I hope we not never use him again. >> Yeah, it's um boy, you know, I think if people could actually see the discussion we're having, I think they would see the impact of 40b >> on on a more like human level, I think, than than a policy level. But um well maybe there's we have a legislative meeting coming up next month. This is the stuff that we need to bring up to them. >> Well, I think we we did bring it up. >> Yeah. Well, then

200we need to do it again. >> And I and I have written to the governor. >> Yeah. Claudia, I mean, you've been very very um respectful and persistent um at the same at the same time. Well, that that's one of >> that's a good thing, you know. I don't want to diminish that. Um, but I think what we're what we all feel is just the frustration of being so powerless. Yeah. Nobody likes to admit that. Nobody likes to feel that. But, um, at the same time, I I think Glenn Travis, I think, when he got up here one day and and maybe I'm in the minority here, it's not it's not ideal, is going to be transformative for the town and in many many ways. But we will figure it out. We've got I mean

201a 100 years ago we didn't have cars basically on the road, you know. Now we got way too many. And at some point in time that will shift. We will figure this out. >> We don't have a choice. >> Now we have ebikes to contend with. >> I know that's it's another thing. >> That's a discussion for another day. But Claudia, I realize I got some um some outstanding questions also for you, especially on the water stuff. So, I'll continue to endeavor to get those. >> Claudia, and we're on the same team. I know that. >> I know that. I know that, >> Michael. It's not that I don't feel like you're on the team by any stretch of the imagination. It's just that um I just feel like we need to maybe put some

202additional energy or resources or or something here. And you know ultimately it might be for not but at least you know you can say you tried right and I know on some level there are certainly many things that you've done and including you know a tremendous letter that went to mass housing over a year ago >> but um >> you know it's just uh >> you know I I'm not sure we've had the type of focus that we've needed to have on this. >> I would agree with you 100%. 100%. >> You know, the state sees us as nimbies. Not not back yet, >> you know, but that's >> honestly, you know, I've become more educated about housing in in in this state and the need for it and everything. And it it's it's not

203a nimi thing. You know, I'm in favor of housing, but I'm not in favor of altering a community and making it less livable. And you know, Senator Warren said almost those exact words at a a press conference she had probably about five or six weeks ago now regarding u a bill in Congress about housing. And you know it it's it's not a nimi type of thing. It's you know I'm I've heard you know I live with someone who's been in Ashland and his whole life who you know my grandchildren are sixth generation Ashlanders. So, I've heard all the stories about what it was and that it's 2025 and it's it's it's what it needs to be now and but I do want to just keep it livable, you know. I want people to be able

204to have drinking water and be able to afford to flush their toilets. I mean, and be able to move from one part of the town to another and not to have to tell other res new residents that they find someplace to park your car or like the gentleman last night said, we're going to give them encourage um how do you exactly word it? Uh we're going to encourage way things so that people will won't want to have or won't need as many cars. Well, what what are you gonna do? Tell me tell me what you're gonna do. You know, I mean, we're joking about it afterwards. Oh, give everybody an electric bike. >> I mean, you know, it it Yeah. Anyways, never mind the safety. >> Yeah, that that's right. And that and that's >>

205I'm willing to I'm willing to listen to all that, but um you know, I mean, that certainly is number one. So I won't mention the retaining wall line illustrate that. >> Are there any other updates on the other two? >> 61 61 >> 61 is is going through their waiver list. Did they and again I I wasn't I did not watch last night, but did did you talk about the ledge removal? Did they talk about >> watch? Um he did talk about ledge. >> Okay. >> And um he he talked Yeah. said a couple of things that were kind of um troubling. >> Yeah, it could a lot a lot a lot of ledge there. So >> um okay and then uh nothing on the 55. >> Okay. What about 501 plan? >> Um that

206is still with wind development. >> Okay. Um, and they are looking at I think they went before the planning board recently and they had a discussion about kind of the change in the program. They're actually going to make more keep the footprint but make it more affordable. >> Um, >> and so they needed to get an extension on the permit. Okay. >> And uh a modification on that piece. >> So instead of 25% affordable, they're going even more. >> It's like 60 or 70%. >> Yeah. >> Wow. >> So that that's good on on the one hand. Um, on the other hand, to finance it, they're using something called LITEX, low-inccome housing tax credits, >> which is like a competitive somewhat lengthy process. Okay. >> That has to go through the state. >> Yeah, it

207may be going away. >> So, yeah, >> exactly. >> Sooner than we anticipate, unfortunately. >> Um, okay. So, that's the update on the 40bs. >> Yeah. Yeah. I'll definitely take more affordable housing units big time. big time. Especially at 60 AMI, 60 to 80 AMI. That wouldn't be bad. >> A few of those units were going to be at the lower >> the lower end. Really? >> Wow. >> That's that's great. Actually, >> that is very good. Yeah, >> that's good news for us with respect to that. >> It is. >> Yeah. Wind's a good a good outfit. >> It could be all like that. That would be nice, but it's not going to happen. Um, okay. Okay, we already did the consent agenda. Oh, I I'm sorry. Uh update on the comprehensive plan, joint

208planning board, and select board meeting for the next week 10:23 25. >> I think it's 8:15. I think that's when Jen can >> Yeah, that's when the consultant can do her presentation. >> So, everybody's good with that? >> Yeah. At one point they had talked about trying to do it at our meeting, but we felt because it's planning board jurisdiction for the comprehensive plan, it makes more sense to do it at a planning board meeting. So >> related to that >> also um we have our last meeting tomorrow night. >> Tomorrow night. >> So um I'm bringing champagne. >> I was just I was about to say something. Are you >> go out for drinks afterwards? >> Oh man, >> there too many places to go now. >> Oh Jesus. >> Oh, it's a sad

209note. Um but yeah, no, so we're meeting our last meeting is tomorrow night and then um >> we're just basically doing final >> edits. Yeah, discussion tomorrow night is reviewing the the final draft that we had. There's one or two things that a couple people have noticed and I have to let them know that I have one or two things that I saw. >> Um then we just saw got something today from Leah. Saw >> I did not see >> did not see >> it just came through >> recently. >> Okay. >> No, this Lisa's office. I'm sorry. Does Lisa's office have to go through that and with a fine tooth comb? >> A comprehensive plan? >> No. No. I'm just >> Our consultant has been Yeah. Okay. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> The the last

210big item was the discussion of >> implement >> how we're going to implement the plan. I think the the the draft was very well written. I think that's a good way to approach it. So hopefully we can get agreement at the committee for that and then determine who will be helping move the implementation forward. >> Yeah. >> Nice. >> So also like um you know the plan will be to vote hopefully all of us in planning board vote next week >> and then it'll go to town meeting depends on the warrant. Yeah. >> Um I don't know if there's a discussion tomorrow and I I haven't looked at the agenda about what the presentation to town meeting is going to look like. >> Oh, I haven't I don't know that that's been discussed. >> Is

211she going to be Is she going to do do the presentation? >> She won't. >> No. No. The consultant. It'll be some It'll have to be committee members. I think >> Yeah. I I'm I don't I'll have to check my email just to look back, but I think Roger Street and Stacy did not necessarily feel comfortable >> doing it because that's interesting. >> Yeah, I think we can tag J. >> I'm looking at you, Yolanda. >> Oh, okay. I mean, >> yeah, >> it's a pretty >> So, you've been you've been very involved. >> Yeah, it's a pretty straightforward plan. And I mean, I don't think we we're certainly not going to get into detail of every single goal and strategy. It's it's basically we're going to, you know, I I don't know if you're

212doing any town meeting forums beforehand, but I think >> we certainly should and maybe even have one just about the you know, I wanted to talk to you about some stuff for town meeting anyway in prep. So, >> so it's probably more or less about the process about how many participated in the like >> some of the details, some of the information about how we got to where we are and >> and then hope people approve it. >> We also should make sure um that Adam is comfortable with us doing a presentation. >> Yes. And longer than three minutes or five minutes. I mean, we need I would I would say at least at least 10 >> minutes. Good. Good. >> Someone better someone better to prep Adam pretty quick. >> Need to bring some

213chef for Adam. >> We meet with him on Monday, I think, for for the >> I mean, this is a major plan. It's it's the plan. I mean, if you read the document, >> it's, you know, 83 pages. So to say we were going to try to present it in less than 10 minutes makes no sense. By the way, motion to go past 10:00. >> So moved 10 for 10. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Hi. Hi. >> Oh, >> Richard. >> Yeah. No, they um >> Sorry about that, ladies. >> Yeah. No, I Yeah, I mean, we've been I mean, this has been the longest I was joking with Claudia. It's been the longest 10 years of my life. >> And it's only been Well, I I think the hard part was there

214was >> six to eight months. >> There was a lot going on >> before we even kicked off with the larger committee. So that I mean it's almost been three years that we've been right it it got passed at a fall town meeting to approve the funds and we had been working three to four months before that before it even got presented at fall town meeting for approval to spend the money. So it's been it's been a process. >> Well I'm happy to it's a good >> I'm happy to help with like sort of if we need to put slides and stuff together. I'm happy to help with that. I'd prefer not to be up there presenting it, but >> happy to happy to do it. >> Okay. >> From my chair. >> We'll just

215get a poster out of you. >> Nope. I'll be I'll be there. I'll be there to support. >> Okay. >> All right. Next on the agenda is update on the paving projects and I think everybody received an email. >> Any any thoughts or questions on that? I don't have to >> go through previous. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Pretty good with that. Um, do we just want to talk about um do we just want to talk about what um the paving projects that we did receive in our packet just so folks are aware of what um what was you know like what was completed this year and then sort of what's what the plan is for the future. >> Yes, we should we should cover that. >> Go ahead. You you're the go ahead

216and read it. >> Oh jeez. Vice chair. Where's that vice chair? I'm okay. I'm okay reading it though. Okay. So, um the memo that we got from Dan Mau said, "Here's an update on the paving projects. Um the the paving that was completed this year was South and Spring Street, Olive Street, the lower portion, Union Street, uh President's Row to Chestnut Street, Spy Glass Hill, House Street, Reclaim and Pave Five in." Sorry, my eyes are like going a little crazy. um West Union Street, lower Chestnut Street, a small section of at the intersection of Union >> and um Sewell Street. Um >> that's okay. >> That works. >> Where is S? >> I don't have 126 right behind. >> Okay. >> You're like the honeydew or the >> Oh, the little the little road that

217goes around. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh we are currently finalizing the punch list with Lynch which includes raising some structures on Oak Street, asphalt repair on Spring Street, and adjust addressing the transition on House Street near the plant where the new pavement meets the existing. Um regarding the pavement management plan, our first meeting focused on catching up to where Evan left off. Um Beta Group has completed the analytics and is now finalizing the survey. Once this is done, they will help us strategize how to extend the life of roadways that are in good condition and determine which ones require different levels of restoration. Um, okay, that's pretty much it. So, um, basically, um, you know, we're in middle of October, which basically means we're at the end of paving for the year. asphalt companies shut

218down for the winter. So, there won't be any major paving or road repairs or things except in an emergency, I assume. >> Yeah. The coal patches. >> Yeah. Um and then the the plan that we were talking about, the pavement management plan, that's that's a longer term plan. That was the little robot car that like did a >> like the Google thing, you know, the Google Street View thing. You're strong. >> Michael, they mentioned a written report, a hard copy of the report. We get that scanned and >> I can't. So, all that does is um all that is is like an inventory, right? It's not the plan itself. It's just like an inventory and what the road condition. >> I see. I see. Um, okay. But we can certainly >> And then just one

219question because it talks about how we did Union Street to Chestnut and then Lower Chestnut and then of course that intersection then had to get dug up >> because of the water issues. >> Um, will it get repaved back to what they did or what's the plan once they finish all that water work? >> We're Yeah, we're going to dig it up even more. not just doing the whole the whole water sewer in that whole intersection. Okay. >> So, the plan is um talked about this with Diane. Um sorry, Katherine. Um is to Yeah. pave all the way from that intersection with Fountain Street all the way back to the intersection with Chestnut. >> Okay. >> Like full pave. >> Okay. Good. Okay. >> We have the funds. We have it in the budget to

220be able to do that. >> Yeah. So that was So that was going to be a big chunk of that was the 1.4 was it 1.2 that we went to 1.4 >> y >> um on the um >> on that work. That was a big piece of it. We got to get just find a little bit more to do some the rest of that paving. Okay. Just extend it a bit. >> Okay. >> And when when the paving's done, is there somebody goes out and inspects? I mean, I I get some complaints about the um that the manholes often are not >> level, right? >> Yeah, that does happen sometimes. And I think even now, like if you go on Oak Yeah. >> You know, there's >> Yeah, Oak Street's really bad. >> Yeah. So,

221Lynch is, who's the paving contractor, they're actually going to go out there. I know Dan was was going to work with them to redo that. Same thing on 135. >> They were doing tree work out there today. Yeah. >> All right. Town manager's report. >> Sure. >> Update. Pawn Street. >> Yeah. So, um I think everybody has seen how much progress there has there has been. Um we did run into a snag though. Um so about 1500 linear feet of concrete. Um there's some defects in it and some deficiencies in it. So um the state is going to make them go in and dig it up and report. >> Where is this now? What? >> Um right >> 1500. That's a lot. >> It's it's not a small section. Um I do not have the

222exact location. >> Concrete. Yeah. So, is that a wall or is that a >> No, it's sidewalk. >> Oh, sidewalk. So, they'll have to re Yeah, it it it's the concrete was defective or the way they poured it, you know, wasn't good. So, instead of um you know, it's technically called spalling. Um and so the state is going to make them rip it up and redo it, which from a long-term perspective is >> good. Right. If they're making them fix it now, that's much better than >> No. No, but um so that's that's the good news is that it's it's making it they're making >> we don't know where that is. >> I don't have the >> or who it's going to impact, >> but it will be probably next spring. >> Okay. >> It's

223a good chunk. >> That's that's a two- mile road. So, you know, >> a mile. >> Yes. 5280 is a is a mile. Two miles 10,000. Yeah. So, It's about 20%. >> Wow. Okay. >> It's a lot lot of concrete. Um so update on downtown. Um so they're continuing to do the conduit and the electrical connection work and Everest is going to start um hooking them up and starting the energization process uh shortly. And so we expect the wires to actually start coming down at the beginning of the year with the polls to come down afterwards. Um so that's good news. Um, and I think I think we would have a little bit of money left over in the downtown bucket on the um on the $8 million to just kind of do like once

224it's all done, just kind of like spruce it up, maybe do some pressure washing and stuff and do some kind of nice ceremony that it's all finished. >> Pressure washing of >> like the concrete and >> Okay. and stuff like that. >> Um, >> do you want to discuss the citizen? >> Actually, real quick, yeah, there's been there's still some issues with some of the plantings in downtown. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Um, there's still the extra tree. I talked to you about this a couple years ago at the library, right, with Lois's tree and then the other tree. Um, getting mulch at different places, I guess, has been an issue. Trying to put stuff down. uh bushes that are still dying and not being pulled or replaced. And so I'm just wondering what the I

225know we now have a a third party contractor coming in and doing some of the landscaping work or >> Yeah. So, um you're talking about Yellowstone coming in. Yeah. They're doing some of the landscaping work, not just in downtown, you know, keeping it clean, but you know, the Valentine property, some of the other properties around town. And I only ask because I I mean the garden club does a lot of work at the at the library in front of the post office and a couple of other places and I have not been actively involved unfortunately but other people have and they're saying um you know could could we work a little more closely with these volunteers who are doing stuff in regards to they go in and they weed stuff and they'd really like to

226get some mulch put down but it's hard for them to do it or ways to water things or I don't know. And I guess my question to you is who can I point them to or who should they who would it be good for them to be talking to because should it be you? Should it be >> Yeah, send something to me and then I'll talk to Doug and Dan. >> Okay. Okay. I'll pull something together. Um and then the other question I had uh regarding Route 126. So, I've been given some information, I have to pass it on to you, of more native plants for the roundabout outside of Shaw's. I guess it was planted once and then it was grass and then they mowed it and it killed stuff and the the discussion

227has been, can we put native plants there that might not need a lot of maintenance and watering, but that would make it look better. That's >> and is that something we can give to the state? Is that something we can, >> you know, work with them on to make it, you know, it's our town and we want to make it look good? >> Yeah, I I think if they want to send a list of Okay. like recommended plants. >> Okay. >> That would be that would probably be the best place to start. >> Perfect. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Um and then Katherine, do you want to do citizens academy? And then I just had a couple other things. >> So we are excited to um hold our third annual citizens academy.

228Um so applications will actually open uh towards the end of October and we'll get that information shared out through a bunch of different means like the town manager newsletter, the town website and and other various means of social media. Um it's a 10-week program. It'll be held on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Um it's designed for residents who are interested in learning more about town government and how it operates. Um the sess sessions will be held with meeting uh with department heads, tours of town building such as the public safety building, uh the the DPW garage. The first class for 2026 will start uh on January 14th and then the final session will be in May and we'll do something similar to what we did last year

229where we had the wrap-up session that will sort of flow into the select board meeting that way. Um >> yeah, >> I have a question actually. I think the last time that we talked about citizens academy, we were talking about trying to do something around maybe making uh more like kind of bite-sized citizen information qu you know uh opportunities to get to know the town. Uh 10 weeks is is great but as we know that's that's a big commitment and we do I think the the ob the object of the citizens academy or the objective rather is to try to educate people about the workings of the town etc etc. I remember and and maybe I'm not remembering this correctly, but I think we did talk about kind of making some or looking into some

230shorter sessions or some oneoffs or some two-offs um around some public education around that. I didn't know if this was um figured into your latest plans for citizen academy or not. >> No, I think our 10 sessions are are kind of like our I guess you could say for third annual or standard ones. Um but just to help help refresh my mind on that Makito when you're talking about like um just like subject >> Yeah. Yeah. >> content. >> Yeah. Subject content. We Yeah. We talked about this a little while ago like just making making it because like not everybody has 10 weeks but we do want to make sure that we educate residents on what you know how the town works. And so we were talking about doing some shorter sessions or like you

231know evenings or weekends or something like that or you know just different sessions at different times available for specific subjects, topics, how things work. >> Yeah. >> Um you know so I just didn't know if we had it. So, it doesn't sound like that was figured into this iteration of Citizens Academy, but I think that's something that we want to see going forward because um the last time we talked about it, I thought folks that the folks saw that there might be some value in that. Um so, you know, just something for us to kind of not just to keep in mind, but something to aim for. >> Yeah. And I know we were thinking also about using like Tik Tok to do kind of like intros to departments. >> Exactly. Yeah. like more social

232media like intros and stuff like that. But but um you know sometimes like oneoffs are >> you know sometimes easier than trying to do something with cool Tik Tok production values or whatever just like you know and and you could even pro I I would even suggest that you could use this this this class and previous classes to get the word out and bring their you know get their friends and and neighbors come on down and you know come for an evening and find out about DPW. What do they actually do? You know >> maybe you know, we reconfigure it so that people could sign up for particular ones, right? >> Yeah. >> And so, >> yeah, >> you say, "Okay, on this evening or whatever time we're going to be doing the public safety

233tour and a discussion of public public safety and we, you know, the first 50 people or whatever, 25 people are in >> or maybe it's or maybe it's a hybrid, right? you yeah that's what I open you have your set people that you know have committed to the 10 weeks and then depending on where you're going and what you're doing you could say okay we're going to be in this space it could allow for 10 more people or 15 more people so we're going to open this session up to other people to just come and listen and participate that way possibility >> I actually I love that idea and I'm wondering if you can implement it in this run and maybe pick one or two sessions maybe towards the end because you weren't initially planning

234for it, but uh you know maybe a couple ones that you know that might be of interest if we could get the word out and kind of do uh do a you know like a little trial run, see how that works, get some feedback and >> and maybe Yeah, I I I'd like to I think that would be really great for for residents. >> I'd like to challenge you to try that. >> Yeah. I'm just I'm trying to think it it probably, >> you know, would be uh kind of like a first take type >> of thing. >> It's a pilot. It's not, you know, then that's exactly what it is. It's just a pilot like pick like, you know, two or three sessions out of 10 >> and see what happens. It's something that,

235you know, people would probably be interested in, right? Not all town departments are essential and interesting, but we do know that there's some >> we won't have some that might be >> more more uh uh glitzy than others perhaps. I don't know. But I think I think that might >> help a lot of folks u not just understand how the town works but also even gain an appreciation of uh how town employees support the town too. So you should >> And just to follow up on that, a couple things. I one of the goals is just to educate people about how to do things in town. How much focus do you put on encouraging people then to step up and run for either being appointed or run for office? Um we've never really talked about

236those details, how much that is part of your curriculum. And do you bring in, you know, do you bring in, I know you go to all the different departments, but do you bring in someone from the select board or from the planning board or from other other appointed boards to then talk to these people? >> Yeah, because we talk about it like in our first session, you know, boards and and committees and as we're talking about like the structure of government. >> Um, so that's kind of like our first >> our first one. Yeah, I think you know I think we could >> you know putting some you know putting a program together like even one session can can take take a lot of time but I'm wondering you know even even if we could

237do like an open house like have one as like an open house type of event and you can see kind of like what's the citizens academy about you know what it is you get to learn about >> right so mo almost even now as you're starting to open up application for it can we do maybe during the holiday stroll there's an opportunity for people to check out what you know because there's people that are coming here into the into the town hall for holiday stroll. Is there something in the basement that says, "Hey, do you want to see what I mean?" I don't know. And and that's possible, but I mean, I would think you have a lot of the material prepared because you've done it for two years now. And I'm sure you tweak

238it and refine it every year, but is there something that sort of like, okay, these are the 10 weeks, these are the things we cover, and then people can sort of check it out before they apply. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think certainly some some things we consider. I like the holiday stroll idea, too. Just setting up downstairs and just kind of like doing >> We'll have to lure them in with some stuff. Maybe it's like some cookies or whatever. >> It sounds like they're trying to trap people into volunteering. >> If we can lure them into the basement. >> I think it's just I I mean I remember there was one year I think we did it for the comprehensive plan. We like had people saying, "Hey, go downstairs and give us your feedback on

239on the comprehensive plan." I think it's something, you know, we >> No, I'm think that's a great idea. >> We could we could do something. I mean, just kind of like what we did with the comprehensive plan >> and we had boards and we had like a few a few things listed on each board and then people voted with like postit, but but we could even do something like what do you most want to hear about? Yeah. and like DPW does these these major 10 things and >> or if or if not what do you most want to hear about? >> What is your biggest question about DPW, about finance, about an elected office, about this >> idea at all. >> I love this right now. >> And you might you might be able to

240to to um con a few of us into to volunteering to to >> staff that and bake >> and bake I will I will bring cookies and a presentation. >> I will do >> cookies and a presentation. >> She's a whole shebang kind of girl. That's right. >> Pistachio and spreadsheets. >> Yeah, there you go. >> Pistachio. >> Are you a pistachio? >> You know, I mean I I guess I'm taking requests. So, but I'm really more of a a oatmeal raisin type of a guy. >> Snicker doodles. It's good good to have it's it's good to have a plethora of options. >> Have gluten-free cookies of course. Um, >> so just a a couple more things. Um, >> so, so I did, um, so we did issue budget instructions to the department heads. Um,

241and so we're asking them to do two budgets essentially. So one which is a level funded budget, meaning you know the amount of their stays the same. Uh so no growth between FY26 and FY27 and then another one with a 5% reduction and you know we put some specific guard rails around that. Um we will at our next meeting we'll go over the budget calendar and just kind of the timeline and what that looks like. >> Um let's see two other things. I don't know if you noticed in the consent agenda or had a chance we got two uh two grants for our public safety department. Very nice. Congratulations. >> Our um our police department, you know, ended up getting I believe it was a 30 $30,000 grant um EMD emergency medical dispatch grant. And

242our fire department was successful in getting almost $700,000 uh to replace a truck that was a new brush truck that was once on the capital plan to be funded through general fund capital. So, congratulations to them. And then finally, um, I had an opportunity, Novakita, you were there to go to the Dewali celebration over the weekend and it's always a good time. >> Um, just the Ashland Indians club >> just uh do a >> do a tremendous job and um it's like the f it was the first like town multicultural event like town help sponsor and so we're proud to continue to do that and you know It's a small small amount for a pretty big impact. So, yeah, that's that's what I have. >> You good? >> Yeah. >> Catherine's good. >> Stop baking

243those cookies. >> Yeah. >> You need to bake some cookies. >> I What time would you like? >> You want Is that cookies? >> Hey. All of these are my >> we won't go there. >> Miss Yolanda >> board reports. >> Uh so a couple things. Um so LA Tuesday, this past Tuesday, yesterday, what day is it? Yeah, Tuesday. Uh I am as a district representative for the Mass Select Board Association. I am also then on the executive board for the Mass Municipal Association. And we had our retreat yesterday where we talked about strategic plans and talked about the fiscal report that the MMA just recently sent out. If you have not had an opportunity to read that, it's some interesting reading. >> And then the next discussion is what are some recommendations that we

244can give to the legislature to say, okay, this is the fiscal cliff. These are the fiscal issues that we're dealing with. And how can we look at opportunities to give towns and cities other ways to potentially increase their revenue besides just a two and a half override. It was an interesting conversation and the one thing that I took away from it was Ashland is not the only community. many communities are dealing with what we're dealing with that um you know schools and what the schools are having to do and how they're handling things between special education budgets and charter school reimbursement and out of district and just the whole funding and I had an interesting conversation with someone from Franklin that I still remember when I first joined ained the school committee and had conversations

245with Karen Spilka about chapter 70 and the school funding. So they've already they've taken chapter 70 and now they have you know they've done a one reiter iteration of it. Um the next suggestion is going to be that they're going to take away the hold harmless that certain communities had. So there are certain communities that but you know when chapter 70 was put in and when they did the first sort of update of it they had certain communities that they held harmless. So these communities were receiving more funds than they should have based on the aid. And so it looks like at the next goround they're going to take that money away that says, "Okay, you've been held harmless >> for for this long, but your your student population is still going down and you

246shouldn't be getting this funding." So that's something that's being looked at. I don't know how soon, but that's being discussed. >> Well, I think funding has always been um related to student population. So >> it has, but communities that were receiving more than they should have when it was revised, >> their numbers did not go down. They kept they maintained the same funding. >> They maintained the same student per pupil funding. So if their if their pupil if their student population >> not how I understood it, but okay. >> Yeah. No, that that's how old harmless worked. And >> yeah, I I mean we know that way back uh Franklin was getting like $5,000 per student. We were getting $800 per student. So, >> then the other session I went to the week before uh

247was a Mass Select Board Association's presentation on finance tied into this report coming out, but there was a woman who presented about how to market and talk to your community. So, I have some great notes that I will then be willing to share out. One of the things that I thought was interesting is I know Michael every going into town meeting you have your town manager's forum and one of the thing they had talked about was rather than doing a forum because a lot of people either because of time or whatever but do a quick update on each individual article or if there's two articles that could go together and film that and get that out to the community. So maybe it's something you and Jordan can work on leading into town meeting. I think

248that could be an interesting way to >> get the information out about the different articles rather than just the town managers forum. >> So that little bit. Uh and then the last thing is uh we are getting into Halloween and I'm again involved with the haunt. It is the circus carnival comes to Deadwoodville. This is a fundraiser for the Hopkin Center for the Arts and the Metro West YMCA. It is held uh outdoors at the outdoor YMCA center in Hopkinon. It's fun. It's interactive. It's not really scary. There's only one or two scary things. Everyone is dead, unfortunately. Um but >> um >> minor detail. >> Um but there's it's Friday and Saturday night, 17th and 18th, and then the 24th and 25th. And then they have a fun children's version on Sunday afternoons. So,

249if you know it's recommended for 10 and older that in the evenings, but 10 and under, we have a fun there's a fun children's version. So, >> um you can go to Hopington Center for the Arts and get tickets. Uh and again, it's a fundraiser. So, it you go in, you have fun. Um it's a little bit different if you've been there before. Rather than a group going completely through every 20 minutes or every 10 minutes, now you have a set time that you have to be there and then everyone goes in at once and sees the show at the big top >> because there's a circus as part of it. So, and uh that's all I got. >> Very nice. Thank you. >> Thank you for volunteering, >> Miss Makita. >> Thank you, Mr.

250Chair. Um I you know, volunteering at Ashland Day was amazing. I'm sure that there'll be a big update about that as we get further down the table. So, I'm not but I'll just say that it was a beautiful community day. It was awesome to see the community come out and it was just congratulations to all the volunteers and everybody who works so hard to put it together. Um, so that's that's that Dwali celebration at corner spot last weekend was beautiful. Thank you so much Ashlin Indians Association for making that happen and town of Ashlin just a lot of fun. Um, really glad to be there. Um, I on on Ashland day I got a chance to attend the uh historic VI village burial ground sign unveiling. Uh, and Michael and Representative Lewis were there. I

251was there. I did a little recording for the historical commission and I did promise them. Um, WACA does have that footage and they are working on editing that. So, you're looking for an update. Um, so more about the historical commission. They did have a meeting last night. I attended that. Um they're hard at work. Um looking at a number of things, but I will just shout out um they will have some upcoming events for the village burial ground. Uh they do have a brush cleanup day on October 19th. Uh and they are having the ground radar project is happening soon. Um and I will not disclose the date, but I think it might be there may be an opportunity for the public to interact with with that group. uh sooner, but I will let the

252Yeah. Well, >> it's a recurring fee fee, >> but in all seriousness, like why not like support your local your your local uh the pathway folks. Um but in all seriousness, this ground radar project is is very important. They're going to be able to see the remains of folks who do not have headstones. We'll get an accurate count of who's in there. We won't know who, but like how many folks are in there. Um and that will definitely um be very important for us as a town to understand historically and otherwise. Um one thing I just did want to bring up uh two things uh pertaining to the government shutdown. I do know that there have been a lot of cuts threatened around HHS HUD, a few other things that might trickle down and have

253local implications. I'll ask uh Michael and um to make sure that you keep us informed about what kind of impacts. And I think even though we're not having our next meeting until I think first week of November, uh we should definitely make sure that we're incorporating those updates into these meetings so the public is aware of the impacts that are happening from the federal government right now. And I did just see something uh in the newspaper about uh the governor possibly holding back earmarks. Ear ear marks. Is is that something that that might happen? And it Well, I don't know. I think that's a more of a preventative measure around what's happening with the federal government right now. I I saw that very briefly flash across my screen. I got a news alert while we

254were sitting here, but um I I don't know if there if you folks know anything more about that, but that might be something we need to keep an eye out on uh going forward. >> Um that's all I got. >> Thank you, Miss Claudia. >> All right. Well, I've spoken plenty tonight, so I will um be brief, but I um >> Oh, Miss Bennett, I'm sorry. One more thing, y'all. Um I think uh Yolanda and I uh may have reminded you if you have not gotten back to us on uh committee assignments. Uh please get back to us as soon as possible. We'll send out another >> Getting back to you just means putting your name on the spreadsheet. >> That is exactly what that means. Okay. So we want to make sure that that

255we do have the representatives assigned sooner rather than later. So please get back to us on that and if not then we will be coming to ask you to do so. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Sorry. Please proceed. >> All right. Thank you. Um just just to follow up too to some of Yolanda's comments um regarding fiscal challenges that communities are facing. You know, one thing that's interesting when we talk about that and different communities is that some communities really are starting at a different place than others and and have um you know, a little bit more to cut or a little bit more um to protect them from getting to really and and I I've often felt that Ashlin um really suffered and most of it was because of chapter 70 so long ago.

256um but that we've never fully recovered to the point where if we'd been able to maintain a certain status at that time um we we would have had built a little more depth. In any case, that's just my editorial comment there. Um, I just wanted to follow up and say, you know, how much uh I want to thank uh so many people for making Ashlin Day such a tremendously special day. Um, you know, especially Brandy and Josh Wixer and um Chrissy Reynolds who just did yman's work. Yman's I mean unbelievable. and um and just to see the the support from the community. Um it really was very, you know, inspiring to uh just see how much people care about our our community, which we you kind of know, but it doesn't always, >> you know,

257you don't always have a chance to witness it. So, um it was certainly a a great day in in so many ways. So, um, so I I personally want want to thank you and also, you know, I want to thank our public works department who really helped out a great deal. Um, and our, uh, you know, police department, our fire department. Um, there there was just so many people that Oh, and even within town hall, right? so many helping us with the financial issues with Diane Mortonson helping get us organized and um so so there they're just a tremendous amount of people to uh to thank. So I just want to say that and then um I did attend a little fire celebration or the fire department had an open house over the weekend. I

258was there briefly and um it was you know the fire department's on fire uh with they've been doing doing all kinds of things. So uh in any case it was it was uh you know just really really nice and uh you know the chief was very humorous as you suggested to me Mr. Herbert and I I did tell him that you had when he made a joke with me, I did tell him that you had mentioned how what a funny guy he is, even though we don't all realize that. So, >> yeah. So, anyways, but all right, that's that's uh all I have. I already told you all I was at the ZBA meeting, so I won't tell you that. >> Y >> Miss Brandy. >> Okay. Um, so just um just to echo the

259thanks for Ashlin Day. One of my favorite things that um that we did as part of this planning group was um I don't know if you guys had a chance to see it, but there was a really big banner that we hung behind the back stop at the um baseball field. and looking at that and how many how many businesses and individuals um donated and helped support the the effort around Ashlin Day plus all the volunteers and you know we didn't um we listed we listed a lot of folks that that helped us um especially staff and and um you know there was some some really you Claudia talked about Diane and Cindy Sinata and folks over at the high school that that um were just amazing. Christine Graham and um it's it it really

260does like take a village and but um you know our team was was kind of a it was an amazing it was an amazing group and all of us here like played a huge part in in helping to plan. So just thank you to all you guys. Um Yolanda did a great job of mcing for the day and um there was a really great picture. I don't know if you guys saw it but but um Makita and Claudia there's a great picture of the two of you in your orange shirts >> on Ashland day. >> One of one of the things that we did was um we had I mean one of the great things was because this was a partnership with the student council at the high school. We had so many kids helping

261to to volunteer, which was amazing. >> Um, and one of the jobs that we gave them was we had kids that were photographers for the day. So, we've got >> Oh, that's great. >> We've got a Google um >> photo album um of just amazing probably couple hundred pictures I would. >> Wow. >> You put it on the website. >> I was going to say you should share them out so people can >> So, yeah, we should probably figure out a really good way to to do that. But um but yeah, the feedback was really great. We had we heard from um all sorts of people. The other person I really want to thank is um Ella Fong. >> Um who was >> she was amazing, >> the MVP, >> amazing. >> Um for those

262that don't know, Ella was a graduate of Ashlin High School a few years ago and is a um senior at Nor Eastern and kind of came back. She wants to be an event planner and she's just like phenomenal. >> She jumped right in. That's for sure. >> She managed all the booth stuff. >> She is an event planner. >> She is. >> That's what she is. Yes. and she she she like I mean so she really um really knocked it out of the park and all the booths had activities and things and the feedback that we got from um from from folks uh that had booths said that the traffic was high that people were engaged that it was the best like interaction that they've had like it was a great experience for them. So

263that to me is like a win. Um, and that's mostly thanks to Ella to be honest because she was >> well she was a big part of the pumpkin fest when they did it when there was no Ashland day in 22 I think it was. >> So she was she and Josh Wixer um were were put pulled all that together. So >> yeah, so it it was it was good. We're having a um a debriefing meeting on um >> uh November 2nd. So, um, hopefully Joe, you can come and join us because I think part of that is like the feedback from everyone and how like, you know, what next year could look like and how how Ashlin Day can keep that momentum going. Um, I think is >> is important because all the volunteers

264were just >> thrilled to be a part of this. So, it was good. >> Congratulations. >> Great experience. >> It was a great day. >> So, um, So, I'm still in kind of recovery from Ashlin Day and um and then I had I had my my son home for this weekend. So, I was kind of I was I was involved with with with with that. Um but our um the last weekend of the Ashlin Farmers Market is this Saturday and um we're scheduled to have office hours. I don't know if anyone else is able. I know I heard from Joe. Joe's got stuff. >> Um, early I can help. >> When do we get started? >> 9. >> Yeah, I can do like a 9 to 10. >> Okay. Okay. >> Okay. Awesome. Sounds good.

265Okay. I had totally like blanked on it until I looked at the my calendar. I was like, "Oh." >> Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. Awesome. Thank you guys. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um, and then that's really that's all for me. We're we're wrapping up comp plan and um that's that's about it. >> Very nice. Thank you. >> Oh, and one other one other thing. I just wanted to congratulate Joe on being our lifetime clocker. >> I was it I it was there was a little bit of satisfaction in there surprising you with that. So >> just a little bit just a little bit. just a little bit. But but in truth, >> you you've you built Ashlin Day >> and so it was a very it felt very right to um to honor you and and

266to to acknowledge like all all those years of of >> Well, you kept me speechless and that's not hard to do. >> It's good to surprise you every once in a >> while. Not hard to do. >> It's not easy to do. >> Not easy to do. So anyway, but but >> thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. Well, that that was the first thing on my on my list was to thank the committee for that surprise. There are many people that you know over those 40 years that um made that that day work. As you all know, it's not one person. There is a community of people that get together that put that on. And over the years I off the top of my mind I just spotted out three or four of them.

267They were the original guys that sat down and said what are we going to do? But from that point on there were many many many volunteers u names that you know echo throughout the town being lifelong residents and stuff. So, um, I'm happy to accept that as part of being part of that group and I accept that for all of them, not just for me, but for everybody that was involved in that committee over the last 40 years. You guys did a great job. Did an awesome job. It uh, as I sat up on the hill and taking pictures and I I think I posted them on Facebook. I'm not sure. But um it was just it was just brought back a flood of great memories. And um you know the one person I did

268not uh acknowledge publicly but I need to acknowledge her tonight and that's Isabelle Harrison. Isabelle was a big part of this over the years and uh always kept us you know feet to the fire and make sure we got everything done it needed to get done and u if it wasn't for her I don't know where we would be. and she made sure everything went well and you know she she was she was the mother of everybody that needed to get things done and if we needed had any questions she's the one we went to. you know, somebody reached out to me and and said that Isabelle was um just one of the most powerful people in terms of getting Ashland Day up and running and >> big time >> keeping it running big time

269and that >> and that was something I actually didn't even realize. You know, I knew different folks who had been a part of it throughout the years, but I hadn't realized that Isabelle had been >> within the last 10 years because of her health and stuff. She, you know, she backed off a little bit, but she was always there. She always came in and first thing she would say to me on a Saturday morning at 9:00, "All right, where's my t-shirt, fatty I, you know, I could accept that from her because at the time I was not anymore." But anyway, it was it was a quite quite the honor. Great day. Um, a couple other things. Um, Habitat for Humanity at 490 487 uh Main Street. Uh, I don't know if you saw this or

270not yet, but it's uh an application for Habitat Humanity Home. This is the application. It's uh it was on on their website and um it has all the requirements uh all that's needed and um Michael, I'll give this to you so you can put it on your on your website uh or I can just email it to you one way or the other. And um it's um different dates are available to get certain things done. And um the AMI as to what you know what the regulations are. For one family of one it's uh at 60% it's 69,000. Uh family of four which is the median age. Uh 60% is 99,000 is what you can make up to to to be part of that uh lottery process. So, um, which is which is great. >>

271So, they don't have an owner for that house yet? >> No. >> Oh, >> no. >> Okay. >> No. Um, Yep. So, but it's, you know, they um they're ready to to work on it. If you have any other additional information, uh, it's ww.habitatwg.org org/ uh homeownership application and that's printable. So you can get that information. You can get one of these and you can get the form itself to fill out all the forms to uh >> so that's to apply to to get the house to get the housing right >> because I know we had chatted about trying to find a day for us to do a >> and I did reach out to uh Hank and >> Hank apologized. He said I forgot. He says, "I will definitely talk to the folks that

272that are in the process of building it. Let let us know when those >> I've seen, you know, TGX and TJX and a couple other companies there doing a build. So, I thought it'd be cool to >> Oh, yeah, absolutely. >> Go do a build." >> Absolutely. And um we have a traffic study committee coming up next week and u I invited um Kathy to be there uh with all her. It's not like something we haven't heard before. And lo and behold, once you pave a road, the first thing we get are complaints of people speeding down the road, you know. So maybe we should keep the roads bumpy and, you know, full of potholes so people slow down. Can't do that. You have to spend that money. But any long story short is again,

273thank you. It was a privilege and an honor to receive that award. And um was there one other thing? Oh yeah, Ashelan uh town hall Halloween parade and party. It is uh Thursday the 30th. Uh we meet at Montego Square and we do our little parade down Congress Street to the New Men School uh auditorium in uh gymnasium and well cafety. If it's inclement weather, which I hope it's not, uh just go directly to the uh the gymnasium at 6:00. If not, we'll meet at Montego Square and be escorted by police and fire and have a winging of a time. Everybody gets a goodie bag. You know, even adults, they they dress up and we we give them a gift gift certificate to Target and whatever. We used to give the gift tickets to uh

274Burnham, but not anymore. They're not open anymore. So, um we want to go. We can't do that anymore. >> So, the Murphy's? Yeah. I can't do that anymore because they're only open certain days. I know, right? Yeah. We have Mexican food, though, if you love Mexican food, which we all do. So, with that, I'll entertain uh a motion to adjourn. And by the way, my my brother, my little bro, happy birthday. >> Yeah. >> So moved. >> All those in favor. I >> Good night. God bless. And we'll see you uh in November. >> November 5th.