Selct Board - June 4th, 2025

001Good evening everyone and welcome to the June 4th, 2025 select board meeting. I call this meeting to order at 7:04. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live by WACA TV and live stream on Facebook. Remote participation is available using the Zoom video conferencing platform. Recording in progress. Thank you. Any disruption with the video conferencing platform will result in the platform being shut down. In the event of a disruption broadcasting will continue on WACA TV and live streamed on Facebook. Those who are listening and watching on Zoom uh please use the raise hand uh icon if you would please. And if you have any questions or you want to participate in citizens participation or a discussion that we have throughout the night, just raise your hand and we will call on you um when we

002have the opportunity to. Okay. So, uh the first uh order of business tonight uh and I was happy to sit in for briefly uh the citizens academy. This is their wrap-up meeting and uh graduation I would say. So, uh, I'll turn it over to Michael who, uh, ran the program, began the program several years ago. Thank you, uh, Chairmani. Um, yes. Uh, tonight was our concluding session of the second annual Ashland Citizens Academy. It's been a wonderful class. Um, I was just commenting kind of at the end how this class, it's like the engagement has just continued to increase. I don't know if like you just felt more comfortable um as we've gone on. Hopefully that is the case. But uh they have spent the last several weeks learning about Ashland um operations, Ashland government,

003how it works. They've got to meet um a good significant number of our department heads um and interact with them and ask them questions and learn all about the town. Um, and in the process, uh, we've all gotten to know each other, uh, on a more personal level, and they've gotten to know each other as well. And so, you know, one of the goals of these of this program is to increase engagement and encourage engagement. And I expect to see I didn't say this at the end, but I you know I expect to see many of your faces um at u maybe looking at boards and committees, but you don't have to do that to be involved. That's what we talked about. you know, several of you showed up at town meeting um for the

004first time, which was great to see, but uh like I said, if you're like the last class and now we could have a little bit of competition going on here. Um that's always good to to enhance some things. Uh maybe the last class I saw or I still see several of them kind of joining boards and committees. So the bar set pretty high. So now it's up to you all. But I'm sure the board would like to ask uh them questions about uh just their experience. I will open it up to the board uh if you have questions uh for this graduating class. Don't jump all at once. I know. Uh good evening. And uh you know what I I know what we've gotten such great feedback about this program even though it's still in

005its uh early stages. But that's wonderful. Um, I'm curious as to what people found um the most interesting um what did what or and maybe even what surprised you the most? General question for anybody. So there's no right or wrong answers here. So I have one question with respect to what topic was the most surpris surprising to all of you um that you learned that you weren't aware of uh that we have in town. Be it finance aspect of it uh how the government's run um different departments and how they utilize their their manpower uh workforce. So Mhm. Yep. Right. Yeah. And with every development, there's more roadways that need to be repaired and watched on. So that's increasing as well throughout the years as well. So yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Great. Did you guys

006get a chance to to tour the water treatment plant? Did you guys get to the Did you guys get to the water treatment plant? because that would be a great field trip for the citizens academy just as a future future thing. The water I think very That's That's great. Yeah. And he and he would welcome it. He would he would welcome it. Believe me, he's the type of person that would, you know, stop and have a coffee with you, too, at the same time. I've got a question for this fine group of people. First off, I do want to thank y'all for raising your hands and participating in this process. So, it just shows that you all were willing to step up and learn more about the town and uh all the folks that support

007us residents here. Uh but I have a question for all of you. Show our hands. Through this experience, are you now even more motivated to step up and volunteer with the town? Can I see some hands here? All right, we're going to hold you to it. Thank you. You're all on camera, so it's all on camera. It's being recorded. It's being recorded. In all seriousness, thank you so much for your participation. It's it's really important. Um really important stuff. So yeah. [Laughter] It's fine. Yeah, we we didn't have to worry about where everybody was. We knew where they were. I'm I'm curious like what were your expectations coming in? Because I know you were saying that it was kind of like an us versus them kind of mentality. How about some of the rest of

008you? Like what was what were your expectations coming in or something? Okay. Mhm. Yep. Yeah. Would you recommend this experience to uh your friends and neighbors who might have come might come in with some of these perceptions and might walk out in a different way you were going to Mhm. Mhm. Right. That's right. Right. Right. I I love that recommendation. In fact, it hearkens back to uh we there were a couple of sessions before you put together the citizens academy, Michael, where uh different citizens groups and and there was a citizens group that I was involved in asked you to come in and do just that. You know, kind of an Ashlin 101. And I think it's great because not everybody might have the kind of time that in dedication that you all have demonstrated.

009But we do need to remind folks that this is not it's our town you know and we made the what we are enjoying right now is a direct result of the decisions that we have made and you know the better informed decisions the better you know the better outcomes will be. So I I love that idea. Yeah. Yeah. Wonder if we could create, you know, like I don't know if you'd call it a webinar, but like a video like a twohour like video that people could access on, you know, on their own time. That was kind of like a a 101, you know, Ashlin 101 and then and then put little things on TikTok so people know to to Right. We'll leave that to Jordan. Yeah, I was gonna say not break it. I'll break

010Tik Tok. I think it also helps. I'm sorry. I Go ahead. That's very good to hear. It also helps eliminate the misinformation that's out there on social media. Uh, and you'll have those groups of individuals that solely are out there to put it out. It may be the wrong information, but that's that's their goal and that's that's their that's what they like to do. And now that you have gone through this program, hopefully you can see just face value in and of itself how the finances work. It's it's not something that we just, you know, pull numbers out of a hat. There there's a formula and there's there things that need to be done. And um you know, when we we got Michael Bond a little over 11 years ago as a town manager, Michael's

011big big thing with me uh was the fact that he was very conservative in his his approach in in budgeting. And I have to tell you, the the rainy day fund that we had uh years ago, it only had like a half million dollars in it. We're up close to $7 million now because of the uh the conservative approach that's been taken. So, you know, all these little things that you've been discussing, you know, the US versus them and that actually happened. I mean, I was part of that, unfortunately, part of that group when it when when the ugly heads reared up and you know, well, we need this, we need this, and well, no, we're here collectively. thanks to Michael and you know it it it started to work out and cooler heads prevailed

012and the superintendent and Mike got together and they they worked out a a policy program and things seem to be working a lot better. You know the tri board meetings that we have are very uh promising and we're working together collaboratively as a group and not as individuals you know trying to get the last morsel off the off the dish type of deal. So, uh, like you said, we're all in this together. You, us, and everybody that's out there watching, we're all in this together. And hopefully that'll bring more people to town meeting. It's kind of hard when you vote. Close to 87 million budget. Yeah. And there's only 250 people that vote, you know, and it only takes 10 minutes. But yet on something very, you know, small, we we discuss it for a

013half hour, you know, but that's the way it's been. So hopefully we can change that with these types of programs and people take a concerned effort. So we thank you all for being here and doing it. So which is great. I'm so glad you guys got so much value out of this. So I know there's a lot of time and effort that Michael and his team put into this, but you know, it's really about getting the community more involved in all of this. And that's I'm so glad you guys had a great experience with it. And um you guys are our ambassadors. So, as you're talking to your neighbors, as you're talking about the program, ask other people if they would be involved in want to be involved in in um learning more about it.

014And then, you know, when you do hear things because there are going to be chatter all over, you know, just say, "Hey, actually, I learned about this and this is kind of how it works." And, you know, I always tell people everything is much more complicated than you think it ever ever would be. So, I was just I was just wondering if it would be it's feasible, possible, but if there would be maybe some older high school kids that might want to participate in something like this. I I know that I ran into some possibilities with kids working on committees at a university and kind of dismissed it at first, but they were really quite good. Um, they were very motivated and I think that you've got people like us who are kind of on

015the older end. Um, and we're going to, you know, we're advocates for the town, but how great would it be to have younger folks, too, that can help u sort of bridge the age gap. Just a thought. No, that's a great idea. The school committee has a a high school student or two that sit on there, so maybe we should reach out. We have on our comp plan. Yeah, is on our comp plan. But I I think to your point, it's important to make sure that our local high school students understand like how the town works and get that that educ it's really civics, right? And I think, you know, unfortunately, you know, I'm not going to go into my solo about civics education America right now, but I think that one way that we

016can address some of these gaps is to, you know, make local resources like this available. And I think it's it's important because if we teach students how how these things work, then they're going to be better participants in democracy o overall. So I think your suggestion is a good one. I wonder if there's some way we could get more formal and active participation or share this information with our high school and maybe some of our middle school students. I think we'd have to figure out a way for it to The problem with the high school is like between athletics and everything else, it's tough. The scheduling is tough. So, but um but even the online like an online resource that we could make available for students and class you know just even starting small like

017that might be an option like just could be something that they could do in a history class. Yeah. Study like I used to do with the law and order class. Part of that would be the the presentation of it that this is u something that is trying to I'm blanking on the words but that was it's a feather in their cap to participate right and that not everybody you know would have the time or necessarily want to but some select few would get to start this and becomes kind of cool then you You know, it it might then foster other kids to participate, right? Eliza Dodge. Y sure, she would be. Yeah, absolutely. Great idea. Well, I' I'd like to uh thank you all, thank the board for the questions and the discussion that we

018had, but I think Michael would like to uh now do the presentations. Yeah. And certificates. And again, you know, and I so appreciate you acknowledging um you know, the staff and and the time that they put in, but I also want to acknowledge the time that you put in. I mean, you're putting in full days and then coming in and doing this and and being engaged. That takes energy and effort. So, it's much appreciated and thank you for indulging me in my experiment for the last session. Appreciate that. Um, I think probably the best way to do this is um uh Mr. Chair, if you would uh be happy to give them uh the pre the your certificates, call their name up and have them come up here. And then if you all stay up

019here, what we can do is we could have a group picture. Sure, we can do that. Does that sound like a good plan? [Music] Okay. Ready? All right, let's do this. Yeah, they're right there. Oh, they're right there. All righty. Oh, you're going to wait. That's true. That's true. I will come up there with you. Make sure it's on. Okay. Uh Brian Le Pearl. I said if you want to stay up here, we'll go ahead and get picture. Alexi, Miss Barbara, Mary O'Brien, Uma Lori there Mike Kane some familiar faces and some new faces. That's was one of um Ethel Wright, Barbara, um Randy, Randy Coven, and Liz and Isaac Shear. Evelyn Ger, you're coming right up next. Oh, thank you. Uh Ray Abby. Um Miriam, thank U Brian. Brian, you're here. Brian McCarthy. Yep.

020And is that is our group? Yeah, I still have a couple that didn't attend that weren't able to get here today. And um could I ask one of you to take a picture? I'll get two couple rows around. Yeah, you all have been great. [Applause] Thank you. We've enjoyed it. This is the second and I' enjoyed having you your experience. So again, you're welcome to stay, but please do not feel obligated if you have. Thank you. Very nice. That was very nice. Okay. Thank you folks. Thank you all very much. Mike, take care. For me, please. We'll do. Thank you again. Thank you so much. [Music] Okay. Well, we've got plenty of fun stuff. Lot of fun. A lot of good stuff. Yep. Um, seeing that we're about eight minutes behind schedule, but uh do

021we want to do citizens participation or do we want to get right into the uh the introduction of uh the finance team? Um I think you could open it up to citizens participation. All righty. Um, at this time, um, I would be more than happy to open up citizens participation. Anybody that's here or on Zoom, um, please raise your hand, uh, on Zoom. And anybody here, please come up to the, uh, podium. Good evening, sir. Okay. Oh, good evening, Mark. The Sony 119 Main Street. I finally got some help for citizens participation. Huh. Um, but I'm here for for a uh other other reason here was I was at the last zoning board meeting. It was talking about 1060 Main Street and there was a little bit of a controversial part of it that came

022up about the landscaping and the zoning board chair along with one of the members came up. They wrote a letter to the zoning board and it got read and one of the authors wrote um was here talking about it. That was one of my ways of saying why can't committees uh work together become stronger with the bylaws. Something like that happened because they weren't working together. They weren't understanding each other together, but they were let me see speaking on the subject matter. I want I want to not ask about well why can't communities be strong or come the idea went went down and all that. I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm just going to say that this one subject, the mill, the 1060, has kind of broken apart some committee members, two different

023committee members of ideas that they can work together. But it also was it also means that they got to understand that each one should at least communicate when they can't. That's what I've been going for for the for the I don't know year or so. But I'm I'm basically saying it this 1060 Main Street is becoming more of a controversial conversation to others. It just may break up a little bit of the town hall staff too because they're not getting together. That's how I feel about that. And congratulations to the citizens accountably. And no, I did not try to come on. I figure I do what I do here every time. I come here for 20 plus years. So I I mean I graduated but never got a certificate. But thank you. Yeah. You could

024teach it, Mark. Yeah, but then again, I'm not I'm not a professor. I'm not a communication major or anything like that. I just do this. I was sitting back there and the sun was coming in my eyes. I was kind of moving around and was getting a tan. I figured this is June. So, I'm I'm going to just sit with my usual seat, be here, and I know that 1060 is coming up later on the agenda, the 40B agenda. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. And I don't think that uh what you commented on with respect to working together with the committees and boards and they're working together on these types of projects is not something that uh is not a new a new topic or a new theme. It's something that should be be we

025should be doing already. Not not thinking about doing it but something that should be done already especially when these types of projects have a direct effect of the future of our comm of our community and our town. So with that, okay, any I see Connie is Connie, do you have any uh citizens participation? Uh I didn't see your hand raised or anything, but I just want to make sure see it. No. Okay. All right. With that, um we have uh scheduled appointments at 7:20. I know we're running with Tad late. is the introduction of the FinCon uh finance team. And with that, I will turn it over to town manager um Michael Michael Herbert uh to introduce a finance director, a director of assessing and a town accountant. Sure. There you go, sir. Thank you,

026Mr. Chair. Um well, as you know, um we have basically a newly constituted finance team, um after the departure of our long-erving finance director/Ttown accountant, Britney Akapony. And um it's it it's really been great to uh have a such a mixture of familiar faces. uh people who've been here, you know, seven, eight years like Cindy, people who've been here, you know, a couple years like Steph, and then also the new guy, uh, who I call the coolest assessor I've ever known, um, Mr. Don Clark. But if you three could could come up, um, I think that would be a great start. Um, Cindy, as you all know, uh, was previously our treasurer collector. She is still maintaining that role but has uh also added the role of finance director. Um and so um her job

027is is coordinating y coordinating the finance team. Um in addition to doing uh what she's been doing and working with the budget, she's uh she certainly has her hands full. It's been like drinking from a fire hose like all of them have uh have experienced. And um you know I I will have to say it it you know cover your ears Cindy. I don't want you to get too big a too big an ego here but this was a pretty pretty easy decision. Um you know Cindy's been um really at a place where you know she's at she could expand her role and so it's great to keep her here in Ashland and have her take on these new responsibilities and she's already done a great job. Um, Stephanie has been here two years, Stephanie.

028Gosh, two years on the 15th. Two years on the 15th. We're not counting. Yeah. Um, and you know, Stephanie already came to us uh very experienced from the town of Hopkinon, but um I've just watched her grow and develop over the last couple of years and just really really intelligent, really, really sharp. um has handled a lot of changes in the past year, actually the past few months, and um has really really handled it with uh with grace, a lot of pressure, you know, getting married, graduating with a master's degree, and then getting a promoted to town account. Uh but uh Steph has that role as as town accountant. Um and all of all of the things associated with that statutory uh the statutory responsibilities there including you know making sure maintaining the budget making

029sure everybody stays within that accounts payable accounts receivable you know all of the fun stuff and doing all kinds of analysis too. So so that's great. She likes that though. So, um, and then, um, Don, like I said, uh, is the new guy here, uh, been here for a few months, but is certainly not inexperienced in the world of assessing, um, and, uh, Don Joined us from, uh, the town of Norfolk and, um, again was, uh, was highly recommended. Um, Cindy and and Don actually worked together in in the um, in Wayland. almost said Walt know why. Um but um and so they already had a rapport developed. They're kind of funny to watch because they like I said they already have this this rapport uh working together. But, you know, we're um it's interesting

030for me as well because I have been so hands off on finance because Britney just you know, had that as such a a welloiled machine and then just kind of um getting plugged back in and I hate to say it. I think our last finance, you know, meeting finance team meeting, they're like asking me questions. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, it's been a while." And have the laws changed since then? So, um, it's it's, uh, it's been great, uh, working together. And, um, yeah, I think Gosh, guys, haven't spoken about them enough. I'm sure they can say they can comment. Well, first I just want to say that, uh, Cindy, I I can tell that you're a lot more fun than most of the accountants I know. I live with one, so so I'm happy

031about I love it when we steal from Hopkin. Oh, you took you took my thunder. Oh, man. That's all. And Don, I did ask the other day when I was in uh your office, Michael, I did say, "Who's that guy over there in there?" Now I see. So, welcome. And uh and I uh my brother-in-law is the assessor in Hopkin. So, yeah. Anybody else? Great. Um, obviously Cindy we know from um from well poor Cindy was thrown into the the budget cycle during our tri board meetings and nothing nothing quite nothing quite like nothing quite like getting into the fire but um so but we're we're we're grateful for the three of you and glad that you're here and um it's going to be an interesting year. So buckle up, right? Buckle up. I know.

032But um you know uh Don, welcome to Ashlin. We are the we are the best community. So you know you you made you chose well. So um and um you know we're here to help support you guys and and do anything that we can to help you and um and we're looking forward to working more with you. Absolutely. So, and we're looking forward to your um Don's presentation of um single tax single tax single rate or single single rate. So, mix rate. Yeah. Well, we'll I'm sure that'll be uh it'll be different. It's going to be different. It'll be different. So, but anyway, thank you guys. Thank you again for for doing what you're doing and stepping up and taking on additional roles. Um that's what this community is all about. you all stick together

033and we're working together and to make it a better place and we appreciate all your effort. There's no doubt about it for sure. And um you know the first first trying time was with the tri board meetings that we had a few months ago and uh they seem to work out pretty well and uh it could have been a little bit better you know financially uh with the with the information that we're getting from state and federal you know information. But the way things are in flux right now who knows what's going to happen. So yeah, that's why we're buckling up and getting ready for whatever ride is going to happen. So thank you all for doing what you do. Sometimes I know it's a thankless job, but be just be aware that we're very

034grateful for what you do. Yes. Thank you for all of your support and your kindness. We really appreciate it. I don't know if Nikita had a question, but then maybe you know they wanted to say a few words. We have No, no questions. Let's let I'd rather hear from if if you folks would like to say something that would be great, but got a few minutes before. Yeah, got a few minutes. So, Oh, no. I'm just really looking forward to working with Stephanie and Don. Um, we've already done a lot as it is, and I've learned so much from both. I've been around for 28 years in this business, but it's amazing how much I still have to learn. So, I'm looking forward to that. And, yeah, it's just all a journey. Uh we do

035our we do our best. You know, we always have um we have some challenging times. We work with what we have. Um but we manage to get things done, manage to meet our deadlines. Yep. Absolutely. You know, Cindy, I appreciate what you just said. You've been in the field for 28 years, but you still have a lot to learn, you know, and not shutting that door, but learning how to do things probably maybe a little bit easier, making it make it better for you. Kudos to you. Thank you. Appreciate it. I've been um in municipal government for almost almost nine years. Um and I started off uh working actually in the treasur's office assessing and um payroll. So I've had um you experience working at multiple levels um which has given me a lot of

036knowledge across the board. Um, I've been here two years. Um, and I was the assistant town accountant between Hopkin and here for four years. Um, Britney had been here a long time. She had a lot of knowledge and, um, I was lucky to learn for her from her for a couple years. Um, but I have big shoes to fill, but I'm excited for the challenges. I'm excited to work with the town um, strengthen any uh, policies, procedures, and um, work with both of these. And again, lot lots to learn. and I'm excited to have the support to learn it. Thank you. The new guy, the new guy, uh, Don Clark. Um, I've been in the assessment world for about 26 years now. Um, prior to that, and in conjunction with that, I was a contractor

037for 30 years. I had, uh, two of my own companies, one in Rhode Island and one in Maine. Um, so I've been pretty busy for a few years and uh, pretty much wiped out my back. So, I started pushing the pencil instead of the hammer. And there you go. Came over to the assessing world. I don't know how I got here, but I'm here for the long haul. Well, we appreciate that. We good that. Thank you very much. Thank you for all your effort. Thank you. We're looking forward to working with you with all of you. Um, we have a hearing at 7:45 and we're two minutes to go. So, uh, I would have no problem, uh, going down to the consent agenda if there's any questions with, uh, with that and, uh, I'll entertain

038a motion to approve the, uh, consent agenda as presented. So moved. Seconded. Seconded. All those in favor? I, I. Those opposed? No. 4. Thank you very much. Okay. Susan, do we have anybody from um Eversource here? I don't see any. We do. We have Christine. She's on the phone. She's on the phone. Okay. Yep. All righty. All right. Hello. Good evening, Christine. He has to open the hearing. Yeah, I have to open it up. I was just waiting one more minute, but seeing that you're here and there's nobody else, I'm going to take the liberty to start reading it. I have to read the legal notice. Uh, town of Ashland legal notice. Notice is hereby given that the select board will conduct a hearing regarding a request for a grant of location to install approximately

03978 plus feet of conduit at PMH number 11889. The applicant is Nstar Electric Company DBA as Eversource Energy. This work is necessary to provide electric service to number 34 Albert Ray Drive cell tower. Albert Way Drive, WO number 1 19029 uh 92477 Ashland, Mass 01721. A public hearing will be held in this matter on Wednesday, June 4th, 2025 at 7:45 p.m. Parties wishing to be heard on this matter are invited to attend the public hearing either 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 srobyashlandmass.com signed by Joseph Mani select board chair. Susan have we received any notification or emails uh to you

040regarding this matter? Joe, the only information that we received was that email I shared from one of the embutters that said he was going to join the meeting, but I don't see him. Okay. Yes. And that was the resident that's right next to I think it's 35 Albert Ray Drive. Do you know what his concern was? Do you know what his concern? No, I don't. If he had a concern, he he did have a concern and he and I I hope that he's going to be here. U so I need to take a vote to uh open the hearing. Yeah. Go ahead. I'll I'll second that. Okay. So, the the hearing is now open. We need to vote. All those in favor? I I That's 4 Z. Okay. The meeting now is the hearing is

041now open for discussion and Okay. So, we'll And who was it from Eversource again? I'm sorry. This is Christine Crosby from Eversource. Okay. Hi, Christine. Can you hear us? Yes, I can hear you. Okay. Um, the hearing is now open. Um, can you give us a an explanation as to uh why your source needs this uh this footage? Yes. Um, it's Albert Ray Drive, Northerly, approximately 338 ft north of Enelin Circle. Uh, we're requesting permission to install approximately 78 ft of conduit at existing PH 1189 um to uh a cell tower that is located at number 34 Albert Ray Drive. Okay. to provide electric service for the cell tower. Okay. Uh there um you have any questions with respect to this? I have a few, but I'll open it up to the board first. So

042I'll I'll I'll ask my my questions. Christine, hi. How are you? Um good. How are you? Good. So, um, so I'm actually I'm not in a butter, but this is my neighborhood and, um, a street away from where I live. So, I'm very familiar with with the, um, both the cell tower and the neighbors that, um, abut this, um, particular location. And so I'm curious um because I know I know that I have talked to them and they they've received the map and they they're aware of the the work that is being requested. But um my question is so is this going through their it looks like that it's it the conduit's going to be um is it just in the street or is it in the street and on their property? Well, the the

043padmount transformer is on is on the edge of their property. It's on the edge of their their property in the public way. Okay. And and the conduit would be coming outside of the transformer on the public way side and then traveling down the road in the public way and then into our installation. We go two feet into private property on at 34 and then the the the customer at 34 takes care of the rest of what's being installed in on private property. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um and as far as the the work that has to be done in the roadway, um Eversource will take care of um you know paving paving and and fixing and and notifying when the when the work is going to be done. Yes. Okay. Um, is there going

044to be any power um turned off for the neighborhood? I don't think so, but I'll double check on that. Okay. And has Eversource re uh received or applied for a road opening permit from the town? We don't apply We don't apply for the road opening permit until the this the grant location is approved. Okay. Once it's approved, then it goes to our construction group and they are the ones that will go up to the town CPW and apply for whatever whatever is needed. And when is the approximate uh time frame that this work is to be done once the approval is provided? As soon as they can schedule it, get the street opening permit. Okay. So, it's all based on that. Okay. Any other questions, concerns? Um, Sue, I don't see uh the resident. Uh,

045so I don't know if he's on his way here or if he's uh going to talk to us on Zoom. I thought he was logging on to Zoom, Joe, on based on his email. He didn't really say if he had a concern or not. He just said he was interested in the hearing, so he could be watching it on TV. Okay. All right. Well, any more discussion respect to this? Pretty clear-cut what needs to be done and how it's going to be done. So, if there's no further discussion, then I would entertain closing the hearing. So, I have a motion to close the hearing. So, moved. There second. All those in favor? I I That's 4 Z. Okay. Um um entertain a motion to approve the request for the work that needs to be done

046from 34 Albert Ray to 30 Albert Ray Drive uh with a road uh opening permit needs to be done and the extension of a 78 foot extension of U cable that needs to be repaired or or replaced. So moved. Second. Second. Thank you. All those in favor? I I That's 4 Z. So you're all set. So now you can apply for your uh road uh opening permit. Road opening permit. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. And and Christine, if you could just let Susan know if if um you know what the what the timeline for this is and if power needs to be turned off in the neighborhood for it just so um the neighborhood could be it would be nice. Yeah, it would be nice for the neighbors to be aware that that power is

047going to be shut down so they can make make things that need to get uh Yeah, I I'll follow up to and find out whether or not there will be outage required for this. I'm I'm thinking no, but but I will double check and get back to Susan on it. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, that was bad. All right, the next on our agenda is the discussion of summer meeting schedules. Now, in the past, I know that we've had gone with one meeting a month prior to correct in July and August. In July and August, but I just where things are going to be very busy budget-wise, funding wise, and projectwise, is it still wise or I'll I'll leave it up to the board to make

048this decision. Do you still want to do a one meeting per month and for the summer or do you want to do two and and play it by year if there are no other additional things that are required by by the board over the summer? I'm a little concerned about uh playing it by year, Mr. Chair, because I'd just rather set it set a schedule and if and go that way. Yep. Well, I I I wrote down here that um we also have a retreat Saturday, July 12th in July. So, uh in July, the the two Wednesdays are the 2nd and the 16th. The other two the other uh Wednesdays are the 9th and the 23rd. If it's favorable for everybody to to continue the Wednesday meeting schedule, then I would suggest that we just

049keep Wednesday and uh Wednesday the 2nd and the 16th available. Just remember that the second is couple of days before July 4th. Is anybody going away? Um I I might have a might have a conflict. Um I um yeah on the second. Okay. So would in lie of the second would the 9th and the 16th work for you folks if we're considering keeping the two? Well that means like I'm sorry I did not mean to. No that's okay. Uh but like if we're doing the 9th and the 16th that and then we've got the retreat on the 12th like that's round session. Yeah, it's a little bit it's not spaced out well in my opinion. So do you want to do the 23rd? I would not be here for the 23rd which is fine but

050Mhm. Okay. And I'm not sure what Yolanda's schedule is either. So can I make a suggestion? Sure. Um I'm always open for suggestions. So, I I know kind of when you preface this, you know, you were talking about some of the things that we have upcoming or that could keep us busy, right? Specifically, some of the financial aspects. Um, so we do have a retreat on the 12th which will be, you know, not necessarily me meeting topics, a retreat um with, you know, specific thematic um components to it. Um, I would suggest that we have, you know, one meeting in July and then maybe two meetings. Then, you know, if we need to have a special meeting, I think after the retreat, we'll have a little bit of a better idea and a little bit

051more fidelity in terms of what we're going to work on, what we'll need to have productive working sessions. Okay. that. So if we need to also have like an additional working session on like the budget or something like that, set that once we have like the it makes sense to me. I just not I'm not sure what vacation schedules folks have already planned for, you know, with your families and I, you know, I don't want have a conflict with you folks because, you know, family time is very important. Just want to make sure that everybody is aware of what we Well, could I make a suggestion? If we So, there's five Wednesdays in July. So, I would suggest if we're going to pick one meeting date outside of the retreat, we plan to do the

05216th. Okay? Because first of all, it's our regularly scheduled meeting. And second, it literally falls in the middle of the month, which will kind of give us the best sort of I want to say coverage, but that's kind of the the thought. Um, I did have a conversation with Yolanda, who obviously isn't here tonight, but her schedule like when she looked at July, she was fine for our normal meeting dates. Okay. So, the second or the 16th. Okay. So, I would say just the 16th. 16th is fine. I may not I may be I may be participating via Zoom because it may not be in town but I'm not sure but I I mean I'll attend it just may be in person or virtually but I'm available. That's fine. Does anybody's schedules allow for the

053summer to start earlier? Unfortunately, no. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, let's do we'll do the 7 o'clock start. Okay. Okay. is in the past there there were times when we did start at six o'clock and it was tough and it it was tough for some folks that were working and you know had a commute back from Boston. You you you're pushing pushing it big time. And then just for August are we thinking the 6th and the 20th? Yep. That's those are the two dates that we have available which are our regular meeting. Yeah, that's Yeah. Okay. So So we're looking at Susan. So, what we're going to plan on doing, it will be the 16th of July. We also have the retreat which is July 12th. And if we need to schedule another meeting in July,

054we have the 30th which is available if if need be. But that's pretty close to vacation times. Those those two weeks of the first last week in uh July and the first week in August are usually the uh premier times where people are away on vacation. So, but we'll leave it open. We'll leave it open. So, the 16th and then in August, it's the 6th and the 20th. We all good with that? At 7 p.m.? Yep. All All three of them. Okay. Very good. We're good with that. Thank you. Thank you for letting me know about uh Yolanda's uh request as well. Okay, we're good. All right. Discuss and vote on the request of the roadway traffic safety committee. Change the area of the school zone on East Union Street from 7 East Union to

055Nikki Terrace, which is approximately 1,000 ft. Um, if you don't mind, this request came from the roadway uh safety traffic. Uh, yeah. the roadway traffic safety committee and um just want to make sure that uh we're all aware of this. But okay, so is this increasing the Yeah, the length distance. We're increasing the length and what I what I can explain is the following is that there is there is some uncertainty and some confusion with respect to the speed limit on East Union Street both coming from Framingham and coming uh from uh Ashland heading towards Frammingham on East Union. There is a 25 mph posted sign. There is no signs that indicate that there is a school zone. Okay. So we are actually creating a school zone which is a th00and ft parameter. All right.

056So that would be when the school is in session the lights will be flashing. When school is in session 20 m an hour. When the school is not in session it'll revert back to 25 miles an hour which is what the the roadway traffic study committee is entertaining to make it on both sides of the road. 25 miles an hour on East Junior Street coming from Framingham and coming from Ashland towards Framingham. The residents are concerned about the the high speeds that are coming through that area. Uh we've done three traffic studies. Um they're between 35 to 40 miles an hour coming through that area. Um especially in the morning when the kids are getting picked up for school. Uh even though there are sidewalks, some of our older students who attend school, and I'm

057not saying that they have heavy sneakers, but you know, they they do tend to drive a little fast on that in that roadway, especially when they come to school and when they leave. So, um the residents are concerned about, you know, safety for their own children and and the whole area itself. So the committee start the uniform uh speed traffic signs at 20 during the school selling signs when when the school's in session and 25 on both sides of the road. And that'll leave open that it up for discussion amongst all of you. I'm good with that. Yeah, sounds like a great idea. The one thing I would ask is that um that the students are notified that there's going to be this change and it's going to be enforced. Give me a heads up.

058That's that's not a bad idea. And you know, we have our next traffic study meeting uh next Tuesday and uh hopefully uh Chief Rossi will be available and we'll make that suggestion to her as well. That way there's, you know, maybe if the kids get pulled over for the first time, they give a verbal warning, remind them this is what's happening here on this roadway. Matter of fact, it's just not the students. It should be all the residents that get pulled over. Absolutely. To to have that happen. So, we'll make that part of the recommendation. So, I would entertain a motion to uh approve this this particular section of road as a school zone with the uh we have the money budgeted for the the the flashing signs uh the solar flashing signs. Doug already

059has that available. Bless you. So, that's that's not a concern. So, once those are up and those the school is in session, it'll be 20. when school ends, it'll be it'll revert to 25 and and that's a lot expansion expansion of property for the school. So when you look at the parking lot, the parking lot boundary is where it ends up by Nikki Terrace. So that's why we we want to make it that part make it make it there. There was any question as to entertain a motion to Yeah. So moved. Second. Okay. All those in favor? I thank you very much and I'm I'm sure that the committee is is very grateful and uh we'll bring that up on Tuesday. Okay, next on the agenda. We're going right along here. Well, you'd be you'd

060be surprised how many I actually had a um to be very honest with you, then I had a businessman from 126 get stopped and and and this and and and I and I was kind I started laughing when he when when he emailed me and I read it and I called him up. I said, "Well, how fast were you going? I didn't think I was going that fast. I said, "Nobody thinks they're going that fast." They never do. They never do. They never do. So, okay. You know, I have to admit that the additional police presence around town Yeah. has made me slow down a little bit. Yep. That I uh you know, I can have a lead foot. I know that's hard to believe, but um it it's it's it's made me say, "Okay,

061you know." Yep. That and the signs I think the signs are very helpful. Um, I think that's definitely helped me monitor my own behavior around motor vehicle safety and well, when you see cars pulled over, it just it's a warm feeling to my heart. I'm sure it is. I'm sure it is, Mr. Chair. I'm sure it is. Well, you know, I should get some data. Actually, I I know Chief Rossy and the department have really made a concerted effort to increase um their traffic control presence and um I should get some data on that. I can ask. Yeah, that would be great actually. Some updated data. I can actually Yeah. So, one less thing you'd have to worry about. Appreciate that. So, we can do that. All right. Thank you very much. Uh, we already

062did the consent agenda. We're good. So, uh, I will turn this over to Makita with the discussion and vote on the recommend. Well, I say there'll be a discussion because I really don't want to take a vote without the full board present. I don't I don't think we need to vote. I I just wanted a few minutes of the board's time to share some preliminary recommendations and I'm actually kind of hoping that we can spend a little time on this from a strategic standpoint at our retreat as well. Um but I just wanted to kind of offer offer some updates and offer some like I said just some preliminary recommendations. So just for context for uh the good folks listening at home um for the past few months uh Yolanda and I had formed a

063subcommittee to take a look at the uh committee appointment process and um we're very fortunate to be able to talk to a lot of folks. We had a chance to talk to uh Sue who uh from a staff standpoint uh does a lot of the administrative work around processing applications. Um and we had a chance to also speak to or speak with um many of our current committee members, appointed committee members um to talk about uh some of the things that they thought were working well for them in so far as committee committee appointments and some things that could be a little better. Um so uh we had a particularly great feedback session back in March. We had a basically had a coffee and uh it was drop in session and we asked folks for

064their opinions about the process and and what they found helpful or not. One thing that and based on that there are just a handful of recommendations and like I said I think one of the things that we'd like to do is kind of take a look at that process end to end and we're only talking about like the appointment process right now but incumbent upon that is also you know resignations etc etc all sorts of things from end to end what that process entails not going to get into that tonight going to talk a little bit about just the upfront piece and some of the recommendations that Yolanda and I have gleaned from some of the feedback that we've gotten from folks. Um so, uh I think there was a there was a lot of

065really great feedback about the application itself. Um and it needs to be updated overall. Uh but one one of the one or two small things that we could do for the next cycle could include uh making sure that we have room for like either a LinkedIn link or an uploadable resume uh just to make sure that folks can understand what kind of qualifications they bring to the the committee appointment you know etc. So it gives more context and that's one thing that committee chairs and um you know I think us we could use a little bit more of that moving forward. Um, one thing that one thing that a lot of the board and committee members pointed out was that people will fill out applications and then they'll say like, "Oh, I'm interested in XYZ

066and then they'll come and maybe attend a couple of meetings and get appointed, but then after they find out specifically about the time commitment and like what everything entails, like they have frankly been ghosted." Um, or rather maybe I shouldn't use such colloquial vernacular. Um, folks kind of drop out, you know, I'm just trying to get the Gen Z folks to watch these board memes here. So, so [Laughter] the Tik Tockers, all the hip kids, um, and what they're doing. But in all seriousness, that's a that's a real problem. So, a couple of small suggestions just to kind of uh circumvent that would be first off on the application itself, make sure that you're only able to to apply for one committee appointment per application and not sort of check everything off and you know

067um so that's something that we'd like to we'd like to enforce. And then additionally making sure that folks attend those meetings before they submit an application. So they'd have to sub they'd have to uh attend meetings like at least two meetings before the application is even submitted. Uh because that will give folks an idea of like what that committee really does if that's something they really want to do and being able to communicate with the chair and members to find out if the commitment is something that they can really adhere to. There are other improvements too like making sure to like list out um you know have little like kind of quoteunquote like job descriptions or committee descriptions like part of the application to give that detail. But um we feel that like being able

068to communicate and speak with and be part of that experience will be an even better indicator of whether that committee is something that folks could commit to. Um so we have a lot of suggestions but I'm just doing a handful of them tonight. Um the the other thing that we addressed was the communication piece, the the communication between communication support between uh appointed committees and select board. And so there are a couple of small a couple of recommendations that um that that we ca that we heard out of that discussion as well um that might be able we may be able to implement for the next cycle. Uh first off, we are strongly recommending like regular committee touch points with the select board like you know being able to come to our meetings with updates

069at regular intervals. Um you know committees are also required to to file annual reports with us. But making sure that we're actually doing that too is something that's important. Um, another piece is, and I'm not just saying that because I'm I'm uh working with the historical commission, but we think that we might want to explore select board leaison to committees and um and and you know, make it something where you know that select board leazison would make themselves available to the committee. they would commit to minimally attending a meeting like maybe once a quarter, but making sure that that committee knows that that select board member is is is there, can support, can answer questions, can, you know, basically be there for for for them um if they they need if they need us, you

070know, and um you know, especially if there there are some things that they're working on that um would have, you know, larger impact. Uh we could definitely be a resource um to folks. uh by consistently being able to uh interact with them in that fashion. There are a lot of other sort of tactical things that we'd suggest, but it basically um what pulling back we want to make sure that we're recruiting in a way that makes sense, that we have, you know, retention obviously. Um, we want to make sure that we facilitate the work of these committees and make sure that they know that we're here for them as a resource and otherwise. And also just making the the process um a little easier to manage as well uh for all parties involved for folks

071who are applying for uh staff who are processing applications and communication. So, um there are tactical things that we can talk about, but I think again I think at a retreat it would be great to sort of um share strategically what Yolanda and I are thinking of and what we could do on subsequent cycles. We'd love to see uh a plan where we could agree to do something in the short term, midterm, and long term to improve this process. Sorry, shut my mic off because I wanted to pay attention. Um I think both you and Landa have uh done a great job you know getting the foundation set for this for this project that you plan on doing and getting the uh the policy written up in such a manner that uh it speaks for

072itself. There'd be no questions as to what needs to be done how it should be done. So you left so far you sounds like you left no stone unturned. So there's there's always more discovery. There's always there's always more and as you and as the process moves along, we'll we'll find that out along the way. So, so I greatly appreciate the effort. Claudia Bernie, any any No, I just thank you as well that we this was something that um I think we all have struggled with a little bit. So, I look forward to uh you know, helping to finish it up and move it forward. So, thank you. you know, um this has been something that as you probably have heard that we've we've been literally kicking the can down the road on this for

073well I've been on the board six years at least at least four or five years easily. Um, and so what ends up happening is every every summer, um, we get to this point like Juneish and Susan asks us what we want to do about committee appointments and then we start the discussion and then we realize that we don't have time to implement anything because we need to start the process um because all the committee appointments are done at the end of end of August. So, um, but so like this is this is awesome. I I fully support the the suggestions that you guys have put forward. Um, I think that I think it is a really good idea for both committees to have some sort of um commitment back to us whether it's an annual

074report or sort of like a schedule like some sort of real you know like you know once or twice a year coming in front of us and kind of giving us an update because I think it's I think it's um a good exercise for them to evaluate what they've been doing and what they're looking to do. Um, I also really think it's a good idea to have liaons to these committees. I know all of us have um work that we're doing in other committees, but I think I think part of what has what has been shown to us with this historic historical district um is like the disconnect doesn't it it it definitely um didn't help the process between our board and the and and the historic commission as they were kind of going through

075that process. So um so I think that would be a better to have that connection even if it's just you know not necessarily attending every meeting but I think it would be a a good addition. So well thank you for your for your feedback. I I want to thank uh Susan Roby who uh has uh was very patient with Yolanda and myself as we were trying to gain better understanding of all that she does to support this process. And I I also want to really thank all the committee members that turned out for that coffee uh because uh most of the suggestions that I mentioned this evening are directly from the feedback that they gave us. So like that that's really important. I I thank I thank them for taking the time for wanting to

076improve this process for all folks involved and I think that with some of these changes, we're going to have more collaboration and more transparency and I think that's going to deliver value to uh the town's folk here. So, I'm really excited to continue to work with you all to uh put some of this stuff. I appreciate all the effort. I mean, I I can speak for myself as being a member of the affordable housing trust. Uh, I was put on that board as a liaison as a select board member. Oh, okay. And that was 10 years ago. And um, now I'm a member, you know, so be careful. Yeah, they got you. Oh, I know. They got you. I know. Well, well, no. I felt I I felt for the group and it was a

077it was it's a it's a great project and in in in itself and we'll talk about that a little later. But thank you so much Makita for the effort and thank you Susan too for keeping everybody afloat on all this stuff and I think I do have a question for Susan though. Um, so I know that um your timing with the committees is probably pretty soon, right? As far as to reach out to them about whether or not they want to be reappointed so we can get a good gauge of what vacancies we're going to have, right? Um, what's what's your what's your schedule usually like, Susan? So, I usually send out the initial letter in June because if people are heading out for the summer, I try to catch them before they're gone and

078then ask them to get back to us ASAP because then it gives us an opportunity if we know a seat's going to get vacant to start advertising it. Yep. And then they get appointed in August. Okay. Yep. And do we advertise those in in your newsletter, Michael? Is that how we advertise the newsletter? They're on the website. There were also as reminders at the bottom of each of your agendas. Yep. As we see tonight. So, that'll be good. Thank you very much. Thank you. And thank you, Yolanda, as well. Yes. Yes. Thank you. All right. Moving onward and upward. Uh, next uh item on the agenda is discuss and vote on the number of scholarships awarded to the graduating seniors of Ashland High School. I will turn this over to uh Claudia. Um it's been

079a it's been an adventure to say the least. And if we can if if you don't mind just a little introduction with respect to this been doing it for I've been doing it for quite some time and I have to tell you every year it gets more difficult because the number of students that apply for the applications and and you see what they've done with respect to community service within the town because that's what this scholarship is based on is based on community service and what how it's important for them and why it's important for them to do and do it for the town of Ashlin. And some of the some of the responses are are remarkable. Um, and like Claudia and I said during one of our most recent meetings, we wish we could

080give everybody something, but unfortunately we can't. And uh, so it it makes it makes the decision a little bit more difficult, but it's it's a decision that I I'm sure that I do the pillow test at the end of the night. I I feel comfortable with the decisions that we made and the people that that will be receiving these awards and you know they're all deserving every single one of them deserving. So but Claudia you're on. Yeah. So, well, I certainly agree with that, Joe. And um you know, I think one of the things that we've, you know, we've met twice and uh and one of the things we talked about too was not only the number of applicants, but also um the amount of money, right, for kids to go to college today. And

081uh it's astounding, right, that there's so many that are, you know, $80,000 a year and and more. uh you know, I think I don't know what the cheapest one I saw was, but it was uh in the tens of thousands of dollars. So, um it's a significant financial burden. I'm not even sure really how most families do it. Um so, you know, I apologize. I was actually been texting with Susan because she had pulled some data for us and and had just uploaded it a little while ago. So, um, what Joe and I had talked about was, listen, do we how much money do we have in this account? Do we need to really be carrying over a large sum? Um, what does it get used for? Um, and how much what's the revenue, typical

082revenue? So, she she was able to provide some information which I you know I have to say it was a little I was a little surprised because it seems like the revenue is um less than the generally the expenditures. Um I'm not I'm trying to figure that out with her why that's the case. Um because obviously the money is coming from somewhere. Um, so what we were hoping to do was we were hoping to increase from two awards to four awards. Um, the awards are $2,000 each. So we would be going from $4,000 to $8,000. Um, currently there is um about $45,000 in the account. Um but this was a question that that I had most recently. Um and but we have you know a huge amount of expenditures from this account. Yeah. I mean

083this right now shows $75,000 for this year and yet our revenue is only 45 although Susan did think we're going to be getting another 18. Um, so this was significantly different than what this is what we use for our grants. So this is the the the community grants, right? Joe and I sat and went through Okay. It's the grants, it's the lunchon, it's the um breakfast. It's the volunteer breakfast, right? Um we So we kind of tried from our experience just to come up with what the number might be. I think we still only came up with um I think we're around 20,000 we thought probably but yeah just a little shy of 20,000. In any case that would be what we might expend. Um so unfortunately um you know one of the I think

084the biggest revenue from this is or revenue to this is the um rentals at the Warren Conference Center. um which fell off a little bit during COVID and they have Susan points out they are sort of you know ticking upward again um and I think with all the things that Warren Conference Center is doing um to you know bring more events there with the you know our participation with them in the Warren Barn and etc etc um I'm sure that that's going to increase some more um but I'm not Sure. Um, again, so we, you know, right now that's what I honestly, like I said, I just seen this while sitting here. So, um, I'm not sure that just maybe revert back to what we were going to do. Yeah. I mean, I'm not I'm

085concerned about we how do we have $75,000 in expenditures? So, yeah. So, I mean, I'm I'm generally this account we use for quite a bit. So I don't love the idea of especially now. So I can give you a little bit of guidance because I just went through this. So the um so the way that the scholarships are posted for the for the seniors at least at Ashlin High School and I know that we we allow like KEF tech students to to apply as well any or any any student that lives in Ashland to apply for the scholarship. So the scholarships for Ashlin High School are posted in a system called Naviance and the students can view the scholarships and apply. In there they talk about how much money this scholarship gives and how many

086they give. So first of all I wouldn't support making any changes at this point because the scholarships are given out Friday. So So I would say that if we want to look at it in the future, we want to do it. I would also say our scholarship is the richest one locally that is given. So most of the other scholarships in Ashland are 500, a thousand. There's a couple that might be 1,500. And I again I'm I have a graduating senior, so I I'm very aware of the the cost of college and and the fact that would be great to give out more scholarships. Um, I also know that there's not a lot of students that apply for these percentage-wise. Um, mostly because there's 17 and 18 year olds who have just gone through applications

087for college and they're they're kind of they burnt out. Yeah. So, um I I definitely we we moved from 1500 to 2,000 a couple years ago. Like that's been a relatively new change. Um I would I just I feel like if we wanted to give more money, I would take down the amount next year a little bit. Well, I I thought about going like four for $500 each or something like that, too. But um I think I think honestly I think that the reason that the select board scholarship gets as many applicants as it does is because of the amount that it is to be honest. It's attractive, right? I really truly um and I'm and I'm and I support that. I just I feel like we financially to to utilize that account dramatically differently

088is going to we're either going to have to make some changes because I think we're going to get to a point with our BAA grant cycle with the community grants where the the asks are going to be so large that we're going to have to prorrate those those amounts anyway at some point. So, I'm just hesitant to to to do four $2,000 scholarships, especially at this point in the cycle where Yeah. Well, like I said, I just saw these numbers. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm not sure I would have brought this forward if I seen those numbers, right? But because I'm not even sure how we're paying $75,000 in expenditures this year if we're only taking in Well, it's not even what we're taking in. We're only taking in um I think

089I think the general revenue is about 20,000 a year that we get from this. Yeah. So the average um I did ask for the average as well. So the average over the last three years has been $16,675. Currently we have $45,000 in in in there um based on um some additional monies that uh Susan mentioned in one of the texts here. Um again we have $75,000 in expenses. So uh um in previous years we had 32,000 23,000 19,000. So we've been averaging $16,000 in revenue and $25,000 in expenses. So I'm not sure how we're funding that if do you know what? I don't know how I think we're just in a negative like I think we had gotten to a certain point going out than you got coming in. Yeah. But I mean, how where's

090that going out money coming from then? We're just drawing down the balance. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, we had a surplus at one point. Well, we're this year we're in the red according to this $45,000 is the total in there. And even, you know, if we get the additional 18 and we're we've got an expenditure of 75,000, right? 45 probably um also includes the two rounds of grants we Claudia. So the 75 is the total for the three years. That's not this year. Okay. So then and the re what's the the revenue is the total too. So what okay so what do we have in the account and and what do we have in expenditures? I I guess I'm the balance that I gave you reflects all of the money that has been spent except for

091the scholarships because those have not been paid out yet. Okay. So, you have the 45 is what you have. Well, you just said that was the revenue for the three years, right? So, what I did is I put the revenue that has been generated for each year which totaled the 45. And then I gave you an average of what we normally take in. I looked up the account balance and gave you what that was. Now, I got to go back and look at the text message that I sent you. Um, but the 75 that you keep referring to, I just want you to know that that's three. That's the three, but as is the 45. So, it's still we're still in the red even. And the only the only reason why we're not in the

092red and we're not at a negative balance is because going into these three years, we had a surplus coming out of COVID. We weren't spending money. We still had money coming in. And the board was being very conservative with grants back then. They would not spend more than 50% of the balance in that account. All right. So, I guess we might need to take a look pretty quickly at this then. Well, I changed my thought process with with what we had discussed previously. So I I I I tend to agree with what Brandy, you know, is suggesting is that we just for this year keep what we have in in in line and then we'll go from there and then hopefully next year we take a look at it and before the deluge of applications

093come in and see how the board wants to handle it in the in the future, especially if it's so if the 75,000 was over threeear period that's telling me 25,000 a year expenditures. That's simple math. I mean, that's that's the old math, right? Three years 75. That's 25. So, $45,000. Yeah. Every single one of these shows in the link. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, we'll Yeah. Then well, let's now that we know that there's a potential issue, we can we'll sit down and discuss it. just, you know, when you recently made changes to the grant process, you had you had up-to-date data at that time, right? And and I'm looking at like our our meeting minutes from the last meeting just so we um last grant round from the select board gift account, which is this

094account, we awarded $5,138. So like that and I think that's about I would say that's about average. So we need to get some more data on where the expenditures are and all that stuff. Yep. All right. Because we do tap that account for just a lot of things. We do like I mean the employee recognition piece you know there's there's a number of things. So I think you know if we collect all of that we'll get a little bit more clarity to what's happen. And every once in a while a group will come to us for um for a funding request outside of the grant round, right? Um like I remember we did the the healing garden um at the Nyanza site that we that that came out of our I think that was like

0955,000 out of our Yeah. So I mean there's things that we that we do that are outside of that. So um Okay. Which is why the which is why one of the reasons why the the parameters around the community grants that we do for out of this account are much much lower than the BAA grant amounts because we we have to be fairly fiscally responsible about how we allocate funds but we do have to be fiscally responsible our job. So do we need to do we need to No, because we didn't Yeah. Okay. So, there's no changes. There's no We'll just We keep it the way it is as for right now and then future discussions, we'll we'll bring it up and then we'll take a vote and whatever at that point once we get

096more solid information. And thank you guys for doing all the the grant applications. I'll tell you. So, every year it gets tougher. Yeah. Well, you know, they're they're really good kids. No, they are. and they and they're very diligent in in in in the work that they do. So, which is great. All right. So, this is it update on the 40B projects and I will turn I will Sure. Come to the microphone, Connie. Thank you. I'm Connie Manel, Newcastle Road. I tried to log into Zoom. I was there. Yeah. But I got a message that the host would not unmute me or permit video. So I wonder if you would allow me to make a statement or ask a question now. This is for the citizen participation at that time. Yes. Yeah. Sure. We'll allow

097it. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you. So, um I speak for myself, but I also speak for a lot of people in town. We're very concerned about the number of apartments uh that are going into town, large apartments that will impact services. And in light of the fact that the UN the 40B um prevents towns from adequate negotiation um and that it's an unfunded mandate, meaning the town will be on its own once we have these apartments and we need to provide all the services and traffic issues and whatever else envirment. mental issues. Um I'm wondering Oh, and and when we were, this is going back to the 1980s, I'm dating myself. Um the town was under the gun to put a sludge dump in town and we had success. Everybody in town came together and

098fought it. But we also had legal support which was very very helpful. And I'm wondering if in light of the um the 40B issue and the fact that it's an unfunded mandate, would would we be able to um do follow the example of a lot of other towns who have been able to use those two issues to more adequately negotiate with developers. Their their goal is to make money. Our goal is to make sure that our town stays the way we want it. And so I'm I'm my question is do we have any legal support? And if we don't, have you considered it? and car kind of kind of confused as to when you when you mean legal support. We have town council that has provided us, you know, information as to they attend the

099meetings. They they attend these meetings. So, they're there. They're they're they're part of the they're part of that process. So I are you looking to increase or have another council come in to work with the town council that we have or somebody just solely for That's a good question because I my take was that the town council was someone that sat in on meetings and made sure that that meetings were run properly. I didn't know that they were attending negotiations. Go ahead, if I may. So, I mean, I I I would say part of the role that town council has is to make sure that the hearings and everything are run appropriately, but that's only a small amount. Um, you know, they are here as representatives for the town to advocate on the town's interests.

100And I think if you saw uh you know if you watch some of the meetings or a lot of the meetings you know most of them have been attended by town council Lisa me I think the last the last one um and I think the one upcoming is somebody from her firm attorney Brian Wy and I think you know you probably know so I'll give you a good example um I believe there was a discussion a couple meetings ago on the mill site about an increasing of the sighteline distance on some of the traffic pieces and I think the applicant made some kind of statement that oh you know to do that we would have to tear the building down. Well, it was town council who tear the closest um ranet building down and town

101council tear them all down. Yeah, tear them all down. And town council, you know, she was the one who said, "Wait, that doesn't make any sense." Um you know, and and push back. Um, I guess I guess what I'm trying to say is that towns are are taking this unfunded mandate as a reason to sue the state to to be the aggressor, not negotiate in a in a select board meeting, but to say, "Hey, we have rights and and we should be able to negotiate and address our needs as well as You know, Connie, the unfunded mandate piece. Now, now I'm I'm connecting dots here. Um, so the unfunded mandate piece is actually a position that the state auditor has taken in regards to the MBTA community's uh law, right, that was being opposed. 40B

102is a different completely different animal. I know, but it takes our our ability to negotiate away. Oh, I agree. It's it's an incredibly frustrating process. Um but but that's why I'm saying do we have legal support to help us in the negotiation? Yes. Yes. Um and I think and one question I just want to get some clarification on is the unfunded mandate piece. I'm not I'm not you're are you saying there's no money coming from the state to help us provide the services on the 40 the services that are going to be required for traffic? um schools, police, fire. Um we're on our own. This is we're talking about a a very large percentage increase in population in our town and in all the services that are going to be required. And I so I

103just am very concerned that I I I think we don't have any any say in the process. I think an unfunded mandate argument might be a little bit tough just because they they would pay taxes. Um so you know the building the property owner would pay taxes and so you know theoretically those taxes pay for the additional services. Now we can certainly debate I think whether or not you know the tax revenue actually offsets you know the increase in service. I I think towns like um Middbor and Felmouth were able to I guess it's the h I I don't know I don't completely understand the process but it's the housing authority or something in the state that that towns have gone to and and fought the the process or tried to negotiate and and some

104have been successful because they had legal support. They so at the housing appeals committee I think that's what you're referring to right so but do we have we done anything like that have we gone to the housing appeals with with attorneys to help represent us? So you don't go to the housing appeals committee until um a decision is actually rendered by the zoning board of appeals. So that's the process that has to play out. So, so the zoning board of appeals would issue a decision. Um, I'm not sure if the if the town can actually take it take the case to the housing appeals committee. What usually happens is that the ZBA would render a decision or deni that would be a denial or they would render a a decision that was an approval with

105stringent conditions that the developer then would say you know what that makes it uneconomical or that's not right and then they would appeal it actually to the housing appeals committee. So that's where it's heard and then generally you know I have to say towns have a very very very bad track record in terms of coming out on top and winning in those situations. That's what gets so frustrating, I think, when we get letters from Mass Housing that say, "Oh, you know, you can control things through the zoning board of appeals process. You have the ability to do this." and they completely and I would say disingenuously ignore the fact that a developer if they don't agree with the decision can appeal it to the housing appeals committee who almost 99% of the time finds in

106favor of the developer. It it is it is extremely frustrating. I'm pointing to examples where we they've been able to fight it and that's that's my question and it it could be Ashland approved the apartments right because um I guess there it was it was at the not this past town meeting but the one before that it was on the um the MBTA communities law again separate very separate from the 40B Right. Well, I know, but the 40B is what ties our hands and the unfunded mandate is the door that you can squeak through to um that's what towns have used to fight it. And anyway, I Yeah, maybe we should talk because I'm I'm trying to understand kind of like the where your your strategy here. I I'm kind of getting bits and pieces.

107So, um I'd love you know. Yeah, I just need to tie it all together. That's I just need to So I think if I understand, you know, what Conniey's talking about is um so the MBTA is is separate law, right? And that's relatively relatively new, very new. And towns have fought that. Um I'm not sure if anybody's fought fought that successfully at this point, but they have fought it. Um and then what that does is it made us change zoning in certain parts of the town, right, to increase um the concentration. So um the 40B has been on the books since 1969 and its purpose is to increase affordable housing generally throughout this the state. Um and that's the history that Michael's talking about in terms of nobody ever wins. It's it's um Michael basically

108led a uh the select board and the rest of the town committees to create a letter to mass housing last year in May, late May, outlining significant reasons why this project in particular at that time 10 to 60 main shouldn't necessarily go forward and mass housing said nyx we don't care. So you well know that this state is desperately trying to create affordable housing. I think that the issue that we all have is that affordable housing. Yes. Does this actually create affordable housing? I mean that's one question. And um another thing question is does it does anybody want to live in apartments? Is that what they is that what people want? Some people absolutely that's what they want. But is that the way that they make it into living in a condominium or a single

109family unit, something they own? Right. And um so the next step now where we are right now is the ZBA process. And um so the the ZBA is receiving input from the town's attorney. I hope sometimes there's stuff being said behind the scenes that because sometimes there isn't much input in public um and in ter in terms of how we can move forward. We can't just say that we don't want it at this point. we have to have they have to be really pretty good solid reasons and as Michael said. Um you know we that's historically hasn't really worked out very well for communities. Um I think there's some things about the the timing with this for us and and that particular the 10 to 60 main site that make it a little bit more

110unusual. I mean, some of those pieces were raised in the letter that Michael sent to Mass Housing on the town's behalf. Um, but I still think that uh, you know, the fact that some of the we would have been in what they call safe harbor where we wouldn't have they wouldn't have been able to come in and do this um, if some of the other units had been built. But, you know, one unit during COVID and because of co COVID, I would argue ended up um, became became less affordable. So the developer pulled back. Um another group of units ended up in the courts. Um I don't know that you can blame that on COVID, but we could try. But so I mean I think that we are going to push for um our attorney

111and the ZBA to to come up with some definitely um you know some things to make this a little bit more attenable to us. But um I don't know that that um how successful we'll be, but I am certainly one that thinks that we should fight it with all our heart and soul. I I don't think that it um is good for the community. I think it's would be very destructive and and and even beyond that. And I'm certainly in favor of affordable housing, but you know what? Build some let's build some condos. Let's build some workforce housing in in the town that people who work here and uh can where they can live, where our teachers and police officers and firefighters can live, right? Yeah. The the the gambit of affordable housing or the

112the stigma of of a unit being called affordable. It's actually not affordable. That's right. So that's what Joan Gony's argument was. Right. and and and I we understand that. We all we all get that. We understand that. So, like Michael said, the law hasn't done anything for affordable housing. It's been on the books since 1969. Correct. we haven't made any progress in affordable housing and and that and that aspect of it is something that I want to you know we'll I'm sure we'll have future discussions on this but something to deal with the uh uh leaders in the legislative and and and the Senate as to you know change the legislation and and the wording that governs 40B that at some point some of these developers are going to have to abide by the the

113bylaws of all the municipalities that they're coming into. Right. If if not, then why the heck? Excuse I'm starting to get my Sorry, kick me when you when you see me. No, you're good. I haven't done this yet. But um when that happens, be ready. Um all I can tell you is that it just we need to make those changes and those changes need to be done, but it's not going to be a quick process. It's going to be a slow drawn out process as legislative actions are usually done that way. So, but this is the time to start it because it's on everybody's mind. It's on everybody's, you know, table in front of us and this is what we need to do now, Connie. So, yeah, I mean I audience knows and I think

114you know that I'm I'm I'm not supportive of the of these of these specific projects. Um, and you know, the ZBA right now has They have some power to put certain restrictions on and they need to be supportive. They need to get the support from all of us as a whole, but make sure that what they do and what they present to the developer is done in a way that helps the town and not circumvent the bylaws as they already are. That's right. Presented. So, we just need to make sure that the zoning board chair and the members hear us and realize that, you know, we're here to support them and and and help them through this process as long as they're willing to accept the help that that's being that's being suggested, right? And

115zoning boards were created to protect towns, right? But if the legislation if the legislature makes sets up legislative laws that defeats that then then why have them to begin with? And the one thing I would just add because you know you were talking about unfunded mandate and I think I think rather than sort of an unfunded mandate because to Michael's point they will pay taxes. Um, I think because all of this is happening all at once, it is really tough for us to be able to pro project what the needs of the community are going to be and and and be proactive at all. Exactly. So, so um you know when we talk about infrastructure, we need to we need to to deal with water, sewer, we need to figure out the traffic and the

116public safety personnel and the rest of the the staffing needs of the community plus just how we're going to be able to manage the additional children in the schools and all that stuff. It's all at once. So I think I think that adds to the to the um frustration to the frustration. So so you know and and we completely agree with that you know and that is one of the things that as where we were reviewing the um the third 40b application that is co you know that is in front of mass housing right now. Um, that was my that was my feedback as to what I wanted to include in that letter because the cumulative effect of what's happening with these projects because the other part about 40B is once once these get permitted

117once um at least by the second 40b I'm sure probably even by the first 40B we might end up in safe harbor. We definitely end up in safe harbor. Yeah. So when that happens, we're able to shut the faucet off to not to not be able to um to be able to say no. That could you could you repeat that? So So what happens is So what happens is um what happens is is when when a town hits 10% of affordable housing of their subsidized housing inventory, the SHI that we talk about, um you can get into safe harbor. You can also get into safe harbor by adding a certain amount of affordable units per year. So what will happen is once we hit that safe harbor, once we hit 10%, once we hit a

118certain percentage, if if a developer comes to town and wants to do a 40B, we can be like, "Nope, we're closed. We're not going to allow that anymore." But what has happened is when the first 40b application came through for mass housing, these other followed very quickly because they didn't want us to get into safe harbor. So that that's that's the frustration for me because the developers could go the normal route and go to our planning board and ask for, you know, ask for permitting through the planning board process, but this allows them to circumvent all of our current zoning, which is the frustrating part. and all of it at once is just it's overwhelming for for us um to be able to react and be proactive. So, I completely hear you. I I wish

119I wish there was an easy solution. I wish there was a way that we could um qualify these projects in a way that makes the most sense for our town. the state just isn't that that's just not how this law operates. And so we're kind of subject to those limitations. So we're tr we're going to we are I I tell you and I unequivocally we are all trying to do the best we can for the town with the limits that we have and whatever we can do whatever we can negotiate whatever we can do to make it better we are committed to doing that. Um, so just just know that, okay? I feel as a citizen, I feel powerless and I just Well, you're looking at us the same way. Believe me, it's this it's

120it's awful. It is. It is. And it needs definitely needs to be changed. So Okay. Well, thank you for your time. Well, thank you, Connie. We appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate your input as well. Thank you. Okay, Michael. Yeah, you're up. Sure. On the 40bs again. Yeah. No, I think um you know, just a a handful of updates on 10 to 60 Main Street. It sounds like they're closing out the traffic portion based on what I understand from both attorney me and talking to planning our planning staff. I think we still have Alvaro until tomorrow. Uh so can I ask a quick question with respect to that because if they're going to be shutting that down that that discussion down have they are they aware of the um the MBTA new schedule of two more

121trains every half hour. I I do I do not know they they are because that is going to be a major crunch to this to this intersection. There was there was There was an article in the Metro West Daily News that the MBTA is scheduling additional two trains every half hour. I don't I don't know if that's going to happen anytime soon. Okay. Well, you know what? When it does, it's just I'd be surprised. Okay. They they don't have the staffing and they don't have the they don't have the trains. Okay. Well, again, but they put it out there. So, I could be wrong. I would I would love, trust me, as a as a commuter, I would love more trains to Boston more frequently, but that but what what I'm saying is that skews

122the traffic studies that have been presented to us. And so they need to look at that and and revise that that aspect of that Pacific's traffic study. So hopefully they can do that. I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you, Michael, but I just wanted to add it's a very relevant, you know, to what we were saying. Um, we did, I believe, get an email from the developer who there was an issue um, regarding some compensatory storage um, you know, flood storage. Um, and so our peer reviewer had pushed back quite a bit on, you know, the plan and what the detail that had been or lack of detail, I should say, that had been provided. Um, and so I did receive a note today that that uh compensatory storage issue has been resolved or

123at least the developer feel like they met the um qualifications that our peer reviewer and the baseline that our peer reviewer had established. Um, so that's on 10 to 60 Main Street. Do just want to remind everybody that that hearing is supposed to close up some point in July. Okay. ZBA hearing. Yeah, the ZBA hearing. So then it goes through the conservation commission process. Well, so there's still another another aspect of it. So they haven't presented any of the architecture or anything yet, right? Not yet. But every time that they've continued that pushes it out, right? Doesn't that push out the the 180 days? If they request the continuence, yeah, they would need to they would need to agree to that. And I know we have received a few extensions, but um because July is

124like around the corner. Yeah, around the corner. Yeah. Um, so that is on 10 to 60 Main Street and 61 Waverly Street. They're still working on traffic. There's I think there's some significant issues not only with traffic but with water, water on site, water coming off the site, just a lot of water. Um, and I think I think they've got some big hurdles quite frankly um on that one. And then uh with 55 West Union Street um as you know I did send the letter to Mass Housing. I have not received response from anticipated and and they did a walk through right there was a walk through on that believe I believe in May at some point walk through the site. Well there so usually Mass Housing before they do a a eligibility letter will

125come on site to walk the property. Yeah, I I walked with Oh, you did on Waverly. Well, that was that was the Waverly Street. Oh, maybe. Yeah, I didn't know about the I didn't either. Or maybe it hasn't happened yet. Okay. I'm getting There's too many of them. If you would, that would be great. So, that way we can at least be made aware of it. Okay, sir. Um, so, yep, those are the 40B threeb projects. Um, yep. All right. Well, we're up to we already did the consent uh agenda, so we're at managers reports. Sir, sure. I'll I'll actually start off with something that is not on the agenda, and I know I'd sent you a note um earlier today. Don't know if you had a chance to look at it, but I would

126encourage um you and anybody, you know, who has an opportunity to look at the work that's done that's been done on town hall. Um it is uh it's really remarkable what uh what has happened and the transformation. I shouldn't say transformation, it's the restoration really that's happening. Um does it look good? It looks um absolutely sharp. You know, the trim has been replaced again with historically appropriate materials. Um you know, fresh paint, you know, rot has been repaired, a lot of a lot of that stuff. So, um, really have to give, uh, Doug Scott a lot of credit. He has fixed a lot of things, um, in town hall over the last couple years, um, structural things, you know, that we've talked about before that were missed, I think, during the renovation. And I think,

127um, yeah, he's just done a really remarkable job. So, kudos to him for that. Um, so again, uh, that should be done, uh, relatively soon. I know they're working on the on the side door side, door side is what we'll say and also the front. So, they should be wrapping that up. Um, just an update on the open gov system. So, that is going to be our new uh coordinated permitting system that we have internally. Uh, we actually went live today with building uh permits. So, now we have the opportunity to take building permits online um and do those transactions online. Eventually, we will be spreading this out to the different departments and so we're going to have a better flow of information and coordination amongst the different departments regarding some of these projects that

128happen because you know just to give you a brief explanation you know if if a you know even if just like a building permit comes in like something that meets the you know current zoning right and all you need to do is pull a building permit you wouldn't need any kind of planning board or zoning board approval I mean conservation still needs to be notified. Board of Health might need to be notified based on if they're, you know, wells or a septic system. And so all of that's going to happen automatically now. Um, so it takes the potential of human error out. Um, so we're really looking forward to getting that started as well or getting that expanded. Um, and then we should also be able to take payments online eventually, which just encourages or

129expands convenience for residents and people doing business here in town. So, that's really nice. Um, moving on to just a grant uh update. Uh, we uh were recently notified by the state that uh we were the recipient of over $90,000 to expand our fiber optic safety network. Um, kudos to Becca Navaro for and uh, DPW and Paul Carpenter for for that work and securing that grant. That's another win. Um, I'll have to provide a grants update for you just to show how much money we secure um, in outside funds uh, to support the activities here in town. It's it's punching above our weight. Um, and just I'll continue with the time and attendance uh update which kind of is another software operating system that we are um that we are upgrading or or transferring to.

130I mean currently we still use paper and signatures for uh time sheets. Um, oh, I know it's cringeworthy. Um, and very inefficient. Um, Makita, it's a it's it's a it's a it's an amazing amazing institution here. Um, and we're not the only town, I should say, but uh we are moving forward into the 20th century. But no, we will be going automatic. Katherine and her team have just done a wonderful job of getting that up and run. Not up and running yet. We're at the finish line right now. There's just some technical issues that are happening in the back end that Munis, which is our financial software provider, needs to work out. So, um, again, looking forward to getting that resolved and, um, and yeah, again, get getting us a little bit more up to

131date. And then last but not least, um as you all know, we had quite a transition of staff recently. Um so we have filled slots, created slots, um and filled them with some familiar faces. You got the opportunity to meet a few of them tonight. Um now we're adding some new faces. And so I don't know if you notice on the consent agenda, but we have um made offers and those offers have been accepted to um our plan planning and economic development director. Um and uh and also an assistant um planning uh assistant planner as well. Um Melissa Adams will be starting as the assistant planner and Jasmine Ferinaci who was the planner with the town of Dover will be starting pretty much right at the same time on June 23rd providing some much rel

132needed to relief re needed relief with 340B projects a YMCA application coming in and a number of other things happening. good. Um, I will say and and we'll have them come in and introduce the board and I will say a little bit more at the time, but we had a good crop of candidates. It was it was a tough decision and um those are nice to have. It it's it's a rarity nowadays in municipal government. Um and it was we we came out of those spent a lot of time in interviews and came out with a lot of pride knowing That's awesome. We were we were attract an attractive place to work. So that's awesome. Yeah. Uh so that uh that is the the report for tonight. Well, thank you, sir. I have one little

133question. Um do we know and I've been under a rock obviously. um where the state is on their budget process like where because we haven't received anything from them as far as like what what to expect for the I don't know if they're in conference yet or if the because I believe the Senate did pass their budget. Uh they're in conference. I believe they're they're in conference. Okay. So I will I will double check anything else. I'll take that to the bank. Yeah. Okay. Um because once we have a a real budget um a sense of the budget of what we're really going to get for this upcoming year, let's put it on the agenda and revisit like our just kind of where we what we voted on at town meeting and if there's any

134discrepancies or anything that we need to just adjust. Y I think that's a great idea. We have to do that. Yeah, there something we could do retreat or just public. No, I don't want to do it at the retreat. I want to do that. Let's do that open session. I mean, not that retreat isn't open session. Retreat is open session. It's just that's fine. I think it'd be and we got a lot of work to do. Retreat and I think it's probably going to be one of those situations where there's like a handful of topics. Okay. Actually, if you' just indulge me, I know we have scheduled to go until 2:30. wanted to wanted to bump it up to three. If it's okay with everybody, I'd like to move it to 3:00 as well. I

135mean, that's fine. I I do want to get an idea of like what we're what we're going to be cover like what the format is, what the what we're covering. And again like I think I said the last time we got together like precisely what what are the outcomes and I don't know if we've talked about that as a board like what are the outcomes that we want to see from that session from that planning session like what are we there to do and and maybe there's some homework that we can do ahead of time give you so I can tell you the three things that we really need to work on and that is board staff relationship that is critical absolutely critical Um we need to figure out um we need to come up

136with a protocol that we are going to utilize moving forward. If new projects come in, how are we going to decide to take them on? And then we also need to come up collectively with a protocol to decide what projects we currently are doing that we are going to put in a base. We have to prioritize projects. I think that's that that's great. I would also ask the select board like what in addition to what Michael has has mentioned or maybe under possibly underneath the categories that Michael has mentioned, what are the things that we that we want to cover um specific topics that we want to cover during this retreat or strategy uh points of strategy. Maybe that's some of the homework that we can do and shoot those you can shoot those ideas

137along to me email. Okay. and I'll put it as part of the agenda for the retreat, mailing everybody what we have. Well, why don't we why don't we put it as an agenda item for next meeting before Yeah, that makes sense. Worked out. So, let's talk that through. So, if we talk if we think about what we might have and you know because I do think like the more that we can the more that we can prep ahead of time for for the retreat, the more productive it is. And I don't and I just because I don't want it to be a session where you're talking to us for for four hours. I don't want that, you know, right? And then we're trying to absorb it and trying to make decisions and vice versa. I

138don't want it to us talking to you for for four hours not being able to process that, you know, it has to be a dialogue. I really kind of, you know, our last um I really kind of liked it because I was kind of more on a facilitator role and was you all were talking a lot more amongst yourselves. I thought and I think you the feedback I got from that was that thought that was a lot better than previous retreats we had. we might need to have or the board might need to have on your own kind of like another retreat to talk about, you know, some certain things as well. Um or some of these topics might just be good for a meeting um to be part of a meeting agenda. Yeah, I

139think that's that's set time aside. That's fair. Um but like to Brandy's point, like I just want to make sure that we're going to maximize our time together and we need to all be like clear about what what are we trying to accomplish? what are the outcomes we want to see from uh you know this retreat and to your point Michael there may be like a couple of sessions that we we it may find we may find that we need to do a couple of sessions and um and then lastly I I think and you know it would be good to it's great that you you know but you facilitated that was my first experience and I thought that was really helpful and great but I think I think we want to we want to

140hear from you too right so so it it you know, so as we're kind of mapping our strategy for our next session. So, um, yeah, I just want to make sure that we're kind of all level set on what we're trying to do and make sure that voices are heard and that, you know, we agree on like how we're going to implement whatever we're going to do. Yeah. though. But I I could I I just um I think it'd be good to kind of get what what you would like to have come out of of this retreat, but I can just I can just say like the three things that I mentioned, you know, I can I can certainly tell you that everything else is going to really hinge on how that works because we

141have uh we've got to, you know, make sure we're all uh we're all on on the same page. Um, and I think we we're going to have to we're going to have to say no to future projects and there's some that we're not going to have a choice in. I mean like you look at these 40s. I mean we don't like I mean that's that's something and then also talk about you know if we are going to move forward with the strategic realignment of our financial resources what if we're going to take that on what are we going to put aside because we can't do it all right exactly I I don't think I I think that project prior prioritization no matter what is is probably like the first from an operational sense that's the

142a primary concern And I don't think anyone's going to say we don't have to do that, but in so far as other topics, um, and we should take a look at what we did last year, too, and see if we need to address or if we need to, you know, we should kind of report back and figure out like, you know, how did it go? We set this, this, and this, right? Did we do it? If not, why? Right? And then we take a look at what what we prioritize going forward given current conditions. But but yeah, I think I think if maybe we can we can take the next meeting and kind of sus that out a little bit. Put that on the agenda. Yeah, that's going to make sure that we're uh being

143as efficient as possible and maximize the chances of alignment. Shoot those ideas on on the email for the for the agenda setting meeting. Yeah. Yeah. Have that information ready. Sounds good. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Michael. Appreciate all the updates and all the efforts reports. Makita. Yeah, I'm going to keep mine short because I already told you all what what I was up up to. Um I already gave my recommendations uh from the committee process, but I will say that the uh flag raising ceremony for uh Pride on I think Monday it was um was I don't know what day it is, but I know that it was a a really great event. It was incredible to see the community come out like they did. Um I think people took a lot

144of courage from the remarks that Representative Lewis made uh that uh Michael made as well and of course it was beautiful to see uh the student representative there as well from uh and I just it that's the good stuff right the community coming together to support each other and us reminding each other that we all need each other. So, um, I'm going to keep it to that. No matter who what I'm sorry I say no matter who we are. No matter who we are or what we are. Yeah, exactly. Well, you know, I mean, one Ashland. One Ashland. One Ashland. That's right. There's no I in Ashland. I like one Ashland. You just made that up. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Yeah. huh, Claudia. All right. Uh, you know, again, we I think we

145promised not to repeat, so I'm not going to repeat, but yes, it was a great event. You should repeat it. And also thank Ashlin is United for for coordinating the event. Yes, Ashlin is United is a wonderful organization. Been doing things for several years now. Um, and it was it was really a special event. Really, it's um just a one of those really feel-good times. Um, and then I'll let Joe talk more about it, but um, I did attend the groundbreaking of the um, affordable uh, housing on uh, Main Street and uh, that was very nice, very exciting and uh, you know, just uh, that's in my mind the way we should be solving affordable housing. But so I'll let you Thanks, Joe. Miss Brandy. Um, so last Friday I was at um the Ashlin

146High School's reality fair. Um, Michael and Yolanda were also there. They were at the civic engagement booth. Um, I was at the charity and community service booth. Um, it's such a great event. They have, it's like, I think probably 60 or 70 volunteers. um where the high school seniors go from booth to booth. They get their they they pick their job, they get a salary, they get a credit rating based on attendance. Mine was not so good. Um and then they literally go from booth to booth to find out like what life costs. So they have choices um like living. So they can either uh rent an apartment in the city or they can rent an apartment in the suburbs or they can live with their parents or you know everything from transportation and furniture

147and clothing and food and you know what those haircuts cost and those streaming services that their parents provide and the cell phone coverage, all those hidden all those hidden costs, all of those things. Um, and then they get to and then they get to me and I tell them that they should continue to to give back to to charities and community service. All the way. Give it all away. And they they say, "Ah, sign me up. I will be a volunteer, not cost me a dime." Um, I've been doing this for uh, four or five years now. And I just wanted to say thank you to um to Josh Wixer and Lauren Gianbetti, the the two adviserss um for student council who like literally just moved mountains to have this happen. Um Sarah Mixis who

148was the um the uh president of student council who did a ton of work. Um and all of the StuCo kids just um they knock it out of the park with this every year. And I really think this should be like a mandatory thing that every town should do because it really gives kids an actual um real sense of what life is going to be like experience. Yeah. So um so kudos to all of them. Um the one thing that I wanted to also give props to um is um the um on the girls track team this past week um which is near and dear to my heart. The girls 4 by 800 relay team were state champions. Um yeah, very nice. Huge huge huge accomplishments. first time that the the the girls distance runners

149have ever um been state state champions. Um, so the the um it's um Sophia Warnetski and Maline Callahan and Ava Ditenhoffer and um and Sadie Gali and they are just they are all juniors. So they have one more year ahead of them and dominance and they are um they are a powerhouse girl team. So congratulations to them. It's been fun watching them. Um I have a track I have a track kid so it's been fun watching them all season and great that they were able to um to bring home the championship and so just good luck to them and there's several other um kids that are running at um all states this next weekend. Um the girls team, the relay team is ranked eighth in the state right now and so there is a real

150shot that they will come home um as as you know champions. So so they said that if they win they want the fire they want the fire trucks. So, um, so I, so, so, so, you know, so Susan, you know, just, you know, if if you get a text from me that they won this weekend on Saturday, you know, you'll know why. Susan, do you have an Susan has a connection just a little bit. Yeah. Has them all ready at TJ's. So, um, so good luck to all of them that are competing Thursday and Saturday at all states. Um, and then the one other thing I wanted to say is, um, graduation is this Friday for the class of 2025. And so I just wanted to, um, say congratulations to all the seniors out there.

151They have worked so hard and um, I will be at graduation as a parent this year. So, it is um going to be a real it's going to be it's going to be really a special um a special day. Tissues. There will be a few tissues. There will there will there will be a few tears. Um but anyway, I just wanted to say congratulations to the seniors and um enjoy the last remaining bits of senior week before before uh reality hits. Yeah. So, the real world the real world. Yes. So, back credit and just and just thank you to everybody at the Ashlin High School. It's been a really great four years and all throughout my son's um experience at Ashlin Public Schools. Um our our educators and our administration and all the teachers um

152it's it's been an amazing experience and they are just very special. So, um just to say thank you for all of that. That's it. Thank you, Madame Vice Chair. Um, again, I just want to thank uh the board members for having confidence in selecting me as the chair for this coming year. It goes without saying that Yolanda did a fantastic and remarkable job running the board this past year along with other responsibilities along with Brandy as uh board members of the comprehensive plan committee alone. It took so much of your time and efforts. Uh we appreciate all the work that you have done. So, again, thank you, Yolanda, for a job well done, and we'll see you soon. This past Thursday, like Claudia said, we celebrated uh a 5-year endeavor. It's taken 5 years for

153this project to come on board, and that was the Habitat for Humanity uh was given some property on 487 Main Street where it it will be an affordable house. And uh there will be uh a process that people have to go through to fill out the application forms and it's uh it's similar to a lottery type process that they go through and they have to meet the qualifications uh of the salaries and and things that that that that are bound by it. So, uh, great job for Habitat and Habitat for Humanity and thank you to, uh, Gary and Rita Galani for getting this process moving along the road by, uh, granting that property and, uh, it's going to be well worth it and that's what affordable housing is. Totally. So, again, thank you very much.

154Um, uh, we have an, uh, road, uh, roadway traffic study committee meeting on June 10th at 10:00 a.m., uh, anybody that wants to come, they're all welcome to attend. It's at 10:00 at the, uh, public safety building conference room. And, uh, like Brandy said, congratulations to the class of 25. Uh, best of luck and make us proud. Make us proud. That's all we can say. and uh June 20th. I know it's a a little ahead of schedule, but uh 126 sidewalk prominade is uh scheduled for that day. Hopefully have some good weather. I know that uh just some important reminders. I'll quickly go through them real quick. Electronics recycling day will be placed uh take place Saturday, June 7th from 9 to noon at the DPW, which is 20 Rosa Road. Cups on the spot

155at Connor spot will take place this sat uh this Saturday, June 7th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Hopefully the weather will bear and just continue going east and not not west. Uh yard waste pickup will be on Monday, June 9th. Uh summer kickoff at the Connor spot will take place June 12th from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. And the farmers market uh opening day is June 14th. We always look forward to that uh that that day. So hopefully you can all can make it. Um it's Metro West best market in in the area. And lastly, uh textile uh clothing and recycling scheduled pickup by simply recycling at 3 I'm sorry 8355068. Uh and we have volunteer opportunities. Uh conservation commission, there is one seat available. Council on Aging, there's one seat. Cultural Council is one seat.

156Finom is one seat, and that's a moderator's appointment, not a select board appointment. Uh, Open Space and Recreation Committee is one seat. Storm water advisory committee is one seat. Sustainability one seat and design review is one seat, and that's a planning board appointment. So lastly, there is also this coming Saturday at the VFW from 9 to 12, Lions Club program is posting a free shredded day. So if you have any documents that need to be shredded, it's free. Make sure you swing by and uh get those documented uh well shredded. And that's all I have for tonight, but I do have something that I have to read because we are going to go into executive session. As the chair, pursuant to uh general laws chapter 38, section 213, the board moves into executive session to

157consider potential litigation as public discussion of what may be detrimental effect on the negotiating positions of the board. At the conclusion of executive session, this board will not reconvene into open session. So with that, I will entertain a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting. So moved. Is there a second? Are those in favor? I thank you everybody for watching and for being here. Oh, do we have to do roll call vote? Yeah. Great. I'm sorry. My bad. No worries. Okay. Uh Keegan, I motion to do Oh, did we did we do Yeah, we did that. Yeah, we did. Oh. Oh, we have to move to Oh, we have to go. Okay, we got move to go. Move to go in the exe. Okay. So, move second. Okay. Uh oh, yes. So, so just Keegan I Kinsman

158I Mani I thank you and good night and we'll be in executive session. We will not reconvene. Good night and thank you again. Thanks.