Select Board: April 2nd, 2025

001Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Ashlin Select Board meeting for April 2nd. You're going to need to mute your There we go. Um little bit different stuff going on today. Michael Herbert and Jen Ball, our manager and assistant town manager, are both going to be joining us remotely, as is Joe Minani going to be joining us remotely. Um and we are kicking off our meeting today. I'm officially calling us to order at 7:02. Um we have always had the last number of years runners that run for the town of Ashland. And as select board members, we'd always get to meet them the Saturday before the marathon. And in chatting with some other people, I said, you know what? Let's let the residents of Ashland meet the people who are running with our

002BAA numbers who have to fund raise for our BAA grant program. So, I'd like to welcome all of you that are here. We have a few runners here in person with us at the select board meeting room. We have a couple with us uh online. And they're running. They're running right now. Very possible. And and I every once in a while if there's something personal that happens for me, I like to So one of our runners is Joanne Forester. Forest, sorry, Joanne Forest, who is a kindergarten teacher here in Ashland. And she's like, "Your name sounds familiar." And I said, "Well, when my youngest, who is now 29 years old, was in kindergarten, I volunteered in N in Mrs. forest room. Okay. Oh, okay. Through Zoom, we She can't hear. Okay. Can she hear now?

003Can't mute. You should be able to mute your your speaker, your microphone. Okay. Okay. Hearing myself here. That's okay. I can I can work with that. Um that's okay. Back to where I was. So, um kindergarten teacher and I had the opportunity to work with her as a volunteer when we had the it was a reading program. Um so, that was a lot of fun to be able to chat with you and and it's so great to know that you're running. So, what I'd like to do is if you are here as a runner, if you could line up at the podium and introduce yourself and why you're running. And the other reason I wanted to do this is you're all of these runners are raising funds for Ashland. And sometimes that can be a

004hard thing to raise funds. So, if you know these people and maybe you didn't know they were running, you might be willing to donate and help them raise their funds which then come back to support what's happening here in Ashlin. Now, before we have all of you start and the people online, we actually have one of our board members who is running. I'm not starting this. Yes, you are. You are going first. But I but I will say, Madam Chair, that um to add to your pitch, even if you don't know these people, you should give them money. And with that, I think we'll call the first person to the podium. Okay. So, go ahead, step up, Nancy, introduce yourself, a little bit about yourself, and why you're running. And so, I'm Joanne Forest, and

005I'm a kindergarten teacher here in Ashland. I've been teaching kindergarten for 25 years here in Ashland. It's been a long time, but I've my entire school career has been here. Um, and I've met lo so many families, loads of families, so many children. Um, those that I've had come through my classroom, but also families that I just know through Ashland who have either volunteered in my classroom or I just know from being in school. So, it's um I've always loved running. Running has always been my favorite exercise. And I ran Chicago Marathon three years ago. Um, and it's always been a dream to run Boston. While I love running, I'm not that good of a runner that I would ever have qualified for Boston. So, I'm so thankful to Ashland for having the opportunity to

006run for Ashland and get a bib through Ashland, but also obviously way more so to um be able to raise money for the town and for the families and the kids. And I know so many um Susan shared with me so many of the grants that go out to the families and the kids and all the different organizations that benefit from the BAA grant program. So to be able to raise money for them and have all those opportunities and and things for those families, all the families that I've known and families hopefully still to come because I'm not I'm not retiring yet. So um families soon to come. Um, so I really really appreciate the opportunity to run for Ashland and I really can't even imagine what it'll feel like to run through Ashland on

007race day. Um, having known so many people. So really appreciate it and thank you. And thank you to everyone out there in in the Ashland community and those who have supported me already because I feel like I've gotten so much support from so many different people. some names I don't even know and and there and I've donated and it's just it's so it's so uplifting to know there's so many people willing to donate. So, thank you to everyone for donating. Thank you. Thank you, Joanna. I just want to take a minute and just say thank you to you um as well for all that you've done for Ashland's children. um as a family that that uh has had a child to go through your kindergarten class, it was um just a a remarkable year for

008my granddaughter and uh and I thank you for I know how many families would stand right here with me and say that. So, thank you for uh Thank you so much and great teacher of course. Thank you. It means so much to me. While I don't live in Ashland, um it feels like home. Sometimes being here feels more like home because I spend more time here than I do at home. So, um, it really it really is like a second home even though I don't actually live here, but thank you so much for that. You great. My turn. Yes, please. It's a tough act to follow. I uh I'm Tom. I live at uh 121 House Street. And I'll be brief. I uh you know um some of you know my wife. She volunteers for

009just about everything in town. Miss Bennett, you know all three of my kids. They've been through kids. They're Yeah, they're pretty good. Uh no, they're real good. And uh yeah, know I so I'm I sort of keep a little profile. I kind of lurk in the background behind my family. I'm like the black sheep of the family. But um this is sort of an opportunity to to do something big and important. And that's what's um that's what it means to me. It's uh I'm just an ordinary guy with this opportunity to do something extraordinary. It's it's we're we just we're all so lucky to live in this town on the marathon route. It is. It's uh it's great. Uh you know, I've written about this, but uh you know, I'm a huge uh fan of

010the marathon as a spectator. I never really thought I'd run it. Um but uh I threw my hat in the ring this year and my name got pulled and I'm just so grateful. I I uh that's that's it. That's really all I had to say. And and and and pardon my appearance here. I I actually just ran. I and it's not, you know, I didn't plan it that way, but uh it takes a huge amount of time. I don't want to embarrass myself. Um so that's why I'm here. So uh more than I already have anyway. So that's it. Thanks. Thank you, Tom. Um I'm Maggie. I'm an oncology nurse at Beth Israel in Boston. I graduated in 2019 from Ashland. I ran the marathon last year and it was such a good experience. Not

011for Ashland, but I wanted to do it again. Both my parents are marathon runners. My dad's run about 12. My mom ran one, so I wanted to check it off the bucket list. And then I had such a good time last year, I wanted to do it again. So, I thought I should do it from the town I'm from. That's great. Thank you so much, Maggie. Thank you. Hi, I'm Talita and I live in Ashlin. I've been here for five years. My husband and that's okay. We all people, you know. Yeah, I'm little like my brain is not functioning at this time. My My husband and I, we both are marathoners and we met because of the races. So that's so cool. It's a story that started with the running And I'm so thankful that

012uh I got told to run for Asheland. And actually um I had to defer the Boston Marathon because I found out that I'm pregnant. So I had to h Susan knows because I had been back and forth with her with emails and Laura. So uh they sent me some emails and then I could defer to six or 27. So, I'm still here because I I'm really grateful for all the board and I'm expecting twins. So, it's double trouble. Oh my gosh. That's a lot to do for an excuse not to run. And I and I and I tried I asked the doctor if I could runs lower and maybe walk and run and he was like, "It's a no hard no for you." So, I had to defer anyways. So, but it's not my first

013marathon, but it's my dreaming marathon. So, I'm deferral and I'll run next year or we'll see how you're doing. When are when are you due if you don't mind me asking? Uh, I'm doing When are you due? When are when are the babies expected? Oh, September. Okay. Yeah, you might not be ready yet. We'll see. Yeah, beginning of September. So the doctor said, "Oh, probably you are going to run only in 207." And I was like, "Okay, but I'm gonna see how it goes. Maybe my husband can help." I do have to say there's a woman on my block who I know and I she ran through her pregnancies. I see her walking with her children all the time. So, you never know. But we'll keep a spot for you when you're ready. Yeah. Yeah.

014And I'm still living in Ashland, so I'll be around and I'll watch you. There you go. Two Ashland citizens you're bringing into the world. That's pretty important, right? [Laughter] Thanks, guys. What a story to tell them. And we will have you back next time. Yes, definitely. Sure. I'm not giving up. When when when you are ready, we will make sure that one of the spots is yours. Yeah. Thank you so much. Through Boston Marathon. Okay. Oh, okay. Nice. Oh, okay. Okay, that's even better. Great. Okay. Um, we're gonna jump online. I know we have at least one runner on two. Michelle and Allison. Okay. Um, and can we have them do their cameras or not? Allison and Michelle, we're we're trying to see with everything that's been going on, we have been restricting people putting

015their cameras on. Um Susan, if you make them co-hosts, they can do both. Okay. And then you can just undo that if after. But that's the only way I think the video works with the settings. Okay. Okay. Um, we're gonna Allison and or Michelle, whoever wants to unmute and just introduce yourself. I mean, both of you are pretty well known, but let's unmute Allison and have her start. Okay. And is can Alison? No. Yeah, it wouldn't let me do it. Um, okay. I would be there in person, but I have a really bad case of pneumonia. So, oh no, Alison sitting in bed. So, Michelle is gonna do most of the talking. Um, I am just really grateful to be running. Uh, if you don't know me, I worked for Wacka TV for 10 years.

016I used the BAA grant to put on summer movie nights at the corner spot for five or for like four or five years um before COVID and it's like the last little check mark on what I can do to give back to the town. Um so I'm just so excited that I got to do this with my sister. That's great. Feel better. Thank you. You got a couple weeks to be recovered. I know. I'm I'm real scared. Sorry. Always go real slow, you know. Yeah. At least it's not my first. That's true. Michelle, we get Michelle unmuted. Getting Michelle unmuted. Jen or Michael. Okay. We can hear you, Michael. We're trying to get Michelle's. It should work now. There we go. Um, yes. So, like Alison said, we're both super excited to be running. Um,

017so, as you know, I mean, I have worked through Ashling um cable as well, doing some interviews and some other things. Was not as involved as my sister was. Um, but we actually both ran Boston in 2019 and I did get a grant through or I did get a bid through Ashland to raise money and I'm just super excited um to be able to do it again. It's such an amazing experience, especially living in Ashland our whole entire lives and growing up watching the marathon. Just watching everyone run by the energy. Yes, it is at the start of the marathon. everyone does have a high energy, but it's just an amazing experience going through um going through just the whole experience of it. Um so we're super excited to do it again and hopefully Alison

018will be feeling better at that point. We are also doing a couple of events in the town of Ashland coming up. Um, so tomorrow night we I'm actually hosting a trivia night um at Clover Road Brewery. Um, and we're we're kind of doing um I host trivia at a rock climbing gym in Framingham. Um, so we're doing a trivia night at Clover Road to um tomorrow night and then actually next Thursday we are doing a um event with the Ashland Dale House. They were very um nice to be able to offer um to be able to help us raise money as well. And because it is going back to the town, we're really excited to get these two um these two businesses in town to kind of help us out, but also help the town

019out and just raise money. Um and also just to get people into those businesses. I know Clover Road is new. Um so it's a great place to go and check out. Um, yeah. So, I think that is all I have. Thank you so much and we are super excited to be running the marathon again. Great. Thank you both. And Allison feel better and uh good luck both with your fundraisers and good luck to everyone who's raising funds. But before we finish this, we do have one more runner um who's going to give us a little bit of her story as to why she's running. And go ahead, Makita. You were not gonna get off the hook. Come on. No. Well, no. I was just having a lot of fun listening to my Strava buddies here.

020Um, you know, y'all keeping it real, keeping me motivated. But, um, and, uh, hey Allison and Michelle, I remember interviewing you for Wacka when you ran your first marathon and that was a lot of fun. So, I am really looking forward to to to uh being out there with everybody. But, um, yeah, I I threw my name in the hat. I'm a I love running. Uh, but I never in a million years thought that I would be running the Boston Marathon. Um, when I was a child, I I grew up I did not grow up in Ashland, although I've been here only for 23 years now, I think. Um, but I did not grow up in Ashland, but I grew up in a town along the marathon route, and the Boston Marathon has always been

021a part of my life, my family's life. I have family members who have run. To be able to be uh pulled uh for the lottery uh was just a surprise for me. And I think I'm actually a substitute. Initially, I wasn't drawn and then my name got pulled out of the hat again and I came up. Um, I'm just really grateful that I'm able to do this for the town, uh, raise money for what we know are going to go back to the citizens here and improve lives, improve quality of life. Um, as I joke with my fellow select board members, you know, this town has got me mind, body, and soul now. emphasis on the body on on April 20 21st, but I'm just really proud and grateful to be able to give back

022to the town in that manner, too. So, I'm looking forward to seeing you all out there. Great. Great. Any other comments from any other board members? Um, I just want to say thank you for for you know, you guys are doing the hard part. Like, this is the marathon and our grant program is actually my favorite thing that we do here. Like, it's it is so awesome. We're in the middle of soliciting grant um applications now and um so any 501c3 that's that either benefits Ashlin residents or um is is uh an event for Ashlin residents or anything like that. It it um you know they're are eligible to to apply for up to $4,000 or $6,000 over two consecutive grant cycles. We hear from people all the time at the difference that this makes.

023So like for instance, you know, a lot of times we'll we'll um like for instance the the library I'm looking at Tom, but the library um had requested funds for their um their golf event, their their mini golf event that just happened this last weekend. And so we granted them the funds for to basically for all the costs of the mini golf and then all the proceeds from from the event goes back into the library program which is amazing. Um we we help um a lot of the the youth sports in town. Um, you know, and our goal is always to try to figure out how we can make things more affordable for for the kids and benefit the most amount of people we can. So, um, Claudia and I are are the subcommittee that

024reviews all these applications. And it makes me so happy when when we're approving 20 $30,000 or so in these funds that goes right back to the residents and we get the letters that we get the letters back from from all the the organizations that just say this has made just a real difference because they don't have access to a lot of these types of funds. So, um, so thank you for for all that you're that you're doing and all the training and just know that it's all worth it because we'll all be cheering you on on the on Marathon Monday. Gonna go to Joe and then Claudia. Joe, go ahead. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, good evening everyone. I'm sorry I'm not here with you physically, but uh, spiritually I am. And I'd love to

025uh, thank all the runners who are going to participate on the 21st. Um, I am not a long-distance runner, nor have I ever thought about running long distance in any way, shape, or form. Um, but, uh, I appreciate your effort and your sacrifice to, uh, to this program. Uh and like Brandy said, a lot of uh groups within the town uh are recipients of some some great monies and some great uh uh access to to do things, especially the kids in town, especially if they don't have the uh the funding to uh be part of uh different uh sports programs that are like the uh some of these monies are used to uh help uh pay for their uh registration fees so they can participate in all these different programs. and some of the programs

026that are offered also within the school system as well. So, uh thank you all very much for your sacrifice and uh I'll be cheering you on on the side of the road for sure. So, but uh thank you all very much for for your sacrifices. It's greatly appreciated for sure. Thank you. Thanks, Joe. Claudia. Yeah. I I just wanted to say thank you to all of you as well because um you know when when Brandy was talking about how you know we have the pleasure of giving away the money that you've earned for us. So I just want to say wow I hadn't thought about it like that. You know who doesn't like giving away money especially if it's not their own. So I just so really no thank you. I I know um the

027hard work that's involved in in raising the money and and obviously getting your bodies ready for um such a long run. Um my daughter is running not for the town because the slots were full by the time she figured out she wanted to run and so she wasn't even in the hat. Um so I I know the type what it takes, but I will be out there. Um I hope to be a few places along the the road. So, I hope to have an opportunity to see you all and um send us a picture of the babies when they come. Yeah. Yeah. Keep us posted. Keep us posted. Yes, indeed. Congratulations, everybody. Well, thank you all again for being here. Thank you all for running and hopefully we'll see you again on Saturday the 19th

028of April where we can have some breakfast and bring your families. Just let Susan know who's coming and we can celebrate you and help fuel you before you actually run. Great. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. Yes. Can Can you come to the microphone and identify yourself, please? That's okay. Take your time. Are are you able to put the people here or just this? No, just you just talk to them. Talk is like you're talking to us. Hi. Hi, my sorry my name is uh Linda Alberini Compton and I grew up in Ashland. This is Pearl, my service dog. I grew up in Ashland from 1966 to 1989. My parents were Bob and Sue Alberini. My dad was um call firefighter. He coached hockey. She was a lunch lady. We walked everywhere. Hold

029on a second. Mark, don't pet it. It's a service so that he stays with her. Thank you. You're welcome. Sorry. No, no, no. Do what you need to do. It's okay. How can we help you get through this? Joy's up there. He's helping me. Yep. Okay. Deep breaths, Linda. Oh, you can see me over there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He can see you. I came to Ashland about a week and a half ago to help a friend who was in the hospital. We were friends since third grade. Some of you may know her name's Karen. I live in North Carolina now as my parents do. He didn't have a ride. She has a non-malignant brain tumor. And we grew up together. Went to school, high school. We were the clan. Susan knows. Susan and I played

030softball together. My auntie died eye. Diane Morse. and my mom coached. I'm amazed at how this town has turned out. I came to this meeting just Just a here. Just a here. My town was for I've been here and as some of you know, I have been greeted by some with open arms and hugs and love. I've been shunned by others. And that's okay because I'm an Alberini. I'm I'm proud to be an Albany. I am proud of this town. You know, when you were talking about Can you give me my drink? Okay. I remember I had a brother Paul who was two years older than me and we used to go and uh he would take one bank, I'd take the other bank. The raffle tickets for three for a $150 each. You know

031who won every year, right? Who got the Schwin bikes? Who got the TV from Dave's TV? We did. Nobody would say no. Everybody knew us. And it was a dollar. And they we'd give us one like on Saturday and then the next Saturday and then we knew who they were and they just give us all and say put our name on it and put it in the bucket. We went to games. This was a beautiful community. And I see the beauty coming back. I'm not a runner. If I'm running, it's because something's on fire. I'm hungry. You know, that's why I'm running. I'm like Joey. You know, I was a first baseman in a short stop in a short field and a pitcher. Yeah. I'm not running. I ain't running, but I am just so

032proud of people like Suz. Let me tell you guys, you have one hell of a leader. She kicks ass for this town. Just says, "We did, didn't we, Susan? We kicked ass. We took names after Keith Roby. I love Keith. Everybody, you know, and I'd like to get back involved in this community. My mom is 78 years old. She has body dementia and stages. You see, my parents moved here. My mom was in England. My dad met her there. She came to this country when she was 17 with nobody. Diane Morse, Auntie D. I She was our rock. Uncle Will, Willard Morse, the clan bakes, the 4. My dad said, I asked him why he did this because he ded to do duty and we loved it because you know my dad was from the

033old school, right, Joey? Yes, she was. Are you awake? Oh, I'm awake. I'm listening. Uh, and when he went on duty, we were like, "Yay, yeah, yeah, because we get to sleep when mommy's bed." But when we heard that horn, you know, you know, and Jo me and I talked yesterday and you know the commitment that this community gave when I was here, you'd be out at a bar out to dinner somewhere and you'd hear a call and everybody was there. There was no cell phone. There was nothing. Now I came home on Water Street when we were in that home dinner. Finish your plate. Go get the vegetables in the garden. We're going rabbit hunting tomorrow. I didn't go rabbit hunting the boys. But and I see that in the community now. I see

034gardens. I see Stone Park and it's beautiful. Never did I think my parents bought that house. I think they paid $14,000 for it. Was a yellow house. Remember the yellow house? And they sold it for $147,000. when they moved to North Carolina almost 30 years ago to be with [Music] two beautiful sons. I had three, but that's okay. My sons are 31 and 29. My parents are great grandparents. There's four. I have a picture. His name is Luca. My parents are devout Catholics. These rosary beads were by John Father from Father Foley. My dad was an Anyways, I'm also cool. Hey, Steve. I should be dead. And I know why I can't what I You know what I played in. You know where I walked through. I still whispered to the st. I hated God.

035Not a lot. You do that, God's gonna get you. Do your eyes. Sorry. Not apologize. What are you I always drive so right. She's cool. I want to hang out with her. She would have been in trouble in my office. But I would have been I would have been loving. Yeah. That's just Linda. I just want to say thank you for coming and sharing with us tonight. And uh you know what a powerful story and I think uh probably we all know the Alberini name in town. If you've been in town for very long, you know the Alberini name. Well, Linda, I just want to follow up with what Claudia said. Thank you for coming to speak to us and if if you Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Welcome. You found the dog owners. Stop

036petting. Oh, wow. Very pretty. Sit. Sit. Oh, good girl. Good girl. Okay, go back. Go back. Go back. Oh, nice. Sit. Go ahead. There you go. Thank you. Um, you are very welcome. And yes. Yes. Thank you. Um, so I I'm going to open it up to other citizens participation if there's anyone else who'd like to participate and then we will jump into uh the rest of our agenda. Oh, no. We actually were just starting. You we you got us at the beginning. Do not apologize. You're okay. No, no, no. Do not apologize. You are fine. That's okay. That's okay. You're you're fine. Don't worry. Mark, why don't you go ahead and then we'll get further into our agenda. Mark Done, 119 Main Street, lifelong resident. Linda, thank you for being you. Mhm. It's about

037time people like you come up and say what you feel and be proud of who you are. This is why I do the job of citizens participation. It's people like Linda and Joe who listens who takes in these people too at the time. He says don't see them enough and when you do see them you feel proud that they were in the same era how we grew up. Yes. This town was unique secretive sometimes in in ideas and reputations and stuff like that. But if you have to live through it, it hurts. And Linda has gone through this her whole life, her whole family. And the reputation must have been terrible at the time going through it here from the town over from anybody. So, Linda, thank you. Okay. Come back up to 2025. and

038I'm here to ask about the future of this town. I know the comprehensive plan had a subcommittee meeting this past Monday that was sparsely partake. There was only five people there. My question, what's the future of the comprehensive plan if it's only going to be partly part-time taken? Can I ask who's on it? Um yeah, I can respond to that, Mark. So that subcommittee was specifically put together so that um we're trying to get some things done for the comprehensive plan in regards to review of the strategies as they were associated to the goals and it was specifically just five people who had the time and the energy to come together to finish reviewing the strategies that we had worked on at our previous meeting. They will then bring that information back to the consultant

039and then it will come back to the main committee for review uh later in April. So the the comprehensive plan is still very much moving forward. The majority of the people I mean everyone who is on the committee is working toward getting the comprehensive plan compete completed. We are working with the consultant and they are probably going to be coming to present a preliminary draft of some of it to the select board meeting in the middle of May. And the goal will be to finish it through the summer with input from the community and then present it to fall town meeting and if not fall town meeting then next year in spring. But it's definitely moving forward. We are I mean just speaking for myself but I believe I can speak for Brandy. We are

040committed to getting this done and having a plan that moves Ashlin forward uh and and puts us in a position to work on things together. And I'm still and I'm still committed my my things my actions getting all committees put together to get the town to be stronger for a get the pressure off the property tax so this island can be a focus for an attractive and and just before I do sit again Linda don't change. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Mark. The one thing I would add, Mark, just do you remember the last big meeting we had a couple weeks ago where we we had that long list of over 90 strategies and we only got through less than a third of them. So, that subcommittee was going through the rest of them and

041and making recommendations to the rest of the Yep. And I think it was 35 pages or something crazy like that. Yeah. So there's a lot left to go, but but that but it's it the whole committee is going to be working on that the next meeting. So great runners, do not feel like you have to stay. Thank you so much for being here. Um to to be able to see you in person now and have the community see you has been really exciting reconnecting. Um so good luck and uh like I said, we'll see you Saturday. Are you gonna run run home? Bye. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Babies. Yeah. Good luck. Good night. Good night. See you the like post post post baby. Perfect. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Good

042night. Good night. Okay. Those are such the good things like those are the feelgood you know. Okay. You can't leave Makita. Sorry. We are moving on in our agenda to our old and new business. We're going to review the town meeting warrant. Town meeting is Wednesday, May 7th, starting at 7 PM at the Ashlin High School. And I believe Jen is going to take us through the warrant where it stands right now. Uh, yes. And I think you have an updated version. I Yeah. Okay, great. We do. Yeah. So, the bylaws were a little bit messier. Um, and and Lisa and I were working on them and I had a little version control on the last one. So, I just want to make sure you what you needed. So, I'm just going to pull mine

043up and that way. Um, okay. So, if we always So, did you get a new electronic copy? You probably um the only one I have was the one that was attached to the agenda that Sue brought out uh mailed. Okay. So, you don't have the updated version, Joe. We'll make sure you get that. So, if you have any questions um as you make as just note that it's because we weren't able to get that to you yet. Yeah, Joe. When you see Yeah. Once we get to the bottom, once we get to the back um articles, they're just it's the same exact language. It's just how we show it showed it out. Okay. Not a problem. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. Sorry about that. Okay. No, that's okay. Um making it difficult for

044you guys. That's okay. Uh so, article one is um town reports. Um article two will be fiscical year 26 budget. Um article three is our OPED trust. So, we'll be transferring $375,000 um into that into the trust. I'm holding a spot for article 4. Um I should say actually at the beginning I was hoping to close the warrant um you know when we initially talked about the the um timeline. We were sort of hoping to close it early this year and then uh really work on the warrant book. Um given the fact that we're sort of meeting at tribard, we have a couple of unanswered uh questions. So this right here when you see the um the dollar sign just empty we'll we'll probably have some conversation around that so that we're just holding that

045there. So a transfer from the sped stabilization account. Um our annual consent article that we have every year is article five I believe. Um article six we start to get into uh the CPC articles. And so they have an annual consent that sort of just lays out the annual appropriations and the payments to the several uh bond bonded um projects. So Oak Street um the the Fields, Warren Woods, and Valentine. Um and then CPC actually has three new projects. Um the first one is for the Asham Arborum. Um and that's $500,000. I think we talked about this one at the last one, but they voted last night to approve it. Um, their article 8 is to do a project with the town clerk to digitize documents and preserve um historical documents and that's for $110,000

046out of the historical resources reserve account. Article nine is for additional funds for the dog park. Um, I think we talked about this last time, but we went out to bid. our bids came in a little bit higher and in order to get to be able to purchase the shade structure and some other um items for the facility that this Stanton grant requires, we're asking for additional funds of $60,000. And Jen, does that include the um maintenance or is that still going to be separate? because I know that there was a talk about like having a like a maintenance. Yeah, the under Yeah, go ahead. You can answer, Jen. Yeah. So, maintenance CPC won't cover maintenance. Um, we have a maintenance agreement and the dog park committee has agreed to to do fundraising for um,

047you know, the the waste bags and other things that may come up. Okay, sounds good. Thank you. Yep. Um, article 10 is accepting a uh, Mass General law that will allow our assessor to capture new growth um, through June 30th. Um, it's an act of 1989. This was sort of recommended from our new assessor. How how is this different from how we do it now? Jen Michael, can you take that one? I I I think it allows us to extend the time period in which we are able to capture new growth throughout the year. Okay. Okay. You can go ahead. Sorry. Article 11. Um, so last uh last meeting it was it was actually Let me just So actually last annual town meeting we appropriated or authorized uh $4 million for the ozone project. Um

048this is to increase it additionally by 200 uh 2 million. So we're getting estimates now a year later that it's going to be six billion. So quick question because for sure the um the authorization says in my version 4 million here so it was previously so so to provide additional to the previous authorized. Yes. And we'll make sure um this has yet to go to bond council. So normally for anything borrowing um we send it to bond council to make sure that it meets all of the needs for the boring. So, this might be tweaked a little bit um once they look at it, but it means it'll be a total of six million. So, we already have the authorization for four million and we're asking for an additional two. No, that's not how it

049is in the version that we have. It says 4 million in the paper version that Diane handed us. It does say or otherwise provide an additional 2 million to the previously approved 4 million authorized in article 11 of the 2024 annual town meeting. because that's that's not in this. Sorry. I So, the link isn't updated. The folder isn't updated. No, it's not updated yet. That's why we're That's why Diane gave us the paper copy. She gave you a She gave you a paper copy as well. Okay. Sorry. Yeah, it didn't get up in the in our original documents. It wasn't there. So, Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's the version control. Okay. That's that's that was going to be my question. So, thank you. Thank you for the update. The one that's in our packet that

050we received previously does not have these updated changes that she's taking us through. I thought Diane had she had thought she had put it in the folder. So I thought that it's in a different folder. Okay. Okay. No worries. I want to talk. So when we did when we did that tour I'm sorry, Madam Chair, but when we did that tour um of the water treatment facility plant, I remember we discussed the $2 million. So this four million is in addition to No, no, no. So, when we did the tour a year ago, the discussion was $4 million for the ozone project. They've now gone out to bid and it's going to be a $6 million project asking for an additional $2 million in appropriation to go with that $4 million to do the project.

051And when you get the revised version, Joe, you'll see that. Okay. Thank you. I thought after we had had approved that that it was a faster moving. That's what I thought. I thought it was going to be done. So, it would Well, so yeah. So it was f we did um we immediately hired the engineer and the design the designer. So okay the four million initially included uh funding that would be for engineer design. So that's happening right now. Um but as we've gone through that design process they've done updated um estimates to the project and that's where the additional two million comes in. Yeah because I I had thought that the filter itself was a million dollars. I I don't know why, but doesn't really matter. Um, but what does matter is um Hopkin

052gives us 25% of it. So, now will they pay 25% of the two the additional 2 million as well? That's the intent. Yes. So, we would Yeah, we'll have to update that that um that agreement, but that's the intent. And there I I believe there's already been initial discussions about that. Okay. Okay. But that that's our that's our intent. Thank you. Question. Um, before I just go on, Joe, I think you're host. Is it possible for you to um unmute, Michael? I'm sorry. You're you're the host, it looks like, on the And you're the only one that can unmute, I think. Can you really? Yeah. Can you host? I'm not sure, but Holy mackerel. Um, hey, sure you guys didn't do that on purpose. There you go. We can hear you now, Michael. Okay. So,

053article 12 is um authorized additional funding for watermine projects. So, we just did this actually in um the fall town meeting or the special town meeting. U we appropriated $1 million. We've gone out to bid. Um those came in higher than the 1 million. And then when we sort of looked at the capital plan, which I think was presented when um Dan Mau and Britney went over the rates, uh um I think that was in Decemberish maybe. And it sort of showed that every year they were planning to do a million dollars worth of work uh for water mane replacements throughout the town. And so rather than sort of thinking about borrowing every year, um we thought if we already needed additional funds to complete the project, let's think about getting an authorization for the

054entire the entire phase project and that way we don't have to continuously borrow um every year for those projects because we'll have the authorization and that's for article 12. Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. No problem. I guess my only I mean I understand getting the authorization to borrow. Um and this might have to be a discussion for another time. My question would be is does it make sense to borrow at all now considering current rates or do we I mean again might not be a conversation for tonight but I understand that this article is allowing us to do the additional 3 million but the question might be does that make sense to do it all at once? Right. have the authority but look at it. So, so again another discussion but

055okay any other questions on that. Okay, keep going. Um article 13 is our typical INI um article for inflow and implementation. We're going to actually ask for both phase 14 and 15 and that way um we'll have funding to do um larger projects that are planned throughout the town uh with DPW. Um, article 14 is the established a local historic bylaw. I will say I I've sort of in my draft and I don't know if that's what how it printed. Um, I have kept it in the redline version. Lisa's made some corrections or um, revisions that I want to share with the his the historical commission and so they can see they're they're pretty small changes, but I just want to make sure that they can see those before um before we finalize that one.

056Okay. So we and we don't see those red lines yet. Yeah, probably because it's printed. Probably because it's printed. Yeah. And it's not in our packet or in the printed version. Okay. Once once um once the historical commission's reviewed it, could we see a redlinined version as well? Is that possible when Oh, yeah. I can share this the one that I Yeah, I can share the one that I that I have. I think it's just Yeah, when you print it, it doesn't. So, I can do that. Okay. Yeah, that'd be good to see that red line version. Okay. Thanks, dear. Sure. Yeah, no problem. Um, article 15 is for um for a land taking for um a multimmoal trail. And this is a parcel of land um on Pawn Street that would be utilized by

057the Upper Charles Trail. This is the parcel um that the Upper Charles Trail received grant funding for. Um and we were hoping to uh purchase this property. Um and after sort of a a stalled uh negotiation, we are asking for authorization to take it by imminent domain. Um just just if I can add to that because I know sometimes those uh or that phrasing I should say can cause a little bit of consternation. Um, you know, uh, as Jen said, this is a a property that we had received a $300,000 grant for and actually had some good conversation with the land owner about who seemed excited about moving forward in some capacity, but uh, unfortunately, he's gone radio silent. Uh, we've sent a, you know, number of official correspondences, um, including, you know, what our

058intention is if we can't get a hold of him. Um, and so here we are. I should also point out the Upper Charles Trail Committee uh voted to support this article a few months ago actually. Questions? Um Michael, we're not taking the entire parcel. Correct. We're just basically taking an easement on the parcel. Yeah, correct. Entire parcel. The entire parcel. Okay. The entire parcel. Right. So this is So again, when we when they applied for the grant that we received, it was to purchase the entire parcel. Okay. And as Michael said, because the owner went radio silent, now we're saying, "Okay, we're still going to pay you for the parcel, but we have to do the process of eminent domain because we haven't heard back from it." Okay? So, we're still using and it's still

059the grant. It we we won't we shouldn't have to use any other funds maybe except for lawyer fees to cover the purchase of this parcel. And for people who are wondering, this is the parcel on Route 126 that is across from the Dyke Trail um to the left of the Higgins property. Okay. It's so that the trail can cut through and go to the back. Okay. All right. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry. M I'm sorry, Brandy. I didn't mean to interrupt you. Can you refresh my memory as to the uh the sale price? Is that the 300,000 or is it more than that? That Well, I don't know the We don't have a determined But we're not I believe you know the the the plan is to use just the grant funds and when they

060applied for the grant it was based on the conversations and and other work that was done for the value of this property. Okay, that's what I that's what I something to add. Yeah, I was just going to say um you know I think uh I think we do have an appraisal done. I wouldn't necessarily want to have that discussion. No. So, okay, session I think I think you know if this does pass town meeting and then it gets actually the the you know the town meeting votes to give the select board the authorization right to do the to do the taking. So, and uh then I think we'd probably have a more um substantive discussion about pricing. Yes. Okay, great. Jen, you can keep going. Great. Um article 16 is the accessory dwelling unit um

061zoning bylaw. This is sort this is required by the new state law. Um this is going through the planning process now. So they'll have hearings. Um article 17 is just updating our flood plane um bylaw and this again is um really influenced by the new FEMA maps. Um just changes slightly our overlay districts. So this just outlines that. And then they have a cleanup for um they have a cleanup article for site plan review article 18. Um and it's just really sort of clarifying some language to make sure it aligns with the the law. Um and then lastly is um article 19. So again another uh mass general law called law I believe um that has updated requirements for kennels. Um and so while we were doing many of the things that the new law

062requires like annual inspections um this new law requires reports to the state I believe by June or July. Um and then also increases. So previously you could have four dogs and get a kennel license and now you have to have five or more. I think those are sort of the major changes. Um, and Cindy has been working with Lisa's office with this and then also has talked to Donna Walsh. So, everybody is on board with that. Okay. And that is the warrant as it stands right now. And so, what I'm hoping is that in the next, you know, obviously after the tri board, we can firm up um some of the budgetary articles and then meet with FINCOM to have recommendations so that we can close and post it at our at our next meeting.

063Great. Any questions, comments, concerns from the board? Anyone here at the table? Yeah, I just have a question about that. The last one. Um, so the kennel, it used to be that you had to have a kennel license with four four dogs. Now you have it's when you have five dogs. Five or more. Yeah. I kind of feel like it should be reversed to be Maybe it is. Hold on. Let me make sure. Right. To be more um protective of dogs, right? Maybe I did reverse it. Hold on one second. Yeah, sorry. No, I um I think it is that way. I'll look and I'll look and get clarification though. I think I had But maybe I'm just I can you would think that they would force a kennel license with fewer dogs if they're

064doing something to be proactive about dogs and Right. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I'm just I haven't I haven't read it honestly, so I I don't know. But um and it's not in our it's not packet. It's only seems to make sense to me. Okay. Which doesn't always Yeah. Yeah. Cindy's telling me I have it right. So I guess it does go that way. Okay. Maybe they're trying to be less and less. I think Well, they've definitely add inspections and they added reports. So Okay. So they've increased the number, but they've added some of the restrictions or reporting. Okay. All right. So it's a balance. There must be something to do with Ollie. Yeah. Yes. always is. Okay, Joe, any questions or comments on the town warrant? No, the only the only question I

065have and I don't have the updated version was that the last article that I have was the updated bylaw and the site plan review, but so I don't have that. You don't have the dog license. Okay. Yeah, I'll send that one to you. I'll send it to you. Thanks. I appreciate it. Great. Okay. Next on our agenda, update on the 40B projects. Michael, are you taking that one? I am. Okay. Um, so, uh, at the most recent ZBA meeting, uh, they opened the hearing for the Waverly Street, uh, parcel, uh, that 40B, which I believe is 226 units. Um, and I think, um, you know, they, from my perspective, they they had a good discussion. They had some comments from residents. Um, overall, they didn't get into anything too substantive at the time. um except

066at least with Waverly Street start uh discussing the peer review process and um selecting peer reviewers. Okay. So, moving on to the main street project. Um I have a question about uh 61 Waverly if you want to before you move on. Um just regarding the fact that that was a change of developer and that did we investigate whether or not we would have the opportunity to go back to mass housing um regarding this because since it is a different project than what we originally had um just you know filed a letter with with Mass Housing. We we did and um correct me if I'm wrong, but uh when I was speaking with town council, it it seemed like there was nothing we could really do about this. Um which is uh somewhat unfortunate. Jen, was

067that is that what Pete had relayed to you as well? Yes. Yeah. Um so do I think it's fair? No. Um do I think it's right? Nope. Um but um unfortunately it seems like it is uh within the uh within within the foul lines I guess you could say. Yeah. So that that's really troubling to me that it feels like I don't it feels like due process or something was missing in that uh bait and switch would be a good way to phrase it. Brandy, thank you. Um, you know, it it's troubling that that that would and I mean I can we do something legally? If I remember correctly, we we we had asked Lisa to at least write something do some letter on our behalf. I don't know if that was completed. I didn't

068get a chance to follow up. Um, but as I've talked to other people in other communities, it's like massousing has given their approval even though it's a different developer and a different plan. Their thought is that it can go through our ZBA process and if it's not working for us, there could be restrictions or they could they could um not allow it. This some of that wouldn't bother me unless except for the fact that it's so and I'm I'm sorry to use a little bit uh barbed language here, but uh it's so disingenuous. Y um you know, yes, the ZBA can deny a project. Yes, they can impose conditions, but every single person at Mass Housing leaves out the very conveniently leaves out the fact that again, this any decision like that that a developer

069felt would make the project uneconomical would uh in turn be basically appealed to the housing appeals committee. uh which uh if you have an opportunity to look through their record uh over the years, over the decades, you see that um they mostly find for the applicant in uh in many of these cases. Yeah. Michael, is there a design change in that in that plan that they uh provided? Huge, Joe. They went a completely different project. It went from multiple buildings to one building and the entrances and exits were changed. Right. So that I I understand. I just wanted to make sure that other people, you know, in the community were aware of that. So why can't we send a letter saying this is not the exact same project. This is totally different project. And I

070just don't understand. And I understand that Lisa, you know, is up on all these things, but you know, our hands are tied with respect to this. And and like you said, it's disingenuous, but at the same time, doesn't leave us much opportunity to uh fight for our town. And it was very frustrating for sure. um you do it it doesn't make sense and this was what I had what I had posed or kind of the argument that I had posed was that you know if part of the process is for mass housing to get an application submit it to the municipality for comment and then go ahead and make a decision. You know, I think I if you get a new project, doesn't that require another round of comments as well? Like because the first

071round of comments are are basically null and void. They're inapplicable to again there's a lot of not due process happening in the country right now, but I think we're in Massachusetts and I think we should insist on due process and due process would be to follow the process that you just outlined. Yeah. So, I do think, you know, I do I do think we could send a letter. I mean, if you would like to send a letter, you know, from the board or on behalf of the board uh to Mass Housing, I'd be happy to draft something like that. But, um I just I don't I don't want to get We're all shaking our heads, Michael. So, yes, let's draft something. I would like it to go to the governor, to the Senate President, to

072the House, the House leader of the House, and to mass housing. Yeah. Yeah. Let's do that. Like I said, I thought we had agreed. I thought we were going to ask Lisa to do something and I guess that wasn't quite as sternly um you know, I just feel like we we've got to fight back a little bit, you know, uh beyond even anything that can happen in in the with the zoning board of appeals. I think it's um it's it's we have to just not roll over all the time. Madam Chair, do we need to uh take a vote on that to authorize Michael to uh send that letter on our behalf? I mean, we can, but I do I mean, I don't Yeah, let's let's take a motion and that way we have some

073hard Yeah. followup. So, I'd like to make a motion that we write have direct um the town manager to create a letter to Mass Housing, to the governor, to the Senate President, um to House regarding um the change in or the lack of process with the change of ownership u in the developer of 61 Waverly. I'll second that. Okay. So, Claudia has made the motion. Joe has seconded. Um because we have one person remote. Uh Manyani Manyani I Keegan Keegan I. Bennett I Ginsman I and Greavves I that passes 50. Michael if you could uh get that drafted and we can get you want me to send it before the next meeting or would you like to have it before the next meeting or be? Let's have it before the next meeting so we can

074review it and then just send it off. I don't expect many much input but if you could that'd be great. Okay. Anything else on Waverly Street? One thing that I thought was pretty interesting too at their presentation was the the whole uh storm water drainage thing, right? That they had it going into some kind of existing um drainage system that doesn't exist. Oh, and uh I didn't get the opportunity to watch that one. Yeah. So they they articulated in their plans, and I know the plans are very general at this point, but they articulated that the drainage would go into some kind of a storm drain um tie into it on Waverly Street that doesn't exist. Oh, interesting. Like a I think the neighbors referred to it as a manhole cover. Yeah. Yeah. Basically, it's

075already an issue. The drainage thing. Yeah, the drainage is really Okay. So hopefully that's then been identified by the ZBA and then they'll have to update it. Yeah. Was identified by Oh wow. Okay. So So as we go through peer review on that, that would be like a priority. I would think that and traffic and how they have it aligned with the high school. Yeah. the the traffic on on on East Union is going to be atrocious because quite literally that's an entrance and exit point for for the development now. Yes. Yeah. Well, the other thing is that intersection there, right, is already kind of problematic when when we put the public safety building there and Joe might know better than I um the intersection or actually it was when we did the high school

076way back, right? um that that intersection we just kind of Mickey Mouse it a little bit because because it would cost a lot of money to do anything different and I think that intersection route 135 is the town's responsibility so the intersection at that time would have been our responsibility if we financially if we were chose to and then with the public safety building we added the permanent lights right okay we did have pot take a look at that on an engineering design aspect And uh I know Jen uh that was all part of the conversation where we're doing the the public safety building and it correlated with the intersection right at Fountain Street as well, Fountain and Union. Uh so it will be coordinated at best and if this is going to happen then

077this discussion needs to be extended uh with the with the new uh property owner and developer uh because again this is no different than 1060 Main Street and the projected uh issues that are going to cause a traffic issue um more than more than they uh can understand themselves. Yep. So, yeah. Absolutely. Great. Okay. Thanks for that discussion. Uh Michael, 10 to 60 main. Yeah. 10 to 60 main. So, um they continued with having a discussion about the traffic uh concerns that have been identified by both residents and our traffic engineer. Um and I know that the developer, they're also really starting to work on more of the civil aspects or the civil engineering aspects of uh the project. So, uh, my understanding is that our peer reviewers and, uh, the ZBA have asked for,

078uh, more information, uh, and more answers related to some questions that they had and they're still waiting for that. Um, I do know that the developer just after a conversation yesterday was, um, he was working on putting that information together. questions, comments. Yeah, I just wanted to comment on the um that too because um you know I have to say that that the meeting this last ZBA meeting with that developer and the discussion um regarding the traffic, I had expected that they would probably come back um with a suggestion that the roadway be aligned with um the exit entrance would be aligned with Pleasant Street. you know, that wasn't the case. Um, our consultant said that the um the the line of sight for on Myrtle Street for that exit was as designed by them

079at this point was at the minimum standard. Um so you know I again I feel like I think we can do better than that if it's it's a very difficult intersection to begin with to and uh I know that the other suggestions they made were to um I think it it's a right turn only into the main street entrance. Um the other piece of that was all about the all the parking issues and concerns around the number of spaces versus the number of units. Um and you know it's it one of their um suggestions there were a couple of what I consider to be kind of wild suggestions. One being that um it would discourage people if there weren't enough parking spaces it would discourage people from moving there with two cars. I I think

080that's absolutely insanity to believe that. Um I think people will move there and then they'll try to figure out where they're going to park or they're not going to realize how serious a problem it's going to be until they're there. Um it isn't a place you can walk to the train station, but you can't be walking to the grocery store. It's not a total you're not you can't be independent of um of an automobile there. Um and and and I know there was also discussion about having an enforcement person for parking. And I mean to me that's a big uh signal that there's a problem if you have to have an enforcement officer for parking. Um I know that the uh Chief Roby spoke to some of the concerns about getting fire and emergency vehicles

081in there. Um and then uh former officer uh Keefe spoke about some you know because we have um mutual aid that it could be someone from Firmingham responding and that we would also need to make sure that their um equipment could get in. So to me there's still a lot of issues around the parking and the um and the traffic concerns. And the other thing about the traffic that I think is really challenging to talk about is um when you just talk about okay there's you know 4,000 cars that that go down Myrtle Street or you know whatever the numbers are they're not meaningful. I think that you need to think about what does it look like? What does it look like at 8:00 in the morning when there's a train and you know the

082traffic's backed up past High Street? What does it look like when you have these impact um or of just even what we have now? It it just saying about how many cars pass through doesn't really give you an understanding of what the experience is. And I'm not sure how you capture the experience except maybe I know I had talked about some getting some video of of Pleasant Street and some of the other streets in the neighborhood to kind of show what the experience of these issues around traffic are. Uh I'm not sure if we've been able to do that. Can I respond to uh to that with respect to what Claudia just Sure. Go ahead, Joe. Um the road traffic study committee uh sent a two two-page letter to the uh zoning board before they

083they had their meeting uh their their last meeting about all the concerns basically that uh has been expressed this evening. And um part of that had to do with you know our own study that that we're doing with respect to the number of vehicles in in the uh in the Kiche line uh you know taking a left onto Pleasant and and their numbers were so skewed uh they were they were they were misrepresented uh by the numbers that they were presenting in their 486 page traffic study that they provided us. Uh the the other issue and and Michael brought this up a while back was that the uh the MBTA has also advised all the communities that have trains going through their town that there will be additional train stops uh coming through. So with

084those additional train stops, those figures need to be readjusted and they haven't done that yet and I don't expect them to do that at all. So um the concerns that you all have need to be addressed and they haven't been. So, we we're keeping a tab on it. And with respect to those uh that study, I know that uh Kevin Langmire has been uh working on that as well to try to get some uh video on that with uh with Mike Duba to show what's going on during specific hours, especially the high traffic hours. I think I think getting video is much more powerful than just saying there's, you know, going to be eight eight more cars or Y 88 more cars. Well, thank I mean I I I'm Thank you, Claudia and Joe. Will

085you Did you go attend the last meeting? Oh, no. You probably video. So, thank you for attending. I've been, you know, trying to fit everything in, but at least we know you're there and thank you for, you know, bringing things forward and bringing up the update to the board. So, I think we we just have to stay on top of it. I mean, that's that's so Okay. Yeah. Anything else regarding the 40B projects? [Music] Um, no. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Before we move on, just a couple of quick reminders. On April 26th at 1 PM, the Historical Commission, Historical Society, and Open Space and Recck Committee are sponsoring a guided walking tour that will begin at Town Hall. That's at 1:00 p.m. on April 26. Uh, Open Space and Wreck are having some um plan forums.

086One is actually started was tonight at 6 PM. They're having a second one on Saturday, April 5th at 1000 a.m. And I believe the one on Saturday is here at Town Hall, but you can check their site if you'd like to attend. The Boston Marathon will take place on Monday, April 21st. Uh temporary road closures on Route 135, so be aware of that. Uh our scholarship opportunities are now open to any graduating senior from Ashland. applications are due by May 1st and I believe that is Joe and Claudia on our subcommittee to review those. So, thank you for that. Um, we have a number of volunteer opportunities. Community uh community preservation committee, conservation commission, council on aging, open and space and wreck committee, storm water advisory committee, sustainability committee, design review, and that's it. And

087if you're interested in being on any of those, um, you can attend a meeting and then fill out a talent bank form. And then the other thing is if if someone was interested, is there is there a description of these positions on the website? Not right now. We have been told that that is something that people are interested in. Makita and I have talked about that as our subcommittee. Um, it's something that we will work to do, but right now if they're interested in any of them, they should attend a meeting and see they could call and talk to or they can talk to Susan or they can reach out to the chair. Yeah, they should do both. They should do both. They should, but initially maybe talk to Susan and then they're still interested.

088Yeah. And then attend a meeting. Thanks, Susan. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. um textile clothing uh recycling. There's you have to reach out to simple recycling. Um on our consent agenda, Brandy, you had something you'd like to pull. Um yes. So, I'm going to pull item B, which is vote to post the approved executive session minutes from 117. We still have um some the vers the versioning hasn't quite worked out yet. So, we're gonna pull that. And um I'm sorry. What was that, Brandy? I I couldn't hear you. Sorry, Joe. So, the executive session minutes, we're going to pull that B from the consent agenda. It's still we're the the version that was sent out in our packets isn't the correct version. So, we'll we'll correct that and we'll um approve that at the next meeting. Yeah.

089Okay. So, if I can get a motion to accept the consent agenda might minus item B. So, moved and a second. Second. Okay. Uh, roll call vote. Many I. Keegan I. Bennett. Hinsman. I. And Greavves. I. So, the consent agenda passes. Um, those of you who want to go to TJ's, they have their approval now for their marathon day. and Wine Empire has a number of single day licenses for things at Corner Spot and all other fun stuff. So, we're getting ready for summer. You know, I just could I just just I speak to about TJ's just because John did come and and said he has to be here in person. Yeah. John Tomas from um TJ's and and I just wanted to recognize um how supportive they are of all town activities. I know

090personally how supportive they've always been of school functions sometimes, you know, for the teachers and always, you know, doing the best um they could at at such reasonable prices for us. And so, but they truly are very supportive of everything um that goes on in town. So, thank you. And and John is uh you know, he's out there delivering the food and everything else. So, so anyway, so thank you to uh the Tomas family. Okay. uh moving into town manager report. Michael, why don't you go ahead? Sure. So, um I'll start with uh the FY26 budget update. So, uh just remind everybody, I'm sure you have it marked on your calendar and you've got your alarm set for Saturday um for our tri board meeting with the uh school committee and the finance committee. Um

091I should tell you that we'll be joined uh by two members of our finance team. Um well Cindy was at Cindy Sinata was at our our last one which was the uh treasur collector and then Steph Clifton who is our um assistant town accountant uh currently will also be joining us as well. So it' be nice to have them in attendance. Um, we've got some updated data uh that was requested at the uh last tri board meeting that we'll present to all the boards including some of the more revolving fund uh like uh information for general government. I know Jim in the school school department put uh put together a good presentation with a number of pieces of information that are helpful and so we'll try to provide the same. Uh, you know, Jim and

092I have spoken a bit and um, you know, the school committee is still working on their budget, I think, and still finalizing their budget. Uh, but I do expect it to be a little bit more than what uh, we have uh, programmed in there for right now, which again, when you take all of our general fund u revenue and expenses together, we're currently facing a deficit of 1.7 million. So, uh, that could that number could go up a little bit. Um, that being said, we do have a number of resources that we can use uh from one-time funds to uh look at um at potentially plugging that gap, including uh similar to what we did last year, utilizing the special education stabilization fund um which you did uh see in the warrant we do have

093a placeholder for as well as uh the overlay surplus which is I believe Don's going to go to the um board of assessors next week and ask for that. Um as well as ARPA funds. Um and uh so we should uh after just to go back a little bit I know um we had talked about you know what things would look like with like a 10% um cut and we started doing that exercise and it was just absolutely it it it's just it's not um it's just it's you can't do it. um we don't necessarily have enough discretionary, you know, resources in there or discretionary revenue or expenses, I should say, uh to make that work. Um so that's just kind of a bigger overall snapshot. I really just wanted to discuss how we're going

094to set up the discussion for Saturday. And um yeah, does anybody have any questions? Michael, I do. If if you don't mind, Madam Chair. No, go ahead, Joe. If if we start utilizing those stabilization funds, is that could that have an impact on our uh bond rating uh at some point if the S&P looks at it and says, "Oh, geez, you know, you're you're using these monies. Uh you're not, you know, you're not being finan uh physically sound with respect to your finances." Is that something that could affect our uh bond rating? Yeah, absolutely. If um if you recall, I was a little bit concerned about it last year and uh Jen, were you on that bond rating call? I don't Yeah, I I had to do um do a little fancy footwork. Um and

095uh we talked about all the great plans that were happening in Ashland that uh hopefully got them concentrating on that. And uh we're we're very lucky in that we did get reaffirmed at AAA uh after that call as well. But yes, Joe, uh the more times we do it, the the less favorably the bond rating agencies look at that. Thanks, Michael. Which as you I think are are going to point out, you know, the higher the bond rating, the higher the interest rate. And so, you know, we taxpayers ultimately end up paying more. Mean the other way around, right? The higher the bond rating, the lower the interest rate. Oh gosh. Sorry. That's okay. Yes, we are paying attention. Michael, hey, I could be Treasury. I was gonna change it to use. Let's use worse

096and better. There you go. There you go. I could be Treasury Secretary. U I do have one more piece of information that we haven't really discussed in depth just because um well we only recently received the the money the funds but we did get some guidance uh from the department of revenue on how to apply or how we could apply the money that we received from the inflation inflation readjustment act um where they monetized the tax credits and so made municipalities eligible to receive funs based on energy efficiency improvements that they included in their projects. Um, and unfortunately it is very limiting. Um, it was something that I was hoping we could potentially use as a revenue source for a number of things, but it turns out that really the only um we're only able

097to apply it to debt service payments um that are made on behalf of those respective buildings. So, so we have very little flexibility. there is a little piece of flexibility um that we could potentially utilize to um you know help with the budget if that's the direction we choose to go in, but right now it's not looking very good. Are you referencing that the tax credit that we're going to get? Correct. Right. Okay. But we have we still haven't even received it. Is that true or false now? No, no, no, we have. But Oh, we had the letter and then now we've actually received the payment. So $3.2 $2 million. It's three, I think, 3.325. Okay. But it and it can only be used towards the debt on the buildings. Correct. That would be the

098debt of the school and the public safety building. Correct. Okay. Does it have to be used proportionately or can it be used any way you wanted? In other words, that's a good question, Claudia. I'm assum and I've asked for clarification, but I'm assuming it would need to be done proportionally. So would that would that possibly go back to taxpayers as far as like a a credit? It could my understanding is it could go. So we still have some stuff to bond. So instead of bonding it, we could potentially use this to pay down some of that other debt. Um there's other things that are being discussed. So Okay. But yeah, the the idea is that it will go toward the the funding of in one way in one way. Yeah. Okay. So, it would be

099interesting though to consider how best, right? Yes. To use it in terms of do you pay down what what you could have to borrow in the future or is there a way to pay down stuff that's already bonded, right? Which I think there's some rules and regulations, right? Could you make an early payment? So I I don't think we have all the information tonight to have the discussion, but I know Michael and people are looking at that. So we'll have a discussion about that. Okay. At some point. Okay. Y Okay. And one more thing just about the budget too. Um, I did reach out to Superintendent Adams at one point um with the uh with the closure of the Department of Education or um potential closure um and regarding how much money we get from

100the federal government for our schools. And he did respond we get about $1.1 million in federal funding. Um, basically it's it's mostly some of it about $250,000 is in um money based on economics and um the rest is about 750 is uh special education dollars. Um you know and and supposedly even if the department of education is closed that um that money will be filtered through to the communities in some other way, shape or form. But certainly nobody knows how or when or everything else because right now things are being done prior to putting plans in place, right? They're just doing stuff and then figuring it out and then figuring it out. So, yep. So, it's going to be chair. One last question with respect to uh state funding. Have we received any any uh

101notification or any uh potential updates as to what the cherry seats are going to look like? Uh yeah, they're out. The cherry sheets are out. Okay. I think we have a slight increase, but but we don't know if they'll be able to follow through on that. Okay, that's that was going to be my next question. Okay, thanks. Yeah, I I will just a little bit of information on that. um or you know you know nothing absolutely firm yet. But typically what happens is the governor releases his or her budget and then of course you know the house takes it up and issues their own budget uh followed by the Senate. And typically, like I said, uh the governor releases a certain number for local aid to cities and towns, including school aid. And the House

102and the Senate consecutively usually raised that a little bit. Um and so that's something that we've actually kind of expected over the last few years. Uh we've been given a news that we should not be expecting that this year. So, uh, it looks like, uh, what the governor's numbers are going to be or what the potentially what we're going to end up with. Okay. Thank you, Michael. Okay. Mhm. Any other budget questions for now or get to we'll get to discuss it in full detail on Saturday. Uh, project update, Michael, priority projects. [Music] Having having technical difficulties here, but I'm all I'm good now here. So, Pond Street. Yeah, Pond Street. Yeah, Pond Street. So, uh they haven't really got fully up and running yet. Uh the asphalt plants didn't open up until yesterday, but

103um you know, they are still planning on getting the work finished by fall of this year. And uh really, you know, they they were able to do um work in getting the wires and the poles moved a little bit more quickly than what they had originally anticipated or what they had initially signaled, I should say. Um but really a lot of the work now needs to be done around Spy Glass Hill. Um including some storm water work and uh some yeah some storm water work maybe um a little bit more engineering just some tweaks on a on a few things. U but again they should be finished by fall of 2025. Michael, do you know what work is being done on Elliot Street as you head toward the intersection from downtown toward 126? Any idea?

104There's been utility work. Okay. You don't you're not sure? Okay. I don't I couldn't tell if it was town or someone else, but it's all it's all dug up in front of the you know, right on the edge of the road across from the condos, but on on the other side. So on the um all those build Oh, they might be doing some of the storm water work cuz that Are you talking about like on spy glass hill? No, on Elliot Street as you head you know from Fruit Street before Shaws on the left hand side like across from Meeting House across from Mountain Gate. Gotcha. Gotcha. Um no I'm not aware of that right now. Okay. Anyway, I've been caught in traffic there a couple times so Okay. Uh next is Warren Barn. Yeah,

105the Warren Barn, Jen and and Claudia have been doing a lot of the work on this. Um, they have recently released their 90% designs. Um, and Jen, is there anything else you wanted you wanted to uh No, the just a couple other things. We're sort of working through with our department heads just to make sure that um everything like in terms of board of health or fire are being addressed in these design plans um before they you know complete them and then we're trying to finalize the lease between the town and the um and the college. So sort of still working there. It's but it's getting definitely closer. It's exciting. So another question. It looks like Framingham State is doing some work either on the parking lot or I'm not sure what. Um I've seen

106some like wetland barriers going up and they're doing some work and it's not the barn itself. It's like next to it. They're doing Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. They're doing some work I believe on um sewage, right? They're trying to from down in the in the cabins down across next to the Okay. And they I basically they have a pumping station down there and they're trying tying into the pumping station that pumps up to Chestnut Street. Is that right, Jen? Is that what you understand? Mhm. And Okay. So, they're tying into the sewer. Yeah. And Jen, I want to thank Jen for our representation at the at the meetings. I haven't been able to attend the last couple. Um I did thank you for forwarding the plans to me. It does look I know I had

107raised some concerns about um the the only doors were the you know kind of big barn doors. I did notice, Jen, I'm sure you noticed. I think it's on the north side that they put the um they put in one a single door. So it has it had one single door on the far end and then they put another then there's the barn doors and then there's one more. Yes. I mean I I don't know what you think. Well yeah they were sort of thinking about that as like a peek they kept calling it a peekaboo boo door meaning like it would actually be part of a opening. So when the weather is nice, you could open it, but when it's not so nice or they need other, you know, there's any reason that you'd

108want to just have a smaller entrance, that's so they have I think it's supposed to function as both. But I haven't, honestly, I haven't had a chance to really dive into those 90% designs. We just got those just the other day. Yeah. And I, you know, to tell you the truth, a lot of it when I look at it is Yeah. Yeah. Not I wouldn't be able to add any clarity for anyone. They're pretty pictures. There you go. pictures weren't even that pretty. Mike, I was hoping for some color pictures. Yeah, I've got low standards, Claudia. Yes. And could And it's like, all right. And could you I need to kind of I need a compass on there, too. You know, where where's Tell me what north is, but what does that mean? You know,

109show me where like Henry's little tavern is and then and then tell me where everything is from there. So, but in any case, great. Well, thank you for for following up on that, Claudia, and and keeping us on track. I just have to I just have to share um you know, just another reason why we do this work, right? Um so I one of my community center coffees recently, we had a uh a local official stop by with one of her young kids. And um so the subject of the rink came up and uh one of her other kids uh had uh had learned how to skate there um over you know over the winter. So not only uh did she learn how to skate, she had drawn and developed a whole story book about

110learning how to skate. And so how cool is that? Yeah. So uh so I I'll have to share it with everybody. I did share it with Dr. Hamill just uh because he's the one who was really kind of pushing this rink and I was like, "Oh, it'll never it'll never it'll never do well, right? Prove me wrong." So, it was it's very quaint. I I have to say, you know, I I was up there a couple of times. My grandchildren have been up there several times and um you know, they had a fire pit um and you could really I was thinking at night you could go in. Yeah. It was all lit up. It it really looked like something from my youth. Um and you you know as adults you could go into Henry's

111and have a little cocktail and while your kids were skating cuz the fire pit wasn't that didn't throw that much heat. Wow. Wow. There's a hundred things we could say right now. Yes. Yes. Well, just and Joe, you'll probably say 99 of them. No, anecdotally, I don't know if you remember, Michael, but at some point this summer, a resident came up to us and said, "H, we need to do more things like Gilmore Girls, if you know that show, right? Do you remember that, Michael?" Yes. And I think about when I saw the skating rink and my girls when they were both home over the holidays, they went up there and they skated and they took video and stuff and I'm like I'm like, "So, that's sort of like that. It's that community and it's

112it wasn't downtown with the gazebo and everything, but it was still something." So, it's great downtown's getting close to it as well. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, it was great to have that and once people know about it next year, it'll get even more use and stuff. So, one thing they have to do though, I think, and I know the plans are to eventually rent skates, right? Because so many kids, you know, when I was a kid, everybody had a pair of skates. That isn't the case anymore if you're not Yeah. Um Yeah. Ours were dug out of the basement when they So, great. Okay. Um, one last project update, Michael. Upper Charles Trail. We chatted a little bit about it when we were talking about the land taking, but where are things at with that,

113please? Yeah. So, we, like you said, I was going to expound a little bit more on the land taking if we didn't have a chance to do it during the warrant, but um, you know, Jen has, uh, Jen and Diane have been working with, um, the the committee on the RFP. Jen, this is what, like the 10,000th RFP you've done? Gosh, not quite, but Thank you, Jen. It feels like it. So, sure does. Um, but, uh, you know, that's that's continuing to get worked on and refined and um, and and Michael, that RFP RFP is for the design, correct? That is correct. I'm sorry. That's a a good point. The 25% design for for the entire trail, I should say. you know, with the hope that uh if if everything goes relatively smoothly, relatively being

114the operative word in terms of the design, um we'd be able to get um that project on the TIP transportation improvement plan, which we don't know if that'll still be here in three years, but so because that's a federal program. Hopefully, we'll be um yeah, in a place in a position to take advantage of it. Okay. So, one one last thing. Um Oh, I'm sorry. Unless anybody had any questions on the Go ahead, Michael. You're good. Oh, okay. Uh just one last thing. Uh I think this the second annual link inclusion uh run event is happening on Sunday morning starting at 9:00. Um uh you know I think um Jamie and Seagull Marks um I'm sorry that's her maiden name Jamie and Steven Marks um uh their little son Lincoln. Um he's just such a

115terrific little kid and he's inspired like really this whole movement. Um and we're going to have a pretty sizable contingent of people on Sunday morning at the community center. I think uh I think the last update I received was about 500. Wow. Racers, if you will. So, um great congratulations to them and congratulations to everybody. And uh hopefully we'll see you there on Sunday morning and if you can't make it there, I think there's going to be a little get together at Clover Road afterwards. So, um should be busy again. Great. Okay. A local restaurant. Well, if you find it, share it so we all know. Great. Sorry. Sorry about that. That's okay. Good. Okay. Uh, with that, we will go to board reports. Joe, I'll start with you. Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. A

116little. Yep. Not a problem. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, just a couple of quick things. Uh, Ashlin Day is uh out and started again. Uh we uh sent out applications for booths uh not too long ago. Um we're discussing uh the summer concert series program which would start uh uh the last week in June and it'll run right through uh the second to last week in August. So we're working on that with Mike Dy uh planning um the bands and everything. It'll be every Tuesday evening uh from 7:00 p.m. and then in August they start at 6 p.m. Uh the pavilion will be available uh will be opening up uh after the uh 17th I mean after the 14th uh the water will be turned on and we'll be having uh the restrooms will be

117available and the uh the ADA committee will continue uh maintaining that uh that area for for the residents as well. the um I'm sorry, the um uh railroad yeah railroad traffic study committee will be uh meeting on the 25th and the um we'll be having our um another meeting with uh Steve Greenberg and the affordable housing trust uh next week uh to go over some things. And one of the questions I'm going to ask is with the the new ADU uh bylaw that's coming in, I was wondering if that could be considered uh lowincome housing and could those units be added to our to our side of the uh the ledger. So that I don't know if anybody's asked that question or not, but I'm going to ask it and see if Lisa can give

118us a So Joe, I know that's being talked about as to if ADU one if the ADU if the you know those accessory dwelling units will actually count toward your housing stock. Yeah. And then if they are then you have to increase you know to get to 10%. it could be harder because if you know if 50 homes add accessory dwelling units. So I I know that there are some people asking the question are are those accessory dwelling units counted as housing stock? Gotcha. Um so I there's a lot of questions around it. I would think it would have there would have to be a deed restriction on the property if it was going to be if it's going to be affordable. There would have to be a deed restriction which I don't know that

119they can do with an very complicated with Y. Yeah, good point, Brandy. Thank you. And that's all I have, Madam Chain. Again, thank you to uh everybody who reached out and well wishes and speedy recovery. Almost there. Give me another week or two and I'll be back to uh do what you need to do, Joe. I'm working on it. It it it kind of it kind of bothers me that I can't be there in person to do the things that I need to do, but uh we're getting there. Good. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Joe. Uh, Makita. Oh, thank you, Madam Chair. Um, let's see. Uh, like, uh, many of us, I got a chance to attend the volunteer breakfast. Um, and, uh, that was a really special event, I think. First off, again,

120thank you so much to all of the volunteers here in town that make, uh, make make this make make the town go, as it were. Uh I think it was really great though to see not only folks who are being honored for their service but folks they al folks were asked to bring along other people who are interested in volunteering for the town and we got quite a few new folks uh at that breakfast. So that was a good that was an excellent strategy. So thank you Rob St. Germaine for having a discussion with me to make me think about it. Yeah. Um and and that was really invigorating to see. So um so that was great. uh the related uh the we have not had another meeting of our uh subcommittee for boards and

121committees subboards board and committees. Uh so we're working on getting another one of those scheduled so that we can um put together some recommendations based on some of the research that we've done um and come back uh before folks uh to talk about next steps. And uh oh, finally uh I got a wonderful chance to attend Putts for Pages at the Ashlin Library. Thank you friends of the library. And thank you to all of the local businesses who sponsored holes and donated items. We uh my my spouse and I ended up going uh during the grown-ups uh part in the evening and it was simply delightful and it was so fun to see folks out. So um congratulations again on such a wonderful community event. Great. Thank you Makita Claudia. Well I think I've the

122the volunteer breakfast was very very nice and uh it was really great opportunity to connect with a lot of people. Um so I do appreciate the effort um that it takes to make that happen and thank you for making that happen. Um and the ZBA meeting um I think I probably already spouted off about that a little bit. Um, and linklusion uh fundraiser, the local restaurant is the ale house and it's tomorrow night. So, if you get uh food from ale house tomorrow night, it there will be a port proceed some proceeds that will go to uh the link inclusion program. So, I think that's it. Thank you. Okay, Brandy. Um, so I think the only thing I wanted to add because we, um, talked about the comprehensive plan a little bit earlier when we

123were talking with Mark, um, our next meeting for the comprehensive plan is the 17th and we are going to hopefully have a finalized list of strategies that we're going to look to um, start incorporating into like drafts. So I think that's the next phase of this comprehensive drafting this sucker. So, um so that is that is soon. Um the um one other thing, um I attended an Eagle Scout Court of Honor for Nathan Gerven on the 23rd. Um it was a really special it was actually a really special court of honor for me. I've known Nathan, oh my goodness, for at least a decade. Wow. um he grew up with my son and so I've seen him literally grow from a kid on the soccer field to this awesome kid who's going to Dartmouth in

124the fall. Like he's a he is a great kid. So um and the Gerloven family. Um we've known them for for a long time. So it was special to be a part of that. Um Nathan had built as his Eagle Scout project this recycling center over at Ashlin High School. um which I think is really cool because um you know the high school really didn't have anything like that and so he worked with our sustainability coordinator and he worked with um the school committee and trying to get that project through and um then was able to finally get like the stamp of approval to get it get it um put together in the fall. So, um kudos to to Nathan and um you know, just you know, I'm always impressed with our um Troop 232.

125I mean, they really do some amazing things. I talked a little bit about legacy and you start thinking about um the legacy that that that troop has left on on our community. And you think about it every time you go to the town forest and you walk across a bridge that they built or you go to the Warren School and they had painted all those classrooms. Um there was a bench and some work done at Stone Park for Tommy King's um Eagle Scout project and then obviously like Nathan and so these last forever. These changes are like the impact that these kids and and the community that they build is is so impressive. So, um we're lucky to have such a great great um group of scout masters and um and kids that are just,

126you know, wanting to to um serve our community. So, just thank you to Nathan and um I don't know for sure, but I believe I've been told that our troop 232 here in Ashland has one of the highest percentage of boys that become Eagle Scouts. That's absolutely correct. In the state, I believe so. I at le I've heard that a few times and with the number of Eagle Scouts now I have to say that we haven't heard about all of them as often with since Merl's passing. I mean she would keep us really informed. Um so Claudia when you were like you didn't know about this one. I think you knew because you know the family. Yeah, that's what I Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So um but the number of of Eagle Scout ceremonies that we

127have been able to participate. I know John Joe has done quite a few of them. I've done a few early on, but um I don't know, maybe we can make a connection with the troop again to make sure we hear about more of them. Yeah, it tends to be now like um the families of the of the boys put the event together, so it's so it's a little bit harder. Um but we could figure out maybe I think we should figure out a way. Yeah, because it's, as you said, it's it's such a great thing to acknowledge and even invite them here. Yeah. Yeah, I was going to say we should go to the scouters. Yeah, that's a great idea. And do that, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Good. Madam Chair, if I may, real quick,

128go ahead. Piggy back. Brandy. Um, this Sunday to support, uh, troop 232, uh, there is a pancake breakfast at the VFW and, um, I wasn't sure if you're going to report that or not, uh, Yolanda, but I just wanted to I was not, Joe, so I'm glad you did. So, u, I just want to let everybody know that. And, uh, I do have a contact and it's, uh, Mrs. Carmichael. Moren Carmichael. Well, maybe maybe you can reach out to her, Joe, and make sure that as these are being set up, we can, you know, select board at or through Susan or somehow that we can be aware of these things happening so we can recognize them appropriately. Yep. That and then and that will happen for sure. Great. Okay. Thank you. Good. A couple of

129things that I have done and a couple of things that are coming up. So on Friday, uh March 21st, I attended the WEIMO um event that is women elected municipal officials where we probably had about 60 or 65 women who are all elected officials in different positions uh through from the whole state of Massachusetts and the speaker was Katherine Clark that came in. Uh, I was very impressed with how she approached some of the questions regarding what's going on at the federal level and I was pleased to see recently we received an email that they were able to stop some of the predatory banking things that the GOP was trying to pass. So, that was good. But, it was just a great event. And then last Friday on the 28th, I was able to participate

130in the Metro Regional Collaborative Swap uh legislative breakfast. So those are two groups from the MAPC, Metropolitan Area Planning Council. We came together and we had our legislative uh event where we had five legislators. We had Senator Eldridge and then four state reps, four state reps, five state reps. Um, and one of the big takeaways for me was when Senator Eldrid said, "If you look at our state budget, because of some of our healthc care funds and a few other things, 16 to 20% of the Massachusetts budget comes from the federal government. So, if we're seeing those cuts and everyone's feeling pretty good about 20, you know, we're going to finish out 25, okay? And maybe even into 26, but they're not sure about 26. So, they are being very aware and it was just

131a really good, honest conversation. And one of the other takeaways was one of the um reps was Rep. Kate Donahghue, I forget which area she addresses, and she said because one of the questions was, "What can we do?" and she said, "Here in Massachusetts, we are pretty fortunate that we're a little stronger. We are having these conversations." She said, "The other thing you can do is if you have family members who live in other states, talk to them, get their permission to write letters to their federal representatives and senators on their behalf to let them know you're not happy with what's going on." Because here in Massachusetts, our senators know, our reps know that we're not happy, but reach out to people in other parts of the country, get the permission to, and she told

132the story of someone who wrote on the behalf of their mother-in-law who lived, I think, in either Alabama or Louisiana, and were able to write to their state, their federal reps. So, if you're looking for ways to talk and tell people how unhappy you are with what's going on, that's one way to do it. Uh so that was the other event. Couple things. Madam Chair, was there any mention at that gathering about uh you know there's another round of severe HHS cuts coming down from the federal government? Was there any mention about how that's going to impact the Commonwealth and in turn cities and towns at that gathering or not yet because they're not sure. I mean the other the other thing that was very clear from everyone was we don't know exactly what's going

133to happen. We're going to do what we can to shore up what we what we don't get, but it could impact us from federal government funding that is not sent through to the state. So, um, a couple things coming up. Uh, for, uh, the 495 Metro West Partnership is having their annual state house day on Tuesday, April 29th from 11 to 1. If you've never been, it's a great opportunity to one hear from various legislators. It's at the state house. Um it's just a really interesting day. You get to have lunch with your state rep or senator and uh you hear from a lot again a lot of conversation of what's going on. So um you should have received the email and if not let me know and you're interested I can forward it to

134you. Then I think that's all I have. I was sorry to miss the putts for pages. Um at the library I was at the Hopington Center for the Arts enjoying a local band um called Radio Logic. So can't do everything and some people were celebrating their birthday. So a great place to go and listen to fun music. And with that just a reminder our next meeting is Wednesday, April 16th. We will have our senator and rep here. So that'll be a nice way Senator Karen Spilka, Senate President Karen Spila will be here as well as Representative Jack Lewis to give us an update on where things are at. So that's on April 16th. Then we have town meeting on May 7th and then we have our second meeting in May and then an election. So

135lots going on. It's going to be fast and furious because I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't believe it's already April 2nd. So, um, if there is nothing else, I would take a motion to adjurnn. So, move and a second. Second. Great. Uh, roll call vote out. Minani. Manyani. I. Keegan I. Hinsman. I. And Greavves. I. Thank you all. Uh, have a safe Easter those who celebrate. Passover. Those who celebrate. Be safe. Uh, well, actually, we'll be back before that. We'll be back before all of those. Happy tax day the day before. Thank you all. And that wraps up this meeting for the Ashlin Select Board on Wednesday, April 2nd. Have a great night.