001Diane was the kind of person who made everyone she encountered feel seen and cared for and she lived a life of kindness. She was a compassionate volunteer and exceptional friend. Diane persevered in optimis with optimism through a long battle with cancer and throughout her discomfort she remained deeply involved in the work of lifting others up. Her quiet strength inspired everyone fortunate enough to know her. The Ashlin Council on Aging joins Diane's family and friends mourning her recent passing. Our town has lost a remarkable woman. We will miss her greatly. Her vibrant spirit lives on. The community she helped shape with the grace and generosity submitted by the Ashland. I would like [Music] >> Hello and welcome to the select board update for the meeting that happened on Wednesday, August 20th. I'm Yolanda Greavves, current member
002of the Ashland Select Board and also host of Around the Clock. for the meeting that happened on Wednesday, August 20th. We started with a recognition of the hero award which is presented by the council on aging to a resident in Ashland who gives back and supports the seniors and the community center and this was given in a moratorum to Diane Hansen. Diane had worked tirelessly at the senior center doing all kinds of great things and she was recognized by Candy Wilson, the director of our senior center and her sister and two of her nieces were there to help celebrate and accept the award uh on on Dian's behalf. It was uh a great great honor to be sitting there and support this type of award for the residents of Ashland. From there, we had a
003discussion with the Ashland Fish and Game. They have three events that are coming up and as part of those events, they're looking to extend their liquor license outside of their building. There two public events and one private birthday party. We did approve all three events. So, go ahead and check out Fish and Game if you want to see the details of what we looked at. You can look at that on the Ashlin Mass website. Uh but check out Ashland Fish and Game. Two of their events are fundraisers. one uh is for some of our students here in Ashland. From there, we went into old and new business and we discussed the capital improvement committee. Uh this was a committee that we had oh probably eight years ago and and because people dropped out it was
004disbanded and there is conflict between our town charter and our town bylaws as to whether or not we need to have a uh capital committee. So once the comprehensive plan is completed, the select board will look at a ch a new charter review process as well as looking at the bylaws. For right now, what happens is there is a capital improvement process that is managed by the town manager with input from the departments as well as a review during our budget process through the select board, finance committee, and school committee. From there, we discussed opening our BAA and community grant round for the fall. So, if you are interested in applying for a fall grant, there's the two programs. One is for nonprofit organizations and one is forprofit or organizations that do charitable work that
005are that do not have a nonprofit 5013 status. And if you are interested, you can submit those grant forms by September 30th. And then uh after that our subcommittee of Brandy Kinsman and Claudia Bennett will go ahead and review them. We also then did appointments of um reappointments for many committees that happens during this process. So thank you to all who have applied and were willing to go ahead and be reappointed. Too many for me to read right now. From there, we opened up the and announced that the bibs are uh about to be pulled for the 2026 Boston Marathon. If you are a runner and would like to raise funds and run the Boston Marathon, you can submit a form through uh the town manager's office with through Susan Roby. let her know that
006you're interested and see if you are picked to raise funds and run the Boston Marathon for Ashland in April of 2026. From there, we discussed opening a new account um for Oh, no, hold on. We we Sorry, looking at my notes. We discussed that the town meeting warrant was open. So special town meeting will be in November and we are still it is still open for warrants. Uh we are looking at different committees and departments that might submit be submitting warrants. So if you have something that you'd uh like to submit it needs to be done by September 27th. From there we talked about the Kitty Fenwell car show and the Kitty Fenwall car show happens on Saturday September 13th and we as a select board have been a sponsor for the last couple of
007years. So, we decided to do that again this year and one of our members, probably Joe Manani, our current chair, will go and select his favorite car and be able to give it an award. We then discussed the upcoming Ashland Day and creating a special account. So, Ashland Day was uh usually is the third Saturday in September. It was cancelled this year by the current Ashland Day committee. Uh, a number of people have decided to step up, including Brandy Kinsman and Claudia Bennett to say, "Well, we still want an Ashland day. There's a Ashland Day 2025 will be happening on Saturday, October 4th." A new account has been created to accept funds and donations for Ashland Day 2025. So, there was discussion about that. There was discussion about the plan. And then we as a
008select board also voted to help fund that fund um to to run Ashland Day 2025. If you are interested, you can check out the website. Uh and if you'd like to help Saturday um I'm sorry, Sunday the 24th of August. There'll be a meeting at Dolce Delete at 1000 a.m. if you want to help out. From there, we uh approved our consent our consent agenda a couple of minutes and then we moved into the town manager's report and he gave us an update and the new pricing for the community aggregate program. This is the electric electrical program that Ashlin locks in special rates for its residents. Uh some new things this year is that our main rate has about 25% green energy. Uh if you'd like to spend a little bit less and not use
009green energy, you can select that. And if you'd like to spend a little bit more and do 100% renewable energy for your electricity, you have the option to select that as well. More information will go out via the town manager newsletter and will be also on the website. We then also had an update on the fiscal 26 budget. Uh after the state uh passed their the state budget, we found out that we were getting a little bit more in funds through our cherry sheet, which is funds that go to help support the schools and also a little bit more in our unrestricted government aids. And then we also have an update in our new growth or new revenue. So, we have some additional funds which will help us keep from pulling it all from our
010rainy day fund and also help support some programs that are going on at the schools. And then we talked about um let's see uh a field project. So, right now all the fields are managed by the town and it is going to be transitioned back to our school department. uh the schools have most of the fields. So there's been a discussion between Michael Herbert and Jim Adams, Michael Herbert our town manager, Jim Adams our superintendent about how the responsibility and the maintenance of those fields can go back to the schools and then they'll also manage the scheduling of those. So that's in the process and that will be happening by next year July 2026. uh open gov implementation is a new program to help departments and residents work more closely and more easily together and
011that's moving forward as well. And then we uh we ended with an update from Michael Herbert that West Nile virus was found here in Ashland in a sampling done uh by the state. So please be on the lookout, be aware. There will be some spraying that will be happening soon as you're outside and certainly with this wet weather. Uh make sure you're taking precautions for spraying or wearing appropriately appropriate clothing to keep you covered. We then had some great board reports talking about some of the events that we've all been attending and that are coming up. And that was our meeting for Wednesday, August 20th. Our next select board meeting will be after Labor Day on Wednesday, September 3rd. So, thanks for watching this quick update. If you ever want to watch the full meeting,
012please make sure you go check out WACA TV or via our YouTube page or um uh on WACA itself. Thanks for watching this Select Board update.