001thank you in case it's seven o'clock standby I'm ready you guys are ready Zoom wise yeah test test test Sue can hear us Sue how are you yes I can hear great excellent I've got the folks on the um on the call there we go Claudia okay that's good okay very good all right give him the countdown Paul good evening everyone and welcome to the Ashland select board meeting for October 4th 2023. uh we'll start off the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and for that I think we have a volunteer here so to do and just stand up Daniel stand up and face the flag and everyone stand up and just go ahead when you're ready and justice for all great thank you nice job okay without this meeting will commence the first item
002on the agenda is citizens participation so if there's anybody here for Citizens participation please come forward and if there's anyone on the screen that please use the raise hand function so we could see that you want to speak all right go ahead Steve yeah Steve Morgan 136 Concord Street I'm here tonight to give you an update on the problems over at my home regarding my boundary I had a meeting this week after learning people were trying to install a gate into my yard and change the fence materials at a meeting with the contractor and the police chief the project manager and the towns project manager and you know we met at 12 30 on Wednesday and so we came to an agreement on a path forward to use the correct materials for the plan to
003not put a gate into my property where it wasn't on the plan and to put the fence essentially where it was before which is all I've ever asked to have happen so I thought we were done with this issue not less than three or four hours later I got Paul Kendall chiming in saying oh you got to remove your signs and you're you know we're we're having a problem still so I don't know why he's out of step with the police chief and everyone else on the project but that was that was yesterday um so by this morning while I'm at work apparently the town manager came to my home claiming he was coming to see me but he knew I wasn't there said I wasn't there and then he removed my signs and took
004him to the police station now the town manager was well aware that he was served in no trespass on behalf of the town those no trespasses are good for one year you know this is nonsense because even if the sign's not there the trespass is on record down in the clerk's office and the town is well aware of it so I'm hopeful that the project will put the fence back where it was where it belongs and we'll be done with this issue but apparently these Shenanigans are still happening including from the town manager while he knows I'm not home so I'm going to pick up my signs I'm going to put them back and for anybody who wants to go there nobody's taking me up in my offer there are still multiple fence posts in
005the ground people can see where the fence was despite the self-help by the project and we all know where the fence was so um I'm supportive of getting the sign put back they've marked the line I thought we were done with this but yet sure we're still not done all right Steve so I can concerned so I'm not familiar with all the details but I think generally my understanding is that there is uh on the town's Viewpoint a different opinion of that that's been that's our legal and And discussing things with the town manager he is um his plan is to discuss this with you and try to come to a resolution so we're still there trying to resolve it I uh you know I'm not going to speak to the details back and forth
006but I think there's reasons for the town's position and action so I would just urge all parties to try to resolve this and mcclebee and I think that would be great and um Michael is has repeated to me that he's agreeable to meet with you I think he wanted to meet with you today I'd take him in good faith maybe maybe he should reach out maybe he should stop blocking email from me which he's been doing for years um you know you can't you can't have people trying to reach out to you when you can't communicate well I think so and they don't take the time to call you yeah I'm not going to address whether the town manager is doing that or not but I think okay but I think it'd be good if
007you continue these discussions with Town officials and resolved this because I could tell you that we have our own legal I thought the police chief was a pretty good official and when I talked to her today at noon she was left off the email even though she was the senior person at the meeting on behalf of the police force and she was left off and she said I thought we agreed on this yesterday and I said well apparently everybody didn't agree and she said that's my understanding when we left them right so hopefully we'll come to a resolution and uh happy to talk to anybody who wants to talk to me great as long as the fence goes back where it was I think we're done which I think we agreed to but somehow we
008keep should be or shouldn't be but I'm I'm happy to talk about it again okay and it's one year signs of good signs or no signs it's in the clerk's office it's good for one year so thank you for your time all right thank you Steve okay anyone else for Citizens participation okay Mark I think you can unmute yourself is that right so go ahead Mark Nas [Music] and no I could add things to that to what he what's going on there what I want uh to the town manager to his toe now that yours um what you call the town manager's um oh God I forgot what it is announcements I'm sorry what'd you say Mark I apologize what do you title your child manager's um variety of things that are around the town
009is um are you are you referring to the newsletter yes okay yes I should I should know it shouldn't I especially when you when uh one one citizens had a Halloween black and white scarce scared photo of themselves on the uh the citizen shot out there good kind of kind of looked like the pond went out in my house and hey Mark we just we just have a lot of items on the agenda do you have a question or a point you want to make yes oh good is thinking the town manager reported me in the community shout out oh very nice I know how how he actually got rolling and the one and only time I became modest and put myself out there I think that's how it got out there isn't that right
010Mr Town manager Mark you'd be surprised you've got a few fans out there nobody can get it nobody can question your dedication to the town all right so yeah I think I thank you for that and um all else um give me an update how my dad is he's gonna he's a little bit stronger and and well he's still alive it's been uh about seven to nine years taking care of him he's got those bonuses ahead of them 98 years old and um he's still kicking all right thanks Mark that is it for that and I understand where Steve's coming from and they should help go to the planning board the Mendez School Bill and convenience combined look at this at the plans at the beginning thank you great thanks Mark okay so without there's
011no one further for Citizens participation um I'm going to move the first item on our agenda which is Ashland day presentations and uh Mr mignani will start us off on that one thank you Mr chair we have a couple of tidy things to tidy things up from Ashland day Reno 2023. so I'm going to go up to the front podium and and while you're doing that I just want to say we've got a great group of Scouts here tonight so it's good to see all you folks and um so let's uh I just I don't know if the citizens can see but the room is full of Boy Scouts at the moment so it's good to see you guys it's the dedication of the Boy Scouts Joe I think you got to get closer to
012microphone yeah oh that's right the 12-inch rule yeah that one foot rule sometimes I use my old police voice and it shatters everything so gotta be careful um this award is citizen of the Year award it was named after uh Rick calgalani and it was the dedication of Mr galani to the town of Ashland over the years of service not only as a firefighter but as a citizen Town who got himself involved in many projects that you see around town the gazebo The Pavilion down at Stone Park the Montenegro square and back in 1986 he and Benny Montenegro that they were the original founders of Ashland day so just to give you a brief history because how many here were born before 1986. I know I was about me that's okay you don't have to
013raise your hand because that you know everybody will be thinking how old are they now anyway um it is with distinct pleasure and honor that I am going to ask Mr uh Bernie Temple to come forward if you would please all right Bernie there he is okay I knew he was here he was hiding he was hiding in the back he always hides in the background because that's what I was told that's where he does his best work is in the background of things Mr Templer my pleasure sounds good on behalf of the National Day committee and I'm sorry this couldn't have been Saturday September 23rd on a beautiful day like today but you know when you listen to forecasters when I come back in the next life I'm going to be a forecaster because
014no matter if you're right or wrong you still get paid and you still have a job so I will like to present this to you on behalf of the Ashland Day committee as citizen of the year A Brief History of Mr Temple and the reason why we thought it was best to present this award to to Bernie Bernie's been involved in the Scout since 2006 so that's a little over 17 years I believe he started with troop 23 in 2010 when Ben Advanced to the troop 23 he attended a lot of the winter camping trips with his son and when he crossed over to Scouts he continued the uh the five mile hike through the snow and waist deep snow sounds like that's the way he went to school back and forth Waist Deep right
015but your dedication to this troop over the years and and I can attest since being uh on the board for a number of years having attended many Eagle Scouts not not just a single Scout but many and we found out how many over 52 Eagle Scouts over those years quite the distinction my friend and that's the leadership of the troop and that comes from you and it comes from everybody that's part of that troop leadership and now that you folks have Merced 232 uh it's it's a it's an honor and privilege so I just want to say thank you to what you have done thank you uh for being part of the Mayflower console and I believe you're still uh part of the eagle scout projects that that'll go on in town and heavily involved
016with Saint Cecilia's and and other matters of the public schools you've been married uh Jacqueline uh your daughter is 27 she goes to UMass Ben is 24 and he's in his third year as an assistant engineer so you know these folks are not just you know they also have smarts too they're good looking they're smart so they must follow their parents in many many ways uh you're an avid Boulder we were a little surprised and shocked that we were told you may not be around on the 23rd because you may be down uh with your boat and it would have been probably a real chore to pull you away from that so that was the reason why we try to keep it to get you here and he's on the board of directors of big
017Indian which is uh greatly appreciated and uh the name of your boat is called what's up what's up okay see we do our homework yeah good detective always does his homework and your rear commodore of the club I understand out of one and with all these with everything that he has and does he still has time to go boating and spend time with his family and enjoy life and but more importantly enjoy Scouting For over the years that you've continued doing it and it's it's this is it right here this is I this is our heritage this is the history of Ashland right here with Scouts like you Eagle Scouts that's what you that's what you strive for and Ashland has been very fortunate to have great leadership with the Boy Scouts to become Eagle
018Scouts so I can see a good portion of you working hard to become an eagle scout and it's because of the efforts of Bernie and all the other staff members of The Troop and again congratulations sir you are a leader and a half and you're a prime example of what a role model should be for Ashland all right so thank you very much hold on there bro I don't know stay right here you're not done you're still being roasted I mean you're still being honored let's just stay here I just figured it's a congratulations Bernie I think it's I'll just read the proclamation from the select board from this uh can everybody hear me all right so I'm not going to repeat all the things that Joe said but uh uh the shortened version is
019whereas uh Bernard Bernie Temple has been chosen as the Ashland citizen of the Year by the Ashland Day committee for his volunteerism and the significant contribution he has made to scouting over the years and he's got this list of accomplishments now therefore we the select board do hereby Proclaim Saturday September 23rd 2023 as Bernie Temple day we were Joel residents to make known their appreciation for his Devotion to scouting and to the town of Ashland we wish him good health and good fortune signed Robert share chair Ashland select board congratulations Bernie good job so we should do a picture right yeah too bad uh Yolanda and does that any select board members want to say anything that's a kind of Russian I'll just add my thanks um and you know I would and I would
020just say this is quite the Legacy that you've built so um and I I would say to all the scouts here there was a very polite Round of Applause and I think you could all do better than that what do you say I want to hear it all right and and just thank you thank you for all that that you've done on behalf of our community because you've made our community a much better place so thank you so thank Claudia and you you can uh go ahead and unmute yourself too thank you thank you you know I'm really sorry that I couldn't be there tonight uh to celebrate Mr Temple because uh you know he is uh certainly been a leader in our community and and I think there's nothing more important than uh you
021know people who lead for our children and certainly uh he has done a tremendous job I know that I have witnessed around town in the Town Forest perhaps and some other locations some of the projects that have been completed um under his leadership of of the Eagle Scouts and that so I I do want to thank him I don't know if he knows this but uh I was actually at his wedding when he married uh Mrs Temple who was my daughter's first grade teacher at the time and she invited all her students um to go and and and be there for their wedding so um so I've I've known him and his family for many years and certainly they have both touched the children of our community in so many respects and so I thank
022you for that and uh I wish I could be there to see all the Boy Scouts I bet I know a few of them and uh and they and very polite Applause I can tell you uh guys on on air it looks like you're just putting your hands together and there's no noise at all so so I'm glad uh that Miss Kinsman uh had you had to share again so thank you it is uh special when people lead our children thank you we want to take a picture of you over here too yeah we said yeah let's get uh look at me all right take a knee crazy oh holy cows I got you perfect that's awesome [Music] yes [Laughter] I was like they're welcome to stay and I don't think they probably I didn't
023get my homework done because I had to be here that's a great excuse okay all right so you're gonna go back yeah I'm gonna go back up front thank you Mrs Carmichael always a pleasure okay we're not quite done yet we still have other groups of recognition and I apologize for maybe being a little over over time but I think these folks deserve the recognition over the over this past couple of years in addition to the citizen of the Year award the Ashland Day committee also has an award that's usually uh on the field and it's called the Grand Marshal Field Marshal of the Year award and that goes to a group of individuals who uh oh that's not me I hope it's not me anyway I feel like dancing um it's um again this
024is a this is a an award that goes to different committees throughout Town who show a community Spirit a community need and the Ashland Day committee felt it was in the best interest of the town of Ashland to award area which is stands for Ashland residence for equality and action and Maggie if you're here would you please come up as the representative for area yeah it'll bring everybody up if you like to come on up everyone and I know Alan's up on the screen up here you I'm well thank you well I'm sure it probably wasn't easy we would have been a heck of a lot easier if we had it on the day because you had a booth in I was just going to grab your wall and bring you up to the Gazebo
025that was the intention but it didn't so the field Grand Marshall September 23rd 2023 area Ashland residents for equality and action we present this from the Ashland Day committee and we want to thank you for your efforts in keeping Ashland I can do a quick history of of it was I believe it was created back in December 2020 is that sound right Michael uh June okay all right and um you have become an essential part of Ashland with all the programs that you have with the initiatives that you you provided for this for the for the folks in Ashland uh with serious discussions on this topic because it's something that needs to be heard and not just slid back in a closet we need to open that up and I think what the efforts that
026you all do is to see that's not me is it me oh they probably want me to hurry up um and we as leaders of the community uh they thought to establish this program and you folks taken it by the horns and you have taken it to levels that we never expected to happen but you folks with your commitment and dedication to this to this topic and this serious topic we greatly appreciate so we wanted to at least honor and recognize all your efforts in Alan I know you're up there congratulations Allen's part of our affordable housing trust then so I haven't seen him in a while but we'll be we'll be seeing each other soon and I just wanted to say thank you for all the work that you do to bring equity and
027equality to to the town of Ashland in all your efforts and programs and the topics and discussions so thank you thank you thank you so much thank you I'm just going to read the proclamation before your speech if that's okay Bernie didn't have a speech but he should have okay um so where is Ashland residents for equality and action area has been chosen as a field Grand Marshal for Ashland day 2023 the Ashland Day committee selected area for a number of reasons including their dedication and Devotion to the well-being of the community I won't go through every point in here so Joe talked a lot about it whereas area Works ensure that people of color have a voice and are represented on local boards and committees and area works with the school to ensure people
028of color are represented to have a voice and whereas area promotes people of color to run businesses and MetroWest and highlights these businesses as economic development agencies and now therefore we the select board do hereby Proclaim Sunday September 24 2023 as area day we urge all residents to make known their appreciation for the Devotion to Residents businesses and employees of the town of Ashland we wish you all good health and good fortune signed Robert chair Ashland select board congratulations to all of you here's this and go ahead and go ahead if you wish to say something yes Junior area members could you please come up [Music] area has been working with adults and also we make sure that the next generation is also involved in this work and areas set out in June 2020 to
029uh to start work around diversity equity and inclusion and I would love to thank the town of Ashland the community of Ashland Our Town manager all the boards especially select board for uh being a voice for us and calling us to the table I would love to thank all the Committees in town and the other kind of clubs in town that area members have been able to be a part of and we've been welcomed I would like to thank the school Ashland Public School leaders to accepting and inviting us to be at the table and be part of this important conversations I would also love to thank the Ashland Police Department the fire department when we have the events they've been you know being able to come to the table and having this tough conversation
030and I recently voted the you know Town manager that speak about that the vote that went through uh enable you know increased uh number of to make it easier for the police to be you know higher than that which will also help us work continue to work together to help with community policing I think shortage was what part of the issue but we hope to now be able to hold some events and have people of color be more involved and be able to narrow that Gap and the fear and improve relationships between police and the people of color and if I left anybody else I think that's the things police what else the school department businesses what I think Beth from working Senti uh you know Sandy's kitchen and all other businesses have gotten increased
031visibility uh as a part of the hard work and again thanking the entire community of Ashland for uh you know welcoming us and actually working doing this work and actually not just on paper but actually doing the footwork and making the voices heard and helping these efforts move forward so we're very very grateful to everyone thank you forever do you have anything start getting on but yes um like Maggie just said you know truly it's a great thanks to the town of Ashland you know it's something that we studied and everyone was open everyone we talked to was opening to hearing us to hear what the plans are and help us how to to be successful in whatever plans we were planning on doing um and we have a lot of members that are joined
032different groups even just encouraging people that even if you're not part of a group you know like they most groups always have you know citizens participation if you have if you want to see some change you got to be part of it so we continue to hope it's going to continue working together with the town thank you everyone thank you so much well thank you so much we're very appreciated just um right before this was this was a great surprise I have to say this area board members and not the easiest in all good ways my job was to surprise them I tried and had a lot of questions but uh so we're glad we're here and some of them so I just want to just just really quick because I've known I've known Maggie
033through our work with leadership Metro West and I've gotten to know area over the last couple years and just I just want to thank you for the work that you're doing because you have made us more aware and better like if it wasn't for area I don't know if we would have done a racial Equity study a couple years ago I don't know if that would have translated into the Deni Task Force and and the work that we're currently doing um and the partnership with area is is incredibly important to us because the work is incredibly important to our community we always say that we want to be an inclusive community and any way that we can be better and do more that is at least you know my one of my priorities is always
034to do more and I think the the way that we do that is is in Partnership and by listening and trying to um um Embrace change which sometimes isn't easy but I think is for the best for our community so I just wanted to thank you for the heart and the soul that that area is and um you guys have a great group I mean it is such a great community of of people that Advocate and that um turn things into action so I just wanted to say that Maggie and Aria have have been um have have mobilized to help um recently the the families in Framingham the migrant families and have taken carloads of things over to help our neighbors in Framingham and so it really is a uh it it's it's it's neighbors
035helping neighbors and and um such a community spirit and just thank you all for all the work that you do anyone else really comments from I think Claudius Claudia yeah I really want a second a little bit of what Brandi just said and and uh really thank you all for you know helping us to learn and explore and really celebrate the richness of our community um because I agree with with Randy if it wasn't for you folks I'm not sure we would be as far as we've come today and and with the hope of going further in the future so you know thank you for all of your efforts to um to to help us you know like I said learn explore and celebrate the richness of our community thank you yeah I I will
036just I won't repeat what everybody else said but I will say thanks and uh the work that you're doing is hard work and it doesn't go unnoticed obviously and uh you're well well deserving of this recognition and much more thank you so much thank you so much Claudia thank you so much yeah thanks so we'll have a picture of you we're very humble and thank you curves okay ready okay ready you want to hold it up hold on and we have a good picture all right everybody looking up at me thank you yeah congratulations I'll be really shy tonight [Music] that was good yeah absolutely in 2024 . all right if I get people back to order you don't have to set up that's above and beyond great thank you for coming in so that
037was thank you very much miss those thank you thank you Joe for in the Ashland Day committee for bringing forth the citizen of the year and the Grand Marshal very nice so um Switching gears a little bit our next agenda item is reviewing and signing the intuition anticipation note documents for the mendesk school in the amount of 17 million 458 a thousand one hundred and three dollars with a net interest cost of three point eight eight five percent and I'll turn that over I think to the town manager sure of course and shortly I'll turn it over to our town Treasurer collector uh Cindy cincotta but um just to remind everybody that this is uh essentially the last tranche of money that we're borrowing for the Mendez school project it did come out to 17
038million 458 000 so we netted out what we get from the msba from reimbursement that's we have to do that and um Cindy why don't you come up here and you can let us know first of all um how many bets we got and who was the the winner and um so we went out to Market on September 26th we received five bids um in order to compare bids with different coupon interest rates the market convention is to use net interest cost which is net interest cost which deducts the premium bid from the coupon interest so we're looking what the town actually pays in net interest so um the winner was TD Securities they had the lowest interest cost and yeah we also had Jeffrey's LLC Bank of New York Mellon Oppenheimer and Company and
039fidelity so we had a bit of Interest so and so just to remind everybody this is a band so we'll be we'll be borrowing this is a one-year ban so we'll be borrowing for basically permanently probably next year I don't know we might we might do another band it depends but the way we're going to structure this one is also as basically the payment's going to be structured like a bond so there will be a print not only will there be an interest payment there will be a principal payment as well and Cindy thank you and thank you finance team thank you for all you had work soon all right questions from the board or so I have a question so I know that you said that this like Nets out the um the msba
040reimbursement but I think if I remember correctly there's still going to be like one final adjustment that's going to happen with the msba based on the additional funding that came through on the state level so this is this does not include that correct so whatever that anticipated amount is is that why we're only doing one year because we know that it will that that amount will change one of the reasons yeah the other one is that the um the interest rate Outlook actually looks like in a year interest rates might be a little bit more favorable than they are right now so okay that's another reason okay good good point that's a good that's a good reason that would be great and then can I just add a that sure go ahead Claudia yeah so
041in addiction yeah in addition to that um we still have more um sorry um we still have additional funding coming from the state um but we're just about at the 95 percent reimbursement rate and so there's a they they lock us down at that point until we're ready to close out at which time the additional five percent of um that they're offering us will be available at that time but the reimbursement gets locked down when you hit not the 95 of what you're going eligible for um now just procedurally we have this vote of the select board to be certified by the clerk uh who's Joe and Johnny do we need to read does someone need to read this book you do I do okay well have at it I'm ready good time [Music] talks
042amongst your cells it's a little long I had the clerk of the select vote of the town of Ashland Massachusetts certified that at a meeting of the board held on October 4th 2023 of which meeting all members of the board were duly notified and at which a quorum was present the following votes were unanimously passed all of which appear upon the official record of the board in my custody voted we hereby determine in accordance with General Law chapter 70b that the cost of the David Mendez Elementary School construction project authorized by a vote of the Town passed on January 23 2021 Article 2 being financed with proceeds of a portion of the notes defined below together with all other bonds and notes of the Town previously issued to pay costs of this project does not
043exceed the portion of the total cost of the project that is not being paid by the school facilities Grant and we hereby approve the issuance of notes bonds to finance this project under General Law chapter 70b further voted to approve the sale of a 17 million 588 thousand a hundred and three dollars at five percent General obligation Bond anticipation notes the notes of the Town dated October 10 2023 in payable October 10 2024 to D to TD Securities USA LLC at prior and accured interest in any Plus premium of 196 107.35 cents further noted that a connection with the marketing and sale of notes the preparation and distribution of the notice of sale and preliminary official statements dated September 19 2023 and a final official statement dated September 2023 and each such form as may
044be approved by a town Treasurer be in here by ratified confirmed and approved and adopted further voted that at the Town Treasurer and that the select would be in hereby authorized to execute and deliver a significant Advance disclosure undertaking in compliance with SEC rules 15 C 2-12 in such form as may be approved by Bond Council to the town of which undertaking shall be incorporated by reference in the notes for the benefit of the holders of the notes from time to time further voted that we authorize and direct the town Treasurer to establish post-insurance federal tax compliance procedures and continuing disclosure procedures in such forms as the town Treasurer and bond Council deemed sufficient or if such procedures are currently in place to review and update set procedures in order to Monitor and maintain taxed
045exempt status of these notes and to comply with relevant security laws further voted that any certificates or documents relating to the notes collectively the documents may be executed in several counterparts Each of which shall be regarded as an original and all of which shall constitute one and the same document delivery of an executed counterpod of the signature page a document by electronic mail or a PDF file or by other electronic transmission cell b as effect as delivery of a manually executed counterpart signature page to such document and electronic signatures on any government shall be Dean original signatures for the purposes of this document and all matters relating thereto having the same legal effect as other signatures further voted that each member of the select board the Town Clerk and the town treasury be in hereby
046are authorized to take any and all such actions and execute and deliver such certificates receipts or other documents as may be determined by them or any or any of them to be necessary or convenient to carry into effect the provisions of the foregoing votes I further certified that the votes were taken at a meeting open to the public that no vote was taken by secret prowl and that notice stating the place date time and agenda for this meeting which agenda included the adoption of the above votes was filed with the Town Clerk and a copy therefore posted in a manner conspicuously visible to the public at all hours in or in municipal buildings and that the office of the town clerk is located or if applicable in accordance with the alternative method and notice prescribed
047or approved by the attorney general has set forth in 1994. thank you siama 29.03 paragraph 2 Section B at least 48 hours and not including Saturdays Sundays are legal holidays prior to the time of the meeting it remains so posted at the time of this meeting that no deliberations or decisions or connections with the sale of these notes were taken an executive session all in accordance with General Law chapter 38 subsection 18 through 25 as amended this date October 4th 2023 signed by Joe mignani Clerk of the select board all right thank you Joe I will take that as a motion and look for a second I'll second that motion's been made and seconded no seeing no further discussion we will now vote on the motion all those in favor say signify by saying aye
048hi opposed not opposed motions unanimous the bond issuance is approved all right great thank you thank you thank you for all the awards thanks for coming up Cindy yeah all right okay so the next um the next presentation is from our assistant Town planner Alvaro Esparza about he's put together a presentation with some ideas about the Cadillac paint uh area and its restoration at 409 Elliott Street thank you Alberto go ahead when you're ready yes thank you uh I'm ready buddies on online you folks are allowed to move forward in the room you may not watch it I'm glad to share from here oh yeah who's the host could you please ask her make us so everybody while we're doing that this is Alvaro Esparza who's been our assistant Town planner for I'm going to
049say six months but it's been longer right what a veteran huh definitely a vet but he's been a wonderful addition to the planning staff and has certainly become Peter's right hand and Rob like you had mentioned uh Alvaro took an interest in the Cadillac paint property and I had a couple of ideas and put those together we've already talked about it with Ed earlier this week and just kind of gauge his his interests and thoughts on it before presenting to you and it looks like Alvaro is ready so my time up here is up okay great thank you thank you Michael um yeah so yeah so a few weeks back we went to kind of like paint to with death economic director and Peter the town planner we went over there to kind of like
050see and but it was showing us what was the progress that was happening over there and so I asked what was going to be the next step of this um of this area and then she told me that there was no really like a clear idea of what was going to be the next step that you know like possibilities of like Parks or something like that could be um and so previously when I was in college I did a volunteer working in Arboretum but it was part of my University and I genuinely enjoyed because I'm personally not around from New England and I feel like being in that space taught me a lot and I was able to see and learn a lot about the different agriculturally different trees the different type of plants that
051are around this area and so I thought that was space will be actually ideal for something like that and so of course the location that we are asking this Arboretum to be will be on Fourier 409 Elliott Street um former known as Cadillac paint and just kind of like the definition of Arboretum is a place where trees shrubs and herbaceous plants are cultivated for a scientific and educational purposes and I think that's kind of like the main point that we are trying to create in this space you know I think that it would have been great if all the Boy Scouts would have a stay because I felt like that would have been a perfect connection um because you know like these spaces will be actually meant for that you know kind of like bringing
052different species of trees of plants of shrubs of grasses and actually giving a space for the community to actually be to see it um how they look when they are like full grown have a lot of signaging information so they are able actually to learn and see what a different Leaf would look from an oak tree or something like that so you will be able to see and feel um what is happening in this environment um another benefit of this area I think it would be um it will be a very positive environmental asset for the town I think you know like having a town four is having the river walk and now having an arboretum is just kind of like um a perfect like amount of development I feel like as there are more
053buildings and places going as for development also putting more green spaces kind of like gives the sustainable aspect to our town as they're growing and then I've been reading a lot about what their spaces mean after covet there's a lot of research of how you know like there are spaces which are kind of like the place where you find Recreation have become the phones have become all kind of like the technological aspects of our life um and so outside of your work in your home you really don't have a space to have more Recreation and I think another Rhythm will actually become that and you know it can be very um it can be a lot a lot a lot of time that you can spending in a space like this for a Community member
054by being a volunteer or you can have like very small time over there just by like walking and kind of like seeing the trees so I think it kind of like open up the the opportunities for the community um and so kind of like just coming back to the main idea the proposed area of course you know the history of this area but I also think that is another aspect to highlight I think kind of like creating these plays from going from a Brownfield or maybe having like a rundown building then going into a Brownfield and now becoming at these like promising area that is very recreational for all the community I think it will be a great story to be told in show um especially for like the younger generation seeing kind of like
055what is the progress that spaces like these can can have um and just kind of like close down that idea of here is like some pictures of how the site has progressed Through The Years so on 2017 when the old building or the former building was still existing there to 2020 when all the remediation work was going there and the cleaning of the soil and now you when you walk into this space you see something like this and I think that you know through this idea there will be even more potential to kind of like make anywhere even better and more recreational and and enjoyable to the community members um yeah so kind of just like wrap up um you know the focus of these of these projects to like provide an educational Space full
056of plants and trees for the community um I when I went there also I thought that maybe the size could be a limited but through doing some research I found that in lingwood New Jersey you have an arboretum that is less of an acre and in this space you will be having around 3.5 Acres so that gives plenty of space you know to to kind of like create this this area um working with the conservation agent we she put a list of all the native species that will be a possibility which I'll be showing in a second so there could be only native species that could be grown in there and that will also minimize the um the process of carrying of this area and then for funding opportunities we were thinking of working with
057CPC looking for state grants and also finding for the nation opportunities so you know this could be a lower lift economically for the town as well but it still could be a viable project um yeah and so lastly these are some of the species that the conservation agent put together so we could see what could be the things that could be growing over there yeah that's it thank you great so thank you Alvaro um thank you so I think I'll open it up for comments uh both from the board and from the public um and then we should spend some time talking about next steps and how this fits into the process at uh Cadillac which has been going on for quite some time so I'm just um in terms of uh comments Brandy sure
058and Claudia just raise your hand okay I am eating Michael had said you had some ideas thinking I'm like I wonder what like I was curious what it was going to be and I really like I really like where this is going I think that that is a really good way to encapsulate what we're trying to do there um so I really like the concept and and I think I I think it could I think it could really work um I only had a couple I have a couple of questions and then just um sort of a separate comment as well um so as far as like maintenance goes because I think one of the things that we had initially talked about it was going to be kind of a a pollinator garden and a
059passive Park and there wasn't going to be a lot of Maintenance so um is this something that you know can we do an arboretum with some minimal effort on like I I know it's probably going to take some effort to get everything planted and to get everything in place and but as far as like an ongoing maintenance thing I don't know is like you know DPW is going to be kind of like you know I'm just throwing that out there yeah before I before I throw in anything in there Al bro do you want to just talk a little bit about what you found in in your research yeah so um I think that the maintenance would be actually very minimal if very strategic about the species that we're picking um you know like we
060met with Ed and we kind of like talk about like wow could it be like some possible species that will be low maintenance mainly grasses and trees of course like the first stage of it could be a a bigger lift but I feel like um working through the funds that we will be getting to plant the trees that already will kind of like cover the first stage of Maintenance and then I think the next party will be kind of just maintain the trails we could be like mulch two times per year and that could be done through work of volunteers um so I think overall the maintenance could be covered as long as there is a good strategic plan for it okay question is um just I know you were talking like CPC and other
061potential funding mechanisms do we have a ballpark of what it might take to get it started beyond beyond what we've already put you know because I know that there's been funds have been put aside for for Cadillac paint but um and those will be expended after you know this this phase is completed um we don't have any hard estimates yet but um one of the things that we were thinking of is the possibility of maybe a local Nursery like you know Western Nurseries or quebecios being willing to donate okay some of these and you know in exchange for recognition as part of that that reminds me there's a there was a presentation from a guy from Western Nurseries about native plants at the Historical Society about six months ago so he sounded like somebody would
062be interested in a project like this so it was a great contact there yeah because so you know the idea is each of the each of the plants each of the species would have like a little educational anybody who donated or volunteers you could also acknowledge them on that you know same section as well but we don't have a firm cost yet no okay I really like that I really like the idea and I think like in my mind I start thinking about okay you're going to have little little you know plaques on the different species of things but then we can also do like a larger kiosk and kind of pay tribute to what Cadillac paint was I love that we're not going to call it Cadillac paint anymore like that needs to change
063but um but so I like the idea of having something that kind of talks about the history of it like what it was and then also you know some sort of kiosk that pays um that that thanks the people especially Ed that have worked so hard to make this possible because I know I know we had talked about at our last meeting we kind of talked about the whole naming it heart park or something along those lines um and so you know I I think I think we can maybe my personal feeling is maybe we we can say thank you and pay tribute to the work that you guys have done in a way that kind of honors that and at the park at the site because I think that that's really important it's important
064to me to make sure the whole world history yeah ladies first my generation thank you thank you no I just wanted to say um you know first of all when I was going through my uh packet and I got to these this presentation I was like oh so um you know I think sometimes that we forget how much joy um even a picture of nature um can bring us and so I thank you for it was a great presentation and certainly um like I said just to even see it in uh the pictures of what it could possibly be um you know made my heart happen so uh thank you for that and you know I I do think we have be careful in terms of uh maintenance we certainly don't want to make things
065um something very complicated but I'm I've certainly seen um I think most recently over uh the Cushing park there uh lots of uh I think lots of grasses in particular and they're very ornamental and um they don't seem to require much in the way of um caretaking at all and certainly um you know there are I'm sure many varieties of plants that that would fall into the same category um I also like the idea of being able to ask people in the community that might like to donate either a sum of money or particular plants that might have special meaning to them and you know I suppose we get into that we probably want to limit it to certain uh plans for the very reason that we've been talking about in terms of Maintenance but
066I think that could help to offset you know any some of the costs and and uh along with partnering with perhaps Western Nurseries or Vecchio or or perhaps others but um thank you it was it was a great presentation and I um it's exciting to think about those spaces in our community as we develop them thank you Jill go ahead thank you Mr chair Alva a great presentation um when I first started on that packet I said well this is really nice I I love trees and it was I was heartbroken when I saw matter Reese's uh tree gets cut down that was it was sad unfortunately it was unhealthy and it needed to come down and it it it killed John more than more than anybody else was sure um so you know to
067see you know planting more trees and maybe getting a similar tree not that size but for it to grow over maybe 250 years which is what that tree was I think roughly age-wise uh that would be nice and it would be a nice Legacy for the town considering what that was and and what some of the issues that it brought health-wise so I think that that would be a nice it would be a great touch and then I just wanted to thank you for all the work that you have done and and and the sacrifice that your wife had had to put up with but you know enough being around all the time so I appreciate you both and getting this project up and off the ground and maybe with the CPC monies that are
068available and I know the general fund we have some you know the buckets pretty deep in there so hopefully we can get that money and put it to Great use so but great great presentation and I'm looking forward to seeing the final product for sure yeah thank you thanks and I'll just uh my comments are brief yeah it looked like I like the emphasis on native plants and simple Simplicity um and I think this is a good opportunity to you know um uh you know native pollinators and and uh native plants um and putting that together so that's great and um I just had and I'm going to ask Ed to come up and comment as well but I just had a question in terms of fundraising do we have any mechanism is it worth
069and I'm asking this of Michael is it worth forming a non-profit for fundraising or does the town have mechanisms by which we can collect funds and use them to offset our costs um we can take in donations and do that yeah so that might be a doable yeah well sure so that may be a mechanism to talk about in the future in terms of I think you'd find a lot of support for something like this um and so you know one of the things we should so Ed do you want to come up and say a few things you hate this plan is that it that's what I heard no I like the plan yeah I like it very much and also I talked to uh five of the six director Butters of the property
070and ran this by them and they all like the plan and I'm sure that it'll be unanimous in the neighborhood this this is a good idea I have a few documents I'm going to give to Alvaro tour history a little longer history a few other things going on I I think it's very important as Joe said that this is a this was a place that Ashland dealt with since 1937. and way back then it was a positive thing because time was very different but after 1950 it started to get into a gray area in to 19 late 60s it started to become a problem obviously everybody knows the problem in the 70s and the 80s and when it was abandoned the first thing you saw when you entered Ashley from Sherman was an abandoned paint
071factory now you'll see the Ashland Arboretum and that's another thing I wanted to say last select board meeting you talked about the title the name and I think it should be named the Ashland Arboretum for a number of reasons first it's a national an asset the entire town worked hard to get rid of this and I think the future Boards of selectman and future Town managers will be a little bit more attentive the maintenance if it has Ashland algorithm uh rather than Joe schmo's artery or somebody else's Sparkle okay I mean that's just my I mean it's strategic you know think about it that way and also that this CPC you know as far as getting money we're going to get it for the Ashley and Arboretum and you know when you enter this town
072from the five surrounding towns uh the first impression is always the most important impression as Joe said this is part of the legacy of the town we took something negative and turned it into something positive and then this latest idea and I welcome Alvaro because of his Youth and and energy you know we've been at this for a long time and after a while you get kind of worn out you know you feel a little Stone so now we haven't handed off to some young guy that a lot of good ideas um and uh like I said I think it's a great idea everybody I talk to think it's a good idea I like the idea of native plants pollinators grasses self-sustaining uh this is something beerless for the town and uh I strongly urge
073you to consider naming it the Ashland Arboretum um so let's did you want to say something Michael go ahead well you know I I will say just the prospect of taking a Brownfield site that has such a negative connotation as Cadillac paint and then turn it stay around here into an educational yeah you know natural educational place is really really cool but I think maybe in terms of next steps I was just going to propose we can get some more information and some more details about you know maintenance and costs and things like that and um you know then bring it back and and discuss it and hopefully it'll all be good does that sound good yeah I think it's a great idea Eleanor you had one slide that I that I really enjoyed and
074it looked like it was dead center in in the park itself and it looked like an area where it had been bricked off and there was benches around it it looked it looked like a piece Act trying to yeah he's right up there that would be ideal yeah you know as part of an arboretum that would that would fit that flow you know flow in you you know so don't don't lose sight of that because I think that I think that's a great idea and I I will say just uh thanks to everybody that's that's worked on it you know Ed Beth I know Yolanda's spend some time on it uh DPW Alvaro I know I'm going to forget somebody but it already looks so much better than this great so quick question just from
075a logistics standpoint because CP CPC funds if we're gonna ask for for funding would be town meeting yeah okay that's a good point kind of planning point I think yeah yeah we want to make sure CPC has adequate time to vet it yeah um Joe's comment reminded and perhaps there's some Native American or you know the local uh Native American maybe they'd have some ideas if there's uh people we can talk to about you know maybe some sort of Sacred Space or something there but just as you're thinking about a design in a place like that um that's Dan's work over at the Memorial Drive kind of reminded me of that so anyway so um so we we good for now with this it sounds like we have a we'll talk about the name when
076Ed's not around and um anyway all right thank you Alvaro thank you thank you thank you Eddie thank you thanks for coming in thank you thank you thank you great all right yeah what a surprise though okay old uh next item on the agenda is old new business uh oh this was discussed providing feedback on changes to State programs and draft potentially draft a letter communicating our needs so this was something I had requested to be put on and if you'll recall I uh we'd all received an email from the uh the mass selectmans Association and the MMA has an opportunity to the UMass Collins Center is putting together comments um to to make to the Healy Administration from Municipal viewpoints on changes the state programs and regulations so I had responded on my own
077with one of my little pet peeves which I think I sent a copy to which is uh really I saw this trend extending that really accelerated during the baker Administration um you know when I was on the public policy Committee of MMA which really specialized in public works um you know chapter 90 funding for example the legislature would not add to chapter 90 um um funds but they would instead put together more Grant programs that people had to see and apply to and so my little pet peeve was and I think I shared this um was that I thought they should look at general formula Aid more and kind of de-emphasize the kind of targeted grants but that was just my take on it so but I thought I'd open it up to see if
078other folks had other ideas or thoughts that they wanted to communicate to the MSA person Andy Hoagland either individually or as a group if we felt strongly about something so I suggested and it's really this I think we really like to do with this meeting because his deadline is the 20th in our next meeting is the 18th so that's like two days before the deadline but I'll just open it up for discussion thoughts go ahead Brandi sure I'll um I'll start things off so I had a couple of things um one is relating to housing um where you know we ask the state for some real incentives for developers to partner with communities on affordable housing because I think there's a real Gap in looking at like the mass.gov site you know you look at
079like the local Initiative Program which provides technical assistance and there's like a low-income housing tax credit but that's only for rentals there's really no State I don't and and Joe probably can speak to this probably much more than I can but there's no real incentive for developers to develop lower income and I'm not talking like 80 Ami I'm talking like real 30 Ami developments or housing like we talk about like when we did our housing production plan we talked about the types of housing we would love to see in Ashland we've talked about more small small houses starter homes more um uh Town Homes people want ownership opportunities but but developers are you know looking for maximizing their return on larger projects and so I think it's really up to the state to to Really
080provide some incentives for developers to really want to partner with communities because I mean we have some Town property that we could partner with a developer who would be willing to do it but I know you know like I said Joe can speak to this a lot more than I can but it's been hard trying to find those developers and the state doesn't offer any assistance on that so that would be kind of like my first thing is asking the state to to make because I think you know we had Jason palace here last last meeting talking from the 495 partnership and he says housing is like going to be the hardest challenge for this area to be able to retain retain people and I think of like the Next Generation so I think of
081like my son who's 16. how are how is that next Generation going to be able to afford to buy a home like we we have to solve the housing so can you you put your proposal in like into a 50 sentence or two like how would you so what would you say so I would basically say that that we encourage the state to um to adopt um more incentives and programs for developers to partner with communities to develop affordable housing okay on the on the lower AMA Ami side would be like and just open up so it was so I don't so I think is there General support or thoughts on that so I'll Joe and Claudia I mean I support that Claudia if you have any comments I like to finish up yeah you
082can you can go ahead Joe I can jump in after you the um I I agree wholeheartedly what Brandi just said one of the one of the issues is that you know the Ami uh you know 30 to 60 you know the base is 80 right now well that's that's that's Workforce housing more than anything else uh if you want to go lower than that because folks that are on fixed incomes are the ones that this is that we're aiming for you know so if they want to if the state is willing to you know instead of asking you know for matching grants they should come up with an incentive to help Builders like the affordable housing trust did and provide you know Monies to help offset their their loss to do that so if
083if they're willing to build you know affordable units and I mean real affordable units then instead of changing zoning laws which is what we are currently doing right now and working on let's let's put something that really takes a bite out of it and make make it a financial issue and provide Financial uh conditions to the developer that's going to come into town and say well you know if the state provides us this we can build in know affordable units at 60 or 30 percent in my instead of the 80. so and so it's it all comes down to you know the monies and the monies are available the federal government has Monies to do that and and you know I know I know fish was was one of the issues that when we're building
084uh the Robert Hill White Project up there uh and we still have land up there that may be available to build an additional building up there if I remember correctly because they only Built one and I thought they had been permitted to build two do you excuse me do you support brandies I think you like the way she said it yeah I mean I would be a little bit more dramatic on it but yeah I mean you have a little bit more cool than I do I just don't like it is but yeah absolutely I I don't have a problem all right great Claudia yeah I think that's a tremendous idea Brandi I think that um you know not only just as starter homes but also for kind of wrap-up homes or however you want
085to call it but um you know I think that that would be just huge I I would love to see us even if even if this isn't the avenue to get that done I I would love to work on that uh on in some way shape or form because I think uh it's such it's so critically needed and um and in such a constructive solution to the to a pro the problem so I would agree 100 Rob in terms of the comments that you had made um in in terms of I I appreciated the fact that you know if money is only available through grants it does kind of complicate things for maybe sometimes finding those opportunities um but I don't really know that you know I I have the um enough of a sense
086of sure of you know what which one would be better for us funding wise so we can do we could do either yeah that's fine um any other things I think I think we're going to support brandies and you should think about the wording but other thoughts or other proposals so I have one other thing wait a minute I had my I spent a little bit too much time on the mass mass.gov website just looking things up because I mean this is kind of it goes back to part of our conversation last uh last meeting when we were talking about sidewalks and infrastructure and how um first of all how costly all the infrastructure um you know maintenance and and putting in sidewalks and maintaining our roads and um the chapter 90 money is just
087not it doesn't cover it and you know we talk about um we've we talked a while back about need there's a bridge that we're going to need to make sure it gets fixed in town and that's at some point in the future and we haven't talked about that in a while and I assume that'll probably come back come back up at some point but um I was looking at Mass dots um Highway division section of their website and they they talk about their mission is to assist cities and towns with roads and bridges um and to help fund resources to do it and but I was looking at what those resources are and you know they they help with like a cost of design for like a hundred thousand dollar Grant or a cost of
088um doing construction for a five hundred thousand dollar Grant and you can apply once a year for one of those two grants and it's just I don't feel like I don't feel like the there's I'm sure there's a lot of towns that are dealing with this that do not have do not have the staff to to be able to to work these projects have crumbling infrastructure and things that need help like sidewalks and bridges and the funding mechanism of five hundred thousand dollars for construction isn't gonna nearly cover the cost of of funding a bridge a bridge fix in our town so that that burden goes back onto the towns to to um to shoulder that so you know I I would say that that um that I would ask the state to to put
089resources towards um to help complete some of these uh infrastructure projects just like massdot does with like our 126 project and we don't have to go through a tip process and there's like an actual Mass DOT resources for us to be able to utilize I don't know how that's kind of less yeah I'm trying to understand you saw the difference so you're talking about specific infrastructure what's the difference with that in 126. well 126 is done through what's known as the tip process so because it's a because it's a highway or yeah well it's a state highway so um it doesn't have to be a state highway to be on the tip process but the tip process basically takes Federal money that comes that flows down to the state and allocates it it mixes it
090in with a couple of other funding sources as well but Brandi I think you're talking about either like increasing chapter 90 or having some stand-alone yeah so really really having the state not only just the funding mechanism but like the resources behind it so so you know massdot or the state however you want to frame it really helps actually pay for these projects and also helps manage the process too because that's part of it is like you know we don't have we don't have the staff to to manage a major Bridge Project right now I wouldn't think maybe maybe that is mascot Maybe I'm Wrong what depends on the bridge so if you look at something like the quarterville road bridge the state has agreed to take that on okay but if you look at
091like the bridge that goes down murder well that one yeah um the one that goes over Cold Spring Brook I mean that's on us we might get some technical assistance grants yeah yeah so um you'd be surprised at how many bridges we have I don't have the number right in front of me but it's significant what Brandy suggest is it as simple as saying you know we should there should be more chapter 90 funding or is it a different kind of mechanism what what um I'm trying to get a handle on what yeah I mean I I I'm I'm struggling with how to frame the ask yeah but I'm trying to do you understand kind of where I'm going with it like I just feel I just feel like this that there's so much infrastructure
092that needs to be fixed in the state and the state isn't stepping up to do it and giving the towns the resources to do it and they should because massdot says that they do so how do we encourage that so how do you yeah how do you compete with the city the city issue then the suburb issue for chapter 90 monies awarded currently it's the general formula right there's there's a formula Claudia and it's based on population and also the amount of miles that you maintain Our Town maintains and so what happened this goes back to kind of what I was saying so what happens is typically like we always ask oh increase it by x amount and it usually gets increased by like half that or it never gets it hasn't been increased since
093I've been here good point so but what is happening is that it gets diverted those debt potential funding because the legislature and I think the governor they love this idea grants so they split things up into these little grants and that people as Brandy pointed out have to apply for in some of these small cities and towns have less capacity and even larger ones like us we're using our capacity to apply for Grants instead of just getting funds that we then decide how to use you know so that goes back to my kind of pet peeve is there any way we could circumvent that specific process and go directly to the Federal government and ask for I yeah essentially despite our nose you know because of our face but is that something that we can
094do potentially but the thing is is and this kind of goes to Brandy's Point too is that you have to have the staff resources to do it to it you know apply for Grants you know to navigate some of the federal bureaucracy which is entirely more regulated than um State I mean bureaucrats Galore well is it is is it simple as like Brandy's is it it may be simple as saying look the state should pay more attention to infrastructure spending including Staffing Resources for cities and towns well I I think first of all infrastructure as opposed to things in general you know we need to I think we need to be honest with ourselves in terms of how effective this is actually going to be right um how effective what it would be well I
095mean I I get you know I think it's very nice that they're asking for oh oh this process yeah and you know it's very quaint um but um you know and I'm I'm sorry I'm pretty direct um you know I just think we have to be honest with ourselves about that oh sure but we're going to say I think it's worth saying something right things that are straightforward and you know you should just be a collaborative effort let's click like the Metro West group the Metro West collaborative group and all this all the towns that are involved in well this is one simple like a class action well I would suggest you know when the different cities and towns within the region like when they put their list together that you know Yolanda who's our
096Metro right West Regional collaborative rep you know she take ours to a meeting and everybody else can and they can you know maybe consolidate a NASA mapc to put something together I think you'd have more of a this more weight the saying is strength in numbers yeah you know type of deals so I just I just wanted a process by which we would respond to Andy Hoagland um you know and just say what did we want which so isn't to say that this is not a great idea to move forward but I also just wanted to get something direct to him that we you know if we thought there was something important um so where are we with this so I think we're supporting we think it's worth Brandy's first uh first proposal and what
097about the second one we also think that that's maybe some I I would suggest it just be Focus like pay more attention to infrastructure including the resources unless we don't want to you know I don't know is there any are there other ideas or thoughts um Claudia or I I kind of had the same reaction as Mike when I read read this and thought Oh Yeah you know in terms of how much they would really this would matter but I mean I don't is something I think that is important above and beyond this it's it it kind of has its own stand by itself and that focusing on that might be just giving it another place to be heard um focusing on you know I think I'm sorry I missed it the housing the housing
098and some kind of whether it be um you know some kind of uh encouragement to give to developers um in terms of building you know smaller homes really that that as another option um so I mean I think that that is something that we could work on and maybe in a few different Avenues but certainly maybe um this would certainly be one of them and and again bring some shed it shed every time you shed light on this you know it's going to gain a little bit of ground so okay so all right so how are we feeling about it I will forget about mine I just made that comment uh Andy on my own but so the two things that Brandy's I just want to move forward if we're going to so Brandi's proposed
099two things do you um is there support for both of her uh responses yeah I would I would say in terms of the um infrastructure one that maybe if we could kind of narrow it down to what do we really want you know we don't necessarily want them just to put more money in the pot because if then we still get a percentage based on the formula or how do you you know we want I think Brandy's talking about uh in a focus on this kind of crumbling infrastructure as opposed to General chapter nine right yeah right I can I can cut I can work on like a sentence or two and put something together I think and I'm just thinking in terms of process um what's the best way to kind of finish this
100and make that response do you think you can just send it to you you want me to send it to you and you respond back to yeah I guess okay the MSA yeah either that yeah that'd be that'd be fine I think so if you send me those those two things and I think we're kind of reach consensus that's worth communicating oh I've got a couple ideas you might the board might want to consider oh I'm sorry yeah go ahead yeah no just one I think you know we talk a lot about you know increased housing what I think would also be great is to see a goal focused on expanding open space in the state so yeah you know uh I could I could come up with something maybe for every 10 units built
101of housing new units built there's a corresponding goal to save one acre of additional open space and how would that like State funding for that based on that well if they would need to figure that out just like we need to figure out yeah incentives think about incentives we'll put something together and I think is that supported by the members what do you think yeah I mean I think it's always good to to um have the state look at look at open space because that's that's the other side of all this housing this is it um yeah works are hands in hand that's a great idea and then one I mean it's going to sound tongue-in-cheek but it's really not meant to be and I'll preface this by saying that I respect the lieutenant governor
102a lot and all the work that she's done but um I think members of the administration should go to a planning board or a zoning board meeting in every city in town in Massachusetts that has a multi-family apartment building on its schedule just to actually experience what it's like so you don't have to support it yourself maybe that one you think I like that where's Joe oh Joe would have been all over them no we have a controversial one no I don't think it's controversial I think it's I think it's um I think there are very few people in state Administration that knows what it's like to sit in all of our chairs so I think you know grappling with all the issues that we do so what would it be saying something like you
103should um go to a go to a planning or planning board meeting when it's discussing multi-family housing how about I put something a little together a little bit more couth all right so we've got it sounds like we've got one two three four there was one other we discussed Joe when you were gone it was Mike's idea about um open for every X units of housing we get either you know the aim would get an acre of open space would be preserved and somehow some kind of program that would do something like that yeah so how would you eliminate this MBTA zoning Fiasco that's well that kind of works that's a different avenue so it sounds like we have four kinds of proposals in the people and their support So if you I guess send
104them to me I'll say the board uh supports these and send them and I'll forward them with our kind of approval or so maybe that'll get a little carry a little more weight than individual responses so thank you all for thinking about that and moving forward on this so that's great um so that brings us to reviewing the special town meeting warrant sure um actually why I typed this stuff up I'll turn it over to Jen he's always surprised when I turned over to her so um I think in your we pack it and maybe a little late um you received um the sort of beginning um index list of the warrant um we don't have too many sort of um sort of heavier topic um we don't typically or special town meeting so um
105we always do a free cash appropriation which is you know we'll be on uh the warrant we always do the pro the senior property tax exemption in the fall this year we will also um have an acceptance of land on zero Fountain Street Michael do you wanna sort of elaborate on that one yeah a little bit um so I believe it's Fountain Fountain Street yeah everybody knows Bill and Carolyn Bell and they are actually interested in in donating a small piece of property to the town so looked at it Becca um recommended that we move forward with it I can I can provide you with her little memo that she put together oh yeah that'd be good more for ecological habitat than anything where is it zero Fountain Street um it's closer to how trying
106to think of the little subdivision um let me get let me get back to you on that I want to give you an exact spot but they're not it's not is it adjacent to where they're living or is it just a piece of land no it's a piece of land apparently Mr Bell's father was a developer in town a long time ago and had accumulated different pieces of property and there's still a couple outstanding is it close to the to the Framingham side believe it's closer to framing okay well thanks to the bells for uh thinking of us and um the next born article would be to accept an easement on High Street and that's really for uh DPW to access that field land so they can maintain it um and then um we've discussed
107uh a few times here is authorizing a home rule position to increase our liquor licenses so working um to work on the language for that and then two CBC funding warrant articles one is to fund the dog park construction so the dog park committee went to CPC earlier this year and asked for funding for construction and that would obviously um be all we would also apply for some Grant funds to make sure that we can construct it we're still working on design and working with the committee on what a maintenance plan would look like so that I'm hoping to have that before represented down meeting any round numbers on this yet or the authorization I actually actually 25 I believe is what the grant is but but what are they going to ask the CBC
108or two I'm sorry 225 is what I believe okay CBC approved completion no so the estimates right now are in the High 400s um based on our design so you know in the interim of this process before we receive permits the designer retired and so we're in the process of looking for another designer that will help us do the permitting process and contract and the construction the driver really is sort of finding parking and the way they'd have to cross Memorial Drive and then also the way we have to sort of construct the entrance because of where it is located on Memorial Drive we're just a line of sight making sure it's safe so it's still on the right hand side it's still in the same location yeah and really instead of just in in
109and out of parking lot um after meeting with the designer and DPW and Kara Terrell who's leading the charge on the is um coming through one way so you'd Park and just kind of go through so there is down the street a bit I mean we certainly had the conversation they're obviously and still in right um we may still need it because yeah on the weekends so yeah and then this the Stanton Grant is um 200 pounds I want to say it's either 2 or 250 yeah I'm getting my numbers it's 250. I think it's 250. um and we have a Sunset date on that right yeah 2026. okay everything everything is 20 26. that's interesting spend all the money before 2012. 2027 is going to be a long nap yeah so if if we
110have that Stanton Grant which I'll just use and we asked CPC for 250 that's a half mil should that cover the cost or no so I haven't the estimate's a bit old now we'll need you know obviously we we need some funding to um continue the design permitting and then construction oversight so I don't have that cost but in theory that we should be um in the ballpark yeah and so we certainly asked the designer to take a a good look at what what our previous designer had presented and see if there's any cost cutting opportunity have you had the opportunity I'm sorry have you had the opportunity to talk with the city of Framingham we did the folks that designed it the dog park because it's it's pretty pretty nice yeah so I believe
111the dog park committee he has they had reached out and they've had some conversations with Natick Natick also has one I've reached out to the Stanton Grand and asked for some recommendations on designers we haven't had much luck getting people I think partly it's a smaller job and people are super busy and so you know we have reached out to three or four I'm going to meet with Peter and alvro and sort of brainstorm other people that might be good too I'm sorry no that's correct what's the square footage of the proposed so because of the wetlands so the the property that we allowed them to use was about two acres I think when we're looking and they haven't gone to conservation yet but when we looked at what the wetlands look like and had
112some conversations with both Megan and now Becca I think there's a usable like a little over an acre and so there's a big the way they design it there's like a there's like one big trail and then a smaller area and you'd separate the bigger dogs from the small shops keeping it very As Natural as possible but obviously some line of sight to make sure you can see yourself so what are the major costs is it the fancy the tray so you have to have water um for cleanup and for water and to you know make sure you can clean up dog waste including piping is that why you have to bring in and then I think the parking lot is the driving factor and so um okay and the parcel is have some challenges
113in terms of making sure okay I'll find out is proposed site to the trail that we have that's already there with the parking across by me uh trolley Brook Charlie Brook yeah it's just a little so it's in between so it's a little ways up because of the wetlands if there's always that Brook and then it obviously it doesn't it it ends before the solar array you know there's like that access point for the solar array we could use some of that yeah um behind the ball I think it's being used informally now um say that that should be continued to be used that way but I don't see anybody stopping it from being used that way in the near future because I know when people are going to the memorial they were popular wood
114stove it should be more like a community depending on designated at that yeah if that's going to continue just an idea so do you know how much information will be available by the time tal meeting comes like will they have some visuals for town meeting so we have a plan we certainly could share I'm hoping I've asked for a maintenance plan so that we can explain that because that's a it's a real big sort of just sort of thinking about what that looks like for the years to come you know it was making sure that it's heroes are friends right or is there there's a committee there's a community they're in there yeah and they're a non-profit so they could raise money and do things yeah they've been raising money for like 10 years yeah
115so yeah and so they were just thinking I think they met a few weeks ago had some conversations about what that maintenance plan may look like they said a lot of questions came up okay and so I'm waiting to get that and we'll have a little bit more information there um and then the last Warren article um I went to CPC yesterday to receive to receive their support to extend um an old and older allocation of funds for the Riverwalk so um that was a 2018 allocation and so it has it's coming up on its Sunset date and um you know I think that was one of the projects that we sort of talked about at the retreat that you know hopefully we can do um not this year but maybe next year so just
116really needing to spend some time to design the flood plain change so the initial design doesn't quite work anymore so we need to sort of rework that okay and we're expecting at least one article from sustainability good question so yeah that is a little bit up in the air and I need to reach out um to the chair so they were they were focused on the tree the tree is definitely not going to be ready uh for November I know they've they met with the planning board uh I believe last week um and they have some work to do and so I think they're still shooting for perhaps May um the enhanced stretch code I think there's some conversations internally about whether they want to bring that um to town meeting and so if they've
117done have they done some Outreach because I know that they said they were going to do Outreach for that stretch code and I haven't seen have they been in front of the planning board or have they been in front of anyone well while they they did have that meeting that I thought was very useful um with the local kind of expert developer that you knew um what's his name his name he gave him a lot of advice about the issues with the stretch code and how to how to uh that was what six months ago I'm trying to remember I attended that oh you know you're thinking of um the architect Glenn Travis yeah and so there was that kind of Outreach they had a meeting where they discussed the kind of issues with the
118new stretch code and if they're going to be resolved and the building inspectors issues with having to enforce it and with some of the uncertainties and Glenn gave a lot of uh advice from from the point of view I think was that the local The Architects or the builders about their issues with the stretch code so I thought that was very helpful and they came away from that meeting with some Direction so I'd be interested to hear from Ash where they are with that but they seem to have at that point some idea where to go but it's been a while now so but as of now we haven't received no anything yeah so I would say like you know if that given what happened at town meeting and just sort of you know I
119think I think it's in their best interest if they are going to move forward with an article for fall town meeting that they start doing some some Outreach because if if they don't it's not gonna it'll end the exact same way that it right that is so this meeting was part of that Outreach so they they've at least started the process I'd be interested to hear what's happened since then so yeah but okay so do we have to take any action tonight and this is just an update okay anything further on this from anybody okay we'll move on so this is really this is the exciting the reason the opeb evaluation report so oh yeah anyway we saved the best for towards the end well we should be able to move through this pretty quickly
120um just so for a reminder for everybody here everybody watching oh this is Claudia's first opeb report oh Claudia it is but you've heard it so much at town meeting so oped other post-employment benefits which is retiree health insurance thanks to you too Claudia I just want to let you know oh yeah she's the factor and you too you guys are not to take Medicare or maybe you are to take it I forget which way it goes before so every two years we're provide we're required to provide an Actuarial study about our opeb liability what our obligations are um with the projected obligation is and then also where we are in terms of how we're funding that obligation and um you know just so you know like 10 years ago we didn't have I don't
121think anything towards opeb the interim Town manager at the time Jim Purcell actually put four hundred thousand dollars into a just a like a stabilization fund and later we created a trust in the funding mechanisms that we put together so we had it's actually a very good report I'll turn it over to Brittany iacaponi who's our finance director who could share with you some of the details Britney's Brittany's been waiting patiently on all this time go ahead Brittany I almost I almost missed it but I heard opeb and I oh so we got a good good work this time around um our total opeb liability is just over 63 million but our funded ratio actually increased by two percent so we're just shy of 10 for our funded ratio we have a little just shy
122of 6.3 million in our op-ed trust fund um so that's due to you know a few reasons our opeb liability only increased I think it was like 75 000 from our last evaluation um due to plan changes and so forth we had a slightly higher discount rate but it's still very low compared to what other towns are using we went from 4.79 to 4.82 which is still being very conservative um so also for opeb we're still continuing to fund it through the general funds uh health insurance budget we do a pay as you go for each new employee so I want to say for fy24 we have 300 000 factored in for an appropriation to the trust fund and then through our um free cash policy will be appropriating at least a couple hundred a
123thousand dollars there as well so each year we're putting into the trust fund at least five hundred thousand dollars and then that does even include um you know interest earned on the fund as well so um obviously s p the standard employers our rating agency looks very favorably at that so overall we're doing well we got a great report we now have almost seven million dollars you know so we went from zero to seven million dollars in ten years so that's that's just through you know crafting good policies and the discipline adhering to it so doesn't that help with the s p uh I would think it does and as Britney mentioned like on our recent report um you know they're starting to take a look at this more and more seriously um especially as
124a percentage of your payroll and um so they have expressed really good reactions on our plan like our our dual action plan um so yeah it's I mean I I was really kind of surprised it went up to Four Points um you know almost 10 percent funded funded ratio and as Britney mentioned I don't know if you caught it but I mean we use a very conservative discount rate I mean it's in the fours most towns are using discount rates in the six and seven range which is never going to get that kind of return so their liability it may on paper it may look like they have less of a liability but it's not in reality I mean we could make our we could probably cut our liability in half right Brittany if we
125probably if we went to a seven percent range if you you know but it's all paper yeah so it's it's a game it's the show it's a moving Target that's what it is you know well I just you know I think it's one of these kind of obscure good government things that you know it's a really um it's uh you know kind of uh you know it's a good for Michael and uh Jen and Brittany um in town management for continuing to stay on this and and work on this so this is one of those things that you know could easily get out of control and we could leave it to the Future to deal with it but we're handling it so we'll able to hand you know our successors uh you know something that
126was in better shape than we got it so that's great so so uh and you know so I certainly appreciate this ongoing effort to address this and thank you all for continuing to work on this just I just have one quick question did you Michael I know at one point in time we were really well a lot of cities and towns weren't funding the old pip line line item in in their budget is there was there a deadline set by the state and has that come and gone or have they extended it it's not necessarily the state it's it's the governmental Accounting Standards okay correct me if I'm wrong here but it's gas b40 yeah it's not a state mandate it's more of an accounting standard okay and I think as I recall the last
127audit we had they talked about the was it in the audit they talked about the increased thresholds for OPEC it's my recollection or there was something that changed was a guess there were assumptions that were changing so they were going to bring more of the liability on the books right which has already occurred yeah yeah so before before they implemented the standard this liability existed but it wasn't reflected in any of the financial statements and so over the years they have as Britney said brought on more and more of that liability into these are more stringent and realistic more stringent more realistic it more transparent actually what the what the town's liability actually is so any further comments or questions um we don't need to take any action this is just a report and it's
128it's good to hear it and again thanks for continuing this effort um and we're going to talk about this at the special town meeting is that I hope not okay well no I I think um I do no we will probably say something yeah no we'll probably say something because we will have a transfer from free cash into right that's when we talk about it exactly yes I knew there was some hook okay great so we'll talk about it all right well thank you we'll move on and Brittany thank you thanks Brandon further we'll move on to the next item which is the update on the comprehensive plan so that Michael or um sure um so I'll give you guys a quick update so our last uh comprehensive plan steering committee meeting which was two
129weeks ago we were joined by um Jen Goldson our consultant um and her team um cadenais and Brenna uh who are going to be the three women that are going to be um leading the charge with our comprehensive plan steering committee we are um they they kind of went through an outline of um sort of a a high level timeline and the components of a comprehensive plan and um we are going to be having our first Community visioning Forum I think it's called um and that's going to be in December we don't have a date quite yet but that's going to be the first real opportunity for um for formalized Community feedback and um but it was a really great meeting we did some exercises um in groups and we had some folks from the
130community out and joining us as well and so we were able to identify special places in Ashland we had huge Maps as well as areas of opportunities for Ashland and they are taking all that information and um and the reasoning behind it and kind of um codifying all of that and um so it was a it was a it was a really good first kickoff meeting I think that Jen and her team are going to be a really good fit for the steering committee they've worked first of all they've worked with large steering committees in the past and so I don't think that our 29 member steering committee um intimidates them at all which is good um and I think their focus on you know like we we interviewed them um and I think everyone
131had somewhat similar feedback which was that um their model of community engagement I think is um really top-notch and I think we will end up with a really great product that accurately reflects the goals and visions of our community and also um really engages the community so I I think you know the feedback that I got from that meeting was really positive um I think the steering committee feels like there's some really good direction and um so and I also just wanted to give a shout out to um uh rajashree gosh gosh sorry um and Stacy Grant Lewis who were um voted our co-chairs for the steering committee so they're going to be leading the charge for our group going forward and they're great they've been working on an interim basis as co-chairs for several
132meetings and I think now that we have a formalized um co-chair arrangement plus the consultant team I think we're I think we're in really good shape so I did want to also say we did get um we had put out a call to the community for project names we're like naming our comprehensive plan project and uh we received I think it was something like 45 names from a good number of folks in the community so I just wanted to thank everyone for sending in their their thoughts were in the process of whittling it down to kind of our top view and those will be um sort of like the steering committee is doing an initial vote and then we will do a vote of our top three at our next meeting and um so I
133just wanted to thank the community for that also um we are hosting a community table at the Ashland Farmers Market this upcoming Saturday from nine to one so I would encourage folks that want to know more about the the comprehensive plan process and what the project is all about because we all talk about planning but nobody knows what we're talking about as far as like the real nuts and bolts of this um and I also receive news that we'll be able to kick off um or show the new yeah we should have a website the new website so um for the conference yeah so um so lots of good things happening our next uh steering committee meeting is the 19th and um we'll be joined Again by at least one member of the the Golson
134Consulting team and uh would love folks to to join us on Zoom or um come in person it's a little tough because the room is is is tight with with quite a few members of the steering committee what's the room and zoom's tough too zoom's tough too yeah that's that's that is where's the meeting um we mean in the library in the big room in the library so um what about the community center that's a little bigger because we don't have like the capability to put up with the technology yeah I think I think that was it um we have our newsletter that goes out at the end of every month I would encourage folks to sign up for for that um no I think that pretty much we're chugging along yeah the last meeting
135was really good so we're feeling we're feeling positive cool all right thank you um oh the next uh fortunately this is a should be a quick update update I originally asked to put this on the agenda update on the federal government shutdown so fortunately we do not currently have a federal government shutdown we has been extended the agreement has been extended but only through like November 17th hopefully Congress will find a way out of that to continue the government we had looked uh you know um I think the realization came to some of us the longer that continues the more and more the effects are fortunately uh we're okay for now and I don't know if anyone else wanted to comment on that or Michael if you had anything else to say I think we
136just dodged the country dodged the bullet and we'll see what happens next yeah I mean it's like you said we dodged a bullet we'll see what happens it seems like we're furthering into chaos now than we were really bless you a week ago but sogo's Congress yeah so if there's nothing further on that I'll uh we have the consent agenda is there any um anybody want to pull anything but consent agenda if not I will entertain a motion to accept any consensus the exempt agenda as presented and I'll second that all right motion's been made and seconded uh without any further discussion I'll ask uh for a vote all those in favor accepting the consent agenda say aye aye aye consent agenda has been accepted that takes us to town manager reports so first we'll
137start off with something fun uh fire prevention week is next week and so our fire department is kicking it off with an open house at the new facility on October 7th that's a Saturday starting at 11 A.M so would encourage everybody especially the kiddos to head over to the fire station the public safety building and um you know get to experience you know the big trucks and get to meet some of the firefighters and Sparky will probably be there too bless you um next is an update on the downtown project so they were supposed to do the lining last night as you can see that did not happen they just did not show up so unfortunately yeah this vendor's been pretty tough and unfortunately they're like one of the only vendors that does this type
138of work but over the past week they've been doing a lot of landscaping so I don't know if you've noticed those trees the trees a lot of trees looks like they've been there for a while it's really interesting yeah a lot of shrubs we might want to use some for the Arboretum and they think about it there's a lot of them but I think the biggest the biggest news is um you know as everybody knows or should by now we were looking at doing a stamped asphalt treatment on the medians and with the crossing Islands and once we had one of those done it was well it looked like stamped asphalt it that did not look like Cobblestone or you know what we were trying to emulate so we're now in the process we're actually
139going to Brick the medians and the crossing Islands so and then next year the medians are going to be um in inside those medians will have a couple of landscaped areas as well okay not yet what are we talking about in terms of substantial completion at this point well the streetscape work is it should be done by by the end of this month um I mean so in terms of I think the big thing on people's mind is traffic slowdowns and things like that we pretty much passed that or how does that look at the at the end of this month yeah we should be pretty much I think they've gotten so they've done all of the crosswalks which has caused the majority of the traffic detours recently the median work like you know they've
140already poured the concrete for the base so all of that's done you should just see people in the medians doing the bricking um I think I think pretty well yeah I think we're in we're well beyond the um traffic delay stage so can I just ask a question uh I did send an email to you about soft brick yes so can you tell me exactly where you were seeing the crack ones yeah right in front of Nick's Pizza okay right in front of the next Pizza we we actually had an A Day meeting and we were coming out and look I said these were just late like like a month ago they shouldn't be cracking like that and they were they would you could see like little cracks coming okay I said that's crazy that
141shouldn't be happening so to me and the the little education that I had from my uncle and dad is Mason's that's soft brick there's different types of uh hardness of Bricks now of course the the cheapest work is the softer work the harder break is because it's killed more it's you know it's a little bit more expensive I'm just kind of curious because you get those types of cracks and you've got seeing weeds this and that and everything else then you had to pull it up again so it's labor labor intensified so sometimes it's easier to pay up front and not after you know well we won't be paying it paying for it again if they I mean well no I understand you don't have to keep revisiting it and you know and saying oh
142geez this doesn't looks like you know whatever yeah that's um so we'll definitely add that to the Finish list because we've got a few things on the punch list which they're starting to knock off um but um but yes definitely add it okay thank you so because it looks really nice you know it absolutely looks nice I drove down there last night I was went for a ride to and I went down and I said man the vision that we had five years ago when we made that walk downtown New Colony and we looked up mainstream because we were worried about the sight of the church and this and that with that 120. and I said wow it's come to fruition it's right it's there yeah just get rid of those get rid of the
143poles makes the polls stand out like I saw it from though for sure but uh but no it's moving along um it's great to see it coming together update on the West Union sidewalk um so let's talk about the permanent sidewalk for right now we do have the engineering completed and right now it's I I've got to talk to the engineer because the sidewalk is on the southern end or the eastbound Lane going towards um well from the southern eastbound which surprised me because um there's so many driveway aprons there yeah along that side so I want to check with Mike Carter and see we just got it so I just want to see you know what the thought process was about that so we're thinking you know the well we talked about the estimate
144I do think the prudent thing to do would be to take the 250 that we had already allocated for that sidewalk and take the 250 that we had allocated for like the next year to do the High Street sidewalk and combine those make sure we do the West Union Street sidewalk Evan is applying for a 250 000 Grant to help cover the cost too and so so that should cover it okay actually I'm sorry we're meeting tomorrow uh traffic study committee is meeting tomorrow at 10 30 at the uh substation APD substation I know that was going to be a topical conversation so if anybody wanted to be part of that conversation or had any other suggestions or ideas uh 10 30 at the uh APD substation at the market back at Market Basket Plaza
145and uh you know to hear the the conversation that will happen whatever the focus is West Union yeah the focus is Washington yeah so okay so if we do it on the eastbound side because I know we had talked about not needing to take easements right is that still the case on that side that would still be the case and actually I should have elaborated a little bit more you know we've we've got some space there for in addition to a five foot sidewalk we could create a four foot shoulder on the other side and actually create a bike lane oh a marked bike lane not a protected one but but I'm marked without it right I mean that'd be better than you know and that would be on the uh Valentine property side exactly
146okay cool and there are also two crosswalks I should have said that too when it when basically at Edgewood and then one at the middle school okay and we'll be electronic yeah those will be the push button push button okay it sounds like we're moving in a good direction here yeah sorry yeah go ahead Claudia she's giving her thumbs up okay so there but I do want to talk about a temporary solution as well so Doug and Kevin um worked on basically this idea and I think it was brought up at the meeting of incorporating those I don't know the best way to call them they're like those flexible bollards like you see on 495 um putting those in and then putting a crosswalk and we were pretty excited about it and then I have
147not heard directly from the engineer about it but I did get word that he wasn't going to sign off on that from a safety perspective so I just I need to have a conversation with him and figure figure out what is it because of the narrowness of the road in that area no it just doesn't provide a lot of protection and that was basically yeah it is a visual thing I was thinking like after our last meeting like is it possible for the schools to hire someone to do detail for like time where kids would be Crossing like so there's actually police detail during that time because you know I keep thinking like because because it's really like the crossing that's the issue I mean it's walking on the street but it's also it's also
148finding a safe spaced cross so I I was curious like maybe that might be some option I don't know well we do have a crossing guard there right but she's down but she's down by the middle school because because Donna's like you know having the kids cross but also directing traffic because right the middle school job office she usually has them stand by until the traffic's cleared out a bit and then she'll hold up traffic and have them cross the street that way but it's getting them to her but the crosswalk is an another point right down the street to the West so right now we don't have crosswalks but the ones that were planned would be at Edgewood and then also at the middle school but that's what I was thinking about the Edgewood
149one is that would be a solution so at least the kid crossed safely but yeah I really want to talk to Mike and just kind of hear his thoughts on this um this stanchion idea I mean because we had I mean we were budgeting for a lot of them like 150. um and you know so I mean it's pretty awesome part of this is the walkway as well yeah you'd create like a little walkway along alongside the road but you know the thing is is they're walking there now without without anything right right um and I wondered how they would do with with the snow yeah I mean at least they're able to do it in Hopkinton so we've got to be able to do it we've got to be able to figure out they
150put those up just recently not you know within within within the year I don't believe they've gone through a a winter season yet I really yeah I think that's true Joe I wondered how that's going to work when it comes uh file time but you know I think um I I don't know I think they must be flexible they're pretty fast flexible I'm just saying this the snow with the the weight of the snow would they would they get buried so what so what happens is basically the base gets drilled into the asphalt and then I'll call it the stanchion which is flexible goes on top of that and so that base is not moving um okay that stanchion has some flexibility yeah like a polo stick but we'll figure we'll figure something out there
151you said there's going to be another crosswalk down by the school yes well as a signaled one a signal you just have school traffic is on no because you have you have a you have this Crossing goddamn wow okay and that's when she stops the traffic on I always it's funny because I've gone through there dozens of times but I don't know it's a cross yeah okay so um yep so that's my report all right thank you anything else for town man or update any other updates uh no not right now great so that brings us to board reports we'll start why don't we start with Claudia since she's up there in The Ether go ahead Claudia up here the clouds yes thank you um no I just wanted to uh just a couple of
152things uh last week we did have a school building committee meeting and I just wanted to kind of restate a little bit into a very good job of it earlier when um talking about the bonding so uh you know Brandi I think brought up about there's going to be some additional funds that come through to the town and that is going to be part of the reimbursement so that will be on top of our original reimbursement we anticipate between 3.4 and 3.8 million dollars in additional reimbursement monies so which would ultimately you know bring down the amount of money that we have to bond um those dollars are coming to us from the state um because there are some projects are being one of them that went out to bid after inflation just went through
153the roof and and uh and you know the bidding was just crazy compared to um what had been anticipated and the actual costs um you know in fact we actually spent a lot of time in those early days um looking at where we could cut cut back and save some money and still produce the building that we had promised to the town um so we can't bring back some of those things some of those things were gone forever because once you know obviously the building's built you can't bring them back and indeed the money can't be used like that anyways um so this is a money that comes back in the form of reimbursement the actual amount of money that we borrow or the limit of our borrowing um the overall budget it does not
154change how much the overall budget was so um but those will be some additional dolls that come to the come to us and to help a little bit with some of the money that will be borrowing and then um you know they're working hard to get the uh playground up and running um and trying to get that done before the weather turns um they most of the a lot of the construction above ground has been done um the thing that they're really working against the clock is uh the rubber uh I don't know if it's a cement but it's a rubber material that has to move forward underneath the playground and that has to be done when the temperature is 41 degrees or above so that's the what they're racing against um to get you
155know a nice playground structure for the kids so fingers crossed on that and then I just wanted to say that uh that you know my husband and I were able to attend um the performances by Mike and and um the project empathy group in Hopkinton on Saturday night right um and and it really was it was uh that everyone did a wonderful job uh Mike was very impressive um as I guess he often is in our meetings as well um and and uh he actually um he just did a great job so uh thank you for that Mike thank you for putting yourself out there um it's you know really important for people to to to hear what makes us all human um and uh you know gives us all a story to be told
156so that's it's a hard thing to do to put yourself out there so thank you for that um and that's about it I um you know succumbed to uh uh covet uh after three and a half years of fighting it off with a lot of exposures wow in the schools and uh managed to dodge it and uh I did finally succumb but I'm feeling really fine I just didn't really want to be there tonight with a mask on all night um and and have anybody feel you know uncomfortable or concerned or that so I just thought it'd be better to stay home even though this is not my favorite way to participate I can tell you that so that's it for me thank you great thank you Claudia Claudia thank you for thinking of us
157we appreciate that kid yeah all right so uh Brandi uh sure I only have a couple of things um I just wanted to remind folks that um a week from Saturday October 14th is fall festic Corner Spot one of our Cornerstone events um in the afternoon from three to six it's usually just hopefully knock on wood it'll be a nice day I'm hopeful it'll be a nice day we deserve a nice day for one of these things right um I wasn't able to to do the um the ash hop porch Fest but I heard that was really great I think people loved walking around and listening to music so I just wanted to give a shout out to um the folks that organized that and hopefully next year is is bigger and better and and
158less rainy so um it's actually turned out pretty well you know both the weather was great Saturday was fine and good awesome so um and then the only other thing I wanted to just say is um so Joe and Yolanda are going to be at um yeah same day um at the farmers market for office hours from 9 to 11 I know Yolanda's going to be there just on the early side and um Joe will be there holding down the fort okay I'll be there I'll be at nine to one of you can pick up some corn for me or something no never mind sorry um and uh yeah that's just I I also went to the the project empathy show um in addition to Michael I had another friend that was a part of
159the cast and I had um a friend that was also involved in the production of the the um of the event and uh it just it I Echo exactly what Claudia said and you just never know what people's real stories are and so just kind of understanding where people come from is um uh it's it's a good reminder for all of us so anyway yep yep great thank you Brandi uh Joe thank you Mr chair uh quickly um Trish Peter and I met uh last week uh we said some of the uh things that we wanted to our agendas for the zoning discussions one of them had to do with uh seeing what the percentage of the zoning would be a wimpy in certain uh Parcels of land and we we haven't set a date
160yet but we thought it'd be best just to go and do a a walking tour of the of the lands up and off that off the area off of Pleasant Street so we put in uh hiking boots on so if anybody wants to join us with the mosquito infested areas up there is it okay for us to join you in terms of open meeting no no because it's it's just we're just going for a walk in the woods as soon as uh Peter checks his schedule and checks here as we'll be able to do that and one of the things we were looking at was uh future discussions with uh the ideas and plans of adus and the percentages and changes uh with respect to a 40 billion we had that earlier discussion uh this
161evening so I won't uh put other potentials yeah right so we started on that and which is nice so uh we'll continue working on it and hopefully we'll provide information for everybody that will be happy just we attentively talked about late November or second November meeting for an update but that's that's if you guys are ready to up yeah so right so we're working on it we're getting there um just want to uh tell everybody that tomorrow uh at 10 30 uh the traffic uh study committee will be meeting at the APD substation which is at Market Basket Plaza uh 10 30. uh anyone who's welcome to attend it's an open meeting so please feel free to join us and one of the discussions will be the West Union Street sidewalk engineering proposal and some
162other areas of concern in town and East Union Street which is still a bone of contention with some of the residents there and speeding and things of that nature and I guess a resident of 154 which is the old Bishop Farm which is right at the corner of Cedar Street and East Union Street the house almost got hit again and that was because of an individual who fell asleep at the wheel wow so we don't know what we can do to try to protect that that house any more than it is it's it's high the house is high so we'll we'll look at it and we'll probably have to put some sort of barrier yeah Paul's house yeah so and I know he'll be there too discuss that matter with us people are going straight
163on Cedar Street and just keep well he fell asleep so you know when you fall asleep yeah you know you just went kept on going straight and there's really nothing there to protect it other than that Arrow sign double arrow sign and that's really nothing there you know that's going to suit protection so anyway that's that and then uh on October 27th uh at six o'clock it'll be uh 35th annual Halloween parade uh and party for the kids starting at six o'clock at Montenegro Square I still need to find someone contact somebody to be able to utilize the the new midday school so Claudia if you can give me a name that I can contact to get that that would be very helpful um we just want to use that Joe thank you appreciate that
164um we want to use the uh the cafetorium and and the gymnasium as we have and I love to drive up there and take a look at the uh the path to get to get to the school because now that's it's changed a little bit so I don't want the kids to walk through mud and all that you know in in areas up there so we'll probably have to go through the uh the new entryway by that beautiful electronic sign and uh and um we'll go from there and that's all I have great thank you very much yeah thank you Joe uh I just some items I had just mostly notes um and again yeah I did go to porch Fest that was a great idea and um or at least some of it and
165um yeah hopefully you'll do it again next year I know the musicians were all volunteers I don't know if people knew that I was like yeah whoa we should at least come up with something to do some fundraising to pay them something it was wonderful um the MBTA new schedule has come out um and so um I don't know there's been some feedback about issues there's supposed to be include late night it doesn't seem to be all that late at night there's some issues with the the westward bound commuters I don't know Brandi if you've been hearing anything about from the Boston crowd about the new schedule or um I could only talk about my experience which was that I'm used to I'm used to not having it when they say they come out with
166a new schedule because they do that like a couple times a year you literally you look at it nothing's changed and you know yeah this one's different this one is different so um I found that one out on Monday so but um I mean I I don't think you know it's it's not huge changes not a huge change I think it seems pretty Boston oriented I mean I think because it really um which of course no surprise but uh it does have some other issues but um I gotta look I gotta take a closer look because I think it I don't remember if they've added more Express trains but they needed to add more experience I think they did I think that was in terms of your typical kind of especially going to and from
167Worcester there was a lot of attention paid there I think and and trying to um and um the Lesser stops like Wellesley and West Newton they're kind of trying to de-emphasize those so which you can see why they'd want to do that but so um yeah so if there's any other feedback we're having the commuter rail committee is having a joint meeting with the sustainability Committee of The Advisory board on March October 16th at 10 A.M these are all Zoom meetings so they're very easy to attend if you're interested we're going to be talking about their sustainability efforts but also the new the schedule any kind of schedule issue so if people are interested in that that's I can I think I think Brian just routinely sends us all the the links if you want
168to do that um I just want to say the for you know one of the things I was you know um in terms of the MBTA zoning uh one of the things I wanted to kind of follow up with which I'm trying to do is that whole formula issue which I think we all understand that we're kind of it's um the overall formula not necessarily how close you are to the to the commuter rail station but how did they arrive at the fact that we had the zone for what is a 1200 units multi-family 1150 and so I thought that was you know really that that formula worked based on the fact that we had built housing before so now we have to build more housing whereas other communities that had build housing got lower
169numbers so I thought that was essentially uh unfair and then you know trying to you know just carry on an effort to kind of get the administration to tweak that a little bit and maybe to our you know to decrease it a bit so that was kind of something uh discussing with Joe and Friday would if you recall it originally brought this up some months ago so I'm going to try to kind of pursue that and I and I expected the board I think the board supports that but just see if we can push uh the executive office to do some to look at that formula again is is but you know how realistic that is I don't know but I'm gonna try to push on that a little bit and if I can get
170some help for valet you know I think there's a position the board can take and help I will I will let you know about that um the um uh we got an email about the lieutenant governor visiting Chestnut place I don't know did anyone yeah I know you respond I just wondered you know maybe I'll try to follow up it sounded interesting I'm not sure if any uh I know Michael wasn't able to go and I wasn't either but it just sounded kind of interesting but I don't know if is there anything uh big with that um just enough just we got the MMA trade show in January 19th the 20th is coming up so people could think about that Claudia that's you're new to that that's um you know I I went a few
171years ago when I went remotely during covid that was good um and so it's usually a good event if you're interested in doing that so people think about that I'm not sure what I'm if I'm going or not this year we'll see um the marpa conference next Tuesday that's another thing that we got an email about I'm thinking about that I'm not sure if anybody yeah Yolanda is not here so I'm sure she has some insight about the usefulness of that but that was another thing we got invited to um oh and I did want to note that the Ashland cultural Council was at the Ashland farmers market last week I think I stopped by and chatted with them so they're they're pushing the Starbucks murals so that was great they're very energetic Stacy was
172there along with other members of the committee and Stacy I guess is going to be there next Saturday as well for the comprehensive plan so she's a bundle of energy so that's great to see them moving ahead on that um so I think that's that's all I had just some general updates and thoughts but so with that having said that I will entertain a motion to continue this meeting for another two hours is that no yeah sorry no that's okay uh just one quick thing we have some signatures that need to be well we have some paperwork they need signatures so Claudia when you have an opportunity to swing by the town hall uh your signature is going to be needed on some of the people with the bond yeah great okay okay all right
173so second of motion motion I'll make I'll make a motion to adjourn okay and now it's second all those in favor Jordan say aye aye aye thank you all night see you in two weeks you feel better great all right okay