Ashland Select Board meeting Wednesday, March 19⋅7:00 – 10:00pm

001I just wanted to um you know ask everyone for a few minutes just to uh think about what it means to be a citizen and um and yet and a citizen who um gives of themselves over and over again in our community and uh recently last late last week Ed Bates um passed away and you know Ed was a longtime volunteer in our community um he was served on the uh select board from 198 2 to 1987 um at some pretty significant times I believe that was when the chart he was on the charter review commission we went to a town manager um I'm sure Mike's pleased about that most of the time anyways right Mike um and uh you know he did several other things through his his years in Ashland he um was

002like I said the charter review commission he was on the renovation for the current uh police station that well wasn't it isn't current now on Street um he represented Ashlin in the in the region as a the metropolitan area planning commiss commit Council um and you know and and most recently uh he was instrumental in the roundabout on Route 126 and I know that um one of his sons Wayne Uh wrote a note to Joe and I last night and um he said you know in the family they joked that if the roundabout um causes a lot of problems then Ed will be famous for it but if it if it doesn't if things go smoothly um he won't be famous for it and I think he he's not famous for that but um certainly

003he he did so much for our community what's a committed volunteer I have to say that I had always thought that he was born and bred here because he was so committed to uh Ashland uh I know that he loved this community and um it's showed by the many ways that he volunteered to support the community so um he was 90 years old and um he's left a family you know many some grandchildren here and and some children here um and what a certainly um you know a fine role model he is for all of them and and uh so I just want to thank him and offer my sympathies to his family um and just uh again the world is a better place because of he has been here in Ashland Ashland is a

004better place Claudia thank you so much for those kind words yes uh it it it's funny you know I'm I'm not funny but I'm looking at his obituary the advantage of being at home and he the pictures of the of him smiling and he always had a smile and a good word to say and was a true volunteer and really gave back to Ashland and so many things so thank you for all those kind words and I also add my condolences to to his family um and Ashlin should everyone in ashin who has known him or his family should do the same let me just give one plug now excuse me for the roundabout because um you know after I became a member or when the roundabout was being built I started reading up a

005little bit about it and roundabouts and why they're important and and I I told Wayne I said I I found out quite a bit about roundabouts that they they um you know reduce the number of uh points of conflict that one might have um in the in an intersection it keeps traffic moving and it moves it at an angle that keeps everybody moving slowly so it increases the the number um of vehicles that that it can handle many more than what you handle with the stop sign or traffic lights and so um so I thank him for that I I uh I not only do I use that that roundabout sometimes but I also um it I you see them all over the place now and I understand why so it's definitely been been used

006more and more in different places to make traffic keep flowing great yeah it's amazing what you learn when you sit on the select board Claudia yeah yeah who know great okay moving on we're going to go to Citizens participation Mark Don I that you have your hand raised we will unmute you and again you won't be on camera but uh Mark once you see that the red light is gone from your microphone you can go ahead and start speaking okay yes good evening Mark 2119 Main Street um start off with the uh yeah thank you Claud for bringing up the Miss Bas did pass away he was one of those friendly people that you can come up to talk to and he'd be very sociable and great sense of humor to talk about and his

007family was is a good example of what Ash was at the time the the baits gang was a was a great area to be around the high school with when you see the sons playing he always attends every game and he always been a good a good Ashan father select board person when he was on okay that is that now the to through the chairman to to the town manager and I go talk to him sure well well go ahead and ask what you have to ask Mark and we'll determine if if we can have him answer it there is a comprehensive plan committee tomorrow night meeting tomorrow night correct the talk we had a couple of weeks ago is now that's coming that should be going to the comprehensive plan hopefully yes or no

008um Mark I'm not sure if that'll be discuss tomorrow night but did you have the conversations um I suggested to with the people I suggested you have a conversation with first it it was what when I came into you with my piece of paper M that that idea I talked to the planner board I talk I talked to last night to the substainability community people good so so I'm I'm getting my word out there okay yeah I'm not sure I I think there's a pretty specific agenda tomorrow night so um so I I don't want to promise that it will it would be discussed but um obviously they're they're open meeting Mark they're open meetings Mark so yeah and I do have the agenda I just wanted to make sure is it going to be

009like this meeting tonight or can it be attended at the library can be attended at the library ah thank you so I can come in and sit and doing the the last 10 15 minutes where the citizens can talk then I I could ask that question couldn't I if it comes up well I don't know what your question is so yeah I would say if you feel you know if you'd like to attend please attend and if we if your question is relevant to the discussion then yes you will be you will during citizen participation have the opportunity to ask it yeah could I'm still I'm still pushing up my agenda that I have in mind and everything's G to happen after town meeting which is in May there's a lot going on in town

010meeting there is especially the uh the Chang in the bylaws and the a addu housing and stuff like that there was talked about in the planning board that I was actively involved getting my want two two cents in so I'm just just making sure that it's not what I brought up is not going to be put off to the side and it's got oh go like I said Mark I think you know come to the meeting and you can certainly per present your question or you know concerns and then um it'll be determined what how it can be used or uh moving forward okay then the very last thing would be Mr to manager don't lose my idea I still I'm only a three minute walk away that is so true Mark okay thank you

011thank you Mark if there is anyone else who would like to do citizens participation right now is the opportunity we'll see if there's other things that we talk about we we'll we we'll ask for input um seeing none uh we are uh still waiting on one of our board members but I know she was having some te technical difficulties so we are going to continue moving forward I see we have uh our economic development team who is going to be presenting our communication plan with Michael so it's okay with you uh let's start a little early Michael I don't know if you're starting or if Beth and sure I'll just give a a real brief intro um so I'd like to uh obviously introduce everyone to uh Beth uh Reynolds and everybody actually knows Beth

012so no no introduction is needed but uh not everybody in the community knows Jordan lyen who is our Communications coordinator um has been with us for several months now and Jordan has uh done a very very very good job uh just with our communication overall and event she she got started right at the uh tail end of of event season so she didn't necessarily have a chance to show uh her talents in that Arena but we are quickly getting uh back to the beginning of event season as we could tell with today's weather so we'll be excited to see her in that capacity but uh in indeed she has been working a lot on our Communications if you've seen kind of a little change in tone in our social media or like our Facebook and

013or our Facebook account uh specifically um she's been a big part of that uh if you have seen us use Instagram and now Tik Tok um more than in the past uh you can thank her for that especially Tik Tok I was I was uh took a lot to sell me on that idea but she was pretty Relentless and quite frankly it's it's been amazing but um as we have talked about before um they were tasked with um working and developing a Communications plan and for the community or for the town I should say and uh they've been hard at work on that and we've gone through a couple of different drafts internally and at this point I'll turn it over to them and uh let them run through that plan with you um and

014uh have a discussion and answer any questions you might have great great thank you um nice to see everyone um thank you for letting us present our Communications plan um Jordan's been hard at work at this um I'm just going to I'm going to kind of let her take the um take the floor but um just to sort of uh you know before we get into it just want to make sure that when you're looking at this we're really trying to make sure that there's a solid plan so that you know if there are changes or um if anything were to happen to anyone um we know what the plan is so somebody could come in and just really pick up um where somebody left off to really um keep the town going because Communications

015is is vital you know that that's what I started with here nine years ago I was like we need to really work on our Communications um there was a huge gap and um we've worked really hard over the years to fill that and I feel like this Communications plan is just going to move us forward even more um to keep us on track it's a good plan to go back to just to make sure we are staying on track and doing what the community um needs um so I am going to share my screen um and um Jordan is just going to kind of talk about some of the key uh points of this um plan and then open it up to you um for questions so is that okay yes please go keep going

016terrific okay awesome can you see that yep okay hello everybody um I like Beth said created some highlights from the communications plan and if you have it in front of you it's pretty lengthy so I wanted to Target a few things that were um excited to get started on or we really want to focus on to make our Communications better starting off with Target audiences and content this was something that um in a iteration of a Communications plan that I found um from the past wasn't really spoken about and I think it'll be important going forward so I'll just run through some of what's on the communications plan but Facebook's general population will be 25 to 34 so our main goal there is to get critical information meeting posts um events and Graphics out there

017versus Instagram where we've been posting the same things on both platforms the demographic actually drops to 18 to 20 24 um and we find that on Instagram specifically the photos uh less critical information and even short firm videos which we haven't fully Doven to yet um do better and that's what Instagram is made for is those um more personal kind of human posts instead of the oh there's a meeting today posts like Facebook like Michael said we just started with the Tik Tok that is 18 to 24 is the larg largest demographic with significant usage in mid 20s so my fellow mid2 year olds are looking there for news entertainment just about everything we go to Tik Tok for so my goal specifically with Tik Tok was to engage a younger audience um young young

018adults the high schoolers here have really taken a liking to the Tik Tok so far so I'm hoping to be able to get some information out on there but mostly to engage and um educate people that might not be super familiar with municipal government or the inner workings of a town just keep it more fun and light-hearted there we don't have um recent usage on X but or previously known as Twitter but age 25 to 34 there um like I said we haven't posted on there in a while it's kind of in my opinion a dying platform so we can't fully predict the target audience and content type for what we would use it for um YouTube again we don't post regularly on our YouTube but 18 to 34 is the largest user demographic which

019would be simply for long form videos where we have two other platforms that we can put short form videos YouTube would be best for those long form and then lastly LinkedIn which again is one of our platforms that we haven't fully dove into yet young adults and adults age 25 to 34 is the largest user demographic so press releases and official updates are um best on that platform um moving down to Department roles um we thought it was important to high light department roles in our Communications plan just so that whoever comes looking at the communications plan doesn't think that Beth and I just do everything for everyone which would be a little much but um this one's a little hard to pinpoint in the communications plan because it's spread throughout every section but a

020few of the things um would be website social media Publications um having specific assigns roles for management of website management of social media unless people decide to assign them otherwise we just put department heads um because it was it's easier to say that they'll do that and then if you know like Beth has said oh Jordan you're going to run the Tik Tok then I know that that's my responsibility but in general it'll be to the Department's discretion um same with all of our printed media ashlon access local Town pages that we participate in um we open it up to departments but it's not required that they do that so it's again at their discretion and then there are some other departments aside from the official Ashland um social media that have their own platforms

021like the library the Senior Center Police and Fire ashon wreck prevention and Human Services and then The Corner Spot and ashon bis buuz so we wanted to put those in there to make sure we knew those were platforms that were being utilized by town the town and run by departments next is emergency communications so we have in the communications plan some main objectives like timely messages clear and concise messaging during crisis um crossposting updates on all channels where needed and then we go into specifics talking about digital platforms um so monitoring social media being proactive against misinformation and disinformation um collaborating with respective departments like if a road shuts down for a main water break we're talking with DPW to make sure we're getting the most accurate information out for them code red which we've

022had to do a few in the last few weeks um to notify the residents um of any emergency alerts or time sensitive things I think that's a a program that we can utilize more um for just need to know basis I know I was a resident in m in um westbro and I still get their notifications when it's a super hot day and they're going to have cooling stations so stuff like that will try to utilize more than other tools like the LED boards um and physical postings that could be utilized when necessary for events road work due dates and then General updates as we see fit and then because we're here talking to the select board I figured I'd highlight the select board responsibilities you'll see throughout the communications plan that Beth and I

023have a lot of our responsibilities LIF listed out and then like I said a lot of their responsibilities of the department heads and other departments um what they'll be doing but um especially in talking to other towns lately we realized how big of a role that the select board does play especially in online communication so we figured we'd lay it out here now and I'll read it out just to remind everyone if if you haven't read it yet but um each member should accurately represent the town and its Mission across all Communications channels take a proactive approach to ensure respectful and fact-based conversation is occurring across Communications channels and reactively correcting misinformation across Communications channels when needed supporting the town's community outreach efforts by attending and promoting events like some of you attended the pickle

024bowl ribbon cutting today develop online presence to establish reliability and integrity with community members on social media and lastly support and Foster an environment across all Communications channels that welcomes discussion and participation without retaliation I think that last sentence is kind of a common ground between all of our Communications plan we want to make sure that everyone that is getting our Communications or engaging with us across different channels feel like they can talk to us and share their worries share their concerns share their praises whatever it may be and be taken seriously but also like I said a few times we want to be a to be there to correct disinformation and misinformation where we can so it's definitely a big work together moment this Communications plan is not just for Beth and I and

025Michael it's for everyone that works for the town um to try to keep everyone in the loop keep all of our practices out there like I said at the bottom this is a resource so we wanted to be able to provide all the practices for communications so that we can train someone or hold us all accountable for what we should be doing and then like Beth said if there's an unexpected circumstance where somebody has to come in and learn how to do this we want to have as much as we can in this Communications plan for them to take it over so that being said if you have any comments or questions sure so can we'll take them now great well thank you thank you um yeah it's a very thorough thing I I do

026have I think I'm going to push back a little on your Facebook demographics I mean unless you did some reporting or something I I would say just B again this is just based on my interactions and with my 30-year-old children I'm GNA say Facebook you're hitting the probably 40 to 60 year olds are on Facebook so that's something to think about as you're creating things on Facebook I think you're right about I mean Instagram is certainly that 20 to 35-year-old Tik Tock who knows um it's definitely interesting um I'm going to open it up to the board questions comments just raise your hand so I know what order to put you guys in Claudia you've unmuted first so I'll let you go first all right thank you yeah that it's a very thorough plan um

027and I certainly appreciate it I I think uh communication is always one of the biggest challenges right um and and certainly in the the the time that we live um it things have changed so much in the past you know I would would say 255 years and um when you think about the fact that select board meetings we I mean wacka TV's there but when I back in my early days on the school committee we there was a newspaper reporter in the room every day and there was an article in the paper the next day and it was really a you know a really good way to communicate with people because people got a newspaper and read it so now you have all these different um media platforms and it's really H what do use

028right what how do we communicate and so I appreciate the way you broke it out um I agree with with Yolanda that probably a lot of uh older people are on Facebook um but I think um I I know a lot of people too that um would fall into that older category and they might be on Instagram they might not be active themselves but they read it right so they do um so and the other the other thing I think so I think there's kind of two things where trying to do here right we're trying to inform our community keep them informed and we're also trying to engage people for that otherwise haven't been engaged and so I think that those are the two biggest challenges in my mind um it's it's it's a it's

029a lot um and the other the other thing that um the website is is kind of a static thing but it is someplace where people go to get information for uh oh I need to you know get my dog a tag what do I do I need something to do with trash what so um so and I I do think that the website plays an important role but it isn't where people are probably going to go for the latest in greatest news um so in any case I I certainly am uh excited about this I think that um I I know that sometimes yeah I want to be careful how I say this but sometimes people who negative might be posting on Facebook um so I think it's important that we're aware of what's being

030said on Facebook um so you know that that does seem to be a place where negativity survives and thrives pretty well sometimes so that that's key um so I guess that's really just my only comments I hope that um I might like to sit with you someday Jordan and go over some of these things because I could use some um freshening of some of my social media skills and so um I I might be interested in doing that if you'd be interested in in uh absolutely we'll make you a star Claudia all right thank you very much great thank you Claudia Joe comments questions uh thank you madam chair uh I don't know if anybody can hear me or not we can okay great thank you uh I apologize I may be cutting out at

031at some point during the meeting how your shoulder Jo we need to we need to find out about your shoulder how are you how are you feeling well that that's the reason why um couple of setbacks over the last couple of days but it's uh it's more than I anticipated unfortunately and the doctor was uh very pleased that that went through and I definitely won't be pitching this year for the Red Sox that's for sure uh but um it'll be it'll be a success it's just going to be a long process so I is your friend Joe ice is your friend believe me I wish I had stock and ice right now because I'd be I well I wouldn't be Elon Musk because I wouldn't be burning they wouldn't be burning my cows but anyway

032um I great presentation I appreciate all the effort that uh you all put into this uh I think it's very much needed especially today uh the demographics in town changes and as that changes we all uh we all look to uh have better communication uh with our with our peers and uh no matter what age we are and I I think that uh this help Bridges some of the uh the issues that we've had over over in the past so uh congratulations great job and uh I'm looking forward to using uh some of these as well my my again my shoulders doing great I want to thank everybody for the uh for the thoughts and prayers prior uh prior to my surgery last Wednesday and uh yeah I was in the hospital for uh four

033days um little longer than anticipated but um yeah yeah when things happen they happen in in in droves unfortunately and uh everything went well but it was just uh it was a long it was a long tedious process and um you know five hours so we're we're we're okay good we're okay it's just the body's going to take a little longer for it to heal yeah but we're doing well and Claudia I want to thank you for uh adding those great words uh about uh Mr Ed Bates I've known that good portion of my life uh I've coached his sons in baseball up at the high school uh will especially and uh a great family uh love he bleeds Ashland blue um and I'm sorry to see him go but um yeah 90 years old

034God bless I you know it just uh it's a sentiment to everybody there and to his family and for his legacy in town and um you're right I hope he doesn't become famous as a result of that is as way would put it but um recognition for all the work that he's put into that uh along with uh Paula paker uh you know from years past who initiated and started that that that whole process with u with a lot lot of groups a lot of people in that town in that area so um but thank you I I appreciate that and um I'll be back I just it it's just going to be a little longer than I thought that's all do what you need to Joe but you're here now so when you feel

035like when when you can't sit any longer just go ahead and okay if you see me if you see me bail out you know that I've reached not a problem my my limit so I appreciate that but thank you madam chair and thank thanks thank board memb I appreciate all your concerns it's been very helpful thank you great Brandy Andor Makita who wants to jump in next about the communications plan if anything Brandy go ahead so first of all thank you guys this was great it's so good to see it kind of outlined in a real real um detailed way and you guys have put a lot of work into this so thank you for for all of that um a couple of things that I wanted to just ask about like um so did

036you guys do some digging into other towns and how what we do kind of um compares to other communities as far as like different types of communication and reach and things like that I'm just kind of curious um how how we are against other our our other surrounding towns so I am pretty active on social media looking at other towns looking at other Town's websites um their even their like forms and their surveys and just seeing where we compare I will say to my knowledge we are the only town in all of Massachusetts with a Tik Tok so not on the back that everybody but I learn a lot from a lot of the other towns I do notice that much like other towns our photos do better with our community just like posts where

037there's photos versus a graphic so we've know no that we're trying to implement more of those um obviously you know like a city like Framingham has a lot more engagement just because of I think the amount of people they have versus the amount of people we have kind of trickles over into how many followers they have but we are gaining followers on every platform pretty steadily and um in just how many months have we had the Tik Tok two two months um we've got almost 500 followers which is a lot for a town especially when there's no other Town doing it so um I'm proud of that but I think we do um do things better graphic wise than some towns and then like I said I'm learning a lot from looking at other towns

038and what they're doing so trying to implement their best practices where where we can we do follow a lot of other towns newsletters as well and our town manager newsletter is above and beyond Beyond anyone else's in my opinion that I get the ones that I receive um they're very engaging uh they're they're up they're they're current um and I think there's they're consistent so I do think we sort of really um hit a home run on that one and the feedback that we get on that is terrific so yes we do watch the other um the other towns and communities um and we also do watch the the social media feeds as well so yep we are yeah if if I just may interject just a bit I think um you know I I

039think the the team here is being entirely too modest in terms of um you know some of the the activity and the comparisons with other communities Facebook accounts I think um you know if if you go to other towns you know social media Pages their Facebook page specifically I'm referring to right now um you'll see like there's hardly any activity or any type of Engagement going on and there's hardly any postings um so our platform is at least you know uh at least serving as as a way to to get communication out and also not just get communication out but encourage dialogue to some extent um which is something that you don't see and then if you peel the layer back one more further you'll start seeing is the reason they're not posting as many

040things is because they don't have as much to post about so they don't have they don't have nearly as many events I mean the the number of events that we do compared to other communities is just really phenomenal um but then like projects uh you know sidewalk infrastructure projects uh land purchases things like that um so I I think you know it's a great Testament to the work that uh we're doing as a community and also what our our teams do in Communications so I I agree I absolutely agree um in fact you know Beth you mentioned the the town manager newsletter one of my one of my notes that I had taken was um I I would kind of recommend maybe even putting into this communication plan what how many um subscribers you have

041to that and um sort of like the some a little bit of data just about how many people generally open these emails and and um click through and things like that because I think I think part of the the the um I don't want to say the power behind that but I think think the reach is is pretty significant in town and I think that that's something that um you know I I think I think you you should be very proud of because the fact that not only do a lot of people receive it but a lot of people read it every week and it's something that people look forward to so that's a I think a huge that you should um you should highlight on your Communications plan thank you yeah we have about

0425,000 followers on the um or people signed up for the newsletter our clickr rate is nearly 60% which is phenomenal for constant contact and our clickthrough rates about 13 to 15% which is also like really high when in the constant contact world so our numbers have been steady for so long and they keep climbing which is great but that's really great feedback thanks Brandy yeah and again I just I I have to say most of the other communities they're only putting it out monthly um you know team we're doing it weekly but you know Brandy I don't know if you've encountered this but you know to be at like an MMA conference or something Have select board members from other towns come to you and say oh hey I read your newsletter and you're like

043oh wow that's cool he subscribe that was good when other people when other people notice right in other towns yeah that's awesome Yep y y um I did have a couple other quick questions so the um you're the social media part when when um you had talked about correcting misinformation and and and things like that so what is what is your process for responding to social media like at what point do you um would you turn off commenting or hide comments if there's some you know sometimes sometimes people are respectful and their in their comments and sometimes we know that they're not um and so what is your process for responding you know and if if you're looking to us to respond are you looking to us to respond to the Ashlin Pages or are

044you asking us specifically to respond to sort of out in the sort of the greater social media world just some clarification on that too so Brandy I think you're actually the perect example of responding when it's necessary um like you did on our most recent um what was it the post somebody commented about the tri board meeting and you went in there and you corrected the information immediately or you know pretty quickly we tend not to like definitely don't delete and tend not to hide or even turn off comments on our posts and a lot of the times that we have responded to people's comments have been in those Community boards um we do have a policy though so if any words there are words that are Tagged so if anyone swears those are hidden

045immediately so social media is part of open meeting law um so we do have to provide um history if asked so um but those there is a but there is a policy on our website that states like if and if you do SL put slander on the site then you can be actually blocked that you get three tries and you're out you get a letter we've sent a couple letters home to people before and and not necessarily part of this communication plan but I know you know Claud has brought it up makita's brought it up that we as a board sort of need to have either further this discussion or real quick now like Brandy you're you're good at jumping on and and posting things and I think either maybe we want to check in

046with each other because it's it would not be good if multiple people post because that is could potentially be open meeting law violations even if it's even if you're just putting out facts if M multiple members of the select board post on social media posts we that could get us into trouble so um I mean I'm happy letting you do that but I don't know how other people feel so maybe it's a conversation or if there subject matter or something and again might not be for tonight but I think based on this communication plan and and and the new platforms and things like that I think we have to as part of the social media policy determine how we're going to approach some of these things I think the fastest the faster that we can

047take out miscommunication or or misinformation information the better um I think that as long as we're all sort of talking together um or alerting someone or asking like hey I saw this on there what how should I respond I think we sort of do that in internally Michael is our first go-to for that um so whatever way you can help us that's fantastic okay so Mark um I see you have your hand up we're not going to include public in this discussion right now um so hold on and we'll see where it goes as to whether or not we open it up to the public thank you uh Brandy what else did you have or are you the one other thing that I wanted to see if um could be included in it because I

048know there was talk about sort of the um you know signing up for the communications I know you guys have a great one-page document that has like all the links to all the newsletters and all that stuff I would also include um maybe in this Communications plan something about um people can sign up to receive meeting agendas and meeting minutes and those kinds of notifications too because I think that's part of the whole um out Outreach to make to get people to um be more engaged so I know it's always a struggle to to to um get people to to attend meetings and you guys do a great job of putting out posts about planning board meetings or you know select board meetings and things like that um it but kind of there's there there's

049been a lot more people that have moved into town in the last say five years they may not know that they can get those notifications either by email or by text uh of when these meetings are happening so they can take a look at agendas and see if it's something that they want to attend so um that's my own maybe that maybe that's a posting in Michael's next newsletter right to remind people or a future newsletter that's something that we can definitely include in um I'll have to check our our one pager but we can definitely include it in the welcome packets that we send out to Residents I can double check and make sure it's on our Communications page online but um as for like putting it in the communications plan for the community

050like this plan when I was writing it is wasn't necessarily Community facing so they're not going to go to this Communications plan see where they can sign up for newsletters but sense definitely something we can make sure is out there and is being sent to new residents as well we do that we put it in the welcome packets too for every new Resident they get a welcome packet um yeah rent rental renters and um home owners good okay M I think that's a great idea Sor that's a great idea y yeah I think uh thanks uh Madam chair I think y'all have covered most of the things that I was going to ask about the only thing that I was there are two things that I wanted to say or just make sure that we

051didn't forget uh the first piece is on across the board I think we talked we talked about news newsletter uh performance uh analytics but I'd like to see more information on kpis for social um so you know uniques you know all the standard kpis that you see on social I think that's important to report on and for us to get an understanding of so that when we try to craft strategically what what's getting reach and how it's getting reached we do it in the smartest and most efficient way possible I would give that piece of advice um the second piece is um I was just looking over the U the select board piece uh I noticed that we included we did include a town manager coffee uh as part of the Outreach effort we do

052have select board um you know office hours too and I think we should put that in the plan as well uh if we're going to do in person or all channels um so that's something that we do and I think we should make sure we highlight that but I did want to congratulate you guys on a really great and thorough plan and I'm really looking forward to sort of uh you know expanding it and getting some more of the specific information like um like we talked about uh cified into it and um you know I think this is this is a really awesome start so thank you for all of your hard work good okay just one or two last things for me regarding the website my question is it talks about how each department

053is responsible for posting and I get that it can't be one person but who sets the tone for the website right because I know I go to the website and sometimes there's not consistency in how things look or how things are posted um I mean I the the number of complaints I get about the website that it's hard to navigate I mean even just to get to the agenda for this you have to you know you have to go you have to go to the calendar and look for it there and then you have to push on the selectboard meeting and then you have to pick you know so I know we did an over overhaul of the of the website probably about four years ago five years ago Brandy six years ago was it

054I know it was when Brandy first came on so because she was involved in it um we tied a little bit to the website because Civic plus is the um is the website we use and it's in you can only do like we only have so much control because it is I see a template so it is a little frustrating in certain ways and we don't have one specific person that is dedicated to the website we are sort of team we work very closely with it it's definitely not doesn't lie in our department Alone um and we rely on other departments uh for all of their information obviously they need to keep it as current as possible with everything they going on in each department struggle and we do have um an opportunity now to

055look at POS a possible uh free upgrade so we are working on that it's just a different it's a different plan okay okay Claudia what was your question I was just wondering who actually does the postings there are multiple people or yeah everybody has access to their own page every department head that's that's why I asked that about you know if because there's multiple people doing it sometimes you can you can tell there's different personalities which partly I get but on the other hand if I'm going to the website I sort of want to a feel for the whole thing if if the template if the template locks us down from doing something we want to do maybe one option might be to then have a have on that page that kind of doesn't do

056everything that we wanted to do have a link that takes us to you know a Google page or a Google site or because you know almost everything you can publish now so it wouldn't and it would be a more complex you know activity than most of our departments would want to do but I'm just thinking um it it might be a way if it was significant enough it might be a way of getting out of breaking out of that template a little bit um the other thing that I would be interested in too is if we could look at from particularly the um the town manager newsletter and and you know how many what's the how many people on that are are people who are voting in other words I'd like to be able to

057compare the people who are reading that and the people who vote I think it's Pro there's probably a pretty high correlation right and um I just think going forward some of this information about uh how voters are getting their information or might be apt to want to get their information is important um so I'm just thinking that that that might be something that we look at um CLA those are there are good points um just in terms uh I just want to make a couple comments just about the consistency of things um because I think that's the the word that we're looking for is you know a consistency throughout uh the the different pages of our web page Universe if you will yeah and uh I think one of the things that we have to

058work on I've mentioned it uh before are things just like simple file naming conventions you know just having a standard one of those so you know you don't necessarily have have you know something that that again is inconsistent you know if you see a template for a planning board meeting and you know like a select War meeting is going to be in that same template well it's pretty easy to find in in a variety of ways and then just consistency in things like the text I mean just the guide should be you know 12 whatever 12 point Times New Roman whatever they're calling you know fonts um these days so U so yeah I think there's some small tweaks that we can also do that could make a big difference I I think we can

059be forgiving about um things not being consistent if our search features were work well right I mean I ultimately how many people go I mean I don't love clicking around on a website looking for something right so if there's a good strong search engine there if that that's what I'm going to go to and then I'm I'm very forgiving then right about because the world's not a linear world anymore so you know let me go to the the search engine and let me search for what I and find it because I think that that and I think that might be I don't know our search feature I think it I don't know if it's why it doesn't seem to work as well as I feel like it should you know I'm not sure is it

060maybe it's because everything's not named in the same format maybe you know maybe well it's it's a product issue um but I will I I'll agree with that but I'll just I'll just kind of say what I I think we're saying I think I think the first thing for consistency like you said Michael is it it's really kind of more business process related the stuff than um actually like technology except for the search feature um so I kind of feel like yes a style guide like a a very brief style like a one-pager just about um like you said like everything from like font presentation to also tone like just a a general style guide and some guidance for department heads you know when they're you know for posting I think is a good idea

061and might actually help with with the consistency I think there may be an opportunity also for just more intad departmental coordination and so far as posting and posting cadences Etc uh but Beth I I will ask if if we're up for an upgrade soon I'd be curious to find out you know what what that upgrade consists of because if it does a feature like a more Google based search or a better product search or some other technological tools that will make the um uiux experience for the website uh more palatable and useful for our residents that might be something worth exploring and if it's if I think you said it might have been free so that's even more yeah RIT director Paul Carpenter is looking into that now yeah so um so Claudia like that

062might be part of it so you know once they find out we can find out yeah great okay anybody else anything no it was great it's great it was very uh thorough thank you okay thanks uh Mark if it's a quick question I will allow you to unmute um but it needs to be a quick question please because we do need to move on if we could unmute him we all set now okay y you're all set go ahead Mark again quick question about the communications plan first of all it's it's it's a great extra extra step to understand the backgrounds and get the information out another thing is I have talked have gone through the T manag here his his um manager's website there and I gone through everything I mastered I mastered out

063I have mastered our town website it's it's no problem it is simple to do you just need patience you just got need know how understand the background this communication patience is not my virtue I can tell you I I can almost tell because you find you find out that um typing is not my skill either and spell the words in the answer okay I'm I am so happy with this this is like me getting through on the website to any board that has an email and I can get a response back that's great this is what I'm coming down to is to ask through the chairman to Beth who has my email can you send me the welcome packet to this because I want to be hooked up on this sure no problem you got

064it thank you that's it great thank you Mark thank you Beth thank you Jordan it was great uh first of all it was great to seeing you both in person this afternoon this is a great plan um you know as you both said there's still some tweaks and things and and as with anything I think it's a living breathing product as we look at things and so Jordan what do you think a select board Tick Tock Dance I mean come on I am all here for that I for the record that I not here for that come on we can have fun with that we can have fun with that figure out we'll figure something out I'm there for [Laughter] you thank you great well thank you both um okay we're GNA move on in

065our agenda so the Surplus disposal procurement policy is being pulled uh right Diane and Jen yes okay so we're not doing that um we had an open meeting law complaint that was filed and I believe we have a response in our packet so Jen or Michael I haven't seen that yet was that in it was in our updated packet that came at the end of the day that um okay let me pull Diane sent that Diane sent yeah um and I didn't get to ask did that other set of minutes get updated that Brandy commented on no okay so we'll pull those out of the consent Michael did you want to say something um I just um want to just clarify is that not part of our um open meeting law response I think there

066was conversation that it was so we may need to um so brandy brandy had um indicated it still had incorrect information and Brandy right see the one section about the the coaching piece okay just was that the one that you were referring to too yeah yeah it was it was it was incorrect what we had right discussed in exact session so okay yeah so if if you know we I mean I'm sure we can fix it and and approve it for our next meeting yeah I can I mean I can definitely make that make that change on that right though I believe we have to send the response to the open meeting law complaint we're talking about two different things so I'm I'm aware great he's talking about the specific meeting minutes that had issues

067but as he said the B that um one of the sets of meeting minutes is part of the open meeting law complaint and our and our response um but I think even without updating that one set of minutes and approving them today we can review the response so I'm going to do this if you didn't get a chance to read the response that was in our packet I'm going to give you a few minutes to do that don't usually do this but I know it's important that we review this and vote this response tonight because we have to get it um back out back to we have to respond to the state so Joe did you get a chance to read them read the response or you're muted you need to unmute he can unmute

068himself right Jen he should be able to yeah as a co-host find that button Joe there you go I actually was rereading the uh oh okay okay yep we're good okay Claudia did you get the chance to read it or are you doing it now you're doing it now okay Makita did you get a chance to read it or are you reading now how do I have to vote on the response to this okay yeah and and actually while other people are reading I was listening to something I forget what it was some training or some something so even if you were not present at a meeting if you feel that you know you can trust that the meeting minutes are accurate you can vote to you can vote to approve meeting minutes so you

069can also vote I mean this is this letter even though you weren't even though you weren't on the board at the time yeah you but you are a current member of the body so it's against the current it's against the current select board okay so you can review this this and we can all vote on this open meeting law response okay okay right and you can even vote I mean I don't know that I think you abstained when we reviewed them all in exec session because you weren't there so that's fine right but the letter is an open meeting law complaint against the current select board so you should read it and make sure you're comfortable and that um I mean if you feel like you want to abstain because it wasn't when you were

070on the board that's fine too but you can vote it if you'd like it says that I think this okay the yeah the I guess I got a little confused because I was the last time I read the the um complaint like there was like um yeah there were just talking about the action and it threw me off yeah all right well thanks for the clarification I I just you know I just don't feel like I mean I wasn't I wasn't part of the body at the time so I want to I don't know if my I don't know if I if if I should say anything about this so y That's fine okay totally fine Brandy I'm good you're good Claudia you good okay okay if I could have a motion to accept the

071response to the open meeting law complaint as presented by Town Council so moved second and second thank you Brandy for the motion thank thank you Joe for the second any other discussion okay um we're going to do roll call vote Bennett Bennett I Kinsman hi manani I Keegan abstain abstain and Grieves ey so that carries 41 um thank you all very much for that moving on town meeting update Jen I believe this is for from you that we're going to get this so town meeting update on the warrant I'm just trying to let me just pull up my draft um so we have a number of Articles um I think we went quickly over it I was hoping to have a draft but we're sort of waiting there's a number of bylaws that will be

072going through the planning process um and I wanted to make sure that I had um the correct language because once we put that in the warrant I get worried about Version Control and so sort of waiting in the next couple week 10 days we'll have a good draft I think um so we'll have article one which is town uh Town reports um article two will be the uh 26 budget article three will be transferred to the oped trust um I'm holding a spot for a possible transfer for from the special education stabilization fund and I think we'll have uh you know further conversations about that um in our tribe board meetings um but I'm holding one just so we don't forget um we'll have it the annual consent article that really focuses on grants Road

073contracts um contracts that were allowed to enter into easements and then the revolving fund I think is the the larger one of that um there's also a consent an annual consent article for uh CPA um that sort of outlines uh their Appropriations and their payments that are scheduled for the next year um we'll have actually three CPA fund funding authorization article um one for the ash Ashlin Arboretum for $500,000 to construct that Park um which was the former cadal former site of Cadillac paint um we will have um a 100,000 $110,000 for digit um a historical preservation of Records um through our clerk's office um and then also additional funds for the dog park for 60,00 and that's really based on the bids that we received a few few weeks ago which I think we

074discussed at our last meeting um we're going to ask the town meeting to accept um a local provision of the Mass general laws that allows our assessor just to sort of um capture New Growth um throughout the entire year and so this is an older um Act of actually active um 89 that we had not accepted and our new assessor said you know in his previous uh towns this was something that they had done and it was helpful um so we're we're going to ask for that um we will likely have two additional borrowing articles um and they're both on previous articles so um I believe it was last may we had asked for 4 million authorization for $4 million for our water treatment plant for the ozone um those estimates a year later are

075coming in probably $2 million higher than anticipated and so um we're we're looking at possibly increasing I'm not sure if it'll be a new borrowing or an amendment um to our to our previous authorization um and similarly um we had water main work that we authorized a million and so this is a several year project and so in terms of just being strategic about our borrowing we're going to ask for additional borrowing authorization that would allow us to sort of really plan out for the next several years and that way you don't have to borrow every year but we're actually borrowing for the larger project because they had phased it over four years I think when they presented um that water Capital plan to you all when you were talking about rates um also we'll

076be um asking for phase 14 and 15 of the MW um II program so we do that you know every other year about and so uh two years ago in may we had asked for that and that allows us to do um some work on our infrastructure um just and then we get into the bylaws so you had a presentation for establishing a local historic district which has been presented to you um so that's in there and then um the planning board needs to do a small cleanup on their site plan review um bylaw um and then they're doing the accessory dwelling unit that uh aligns with the state uh State program and then we have a an up dat um that's coming from the state and the federal government from FEMA they had updated

077their flood plane and that's just changing a couple of our tile and our Maps um and so we're just updating that and they are sort of standardizing that bylaw so the planning board will be holding uh hearings for that in the next several weeks um and then we'll have that with their recommendation and I believe that is it so I lost count so how about how many articles do we think um I actually haven't had on numbers but I think there's 17 okay okay okay uh and town meeting again is Wednesday May 7th May 7th okay great any questions comments from the board on that Claudia go ahead yeah I just have a question about the water treatment facility so the Oz Zone piece of that we completed didn't we the update for the ozone

078the update the filter no so we did get appr we got authorization we got a $4 million authorization and they started the design and the engineering for that and so we haven't actually implemented that okay the filter itself wasn't the filter itself like a million dollars is that no something like that it was um four million talking about the water no the the whole project was four million right and I I thought we were going to be completing that or starting it in this fall was there a delay or just timing or well they started with the engineering they did get so with that four part of that four million was design and and engineering and so they've done they've done all that um sort of working through that process and they were you know

079they're on the tail end of sort of going out to bid which is why the estimates have changed a bit okay and yeah and part of that is sort of just when you're actually thinking about implementation you know it the you want to make sure that we have some fil filtration throughout the process and so it's using some other pieces of the plant that we hadn't really anticipated that way there is no real disruption to service while we are doing the upgrade to the to the um to the ozone okay any other questions Claudia no thank you okay I had a quick question about that go didn't maybe I'm not remembering the right project and that's possible but wasn't wasn't hington paying for part of that too and we had authorized the 4 million but

080we were only paying 3 million of it is that I remembering it correctly they were uh they agreed I believe Michael 25% of the is it 20 or 25% of the project 2% and they they were going to pay 1 million and they had all the votes and everything okay so now because go ahead say so so so we had authorized 4 million we're going to spend 3 million is hoofington going to pay for 25% of whatever increased cost it would be that when I spoke to DPW that is the uh that is the Assumption they have to work that through because they did have to have a vote as well and so um but that is they're they were thinking that they're paying 25% of the overall C and we were sort of using

081that four million as the number to figure out how much they were going to pay and so yeah so the So the plan is to to authorize up to two million even though 2 million more even though we probably would only need a fraction of that because of the percentage that we'd have 1 million left over from hington from from that original 4 million plus I'm just trying to like yeah so I think if I remember correctly when we had the conversation to do the authorization for the full four million was partly because it's going to be reimbursed and so in order for us to sign the contract we actually have authorization for all of it and then hopkington reimburses us for the rest and so again I don't think we actually borrow for all

082of it we have the authorization to borrow for all of it and Michael correct me if I'm wrong on that but that's how I sort of remembered it yeah I believe you're right because that is how the operational costs work um in terms of the billing is uh so we we go ahead and pay and then we go ahead and we invoice hackington for their piece okay and so do we do you know so if we're saying we're authorizing up to 4 million but we're not spending all that or we're we're spending all that and then getting it back from hopkington so do we have to borrow for the four million and then do we take the money that we're getting from them and pay it down more quickly or like what's you know if

083we've borrowed four million I I'd hate for us to get the million and apply it to something else and not apply it and then not pay down this Bond or you know or now the potential six million yeah I don't yeah I don't think you I don't think he'd be able to do that I mean just to get that through Bond counsil would be that that would not work okay so then I think it though well maybe not maybe this isn't the meeting but it would be good to understand then you know we're if we're if we're authorizing 4 million and we Bond the four million because we have to spend the four million and then we get a million back to help pay for it what happens with that million dollars it can't just

084go to general fund it can't it should go someplace to be determined to use to pay down the bond right no I see what you're saying I see I I I it's not that I really I understand it's not that straightforward so that's so again maybe not for this meeting but it's something that we should talk about right if we're bonding the full four million but we're getting a million back we need to figure out what to do with that right it's similar you know I I keep talking to Paul about the potential funds we're getting back from you know for this the building projects right you know the potential $3 million have we bonded everything that we've spent for the schools and if so what are we going to do with this $3 million

085right so but again that could be another discussion okay okay any other questions regarding the articles for town meeting okay seeing none moving on um so we're getting into season for the town manager in Town Council evaluation process uh as with a lot of things this year the Year flew and Michael and I kept talking about it Claudia and I kept talking about it trying to create or get a new tool to evaluate Michael and to evaluate Town Council it has not been done so we are going to use the same tool that we've been using um and what I would say is we'll make sure it gets sent out to everybody and so the process is everyone completes the town manager's evaluation you then submit it to the town manager and review with him

086your evaluation I then as chair take all those evaluations compile them into one evaluation that then becomes our public that re I review the compiled uh evaluation with Michael and then that evaluation gets made public at a future meeting um I would like to recommend that we try to tie this up um and do it no later than our I think it's our only meeting in May so that gives us about two months to get that done so I'll work with Susan to get that evaluation form out um one thing is after we do the evaluation to move forward into next year uh again Claudia and I have been talking and Michael and I been talking that for the next year we're going to want to set like five goals for Michael so that doesn't

087happen have to happen until in June you know when we do our Retreat or something like that but just something to be thinking about um and then again trying to find a different evaluation form questions comments concerns I just one I just um last year if you remember I think we used a uh we put it we made it a digital version and I think it's a lot easier to deal with so I just yes yeah I remember that so hopefully we can just want to make sure we use that again we will I think for especially for you it's going to be a lot easier yeah yeah yeah so we'll have to get that and put you know find the blank one and get that out to everybody um and Makita if when you

088see have questions don't hesitate to reach out thank you you're welcome uh next up liquor compliance seminar this is happening on April 15th who wants to Michael you want to chat about that I mean it's pretty straightforward but if I I've lost my backup here okay I I can talk us through okay um so for Claudia and Makita I Brandy and Joe you've been aware about this Joe definitely so there is our Police Department puts on a liquor compliance seminar either every year or every other year for Ashland businesses that have liquor licenses and we as select board are invited to participate in this to sit and go through this training especially as the people who sign off on liquor licenses it's good to know some of these things and it is happening on Tuesday

089April 15th from 9 to 11 at the public safety building and the detail is in your packet and they just asked that you RSVP to Robert uh to officer arujo before the 1 of April so look at your calendars decide if you can do this I've done it I think once or twice It's really informative and as the the group that votes and approves liquor licenses especially with some of the stuff we do for Summers it's good to do so and Rob does a great job yeah as you yep can a test yep okay I have a question about it go ahead um thanks so so this training is it like is it kind of like tips training or like or is it it's not tips training tips is much more detailed this is really

090just talking about some of the public policy what you should consider as a store owner as a business owner who's selling alcohol I see um Joe do you have anything else attend is that store owners restaurants or is it just I forget if it's just store owners or restaurants but um and are they mandated to attend like once a year or is it just when they have new Personnel H that's a good question I don't I don't know that off hand uh Claudia great um I I so at least one representative owner manager employee from each establishment holding a liquor license is expected to attend and they receive a certificate well that's a driving Factor yeah yeah so it's yeah the the the Flyers has a lot of so they it doesn't look like it's

091mandatory but they are expected and I think they sort of track who has done it and highly encourage yes yes so okay uh next we have a review I don't do I don't know that we need to yes we do need to approve this so uh from our town clerk information on early voting and just voting Turtle voting totals um so uh it talks about what our history has been and uh you can always tell when there's not as many contested races because there is not as many votes uh so we have that information then she talks about nope those are minutes so it has the the dates and times so the town election is on May 20th from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. no bylaw dictating the hours um let's see there will they're

092going to offer vote by mail and inperson early voting on Wednesday May 14th from 8 to 7 so one opportunity for early voting if you don't want to be voting on the 20th is the Wednesday before so we need to vote to approve the voting times and locations as presented by our town clerk if I can get a motion so moved Randy and a second second SEC okay and uh let's all unmute so we can do a roll call vote Bennett just say I okay I got it Kinsman hi Keegan hi manani I saw your mouth go Joe you were muted but that's okay I'm using extended screen and it's I had trouble getting my mouse back I've been there done that oh I can tell your your agenda's off to one side and your

093yeah good okay so that V uh vote passes please let the town clerk know okay let's see going on okay sorry I got to put my reading glasses on little dark uh let's see baa Grant and select board Grant application process is now open and submissions are due by March 28th 2025 reminder that the Boston Marathon will take place on Monday April 21st this will temporarily impact uh Crossings of Route 135 during the morning and early afternoons select board scholarship opportunity is open to any graduating senior from Ashland applications are due by May 1st 2025 and we have a number of volunteer opportunities you can go look on the town website for those uh winter parking ban is still in effect until the end of March and textile clothing and recycling you need to go

094through simple Recycling and not on this but um you are there's still opportunity to pull papers and apply for items coming up on the town election in may you have until the end of March to pull papers and get your signatures in okay uh so moving on to the consent agenda Brandy remind me which date we need to pull off uh January 17 okay if I can get a motion to approve approve the consent agenda as presented minus the exact session minutes for January 17th 2024 so moved so moved in second great uh roll call vote Bennett I've got it turned on still wonderful I Kinsman I Keegan I manani I and Greaves I thank you the consent agenda passes moving on Town manager report uh review potential impact of federal funding changes if there's

095any updates on that Michael and anything else you have to report um thanks Yolanda yeah I've got uh this one agenda item and then um actually yeah two more um so not too much more stability has emerged in um in the uh the White House up on Capitol Hill and uh you know as such there is just a lot of fear and trepidation um not just in the municipalities but uh also at at state governments uh Nationwide as well um maybe some states more so than others I think it's fair to say um but uh I think probably a few weeks ago now I sent you a couple different resources that uh was continuously updated uh with executive orders and some the impacts of those and where those stood in terms of litigation um so

096hopefully you receive that that uh continues to be updated uh the problem is uh I think with uh in our current times uh when you have something like litigation and a judge issues an order uh generally that order is followed you know usually without haste um and uh I don't think like I said in these times that's necessarily happen happening so uh we can't necessarily depend on what has happened in the past to happen now and in the future um in terms of the course of order um so that that is that except for one more thing which I actually had as a separate item um but we did receive words um as has been alluded to earlier in the meeting um that we would be receiving that rebate check um under the uh old

097inflation reduction act um so about $3.3 million and uh we hope to receive it in um the next few weeks but uh we have we have received word that uh the check was cut and uh as they say in the mail now we just gota wait to get it yes good okay anything else Michael um yeah just a couple of other things um one unfortunate thing and then uh one let's just say A celebratory thing so uh as many know I think uh this is relatively um older news now but um our finance director uh Britney I capony U after 10 years is um I'm going to leave uh leave service with the town and uh explore some different options and um you all know Britney you've seen seen her uh grow and you've seen

098her uh just really kind of turn into the the consumate finance professional that she is um you know well regarded throughout the state uh well earned reputation as an excellent Finance director so um you know I'm sure we'll have an opportunity she will be here for um a little while longer now at least we have her for a few more weeks and um I know many of you will want to um extend your thanks and wish her luck uh in her future endeavors so uh that uh that is one piece um I am working with our current Finance team uh the remainder of our finance team who they're also very talented um and experienced individuals um to you know make sure the budget's on track make sure everything else um is uh on track as

099well and uh so I'm going to basically assess where everything is over the the next few weeks and figure out a course of action there so uh so again that's uh the unfortunate news but I do want to end uh my comments tonight with um a story about Ed baates um Ed uh Ed was one of the first people I met uh professionally in Ashland that you know did not work uh for the town and uh you know you know he's getting a lot of credit for the roundabout but you know what Ed doesn't deserve credit for the roundabout that was mot but what Ed does deserve credit for is actually the 126 project itself if you go back and look at comprehensive plans from I believe it's the 80s 84 I think like 83

100or 84 yeah exactly um you know you will see that the Redevelopment of 126 basically exactly what we're talking about and what we're doing today was in that plan and I guess who was sitting on the planning board and who I believe was our representative to mapc at the time but Mr Ed Bates um so obviously I wasn't here um in 1983 or 84 so how do how do uh how does this interaction happened so uh those of you that were um here when I started remember that Tony skav the town man the previous Town manager he wasn't able to start right away because he was finishing up his service with the Air Force U and so I was actually starting as his assistant before he was here full-time and um two weeks into um

101my time here which was extremely interesting um Ed Bates and Steve Greenberg came to visit me and they unrolled this plan this 10% design for the whole 126 project and Ed had negotiated with mot anded Steve that if we paid for the 25% design mascot would pay for the 100% design and the construction of the project that was a huge huge commitment and the first time that that had happened that mot had made that commitment which is now a standard yeah and um Ed and Steve were both like we've got to figure out how to fund you know this this project this this 25% design I'm the new guy of course they say like fresh meat you know he'll go for it but you know it was really exciting and Ed's uh excitement for it

102even at as many years as he's been working on it was contagious and um I said okay okay well let's figure out a way to do this and we ended up passing the meals tax we proposed the meals tax and um ended up having that pass at the uh my first town meeting and um yeah and so that put us on the road to where we are today so um Ed thank you for everything that uh you've done and Ed's whole family Wayne um Wayne Uh volunteered for us uh the MW connection he was on the water policy committee that helped uh get that through um Wayne Sons um both have worked at DPW and uh just excellent Kids U gotten to know Finn uh you know fairly well so uh anyway that's my Ed

103very long Ed bait story but um great well thank you for sharing that Michael yes it's it it it's amazing when you go back and see what Ed did touch and and support here in Ashland so okay uh anything else Michael no no okay great let's go to board reports who wants to go first we don't have to go in order because we're not sitting in the same spots or we could just do it the way we usually do it Makita go ahead why not take this opportunity to break with tradition and have somebody else go well I'll go first I'll go all right um couple of things uh first off I was uh lucky enough to uh attend a nice Forum uh that um well I was not lucky well I was very lucky

104to be able to attend a forum uh that we have on Saturday to get some feedback from current uh appointed committee members here in Ashlin just a lot of great feedback especially about how to drum up volunteerism here in town and communication and a few other things um just I want to thank everybody who came out on kind of a dreary Saturday morning to voice their opinion and to try to strengthen our volunteer bench here in Ashlin so um that was awesome um couple of other things I I I got a chance to attend uh one of the concerts in the uh summer I mean sorry the spring uh Spring Concert season for the Ashlin Music Association uh and I heard an original composition and I'm going to get the gentleman's name wrong but Brent

105Brett abanana I think he he had um the students perform an original work entitled Ashlin Woods which was a musical depiction of a family walk through the Ashland State Forest here there was also a middle schooler who sh who shared his own original composition sixth grader and and that was just amazing so uh just beautiful work from uh to to see there and the concert series is continuing the spring I I strongly encourage residents to go check it out and go to the website um Ashen music.org to find out when you can attend and lastly uh the Boy Scouts here in town are having their pancake breakfast on April 6 at the Ashland VFW um please reach out and get tickets uh I think there's a $35 cap for per family it's always a good

106time and a great deal and I'm hoping to get there so that's all all I want to share tonight great thank you Makita Claudia thank you I don't have H too much to share I um attended the this afternoon um the ribbon cutting ceremony at the pickle ball Clock Town pickle ball how can you not love something named with the name Clock Town in it right actually it's Clock Tower clock to oh geez okay I said clock town at least once it's Clock Tower pickle Clock Tower there there Clock Two clock towers in the building yeah yeah all right well in any case um it it was uh you know it was a great little event um well attended um and again I just it was amazing to think about um how far that building

107has come you know a couple of people talked a little bit about that and um you know and it really has been an amazing transformation I do remember remember when it was it was a theater briefly um and did attend some of the performances there and I had forgotten all about that but um it it really went into um you know it it had some tough days after that so um it's it's little little hard to find your way around that building the corridors are simply amazing um but uh it's really just a just so many different businesses there I know there's a um you know a science company there uh biosurfaces there's just a variety of uh businesses so uh in any case I just want to congratulate them again and uh that was

108really and well I'll let somebody else talk about Clover Clover all right thank you good uh Joe thank thank you Madame chair uh unfortunately missed all these wonderful events it was uh it was my intention to at least be there but I was there in spirit and and not not in body so uh I'm thankful that uh they had they was well attended by by those who went I um I can't wait to uh stop playing pickle ball with a new shoulder and hopefully uh show you guys up you know let the old guy take the field oh yeah that's a challenge it's a challenge but then again I already took my medication so I don't know what the hell I'm say but uh it be it as be as it may um I uh

109I just I'm just thankful that uh things are going well in town and um I hope everybody appreciates all the effort that everybody puts into it I know I do I appreciate everything that you folks do uh what our town employees do uh we also have a a volunteer breakfast coming up pretty soon too if I remember correctly next next Saturday the Saturday right yep and U hopefully I'll be able to attend that depends upon what the doctor says Friday but we'll see um I miss you guys but I appreciate all your thoughts and kind words and uh so does an Donna good because she's going to need a vacation after this is over that's her name sure but uh I don't have anything else to report um other than I know that the uh

110affordable housing trust will be meeting next week at some point uh to go over some things and I know that the uh shoveling ground uh at 487 Main Street is probably going to be in May miday okay so which is which is good and that that'll be part of a additional affordable housing uh unit uh to be in town and uh Habitat for Humanity did a did a great job with it and uh we look forward to working with them again uh in the in the future so that's all I have Madam chair thank you and I appreciate you all your guys thank you okay Brandy um so Claudia mentioned Clover Road uh they opened their doors Friday night well Friday afternoon um and uh so it it you know congratulations to John and Jamie

111and the whole team there it's a it's a beautiful space um The Patio is awesome you know like it's it's it's really a great addition to downtown and I think it's going to be great for the rest of our businesses that are downtown as well so um Dave and I went on Friday night and saw Yolanda and raised a glass with Beth too and it was it it uh it felt really great and it's funny it's like when I walked in it literally is like ashlin's little cheers because you walk in and I'm like hey I know you I know you everybody um so I think it's going to be that kind of A Gathering Spot so we're lucky that they're that they're uh that they're here and I'm glad their doors are finally open

112so wish them wish them lots of success um last week we were also uh Yolanda Claudia and I were at the uh YMCA Marathon breakfast um which is always a really good event to kind of kick off the the the marathon um season if you will um you know it was great to get an update on the regional YMCA and um hear sort of what where they are with the fundraising and Yolanda's done a lot of great work with with that um and it it's it's going to be it's going to be a beautiful a really beautiful space I was talking to Peter Weiss scarber today at clock clock tower clock clock tower pickle ball I I do it too so um and it's it's you you know it's exciting and we can't wait until

113you know the shovels in the ground and we can actually start seeing some some uh work being done over there um couple other things we mentioned we we do have Mark Mark had mentioned we have a a comprehensive plan meeting tomorrow night um we're going through all of our strategies and so it's I'm anticipating a kind of a a real heavy working session um because we're going to finalize this list of of what we want to try to accomplish in the next 10 years um so looking forward to getting through that and and uh you know sort of at that point then we really start drafting drafting this thing so um it's exciting and we'll have more opportunities for public engagement and feedback but like this is a big a big milestone for us to

114get through these strategies um also wanted to talk about the um student council is having their pancake breakfast this upcoming Sunday um on the 23rd from 9: to 11:30 at the high school so they're doing an all you can eat pancake breakfast too so Makita if you want some pancakes a little earlier than the Boy Scouts uh you can go on over and and uh get your fill they they do a great job too so um and the only other thing I wanted to just let you guys know so I've been in contact with um um Steve Mitchell and Jee Walker over at the Ashland Farmers Market to try to get some office hours um for us for the summer um the Farmers Market has implemented a new online scheduling system which is um I'm

115working through it so it's not difficult but it um it does it's like I'm trying to put in some dates some potential dates for us to be able to um to hold and Jean's got to get back to me about like being able to do more than more than one date so I'm hoping that that they're going to be able to give us a a few dates over the summer but I just wanted to kind of before I put in any specific dates um that we requesting I wanted to just float a couple float a few by you and just make sure that there's not like a major any major issues with these dates so I was thinking like June 21st July 19th and August 16th as potential dates so not to like you know

116just a sort of a pencil it in kind of thing if that might work for you those are the dates that I'll probably float float to uh the farmers market folks so does that sound I know I I can't do the June date but I can do the July and August dates okay so if other people could let brand Andy know yeah that would what we could you just say the dates again please Brandy sure June 21st yeah July 19th and August 16th thank you yeah trying my time is freed up on those days anyway so um I'm I'll definitely would be available okay awesome I'll I'll email you Brandy um okay I I I'll email you okay sounds good thanks guys okay um and I think that's really all I've got so um yeah

117that's all I've got so thank you okay okay well you talked about the Metro w y and uh Clover Road and clocker Tower pickle ball and the volunteer breakfast so that's about it no um I am attending the weimo event on Friday where Katherine Clark will be speaking um if anyone else is going and if you want a carpool let me know but I will be heading over a little bit early uh but it should be fun it should be a great it's always a great event uh great to connect with other women elected Municipal officials so um that's pretty much it so if there is nothing else our next select board meeting is the first Wednesday in April I usually have the date in front of me and that is going to be Wednesday

118April 2nd is our next select board meeting so in two weeks uh if there is nothing else if I could get a motion to adjourn before nine o'clock people we did good so moved and the second second okay Bennett I uh Kinsman hi Keegan hi manani I and Greaves I thank you all for being here thank you those who have watched this live and who have actually joined us in the zoom our next meeting is Wednesday April 2nd uh it will be back at 7 o'cl back in person at Town Hall uh and thank you all again and have a great night stay safe and warm