Select Board meeting Wednesday, November 1st 2023

001right are we live so thank you uh uh welcome everyone to the November 1 2023 meeting of the ashin select board uh we're being live streamed uh via wacv I apologize we had some technical issues so we're getting started a few minutes late tonight but uh welcome for all our to all our viewers and uh okay so um I'll call this Mee into order and our first item will be citizens participation so if there's anyone who wishes to um participate please you can use the raise hand function is there anybody here or come or raise your hand physically I think Mark's birthday was was yesterday I think Mark is raising his hand okay Mark go ahead I think you can unmute yourself okay good evening Sony 49 haon Road let me turn my TV down

002first okay that's bu and um I wanted to I wanted to ask about um what I saw on the planning board last week the discussion about the comprehensive plan between the planning board and um Brandy Kingsman and Michael Herbert there they came on they were talking back and forth is there any reason to um be concerned about this well well if you um you know if yeah go ahead so Mark I I'm I'm glad you were on the planning board meeting last week it was a an interesting discussion and I know that um there are there you know I think the plan might be for um the planning board and the select board to have a joint meeting we're going to plan to have a joint meeting anyway in two weeks to talk about the

003MBTA communities um process but um that also might be on the uh agenda as well we haven't talked about it so I don't know if that's if we're going to have room for that but I think you know the the issue that was brought up was the document that we had all voted on and I think that um that is definitely something that that we can discuss for the two boards together yeah yeah thank you brand yeah I was going to just bring it up under board reports that I did receive that request from the chair of the planning board to discuss those issues at our at our joint meeting that's been tentatively scheduled for November 15th so we can talk about that uh uh but yeah so that's I guess the gist of it

004and we'll be I've not received anything officially just a phone call but I imagine that Trish is going to send something and then we'll I'll take a look at it yeah go ahead yeah Mr Mark before so you said do you should there be anything that cons you you know should you could be concerned about this I did not get to watch the planning board meeting I did get updated about it what I would say is I don't think you as a resident need to be concerned about this the project is still moving forward the consultant knows what they're doing the steering committee you've seen a couple of the meetings in person it's a very large group with a lot of interest and a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge so I don't

005think you need to be concerned okay is what I would say Mr Herbert sir uh oh okay Michael well do you have a a different question Peter um Mark no he knows where I'm coming from yeah I'm not sure Mark I I don't really have too much more to add uh oh yeah Mark I think we answered your question did you have something else you wanted to ask or well want just one see is there was any repercussions or anything that that was um understanding or not understanding at the time and just one of the seel I've been I've been going to it I've I've been wanting to be on it on thaty has a plan but I've been sing up forward and I have as since CE sending out dozens of emails which I

006think Mr herb is happy about and um I just wanted to say that and the other and the other thing would be the um this there me and in a couple of weeks at the new Mendes cafeteria cafeteria um where is it well Mark I'm glad you actually brought that up because uh as of right now it looks like it is going to need to change and it will not be at the Mendes cafetorium um just we're still working out some of the technological features let's put it that way of the school um and we don't have we we don't have the new space determined it might actually be uh virtual um we're still working on that okay and one thing I would suggest I think we have updated in a comprehensive plan I was

007thinking of a general update so we can think about you know we want to discuss things under that one coming up soon right see in your bus tour the bus tour yeah the Big Bus tour so okay anyone else for Citizens participation okay I'm done insane okay thank you happy happy happy after Halloween happy after my birthday is yesterday today great I made it through a scary 66 years now I'm at 67 thank you all right great um so the next um uh item on the agenda is the vote to close sign and post the special town meeting warrant for November 29th so Jen you want or Michael going to present this so it's a pretty straight forward um warrant um for our special town meeting we always start with free cash appropriation the only

008difference um between what you have in front of you and what we will um post is that typically when I went back and looked at our old warrants um we started putting the um the table that shows the account breakdown so that has to be part of the the motion but sometimes we don't post the full warrant book until you know a week or so before so so um we've included it in the in the actual warrant that's posted um once you close it and so our free cash total is 1,743 648 and so that breaks down um using our policies um for 25 and 25,000 into our general stabilization fund um 515 594 in the OPB trust account um 200,000 will go to sped stabilization account um and 931 689 will go to Capital

009and then this year um I think that we have discussed the opioid settlement funds that we had received um the way that that was set up it sort of fell to free cash because it wasn't an account um yet that we could that we could set up that we could roll it over um year to year and so um we are going to allocate the 7 71,3 64,000 for the opioid settlement activity um back into our account so that we can do some of those activities over this year so so yeah could I just I'm not sure I understand so we we're supposed to get funds from the settlement but we we are so it came to us and then we we didn't expend it in that that fiscal year so we don't have like

010a revolving account or another account that we were able to sort of roll it year to year so did it end up in free cash now you're reing and re appropriating back in for the for the reasons yeah sorry if I wasn't clear yeah do hasn't authorized um communities to put it in a revolving count or receipts reserved um account yet so that's why we're having to go about it this way it's not like we miss setting up an account it's do has setting up some so that $1.7 Million number that total that you read is that inclusive of the opioid or is that okay all right I just want to make sure okay than question just question on the opioid is that something a recurring settlement that we think we're going to be seeing

011every year or okay yeah for several years actually there's a couple of settlements um okay that we were a part of and participated in um and this is one so so where would that money be earmarked for would that go towards border of health programs and things of that nature and Human Services so yeah so as part of the new like the sort of the um under chist French we have the department of prevention and Human Services they'll be doing a lot of work cool so they can start new programs or whatever and follow through thank you one last question because our packet will we see what capital is going to be done yes okay you mean the capital projects yeah because there's amount for Capital and we need to okay and you said the

012the full packet's posted and we'll be once we vote it oh once okay but it's in the full packet that you're going to post and then you guys going to send a followup uh yeah we're meeting with fincom next Tuesday um so we'll go over some of the capital then and then the final you an email all those figures and stuff yeah that would be yeah yeah I can send this updated yeah that' be great thank you um the second article is just um the property tax exemptions for eligible seniors which we do um thank you article three is the senior tax workof program um and that's just to sort of reaffirm our our program and then this year there's uh we're asking to be able to be able to um extend the number of

013hours that seniors can work and then also the um the cap amount that they can uh earn so right now I think we cap it at 750 um the law allows us to cap it at, 1500 and actually even this year they went to 2,000 but we thought the, 1500 at this point um and it also allows them to um work 125 hours and right now it's CT at 100 okay um Article 4 is accepting uh a donation of land for zero Fountain Street um it's about 10,000 or 11,000 square feet I don't know if you want to elaborate on that but no well just um this is uh a donation that bill and Carolyn Bell had offered um this is land that uh Bill Bell's father had acquired um I guess back in the

014day he was air fairly prominent developer in town and uh so he still has some pieces of property that he bequeathed to um to Bill and Carolyn and uh so this is about a 10,000 foot property it's landlocked um but talking to to Becca and Sophia our conservation agent and assistant conservation agent they thought it provided a lot of habitat value um because it's very wooded it's it's in the middle of a neighborhood but it's very very wooded where is is it zero Fountain Street so it's like yeah it's kind of sandwiched between that and is it bellw I want to say it's bellw Heights but I could could totally be wrong about that so is that the Framingham end or the other end framing you Fountain Street I mean it's towards the eastern part

015of town yeah so well I mean it's zero Fountain Street so it's either one end or the other but I don't know what way the numbers run on Fountain Street so is that coming from we so coming from Framingham Fountain where Fountain Street starts right side or left side um it it doesn't really work that way it's um so you have a number of parcels that you know have for some reason they're they're unclassified or don't have a direct stre address because they haven't been built upon okay and so they haven't been assigned in address so like I said this is actually sandwiched in between a subdivision which I believe is sandwiched itself between bellw and Fountain Street okay so bellw is the other side yeah Bell is right like at one from con Street

016yeah so it's probably like so like jod road which is in Framingham it's probably like right when you get over the yeah I want to make sure I had the right right sub see on the map as to where it say like yeah we'll have we'll have a map it'll be because you'll get all office not it's not abing the current Bel property right no so it probably is the framing yeah the other end is their property right right I'm not sised okay yeah okay so Article Five accepting an easement at um 107 High Street and that is just to allow our DPW access um on a on I think it's twice a year um to be able to mow the proper that we town-owned property um behind those homes that we didn't otherwise have

017access to so known as zero High Street that's funny um um that's part of the property that was given to us through the ugc deal no no no this was no it's not near there it's up the street yeah this is um probably closer to the yeah the intersection with Whitmore and High Street but it's um it's a property that was gifted to the town I believe back in the 90s I have to check yeah and as part of that gift um you know one of the responsibilities of the town was to maintain that twice a year so okay um so this helps facilitate that um article six is to authorize a home R petition to increase the liquor license um as as previously discussed um we hoping to uh increase by 16 licenses for

018alcohol um so this would give the board the authority to move through that home roll petition process and this is just for on premise right we decided not to look at oh yeah we never did what did we do the off it's it yes it say on premise consumption on premise right I'm just verifying right no that's good yeah this is like restaurants right this is that big increase yeah yeah um this says select board is it I'm sorry go ahead oh I was just going to say like I was just going to ask like I assume there'll be a presentation kind of outlining outlining like our rationale behind how we got to that number and all that stuff right yes okay and who would I guess who would do that presentation um is it

019one of us or is it be I think I think you can certainly lead into it and you know talk about the rationale behind it and you know why you wanted to move forward with this then we could fill in the details as necessary would it make sense to have Beth there to do because I mean she's the one who sort of did the research to determine what would be good amount and she'll probably be there anyway right yeah I just think it's it I think if if I'm a resident and I'm looking at it and I'm saying 16 liquor licenses I think the gut reaction is oh God like how like what what is you know so I think I think we need to be thoughtful on how we present it yeah so just

020you know I don't mind I don't mind one of us doing it but I do think to yoland I think I think if there's like a formal presentation about it I think that's probably the better route to go yeah at least the backup that we saw with some sort of estimate of why this is good yeah I I think if we presented something that talks about the amount of licenses we have left which is not that many um the fact that this is not really an uncommon request for cities and towns nowadays and then talk about how it impacts Economic Development with potential growth down the road ex exactly I think that would cover basically what you're what you're thinking we're going to get questions about other exactly exactly what's interesting is Boston is about

021to do the same thing to the state it is a significant increase and I if I was sitting there I'd be I'd be well that's that was my reaction when I first saw what what people no blue laws in Ashland yeah and I mean you know the the warrant is relatively light you know and I think the only things that are really going to bring people to town meeting like like issues are potentially this and then people coming out um for the CPC for the dog park yeah so but but I could see I could see people not understand oh yeah and that's that's already that's actually already happened uh Brandy because I've had several businesses in Town Liquor businesses question why do we need more yeah really why do we need more you know

022so but they don't realize from offsite sales not and that's that's what they need that's what they need to know so they're a little confused themselves so having a better description and understanding May uh you know answer a lot of their questions and ease their uh concerns so but that REM were you thinking about having a forum for not a forum but we'll do our standard you know like info session to managers yeah okay um article 7 is a CPA um funding to construct the dog park so they voted to um utilize $215,000 from their open space account um that would have to be expended by uh the end of June 2027 for that project so yes we'll we'll have to be will it'll have to be done before then but yeah so another thing

023we really need is we need a acceptable maintenance plan before okay this happens I mean I don't want to be like the what is it the skunk at the lawn party that's about right but but the garden party I think yeah we'll go garden party yeah but um we're still waiting is it the dog park committee that's coming up with the maintenance plan okay yeah so yeah they've sent us sort of a broad outline I need to you know but it's sort of maybe they could fundraise for some of the materials but much of the work would be at least they're asking that it would be done by DPW so I need a little bit more detail on what that actually is so I just need that before town meeting I think that's important okay

024yeah um obviously a bigger lift then it's a lot of poop to scoop Yeah well yeah yeah I think they'd be responsible for the inside yes like they have to be responsible for the inside me the whole dog yeah anyway yep um article8 is to extend the Riverwalk funding that has been previous L authorized by town meeting um to extend it through December 31st um 2026 and that is it what's the remaining balance of those funds and what done uh so there there is for the CPC funds there is about 85,000 that's allocated for the Riverwalk um and that would be um coupled with other funds that we have to do the second phase so initially we had hoped to either cross well initially we had hoped to cross ffw um because of the flood

025plane change that wasn't going to work really feasible we started to really look at making a crossing at Marathon Park um there's a there's a pretty large Wetland that have to have a boardwalk which when I got the last estimate it was it was pretty substantial so what what this would be used for initially would be um to bring back on an engineer look at that possible but then also is there a possibility just to sort of go up Ponderosa make a safe Loop lots of people sort of loop um go for a walk and then Loop into a sidewalk at least or you know Loop into the bridge Crossing because there's the there's the pedestrian bridge there and then there's sidewalks yeah you want to be able to reach the the station right safely

026so is there a way that we could potentially have um a path that sort of skirts along the Ponderosa side of the river and so that would be useful that would be nice um do you anticipate making a presentation that includes that kind of information a town meeting or like what's I think it's just an extension so it's really a simple extension to finish what to finish the Riverwalk so basically it's enion we have $85,000 left and they would it would go away unless we extend the allowance to use that money so that's what we're all that's all this so that's all it is that's why I was so but this other stuff you're talking about about is really interesting is that part of you know was that the next phase or that would be

027the next phase this this allows us to access this money to do that next phase okay so I think you should at least think about talking you or whoever's you know laying out that kind of vision like yeah yeah we want to do we're looking at a bridge or we're looking at a connection so here's here's the concern the more detail you put then people go they're going to they're going to have questions and all this all this is doing is saying we have $85,000 left to do some work on this project project and all we're asking is for permission to not Sunset those funds but extend them to December 31st 2026 yeah all right well I still think it's good to lay out the kind of vision to people and just say this is

028you know this is just what we're planning on doing so anyway um okay any other questions about the warrant no are we ready to vote on it I move that we vote to approve to close sign and post the special town meeting warrant for the meeting happening on November 28th 2023 29th wasn't it go ahead you got Miss I'll yes motion has been made in seconded all those in favor say I I I oppose none motion passes unanimously all right thank you and we have the actual warrant to be signed here yep which actually I'll just start that around um okay the next item on the agenda is discuss granting funds from the selectman's gift account for the employee recognition event held in December and discuss the date okay so so yes um typically we

029do this in December um so just you know from a date perspective uh start thinking about a date that would um would work for you then um this year uh we're going to ask for $3,000 to for both the food and the gifts um associated with uh the recognition last year it was about uh 2,800 so looking at just kind of some cost incre inrees in the number of awards 3K would be sufficient so what date are you looking at I know last year it was like the second Friday Susan did you have a date in mind we didn't have a chance to touch base on that well I would say either the 1 or the eth the 1 might be a challenge just because Thanksgiving runs so late in town meeting so the eth

030is probably likely and better datee I would I would agree with that so we talk wedes no Friday Friday so that might be tough Susan because we got our department head meeting on the 8th and we're going to miss the November one okay um so we can push it I wouldn't push it later than that so we can do the first if you think that works best could you move the department head meeting on Thursday or no I could uh yeah you know what we could look at moving that to the following Friday need do the employee recognition on December 8th perfect oh it is the 8th okay I move is that noon no it typically starts at like 11: yeah I move that we approve a not to exceed amount of $33,000 from the

031selectman's from the select board gift account for the employee recognition event and holiday event on 128 motion's been made and seconded by Claudia um all those in favor say I I opposed none motion passes unanimously okay so the next one is update on the comprehensive plan bus tour that took place but also I would just add any other updates on the comprehensive plan that people care to make so take it away yeah I can do uh the bus tour um so we uh the comprehensive plan steering committee or 18 of us uh which actually wasn't a bad turnout considering uh the weather um went on a site visit quote unquote and essentially it was a town tour um and uh first of all I have to give thanks to Ed Burman for securing the bus

032and driving the bus uh Kate Jers also made us little uh field trip goodie bags I saw that was in the picture Wonder but uh it was actually I thought really good we went uh we didn't get to spend time at a lot of time at every site but the purpose was to really give people especially those who aren't familiar yet with all of the projects and you know the history of the town and everything it was to at least give them an idea of where things are and what they look like and and what they are and at least a little bit of the history behind the projects and the feedback that I had received was uh that we accomplished that and it was great we had an opportunity for other steering committee members

033to you know provide input uh so it wasn't just me talking the whole time which is great um so and I don't know Brandy or yoland if you wanted to add anything to that I I unfortunately had to cut it short because I had to go get ready for the haunt but I like the idea of it I'm I'm glad to see that it is up on the website so that if oh yeah people want to go do the tour themselves they can go do that so I think and and as you said I think for those people for those committee members who are not as familiar with Ashland it gave them a lot of good history and insight into our town and I would definitely agree I think that it was um I mean

034I learned things and I feel like you know Yolanda and I are probably on the were more in the know from a lot of these projects than some other people but the feedback that I heard was that people really appreciated the background because it gave everyone kind of like a baseline knowledge of what's happened in Ashland over the last I mean you know really since the last comprehensive plan but the last 10 10 15 years you know even the history of um faford development and people hear the name faf but they don't understand what that really translated into and and um so it was it was a it was a really good it was a good it was a good few hours we we got out of the bus a few times it was really

035cold yeah not not a great day cold and wet but um but it was but it was a it was a good good tour and I think that um I think think it was well worth the time and you know thank you for putting all that together because it was a lot of work um and then the notes that Yolanda talked about are up on the website and also not only is it like the sites that we visited but just some background on some of the things too so people can um basically get a little bit more more background on things that that that we saw so it was good great I guess the only thing for me was I was sad that you did my side of town first I'm much more familiar with

036stuff there and then you went to the other side so I'm like I didn't think about that Yol sorry that's okay I was only one person it didn't matter but that's great good um but yeah I mean I know there's a couple of other updates but you but the other members of the steering committee all right anything else anybody want to talk updates with the comprehensive plan things seem to be moving along pretty well so you know you got the U it's not a form what is it the info info session coming coming up it's a public forum so it's it's a it's a different kind of forum so it's not a presentation it's um more like a pop in pop out open house open house open house um so I think the um it's

03712 so it's on um December 2nd from 12:00 to 4:00 on the lower level of town hall um and it's going to be you know kind of people kind of understanding what the plan is going to be and providing some input and feedback um I know that the the working group met I think yesterday yes um and kind of came up with sort of the the umbrella of what this is going to look like and it's it's our first um real opportunity to ask for feedback from from the public and we encourage everyone that's the same day as the Holiday Stroll there's a lot going on that day so as you're kind of in and out in Ashland um come you know especially Town Hall which is part of the stroll come downstairs and and

038um provide your feedback for uh for the comprehensive plan and then you know the only other thing I I that I have is um that uh we had our last newsletter that went out yesterday um I would encourage folks to to subscribe to the newsletter if you haven't already but um it's a good way to get information and and kind of a summary of what's happening with the group but it's but things are moving things are moving a lot the consultant has the website up so that was good to see and also then meeting with people that they consider knowledgeable in certain areas I know Rob you're going to be doing that so and I would say for the event on the second it's really a Popin there's going to be information there's going to

039be members from the from the committee there telling you what you're looking at and it's really we're trying to get as feed feedback from as many residents as possible it could you could spend five or 10 minutes there or you could spend a half hour there it's really your choice on the questions that you have and how how how detailed you want to get in responses the consultant was very thought it was a great way to get people in it's not your typical what we've done in the past right you sit for a half hour or 45 minutes and then you interact um certainly this time of year to try to get people to commit to another hour and a half meeting it's a lot so here they're they're hopefully coming into the building anyway

040to do some shopping or just to look so they'll we'll there'll be signage and there will be people to encourage them to stop in downstairs as well and if all they want to do is stop in they can come in the back door and just go right down the stairs so and I feel pretty confident that uh there will be activities for kids to participate so I I spoke with the president of the Mom's Club today and uh she was really excited about the possibility of of partnering on this and she just needs to meet with the full board and uh you know other than that I think I think you know things are going really well actually with the steering committee I mean it took us a couple meetings to kind of get our

041feet underneath us and you know there's still some outstanding things that that we're working through but you know the last two meetings I think you know the energy and enthusiasm leaving those meetings has been exponentially more than what we had in the previous four so we're definitely going in the right direction yep great okay um there's no other discussion there we'll go on to the trails update and um I'd suggested we had a number of um well a couple two two kind of meetings or events regarding um Trails this past week um and so you know the upper Trail upper Charles Trail implantation meeting and then the the Metro West uh uh Trails for so I'm going to turn that over to Yolanda to talk about the uh what what was it called it was

042the the Metro West well it was sponsored by the Metro West Regional collaborative in mapc and it's our annual Trails Forum so the excitement it was held in Framingham it was held at luring Arena if you have not been to luring arena in the last five years since they did the addition you got to go it's they have this great space upstairs so that's just one thing what was nice was so this the the trails project and I spoke about this at the meeting a lot of it there was the upper Charles trail that was being created so hollison was doing their part Milford was doing their part even just before Ashlin started doing this part the Metro West Regional collab collaborative brought a number of people not only from our region but from other

043regions here to Ashlin town hall and we had people spread out and looking at maps and okay we have this Trail and we have that trail and how can we make connections and what connections need to be made and the the excitement and the palpable interest and and enthusiasm from that meeting and again I want to say it was in 13 or 14 has carried through we're now in 2023 and we've had a number of these forums we've had them almost every year since 2017 except for coid and because of the work being done with David luten Heimer who works for mapc and his landline project it's one of the reasons that the East the the north south east coast Greenway that's going to go all the way from Maine down to Florida is going

044to be coming through Framingham Sherborne Milford and Holliston now and and they're going to be able to connect into Ashland and do our portion of the upper Charles Trail so it was great to hear the excitement and the discussion so it's the the timing for us to move our upper Charles Trails project to a priority project I think it worked really well I think you know it couldn't be a it couldn't be a priority project as we did some of these other things we've been moving it along slowly now it's a priority project for the town and we're seeing this work in the Metro West area so Framingham Sherborne Holliston Ashland are working together to find the connection to work with CSX to see how they can get into Sherborn and then Connect into Ashlin

045and there is commitment from this or from this Metro West organization to make sure that ashlin's portion of the upper Charles Trail is easy to get to they're talking about what they call a roundabout if you've ever been on the trail in on Cape Cod there's a couple of points where it's a circle and you can go in one of three directions so that's the goal that's going to be happening here I'm not sure if it'll be actually be in Framingham or Sherborn but there'll be a circle and you'll be coming from Framingham and you can either go into Ashlin and continue you that way or you'll be able to go down into Sherborn and Holliston is it happening tomorrow no is it going to hopefully happen in the next 5 years that's the goal

046but part of it will depend on the discussion and the negotiations between Framingham and CSX but there's real excitement and it's it's it used to be like really far down that we might see this but it's it the the view of it is getting closer and closer and the excitement in this forum was it was really and people were excited and there was so much discussion and what Framingham is working on already so it's it's one of those projects that I keep telling people we've only been working on our Trail actively for about eight or nine years it took Holliston 20 years to finish theirs and they had an empty rail bed and part of it was the negotiations with CSX I think once we see Framingham you know can make their discussion and and

047purchase their portion and now that we're actively looking at our Trail you know will it be all off-road maybe not but there's there as the saying goes there is a light at the end of the tunnel or the what they were saying at the meeting was the we're we're going to make it past the goal right we're we're gonna we're gonna we're going to make that touchdown and it's a little bit closer so thank you yoland you're welcome yoland if I could just ask so sure so how how do they help us what how do does their support help make this happen so it helps with the conversation because otherwise you know Ashton would stop at at the end of Ashland and then now at least we know where our connection into Framingham is going

048to be right so at some point Hopkinton is also being brought into the discussion okay how are we going to connect to Hopkinton and their Trail to then go down to Milford so by having a regional discussion and by working with MPC who this particular gentleman like that's what he does is he looks at trails and how he can make these connections so I think uh I think that's where the help is and financial assistance or anything along those lines well there has been some but also just guidance right they um through mepc they have a program called DTA where if you put in a certain amount of money they potentially could put in a certain amount of money to help with stuff they give guidance on writing great grants and okay there's this they

049remind you like right now there's a grant Cycle open we're not quite ready to apply for that but just the by having the advocacy of not just Ashland and Holliston and each community on their own by having the combined advocacy of each town as well as our regional collaborative as well as mapc it can help this whole thing grow and eventually get a and what do they help in terms of ADV advocacy do they help with um you know conversations with private property owners in Tong um I don't think we'll use them for that I don't I don't think from that perspective it's more advocacy in helping us get material right so if you're if if we when we start going to some of our private land owners and the private land owners goes well

050I don't want that in my backyard we can reach out and say okay well let let's have you talk to someone in Holliston who had this and now has this in their backyard and realizes that property your property value actually goes up if you have a trail accessible because it now lets you go you can walk out your backyard hop on your bike and do a 30 you know potent you know long term it'll be you'll be able to do a 30 mile Loop oh and then you'll be able to go to Framingham which will then take you up to the minute man which is in in Lexington oh and by the way you can then take that all the way into Boston and all the way to Northampton and and what does a trail

051um actually look like in terms of to be to qualify as part of this Trail does it have to be stone dust does it have to be it can be it can be either and you as a community get to decide how you're going to do Holliston is stone dust okay because they right now have decided not to pave Milford if you ride milford's Trail they are they are paved so it has to be one of those two things it's not just where I go out with my sickle and I say okay well that's an interesting question CL can start with that yeah we we'll kind of we'll get in we're going to get into some of those in our own upper Charles Trail which we're going to talk about as well but um you're

052asking a lot of I just wanted to you know um thank you for that presentation Yolanda the I was uh the only thing I I would just kind of ADD and summarize is that it was a great turnout from Ashlin folks there we had a number of members and uh um Beck who was there there was some staffers there were there and of course and Peter as well Stephanie our sustainability Sam that's right Sam Sam Samantha so we had like two yeah three four uh staff there Y and it was uh really um an energetic um meeting talk about this Regional Trail there was food there so there was food there was food breakfast it wasn't yeah it was okay yeah but uh one thing I would add just to kind of clarify I or

053not but U so our section uh comes off the Dyke Trail heads into Sherburn um and then that's where the it runs into the CSX tracks which is the key area to get control of and and you know I was happy to see there was a lot of support and acknowledgement and understanding of ashlin's position in this as part of that so that was you know it was all good news there was a lot of great stuff going on that was one that was one of your concerns in the beginning that ashin was going to be kept out of that whole conversation which was the reason why we wanted to make sure ashin had a voice in this whole discussion so we wouldn't be left out yeah so it was it was good all around

054and you know kudos to Yolanda and the other folks there that have been working on this for years and uh that oh the other thing I got out of it and this it's really relevant to us is what liser said and Yolanda spoke a little bit to that is like you know get a trail doing something it doesn't have to be perfect do what you can can improve it later but let's get a connection going that shows people what can happen and that's really very relevant to our concerns and what we're trying to do because you know we don't have a rail bed so that's always been our big challenge so um so and the other part that I kind of lumped into with this we had you know as you as you as I

055think you remember that we have the we formed the upper Charles implementation team uh which consists of Peter Michael myself Tony Joel any Alvaro Al and Jen so we've met I think twice have we met we've met twice twice yeah and so we had a interesting meeting last last week Michael so I'll let you kind of start it off and summarize what you got out of that yeah so what's um what we've chosen to focus on first are the properties that are owned and or controlled by Ashland that are on the route and to do a dive into those and to see if there are any any prohibitions um or any obstacles that we need to figure out meaning restrictions restrictions or deed you know deed restrictions and and we actually turned out turned up

056one right now which is that High Street one that we talked about the easement on when we were having the discussion about the warrant um so we can't put a trail there so we have to you know fortunately that's not going to put too big a hi cup in the whole Trail but um we're doing a little bit more of a deeper dive into uh into those properties similarly um Tony and and Rob both went to the school committee um it had basically a a reick start and Judy went as well and Judy Judy went as well so um and had a good discussion with them and I think Paul Kendall is gonna you know now that he has all this free time on his hands is now going well they actually had a sidewalk

057um that's what Joel presented you know which is actually just sorry to interrupt but just to uh they had a sidewalk with uh Paul and um the members of the subcommittee and they actually kind of mapped out a rough route uh from to to get a across the high school and onto uh so which seemed to be plausible and agreeable and um you know Paul thought that the school committee would support that particular route uh which I can talk about if people are interest interested but it basically you know coming into the high school property somewhere near uh this the the cemetery property near the softball field and as you face the high school going around to the right on the ridge of rock above and then uh somehow getting over the Devil's Den area

058and then to the right of the and continuing to the right near the baseball back stop but separated from the baseball back stop and then getting onto the power line right away and then to Cedar Street so that's and there was kind of a agreement that there's some issues there that need to be dealt with but it's seems like a plausible route through the high school and seemed like you know students could use it and they could get to the high school so anyway so I interrupted no no I was that little aside about the school committee well and I think the the one thing I was going to mention um after that was that our one of our next steps is to have a site walk especially along the CET site because that's um

059yeah obviously that's that's going to be a sensitive topic and um just kind of getting our ducks in a row with that yeah I guess the other thing I would add is that certainly it wasn't discussed at this last Forum but DCR is supportive and DCR is looking to work with us to help create our Trail through the State Park section so good point in both Ashland and hopkington state park because it's going to be that's how we're connecting or as of right now that's how we're connecting to hopkington section of the upper Charles Trail is through the hopkington state park and just to add you know rob you talked about um you know how there's comments that we should you know make sure we get a Trail built even though it's it wouldn't necessarily

060be perfect or the ideal Trail but um that also reminds me the engineering for the 135 sidewalks include space for a four foot bike lane um so that's exciting that's good because I think ideally what we would want to do is if you're in framing if you're on Route 135 in Framingham they have sidewalks in a bike lane and then it stops when you hit Ashland I think at some point as we're looking at our street plans we should do the same thing for all of 135 from our border to the hopkington border so we're going to have like at least the onroad stuff we're going to have bits and pieces so for example we eventually there will be a bike lane painted on Summer Street um we got bike Lanes on front and sherrow

061which I know are certainly not ideal on Main Street um but we'll start eventually connecting them and putting them together but if we can start laying the groundwork now as we're doing road work yep yeah can make a difference that's exciting complete streets and I don't one of the things that um we did talk about at the meeting that's probably worth sharing I think um and they uh was you know going back to your issue with the High Street lot at one point the route if you hard to remember but going off around off High Street onto the town land and then you know to the Boy Scout the big Indian trustees and then hopon Park that there's a number of issues with that route I mean big Indian access was one of the issues

062but there's a number of others uh essentially the town land has a lot of restrictions on it so right now in terms of we're looking at going down um from High Street going down um why is it wh uh then to is it house Street then at the end of Whitmore or you H so that's how to get to the high school that's an onroad bike trail so that's kind of what we're looking at now so because the other ones really I mean that's the ideal route but there's a number of issues so that goes to it's an onroad Trail so that's the latest thinking which you go on the bike trail in in on the cape and you have that I think heading into I forget which Community but you you know the Trail

063Ends and you're in a neighborhood and you follow that around you go up over a bridge and then eventually you get to the trail again so I think people are used to that if if you don't have an empty rail bed so yeah so anyway that's kind of what that's the latest thinking so I thought I'd share that with people anything else we should talk about we're going to schedule another meeting to continue the proc impementation team the other there is a number of funding available we've identified just to remind folks because I forget myself that we have identified various sources of funding for the trail engineering next so I think we're and that's in Mike's spreadsheet okay got all these agencies that are excited for don't have money off people excited yeah yeah well

064we're not unique time that we do have we do have the funding so a lot of it's just the procedur we have some funding here in town but I think the other thing is it's not going to be just this year I think it's it's one of those things that Trails have has become something that people realize is a good thing for for sustainability and getting cars off the road and getting people moving and active so it's not just going to be a year or two I think it's going to be multiple years that we're going to see this funding that we can then once we're in a better place we could apply for some more of the grants that would help us do more of the work we can also like I mean depending

065on when we when we think we need specific funds and what it looks like I know that our legislative delegation reaches out to us asking us if there's any projects and things that we are looking for funding for and I know representative Lewis has has been a big supporter of trails for us and so as well yeah so I I think that that's another Avenue as we kind of get get moving through this the other thing is we're looking at putting this on the tip so and tip funding for Trails is huge I mean if you look at what they did in natic and Framingham the the railroad bridge that goes over route n they they did that that was tip that was Transportation infrastructure program funding okay yeah that was millions of dollars so

066I know when we did the the 126 project the tip was kind of it was a long time time Horizon for that is that the same for something that's a trail project or is it a little bit different it depends on what they have so sometimes what happens with the tip program and I won't go into a lot of details is they have projects planned and then either because something's not available they might push it out and then they have money available to say oh okay we have an extra $5 million oh here's this program that's currently on a back year but their engineering is done they have all the land and they're ready to move forward and they could pull it in so that's where we need to get to is have all the

067land lined up have our engineering done for the whole route go toward go for the go for the tip funding and then keep advocating for it and saying okay we're here oh look you oh bring it so and that might be another area where like mapc and the regional collaborative might be able to help with the advocacy part portion of it because definitely they we support each other we support each other on tip project but anyway that's and our legislative delegation as well r on that yeah well thank you so that's yeah that's exciting we're moving ahead so that's great um so the next is the consent agenda I do want to pull a few things um I think a the sessions I did ask Susan uh for a correction to the minutes and also

068I do want to note that Tim Henderson who item G is actually here physically so I'd like to pull him from the consent agenda is there any other items no no I move that we approve the consent agenda minus items a and item G motion's been made in seconded all those in favor say I I all right those opposed none consent agenda is accepted with the exception of items of A and G okay so item a is just a quick I don't know Susan if you have it or should I read the I just asked for one correction to my statement on on Israel which was just to clarify um um it originally said something uh that Sher at his own statement he hopes that people in Israel and US leaders use their power and

069wisdom when it comes to civilians in Palestine I I corrected that too he hopes that Israel and US leaders use their power wisely when it comes to civilians in pales in Palestine so um that's the one one correction I would ask to make so so motion to accept the regular session minutes from October 18th 2023 with the revision that Rob has mentioned all those in favor accepting the minutes say I I I oppos None minutes are accepted thank you and now item G I will um so um at their last meeting the ash uper Charles Trail committee did vote to recommend uh Mr Henderson uh be appointed to the committee there is a vacancy and I think um so he's here tonight and he wanted to come so I said let's chat with Tim and

070talk about the trail so Tim why don't you come up yeah come on up and speak into the microphone so everybody can hear you so um I don't know if you just uh just want to tell us a little bit about you know your background and relevant to the trail and why you want to be on the Ashland upper Charles Trail sure um I've uh I'm Henderson I live on Woodbridge Lane and uh I've lived in Ashlin for 36 years and uh I've you know biked them my whole life but I've been more a very active biker the last since the pandemic really I once I was you know couldn't go anywhere I I bought a bike and started riding a lot we were in Seattle Washington at the time but when we came back

071here it was uh interesting to learn my way around you know the the you know how to get around Ashland because he uh uh as as we've discussed here there are uh isn't an easy way to get you know you're on the roads most of the time and I got to explore the the uh Trails all over you know this area and there's uh was encouraged to you know get involved with the upper Charles Trail committee because seeing what the the trail does in the other towns and to see if you know if Ashland can if I can help any way to um you know be part of that and make that be a a real thing that would be great um my background is uh my education is actually civil engineering and I but

072I spent 40 years as an aerospace engineer and I'm recently retired so I have lots of time to help if I can with any of this so thank you for your consideration and uh I look forward to this yeah questions thoughts comments go ahead that so thank you very much for for wanting to be a part of this I think that you're um wanting to to join at a really good time obviously we were just having a a a good discussion of sort of where where the trajectory is going so um so I just wanted to say thank you for for for stepping up and being an official member of the Opera Charles Trail and um it's a good group of people so it is it is you know I I live across the street

073from Joel so that's that's what so so you've been living the trail vicariously through Joel right and I ride with the bike club and so that's it I've got you know I know Joel you know Joel since he built the since they built the house so you know that's it so okay right great well thank you that's it for me question other questions or comments thoughts no I do just say thank you very much I have known the Hendersons for quite a few years with through their children and that and yeah so uh you know appreciate your stepping up you know we find things to do in retirement don't we that's right it's always something to do people ask me you know what do you do it's like I got I got a million things

074to do I don't have enough time to be retired so go than app stepping up and you want to do thank you you like to do i g to say this will be fun so yeah I would just like to add as um I think it's great that you're stepping up and I think I was just in your house day you were there I want to make sure you'd made that connection so well I remember the last name well this I got to hear this I didn't go to see Tim I went to see his wife and as many they have a different last name so anyway by the way I I loved your skeleton in the yard well now that now that Halloween's over the Santa Hat's going oh there you go there you

075go but I just want to say thank you for stepping up I think your experience and and certainly now your enthusiasm for bike riding will will will certainly help it should be fun you know I I enjoy you know viewing from afar the the various other projects around town so that's it is the we really start working on the trail here this should be be great great great I move that we appoint Timothy Henderson to the upper Charles Trail committee with a term that expires on 83126 second motion's been made in second all those in favor of appointing Mr Henderson the upper Charles Trail committee say I I oppose none you are appointed sir good luck very much thank you for volunteering great and thanks for coming in all right so the next item on

076the agenda is uh Town manager report than so um I can start off with the legislative meeting our quarterly legislative meeting that we held last Friday and um both Yolanda and Rob attended uh as well as myself um and Diane from the town of Ashlin we met with with Jack and Karen Adelman Foster and we were able to discuss quite a few issues uh Rob had brought up the NBTA Community zoning and uh we talked about the NBTA station um we talked about some of our frustrations with eversource and other utility companies um and as we all know we're not the only community that deals with eversource um specifically we were talking about the downtown project and how ever source is now saying they don't have Transformers which you know might push like basically the

077removal removal of the polls out a bit so um and Karen's already uh secured a meeting with eversource from next Monday so virtual one so it'll be good to a surprise to them that they well that was exactly my point Joe I'm like you you've known about this for for years so um but anyway I thought I thought it was a very very productive meeting and I'm glad uh I'm glad we're still continuing to do those the one thing I you know I brought up that the zoning if we can if it's realistic to tweak the zoning act you know this specifically the formula that gave us the 1,00 housing units that needed or what was it 12200 whatever it is um based on our housing which again just to review I said um you

078know it seems to be unfair because we built a lot of housing that we now have to build more whereas towns that didn't build housing have a lower anyway so the whole idea was that we could tweak that and she is Karen was optimistic about arranging a meeting with um uh actually she mentioned uh Ed Augustus who's the current Secretary of the executive office of livable communities but um and so she's um she's going to arrange a meeting just to have a discussion at least with me and maybe I don't know Michael to look talk about the details and you know why what's behind those details so we could understand and if to see if there's any room for um um you know adjusting that or changing it and then Michael you brought up the

079um the prohibition on Town land being part of the formula and I don't know if we had any more resolution on that um no I I did so what Rob is referring to is that uh I talked to Pete matchak uh last week and he said that municipally owned land is now Exempted from being able to be counted towards our acreage um and so I checked with them this week and that is that is correct and then I went through and I looked at the guidelines and it's um you know it does appear to be the case um so to the extent that we were going to use Municipal land to help meet our acreage obligations that could be in Jeopardy uh the other thing we talked about with relate well it was actually related

080to the bond Bill uh the housing Bond bill was accessory dwelling units and just you know some uh ambiguity uh regarding that and what's in the bond Bill and just um so we'll be looking to get some clarification on that as more information comes out so with with adus because I know we've talked about it you know here and then I know that um there was talk about bringing it to town meeting um in a zoning change in general with with adus like is that how would do we know how that would impact what we would be wanting to I haven't had a chance well this would basically the state would mandate that towns would have to uh basically zone so adus could be built as right as a right in the in in the

081housing Bond bill adus would be mandatory good point wow it I mean that's a that's a big change that's a so we raised actually Michael and I think being discussed and reviewed but and there are definitely going to be three versions of this of this Bond bill that floats around so we'll see how the Senate and the house come up with theirs change thinking mindset show well I know you know I'm sure that their thinking is that you know they want to create housing and Adu is an easy way to do it it just may or may not have unintended consequences if we don't control sort of how those that approval goes through yeah that's an interesting point so but anyway but I haven't had a chance to to to take a look at it

082yet it's 100 some odd page Bond bu then yeah yeah search control F I have a summary that was given to me from or at least some of the high points because I'm on an MMA policy meeting policy committee I'll scan that and send it out to everybody so you guys can get a look at that would be awesome yeah we did um yeah Yolanda you weren't here for the beginning is there anything you want to add to this um discussion that maybe Michael we talked about thee yeah no um but yeah there was a lot of good points about the bond bill um and um and the MBTA communities act any other did we talk about other funding or um other issue didn't really not so much we talked about theks it was really

083more administrative like making sure that's right access everything and that's all it yeah so um so we'll continue that discussion um I guess we're still optimistic about being able to implement the zoning act pretty much as is but we'll hear more about that I think at our next meeting right that's my understanding Joe you think FR I was bring that my yeah sure well we could talk you talk about it now if you want or in your board report whatever I'm kind of I'm kind of sorry I'm kind of uh surprised to hear about you know the the land issue land exam because that definitely changes the whole thought process right now especially in and around the area that where we're looking at yep so I can't wait to see what happens Friday morning yeah

084that would be interesting discussion yeah yeah for sure let me ask a question I I don't want to get too off topic but just kind of related to that so if we were to rezone the um the RTA the um RTD sorry um where we have land that's going to be coming back to the town but it isn't it's still in litigation like how does is that ugc yeah I mean I don't know I'm just curious like that's an interesting maybe we don't bring it up [Laughter] and yeah maybe we Zone and then yeah it's not our land it's not our land yet that's right I don't know I'm just yeah we could we actually could look at the ugc property and even the property that wouldn't be coming back to the town and look

085at rezoning that okay I was just curious I don't want to get us off topic no but that's a good we were going to discuss it one way or the other thanks more than welcome to come Friday nope no I'm good you've got this handled you got it handled my friend yeah all right yeah that was a good good meeting I think we got a great legislative delegation there's a lot going on any anybody want anything else to add to that one no okay go ahead Michael now just uh the next item on the agenda is an update on crime Trends or security issues and uh Ashlin is still a pretty safe Community or still a very safe Community I shouldn't say pretty that's where you got to be careful you got to choose your

086words carefully um there has been though in Massachusetts a rash of burglaries on um uh in South Asian households and you know Indian Sri Lankan you know um from that uh ethnicities from that part of the globe and uh so obviously um they constitute like 15 maybe a little bit more 15% or more of our population so it's something that you know we're keeping an eye on so there's um that's really it on that issue can I I just you know I kind I brought this up because I read the ashin police department's Facebook posting about home security and which I thought was excellent and I said oh okay so is there something going on and so I said let's discuss it and so Michael's just clarifying this is a general kind of advisory about

087and it was related to the South Asian incident where people were being burglarized so news yeah right yeah so and I just want to make it clear so we haven't had any issues here in in Ashland I just you know so I want people who are watching to know that they're safe it's just something that we're keeping an eye on and I you know I should also mention under this that uh you know I don't have the hard statistics with me right now but um we are seeing an increase in traffic stops and um you know hopefully we'll see a a corresponding impact in terms of speeding and things of that nature as well that's because that is a recurring issue it is it is so um update on the annual Town FL just yeah

088so just let me intro just briefly I mean just um we had you know the Town Forest committee hosted I think was fairly prominent and I'm not up on all the details but it seemed like a a fairly prominent and important event um that DCR does this town forest and we hosted it this year and uh Michael attended I don't did would anyone else attend so Claud was there as well great so I'll turn over to you guys just chat about it yeah I thought um so it is a relatively um you know it's a Statewide conference put on by the department of conservation and Recreation and this was the first year that they had it in person since the pandemic so uh it was even more special and we had over a 100 people

089at the community center um from as far away as Pittsfield and on the cape um don't think I met oh no and I met um some people from Northeastern Massachusetts as well but uh it was a great great conference that you know the beginning of the day was focused on presentations and and learning and and educational sessions um of which two Ashlin residents presented uh Cara Hume and also Jennifer shaken who is part of the na New England Forest forestry Foundation um Jennifer gave a great presentation on climate change and the impacts on the forest and and and Cara did one on basically a round table with some of the Girl Scouts and some of the teenagers in town about you know Forest as community so they did a great job and uh just give

090kudos to the town Forest committee for um basically being selected to host this event and then also doing all the work that they did to to put it on and put it together that was the be that was the morning session the afternoon session consisted of s sidewalks in the Town Forest three different ones and of course it poured but uh still there were there were quite a few people that took advantage of those so it it was great they can they can the Town Forest committee and in the town by extension could should be really proud of of that and the work that they're doing certainly great Claudia anything you wanted to add to that you went to yeah no it was actually I I thoroughly enjoyed it um you know I wasn't able

091to stay all day because we actually had a wedding in the afternoon when it was pouring but um it was uh it was very informative and uh you know very interesting and uh it was nice to have ashin people presenting and and Michael was the kind of the MC host and uh he did a spectacular job so thanks I great I'm always amazed at your multi uh talents was he juggling or anything like that just just did great presentation so that's nice um so no not for that one and then um I actually have one thing that's not on the agenda um and Susan myself and several of our department heads met with the Boston Athletic Association yesterday to talk about next year's marathon and um you know something that's always a recurring ask is

092if uh we can get more bibs to distribute to Runners to fund raise for our programs and if we could get more money to help support our operations as part of the marathon and um so the uh baa has increased the number of bibs to 25 so an increase of three um and they are also increasing our funding by 10% to 80,000 with a commitment to um increase that by 2 and a half% each of the next of of the following two years so uh many thanks to the baa for that they've got a whole new team obviously since Jack has uh taken over as president and um their sponsor now is different 222 so we'll continue with the 10 the 12 for the company and then mean n Nord yep they get 12 and

093then we'll do the other ones nice um Susan how does that strike you in terms of I know there's been some issues or or I guess that's my question do you see issues with getting folks for all those bibs or that will commit to the fundraising or we've got a waiting list do you we have a waiting list and I actually sent out in anticipation of this conversation coming up I did send out not first three people on the wait list tonight I'm just awaiting hearing back and are they all Town residents or did you go outside of are there out of town res I just I'm asking because the running club is interested but there a lot of them live outside of town is there any Out of Towners getting bibs or no Out

094of Towners um only because we had about 60 people including outou of town people this year put in requests wow did you say 6060 60 wow that's amazing and every so it's all Town residents that are getting bibs it sounds like I think pref preference Goes to Town residence if there's if there's not us that's why it's so I guess that you know cuz we we've talked about how we distribute bibs and that whole thing and I know that there have been years where we've struggled to get people to run but you know it sounds like maybe we need to look at it next year and see if we am and possibly do more and and you know oh you want more from those Runners well more so you know we we do this we

095do this um the amount of bibs to to Nord which I think is great yeah maybe should look at you know maybe maybe we need to just look at that so but but I mean I think it's awesome first of all I think it's amazing that 60 people want to want to run on behalf of Ashland and the baa the Boston Marathon is so popular it is well it's one of the it's one of the Premier marathons and for us to you know I mean I think I think most Charities that ask people to to raise funds are a lot higher than what we ask as the average is 12,000 we're asking three so that's that's why I think next year we need to look at I think we need to talk to Nord beforehand

096and say we're we're going to increase that and I think we need to ask our Runners to to raise a little more not a lot maybe it's you know another another 500 or 1,000 but something like that some reason something to think about yeah was an interesting statistic but it'll be 9,000 more that will be into the into the um into the runners account from these extra but we're also increasing the amount that we want to give people so sure yeah yeah yeah so cool very cool all right anything else Michael on your no that's it that's all I have that brings us two board reports we can Brandy you're on the end this time so we'll start with you oh my goodness so I really don't have much um except for you know we've

097been really busy with the comprehensive plan we had our last newsletter um go out yesterday and um that is kind of like I'm I am the I am the the the the main conduit with the with the newsletter which I totally love to do so um it's totally in my in my wheelhouse so I guess I guess until somebody else decides they want to they want to do it I'm the uh I'm the volunteer thank you for doing it look like you're going to be doing for a while I think I'm going to be doing it for a while I don't see anybody else you got about a year and a half so you're good we're good once a month once a month I can handle so that's so but Melissa's not involved in that

098is Communications so um my proc so my process is is that you know we really start the newsletter process when after our after our monthly meetings um and it kind of is like a recap plus other things that we want to make sure we communicate out to the public um I I have like I've worked in constant contact before which is our our um email um service or however you want to call it so I put together the the I send out to um to the chairs basically like my bullet list of things that I have to see if there's anything else that they want to include and then um I work in constant contact and put it together and then I send it out for a draft for folks to review and then Melissa

099and Beth are the ones that to do the actual like sending it out who are you sending the draft to um the draft goes to Beth Melissa Michael and Courtney and Courtney was like my um partner on this um so the basically gives everyone a couple days to review it to see if there's any changes or anything else people want to add and then and then we send it out so cool it's it's um it's a good little process so yeah okay well thanks for doing that um but yeah our next meeting for the comprehensive plan is uh November 16th as we were talking talking about and um and then we're just preparing for like the Forum and um um and you know that's pretty much I think that's pretty much all I got so

100that's enough yeah all right Claudia go ahead uh thank you um well last week I had the the uh fun time to be able to attend the trick or treat here at Town Hall oh that to it was it was fun it was great it was fun to see everybody all decked out and um a ton of people right that came through I couldn't get over the number of people out on the street 300 heard you ran out of candy yeah we had to make several candy yeah so that's interesting that that was awesome you know what a great way to get people into town hall and to get a little bit of you know feel like it's theirs right so that that was uh really great um and then the other businesses that also

101participated for the first time this year which was first time yeah yeah yeah yeah so and everyone in town hall dressed up up yeah it was alled up right everybody yeah it was good yeah there were some I took some fun pictures um and then I had the opportunity to attend the ABA U dinner comedy night on on Saturday night it was pretty funny oh that's great um they really were a pretty funny group I thought and Cory is an ashen resident uh yes he isy Rodriguez lives here in town yep no I do I I know him a little bit and uh oh that's cool he brought on like four other people yeah three four now that's kind of a tradition with the ABA right yeah this is I think they did it twice

102this is I think their third year yeah it's at least this might be the first time in person um did they do it in person last year okay and I think there were two coid ones maybe yeah I feel like I did that virtually a couple of times I know I did the first so is this a fundraiser for them or yes yeah good for the scholarship Comm yeah so it was it was it was a lot of fun like I said they did a great job um last week I also had the opportunity to to attend at the State House of citizens legislative uh seminar and um you know that was that was fun the drivein was uh pretty nasty it took me about two hours and 10 minutes go took me an hour

103to get to the other side of Nic oh my gosh what was that was something I don't know what time of day were you trying to go in oh it was Peak he was supposed to be there there I think if we I wanted to go to Karen's office first I had to go for 9:00 so that's what I was ating for okay um but yeah so I knew take the training train I looked at the train and I was it's not that yeah cuz you got to take theine and I'm actually commuted in there for a short time when I worked for Tom and uh so it was uh but in any case once I get in there took a deep breath um it was great it was a great day and then uh

104and Karen gave us a little extra special treatment anybody from her District so ni so that was fun so it and it you know it was informative too um and then jeez uh no and the last thing I had was just the Town Forest uh the that great meeting for the the state which was it really was very nice no feather in our cap I thought cool very nice uh Joe thank you Mr chair uh couple of quick things uh last Thursday was uh an annual Halloween parade and party uh we had roughly 300 families show up it was uh the first time at the new school it was quite the experience uh told everybody they made history uh coming into this building for the first time um they it was a great experience and

105um the design of that building made it a lot easier for us to do oh my out phenomenal and who met us there was Deputy dog with his big Sheriff hat Sheriff Paul he was there and uh thanks to him I mean we he just handed me a mic and everything was already ready to roll wireless mic the pH system was already built into this it's really nice be wanting to hold meetings there you know it's it was it was very very nice and I thank Paul uh and and everybody that was involved in Claudia for for getting this uh done for us it was very very nice we had a lot of fun and um every family everybody was there that enjoyed it and for the families that hadn't been in the building for

106the first time Their Eyes Were wide open they were very very appreciative of what the new school looks like and they can't wait to have their kids go in that building for which is which was great uh so thank you to all those folks who uh made it a great night and um this Friday we have the uh NBTA zoning meeting that ought to be an interesting meeting and discussion hearing all this new information coming up I have no idea where we're going to go looks like we're going to have to start from ground zero and start all over again if in fact we can't utilize you know the town land type of type of thing so hopefully not hope yeah well the interesting thing is that the state did send out all these guidelines

107right didn't they help set things up and say what land you could use and well it was very it was very vague yeah yeah okay it was very vague so I mean we did what we thought we had to do and I guess my thought is just to continue doing what we're doing so that way if they allow that to happen we'll be we'll be ready for it yeah so uh that and um yeah thanks for doing that Joe oh you know it's it's it's a lot of fun I I enjoy it uh I enjoy seeing how we can try to skin a cat in different ways and you know make it happen for the town so we're working on it um lastly uh we have a affable Housing Trust meeting next week uh we

108had some glitches at Zoom so we couldn't uh meet the the following the prior meeting so we have a lot to discuss and a lot of things to do so hopefully we can we can utilize that and maybe get things uh working on some properties that we have and we're taking over so uh and one of them is a piece of property off of uh R myy way in galani drive that area that uh that house needs to be uh I feel bad for the folks that reside around it to be very honest with you but anyway we're working on it we'll get that done and um Happy ated birthday there young lady so uh with that uh that's all I have all right thank you thanks Joe Yolanda so a couple things first tomorrow

109morning is the Ashlin Lions senior breakfast I'll be there this time I missed it last time because I was away couple things coming up so the Metro West Regional collaborative we have a meeting it will be the Thursday morning after town meeting it's via zoom and our discussion is going to be MBTA communities Act and the housing Bond bill so I look forward to hearing what what our subcommittee presents on that Wednesday and if other people are interested the discussion is going to be what are the different communities doing how are they doing it and has somebody done something that we can then use okay so that's the discussion there of course we talked about the Holiday Stroll as part of the comprehensive plan what's the date on that it is Thursday November 30th I

110mean I know we have another meeting but I figure it's good to get it on people's calendars uh Holiday Stroll and then again this is a little bit early but we will be the Lions will be selling their Christmas trees they start the Friday after Thanksgiving and they will be on Front Street this year rather than over in back of the VFW and then the last thing is I missed the town hall trick-or-treating I missed the trick-or-treating but that's cuz I was at the haunt if you came to visit the haunt which was the Halloween scare that was done at the Metro West out outdoor YMCA if you came by and if you couldn't figure out who I was I was AET Simpson the first person you talked to as you walked through the ha

111so um it was a lot of fun Friday and Saturday night were great Sunday not so much they made up for it um but it was it was a lot of fun and it's nice it's benefiting both the hopkington Center for the Arts and the Metro West YMCA really good and that's all I got great thanks Yolanda um I just wanted to maybe just review a few scheduling things as part of this I mean or just talk about next meeting um I think we're getting the baa and gift account recommendations is that correct um and then I think we're going to do tax classification do we think that's going to happen yes okay and our joint meeting with the planning board which it looks like so we'll have one or two items there um you

112know the assuming we can go move ahead you guys got something on the um communities act we'll meet with them on that uh and are we going to start with this with the joint with the planning board or will that be later I think so don't yeah I think wouldn't we do like 710 7:15 something like that unless we wanted to do tax classification first so that can people meet earlier did you guys hear that question you want to meet early to like like 6:30 or something well we start at maybe we could get the tax classification yeah that sounds does that sound good to people I think 6:30 should workor um what are we allotting for the for I think we should have a time frame for the planning board section because otherwise it

113could it could extended conversation I would yeah well let's yeah I want to we'll plan on that our we'll discuss that our yeah I think so because it'd be good to hear from these guys what they expect to recommend if it's going to be complicated and longer if we got something you know keep it simple yeah simple so yeah okay good point so this is on the 15 yeah November 15th right and start at 6:30 6:30 and we'll probably do the tax classification before the planning board but we'll do the aim for around seven or so with the planning board okay any other big items for the next meeting and after that we have um town meeting of course and then we're meeting once in December right now we're scheduled for just once in December

114okay um the one thing I oh just up um I am trying to meet with um I saw mayor siski at that forum and he is interested in meeting and discussing the MBTA Commuter Rail um uh the the MBTA Advisory Board and Michael may be there as well um if if you guys didn't hear the mayor say see has been appointed the MBTA board of directors which is like a big deal um and so I just wanted to chat with him about you know what his agenda are interested with the MBTA how we sees things and also how he could work with with us and the commuter rail committee uh which I chair and also talk about his appointment of somebody to attend the um MBTA Advisory Board because framing him has not been attending

115they haven't had a representative so just of discussions like that so anybody has any particular uh MBTA Commuter Rail issues or other T issues they come up with you know that be done with the station so I could add that we could add that to the agenda I'm not sure how much he knows given that he's been on the board for like three weeks but yeah I did get some feedback um just with the shuttle that we have um that the people that are using the shuttle are it's great in the morning because they're able to get to the station on time the one thing I did hear is that um when trains are late and which trains are typically they can be 5 10 minutes late you know with some regularity um the shuttle

116is on a schedule and it's a posted schedule and so a lot of times the shuttle will leave before the train gets there so at in the no not terribly helpful at all wait from Framingham from Framingham to go back to Ashland it leaves because it has a posted schedule like if you look oh my gosh you mean they wait they don't wait for the train they don't wait for the train what they don't wait for the train so I've heard from people that have missed the shuttle to go back home to back get the train and there's no shuttle there's no shuttle no you can't you literally can't so do they have to wait are they waiting a half hour or they're probably ubering over to their car or or back to Ashland wherever

117they yeah so the driver of the vehicle doesn't know that the whole point is to get the people off the train oh but if you check like the NBTA schedule you will see like posted times for the shuttle and the shuttle some common sense no kidding don't the trains also post if they're late yeah you know you know they're late there's I mean there's texts that go out there's you know alerts instead of posting an exact time say it call it that train the 6:30 train when it arrives that's astonishing so wow hope it gets in 630 yeah but I mean it's it's not it's not unusual for the train to be yeah exactly 5 10 minutes late just it takes longer to get people off at various stops and wow it leaves South Station

118a few minutes late it just kind of you know anyway I'm just sharing that that's astonishing yeah well that's a wow thanks for that yeah could follow up on that okay um that's laughable in just some of the um just some of the invitations we've received received just a um that I just noted um like Veterans Day we've been invited to people get that so I don't know if we need to um each person needs to respond yeah so everybody needs to respond and so do that and uh Temple Shar Shalom invit us to the installation of Rabbi Craig so people I I I um you know I'm considering that as well as the Veterans Day thing um I think the um yeah same here and I have oh the um the Valentine's form we

119talked about we haven't scheduled but that's going to be in January right we're still thinking about that January 22 oh you did okay um that's in stone 22nd well that's what you're proposing not Stone it's on the edge of sketch so that's a Monday night it's a Monday night who knows yeah Monday uh okay is that kind of things people think that's kind of realistic and possible and yeah the 22nd y um that also reminds me about the MMA conferences coming up is anybody registered for that I know Susan sent something out Susan I'm registered Susan registered me any anyone else well I just just think about it or it's a it's it's really interesting I don't know if I want to go into yeah so that's something to think about uh if you're interested

120um so I think that's have anything else so I think that's it um I guess I if there's nothing else take a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn Che all those in favor say I I we are adjourned thank you all thank you