Select Board: December 4th, 2024

001e e e I'm waiting until I see us up are we not there we go great good evening and welcome to the December 4th 2024 select board meeting for the town of Ashland we apologize we're starting a little late we had an exec session that needed a little more time than we had given it so welcome uh this was our only this is potentially our only full meeting in December um but we have a lot to do and we're going to get right started with uh actually before I do citizens participation I just want to take a note um I'm sure many of you are aware that Steve Ulus passed away uh about a week week and a half ago Steve Ulus was the owner of fireflies uh he had been a resident of Ashland

002for many years he has done a lot for our community he was instrumental in the new cable station that wac has uh he when while he was there bored uh he gave to many organizations in town supported fundraisers I remember him bringing one of his first trucks to a fundraiser for our current high school he's done many things at our school so um I just want to send my condolences to his wife Amy and his daughters Rachel and Cari and anyone else who might have been impacted by Steve uh there is a scholarship being set up in his name for his alma mater um and that information is in his um obituary thank you um but again I just wanted to make that recognition because he was a big part of our community for many

003many years on that note we're going to go into citizens participation if there's anyone here who'd like to make a comment before we have our first scheduled appointment at 7:15 okay so that gives me three minutes yes Mark theing 119 Main Street happy after Thanksgiving and before Christmas Christmas and hopefully when this snow passes by you'll be quick and easy to take care of I'm waiting looking forward to this coming Saturday the town's going to open up for the Christmas cheering with this Holiday Stroll and the businesses are opening it up I saw on the town manager's um website page age the dates and businesses that the town is going to be the holiday forood chair hopefully what other thing I saw was the town manager's newest podcast that came out in late October still

004wanted to try to get myself on there yeah when I was looking at it it was an hour long we had a lot to talk about on that one [Laughter] it was all B it was all three of you it was equal it was equally decided that each person takes so much time and talk about what the town is and how the how it was I'm also appreciated with the comprehensive plan stage two that I am saying thank you that I'm on that list October 16th at 6 is that first meeting December 16th December 16th I'm sorry it's okay and other than being participation going all these means all these years just like in the in the program good times I'm I'm finally moving up there you go so have a good Christmas coming up

005and a good New Year's thank you thank you Mark okay a vote to close the tax classification hearing Michael you want to take us through I don't think we have to do too much except vote to close it but yeah you you uh don't have to do too much other than the vote to close it um I will you know I don't know some of you that's been on the board for a while if you remember used to have to signed the la5 do you remember that yes and so uh do had done away with that requirement it's unclear whether they have reinstituted that um I was going to talk to Britney Britney's away this week but um if I do need to have you sign that I'll just I'll find a way to get

006you the the the document for you to sign but where we all live so you can find yeah I can find you um and just for those of you that don't know la5 it just acknowledges what's known as the excess Levy capacity so um just what is being you know how much additional Levy capacity you have over and above what it is being taxed don't get your hopes up it's not much it's it's like I think usually if it's anything it's around like 28k or something so um but anyway that's just with regards to that process uh before we take that vote any questions comments concerns based on what was in our packet no okay if I can get a motion to close the tax classification hearing so moved I'll second that okay any other

007discussion no all in favor I I and that passes 5 Z classification hearing is closed and am I right that I'm seeing a tax rate of 12 77 per thousand yep 1277 per thousand okay went down again yeah so but values keep going up and and we can only do the two and a half so okay great moving on we have Carl hackinson and we're a little early Carl but since you're here we'll just jump right in if that's okay evening everybody good to see you um in short uh I'm here this evening to ask for permission to spend some money from something called the Warren Woods Warren Woods Reserve account um which needs the approval of the select board in order to tap into that account but I'll give you a little bit of

008background for the benefit of the record and benefit of anyone watching and if any of you are are unclear on this but when we purchased warn Woods um we had a gift account set up that um comprised of a donation from nor Eastern University donation from aabon Mass aabon and a donation from the um a later donation from the green company when they were doing the uh lanterns at War woods and uh make a long story short it went into one gift account it was then uh split up into several different accounts and now it's uh back into two uh accounts one is called the um the Warren Woods Perpetual care account and that has a a between 250 and 300,000 in the principal of that account that money is invested and our um expenses

009at 22 Elliot Street and um at Warren Woods uh are paid from the interest accured on that account um the other account and and those expenses at this point when we first uh started at Warren Woods we had more expenses because we were fixing things up we had to pay everyone to do everything and and we're kind of we're very much more self-sufficient now than we were then uh mainly because of the tractor that we got and a few other uh uh tools that allow us to do the work ourselves instead of farming it out so uh the expenses for that are um paid for it from that account for the most part now are just the oil the electricity and the water for the house at 22 um Elliot Street and they are very

010minimal um because there's not much going on there in the winter and in the summer we're not using that much anyway so uh that's pretty much taken care of itself we don't see anything on the uh on the horizon as far as changing that substantially over the past few years we were able to put a new roof on that house paint the house put a new water heater in it put a new furnace in it put a new oil drum in it a new bulkhead uh and a new porch and repair the chimney so that house should be in pretty good shape for for some time shouldn't need any major repairs the other account we refer to is the reserves account and that's the account that I want to address tonight that account has between

011336 and 337,000 in it and we don't touch that account uh these accounts are set up to set to um uh to take care of waren woods and the area at 22 Elliot Street in perpetuity and we're trying not to uh touch those accounts but the the practice in the past has been if we do uh and I believe it's only happened once uh if we do tap into that account that it has to be approved by the select board which is why I'm here tonight uh the prior uh purchase was a tractor that that we um purchased about three years ago it might have been four years ago now um which was was it was an expense but it's been a game Cher for us if you remember we had an old tractor that

012we still have that's 70 years old uh that we U rescued from uh from the trash Heap over at Warren Center uh took a couple of years to get it going and it's the original tractor from uh from the Warren Farm um and it's nice to have it but Greg and I Greg want is here as well Greg from the Lance stewardship committee and the chair of the Conservation Commission uh for a couple years we spent as much time working on the tractor as we did using the tractor to work and so it works out a lot it's paid off Carl it's paid off well it has paid off but it's nice to know that it's a backup instead of uh leading off so that that was a game changer it also that tractor also

013helped us out over the Valentine estate a couple of years ago so when we uh purchased waren Woods we used um uh CPA money exclusively and we took it out of the open space bucket and the historical bucket and when we wrote the conservation restriction uh there's a section in there that deals with the historical aspects of waren woods um which fulfills Our obligation under CPA um to use that money for historical purposes and because there are a very few structures there most of that historical application had to do with the hay fields and uh the stone walls and um so our purpose was to bring it back to its uh I won't say its original um setting but as close as it was when when the warrant owned it and so that meant renovating

014uh or restoring a lot of fields that had just kind of gone to Hell uh over the years because they were untended uh so over the years we um uh we brush hogged all the fields we play you may remember this about 10 years ago we plowed and harrowed the fields and planted new seed there and so uh that's all been relatively successful uh over the years we've we've been able to mow the fields ourselves but haying has become an issue and the hay fields are part of the historical aspect and so we've always been dependent on someone else some of the other Farmers around here which are a few and far between uh to Hay the fields for we can mow it but we didn't have a Bor and uh the hay Fields should

015be cut often and they should be cut early uh in order to produce good hay so our hay is always kind of questionable because it hasn't been cut often and early we can't cut it until July 1st because of um our conservation restriction to protect the ground nesting Birds because it is conservation land so we would like to start cutting right after July 1st um it's the best for the hay uh and it would give us an opportunity to cut a second time in the late summer or the early fall um and double the yield from these and it and it's it's good for the health of of the fields as well we haven't been able to do that last year we um we hate in August this year we hate in September and it's

016just too late um so we thought that our Missing Link is a Bor uh we have the labor and willing to do it we uh when we did when we planted the hay the the first time 10 years ago we kind of made it a a a um an opportunity for people to come out and view what was going on it was pretty nice day I don't know if you remember remember I I don't think I was there at the day but I remember it being planned and I think kind tract at some point so and we thought that you know going forward whenever it was uh safe to do so that we would involve uh any of the public that might want to be involved whether they're involved historically involved uh you know either

017scouts or something like that again that would have to be fleshed out as to what's allowable uh liability wise and things like that but um because it is an ongoing It's the Return of an ongoing um practice in Ashland because they always did hay those fields uh we thought it would be something that would hopefully survive Greg and my t year uh at the woods uh and we would be able to do that by purchasing our own mower or our own Bor I'm sorry and so the um the bers we looked at new ones we looked at uh used ones I'm apprehensive about uh buying a used one because you just don't know what you're getting and because we spent so much time working on the tractor uh we don't want to spend the rest

018of our time working on a Bor um so we were looking to to buy a new Bor um and that would set up the current uh stewardship committee and future stewardship committees for many years going forward between the new tractor the mowers that we have they're relatively new uh and a new Bor um we understand that there's a whole process that we would have to go through procurement process to do that so we haven't gone shopping yet other than we have found what's available out there uh and a and a relative price range of what's available for us to purchase and so what we're looking for is something in the neighborhood what we're looking at actually is something in the neighborhood of $34,000 for this Bor and as I said before we currently have 336

019to 337,000 in that fund we don't have any plans to tap into that fund for anything else uh and we think that it would be beneficial to um to the fields it would be beneficial I think to the town historically for us to continue to uh to perform these practices at that part of the town so that's why I'm here and and um that's what we're asking permission to do okay questions and yeah May questions go ahead I have a couple questions car hi um so yeah I have a couple of questions um so first of all those two accounts that money is um can only be spent for Warren Woods exclusively yeah exclusively the the majority of that money um came from Northeastern during the purchase and sale agreement and in the purchase and

020sale agreement for Warren Woods it stipulates that that money can only be used at Warren Woods okay and the only way that that money it it's doesn't get donated to or anything else it's just whatever it only increases by its in ability to gain interest you'd have to ask Michael that I I believe the reserves account that's true the Perpetual care account is invested in the stock market and um so that kind of goes up and down but for the most part other than the first year of Co it's gone up yeah so I mean those I mean I I don't think there's any um anything that precludes someone from donating to that account but but typ that's not what typically happens okay but con consistent with that and something I didn't mention is that

021we have an account outside of the Town account we've done some uh some fundraising outside of of the town government uh and so it's I won't say it's minimal but it's nowhere near what's in these other accounts and we use that money to repair the tractors and buy the gasoline and anything that we need to do that we don't want to have to come down to to all the people in town hall to do and so that's paid for outside so we have that little account as well great okay and I am going to hone down to the Tractor itself but I I kind of needed these um other questions answered to um and then in terms of you said basically right now the costs associated with the property are oil uh water electricity and

022what what's your actual do roughly speaking maybe the actual number that it costs to run it over the course of a year here well the the water bill is is whatever a minimal water bill is for for the town um believe that's quarterly um the the oil built we we we have a quarterly delivery but we don't have that much oil we we every April we get the furnace cleaned and uh we I would say that we probably spend $800 on oil over the year uh furnaces like $300 to get cleaned uh the water bill is whatever a minimal water bill is and the electrical bill is about $25 a month wish mine was that and um so you because you mentioned that one of the accounts actually it's just the interest that's that's paying

023for the annual bills on that um yeah and anything else that may come up you know as I said earlier on when we were when we were doing all the work there and we were farming it all out a lot of it was coming from the interest of that account right but we don't have any real um uh at least in the near future any um any big projects exactly yeah so I think one of the things I think about too in terms of this is what does it look like going forward and and um you know and maybe that's not a discussion for this evening just but how do we maintain it uh what about when I mean you're volunteering right now what about when you're no longer volunteering um how how would we

024expect this property to be kept up yeah that's a very good question and it's something that as as as we get older we're thinking about too you know yeah uh we we love working there um but we are looking at how to make that sustainable um we would like to make it sustainable through volunteer efforts uh but one of the reasons that we've talked about um um not tapping into these funds anymore uh is to try to build them up in case when when we're not available that we may have to have we may have to hire landscape people to to do the work and so is it typical that that a property like this would get hay twice a year is that what I it is most properties most Farmers there there aren't a

025whole lot of farmers left around in Eastern Massachusetts but they start cutting in June and we can't cut in June because of yeah so we're set back a little bit so sometimes on a good year you know you can get three Cuts in um but it is the usual that you get at least two cuts in um and and but it's weather dependent too two um two years ago it just rained all the time and it was really it was impossible and what do we do with the hay once it's well right now uh we give it to the people that bail it and how that started initially was the first year that we um that we had hay uh eastl Farm had one of their barns collapse in a snowstorm and was what oh

026and we're looking for help and we said well if you bail the hay you can have it because we needed at that time we didn't even have mowers and so in order for the fields to thrive they have to be cut regularly or they get weedy and so that happened um a few for a few years then we had um um a couple of years where we got another farmer from Holliston to Comm in and bail at Forest and we sold it and put that money in that other account that I was telling you about um and then the the the past two years it's been eastl again but the farmer from eastle it's amazing he's 78 years old and he's and it's like a oneman operation it's um to watch him do it but

027you know it makes us look young but he's still still doing it and it probably hang around with people like that keeps him young so but the answer to your question is we would have to decide that what's an appropriate use of the hay yeah because we got um the year that we we cut it ourselves we got 400 bales of hay there and um so if we cut it twice a year uh it you know it would be twice that um so that's that's pretty significant so I mean would it make sense to to make an agreement with someone and let them have them come and and bail it so that it isn't something in the future we're looking to when you get tired of doing it or other volunteers it's very difficult Claudia

028to find somebody that would do that yeah just around here I mean 30 or 40 years ago it wasn't right but now it's hard to find even this equipment now never mind somebody wants to wants to do the work right Central Mass and western Mass it's a little bit different but around here uh it's very difficult and then you have to wait for them to get there and because like eastl most of his hay is from Fields not on his farm and so he has to move his stuff all over the place uh in order to get it done and it's weather dependent and then it and we're trying to manage the woods not knowing when he's going to show up do we mow this do we wait for him to Hay it and it's

029just kind of a pain in the neck for us so I think um the that when we first started doing this 10 years ago I I asked the same question I said why don't we just get somebody to come in here and it wasn't that easy you know it just that's kind of lost art in this part of the state does that make sense yeah and and the other option is to just just mow it well we could just mow it but then you lose the historic MH and also if you just mow it and let it sit there it does it's not as healthy for it right right right if you're GNA if you're going to grow hay you want to cut it and get it off there so that new well if you're

030mowing it you're not at that point you're not growing hay right I mean you're mowing but you don't you if if it were a hay field you wouldn't be mowing it every week You' still mow it a couple of times and then it would flop over and lay on top of the ground and because I don't know if you if you notice this year maybe you don't go by waren Woods this year but it was hay last year and this was the nicest looking hay crop that we had since we've been uh since we've been haying the problem is it looked nice in July it looked not so nice in August and it was was really weedy by September and uh that's not healthy for the for the hay okay any so I would I

031you know I would like to pass this on there's got to be somebody else that likes doing this stuff besides Greg and I uh that that have at least one other person that have functional backs and a few more years to go you know because it's good work it's it's a lot of fun and um it doesn't really feel like work and I think that there are probably people out there that would be interested in well there's been a little bit of a Resurgence I think in pH right so well and I also think the idea that you had of making an event of actually haying and and talking about it you could potentially get new volunteers to come in who are interested who could learn who could be working with you so that when

032you're ready to step off you might have other people that are there I AG yeah did you have another question Claudia no I was going to just say about in terms of trying to engage people um in it that's it is kind of you know it's part of our history it's part of not just ashlin's history but really Massachusetts history and and Beyond and so it would be nice to um you know find a way to maybe bring kids up there or and uh give them it is you know the open space uh committee did a a tour there last year and I led the tour and uh I I never know what to expect for those tours you know if people are going to be falling asleep or or saying this is the worst

033idea I ever had had and it was really a lot of fun and people people were as interested if if not more interested in the history of the whole area right as they were the Ecology of the whole area and so I think that that's um I think it's important you know as as um some of us who were around when we bought Warren Woods think that everybody knows the story and and being on the comprehensive plan committee I realized that a lot of people don't know the story they think Warren Woods has just always been there and it hasn't I mean it's always been there but it wasn't Warren Woods you know it wasn't didn't belong to the town and it there hadn't been this Resurgence in interest in in it ecologically or historically

034yeah it would be nice you know maybe you should be a guest lecturer School some in either the high school or middle school or well that would be fun i' i' part of that third grade project where they have to go do things around learn about Ash you know the funny thing is I got drafted into the third grade project last year except I was doing um Ocean House oh and I was I was scared to death and for living and I was scared to death and uh it it went wonderfully uh good it was really a great experience nice it's a great age group yeah it's fun any other question for me thank you um so so thank you I I appreciate um sort of all the history CU I I know bits and

035pieces but it's kind of good to you when all this was going down so yeah um and thank you and Greg for for doing the heavy lifting lit literally in figuratively because it's a lot of work um and I think we all kind of take it for granted that Warren Woods looks as great as it does and you guys do a lot of work to to keep it that way so thank you thank youy um I had I did have a couple questions I was it kind of piggy packing on a on on what Claudia was asking about um you know the the what the what the final um like when you guys do bail the hay if it's sold or donated or sort of what that process looks like um I mean I would

036be interested because if if eastly Farms has come to bail it and they take the hay now we're going to be kind of figuring out what to do with the hay that you guys are bailing so I would be interested to kind of hear what that end result kind of looks like if you're going to um you know if maybe it's a donation to local farms like eastley or maybe it's um you know I don't know what the market is yeah I don't know what the market is for hay so yeah there are a lot of options during um covid for instance uh southwicks came across hard times because they had to close and they've got a ton of animals there that eat hay right um so you know that's a potential market for it

037um it's not something that we've really fleshed out because we've had this agreement with um I got a a goat farmer that that bought it uh the last time we bailed it um so it's it's out there um we we don't have anything etched in stone uh at this point we want to make sure that we can actually do it right AB and we have I I don't think it's gonna sit over there and rot I I'll guarantee that yeah so it could be eastl it could be other people it could be uh people in town that have livestock or something um okay yeah no I I I you know my my brain was just kind of thinking through things you know even like what natic community was it Community Farms natic organic farms Community

038Farm y so you know just thinking of of other organizations that maybe we can help support some way shape or form it's be better hay then the hay that we're getting now as I said before is not bad but it's not great because it's too late so if we could cut it when it should be cut it would be a better quality hay too okay and then my only other question is really um I assume there's place to store the Bor like to to keep it out of the the weather yeah we right now we have uh everything is sheltered either in the shed at um 22 Elliot or The Red Shed and we share the Red Shed with um DPW okay they have some of their Cemetary stuff over there we have a good

039relationship with them uh we got together and cleaned it all up so that there's room for everything in there so it will be stored inside someplace okay that that was my only other question so thank you Makita or Joe any questions comments you're good Makita good well uh I think it's a great idea and I certainly think that if we can create some kind of community event around it and I'm willing to help support that and help make it happen because if we can as with many of our committees we need to start bringing some younger people in who are willing to do the work and and are willing to work alongside us so that we can be passing these things on and have them keep going so that the Legacy stays so thank you

040well there's a lot to learn over there you know ecologically and historically there's a lot and and physically you know yeah okay uh so if I can get a motion to approve I'm going to say you're saying 34 I'm going to bump it to up to 35,000 so that if there's taxes or who knows we don't pay taxes but we do pay for shipping okay and so I don't not sure what we're going to be buying this but shipping can be so we do we think up to 35 is good up to 36 hold on and in and is procurement issue but it's under 50K right well they I mean Jen can work with them to handle the procurement but okay um also Carl you might want to consider like a service contract that might

041be next well that was my argument for for buying a new one versus a used one yeah yeah so I mean and that might cost a little extra too so do you want to put a not to exceed something that's say I was saying up to 35 or 36 but if we think up to 40K would that be how about not to exceed 40 but we'll try to keep try to keep it in so not to ex okay in the TOA suggested okay I make a motion that we approve uh the purchase of a Bor not to exceed $40,000 would that also include a service contract yes okay so if we can have that in the motion yeah okay okay we have a motion and a second all those in favor of allowing the purchase

042great passes 5 Z thank you for coming and explaining I think uh it's good for us it's good for the public and lets people know what's going on over there great happy bailing happy happy hanging I guess happy happy Hing Happy Days in the [Laughter] hay thank you both great H so cool okay moving on our annual license renewals please note that we need to use the one that was on the table not the one that we received in the packet because there was one company uh left off that is now on there so we've learned that because it's on our agenda we don't have to read them all so we could oh we we've sat here yes so if I can get a motion to approve all the annual license renewals as noted on

043our agenda do you know which one Clover Road was added it was not there before and it was added okay I I do have question that I would like at some point it won't affect the the outcome of the vote but we have a lot of class two Li if you could get a of numberic one of is allow to that's a peeve of mine and I drive around I see more it looks like there are more are there than what their permits are we should be able to get that yeah okay be okay I actually have a question too um it just kind of occurred to me as I was going going through this so we had a we had um approved a a specific license for the Warren Conference Center like it was

044an all premises license was a liquor license right that was a liquor license but is that different so the way that this is listed it says all alcohol it's it's considered an all alcohol restaurant um restaurant but it's not premises like I didn't know if there was this if there should have been a if it's a different if if it's a different license is that what you're I don't know the answer to that Brandy um that's a that's a that's a good question that would be flick right is that flick well so we had we had we had done a whole the whole premises license for including Henry's place including the actual Conference Center and stuff I just don't know because and we might have to get a review of this because we've extended all

045alcohol restaurant licenses to include their outdoor area I think because we've said full premises that this that would be covered under the all alcohol restaurant yeah but if I remember correctly like when you've extended it to an outdoor area they still have to designate what that area is correct but I think the all premises license was all we're not reviewing that or changing that with this license correct right so we had to do the premise and I think it's I think it's a similar I think it's a separate license but it's a similar idea right but it's not listed that's what I mean I say so I'm not I'm you know it's just not listed as a SE entity so that's so we need to figure out if um the all alcohol restaurant approve all

046but flick until we find that out the or just approve that separately and can we do you want to do it so do you want to go ahead and approve the list that you have as presented and then go ahead the all premise do one for all premis like a belt suspenders kind of approach sure okay okay I think that's okay okay any other questions okay so I've made a motion to approve the list as presented yeah I need a second second okay any other discussion and then we'll take that separately okay sounds any other discussion no okay all those in favor I I and opposed okay that passes 5 z uh and then I move the we approve the all premises license for flick DBA the Warren Conference Center and in and Henry's place

047I'll second that great yep okay all those in favor I okay so that should cover it and just have um and then follow up and have Susan give us a listing of the class two licenses and the number of cars per license I mean I'm not sure if there's anything that we can do to you know keep it keep them all in line I don't think there's a penalty well they just wouldn't be in compliance and then we could look at it and then next year we could say look you need to be in compliance before we re we reapproved re approve it okay yeah that's fine I'm not trying to knock anybody out of business but well no but you want them to be in compliance with what you've approved yeah okay okay moving

048on special town meeting recap Michael sure um gosh it was what two weeks ago three weeks I don't know I mean this holiday really kind of threw me off two weeks um yeah two weeks but yeah so uh we did have special town meeting two weeks ago um ended up having 246 voters in attendance um and I I thought it was a good good discussion on on the articles that that we discussed everything passed I think notably the NBTA zoning um bylaw passed uh it was really nice to see a lot of the residents that got up and spoke expressed their support for it and uh acknowledge the work that was done by Joe yourself and Trisha and and Peter and Alvaro you know members of the working group and um so I thought that

049was very very nice it was also nice to see that a lot of people uh stayed for the um purchase of land uh from the southern New England Conference of churches um which I was asking Yolanda I'm not sure how many people have had a chance how many of you had a chance to go look at the property but it's a very nice property beautiful property um and um so we're working on the purchase and sale so so town meeting gave you the ability to execute that purchase and sale um so we're working on that um it's looking like it's going to be mid to late January um you're also going to need to basically approve the the bones of a conservation restriction we usually what happens is you go ahead and uh we take

050AC you take uh ownership of the property and then work with the conservation restriction holder to do the um CR work and so that has a whole process that goes through the state basically you'll have the bones of one that you'll need to approve and that's so that SVT subur Valley trustees who is going to hold the Restriction can actually bring cash to the table when we go and close because they're going to contribute to 150,000 so uh again very nice to see that all the other articles passed except for the blight bylaw um had some good discussion I was a little bit disappointed um with um Adam sorry I was a little bit disappointed with the way kind of the moderator uh managed that conversation I I wanted to have an opportunity to address

051some of the comments and questions that were made um we didn't necessarily get to do that um but Our intention is to take that uh feedback that we did get maybe uh put together like a small group of people who would express some concern um basically work on it revise it bring it back to town meeting um either in the May or or fall town meeting U because I do think it's important but you know people obviously had some concerns so um but yeah uh thanks to everybody who worked to put uh a town meeting together you know obviously select board plays a role fincom school committee planning board but then also you know Adam as the moderator Jen Cindy Paul uh so many people uh play a big role in that so yeah good

052meeting member thoughts or comments on the tell meeting no just thankful for the 204 that's right one foot I one foot rule sorry 246 246 residents came out and that's that's not bad not bad for a special town meeting and it looks like people use the babysitting yes oh that's good I was that was going to be my next question had they that was nice to see I think that's a that's a great thing that we're offering and it's nice to see people using it that's very good yeah I would um let's see I was on a panel last year I think it was for leadership Metro West and we're talking about different things but anyway I brought up the fact that we do babysit sitting at town meeting you would these people were floored

053they were like wait you do that it's like yeah doesn't everybody have people to come I I don't think that everyone's does it yet no they don't apparently so um good so thank you to to Kelly and who else helped with that we had we Courtney help yeah Courtney help as well so it was nice you know playing some games yeah playing some basketball I you know next town meeting if you see me disappear I might be over there might be over playing with the kids versus being at town meeting okay good well thank you for that um next is the update on the board and committee review process so this is the subcommittee that Makita and I have been working on we've met once and it was good for me to have to take

054Makita through the process and it was of course it was great to hear makita's thoughts on it and our next step is this coming Saturday we have reached out to the chairs of the Committees that we appoint because we want to see what is their process for reviewing candidates so we've reached out and have asked them and we have probably about eight or so people coming this Saturday and then we'll report back from there and decide on next steps if you want to add to that Makita yeah um for for like the committee subcommittee uh update I don't know what else to call it um yeah I think it's um I'm looking forward to that I think it's important that we um you know uh make sure that we get some get some alignment in

055some of our practices and make sure that folks can also kind of share some of those best practices in some of those things that are working and some of those things who are that are not working so that we can really optimize the processes around this so looking forward to the meeting on Saturday and thank you Yolanda for fielding all of my questions it's always good to review okay next we're moving into reviewing the upcoming select board schedule it was in your packet uh as we said this is our last official meeting we might stick one more in but we'll let you people know uh we have two in January no I'm sorry we have one in January because we are not meeting on January 1st uh but we will meet January 15th we have

056the 5th and 19th in February the 5th and 19th in March the 2nd and 16th in April we have the 7th which will be town meeting in May and then Town election on May 20th and a board meeting on May 21st and then June 4th and 16th so pretty straightforward uh as we said if we need to add anything we'll let people know and if you need to miss miss a meeting we understand life happens so but that's just I wanted to get those out there so we knew and the and the public knew theth feary okay understandable uh okay uh next announce the names of the people who are running with Chang oh no I checked it off discuss potential changes to baa and Community grant program so there was a red letter Red

057Line uh in your Park par package and then it was combined um in regards to the changes Brandy I'm going to have you take us because you're the one who did this it good like the changes so basically when when Claud and I met to go do the the um the fall Grant round there was um one applicant that um who was a local business that applied for a select board um Community Grant which you know we discussed it and you know the the purpose of the the grant program is really to provide um funding for organizations that are ashin organizations that are nonprofit organizations um there are you know we have our business incentive program for for our businesses here in Ashland and so um that was the only grant that we did not

058fully fund um and so as we were talking about it it's wasn't in our policy to specifically say you know for a nonprofit organization so um so I've basically made two major changes to the policy that we have one um that applic two well yeah two things one is that it must be a nonprofit for either to apply for the baa Grant but the nonprofit is kind of understood because it has to be a 501c3 um but also for the select board Community grant that we were that it has to be a nonprofit organization um and then the only other change I made was that um specifically that applicants must either be Ashlin residents or proposing a use of the funds that would benefit the Ashland Community at large because just makes sense I think

059that's how we've always used the funds but just an opportunity to kind of just put that into the policy um and then the rest of the red line is really just cleaning up because when we did this initial proposal back in September of 2023 it was changing the funding amount and so now I just used it as a way to just clean up that language and incorporate it into the actual policy what our actual policy is so that is now our select board policy is to change a policy and then wait till the next minute to vote it uh I think because we've already made one change and this is just cleaning up the language do we want to do do we want to recognize that process or do we want to up update this

060now and approve it now is that process a policy or is it just a standard practice or I believe it is is a policy and that's how we've done it but we've also sometimes not that well yeah we don't have on our agenda that we were voting on it tonight okay so it's just a review of it okay we'll vote it at the next okay so but does if you have any questions or comments or feedback or changes or we can discuss that and then we'll put it on the uh next agenda to vote it and vote the changes good to me I have a question and maybe I didn't I didn't catch this but the 501c3 he said local groups with 501c3 status and we just it I just want to make sure does

061it it's it clear that is it clear that it's just for local groups for 501 I think it says uh you have to live in Ashland or have a either Ash resident or support programs in Ash that impact Ash residents okay yeah okay I think I think that covers it I'm just trying to make sure that wrap your brain around it right right right just making sure that the intent is actually we're not I'm not missing anything thanks yep I think the changes are good it makes it a much clearer policy much clearer than it was years ago and we keep we keep tweaking this so that's a good thing okay if you have any other comments or concerns make sure you get them to Brandy and then we'll have any other updates but as

062I said we'll vote this at our next meeting great okay now we get to do the next part to announce the names of those running the 2025 Boston Marathon for the town of Ashland this is fun this is a great part uh how many do we have total two four 6 8 10 12 15 D how many can we have so we have 25 bibs but we didn't have no what we do is 10 of our bibs go to an organization that's it I knew there was something that they've they've been getting 10 for many years weight list actually yeah yeah that's what I thought then when I saw this I'm like wait a second we have a long weight list this time yeah it's like it's it's become much more popular and other years

063we've been fortunate to fill our numbers but I think more and more people are willing to run for charity and help raise funds so yeah no iif a family member who wanted in and I said no it's close too bad and so and then I then I was like wait a second how come we only have 15 after I told her that she could yep she run for the wise so that's fine oh good yeah good good good good so felita Abu Maggie Campion Maggie ran last year yep Joanne forced who a kindergarten teacher that's fun Thomas Goss Nick house Makita Keegan our own select board member is running thank you and Tio Keegan is that related to you no just no relation just has the same last name it's a great last name it

064is it is Christian Navaro who I believe his wife ran Becca ran last year here sibon O'Reilly Bernice Resnik Allison and Michelle Rose uh two sisters Allison used to work at waca TV and they've lived in town with their parents so that's fun to see both of them running Benjamin Savage Michaela tabasi and Isha yadav so their goal is to raise 3,000 3 000 $3,000 so and that's the funds that come back to supply our baa grants and um so if you know any of them they're probably going to be hitting you up for some money to help support and help them get to their $3,000 fundraising so thank you to all of them for willing to run and those of you who are willing to help support them with their fundraising would be greatly

065appreciated and Makita thank you for running are you excited I'm pretty I'm pretty excited I was uh I was pretty psyed when I heard my name came up because like folks would know that it's it's a lottery process so it's a lottery yes it's a lottery process so you know I don't think we have you have any special had no special actually from what I understand um I think um I may have been on the wait list and someone had to actually drop out and then they did another drawing and I was on the oh that's how you got in that yeah so you know yeah I I withdrew at the last moment oh I'm sorry that Jo you were you were going to run you were listed but it's a great honor for for

066the town to to to be able to do this and and I Echo your sentiments Madam chair you know I think if folks know of any runners um you know who approach them please support them support us because when you support us you support the town and all the incredible things that we can do from the proceeds uh from your generosity so again great honor and uh looking forward great we look forward to seeing you out there we'll be waiting yep we'll probably be seeing you out there in the next few we'll be seeing you training has already begun sure so I'm sure you you all have already seen me out there great next thing is we have a bunch of reminders the Holiday Stroll is Saturday September um December 7th from noon to 4:

067it is sounding to be like such an exciting event come to downtown Town there's all kinds of stuff to do uh also on the same day is the tree lighting at Green Square starting uh from 4: to 5 there'll be hot chocolate and cookies and all kinds of fun stuff and the Ashlin Santa parade continues Joe I hear I hear you have some insight on that would you like to give us a little more information on the Santa parade I have I'm sor sorry I have from good authorities that uh the new route has been planned okay and um it looks like it may be maybe an hour or two so shorter it's a little shorter okay um over the years I know that the Santa and his elves were a little chilly when and

068so we talking and if someone wants to go see this Santa parade through town where can they find the route I would hope I I just got it emailed to me uh this afternoon from Chief Roby because they're the uh they're the C direc Santa to organize to organize everything so I know it's going to start around 4 4:15 okay and then and then is then is Santa coming to and Santa will be um arriving downtown for the tree liing ceremony and not after the parade not after on Sunday he'll be there Santa will be there at the corner spot Santa will be at the tree lighting ceremony okay and then leave but and then and then leave from there no it's the next day two different it's two different the liting is Saturday and

069the Santa parade is Sunday it's two different things two different days yeah I was confused I was thinking that Santa was leaving directly from the tree lighting to go on par so no no because it would be fful the kids that if they were waiting to see so it's too much for Santa to do that followed by the parade you know we can't expect Santa to spend that much time in one day in Asin so wonderful the first time I can tell you the first time that U this was ever tried it lasted seven and a half hours it was Co Co in 20 yeah it was Street goes by my goes by my house it went by everybody's house yeah it did not go by our house I remember seeing video because it it

070goes Elliot and then it goes fruit yeah never between to ellot you were you're a naughty girl that must have been it you have it there you have it remember wacka had a live stream oh yeah Santa and you could literally see Santa freezing and your eyes yeah it was like yeah that was a cold I felt bad for Santa it's the only time I did and the esort was like going like so fast kind of like training for Christmas Eve really there you go there you go I just told him to suck it up and like you come on okay moving on we were notified of rate changes by Xfinity they are becoming effective December 20th uh so you should have received if you are an exfinity customer you should have received something in

071the mail go check out their websites um it was interesting some of the programs that they're dropping versus what they're keeping so go check it out so you're not surprised on December 20th next information on some holiday closings so the town offices will be closing at noon on Tuesday December 24th and they will remain closed for Christmas day on December 25th additionally Town Offices will close Tuesday December 31st at noon and remain closed on Wednesday January 1st so Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve day the town offices will be closing at noon so that our folks can go and celebrate with their families school has a extended the schools have uh two weeks two weeks right yeah yeah they're off um whatever that Friday is before their final yep and then they uh yeah I

072think it's a 20th Yep is the last day of school and then they returned to school on January Monday January 6th so the last time we did that was when we opened the new high school I was going to say yeah I remember and we did it in part on purpose so that they had more time again it fell right on a Wednesday and it was convenient to take but I can I remember we went just down the cape that week that week after everybody else was back in school and we only saw Ash and famili it was fun yeah uh two more reminders the uh Citizens Academy program will begin in January of 2025 this is a 10-week program that meets on the 2 and fourth Wednesday of each month so opposite our select

073board meetings from 6:00 to 8: and if you are interested in participating please go to the town website and fill out an application it's a great way to find out how things work here in town we try to choose people who might not have been involved or on committees before so about that if you're new to town and want to find out how things work the last reminder is a textile clothing recycling you have to schedule them yourself with simple recycling at 1866 83550 68 or simple recycling.com a reminder that the yellow bins that you see in different places around town are not places for your mattresses or your boxes if you are putting things at those yellow bins they need to go inside the yellow bins okay next consent agenda if I can get

074a motion to accept our consent agenda as presented second I have a motion in a second all those in favor of approving the consent agenda I I wonderful we have a new assessor we do yep y yay yeah experienced assessor so we're excited um obviously it's been a long haul Town manager report oh boy where to start I got a lot some on here some are not on here right now but um yeah so I'll just start with the priority project update um so the Warren Barn if you recall they're going to do a temporary Rank and they're looking at starting that work tomorrow so we um weather yeah weather permitting is looking a little dicey tomorrow actually it's a perfect time to install a rink right um so they've been doing some leveling and

075some um work to for to present it so um yeah that's uh that's going to be a great amenity for the town yeah nice um so downtown uh 102 Property Maintenance that's the contractor they they're still doing work on Front Street um they were over at Ashlin Lumber today um they've they actually hit um I don't know if I told you this at the last meeting but uh they have uncovered or they have dug uh they've just found some crazy things let's just put it that way digging um you know nothing toxic let's just be clear how crazy and are we colle these things oh stumps okay that's well that's one thing yeah well where they are is kind of crazy U I was like did faford build this building um sorry that was uh

076not so other than stumps what kind of create like a uh an axle I think a car axle was in between santand there t or uh blush yeah pretty interesting and they've also no you know no no bodies no bodies no this isn't the tree um sorry had to say it and uh too soon too soon and uh so they've also started doing their work at Montenegro Square which was leveling that out okay um so that's moving along uh we have our meeting tomorrow so I've got some good news on Pawn Street uh so I have not confirmed this but did get um I did receive notice that the poles have been removed over at the Algonquin intersection um and the lights uh they're going to go on flash um and so they'll be able

077to open up that dedicated turning turning lane so if you recall when we were talking about it pretty heavily I mean getting that fixed unlocks a lot of other work that needs to be done like with the Culvert and stuff so that's that's good news um we're we're happy about that um Jen do you just want to give an update on the Colin Center project so we're still working with the Colin Center um on the organizational assessment um and study so they've done interviews with all our department heads and they started to compile um some recommendations we've asked them to do a little bit deeper dive with some data analysis um with uh three different communities so we're sort of looking at um similar communities um some that are have higher tax uh rate similar

078and then lower in just sort of see if we're looking at types of services that those communities are receiving with their staff and that way we can do a decent comparison I think we all talked about you know it's hard to sort of frame some of the conversations we're having without some context um and some comparisons and so we're we were hoping that their report would be done by the end of this calendar year but us asking them to sort of do a deeper dive is going to extend it through um March um and really they've only done um sort of our general government and DPW we haven't done police and fire that's a second phase they're going to sort of rest start that base um and use a little bit different benchmarks for for

079that and so you know hopefully um we'll have that by probably May or June July next year so as we start the fiscal year at least we have it as a you know won't be as part of this budget process which is what we were kind of hoping for but we think it's important to have the right data as opposed to sort of having something that's not quite as useful so working with them on that um and we will keep you posted as we get the data okay that was that was my question was was regarding the budget cycle and sort of like what would be the plan for this upcoming cycle are we going to try to do what we've done the last couple years which is I mean well we've been involved the

080last couple years I know you guys have been involved many many many more years than than us with the department heads but um you know I was saying to to to you know Makita and I were talking about this and I was telling her that the that that meeting that you guys have and you invite the board to I think it's really helpful for us to kind of hear the discussions and what the requests are and what the asks yeah we'll plan on doing that again so the budgets uh are due on December 20th into Britney and uh so we'll you know once that's put together we'll start compiling it you know putting together the request we'll look at what the budget looks like with all the requests in then we'll have that meeting in

081January um we'll also look at having a tri board meeting I think in January or February I know we were thinking about it this fall but it made sense to kind of push it off um so yeah I mean I I will say you know we won't have that Colin Center assessment done in time for this budget cycle um I you know I we we'll have to talk about how we want to handle you know the budget for FY 26 if we want to do something similar to what we did this for this year this current year um which is use One onetime funds to kind of get get us through um but eventually that train hits up in F yeah ends up uh gosh I can't believe I mean I have evolved I mean

082gosh I I used to not be Rob Rob Sher would be proud um he was always pushing me to use onetime funds for stuff but uh but yeah So the plan is to you know to have those discussions still um and then um the so the technology up grades we're looking at doing that in early January we're just trying to find a time when it can happen when it's not going to um impair any meetings um so we're looking at that so looking at you know also taking the seal off as part of that one thing that has changed is that the original size TV that Paul was looking at getting um it's it's not available in like an industrial grade so we're actually looking at a little bit bigger nothing major I think going

083from like 88 95 or something to that effect so um going to have a lot of TVs here it's going to be um so the idea is that the screen and the projector go away corre we just use it okay correct so we'll have a TV here we'll have two TVs here okay um so people in the back would be able to see as well if they have a that picture is in that scon or exactly okay and then we'll actually have this TV in the here usually it's angled towards us yes um it'll be a little bit bigger so you'll be able to see it's still angled toward us so that okay good um so yeah we're happy about that and it looks like uh the wacka board is all on okay board good

084with this so um yeah so that's that's exciting can I ask one other question with that so because it's going to be a TV and not a projector will wacka when they're when they are showing what's being Pres Ed will it be kind of like a direct I don't want to say a direct feed but like not have to be camera on a screen per se but more like a like a real direct I guess I guess they already do yeah I just I think I think when we are sharing something because of Zoom because it's through Zoom okay yeah right so when we see it here on the screen that's what people see on TV okay yeah the zoom feed is is live gotcha all right thinking through like maybe the like it would

085be a better you know like just a better experience home I think it will be they're also going to upgrade that equipment in the back as well U and I know everybody's going to be happy to hear this but we're actually just going to get a separate camera for the podium so when people are speaking there we don't have to use use the laptop we don't have to use the up up noose type of people are tall you like you got to have like half their head yeah yeah perfect or short after you know I'm with you so so good um why wouldn't they be doing it toward the end of December I mean that's when things are quiet and I don't I don't think they can get the contractors in time okay because we'll

086have to get an electrician in to do some work so and what are we doing with the projector and the screen and is there a need for them or use for them I think I had mentioned like I don't think we use it at the community center at least the projector CU I think the projector we have is newer there but we could potentially use the screen because I think the the screen is bigger um I just don't know where You' do any of the schools need like does Warren have a mes better not need it well Mendes shouldn't and I know there's a projector at the high school is there a projector at the Warren school if not uh yeah there are projectors at the library yeah yeah I'm sure Paul Paul has a

087good oh is there I don't know this is better right worse it you know what about downstairs we're actually going to get some equipment downstairs but that's actually not through wacka that's going to be through our it department but nothing as elaborate as this well and it'll be I would think it's some kind of TV right so you can do Zoom right on that versus a projector yeah which could have been helpful but that overflow yeah so we don't have to go through the projector yep and we will probably use reuse some of this equipment so you know there's a TV down on the first floor it's I don't think it's hardly ever on we'll probably put that back on oh good um and run different announcements there's a couple other ideas that some people

088have perfect great good okay good and then you have an update on the Holiday Stroll or just yeah just um you know just remind everybody it's coming up on on Saturday yeah it's supposed to be chilly starts at uh noon I believe well technically it starts at noon uh tree lighting I believe is at 4:30 and um as we we've talked about so yeah Santa will be coming around the mountain and I believe Mrs Santa will be at the Corner Spot doing some activities with kids and wow all kinds of fun stuff going on yeah it's gonna be fun I know right so it's a but it's you know it's just really I think it's the fact that it's Mrs Santa doing the activities and Santa just has to sit [Laughter] there Mrs Santa will

089have the warmer like the the warm things but you know if for those of you that are watching if you are watching um and you haven't been here so like Town Hall gets turned into like a bizarre yes it's lots of Sho lots of it's really it's really nice to see Town Hall kind of being used for like Civ cic functions not necessarily just government functions but kind of the way it used to beage ex and the whole thing used to be open I've I said that to people because if you go to Holliston Town Hall they still have their stage in their space and their performance space should go check it out sometime it's beautiful um but I was going to say I was here my brother they used to this this town hall

090used to look just like Holliston W I mean it's been a long it's been probably the 70s or or was it just with the Rena oh here yeah the stages well the big like the more modern Rena was 2005 I don't know if they changed it before but I think the stage was gone before then already right before 2005 it was it was right I remember because I remember watching SL because I remember watching slug board meetings on cable back in 03 and I don't remember a stage oh wow okay yeah so the early 60s Mark there you go okay early 60 well that that it was gone it was still here yeah was still here okay okay okay we'll have to ask Cliff Wilson when the stage went no no I wasn't you know

091okay we just came for the soap box derby with my drag with my brothers that's it I wasn't dating an Ashland boy in those days come ond me that was later what comes out at a meeting anyway uh wow um it is that any everything Michael did you have anything else I know can I answer one other question before we um just because this is our last meeting in December we have our sewer moratorium right um is there I know we're still kind of waiting on some some data is there a sense I know want to talk about it a little bit and what the plan might be yeah so I mean it's it's scheduled to expire on December 31st it don't necessarily see anything kind of imminent that's that's going to um require us

092to put it back on again I think some of the limitations that are already there are you don't need a moratorium for that they're already kind of based in IMA and U which again is just such an interesting interest I don't want to say conundrum but um yeah it's just it's Unique I guess that's probably the best way say question to you is there have we heard anything from Framingham about the possibilities of their uh increasing their fees no so so just as a reminder so the way it's essentially a formula and so we pay a percentage of so whatever percentage that we use like the flow the total flow okay exactly we pay that percentage and so it's key to to their rate so if they do increase rates um obviously there would be

093an increased cost for the same amount of flow and then there's also kind of a built-in charge and I don't remember it right off the top of my head for Capital Improvements as well and I don't remember exactly what that what that number is okay what that figure is okay is there is there a fail safe so that we can make sure that we're not being overcharged by Framingham for these for these upgrades and and and potential yeah I think the best um probably the best fail safe Joe was to make sure the meters that we have are are accurate um are accurate they're newer they're working properly okay um and that's when of the reasons why uh it's taken a little bit longer is for a while there the meters weren't working like we

094didn't have confidence in the meters and what they were reading so so yeah that's part of the whole equation okay thank you okay okay Makita oh board report time board reports yeah that's right um so let's see uh on on November 12th I was uh very honored to attend the Veterans Day luncheon that was sponsored by The Police Association and firefighter Association Senior Center I saw Joe there uh just incredible afternoon uh celebrating those who served uh our ashlin's own Brett Walker had gave some really rousing remarks and of course Michael was there and did a nice job too um it's just beautiful to see the community come out and support our veterans um you know especially for me coming from a military family uh you know I'm always ready to thank those who have

095served so uh very thankful for that invitation it was just a really beautiful Community event um that Thanksgiving day that Thanksgiving Farmers Market was awesome the the weather was awful but the vendors were awesome and there was a a really nice turnout I saw a lot of folks at this table there and then some so another proud moment of town really great to be around that we talked about the committee subcommittee so um but yeah and I'm looking forward to volunteering at uh this Saturday's activities and I hope everybody in town uh gets down here I think this is going to be a really special afternoon for Ashlin coming up so um yeah that's all I have CL thank you yes um and I had the uh really enjoyable um time visiting the the land

096that we are hopefully you know about to purchase and I know I Makita was there and uh what beautiful property uh you know truly very uh yeah it is very pristine and and I think at Tom meeting uh one of the gentlemen addressed it with his uh because I started shopping for a trail camera right away um and uh that he has in all the pictures he he's had has of how many deer how many Fox how many it it was a is there a bobcat or something yeah bobcat and like a bear apparently too poal well there was a bear not so long ago right yeah yeah so anyway so uh it's uh really beautiful piece of property so that's it that's all I've done okay thank you madam Cher uh thank you Makita

097for reminding me about the uh the veterans dinner it was a lot of fun um a little sad though too because some of the faces that I used to see they're not there anymore and uh I took I took account to that and I took stock on that and I'm just saying to myself wow you know thank thank them for their service and what they did for our country as a whole and U I was glad to be there and to honor all of them so but it was it was just a little sad and but then there he was there's a buddy with his white suit on Mr Gabe I introduced Makita to Gabe and it was and needless to say that was an experience he's still pretty sharp for 9 he is sharp

098unbelievable and he made sure that he told everybody that he was 99 he was 99 so and rightfully so absolutely um uh December 10th we're having a traffic study committee meeting and um I will relate some of the information that uh we had previously to some of these folks to make sure that uh we get those cameras up and running to make sure we have you know legitimate information great to go that route and other than that uh I look forward to uh seeing everybody this weekend um hopefully it'll turn out nice and no rain we get a little bit of snow that's all right too but no snow is even better can I just add add one thing you know I just want to mention that today and tomorrow were um the holiday program

099program the collection times and so you know and I just want to um you know I've I've seen how the some of the inner workings and it's it's just really powerful to see uh so many people in our community come out to help others because at the same time it's also um you know very sad sometimes to think about all the people in our community um who struggle to to give their families certain um you know celebrations that that some of us sometimes you know take for granted and um but uh you know really just very very powerful to see people you know helping and caring about others so I just want were able to um I talked to Courtney at the end of the day so um we have about 120 families and it

100equates to I think 225 or seven kids um that the community came together um and they do a remarkable job I mean when you walk through the police department the amount of you know bags and Y that just keep coming in is is really impressive so I know the volunte this is like one of their favorite days too because you get to see ABS they get to bring it all in it's really fun um but it is it's really good but it's a lot of it's a lot of kids you know a lot it is a lot of kids you know and and to go without during the holidays is not a good thing not not for anyone and uh that's why the emergency fund is always a good uh spot to uh donate monies

101if you know you're looking for uh a place to you know provide donations uh the ashon emergency fund helps everybody uh within our community uh families children alikee so uh you may want to entertain given a a donation on behalf of somebody who may have just passed away or someone in remembrance of uh what Christmas was once like for you and you want to pass that along to everybody else so and and a plug for the Lions too who oh who you know do so much for the community and right now they're selling selling their trees Christmas trees and um and and they actually donated over $500 worth of uh gift cards to Target so that's awesome because the program also if people you know don't for whatever reason want to sponsor a child in

102particular or that they also can donate filler gifts to kind of keep everything equal and and gift cards and so um uh they were very generous to do that so if you haven't gotten a Christmas tree and you're so inclined to do so then go down and get it from the uh from the Lions the Lions absolutely okay that's about it other than okay thanks um so kind of as a kickoff to the holiday season before Saturday's stroll if anyone is looking for something fun to do on Friday night the um Ashlin Music Association and the Ashlin High School band is playing at the high school on Friday night um the Ashland Music Association is adding a winter fair to the concert um so there's like this winter fair with activities and crafts and food

103um starting at 6 o'cl and then the concert is at 7 and it's a it's literally like my favorite my favorite band concert of the whole year because they do um they do like a lot of Holiday Movie music so they do music from The Polar Express they do music from Home Alone they do like sleigh ride no but they also and then sorry now I know it's really The Ultimate Christmas movie Die Hard um so but but it's actually it's a lot of fun they they let they invite all the little kids to the front and one of the one of the um students does a reading from The Polar Express and so it's just like a feel-good thing and then they're having like Coco and treats afterwards so um and it's a free

104concert so um feel free Mark come down to the high school see my kid in his last holiday band concert that's Bitter Sweet isn't it it is it's a little bit but mostly sweet not very bitter mostly sweet most of the time so um but that's this Friday night uh at the high school um I think I'm also going to be attending I don't know if you guys had seen it um come through in an email there's a there's a um uh a future in housing in 495 through the 495 partnership like a Metro West which um is happening it's next Thursday the 12th Stadium when yeah so I think I'm going to go because I think you know we're talking about housing I kind of really want to just get sort of a bigger

105sense of what other communities are doing and what the Yeah I I had wanted to go but I can't fit that into my calendar so if you go if you get any materials we love I'd love to hear back from it and hear what you C also has a program very similar okay but and they Zoom program so oh okay yeah what's good is this is specific to 495 and I forget who's speaking but someone big is so I think it's the lieutenant governor lieutenant governor okay yeah um she'll be there but I it's just a 2hour thing it's like 8:30 to 10:30 in the morning so I think I'm going to take I'm going to take the morning off and just kind of go um see what see what that is all about um

106and then um as has been my um my tradition of our last meeting in the year so before you read your poem I'm going to give my update so you can end on your PO okay that yep yep yep so first I'd like to congratulate the Ashland football team they won their Thanksgiving game it was the 100th Meetup between Ashland and hopkington and Ashlin uh Ashlin won so congratulations what's the you know what the yeah we're down by the down we're down by a couple Hoppington has more wins than we do but this certainly helped but we won this time R we won this one we won the hund um so update dog park is we're moving forward we've met with concom they couldn't approve because we didn't have our D number so hopefully we'll

107be taking that we met once with planning board we had some feedback from them we went with design review last night we're going back to planning board tomorrow uh and then we'll have to close out with concom I think we're scheduled for the 18th so fingers crossed with all that we will do we have our D okay um then we go out for for you know the r FP working with the Stanton foundation and hopefully shovel in the ground sometime this spring anyway uh coat drive uh the lions are also doing a coat drive you can drop off at the public safety building they ask that they can be old but as long as there's no rips no tears or stains and they do get them cleaned as Claudia has already said Lion's Christmas tree

108lot and if you haven't got your tree yet I will be there on Sunday from 3: to 8 selling Christmas trees if you'd like to do that uh um manora lighting you drag my Tre oh I don't drag trees I don't even I don't even use the saw I like point oh does this one look good yeah uh manora lighting Hanukkah is later this year so the celebration is happening on December 29th I believe that's a Sunday so you can enjoy that uh if you are looking to have an enjoyable Nutcracker the Norwood Theater where you'll find me December 13th 14th and 15th the evening of the 13th and then two performances on the 14 uh the 14th 15th and 16th anyway that weekend go to Norwood theater.com uh my role is stage manager uh

109but my daughter Cristiana has been invited back for their 10th anniversary uh and she will be performing a role that she's performed before we have some wonderful guest artists coming in we actually have um our our one of our past students Who currently dances at Indianapolis ballet is coming back and he is bringing his professional partner from Indianapolis ballet to the Norwood Theater little less expensive than Boston free parking in Norwood lots of fun things to do so if you're interested go check out Norwood theater.com and as of Tuesday night that's where I'll be that's all I have and we will end on bry's poem for the year okay okay so um so yeah so this is like my summary our year in poem form that I do sort of at the end of every

110every year at our last Bo meeting year it started out as kind of a joke and then it's really kind of turned into this thing so I really you know so anyway without further Ado um ODed to Ashlin 2024 2024 was a very busy year we did have our share of ups and downs for all of us here work slowly continues on 126 as it ends its third year and everyone can't wait for masot to finish it that much is clear rumors flew that the state never paid turns out it was just the utility companies that delayed downtown got a new slle way and it's almost done working on the utility connections with the Old Poles next to come housing was front and center on everyone's Minds complying with MBTA communities without putting us in

111a bind a 40b application at the M building took our breath away and another over by the high school to our dismay we fought the good fight with Mass Housing and asked them to deny it was so disappointing when they approved their proposals and let them apply we are moving forward with the upper Charles Trail plan after we've received a mass Trails grant for us to acquire the parcels of land we received more money for mindes from the state and investing in Ozone for our water treatment plant which could not wait built some beautiful sidewalks along 135 so kids can safely walk to school and the community center and use the new crosswalk purchase the land by the PSB from the faford estate and the UCC huge parcel for the Town Forest which is great

112kept slogging away with a comprehensive plan and high gear with much public Outreach we really need to finish it this year debated Wireless radiation science and hard hard talks of trash Water and Sewer fees frequent donation bin updates will they stay we will see finished phase one of the work on the Valentine Barn more decisions to come but it's safe restored with rustic charm the Spencer statue was built on private property for all the visitors that Ashen will see we were thrilled as pickle ball chess and a new Starbucks yay came to town less optimistic about the mural it's extremely complicated we found sadly said goodbye to Mazy it's now a new chase looking forward to Clover Road Tap Room finally ready to open in the old fire station place we thanked Rob as he

113retired from the board and welcomed Makita with now four women aboard impressed as the historical group's cemetery cleanup began went to plan B for the open space and Recreation plan held office hours at the AFM awesome trick-or-treating in town hall gave out scholarships grants and dragonfly street fair was a ball launched the Citizens Academy in a new clock Town podcast the blight bylaw meant well but was less of a success the upcoming year we'll see lots of new things the ashin Arboretum and a new Meat Market at the Old Dairy Queen a new Habitat for Humanity project and the EPA will be back to eliminate the last of niza's contaminated impact much more on the new YMCA and a new dog park we think partnering with FSU on the new Warren Barn complete with an

114ice skating rink and anticipating a hard budget discussion for this upcoming year tough choices may need to be made we fear we turn now to the holiday season with the Holiday Stroll manora and tree lighting Community is the reason Santa's house will be busy downtown will be lit marshmallows will be roasted at The Corner Spot fire pit I have so much gratitude for this town that I serve and for the hardworking Town staff so much praise they deserve for my fellow board members we may not always agree but we all know how special Ashlin can be I truly love the work that we do we all give our hearts that is so true and as we approach the end of this year I wish you and yours so much holiday chair the end so happy

115holidays everybody ni this is what I did on Thanksgiving [Laughter] weekend well Brandy thank you you always really bring everything together so succinctly so thank you for that and on that note if I can get a motion to adjourn so moved second all those in favor I I thank you that wraps up our meeting as I said this is our last meeting like this for the year uh if we do have to do another one for some reasons we'll we'll post it otherwise we will see you on January 15th because January 1st is a holiday and as much as we love working for the town I think we all want to take that first Wednesday off so happy holidays stay safe hope to see you all downtown at the Holiday Stroll or any of the

116other wonderful events that are going on be safe and happy holidays thank you