Select Board - Hybrid Wednesday, October 30, 2024

001well you know I think it's probably one of those that you know depending on the circumstances you might like it you might not like it I know it's too late for this to I mean and for the election and the ballot questions but that would have been a good question to put on the ballot yeah but to answer your question mark I think so obviously what the state has said right now is that uh if we are not in compliance or if a community's not in compliance they would not be eligible for Grants that's number one so we would have to be able ble to um basically trim back what we want to do and the things that we want to try to accomplish to improve quality of life um because we wouldn't be able

002to get those Grant funds or we would have to look at alternative sources of revenue that's number one number two there have been plenty of organizations um that have signaled that they are willing to sue communities uh on their own not necessarily have the AG Sue but to ensure that fair housing rules and and um requirements are being put in place so we would have to you know keep an eye and monitor that on how that goes and I was at the planning board meeting for that for that um for the open Forum public for that was 30 or so people here and I'm looking at it how was said to me about the uh the 50 Lots 50 acre Acres Acres thank you and um I'm I looked that at the time saying what

003about structures well the state's looking for um double family homes right they're looking at multi family multif family homes so I said the plan that question the planet board but isn't a multif family home a structure technically it is MHM so if we say if the town says no be because of what is structurized the state will come back and say well you have to adhere to the uh can I ask you a question what do you mean structures structurized uh buildings okay so we know that some of the some of the uh locations that we are are recommending to be covered by MBTA zoning already have housing on them is that what is that your question that that that's part that's part of the issue and the planning board is that the not tearing

004down to replace correct right but there's still going to be a structure there well so if let's look at Sirus right because the Sirus property is one of the properties that's going to be part of potential is if if this passes is part of the zoning so nothing will happen with the buildings that are there currently right but should at some point who might who knows how many years down the road they could then increase the number of units per acre to match the MBTA zoning amount so the and the other thing to remember with this zoning is no housing has to be built all they're looking for is for the zoning to be approved and so that if someone wants to build it they can build it by right and it was to the

005zoning part it also said that the state can override the bylaw and Zoning codes without the town not in relation to MBTA zoning no once once we identify where MBTA zoning is going to be which we have and it's been well thought out I mean our our subcommittee has done an amazing job uh if it passes it town meeting that's all we have that you know and then we you know report that to the state then we've met our compliance for MBTA zoning requirements okay and the um last thing about it will be our bylaws can't do anything about this Mark you're confusing I think 40b with the MBTA oh zoning I think which is which is common that's that's common oh okay then um me Madam please do uh Mark just just to let

006you know that the MBTA zoning bylaw has to do with um the density of units per acre and not a 40b type of design plan okay so the the subcommittee looked at all the different Parcels that are available in and around that half mile radius of the NBTA zoning site we're also able to look at other locations that have already been as yand said pre-built and we can utilize that for the density so it makes it a little bit easier for for us because we have so many projects that have already been built um that that helps eliminate the the density aspect of it but that's what that's what this this whole particular uh zoning bylaw has to do with it and so we have to look at those zoning bylaws that we currently have

007on file uh just like the downtown uh overlay overlay District um a lot of that property is are are already available to be built uh in in a similar fashion so you're not Reinventing the will there it's already something that's already on our books we're just looking at the density of the number of units per acre that's what we're trying to to minimize the density that's the stronghold for this town that we that we can work and hopefully that the state can agree to the the the state has given us our guidelines of what we need to do for MBTA zoning the subcommittee has worked so that if if the plan that they had present gets approved at town meeting then we will have met the guidelines from the state right and that's all we

008need and that's all we need to do okay and and and my recommendation is we support this at town meeting okay um I don't want to play devate but I'm going to say what happens if the town Mee and votes down then we have to talk to the state and we're not sure what'll happen but as Michael said then if there's grants that we're looking to apply for either for land purchases or improvements to our community or road work or anything like that we are no longer eligible so instead of getting our tax dollars back to us those tax dollars that we might get in Grants would go to other people if we don't pass MBTA zoning it's straightforward may not have been said it may not be true heard at the planning Bo about

009is the state holding hostage those grants well I don't I mean it it's it's the terms that you use Mark right the the the state has given us the guidelines and yeah I guess you could say they they'd be holding those grants hostage if we don't pass our MBTA zoning but anyway we do have a hearing that we need to start if you have further questions you know I'm I'd be happy to chat with you before town meeting if you have some more questions and and are we talking about 40b tonight uh we are discussing 40b we are discussing 40b tonight the well thater I did not know I was confusing 40b with what I was saying so I'll be the 4B to the agenda I am to talk on but I was talking about

010the NBTA yeah yeah okay similarities mark that I think you're feeling and that I think a lot of people feel are the lack of control local control that we have with either 40b or the uh MBTA you know law so in both instances they are sort of allowing or forcing you know units to be built almost not forcing but 40b allows the density aspect of it unit units to be built that are out of our control and um and then they're forcing us to rezone areas to increase density under MBTA so so there's that frustration right that we don't have any local control that's the similarity I think between the two um but one is actually you know more about building immediately and the other one is uh just zoning so that it could be

011built upon and very last thing I will sit down after this I want to thank the town manager through his newsletter for the link to the planning board that meeting is on your your newsletter I watched the replay of it on there great thank you great I think [Music] are we are ready it is 7:15 notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held on Wednesday October 30th 2024 at 7:15 p.m. to review a Class 2 license application a Class 2 license allows for the sale of used cars and the business addressed is 62 Nickerson Road Ashton Mass mjt Auto Sales Inc Marcio Pas M Mado pimento 62 Nickerson Road ashin Mass persons wishing to be heard in this matter are invited to attend the public Hearing in person or by logging into

012the zoom meeting interested parties who are unable to attend the hearing May submit written comments on the select board's office to the select board's office Town Hall 101 Main Street Ashlin mass or by emailing Susan Roby sroy Asin mass.com okay so if I can get a motion so moved to open okay second okay all those in favor I I the public hearing is now open and we have two people here to speak to us on behalf of the lenses please introduce yourself and your role and then we can go from there hi uh good evening my name is Doo Gomez I'm actually representing marel to the language and I'm a general manager of the store okay and previous store I'm also the general en manager okay great U my name is Jose padila I'm the

013one that actually have um the actual license out of the store 62 Nickerson Road which is called New beginners out of s so I'm here just you know for any matters if you guys had any questions of you know because it's a it's a transer you're giving yours in and they're taking it over today the license gets active I mean like I'm ready to pretty much hand my license back to you guys and okay we can Pro perfect perfect awesome so let's start um why don't you talk a little bit about what your plan is with taking over the space and how you're going to move it forward and then board as we have questions we can ask questions um Susan I believe that we have everything in our packet related to this correct that

014is correct okay so why don't you start the what you're planning on doing and then we can ask some questions okay yeah we are actually uh Mario it's been a business over than 20 years in frill location and we he used to have a dealership in Waverly Street we also have another dealership at the holl street so we basically planning to uh move forward with the same kind of business which is retail store pre-own uh us it vehicles and uh we try to concentrate more in Framingham for commercial vehicles and standard vehicles in Ashland we thought would would be a good opportunity and especially due to the amount of uh spots on that location so yeah basically this is what we're looking for okay uh so one of the things that did come up when

015our building inspector and I just got this before our meeting the space currently is uh open for 80 spots and the building inspector is recommending that we reduce it to 50 did he relay that to you um honestly I haven't heard that no we did not okay okay um I mean that the property can actually hold more than 80 cars um we're not using the space that it's pretty much on the right side of the building right the one that is not um asphalt but if we U need to I mean we can always use it which the um agreement with the landlord you know pretty much that space belongs to um the same uh 62 Nickerson row you know I I think it's you know a pretty big property you know where you can

016easily fit you know 80 plus cars there okay so when Doug went out and I can I just got this before the meeting um if you take a look he did notice that the side parking lot and if you notice it on the plans that was in our package was empty and so that's a discussion we'll want to have how many cars okay um how were how many cars I mean when when our building inspector went noticed that that side Lot was empty and I think that's one of the reasons he might have recommended going down to the 50 because there weren't more than 50 there at the time and it would make it a little more safe and more orderly yeah so at the moment we're we're no using that space because I mean

017like um it was summer I mean like that's space on the side it's always being like um a lot of trees you know leaves everywhere you know I mean like it wasn't flat at all so we actually invest a little bit of money you know to you know flatter it out um and then I mean like we were just doing a little bit you know painting inside of the building so we had the cars pretty much just in the front of the law um thank you just so we can actually uh make the property look better you know for the upcoming year um that's why the side of the uh building is empty because right now we know I mean like our season is coming down I mean it's winter uh we're not going to

018be you know having the same amount of cars but we're getting ready with the property for the uncoming season you know which you know most ofly Car Sales is it's run on summer you know right winter time for us is a really slow season so technically all we need is just the space to either storage cars get the good opportunities from the auction um those are convertibles and nobody wants in the winter time I mean that we pretty much want to have them there I mean like when nobody's buying them um but the place wasn't ready and now I think it is ready you know for us to to put the car backs where it were you know okay um I mean there is plenty of space on that side on the right side on

019the left side okay um okay any other information you'd like to give us if not I'm going to open it to the board for questions no I think weable those information provided okay great Joe go ahead if I me Madam chair thank you uh thanks guys for being here um if I remember correctly um you weren't too you were here in front of us not too long ago with um with the folks on 135 yes right sorry yes yeah we uh recently opened that store um I think it was with running re know with what's the person that transferred that to me uh I I was in on Nickerson Road for about 14 years I think we opened in 2010 um being an ashin um resident I mean like uh had the opportunity to get

020the place and being on Main Street I think I may have changed my perspective of like you know I want to be here instead of Nickerson Road which I think both locations are great right but I mean like they can actually uh they have more cars than me so I think like you know it's time for me to kind of like give the chance to them right so lot sizewise it's it's more appropo for them correct for the business that they utilize it for y okay I think I mean I think with any type of business everybody was thinking like I want to go bigger and bigger but in my case I was just like you know what I mean like I already been here 14 years um they somebody give me the opportunity to

021be on Main Street and I'm so happy with the store that I'm like you know what I mean like I don't want to be running in two places so I look for a good friend of mine and I be like that's when Marshall came in place and I know him for the same I I mean he's been a family uh friend um so when I had to look for somebody to replace me I was just like I I think I have the guy and that's what I you know brought it to you guys so will he will he will he be unifying the two lots that he has 272 Nickerson Road does he have two businesses now and are you combining those two businesses to be at 72 or will that be in addition to

022no because um most of his um well the place that he has in Fring gam um it's I don't know if you guys been in um 120 Street the street 126 it's it's more commercial you know it's like it's it's a focus on selling cargo events uh the heavy equipment okay um so they already have a really good um uh Brazilian community that knows exactly where to go um and I think Nickerson Road came into place because it was a little bigger and he has also a good line of sedans and um that they don't actually fit good in Hall Street you know so that's what they were like you know what they're not going to been combining I think they're just looking more two separate Lots just for a second a second site okay

023his team is way bigger than mine okay you know my team is I think you guys met my brothers you know I mean um my we always keep it just between our two uh in his case I mean like he has you know different person to help him you know yeah and the hours of operation are going to be the same as the currently is now technically okay I think we discussed that everything is going to pretty much stay the same as what we had before all right and what about uh doing any general repairs when your vehicles come on come on site uh either an auction or whatever will they will the work be done on site or will it be done offsite so on on well be I think the job right now

024what they're do what they're using is the same mechanics that I had before Bobby gu um at the beginning of the street uh because I mean like they're both Brazilians I mean like they have a good connection with the guy up the street which is Louis garage um I mean technically I mean like um the cars are getting just prepped to go to the auction when they need to you know and that's the key of that location I mean like when um I mean we are in the car business I mean like so technically we're buying cars from one aution to another and sure that place is so big that we can get it there uh do a little bit of makeup you know I mean like we can retail it if we have to

025or we can send it to the auction which is like five minutes from that that location to adessa from adessa yeah um so the the repair I mean like it's just so minimal probably that they're going to like I did before um we don't have a technically like a like a big mechanic facility from there that place is 20 mechanics in that road I think sure if they need to do anything I think they had it so close you I I just have one other question Madam chair um and this is for Susan Susan did we get any uh correspondence from any of the uh neighbors or bus uh with respect to yay or nay on on this transfer or having the business still there no we did not okay thank you that's all I

026have mam chair thanks Claudia yeah I just had a question about the 50 versus 80 um so you had that open area because you didn't need it and you were trying to clean it up etc etc do you need or and does he need 80 um spots I think they need they do um I mean I wanted it to have more cars I never uh put more cars in there because the place wasn't ready for me to put the customers in that particular space got it I think when you in retail I mean you want to have a good um you know Place flat you know for people to walk looking at the cars you don't want nobody to be you know falling you know when the place is not flat at all that's what

027I never actually put cars there but I mean like they have the money they already did put money in the property and now if you go and look at it I mean like it's exactly flat you know how it's supposed to be and the plan right now I mean like is to put asphalt Pro is not going to happen this year because winter is coming but that is probably the plan you guys are going to be seeing probably as since that summer start next year so the is going to look even better that what I had it before all right and then Madam chair I wondered why um The Building Commissioner recommended Susan Susan said she has a comment on that Susan why you to let us know go ahead give us your input okay

028so what doug did is he went out today he did a site visit on that parcel there is two buildings on it the current parking plan that we have that accommodates 80 vehicles um goes behind the building that's next to the building they're going to operate out of he said when he was up there there was a dumpster company or a trash company or something that was in that building and they had um materials behind there so if that gets cleaned up and they can actually Park Vehicles there like the parking plan says then 80 makes sense but if they can't utilize those spaces then there's not space to fit 80 cars according to him okay okay so it's the part it's the the area in back of 72 that's the concern not the stuff

029on the side the only concern he had with the side is when he was there and it might be exactly like Jose said they moved some Vehicles up against the garage doors which was the entrance that is also the entrance to get into the back of the building so Doug was concerned with having vehicles parked up against the garage doors so closely but it might just be something they're doing while they're doing work in the actual lot that might not be the home for them okay okay so do you have an agreement with the business owners in 72 that you can park your cars in back of them yes okay okay if I may Madam CH is it in writing or is it a verbal agreement because I want to just make sure you guys

030are covered and it's in writing it's in writing okay there is a FL plan of the property and then Mark it where belongs to Y and and you and you and you did mention uh a few moments ago that you know the winter months are coming upon us where are you going to stack your snow for snow removal so um usually I mean like we take about uh 15 cars uh from the front of the LW and I think I mean like with the company that is uh next to us next to us I think it's um um it's a it's it's a it's a company um I I don't I don't remember the name of the company but right in the middle we both kind of like um combin this snow I mean like

031but it doesn't actually bother our our operation and his operation you know it's just stay on between of both properties you know um we it's parked right behind the Cars and after we clean we can Ste Park cars right there you know so you're not losing any parking spaces as a result not at all okay I mean that company um I can't remember the name of the company but they have those big tract tractors so when there is a lot of no they even take it and put put it in my house yeah okay thank you Makita any questions I I just had a question about why Doug recation so I think my question was answered okay okay um so I guess my first question is do we feel like we want to go with

032Doug's recommendation or based on what we've heard and the fact that they're cleaning it up do we want to go with the 80 that is on the application I'm thinking part of me is thinking the 80 that's on the application but we can review it and if we're finding that there's an issue next year when they renew we Canever we could always revert back to 50 yeah I love that I I think that's the way to go yeah yeah okay okay Susan anything else from you no that's it thank you okay any other comments from the select board any other deliberation no okay make a motion to close the meeting I can get a second second all those in favor of closing the hearing I I okay so uh if I can get a motion

033to allow the transfer of this license uh with 80 cars as presented so moved second okay great so we are approving this license congratulations with the 80 cars we will do a review probably you know next next you know during the summer and through the fall to make sure it's working with the 0 cars the other thing I might recommend is if you could uh get us a copy of the agreement with the other business owner that shows that you're allowed to park in back of his building and that way we can have that on our file so that you know if there's other people sitting here and there's ever a question we have it with our records absolutely okay okay thank you thank you very much thank thank you good luck guys we took

034a motion we took a vote we're all good okay just checking thank you uh actually Susan can he come downstairs and give it to you absolutely yes okay so just downstairs to board congratulations and good luck good luck thank you okay great I don't usually not follow Dougs but I think based on their we'll we'll do a review okay well and it was 80 to start so yeah yeah yeah we got new information here right I think that's part of it so I feel like Doug was passionate about he probably would have come or something yeah okay moving on old and new business review the special town meeting warrant articles we now have a town warrant uh town meeting warrant with uh motions I believe yes Jen or Michael who's going to take us through

035this please okay um so you should have um the town meeting warrant which we went through um at our last meeting and since then sort of putting in the motions and then we've also met with fincom so you have the fincom recommendations as well um no real changes um and do you want me to go through all of the Articles yeah if you would because it's always a good opportunity for people who watch this later and have questions go for it the right one so our first article um is for free cash uh appropriation and so um the sort of change obviously our our article is more General so the motion has sort of the the the meat of the article and So based on our financial policies um 50,000 will go back into our

036general stabilization fund um 210 will go back into the sped stabilization fund it's my blood sh um and actually the and 1.7 a little over 1.7 will go into capital and so um right now I think we're we're just trying to determine whether it's going to capital capital stabilization so if you want to that's fine so yeah so originally so I had mentioned um you know one of the reasons why we had such a large large free cash number this year we had a significant amount of um motor vehicle excise tax and uh investment income over and above what we had anticipated um and so yeah that would go towards uh Capital under our financial or one time expenses under our policies so um obviously you know jens's worked with fincom and people here to

037you know come up with like the capital expenditures and we had some money left over and we had originally planned done putting some more money into Paving is about $250,000 more into Paving than what we um had originally allocated and then also a little over 350 correct into the capital stabilization fund because we took a lot out of it when we bought the faford property um and so um as the discussions about the um land purchase uh with uccc have evolved and we've talked about Grant funds and everything and when it looked like um you know our ability to apply for uh the land and water conservation fund Grant in early January January was not going to necessarily be feasible um we basically put a contingency plan into place to utilize that money that that

038extra money that we had going towards Paving and the capital stabilization fund what we're doing now is we're just appropriating it into Capital uh so that we could use it for the land purchase if we if we need to okay so just and then that Capital the use of the capital we would discuss before it goes forward so yeah so it's part of the the capital plan okay perfect okay any other questions on that yeah so could that money go back to road paving if we so chose yeah so I mean I don't want us to lose sight of the fact that we've already applied for a grant um and we hope to find out in November and you know if we're successful in that then yeah absolutely could and what about CPC money CPC

039money I mean we could go forward with that but that would be in um in May um and then you know there's also the potential for other Grant funds that could have could open up in March it's a little bit more complicated and takes a few more Partnerships going on as well but just uh just to remind everybody so CPC funds are taxpayer funds um Grant funds are not funded by local taxes so they're like State money there are other people's money there are state and federal taxes coming back to us at some point correct correct okay any other questions on article one okay good ah um article two is the budget amendment so we spent some time at our last meeting sort of talking this through um I think we had a good conversation

040with fincom and and um so the motion sort of keeps it sort of high level um that we're appro you know making the appropriation increase our Capital um outlay appropriation from 2.69 to 3.7 23925 um with a difference and then the the finance committee made a recommendation that sort of uh qualifies that that will allow us to obligate all of our remaining oper funds by the required December 31st date which I think helps helps clarify that conversation a bit great um since we last met the board of assessors also met so article three is the um annual property tax exemption for eligible seniors and they were able to vote for 12% um exemption that will be effective uh July 1 of this fiscal year and they have to apply for that that's correct yeah um

041article four is a correction from um accepting a gift from the Hoppington area land trust and it comes from our we had accepted Parcels of land in May and there was a typo in that um article and so we wanted to make a correction because it referenced the wrong map which is actually not a property owned by um hington area land trust okay Article Five um authorizes us to borrow $1 million for water main replacement projects okay straightforward um article six is a CPA funding um article recommending us uh to fund a feasibility St f u feasibility study excuse me for the wasum pond restoration so that that pond has had um num years of cob bacteria so this will um look at a way that they could possibly um correct that pond and so

042um we worked uh with framing hand and the portion of the study that we agreed to pay for is 18,750 and will Framingham be managing that project or they'll be managing it in conjunction with Becca okay um but they'll they'll you know we'll work with the same obviously consultant and they'll probably manage that because they're paying significantly more y um article seven um we discussed it at length at our last meeting as well and that's um to add a new bylaw that um for lighted properties and that would give um our Building Commissioner Board of Health police of fire a tool um to work with homeowners to get them in compliance if they have a blighted um property um okay and then article eight is the um NBTA communities Grant which I think uh we've

043discussed a little bit here um and they've had the hearing uh they the planning board had their public hearing last week and I do think they had a significant amount of people in the room and then on um yeah so I think there was definitely some good conversation and they support supported this they voted to support it okay perfect um and then article nine is to authorize the purchase of open space so this is um the 52 Acres at the UCC that we just discussed okay and that's great any question comments on the warrant okay seeing none thank you very much and just a reminder for those that are watching special town meeting is Tuesday November 19th at the Ashland high school and Michael have you determined if you're going to do a town manager

044for or something for this we we'll do it but um we just have to work on the date because you're taking some time right um so yeah okay date and time TBD um we're also going to um offer again babysitting yes I heard saw that that's great so if you're younger family and your kids can be up a little bit later please come out and be part of the process okay and chair before we before we uh go into the next article on the next uh item on article 9 I remember seeing something on a side note from uh attorney me with with respect to some awarding MH uh that was highlighted from for the rest of us has that been correct correct it or is that stand you we're still we're still finalizing a

045bit on the motion we're trying to triangulate between um so we've got we've got the grant that we are already applied for and making sure the warrant article language complies with everything that they require okay we also have future grants that we might apply for which we want to make sure that we've got everything that we need in that to apply for that um as well as just everything that we need to make sure that we could do the transaction legally so so we're trying to trying to take into account all of those things so okay yeah thanks yeah so we worked on that a little bit today to try to fix that language okay right thank you and is this warrant now up on the website so that people so the warrant without the

046motions and the finance uh um Comm recommendations is up on the website I'm hoping to get this just try to work out the last KS with the okay with how and if someone wanted to go read this beforehand where would they go find it on the website it's under the it's under the Kirk's um web page undertown meeting okay and then once this you know this is normally the book that has all of the information I'm hoping to get this up as soon as we can that usually we put right on theage home page perfect okay great there's nothing else on the warrant moving on to uh review the Warren Barn plan Michael sure yeah Claudia and Jen I mean both chime in if um if uh if you if you feel it's necessary uh

047or even if you don't so um people don't usually say that to me Michael and they definitely don't say it to me Claudia so take advantage of it when when we can right so um yeah as as we've discussed Framingham State you know after some discussions uh had indicated that they would be interested in um taking on yeah I can't one of those I have oh oh it's not a phone not okay okay so um so in any case um so Framingham State has been willing to take on the oversight and management of the re reconstruction of the replica of the barn and um also they're looking at incorporating that as part of their larger plan for the Framingham State Warren Conference Center uh which they have big plans for um we've seen some upgrades

048over the previous years Henry's Place hopefully everybody's had a chance to experience that um but uh in any case uh Framingham State put up uh close to actually a little over $170,000 to start looking at different plan options uh uh for the barn and an ice rink that they would like to put there um as well as develop a cost estimate and so through you know over the last few months they have um put together several different design options um and we've settled on on one where basically we do have the rink and we have a barn that is built as a replica uh on the exterior but is configured on the inside to help support recreational functions and functions at the rink um and so that plan is what uh what you have in

049front of you or one of the documents that you have in front of you and um again it's a little bit light on detail but um you do have an idea of what the barn would look like um it is a replica um I think the one thing they did have doors right on the side that yeah on these yeah on your second or yeah the second um the second sheet of paper essentially your third page um what did you say the East Elevation J east and south yeah you kind of see that big big barn door that's there that would uh the sliding ones yeah um and so that would again would be there to help support the um you know the operations at the rink uh so you do have uh you know

050you do have the elevations here that explain kind of at least on a on a very basic level uh what's going to be there how it looks like in configuration with the rink um and then on the last page um or excuse me last page no I'm sorry it's actually the first page I'll get my page is correct you'll actually see what the interior um not renderings of the interior but what the layout would be um which includes restrooms and um and the other uh other facilities so it would have event space um restroom um you know a CL a couple closets for janitorial items as well as in the mechanical closet as well that's just one floor correct above is correct because we're not doing a mezzanine right on that one no and it

051would be built on SLAP is is it possible to get other picture I mean I should know this but pictures from the street of the old building yeah I think you even just yeah I'm trying to match it with the with the drawings and it's not driving for me right so this is the so in the second page the street is on the left side on the third one the street is on the front opposite of what we're looking at M mhm and then is this one the street is over there's no Silo in the last two so it's hard to yeah where is that is I for it to you is The Silo oh there it is okay so the silos is on this side of the the left side so yeah so actually

052uh Jen reminded me of Dave Foster actually put together a document that had a lot of those pictures and so we could forward that to yeah that'd be great just to sort of get a to be reminded what it looked like to make sure that we I mean if if we're going to get a replica I believe the goal was to get a real replica so that it looks like what it was so okay so what would you like from us tonight having just seen this and or can we read it and get back to you any well I haven't covered I want to go through theou as well but just from a from a plan standpoint I mean do you see anything here that kind of jumps out at you not off hand no

053um okay all right then then we can move on to theou I do have a random I'm I'm sorry I do have a random question just like what what is The Silo currently being utilized for and what are the plans for that a bomb shelter no it is it is like um I don't think there's any any they just keep yeah they're yeah Ian it's not a working Barn so it's not like they're putting grain or corn in it right and even the last however many years it wasn't a work it wasn't a working Barn right um but I think it's the aesthetic of keeping The Silo and the silos is still in good condition okay maybe a paint job but yeah they looking at that at painting okay okay okay stor I'm sorry what

054storage hot Aon ohot so um you never you never know they're good Escape Vehicles if you need them so um okay so moving on to theou so um you have with you a draft of kind of the narrative around it um as well as theou document so if you don't mind I'll just go through it this is what um Framingham State had originally started with um Dale had included a lot of stuff related to the Valentine property and kind of what we were thinking about at the time I told him that was totally Superfluous uh with with this so um we've taken that out um so under proposed approach which is page two the bottom of page two um you'll kind of see like what a calendar would look like for the programming um so

055that's the one that starts you know with a seven month period beginning April 1st going through October 30th um with event space and it includes the different types of events and uh supporting FSU programs um and uh some uh food service and Catering provisions and uh then we can the way the barn is being um configured is you could use it in the shoulder Seasons so not just you know in the summer um and uh you'll see there it says rental income to Support Facility utilities cost facility up upkeep and town FSU use and then you have the December um through March period which is more of the rental or winter uh months so again we could use it for recreation space or it would be used for recreation space and then uh the facility

056would be used to uh support the ice skating function um again that would be going through uh the Warren Conference Center um and then that would also provide us with Recreation opportunities you know not only for FSU and the university community club people but also for Town residents so we're talking about like an open skate uh type of scenario and you know originally when we were thinking about it we thought we were only going to be able to get it for like you know maybe a couple times a month for like open skate but um after talking with Dale we think you know it could be open you know significantly um more days you know in a month for that just it just couldn't conflict with any kind of major events that they would be

057planning except they you know they're not planning a lot of major events during that time period okay so um and again they would have uh limited Food Service offerings um and uh you know the FSU operations and then also U you know the rental income would again support facilities utilities costs upkeep and uh use uh then it just goes into uh some of the facility requirements um and then it goes into a little bit of the mechanics on how this works because you know we're talking about this as between the town and and FSU but actually there's the Massachusetts State College building authority um which is really the key player in this as well as flick which is the um you know the op basically the operator of the Warren Conference Center right now so

058there's four parties that would be um that that have a role in this Michael before you go forward just to clarify for me please um the I know there's going to be heat and air conditioning to support the shoulder seasons and it looks like there's some support for winter programming would the probably the heating aspect of the building will it support if at some point there was a true winter function if someone wanted to have some kind of a holiday celebration or party or is the heat to the the extent that it would support it even in the coldest winter months yeah my understanding is no right Jen because there the heating elements that they were going to get were not were really just designed almost like you see at the Holliston Historical Society not

059necessarily the same type but the same function it's not going to have the output that you would need to be able to to do during the all right and then if if at some point I mean obviously there's some support that's available because they're going to support the recreational ice skating rank MH but um if at some point there was there was a desire to expand that usage to the winter time do we know if it's being done in a way that would be Fe you know feasible then to to add additional enance the heating facil ability yeah so Jen do you remember the exact heating um components they were're going to use Jen's Jen's done a lot of work on this um I would have to look um I know that they were going

060to heat the bathrooms yeah they be so um and so my guess is we probably could expand we can look at the you would probably need to have duct work put in place um to uh to to make it it sounds like you know if they're just going to have it to where you could do it in the bathroom rooms it's probably uh more like those mini split type of systems right right um whereas I think if you you probably could um utilize Min splits throughout the whole area to make it uh compatible with the colder months um probably except that I'm imagine that the ceilings it's it's no not only one floor right so the ceiling is going to be really high yeah so it would be a challenging area to heat yeah and

061then there's also so you're talking about in the future though right CDE yeah yeah I'm talking about just you know set yourselves up unless the expense is prohibitive you set yourself up to be able to do what youever you might want in the future right right I mean it I I think it has potential for uses in the winter time as well yeah you know certainly people get married in the winter and it's it's a beautiful site so um so that's all but I mean those are just what my questions so there is there is a comment in here I'm just reading a preferred option for providing heating capacity to support shoulder season has been identified through the study including Associated project scope electrical and HVAC impact and costs MH yeah okay but again that's

062the shoulder shoulder so that's that shoulder season so that might want to double check okay and again I don't know it might not be sound so the down we have time frame that particular building shut down for the one well not completely because they're going to access the bathrooms for the skating rink okay but you can't it won't be warm inside except in the bathrooms from that's what I'm getting what I guess and there's exterior access to the bathrooms you don't have to go in through the building right at least that was the intent they were trying to design it so it could yes so you wouldn't be going through the bar necessarily that's yeah yeah if you look at this see that yeah yeah that was yeah that was the intent so because that's

063the proximity to that location is really close to Henry's place and you you probably see those people location I'm sure that's not what they want yeah but Henry's isn't open during the day is it I think it I think it's open during the afternoon but it's it's a little bit um if you remember there's a very big slope you know to get from there to to Henry's place I was about to say um and if they don't salt that up pretty good yeah so the way it's set up now um doesn't seem like the bathrooms are heated but like if you're if you have people using that that ice skating Rank and they're out there like I guess where would people warm up I mean or they just kind of assuming people go in their

064cars yeah yeah a lot of a lot of Fire a lot of ice skating places that are outside don't have yeah you know places to go sit and warm up so yeah yeah I mean at one point they had looked at sort of like having something like a fire pit I think also from the from the street it sort of took away from the replica which we were sort of trying to make sure that that still um looks similar but then also cost you know sort of un nice to have as opposed to needing for function and I I don't think it's like anywhere in here but I think it's important to note I mean Framingham State is looking at a pretty decent sized parking parking area to support this okay um especially hand there's

065nothing to support so but I think there's going to be some significant grading and storm water work that would that needs to be done and has been accounted for in the budget I was just going to ask that part of that those figures that are this to the point of you know being able to take cover so to speak will the will the barn itself is the plan that's actually going to be locked so that it wouldn't be someplace where even though it's not heated you couldn't can't go in and take shelter is that true or we don't know I don't know if they've gotten that far I mean I know it was important when they were designing to make sure that they could lock it up yeah or yeah could separate the two so

066you could still access the bathroom without having to access the barn but I'm not sure okay the FSU team has sort of I mean obviously there's going to have to be a it's going to require a staff person at some point to come and open up the bathrooms and then lock them up at the end of the day right yeah yeah and then you know we should also remember actually the the Henry War house is is is not that far away either and it wouldn't surprise me if they plan on utilizing that also um in some way shape or form as part of this whole yeah with all the you know the conference room spaces and everything so they really do have um big plans uh for you know the property um yeah okay so

067they are good plants yeah and so just kind of moving along to to the mechanics um I'll I'll let Jen speak a little bit more to that in terms of like who leases who to who leases what to whom and just some of the financial arrangements and uh I'll just say say this with the caveat some of the things that you in here we haven't reached a full agreement with Dale yet or the mscba because they're involved but it's what we have yeah so anything you see sort of in the track changes is sort of what we're yeah sort of what we're proposing but haven't had that conversation um so we would lease the the um Barn to FSU through um an inter um State agreement um and we would would work with Town Council

068on sort of the terms of that um you know perhaps looking at a 20-year lease since it's such a large investment and sort of having an opportunity to reassess terms um each every four years so five different times throughout the term um I they seem open to that um in terms of looking at sort of you know obviously normally when we lease a property we get rent um but that you know sort of how we're going to work this um will be slightly different um it will be managed by they have a property management currently it's flick um it will be managed by them um they'll set the rates in terms of like they'll look at similar rates so that they can offer rental rates in terms of the use of the property and then

069the facility Revenue would basically go to um facilitate the operating costs so you know much like we were sort of thinking about way back when um with Valentine you'd have to bring in Revenue to sort of make that building um self- sustaining so they would um take 40% of the revenue and that would be for the man cost and at least that's what I'm proposing 40% for the um projected R revenue for management cost and then also any of the operating costs in including utilities um I'm recommending maybe they take 10% um of the total revenue and put it in an account for maintenance um and that way um we're not sort of having a conversation on the back end and trying to split it after like if you know so take 10% of all

070the profits um and then the remaining 50% potentially um split between the town and FSU um and and also having some opportunities for us to have they had talked about maybe doing that in the terms of a credit so that maybe we're credited anytime we want to use the the building um but we have to sort of work that out but also I'm I'm hoping that we'll able to get at least two meetings um Town Town meetings like maybe our Retreat or maybe the community um the school committee's annual Retreats off we used to do them over there lovely um without cost without going whether it's going towards our revenue or going towards our credits depending how that works out um and then they could do potentially the same thing to of their events don't

071go towards the revenue or the um credits um so that's sort of where we are um in terms of the operation of the theou yeah so how how does the board feel about about that those Claud if you don't mind I think it's a nice idea I just I'm sorry it's okay I just have to make sure that um the town is protected over any any liability aspect when it comes to skating you know if it's I don't know where the ice skating rink is going to be is it going to be partially on our property yes so where where's the liability falling at and and make sure that the time is covered that way um I like the idea um I I think I think frh state would probably benefit by this more than

072I think we will because of the different activities they have especially in the summertime with the weddings and other other things that they have because that's a great site for photograph for if I remember correctly oh that well that's kind of the prim son married up there so yeah that's where they got that's where they took the pictures and I would a beautiful move on I mean is that how do you does any of that proceeds come to the time someone you know is part of this memorandum understand as as a whole and not just you know certain certain activities yeah so we I mean certainly the use it sound you know what I'm proposing is that over and above management and then hopefully some maintenance cost Revenue would come back to us um for

073the use of the actual Barn in terms of renting it out um and then us getting Revenue because they're using using our barn um we hadn't discussed that that's something that's happened I mean that always happened um you know when we had when we were going to invest just to replicate the barn we weren't um anticipating any Revenue coming back to us for the sort of the use for photos so we hadn't really uh discussed that in particular but um the liability piece we have discussed um and we've asked them to you know as part of this agreement they would have to add us as a named person on their insurance and insance okay and so Joe they're also putting in more money um for the project overall so originally because this project exceeded the

074original budget uh significantly and you know originally the concept was basically we would split it in half and so you know Claudia Jen and I made the case like well we our goal was really just to get the replica of the barn build and um so uh to his credit you know Dale said oh well you're right and um so re reconfigured the formula to where he was open to the yeah so when we're pay our portion yeah he's been really yeah been really great to work with and I think really if you look at what we're investing it is just the replica like we're that's sort of how he's sort of thinking about it you know it's not like we're going to just take the project and cut it a certain percentage it's really

075taken the cost of what it would cost us to do the replica um you know except that they're also taking the oversight and all of that which is yeah definitely worth something definitely you I just would like to add that Framingham State has really been a great partner here um you know in in my mind going because they are helping us to not only have the replica back or or a replica um but also to have it have a purpose yeah um you know that and that we're not responsible for right um it won't just be something that we have to maintain so that it doesn't fall down again um it will serve a purpose it's it's a beautiful piece of property it is a beautiful um signature area really of our community um and

076so it's very exciting I think I I love their I love their ice skating idea um just because it's it's rare now so many people spend significant money to have an ice skating rink in their yards and and how often do they free right so and it's a opportunity for people to come together um you know and so I I think it's a it's just a great great plan and they have been um very willing to negotiate and obviously when when the funds came or when the cost estimates came back so much out of alignment with what um had been anticipated it was really um important in my eyes that they stepped up to the plate the way they did yeah um the one question I have is if do we know what it's going

077to cost to to run this I mean obviously on some level you don't know until you're using it right and you don't know it depends on how many events it's being used for ETC but um just overall how much does it cost for to be there and who's responsible for those costs if it never got rented never was never made any money how who pays for for the existence of it guess so so Framingham State and flick um we we would have no responsibility for great perfect thank you yeah I think their lease will be written up that they would be responsible for the so if they're not making any money on it I mean then we wouldn't be either but we wouldn't be liable for any anything correct and so I mean they're taking

078on the risk associated with that because they're also incurring all of the expenses associated with with running it whether they get revenue or not right so maintenance and LA Care the home that falls under their perview and not us correct okay and so and so as as Jen you know pointed out like so a portion of the revenue that comes in will go to maintain you know to maintain the property through flick and Framingham State and then there's a portion of it that will portion of the revenue that we will split with Framingham State and we're still working with them and in terms of what that looks like you know between if it's going to be like credits you know for us using the property or if it's money coming back to us um actually

079it's the way it's written is kind of both right so it' be credits and if we didn't utilize the credits we would we would get it back as a check at the end of the year and will those monies be put into some sort of Enterprise fund just specifically for that we probably put in the rental we have that we have a facility rental account okay yeah and so that's where the rent from Clover Road that's where any rental costs come in from okay well we were we were going to talk a little bit about that because um one of the things I think you know we could we could utilize it for is also to help maintain um not just our buildings but some of the properties that we own um and you know

080could we could we accomplish that through the building rental account or is it you know because if it's a building rental account does it have to be buildings so we're looking into that as well okay be good to know what you find out and Yeah determine how to do that okay so Makita comments questions no okay yeah I think it's I think it's pretty straightforward I think you know the points have been brought up about insurance and then just how we're going to get to use it and things like that um again we're not taking a vote tonight it's really just to review this so I would say through again if you have any other questions or concern make sure you get them to Michael Andor Jen before okay send them to me and then

081I'll forward them on Al together and that way if there's mult you know if there's duplicates or the same or something like that okay so I'm going to say by the end of um oh yeah so just one point so they are um they are are willing to kind of take the risk of going ahead and start preparing for the ice rink so um so they were going to look at at potentially starting that next was it November 5th right we well yeah we'd have to give them a user agreement to to to access our property um and that would go through March so like this whole winter sort of prep out a temporary rink um same type of we've they'd add us to insurance that all that St has to be you know basically

082if they need to go back they have to go back but then we'll work on the full you know and Lease but in this this winter they sort of wanted to try to temporary temporary without the building okay so will you have that for us to also for or is that just something that the two of you can do with them we can do that with them okay but just wanted to give you a heads up okay um so if you have any comments on this I would say no later than Monday is that too late for you guys guys or do you need it by like Friday incorporate it Friday Friday would be good because again um like I said we're you know we haven't reached a full agreement with Dale on this um

083wanted to make sure that you were okay with the language that we were kind of sticking with so far yeah and um again I think the only thing that could be a sticking point would be kind of the way the the split would work but I really don't I I really don't think no they I mean they seem pretty yeah so program is skates seems that way yes at least right now I mean yeah yeah otherwise they have to invest in skates and store those and yeah at least for right now yeah just what question for you like I know like luring um you know that's used all the time it's usually for organized activities and like you know maybe once every two months it seems like they have an open skate night do you

084know that's it yeah they used to have it I don't think it's once a week not anymore they used to they used to I mean years ago I don't it's been a long time since I've gone skating there but yeah like on Saturday afterno it was like there was one at Saturday at one time and one on Sundays at a different time I again it's been a long time since I've done that they might have open skate but I think it's at unusual times yeah oh I don't know I think it's I think it's at times when kid you know of any other commun like is there any other like Town skating R not that I'm aware of not nearby that allow you okay where they have they they have Community ones okay okay good

085to know any other questions or comments if not if you go through this try to get me any comments by Friday so I can forward them to Michael by Friday wonderful okay thank you moving on updates on the 40b project approved by Mass housing 250 units at the Mill site on Main Street and 226 units at 61 Waverly Street there are some letters in the package Michael go ahead please yeah so um uh kind of old news by now but uh for those of you that don't know uh we did uh and I will say I will add unfortunately uh receive uh letters for Mass housing granting a side eligibility for both 40b projects again one at the Mill and then one at Waverly Street um so uh what that means for people um I

086have found a lot of people don't understand the process so I'll take a little time to to just explain that a bit so once Mass housing grants their approval which we will say it comes in that form of a site eligibility letter so that gives the the developer the ability to apply to the local Zoning Board of appeals so our local zoning board of appeals would get an application um and at that point in time if it's a complete application that get stamped in um the zoning board has 30 days to open a public hearing and that public hearing has to be completed within 180 days and when I say public hearing that's an opportunity for the public to be heard but that's also uh basically the whole time that you have um to review

087the documents um basically negotiate any kind of issues or changes um that come up through that process um you you have a very limited window um unless you and the applicant agree to extend it so it has to be by both parties agreement and uh what we have found is that usually usually you can get that continuance um the developer is usually interested in try trying to come to some agreement um uh that uh that would work for them and then obviously the town would like to have as much opportunity as they can to try to identify and resolve any issues that they have um and so the zba has the ability uh at the end of the public hearing to either approve the project as it is deny the project totally or approve it

088with conditions and so that would be the decision of the zba and so the next step though is where 40b becomes and I'll just say um dangerous for communities or a problem for communities is that if the de so if it's denied or if it's approved with conditions that the developer says make it uneconomical they have the ability to appeal that decision to what's known as the housing appeals committee which is a special State entity um that only hears 40b projects and so if when it gets to that point um I I don't know if a full analysis has been done in terms of how many uh approvals or denials the HAC has issued but from everything that I've seen and from everything that I've heard and from talking to attorney me who is very

089familiar with this like 90% of the time they find in favor of the developer um and so basically they would overturn the zba's decision so zba could yes deny a project but then the next step the developer would take that to the HAC and the HAC would more than likely um override the zba's decision and so then we lose all ability to insert conditions or you know put any kind of controls in place so that's generally the process from the zba I should also o note that um the project if it impacts the Wetland would need to go to the Conservation Commission not under the town's bylaw but under the state Wetlands protection act and so um those laws have to be followed as well and so that process uh goes through um and uh

090yeah so that's just kind of a a very succinct way of talking about the process overall I'll pause there if there there's any question I do have I do have a question and and it and it bothers me that the fact that the builders have the uh the ability to appeal why don't the municipalities have the ability to appeal a decision made by Mass housing I why why hasn't that been tried I it just it just doesn't make any sense they can appeal but the municipalities can't it doesn't make any sense that's not fair oh Joe I think the whole thing not fair a lot of things not fair but still the whole the whole 40b program doesn't completely make sense right so that's you're you're you're right it it doesn't make sense so maybe

091maybe when it started out there was a good purpose and intent for it to happen but now it's just gone beyond control is that you can't you can't limit things it's just you're stuck with it and and you just have to live with it so maybe maybe legislature needs to reopen this discussion the thing that I've seen is I've spoken with other communities about 40 BS right either a couple of things are in place either the community already has their 10% so they're safe from 40b or they have housing production plans and production has been going going on so they're safe from 40b we as we know are in a very unusual predicament because we had our production plan plan but because of things beyond our control we weren't able to meet those M steps

092so the the depart Mass housing is we're looking for housing and in in both of these letters it's it's pretty clear they approve these because we are in their mind and we are we're about 380 units short from our 10% of affordable housing these two projects will help us get there and we could I mean certain I mean we could try to push back but I don't know that that's where we want to spend our time and energy I think working with the developers might be a better strategy well I mean with all good intents and purposes I mean when we first met with the the developer at 6010 Main Street second row the question was asked are you going to help work on on the changing of the intersection and re you know Redevelopment

093of the intersection and he point blank said no that's on you well I'm sorry it's not on you it's not on EXC but student be on us you're the one that's making this a problem you need to be part of the solution and and if that's that if that's the mindset he's going to have that there's going to be some issues serious issues you know to Joe's point about um appealing being able to appeal right so can we Sue so you know here's here's some of my rationale after having thought about this is when um you know we were right on track right to to get to Safe Harbor and and two things happened right in one instance um the the land owner took the developer to court because the developer was able to get

094permitted without having to have a zoning change made um which was part of the pns I'm correct right and and I think the rationale I had to think about that for a while I think the rationale why the develop uh the land owner says he's going to he's suing is because now he thinks well it's wor was worth more money because you didn't have to go through the zoning change process right so I mean I would I would guess I try to figure out why what he's suing on what grounds but in any case doesn't matter he is okay then the other parcel um the that land owner During the period of time when he um would have been moving forward with the project you know we ex we had a pandemic and at that

095point in time the market changed dramatically and interest rates changed and interest rates changed and the financing no longer became financeable right so why isn't that then showing that we were moving in the direction it was a freaking pandemic people that has caused this right Claudia all this was put in the letters to Mass housing this was relay to them in numerous ways yeah and so again so can who who can we Sue I mean everybody can sue everybody over anything they want yeah except that we are short 381 units of affordable housing to get us to our 10% I mean that's I mean those are the hard facts right we granted we tried doing everything to get ourselves there and yes we've built a lot of hous they give credit they give credit for

096making progress towards right and we stopped making progress so we pandemic yeah right but other communities were able to move keep moving forward during the you know it's I I don't know what community who knows what community moved forward during the pandemic I mean it it is really frustrating because I think for all of us because we we kind of knew the rules right and we tried we felt like we made a good to protect ourselves right to to play by those roles and for circumstances beyond our control um things didn't work out the way that they were supposed they were planned the way we planned them and you know nobody's taking into nobody's taking that stuff into account it feels like um and they're they're not clearly I mean that's Mass housing certainly isn't

097um you know I think if you're going to talk about using you know funds for you know legal action I think you know you probably want to think about where do you want to where's your best bang for your buck you know should you look at doing something with Mass housing which I you know I I thought that when the whole Mass housing process was going through like wait there's no way we can challenge that and there there's really no way to challenge it we could we could sue them it would probably be thrown out pretty quickly or do we want to utilize um those legal funds to um basically really try to work with with the developer within the process to try to you know come up with something that um is better I

098I don't want to say it's best for us but is better and something that um that we could move forward with do we want to utilize those legal funds to basically support us if you know we do move forward or the zba does move forward with a denial or an approval with conditions and try to fight that out at the HAC um you know if you just look at at the at statistics and the percentages and all of that and the data you know it's it's clear that your Best Bets probably to invest that money in um option b but again I realize this isn't just a a datadriven decision so well well you know and what you said in anyways option b doesn't sound like it's viable right well I think everybody can agree

099that what is being proposed is is not not great I well I shouldn't say everybody because there have been people who like it very few but there are a few that do um I think where the biggest rub for this community is going to be is what can we find agreement on as to what's acceptable and and the other um that's going to be hard the other thing that I thought about was what what if we um can we petition the legislature to uh you know put a period of put some kind of a stay for a per period of a period of time that relating to covid so in other words say that things certain things like I know this has been done in in other um you know unrelated instances to where the

100the legislature has said all right this law isn't going to apply for this period of time because of covid you know we could certainly um we could certainly ask um I mean whether you know my understanding is is the conversations really happening more at the at the legislative level are really kind of going in the opposite direction which is I mean whether they should require developers to do 25% or should they make you know lower that to to make it more financial you know so um I think that might be a tough you know uphill battle just being no getting legis to petition the legislature right there're I mean they're working now which is very unusual they're trying to finish some bills and get some stuff done before the election and then they won't be

101doing much between November and January when new people get sworn in and stuff like that and we're under a gun in regards to our timelines and re and when we have to start doing hearings and things yeah so if I me Madam chair I I just it it really bothers me that night when we when we got the notification I I did not sleep at all night I did not sleep at all that night I was up all night long I was worrying I was Tsing and turning because the Dynamics of this town is going to change CH dramatically with these two projects that you hear people out in the street saying Ashland is never going to look the same and you know what you're absolutely right Ashland will never look the same with these

102projects if we don't minimize what the buildings themselves will look like and so my my point would be is that the select board the zoning board and the planning board we need to be like a tech review group and decide what we should be working towards as a whole to make these projects more viable for the town and not fight not not not the worth fight but not go against against what each one is saying maybe but to work jointly with each group to make sure that the best interests of the town are at the Forefront well we had we had discussed trying to have some kind of com committee not necessarily the whole select board the whole planning board the whole I don't think the zba can be involved because they're the ones who

103are going to be hearing it and making the decision but we had talked about potentially creating a committee right that would get the input from the different boards and they would then work with the developer and that was something we had discussed right because otherwise every meeting if all five of us are sitting there and all five you're having to deal with posting and open meeting law and it would I think it would be I don't know that the developer would be that willing to sit there with everybody and have a discussion so I I think we have talked about having a discussion but it's how can we do it in a way that the town benefits in the best but we work with the developer right I mean I just want to make one

104point Joe you said you know the town is never going to be the same with these two projects that's what was said when Cirrus was built and there's more traffic but other than more traffic and a few more people in town location great yes the location is different location I agree you know but as Michael said there are people I mean i' I've mentioned the project to to numerous people and there are people who are looking forward to having people living downtown the the issue that we have is the size and the intersection right right yeah to Joe's point if I could just kind of move a little bit into some of U kind of the the sequencing that we've been working on and talking with uh you know obviously with Pete and then also

105with Lisa and John trath and the zba because because um and just to give you an update um the mill the developer for the mill did apply did submit an application um we have reviewed it we have determined that it was incomplete and so as today we made that determination and so we're sending it back so does that stop the clock from starting if you we determined anything complete yeah we haven't stamped it in yeah we haven't stamped it in so so when we stamp it in and it get stamped in with the cler that's when it starts okay so um what we've talked about is because we could potentially have two two of these going on at the same time so uh the zba will under the worst case scenario zba would be um

106would be meeting twice a month um in the way John would like to have it is so one one meeting a month would be focused towards the the mill building you know the other night would be focused towards uh obviously Waverly so the first meeting is to go ahead and open up the public hearing and then they have to choose the zba has to basically accept the peer review Consultants that we would utilize and so we're starting to assemble that roster so getting a civil um engineer um and also getting a Wetlands uh reviewer traffic consultant is key uh unfortunately uh Unfortunately they snagged a really good traffic consultant before we could but uh but we we've got a pretty good lineup and then I also think a design consultant like would be important as

107well and um so get that lined up and so that first meeting they'll accept that they'll accept the the zba would accept the peer reviewers and then the point would be to get um um the information from the developer in time so the peer reviewers can take a look at it turn it back around and give the Z CBA at least a week ahead a week of time to review it before they go to the next meeting to have on that subject and so what they also plan on doing is to have a meeting dedicated to each subject like one dedicated to traffic one dedicated to environmental one dedicated to design so um that's kind of the general overall plan um so in terms of the priorities and things so Joe that you're talking about

108so the board got a lot of information from um all the other boards and the Departments and so you know I think you have what everybody's concerns are I think you actually kind of went through and and actually prioritized it a little bit too so so we've got that in place okay so let me ask a question you were you mentioned environmental with the mill building project specifically we've got nanza issues um how does the state you know because I know we were talking like State they still have to to um basically comply with state regulations the EPA and we know is starting the second the second phase of their Umi which affects kind of our downtown area so how how would that like do they have someone specifically from the EPA that would be

109involved in the project or how does that work yeah the people that have been involved with with Niza on behalf of of uh EPA and D would be involved and um I'm sure they would have also other professionals to support them as well so the mill is a little bit unique remember because it's got that a as part of the deed that activity and use limitation that restricts residential um residential use at this point in time and so part of this process is that the applicant will need to demonstrate to the state to the and the EPA as well us but D and EPA control that a they will have to demonstrate to them that what they are going to be putting in place is sufficient enough to protect uh residential um yeah residents uh

110in order to remove that aul and then we should I I feel strongly that we should also have um our own like license site professional as part of part of the construction aspects as well so would we bring someone in for that or okay and that's all expected to still be within that that time frame that you outlined correct so it's a condensed timeline yeah very expedited for even something like environmental which would be a huge component of I assume a lot of work on on both ends yeah you know 40b is so messed up sorry I'm now I'm getting agitated you can tell I mean you don't even have to put in stamped like all you need schematics as as part of your submission you don't even have to put like fully designed drawings

111in as part of your application which makes no sense makes ABS what they going they're not going to build from schematics they have to have designs they have to have full developed plans to build from they just don't have to so they sub they submit with schematics but at some point they're going to have to have full-fledged design plans to build from yes but they show them us yeah that's after they get approval so okay with respect of that how do you get approval on a schematic and not a design plan that doesn't make any sense it really doesn't make any sense well I would I would think part of it is right is the the schematic is what they think they're going to is what they are going to build right if they have

112to submit so here's the here here's at least my perception of this right is they're not going to do the fully the fully blown you know filled out plans and the building plans until they know they have approval right why would they spend money on full buildable plans until they know they're allowed to build it they right that that's going to and then because usually that's what you have to right that's right and that's what makes the difference here right the understand is they're trying to help developers build affordable housing that's what 40b is all about is trying to get more affordable housing we know what it's about we know what it's about the thing is is that when you say affordable the affordability aspect I better we know what it's about what does it

113really do what has it done right that that blows my mind see that that so effective since 1969 then why are we why are people moving out of the state because we haven't built enough housing in the last 20 years well this has been in effect since 1969 but that but people aren't building it I mean I mean as a as a state right then the amount of housing that we built from like 1970 to 1990 and then from 199 we built half the number of housing from 1990 to 2020 in this state the whole state half the amount of housing so that's that's why we're seeing the high pricing and that's why we're seeing 40b didn't make us build more that's what that Urban 40b hasn't hasn't worked it hasn't done what it was

114intended to do the folks moving out of the cities that came out here yeah that wanted to get away from the cities and some of the the traps that were going along that's well I mean that I think that was some of the so again just I think everybody around here knows but you know anybody who's still watching um you know no so back you know back in 1969 1970 you know some of the suburbs were making it so restrictive uh to build affordable housing the state felt like this was something that they needed to do and that's why there's the requirement to get to 10% and um in many communities it has well to to the 10% there's so there's so it's so there's so many definitions of success so two two things I

115I I will just well I think according to the governor success is people don't move out of the state and Claudia you and I have talked I don't know if things like MBTA housing or I understand the problem and I believe the problem is real I'm not necessarily sure what they're putting forth as a solution is going to actually solve it but that's another that's another but uh two points uh I I want to make so the mill site is extremely complicated on a number of levels uh from an infrastructure standpoint so obviously you've got the whole nanza thing which is one thing but number two um just think of like sewer capacity so you know in in some cases we might be required to make sure that there's enough sewer capacity but most of

116the time when you're talking about a sewer capacity issue with a 40b or a housing development project you're talking about stuff like the size of the pipe and the capacity of your pump stations right in our case the biggest restriction is an IMA with another municipality right and that we can't increase our sewage exactly so that's the email that I sent to you a while back maybe a couple of weeks ago after we got that letter sorry s sh um why can't we use that as a tool in a toolbox about restricting the number of units because we don't have the Sol capacity Joe I think that's a great thing I just don't want to um I just don't want to list basically let everybody know that that could be you know kind could be

117direction right so in any case um that's number one number two I think you know we all have uh we all have these visualizations of what this is going to be and how impactful it's going to be and I think we've experienced this with every development that has been proposed and and built um I would just encourage us to let's get our peer reviewers to look at this stuff um and give us an accurate Viewpoint of what the impacts are actually going to be and um make sure that we can follow it along there I mean for me and this is just me I think getting that fifth Story off um and changing the design Aesthetics looks and Rec I think reconfiguring that entrance way from a common sense standpoint it seems like it might

118work but the traffic engineer might have a totally different take on it but and things like traffic needs to be studied at various times during the day while school is in session not during a summer not during holiday breaks right those are things that we've we've pushed before that we need to make sure they're doing again in certain hours of the day right that's what I said c I said certain times of the day and when school yeah when right so so yeah so that's kind of an update on on where we are kind of what the plan is going forward but we do um and Yolanda and Brandy and I talked about um before our next me meeting um potentially scheduling a session where where we could talk a little bit more about um

119ex kind of that strategy um you know we'll let people know when we we decide to and when Michael one thing um I would like to suggest is maybe um because there is a lot of confusion about 40b and MBTA is that we have um a handout a town meeting that would just kind of outline the difference between the two just a one page I think that's actually a good point yeah it's a great idea help if we could get if we could get the cheats sheet available to download before town meeting that would be even better right so yeah because there is a lot of confusion between the two absolutely um for sure okay anything else any other questions concerns no okay moving on notific a of a grant award Michael you want to

120take us through that yeah so um so Sam has been um so Sam has received quite a few rewards um and I'm trying to remember the exact details for this one um this one I believe is you know Framingham was doing the geothermal um work and actually just before I go forward let me just pull it up again um or do you actually it's in our packet y yeah do you want to um oh I'll just go to the packets then I wanted to get some more of the back backup info so it's a community climate action guide for residential decarbonization so working with the sustainability committee and looking at ways that individuals can decarbonize perfect yeah and this is really to look at groups like is there a way that Community neighborhoods is there

121a way that there's maybe places in which like we're doing public infrastructure that there would be a way to then work so sort of doing that kind of education about how you could possibly pull resources great it's great when we get Grant you know that way for resources of putting forums together getting information printed or digitally created yeah yeah she's doing a lot of Outreach and education I was going to say she's doing some popups in like neighborhoods right yeah and that's her a different that's for a different project but yes and when's the Pumpkin Smash you your it's um it's the week at next week a week from a week from this weekend the What Pumpkin Smash the Pumpkin Smash I haven't heard about the Pumpkin Smash how did I how did I miss

122out the corner spot where are they going to drop them from I I the is I think the fire department should come over with a with the with the tower truck do it like the kids do the egg drop at the mindes I just want to take don't tell the DPW I suggested so we're working with you really want pumpkin All Over The Corner Spot we're working with black Earth compost oh so yes so it's when is it's not this it's not the weekend right after so it's not the second it's the 11th I think it was the nth okay and we were talking uh with donut truck too yeah yeah there was a lot there's some you know games you know some kind of there was some excitement around the carival donut truck in

123my household just yeah the whole Pumpkin Smash thing the biggest attraction cool I personally said when I heard about the Pumpkin Smash thing make it I think we probably get some television coverage on that I I definitely think we should get some you know I think we should paint faces Community I think that's how it came up in the like we're doing that too yeah nice so the Federated church I think is going to have some extra pumpkins cuz they got delivered like the remnants of another order so have they still got a lot of pumpkins sitting over there yeah they some out today as they were the last stop and I guess the last the previous they yeah yep so um so anyway there's that sorry okay uh moving on discuss and review timeline

124for appointments and reappointments to boards and committees so this is something and I think I've spoken to all of you about this that I've been pushing for a long time and uh I'd like to create a subcommittee if someone would like to work with me to see how other communities do it and there's over the years I I've recommended that anyone who wants to be appointed or reappointed should fill out an application and there was push back on that uh we've talked about term limits and we've had push back on that um you know all various things and I think based on some of the um vacancies that we have and just looking at our committees it would be good to review and put in place something so I guess part of me is also

125you know Susan does a lot on this and yes she's staff and and that's part of what she does but as I as and I'm not one to look at other communities I I I say that you know um but I think there are some responsibilities that we have select board I I was noticing I went through some bylaws and I saw that we should really be receiving agendas and meeting minutes and we should be reviewing those from the Committees that we appoint and we haven't done that as a as a as a select board before uh so I'd like us to discuss a little bit more about some of that are you pulling out the bylaws Joe I forget what section it's in but all the appointments that we make yeah I mean we

126have you know the other thing I'd like us to talk about in review is having Liaisons at least to some of our bigger committees so that one I think would help all of us understand a little bit better of who we're appointing and what we're what they're doing um but to help I mean our we are held accountable by our voters right if if what we're doing is not appreciated or they don't think it's the right thing we can be voted out of office if what we're doing they come to us and they complain or they comment or they tell us something and I think some of our committees might that we appoint might be getting that but maybe not all of them and we always talk about working with our committees and not working

127in silos and I think there's been some Silo happening over the last number of years so uh again if someone is willing to do this with me Makita great um then you know I I don't know exactly when we'll come back to you with something but hopefully early in the new year so that we can review it and discuss it so that we can let the committee members know early spring so there's a good six months before we make reappointments or you know four months before we start looking at that and we have something new in place so that's great I think I think if you guys can come up with some some you know potential ways that we can do this that would be that would be amazing because you know I agree with

128with what Yolanda said I think the issue has always been it's like we we don't think about it until June and then by the time we start talking about it in June it's too late to do anything for August and to be able to you know we're always kind of there's there's this balance to strike between um this like institutional knowledge that a lot of our longtime volunteers have but there's also the desire to get new people involved in in and there's also people that you know we see we see it from time to time where we get Talent Bank forums and Susan will send them to us and there's no openings on a committee and people want to serve so it's kind of trying to to find that right balance so um and also

129kind of again holding them a little bit bit more accountable than we have in the past I think would be great we've been a little slot on that so well there's just there's only so much there's only soac there's a lot going on there's a lot to do and I mean and and and I'm not saying that I mean we have there are great committees and great I mean all of our committees are great right they're all working on things they're all moving things forward I think this is part for me it's always been for the public to see what our committees and great work that they're doing and how they can get involved in that it's not I mean we have great committees we have great volunteers that's one of the ones things that

130that makes Ashlin such a great Community are the volunteers and I mean all the organizations that that do great things in the town for me a couple things is as Brandy said getting trying to get some new blood get new people involved so that there is transition right there's succession so that if for some reason you all of a sudden have a number of you have a committee where you have a number of members who have been there for a while and then all of a sudden they either need to step off or they decide to step off and then you don't have some of that know there's been no one to transfer the knowledge to right it's like when you own a business you have to cons think of your succession and how you're

131going to keep moving things forward that's why it's always nice to have Associates right so that way decide to come down communities do that well that I mean that's something that we we have we've had that we have associate members on some of our committees Maybe that's something we need to encourage for all of our committees right look at right instead of instead of increasing the size of a of a voting committee ex you have associate members who can attend and participate and there are so many different possibilities look at and yeah just just to provide just an alternative perspective on the associates uh just as somebody who's been in different communities and stuff you know I I know what the intent is but in some ways um and I just don't know how to

132delicately put this but just put it then yeah you know it almost it almost seems like we're we would kind of be like in the business of giving out participation Awards so I think you know if you have multiple if you have multiple people um applying for one seat right and you know one person is chosen based on their skills and and how they do on their interview they have some ownership of it m you know that's a valid point in a sense of responsibility in a sense of I don't know it means something okay um whereas if everybody well I don't really need to do much I can just kind of mail it in I'll at least be an associate right you know what I'm saying but some communities sorry um but some communities

133have stipulations for associates so like you know it's not like you're just you know holding up the side of the wall like as an associate you are required to attend X number of meetings as an associate iate you required we could do look at something like that too I I'm not saying that that's the right way to go I'm just saying that we don't necessarily have to model it off of other communities where you've seen where that sort of thing hasn't been very successful we should come up with our own schema and our own just a different perspective yeah but it's a good one no no valid it's good to know good good okay I think I I'd like to understand too um or at least to what committees and the the types of responsibilities

134they have and then in some instances I think that we need to have a staff person um involved with that committee some on some kind of a regular basis I'm not trying to put more on staff members but I think sometimes to have somebody who is you know professionally involved in the town um to be able to advise or to answer questions when they when they people have them um you know I'd like to think about those types of committees that we have in town too that might benefit from um some kind of input from town Town staff so yeah we actually we actually do a lot more than than what we used to well and when Emma was here like she was trying to support the affordable housing trust you know and I think

135I think yeah as we look at kind of like Staffing you know moving forward and everything that's something that that we need to kind of factor if that's a kind of a direction you want to go in okay and I think too we might be able to do something where certain committees you know know like Yolanda was talking about like a liaison like maybe one of us kind of gets more involved with some of these committees and then we pull in staff if we need more support on a specific thing yeah there might be different levels of you know but but I just think in some instances it it probably needs some of our regulatory staff some of our regulatory committees that we appoint already have staff support right Board of Health has staff support

136planning board um conservation so sustainability sustainability yeah yeah so okay good we will try to get something for you by January at least a start okay discuss and vote on the obligation associated with Boston Marathon Invitational entries so uh and I think we were given some balances some updated balances so this is one of those things that we have these we have four 24 numbers 10 we give we already have we have an agreement with an organization and my thought was starting with organization increasing the fee we ask them for their Runners um and at some point look at the fee right if we start if we're starting to give out more money right we're giving potentially some organizations $6,000 a year and we only have 24 numbers right so yes that's a large amount

137of money but if we want to be giving out more grants then we may want to consider looking at raising the amount associated with the bibs now if no one else thinks that's an idea then we can stop the discussion right now um but I know what other organizations require their V their you know charity Runners to pay and raise um it's as much as $10,000 for some of these charity you know $7500 $10,000 um to run to be able to run the Boston Marathon and um again right now I'm just considering should we do it for the organization that we give 10 to and I believe right now the amount is $3,000 for them we bump it to $4,000 and see how that goes and then if we if if it works and we

138want to increase the funds because we have more Grant people applying for Grants the next we look at all of our numbers and potentially raising the amount could I could suggest because the economy has been kind of tough mhm instead of a th000 raise it to 500 make it so make it 3500 3,000 so I just want to say we have a huge amount of money and and not you know we we we we are not we are able to fund every single Grant to the maximum amount um I'm aware I I just it the one of the reason Reasons I'm talking about this is I think it's one of those things that at some point if we don't couple things one if we don't think of increasing right we always have a waiting list

139we always have a lot of people if we look at increasing it it we might not have it I don't know I I just think that at some point people are going to be looking to our numbers because they're less expensive and are we are we giving up an opportunity to potentially have more funds to give out grants because at some point if if we do if we keep it at $3,000 right so 3,000 times 24 right that will limit $72,000 $72,000 72,000 divided by six is like 12 right now we don't give we haven't given that many groups a complete $66,000 but if we look at you know if we said okay we have organizations that are going to come to us in both Grant rounds and ask for $6,000 so we gave out

140I guess I'm being preemptive pre we gave out $39,500 in this last round MH right and we we're raising 72 so yeah obviously I I don't have the April here I do I guess have it here I think the balance in the account after we after we granted was about 67 right $67,000 so and that's before the fundraising for this upcoming cycle so I mean I you know I hear I hear what you're saying because I do know organizations I know people that run for Charities end up raising a lot of money because they they have to because bib numbers are so hard to come by the the thing of it is is that I think one of the things that makes it so special for and I know you're talking about for for an

141organization rather than the runners that run like our community members that run MH I have I kind of have an issue not making it equal across the board okay and I also feel like 3,000 is a is a doable amount for someone to raise for you know for Ashlin I think if we got to a point where we were draining that that that account and we we have a our policy says that we're never going to Grant more than 50% of what of what the balance is and then we would PR rate it so we would prate everyone's um grants so I mean I I I kind of feel like first of all there's we don't need to make any changes right now because the the amount is so large and the other part of

142the reason we made the changes to begin with was because we weren't granting enough money and that balance was growing y so much more than what we were granting out so my personal feeling is that that if we get to a point where we're we're prorating things then we can take a look at maybe maybe changing that amount okay that's my perspective I the one the one other thing to to consider and I don't know if this would happen right but with the change of who sponsors the marathon some organizations received fewer numbers fewer bib numbers would that happen to you know if anything changed again would that happen to us we actually I think gained one or two numbers with the change yeah I think I think we went from 22 to4 or 25

143so okay again if no one else thinks it's something we should do fine I'm I think there's any rush to do that right I also think that that the organization that we give the bib numbers to they use this as their main fundraiser for their charity and so you know I'm always struggling with well do we still give them 10 or do we reserve them more for our Runners like do we do we do do we make changes that way and and you know that's kind of my my thing is like I would almost rather like have them have fewer bibs and give more to our records but but that's again I don't think that there's any need to make any change for this year okay so the group that we give those bib numbers

144to do they give us a percentage knowing that no they pay us they give us $3,000 for each Bib and they get 10 and they get 10 so we still get this we get we get the we get the proceeds yeah okay still and whatever whatever their runners run in in in and above the 3,000 they y okay that's okay thank you that's my that's my person no no no that's fine okay I'm happy with everything that's fine I like to bring it up you know every year just because we got to consider it and you never know okay next discuss and vote on funding for the employee recognition event scheduled for Friday December 20th Susan do you have an an idea for this I I'm thinking okay for food gifts and yes yeah can

145you explain what that covers can you explain what it covers lottery tickets to say Jing Just J a stalking for Jen and Michael you don't you choke over there so at the recognition at the recognition event we hand out longevity Awards so it's used to purchase those correct Susan and then and then the price of food for the event and it's held at the community center all employees are invited and it's a way to sort of to thank and recognize our be a nice event to hold someday maybe at the Warren bar maybe and we right select the select board is invited as well to celebrate so 2500 Susan you think will cover it okay great if I get a motion to approve $2500 for the funding of the employee recognition event so moved and

146a second second great all those in favor I wonderful that passes thank you Susan and just also for clarification that funding comes out of our select gift account correct yes so yeah not our yeah select board gift account thank you for that no uh discuss and review the status of the open space and Recreation plan progress um it's been a crazy week I think we're at a point I've let all of you know what decision has been made I just checked in with Becca before the meeting um I think we're at a place so the staff is going to take on the project but because of the timing we have determined that we're not going to push to get it done for the January 11th Grant cycle uh because of just timing and the survey

147and a lot of different things and again I think I explained that all and then um and open we had a great meeting last night we they didn't know we were coming I went to the meeting because I wanted to see what they were going to be talking about about the survey Michael went as well we had a great discussion sort of clearing of the air some some there were a few bloody noses there no it was it was it was a very healthy discussion actually it was very good and with everything it's been decided so staff will take this on with the input of the open space and wreck committee I mean Greg Juan was like he was like almost excited um so and and part of what happened was miscommunication misunderstanding um what

148other mywords can I use regarding this just this whole process so I think I think we're in a good place and we did press the urgency that we need a plan as soon as possible that is still the goal but between holidays and needing an updated shorter survey uh I think there's some work that needs to be done okay so so that's where we're at oh I was just goingon to say any questions so um know we were applying we were planning to apply for this grant as part of the downstairs downstairs we were we were planning to um to apply for this grant to to help fund the parcel that is on the warrant for town meeting the UCC property so I don't know do we want to talk about that Michael is still

149evaluating some other options that we should hold off on talking about until he has it a little more ref could we could we put that on the agenda for the next meeting because now that we're talking about it like it's going to town meeting and we're going to need to talk about it before town meeting yes um so we can try to have it November 6th yeah um yeah it's I mean I think it's a pretty it's pretty straightforward it's so we've so we've already applied for one grant that we hope that we hope we will find out the answer to in November it was uh 600,000 so um that we then have to match yeah but that was that was going to be the same way with with really um so if uh you

150know obviously if we're awarded that then kind of everything is just kind of well I don't want to say everything is moved but that takes care of uh Grant funds um and when will we know about that I'm sorry I said hopefully hopefully we will by November okay so um and this is a matching fund it's a matching yes we have to match the funds and where will that matching funding come from so arpa funds which we we've already T so the original so basically the original funding stack included um Grant funds so for a $1.4 million purchase price either 600 or 700,000 in Grant funds depending on the grant that we were able to get uh 250,000 from subur Valley trustees and the rest would be um local contribution which would be from arpa

151arpa funds so we've already applied for one grant that was 600,000 okay the land and water conservation fund Grant which was the one that was due in January we've decided we're not going to be able to make the deadline at that point um and so we won't be able to apply for that one there is another one that would be opening up in um I believe it's March um but it is extremely uh complicated in the sense that it will require uh partnership and it will require ire um it it's just it's just complicated that's really kind of the best way I can I can put it right now um but it is something that we're having discussions with um you know potential Partners uh about joining forces and applying for this Grant and that

152one's like $1.2 million if anybody saw Becca's work they would jump on I think based on no kidding oh yeah not not having to worry about it being complicated you think yeah yeah so well the complicating thing is the relationships and and the you know getting getting people to Yes um yeah okay so the grant that we are unable to apply for because of the time restraint MH at some point down the road next year in 2025 can we apply for it and then put those monies towards no we couldn't do it retroactively oh we can no we could do it actively okay and so um and so yeah if you know hopefully we will at that point in time have um maybe an open space and Recreation plan and maybe other plan that we'd

153want to purchase purchase right yeah okay um and just you know just kind of as an aside just you know one of the things we found out last night I think um first of all I think when we're communicating especially with people on other committees it's probably best just to uh include the whole committee uh when we're talking to them and making sure you know don't reply all and all of that good stuff and the other thing if you hear something about somebody's motives or somebody's doing just go to that person directly and and have a conversation with that person um I think that would have probably that would have yeah I mean I I said this last time I'm like if you have an issue with me to I said this to everyone on

154the committee and I say this to anybody if you have an issue with me come to me right if you have an issue with Joe go to I mean so yeah and the the the one thing I will take away is is have somebody else read your stuff before you send it because I think we've heard that before for you Michael oh my gosh so um well it was like no it had nothing to do with like tone or anything but uh one of our open space and Recreation Comm members was really upset with something that I had sent and I know like how I meant it when I wrote it but he took it a completely different way and when like I looked at it again I was like gez yeah you I totally

155there's no other way you could have read it so and that caused a lot of at least with that one uh member a lot of a lot of angst so so I was like oh my gosh any other questions or comments or okay so I just uh you know I don't know if we'll talk about this again before town meeting but so is the plan like I assume we'll kind of lay out the funding mechanism at town meeting and talk about this yeah so yeah so we discussed that as part of the the warrant so we're sorry yeah so you just missed that part we're working on the motion so that it would have a little bit more clarity okay yeah and and we'll do just a couple slides um and one of them will

156be dedicated to the funding piece y okay thank you good couple reminders for those that are watching or watch us afterwards Citizens Academy program will begin in January of 2025 it's a 10we program that will meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month from 6:00 to 8: if you're interested please complete an application on the town's website in person early voting is still happening so Thursday October 30th from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 and Friday from 9: to noon and then of course the regular full election is on Tuesday November 5th but I believe Michael we said we had 40% of our voters yeah as of yesterday 40% of our registered voters had already voted wow either in inperson or mailin ballots that's amazing yeah that's approaching how many overall vote in even the

157in the federal election right she's sort of expecting 80 to 90% yeah on this on this one I mean this is yeah we're usually in the higher 80s I think for presidential yep um real estate taxes are due November 1st our next select board meeting is November six few more municipal buildings will be closed on Monday November 11th in honor of Veterans Day special town meeting will take place on Tuesday November 19th at the ashon high school starting at 700 p.m. yard waste collection every Monday with the last pickup being on Monday November 25th your leaves do need to be in bags pre Thanksgiving Farmers Market will take place on Saturday November 23rd outside at the regular location from 10: to 1 textile clothing recycling you have to schedule your pickup with simple recycling yourself

158uh at simple recycling.com or an 800 number uh also this Saturday November 2nd the select board is having Meeting hours from 10 to noon at the library in conjunction with the library book sale and we're determining if we're going to do it in December as well moving on to consent agenda motion to accept the consent agenda as presented and a second second all those in favor I okay and we're moving on to town manager report priority project update Michael sure so um I'm going to start off with 126 so I think everybody's seen the crosswalks that they've put in um but also Verizon is on site and moving the wires um so that is that is very good news and uh so moving some things forward um but I tell you even with some of

159the issues uh people are walking on those sidewalks like constantly you know and it's um it's it's it's really nice to see kind of things coming to fruition uh Doug and I are actually working on um Doug Doug Small okay um just so we're g to be as part of this uh we're going to be responsible for the vegetation maintenance once it's handed over to us so so we're figuring out how that's going to work um we're also going to see if we U are responsible for any of The Upfront costs which for vegetation which it doesn't look like um you know Sam and Becca actually got another Grant to plant trees more trees said they applied for it so they yeah so um so we actually met the other day to kind of see

160if there are places where we already have to get trees that we could utilize utilize for this so be under our m eventually yes eventually yeah so um so yeah so good news on that front um downtown also so uh all the notices have gone out um so all the property owners are are notified um and uh so 102 Property Maintenance that's the name of the contractor they'll actually be starting next week um doing the work shouldn't be really any impact of traffic they're going to be able to to keep things offsite for the most part um actually a really good contractor they're really young um but they are very organized and uh very um customer Centric I mean when they're doing the digging they're going to be transporting stuff offsite you know the the

161the spoils if you will from the digging offsite so it's not blocking anything and at the end of the day they'll go and get it again and then put it back wow um that's czy so uh so so far everything's been going really really well with them um so upper Charles Trail well actually I'll get to that uh that's the next agenda item um Warren Barn obviously we are um we are uh we've talked about that um so just a bit of a a valentine update I know we've agreed to to put it off but I think we I might have talked about this individually with some of you but I don't think we've talked about it just in general but I do think after we're able to get Town Hall kind of the um

162the repairs done and the painting done in the spring we may look at seeing what we can do at the house just to kind of make some repairs that are going to be needed no matter what we decide the use is for it right so windows will need to be repaired trim needs to be repaired it might need to be a roof U not but it you know not like a full renovation project like the barn so um refresh what's the stat with theair we at now um yeah so it's coming close but and we got the painting bids in so yeah well the painting yes the painting bids will come in tomorrow so they pressure washed one side they've done some of the repairs they have to do the rest um so there's still

163a little bit of work to do on the repair and then we were hoping to have um the bids come in tomorrow hopefully they're good for painting and then we'll um try to at least get it primed before Co and there's some additional work that has to be done that we as part of the um work that we did in the Attic um and so we're scheding that it was uh well potentially but right now we have some scheduled work and so that's going to be happening in the next we painting the whole building okay good yeah and um the right color for those of you that are paying attention so okay so yeah so uh so those are moving forward um and and uh so update on the upper Charles Trail and the mass

164Trail Summit so I'll start with a trail Summit so um mapc mwrc they had their um their Regional uh Trail Summit at the Ashlin Community Center so Ashlin hosted it I think was for the third time since they've been doing it but it's always nice to host because you get so many people from so you know from throughout the region even beyond the region coming in and checking out and so um it was a good opportunity to update uh uh everybody on Regional projects but then there was a real focus on Ashland including the upper Charles Trail and and what's happening and what's we're moving what we're moving forward um on and then also the YMCA um so they were able to talk about uh you know the stuff that they're doing so it was

165um it was it was really good Yolanda was there and I think Claudia you were there for for a little bit yeah yeah just just a little history so the Metro West Regional collaborative um one of our first Trail Summits was held here and that was probably 10 years ago and through their their staff member David luten Heimer he does Trail work so every year the Metro West Regional collaborative as part of mapc and it's been getting bigger and bigger and more involved in more discussion and partly because there's been more funding at the state level and at the federal level for multi-use Trails so there's this project that mapc is doing called the landline that talks about how can we connect all these different trails and help the communities make those connections so like

166I said the first one was one of the first Summits was held here we had people spread all over looking at maps and okay how can we connect at this and he's been updating and it's very cool to see how these connections have been growing part of that is if you go to NAIC and you go to the home dep and you see the trail that connects into Framingham that will eventually you get on that trail and you're going to be able to go all the way to Sudbury and Hudson and further and then the really and I know I've mentioned this before is the north south Greenway that will start in Maine and end in Florida and it's going to come through Framingham and touch part of the upper Charles Trail as well as

167at the same time east to west there's 120 Mile Trail that will be going from Northampton all the way into Boston so it's because of summits like this and for Ashlin to be part of that and to continue to be part of that is important for us and our Trails but also just for the community at large because of the benefits of having those Trails available but also potential for tourism and you know dollars coming in because people go on a bike ride and they stop for ice cream or they go on a bike ride and they stop for lunch and so that's really it's it's not just the trail it's the whole Economic Development potential for Ashland as well as the surrounding communities you're going to have to be walking because the traffic's going

168to be brutal it was it was tonight um so that's not on a multi-use trail that's the sidewalk um yeah so uh so with the just with the upper Charles Trail really kind of our next step is is to look at an RFP to do the engineering but um you know I I'll just be very candid about it I think things have to slow down a little bit for Jen to actually have an opportunity to put that together so um and that's understandable I think with the 240b projects coming in and and some of these other things that sort of been time sensitive I mean not that the trail isn't time sensitive and again you've all heard me say this we've only been working on our Trail for eight or nine years and it took

169and it took hollist in 20 years and they had an empty Trail bed so I used yeah good because it's true it it is it is frustrating though to have like it's tough It's hard it's hard for the trails committee I you know for such resource limitations because you want to like do these things but um yeah so so there's that and then just a couple of things um you know we had had a reminder about yard waste um collection you know I will let you know if you haven't heard complaints yet um about our yard waste collection I'm kind of surprised because it really has not g gone very didn't go well last year but it it hasn't been going well this year at all and let's hope it improves and so I mean

170we we're we are fining we are you know doing who's dropping the ball is it Waste Management yeah it's Waste Management it's waste management and I know everybody's like get another company but quite frankly you know talking to other I mean there's there's a lot of administrative stuff associated with that but quite frankly you know talking to other communities you know other haulers aren't doing great either so um so it's it's really and everybody it's because everybody's dealing with the same thing they can't get the people to work so um so there's that and uh just Yolanda just you know a couple things um Yana that you you talked about you know tonight was just awesome uh so Mina already gave us a count uh so 750 kids um through the library through the library

171and so kind we since we're all working together you know Library the businesses Town Hall we just kind of assume we're all that's see great rough so it's about 250 more than last year um last Friday I'm sorry how did they do last Friday the team great really well and we could see people but I just countwise I couldn't tell how many people so when I when I went over cuz I got like a little bit I went in before the the kids showed up um and I walk in and you know it was funny because Miss Lois was was like are you volunteering I'm like no no I'm not volunteering I'm just here Lois came back to help yeah she was all dressed up she that stuff and um so I I got a

172little sneak peek and I said how many how many people and she's like we have we have like 40 to 50 kids registered like registered nice so I don't know how many ended up but I ended up getting a um an email back from um Laura the the teen librarian and she said that it went just so well and um that the kids said it was better than they expected and kids which you know was that's cool I do think like I think I think they had a real good showing my guess is the middle schoolers really kind of represented yeah I think it's harder on the high school side there was a football game that night and other things too but yeah but um kudos to the to to the library for putting together

173such a really great event so was it homecoming no no it wasn't homecoming okay but tonight I mean it was just it was it was great and I was um you know I I'm usually at the front of town hall greeting everybody as they come in and um you know you just look across the street and like it's kids and families filling the street and you know what it's like on these nice sidewalks with the brick banding and the lights and everything and it's like dog on it that's what we envision for y that's what we were thinking it was like you I'll tell you that the phrase that came to mind small town America you know it just felt you know it felt like it was going back to a time when when you

174could when you could kind of do that and uh so yeah it's uh like I said today is one of those days when when you really like your job and so it was it was funny when I was leaving town hall I was walking down Main Street and I um saw Michael broken who was out there with a with a chair and a little table and a bowl of candy fun and and he was like he was he was like we live in the best town isn't this the best town he's like I saw this last year and thought next year I'm going to get out there and I'm going to give out candy and he's like this is the best we live in the best town really I was I was so so even

175even people who aren't like you know like a business or it's just everybody it's just cool and um you know and like you said the staff they get into it great it's just it's a remarkable they had themes there were three little pigs there were the emotions from the inside out uh we had the Grinch we had two Beanie Babies I mean like that they and they're creative it was just so cool so cool to see and shout out to Sue's bat costume which was uh pretty awesome actually very creative who's bat really appreciated that I didn't get I got I must have gotten here too late to see her costume handmade handmade handmade y'all yeah great work so pictures pictures please Susan yes definitely definitely need to see it speaking of employees and speaking

176of pictures so we had our employee Barbecue on Friday um which was another good time I mean we had um we had trivia we had um kickball we had a kickball game going and we had cornhole going and so I think we've got some pretty remarkable pictures from kickball where did you do that um at the community center there Fields behind the community center um I mean we saw back flips we saw um launching somebody over the fence Becca Becca launched over the fence yeah amaz Chris did a belly flop yeah it was pretty amazing we got pretty competitive it was fun interesting that's great that's great camaraderie and building no water involved nope it was just to not just dirt is just not to get thrown out third wow you got to do s

177extraordinarily painful and God bless you Kevin Pierce who uh from the police department who showed up I'm like you to join us and he was like do you really want me to go out on IOD for a kickball game Kevin good point good point yep all right thanks thank you for that Michael board reports Makita yeah well uh again thank you so much to the staff here and everybody in the businesses for an incredible trick-or treat townwide celebration today I got out there a little bit myself and it was uh it was fantastic really really beautiful um this is this is the time of year I think where we can feel proud and a lot of uh lot of Community Pride I've been to uh so many great events Fall Fest at the at the

178Corner Spot uh you know Beth and team that was amazing um just incredible day um there was the Dali Festival of life at The Corner Spot the next day on the 20th with the Ashlin Indians in the town it was great um I also had the privilege to be able to attend uh Ashen Indians uh Dali event on the 26 um incredible celebration of art culture and and the holiday um just just incredible um so like I said this is prime time in ashin this time of year it's just fantastic to see the entire town pull together and um and rally around and uh you know just another reminder that Pumpkin Smash on Saturday the uh the 9th is uh going to be pretty awesome I do intend to to attend that so I hope

179we get some well you know I think the well actually Joe it's the theme of sustainability that I'm really no seriousness though that's that's important and I think that we have to highlight that but it's making it fun and that's again you know Kudos you know this is this is what it's all about folks it's what it's all about so thank you yes U it it is a busy time of year right and um I guess all all times of year these days are busy but um I just wanted to recognize Yolanda at the haunt I think some of us went there and uh and uh she performed this the last couple of weekends um did a great job it was a lot of fun that was a fundraiser for the YMCA and for um

180Hopkin and community center for the HS yep um so that was really a lot of fun I was able to uh attend the fincom meeting last week when uh you know our Michael and Jen Britney all uh sat with the fincom and you know it was it was helpful to me to just hear it some things a second time and um and just to hear them go through it and hear their thoughts on different things so that was good it was the Wacker Event open house was going on Sim mously I did run over afterwards um that was a very very nice event and pretty well attended um so so great you know kudos to them Paul uh kudos to Wacker and really for what a big part of our community they are in terms

181of bringing um community events to to to everyone and um and just what a tremendous Public Service really uh wacka is for us um I I also I sat in on the planning board again again with the MBTA and uh uh they had a huge this room was I did not come down I did it virtually this room was packed and there was another 30 people online if I remember correctly yeah did that virtually as well so so um you know just really great questions but I do think it would be helpful to kind of at least give people a just some basic facts so that they understand the distinction they're both extremely important but I think and and there is certainly some similar ities like I mentioned in in to Mark a little bit

182what I felt were similarities however they're they're distinctive as well and Claudia I unfortunately did not get to see that um I forget why but uh do you think there's a lot of people that have the confusion as to MBTA and 40b yeah yeah yeah there's a there's a lot and understandably so right I mean I think you know it's it's um they think it's sounds the same thing it came up at the meeting I mean people were conflating it during the meeting right CL I mean like we heard that when it was happen talking about the I know I know like even tonight like we had so we really I agree with you Claudia we have to really we be a little proactive on that front I think absolutely um and then lastly um

183actually was officer Dion came up to me at at a uh field hockey game the other day and said have you seen the movie American woman and I said I I have not and he said well he said he was watching it and he recognized well how could you miss it um so that was in the summer of 2017 a film company came into town and asked permission to use Middle School field and and use the Middle School field and so um actually I should send you I I did a little screen capture of of just some of that section and so it's on Prime it's on Amazon Prime and it's it it's the um Middle School field it says home of the clockers I mean people are wearing A's there are kids you'll see

184you might see people that you know we were sitting there for that yeah we went there and for that filming so it was it was uh so I did go back I did didn't watch the whole movie yet but I will but I did Zoom through and look for um you know the ashin part and then indeed there was another scene and I said oh my God that's the what the Warren Barn before it fell down in the really wow so um which I also noticed that this little logo that they have on I've never seen that before that's very nice that Framingham state has the Warren Center and yeah yeah cute so anyway so um so definitely I recommend everybody look at uh American woman there's several of them uh what Sienna somebody is

185one of them I'm not really good with American women actors and huh Sienna Miller expensive performance there we go yeah American woman and um yeah it it has the language isn't great in it if if you have a nothing it's nothing in middle school or hasn't heard for sure but it is rated R it is rated it is rated R okay and it is you know like I said I haven't watched the whole thing but the clips that I did there was a lot of language I don't know know what else was going on it didn't look good yeah from the perspective of being a family it's got three well if it's rated R it's probably not a family movie have three stars on roger.com okay well that's good okay yeah he said it was

186pretty good uh so anyway so okay um it was it was fun to see you know Ash uh and it was fun to see the barn before it fell down I was like wow what year did the barn fall down we took didn't we no we took it down well yeah but because it was such bad shape we had to take it down proactive y removal proactive demolition but I mean it had to be after 2017 I want to say it was eight a little soon I know well that's what I thought I thought wow I I I went on I went on and then started looking at pictures of the barn just to make sure that was the Warren barn and I was almost 100% but then when I saw this picture tonight I'm

187like yeah that's it so anyways uh that's it for me thank you thank you Claudia Joe thank you madam chair thank you I didn't realize Ash was was so popular on on movies that's pretty cool um couple of things traffic study safety committee meeting uh we had on the 22nd the Pumpkin Smash then you it's really going to be on the map oh I'm sure it will be it's not like it's not it's not like the Night Before Halloween when it was uh cabbage night if anybody remembers what cabbage night was in Ashland that's the night that everybody went out and smashed all their neighbors pumpkins that's why when you said terrible I'm serious cabbage KN is wonderful night cabbage night I'm telling you that so when you said Smashing Pumpkins I'm going wait a

188minute after after after there was sustainability happening before better than a mailbox that's right it was sustainability happening before it start that's right we didn't know what they were doing and even know so I said they not me anyway uh mhm anyway what else all right so uh the traffic study committee um we're still having some issues with the Water Street cut through and we're going to continue having them until we do some resolution with how the traffic flow uh goes over there um the residents are a little uh up and up about the the speed of the vehicles that are going through we've tried many different things from signs to uh painting different lines on the street to narrow the the roadways uh but it's still a a major cut through to 13 uh

189to uh midle Street heading up towards Badger Road and Route 9 so uh we may ENT putting up a no left turn at the end there to keep people from heading up mle Street and I know a lot of residents that live on Water Street are upset about that so they may they may uh can't boths I you're right you can't have it both ways it's either one or the other and the same thing with the Green Street by Albert R Drive we've uh did some extensive study up there and uh we're looking maybe to uh widen the uh crosswalk up in that area to make a little bit and cut some of the brush that's on that private property and that that's a mjor concern so I just wanted to make sure you were

190aware that we would work on that and then the last thing we had was uh a blind driveway on mle street where our res almost got clipped big time uh so uh that's been resolved and with a sign of uh you know caution uh blind driveway yep so we're working on that uh the 36th annual Halloween parade was uh uh last Thursday it was a wonderful uh wonderful event we had a lot of fun 250 kids at the last count where we had um and the age ranges from 2 months to 10 years so it was great and uh we had a lot of parents that came out for their first time and they all dressed up and so we had them go out and parade first there you go so it was a lot

191of fun and uh they all got prizes and they all got goodie bags and they all get dnut holes and they all get juice so thanks to everybody that make that a wonderful success and thanks to the baa Monies to help provide that funding because Ash day took a bath little bath because of the the rain we had you know we had contractual obligations that we had to pay and thinking that we were going to get that money back and unfortunately because of that rain we did not but we pulled through so we're greatly appreciated uh everything that's been done for us so with that thank you very much um happy birthday there young lady yes and that's it that's what I mean about cabbage tonight it was it's a good night it's a good

192night oh that's right that's right never mind Brandy H so I don't have too too much um I just wanted to you know we were talking a little bit about the Citizens Academy um I did reach out to Mr wixer at um at the ashin high school who um is the adviser for student council and so super nice guy and so they had a um a stuco meeting this morning actually and they um brought it to the kids attention so and you know the like the link to the to the um applic so maybe hopefully we'll have a couple a couple really enthusiastic high schoolers that want to um apply I did say in my email to Josh that it's not community service credit it's more like job shadowing because I didn't want kids to

193think that they were getting you know 20 hours of community service by going through it by going through it so cuz cuz good point because they're all looking for community service so um so just wanted to let you know so hopefully you know that might that would be great um I just wanted to congratulate Ashlin Community Theater on Rocky Horror um I went last weekend with a bless you with a couple friends um one of which had never really known about Rocky har and um learned about it in a whole new way so um yes so it so it's it's and and I haven't seen Rocky Horror since I was 20 years old and it's um it's a lot different when you're 20 years old let's just put it that way but but they did

194a great production they did a great job they did they did a great job they did a great job so congratulations to to them um and then just um you know today was so much fun in town hall so um thank you to the staff yeah it you know it's it's it's I I it's so funny because I no longer have like the age of a child that comes trick-or-treating so it's like I get I get my I love that so much cuz I miss that come my house tomorrow night you I we get we get literally five trick-or treaters we get we get like nobody more than us oh we get like no trick-or-treaters and some some squirrel already like smashed my pumpkin so it looks it looks so but um but anyway just

195wanted to wish everyone a Happy a happy Halloween and be safe out there tomorrow night and um and thanks that's it thank you thank you yeah it'll be nice and warm oh okay uh so couple things so yes I was at the haunt for the last two weekends it was a great fundraiser I think we had probably almost a thousand people go through over both weekends and it was a lot of fun and again for me it's great because it's a fundraiser for both the Hopkinson Center for the Arts and the Metro West YMCA and I'm on both their boards so it's it's like I'm volunteering my time and knowing it's for a good cause uh I was also at the waa open house for a short bit before we had a comp plan meeting

196uh so that was fun I was able to give them a proclamation on our behalf and then we had a comp plan meeting last week we're working on Gathering our technical experts for the five different core themes I think uh you know we're we're reaching each individual comp plan member is reaching out to people to determine who is the best for certain things uh and we were also supposed to as of the 29th get any feedback back to our Consultants on their goals and strategies and things like that I was also able to go see Rocky Harr so that was a lot of fun they did a nice job uh was interesting after the fact I found out that one of the the the narrator actually is an Ashlin high school graduate from Michael I

197forget his last name but yeah Chris's like oh I know him like lip shits no I forgot no I know yeah yeah anyway so the narrator was someone graduated from National High School uh let's see I uh have put my name in and I've done an interview to potentially get appointed to the MSA board the mass selectman Association board I will be if I get appointed to that I'll be stepping off the weimo board they recommend people do it for two years and then let someone else so if anyone else is interested in getting part is in uh participating with weimo uh it's a great way to meet other state elected women and participate in planning the virtual event and the in-person event nominations for that are still open until I think middle of November

198uh and of course the MMA conference is happening in January connect 351 it's at a new location consider you know if you want to go let Susan know uh it's a great way to again meet people and just see what other communities are doing it is being held at the uh Boston Convention Center this year they've moved location they have been at the hindes for the last couple years and now they're at the Boston Convention Center and I know Michael doesn't always think that there's valuable sessions remember from last year yeah I'm not good I'm not good at Chang so just changing the oh uh and then just a reminder our next meeting is actually next Wednesday we don't have the week off because of our change in schedule uh as everyone else has said

199Halloween is tomorrow Happy Halloween be safe have fun and if I can get a motion to adjourn second all those in favor happy Halloween thank you all for watching and we'll see you right back here next week's great night e e e