001foreign the clock I'm your host Yolanda Greaves on today's show we're going to be speaking with Peter comedian he is the organizer of the Kitty fenwall car show that does fundraising for cancer they're going to be celebrating their 10th year this this September and we had the opportunity to speak with him about how it all started and how he stays engaged and all the fun that this car show brings we also will have the update from the select board meeting that is happening on Wednesday August 16th and we'll have our around the town tour so stay with us as I bring you around the clock [Music] hello and welcome and welcome to Around the Clock I'm your host Yolanda Greaves today we are sitting with Peter commission Peter welcome to around the clock and did
002I say that correctly committee annual version you know it's a soft tea or a hearty Peter comedian well thank you we are here to talk about the Kitty fenwall car show which is hitting its 10th anniversary this year let's start Peter with what made you start the car show well Kenneth fellow had a Relay for Life team and um one of the people on the team Elizabeth Demers was the receptionist was part of the Relay for Life team and we were looking ways to raise money and she says well Pete you know why don't we try a Casio okay and not knowing anything about how to do castles never even been to a cop show and we decided to do it and we did it and I think we had 50 cars show up okay
003so the first year was 10 years ago in 2013. yeah okay 50 cars show up and every year we learn a little more yep and just word gets out we try to have a fun show yep and word just gets out and now last year we hit 300. 300 cars 100 cars do you have a capacity that you could go to luckily a kid informal got a huge lawn area which which the car owners love because usually they got a concert that's in a parking lot it gets hot yeah just not good so we have the huge lawn area my gut we could probably hold about 800 cars oh wow yeah so we got you got ways to go you're not you're not I want to fill that outgrowing that space anytime soon no but
004yeah so 2013 50 cars who do you work with to make sure this happens I mean as as we all know an event like this is not just one person who else helps you out and makes sure when I immediately someone said gosh oh I went to my friend and Rose okay Ed and I have known each other since we were four years old okay and um I said hey you know I wonder how do we do this and uh so I grabbed him and the Relay for Life team and and had a lot of contacts I just go to other car shows and meet people and but it really is when they come to your car show if you do it right or it gets out right and we've had very very good comments
005from people and as you can see we just grow every year yeah yeah so what is the requirement to bring a car well the requirement is you have to have a car Any Car Any Car Any Car it can be brand new can be old you know you can push it if you want to push it that's okay too you can bring a motorcycle okay um and um so we accept anything it's more about having fun and having a place for people to go okay a place for people to go right um and what I suggest is come and talk to some of these people they are the nicest people you'll ever meet in your life yeah and they're so thankful for having a place to go to show their pride and joy right right
006it's definitely Pride as you walk by and I've been a couple of times and it's an amazing thing to see the cars lined up and the owners there and now I would think you've been doing this for 10 years did you then catch the bug to get a older show car well I had a 92 Corvette and um and I sort of got a bug in his head you know gotta thank Ed Rose oh yeah thanks yeah so he had me pick up a car a truck they said Pete we're trying to sell this truck and the owner wants to bring it to the show can you bring it to the show so I pick it up it's a 1933 pickup and I'm driving I said Jesus is nice and so I brought it to
007the show and I caught the bug I said so I started looking for her and I got a 1931 Chevy Independence wow that's a show nice a beautiful red red yes nice nice uh do you have other cars that you enjoy specific Brands specific models specifically here you know I like everything you know I'm not a big car guy you know ask me what a motor does I don't okay it's more like I just enjoyed looking at different types of cars okay and that's what our show is about um we're not so much about creating people's cars because a lot about Woods are going to be given out by women that are on my Relay for Life team okay now I don't mean to be sexist right that they don't know anything about cops right
008but I like them giving out Awards because they're just going to pick a guy that looks cool and I said you know just pick out a card that you wanted to own what would it be okay and I don't care what it is okay so what's the entrance for the okay I'm sorry no that's okay if I want to bring a car what is the charge for that the I keep the feed down low it's ten dollars at ten dollars a car oh okay okay normal cash flows are 20 25 more I said you know these people gotta give them a break okay gonna give people a break especially when covert hit okay and all that stopped so I dropped the price of that down and then what I did is I started looking for
009sponsors oh good and I'm up to 50 sponsors right now nice okay and the sponsors paid 200 to be a sponsor okay and they can put a booth at the Shelf they want okay and they give out I pick up a very nice amount of plastic 50 or 60 dollar worth of trophy okay and they get to pick a winner of their trophy so each sponsor does a trophy he sponsors we'll do a trophy okay um and if I wanted to just come and see the cars is there any charge for that funny story in that I don't charge any Spectators oh okay that's great no charge nice um and so a couple years ago when covet hit the company said geez Pete we've got to do covert tracking oh yeah and so people we
010have to keep a signing right so it's okay you know what we'll just put a little jar out there donations yeah yeah well last year from Spectators just donating they can come in for free yeah three thousand dollars we raised wow so people are appreciating what you're doing and knowing it yeah I think it is why don't you say cancer people open up the walls yeah really that's all I can say well I mean I don't I don't think I've ever talked to anyone who has not in some way been impacted by cancer either they personally have someone they know or extended family or a friend of a friend kind of thing and so and and there's so many forms of cancer is there any specific cancer that you focus on or just general research
011all all cancer um I gotta get up a plug in okay okay we like plugs we have a someone gave me a friend of mine gave me a little friend from when I grew up a 1969 Holly Davidson golf cart wow okay and that'll be at the Castro okay and um and we wanted to make it a real nice thing and and make it really for Life colors yeah and Mike's Collision in town donated to have the golf cart wrapped and Relay for Life colors and wait till you see this thing oh I'll have to stop by then oh please give me that we'll give you advice okay riding the golf cart that might be good still there you go yes yes so what time so do people have to register to bring their cars
012uh we don't do any pre-register show up at the end of the show and what time can they show up officially we start at nine okay okay um and we try to be all wrapped up no later than 130. okay giving out the awards because yeah we'll how about we'll probably be giving out over 100 Awards wow okay so I would like to try to start that at 12 30 just to get people moving okay um and so there's no pre-registration however we got a nice setup that I I'll have four or five lines to let people in now I say nine o'clock somebody are going to be there at seven seven I'll appreciate that 6 30. okay um and funny story one of the people always would show up really and you probably know
013Chris beaten oh yeah Chris who also yeah I was here at Ashland teacher Ashland teacher Hospital years ago yeah um and we will recognize him as well with the gun show he 6 30. I go Chris come on Pete I want to make sure I had a good spot really um but I'll tell you what people show up 6 30 seven o'clock yeah we're pretty much ready like it's 7 30. okay now fortunately you typically have the Lions there with their favorite trailer yep serving breakfast breakfast lunch stay there for lunch you know have some good lunch yeah and they've been there heavy except for one I think because we have a conflict with Ashley and Dave yep um they've been there every year they had such a great organization and they give us a
014great amount of the proceeds that they will give back to Americans Society so uh big thanks to them good yeah okay I have to let people know I am a lion so okay okay I'm glad I said good things but no I know it's always a fun day I've done it once or twice as a lion and then a couple times before that so well is there anything else you want people to know about the car show before we wrap up this discussion I think yeah so you know bring anything you want to the car show uh it's not it's the car's not going to be judged you know we're not going to look for dirt or anything like that and lose points it's not it's a fun event it's a family event it's nice
015um we'll have an ice cream truck there yeah the alliances and alliances there we have a DJ who donates his time he's been with me for 10 years wow poor kid worked for me now he's the game is first job and now he's doing it well he's that's what it's all about so yeah come and enjoy have fun good so Peter this is the first time I've had an opportunity to interview here on around the clock and when I interview someone for the first time I always have a question I ask them and it's been a while I realize with some of our interviews since I've had this opportunity is there something about you Peter comedian that not many people may know so start thinking that you'd be willing to share with our viewers they'll
016be willing to share um I don't have been an Ashland residence for a long long time I take a lot of pride in the town been involved in little league and basketball and all the youth programs and stuff I just what a great town I I just just it's a great time and I'll tell you the people in town offices as far as helping me run the show he couldn't ask for anything more really what a great town so yes I have to agree with you and uh yeah we we do live in a pretty good town here in Ashland we have a lot um a lot of great things and a lot of great people yeah well Peter thank you so much for coming on around the clock I'm glad you finally have an
017interview I know we've talked about it after the show many times but thank you for coming on good luck with the show this year and I'll try to stop by and maybe get a ride on that golf cart absolutely I've got a reserve part okay sounds good thank you well that wraps up this segment with Peter comedian from the Kitty fenwall car show that's happening on Saturday September 9th we hope to see you there and thanks for watching this segment of Around the Clock the next stop on our around the town tour is over at the farmers market the Metro West famous Ashland Farmers Market we were there at the beginning of the month for National Farmers Market week and there are quite a few uh well-known people or at least local well-known people who
018joined us at the market that day including Congressman McGovern our own Senator Karen spilka and a few other people let's go take a look and listen at what they talked about at the Farmers Market improve nutrition by providing greater access to Fresh local products educate residents about nutrition and sustainable agriculture in the build community while contributing to a vibrant downtown Center in Ashland over our 12 Seasons Ashland Farmers Market has become a community Hub that brings residents together weekly promoting local farms and small businesses supporting snap and hip programs and providing a welcoming space for all over most of our history the Farmers Market has been exclusively a volunteer organization community service has provided provided by team volunteers as integral to Our Success and Ashland Farmers Market maintains a scholarship program for a graduating volunteer
019as we celebrate 2023 National Farmers Market week our Focus continues to be issues of food insecurity food Justice supplemental matching funds for SNAP recipients and climate impacts on Massachusetts farmers again we appreciate you joining the Metro West famous Ashley and Farmers Market as we celebrate 2023 National Farmers Market week and now I would like to introduce our Senate President Massachusetts State Senate President Karen spilka Steve offered to hold the sunflowers but I wanted everybody to see these gorgeous sunflowers one of the best things to wake up in the morning and see them on a daily basis it brings a smile to your face so there are many sunflowers and flowers around here in the vendors so don't go home without them thank you but I'm not done yet so good morning everyone good morning it's
020great to be here with you one of my favorite spots in all of Massachusetts uh it's wonderful to be and see our community here but at the fabulous Ashland Farmers Market It's a beautiful morning it's not too hot not too cold the sun it certainly is not raining which is wonderful and I want to just thank everybody for coming out here and supporting Ashland supporting our community and supporting all of the vendors that are here I want to give a very warm welcome to our terrific Congressman uh James McGovern who's here [Applause] is probably the champion fighting hunger in Congress he has consistently brought attention to the fact that contrary to what a lot of people think Massachusetts still has a lot of people who go hungry every single day and he has been the
021best Champion for that uh in in Congress and so we really thank him uh in fact when we uh recently in the state budget uh he spoke to me about supporting Universal School meals and we did include that in the budget so every child will get a breakfast and a lunch they can't learn if their stomachs are grumbling and they're hungry and and the state will pay for it I also want to acknowledge uh as select board chair Rob Shearer here Town manager Michael Katie and the Steve Mitchell and many many others for all that they do the work here is a tremendous amount of work on a daily weekly basis to make sure that this is a success in contacting vendors and helping to set it up in the morning even just to take
022it down in the afternoon and all of the work in between so give them all a round of applause I believe that this farmer's market I might be a little partial but is the best farmers market in the state the minute the music every week we read different themes every week the activities for kids it really is a family occurrence and it's a place that brings Community out and helps grow the fabric of Ashland and all Metro West people come here so it really grows Community which is something that Ashland really stands for so I do want to mention that this is National Farmers Market week and so for me this is something worth celebrating there are over 200 farmers markets in Massachusetts and they also bring their communities together support our local businesses bring
023fresh and healthy produce to your tables and so we want to thank them they make fresh food accessible and affordable so I want to take a moment to support and celebrate our Farmers you know you may not think about what it takes to get the food to these tables here and then to your table at home but our Farmers work hard every single day to produce the crops the fruits they work on the the livestock whatever it is for fresh delicious food bringing it to from their door to our door and our tables so farmers I just want to stress need our support this year Farmers suffer deep freezes in February and March catastrophic flooding I think you couldn't turn on the television without seeing the flooding some of it totaling all of their Acres
024of cross so I do just want to mention and thank mdar we have some Representatives here commissioner Randall Deputy Commissioner who's here and others that will speak we have Representatives from uh the farmers uh market across the state and and people who really work hard for this but I want to acknowledge mdar and their partnership uh in dealing with the devastation of our Farmers just so recently I'm really proud to say uh when we did a bill uh we talked about after working with mdar and Senator Joe Comerford from the western part of the state congressman McGovern recognizing the state needed to step up to the plate to help these farmers and so I went out there met with them and our uh and and all others and got a better handle and saw it
025firsthand and we put 20 million dollars for flexible fund fun funding for Farmer resiliency uh to help them get through this hard time and I just want to you sometimes hear how slow the legislature works and we sometimes do but I was in uh the western part of the state on a Monday introduced the 20 million dollars a week and a day it was later it was signed into law by Governor Healey and her Administration who supports the farmers and is working hard for our food sustainability and food insecurity as well so I want to thank the administration mdar Congressman McGovern and all of you here for supporting our local produce our farmers and keeping it going and building a sense of community uh thank you enjoy please support the vendors make sure you go
026home with your bags filled and have a beautiful day thank you so much and I would like to know McGovern please give him a warm Round of Applause good morning everybody I can't think of a better place to be than here to celebrate National Farmers Market week this is an incredible farmers market and uh I'm just finishing up my acoustic java coffee I got a whole bunch of meats from uh lilac hedge Farm I've been going around great vegetables this is unbelievable it's wonderful and I'm thrilled to see so many people here supporting our local farmers you know agriculture is an incredibly important part of our economy here in Massachusetts and by you coming here uh and shopping at this farmer's market you are supporting our local farmers these are families these are people who
027have been farming not just for a generation but for Generations Massachusetts has some of the oldest farms in the country and I want to thank Karen spilka I mean you are lucky that she represents this area but we are lucky that she is our Senate President and she mentioned what the legislature did under her leadership which is historic Universal free School meals for every child in Massachusetts that will do a great deal to combat food insecurity is hungry in this in this state but also understand this if you're hungry you can't learn um and uh so this is going to have such an incredible impact and it makes Massachusetts a leader you know as she also mentioned um you know some of our Farmers have been hit really hard by these floods and by this
028terrible weather my congressional district now once again includes Ashland but it also goes all the way out west uh you know beyond Northampton Beyond Amherst Beyond Greenfield and a lot of my farms uh were flooded they were devastated and we need to find ways to support them and the legislature has taken an important step we are working on the federal level uh to make sure that they get some sort of disaster relief trying every which way to be helpful but the fact of the matter is the firms that are represented here you know our our national agriculture policy doesn't account for their reality and so we have to step up there is nothing better than locally grown or locally raised food and there's nothing more important that we can do now than to support our
029Farmers we have to do what we can so you know whatever you can whatever which way you can help them out please do and spread the word the final thing I'm going to say is that I believe that food should be viewed as a fundamental human right for every single person in this country and on this planet and the incredible food that we all have access to today ought to be accessible to every single person in this country I appreciate the fact that so many of the farmers here do the double up bucks uh program for people on snap that is incredibly important but the reality is in this state and all across the country we have areas where families cannot get access to the kind of food that we're enjoying here today we need
030to do better uh and so you have my word that we're going to do every weekend in Washington I will work with our State Legislative delegation and our incredible Senate president who was unbelievable uh and so uh with that and I also want to thank our state uh agricultural agencies as well as our federal agencies and now I get to introduce somebody who I've worked with for a long long time nobody that I know in government cares more about our local farmers than our next speaker he is the Deputy Commissioner of mdara please welcome Winton pickup whoo been doing this long enough to know you never want to follow Congressman McGovern and following Congressman McGovern and Senate President philco is even more difficult the administration could not have two better Partners um in Congress and
031in the legislature uh than these two folks and I'm really proud to be able to be um and I've been sitting over there crossing off things that I was going to say because they've all said everything to say um there's about 200 farmers markets in the state more than direct marketing is so important to farms in Massachusetts we're a national leader in the number of farms that sell directly to Consumers and that matters because every dollar that you spend is going directly to the farmers they're able to command a much more fair price and so every dollar that you spend is also going to support the local economy because those farmers are using buying local goods and services and creating jobs it also goes to support the environment because those farmers are carefully stewarding Farmland
032they're taking care of soil and water and other natural resources and ways that help keep our our state resilient against climate change so everything that you spend here at this farmers market has a ripple effect across all aspects of the Commonwealth and that's really important and we really appreciate you being here for that Middlesex County has over 600 farms and has uh about 30 000 acres of land produces about 65 million dollars in sales each year and the other important thing in the congressman mentioned this is is that the department is really committed to making sure that farmers markets and the food that's sold here are is accessible to everybody and we have programs and Partnerships like Snap and hip and WIC and the senior Farmers Market nutrition programs and there's Farmers here at this
033Market that participate in all of these and I particularly want to mention that this year here at the department of AG resources received 1.4 million dollars from USDA through the American Rescue plan act and particularly through the the work of Congressman McGovern to increase the value of senior coupon booklets from 25 to 50 for this year and next and also increasing the programs reached by an additional 2300 people in Middlesex County Springwell Elder Services is Distributing coupon booklets to about 375 income qualified older adults to make sure that these farmers markets are accessible to you no matter what your income level is um and so with that I want to read the proclamation this is the first event in the Farmers Market week in Massachusetts and someone uh I think Rob was asking me if
034mdar ranks farmers markets and if we can say that Ashland is the is the state's best farmers market and I think I can safely say for memdar that this is the absolute best farmers market in Ashland and we really appreciate all the hard work that goes into this market and you know I was given a list of all the people and and some of them have been thanked already but I want to make sure that people acknowledge Samantha Farmers Market managers are the unsung heroes of these things and I'm sure she's off somewhere with her clipboard and and not even standing here listening to me but if you see her that's what keeps the farmers markets running so this is a proclamation from Governor Healy and I'm not going to read the whole thing because
035there's a lot of whereas is and therefore's um but whereas Massachusetts is home to over 260 farmers markets that operate in every region of the Commonwealth including 50 that are open during the winter months and whereas Farmers Market managers work determinedly year round to serve their local communities and whereas farmers markets create Dynamic and Festival Community spaces which provide a hub for Education around healthy eating and good nutrition therefore I morrity Healy I am not moritzi Healey but these are her words governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to hereby Proclaim August 6th through 12 2023 to be Massachusetts farmers market week and urge all of the residents of the Commonwealth to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in its observance and I would suggest the best way to participate fitting lean is observance
036is to buy things from your local farmers thank you so much oh and as we keep talking about how many farmers markets there are around the state I want to acknowledge Edith murnane runs Massachusetts farmers market Federation and she's going to come up and say a few words my job today is really to thank the people who make all of this happen and that's yes the consumers but it's also your city and town officials it is especially your farmers market manager and the and the market organization that supports all of this work that brings the partners here that creates the environment to get you enjoy and so on this day Farmers Market Farmers Market the first day of farmers market week I want to celebrate those who make today and every Farmers Market Day happen
037thank you Samantha for all that you do and thanks to the board who makes all of this happen and the City true here of Ashland who is so um who is so supportive in making this day and these days happen so so thank you all and thank you Market managers and thank you Market boards and thank you cities and towns and with that I'm going to introduce uh the lead um as a local official I just want to say how grateful we are for both the uh the efforts of the volunteers that make this farmer's market possible and the great success at it and I really think I'm really happy to be represented by looking Congressman Jim McGovern they do a great job for us and we're really grateful for that so thank you all
038and enjoy the market and happy Farmers Market week thank you how's everybody doing today awesome my name is Michael Herbert I'm the town manager I want to thank you all for coming out here today to the Ashland Farmers Market I'd like to thank our elected and appointed officials for being here specifically uh Senate President spilka Congressman McGovern representatives from the Massachusetts Department of agricultural resources head of the mass Farmers Market Alliance here as well as some of our local officials such as Rob sheriff and I believe I see a couple of Select board members they were hovering around here they probably saw us going to speak and then left um but anyway thank you again this is so such a great week to celebrate farmers markets around the state Ashland's Farmers Market again I'm pretty
039biased I think is the best in the region for sure if not the best in the state and there are several reasons why it is the best in the state first of all we support local businesses here local farms local businesses and a lot of those businesses have actually taken their their vendorship here in at the farmers market and actually have turned it into local brick and mortar stores so we have actually had vendors here open up rent space build space and open up a shop here to sell the stuff that they sell here at the farmers market every Saturday so that's number one number two I think for farmers markets to be truly successful you have to be a Community Connection point and I think the Ashland Farmers Market does that better than anybody
040else this is a place really where you can go every Saturday and know that you're going to see a friend you're going to see you know people that you've probably saw during the week but also people you might not have seen in years and so that's what the farmers market is for this community and it should be that way for everybody for every community that a farmers market is in so um I think everybody else said everything that needed to be said so I will turn it over to Steve thank you Michael and thank you to all of the the folks who joined us here today uh and spoke on behalf of farmers markets everywhere in the state that spoke on behalf of food security for everyone so thank you very much for joining us
041today at the Metro West famous Ashland farmers market and uh I think we have our fish vendor coming soon to uh to do a drawing uh but I think at this point we want to introduce our musical performers this week which is the Cardinal gets jacked uh Joe stillitano is a national an resident he's been to the farmers market a number of times great musician so I'm sure you're going to enjoy them the thing that happened on Wednesday August 16th we started our one meeting for the month at 7 pm and we started with a legal update from Lisa Mead our lead Town Council she talked to us about a number of the projects that she and her team are working on including some land issues the efsb issue and Legacy Place and some water
042issues we then went into a public hearing or for a poll hearing uh it was a little odd and eversource was not there we opened the hearing we approved the poll hearing without someone being there as we've done this uh a number of times before from there we went into an update from deputy chief morahan regarding our comprehensive emergency management plan this is a plan that is created for the town to talk about issues that may arise and how they are handled then members of the team that are on it are the town manager the police chief the fire chief our Public Works and our health director as well as other people who may need to help out and there's two type of plans one is for an emergency so either winter weather or a
043summer weather or a hurricane kind of issue and another is for a planned event so such as the Boston Marathon if you'd like to see the whole presentation that was given you can go ahead and watch the full select board meeting from there we went into old and new business we voted to accept and sign a cell tower lease this is an extension of the lease on the tower on Cedar Street on the water tower the the actual cell towers are being dropped down along the side of the Tower so they're not going to be quite as visible but again this is the lease to increase to continue that cell tower usage and that was with T-Mobile from there we discussed the results of July 26 2023 special election I know a lot of people
044didn't realize there was election if you weren't aware of it let the select board or town manager know what would be a better way to reach you because one of the things we've talked about is how can we let people know about these things there was signage there was uh the town manager's email address and email that goes out so if you didn't hear about it let us know how we can tell how we can touch base with you or sign on to the town manager's email address so you'll email newsletter so you'll get it we then discussed uh the possibility of sponsoring the kitty Sun wall car show this is a car show that is a they're a Relay for Life team and about 10 years ago they started doing the car show as
045an extra way to raise money and so people can come and bring their cars when they first started they had 50 cars last year they had about 300 cars and they're hoping to maybe get to either 400 cars this year it's ten dollars if you want to bring your car it doesn't have to be an old car it can just be a nice car and then they have sponsors so the select board approved being a sponsor and then being able to offer a trophy to one of the cars we then discussed and opened the warrant for the special town meeting our fall special town meeting will be happening on Wednesday November 29th there'll be a number of items on there potentially some land issues potentially some zoning issues and as those warrants come forward we'll
046be talking more about them we then discussed uh reaching out to our state legislature for a home rule petition to increase the number of full alcohol licenses that we have here in town so for restaurants and bars we have a number of new space that are going to be coming available in regards to mixed use and we want to be able to make sure that if a light if a business or restaurant wants to come in they can do a full liquor license so we have approved and asked Michael to go forward with writing and drafting a letter as well as our Town Council and we're going to be requesting an additional 16 all alcohol licenses and this is for serve not retail not um where you can go and buy it this is for
047restaurants and or bars and we'll see what happens and we'll keep you updated we then discussed a transfer of funds back when we purchased Warren Woods there was some funds available and we had some money that we had put aside to work on the barn we've now received other funds to work on the barn so we're transferring Thirty one thousand dollars from the Warren Barn account to the Warren District Perpetual care account and that has enough money now that the money sits and then it generates interest and it's the interest that gets used for the expenses and those expenses cover work work and bills at 22 Elliott Street any gas needed to mow the Lawns at the Warren con at the Warren Woods work on the shed things like that we then discussed the process
048for getting a number for the Boston Marathon it's about time if you are interested in running for team Ashland for the Boston Marathon you are required to raise three thousand dollars you can submit your name to S Roby ashlandmass.com get on the list saying that you'd like to be considered for one of our bib numbers and then she will reach out to everyone letting them know when they're going to draw names she then draw names up to the 12 numbers that we have available the first 12 people that get chosen will receive those bibs but other people are continued to be listed in a waitlist order so if someone drops out because of an injury and they don't feel they can raise the funds anymore then they would go down to uh to the next
049person on the wait list so if you're interested you've always wanted to run a marathon it's a great way to help raise funds for some of the great programs that our baa scholarship program provides funding for here in Ashland we then we approved spending up to five thousand dollars to it to do a refresh of the nyanza memorial the nian's memorial was created probably about five or six years ago by Dan Borelli it is up off Memorial Drive up in back of the Middle School fields and after it was created it was damaged they were glass panels and they're redoing it with much more sturdy materials so that they're not going to be as breakable and potential to Vandal vandalism so we've offered and we're going to be taking five thousand dollars from our gift
050account to support that and uh maybe when we hear that it's done we'll take you on a walk for on around the clock and go take a look uh then we authorized um uh we reauthorized people who are on various committees and that we appoint and so we did all of those we then approved our consent agenda which had a lot of different things on it we then moved into our priority projects downtown things are moving forward the final goal for having everything done downtown will be in Spring of 2024 and the last thing that will be happening is the utility wires coming down and the poll is coming down we're currently in the process the utilities are underground now it's a matter of connecting all the individual buildings to those utilities so that's getting
051done there's also Milling work getting done and then new pavement will be coming in next week most of the sidewalks have been completed most of the brick work is laid being laid and then on the islands around the train State the train tracks that is going to be stamped stamped a stamped material so it's going to look like cobblestones there in the middle it'll be very pretty right now it's just black asphalt and people are upset and not quite sure but give us a little time and it'll get done uh middle Mendez School uh getting ready to open for the first day of school which is Tuesday September 5th the Tuesday after Labor Day and then on September um yeah September 5th and then September 9th which is a Saturday the public has the opportunity
052to come and view the school from 12 30 to 4. it'll be an open house you'll be able to come in get a tour see all the see the new building teachers will have their things in place so if you'd like to finally take a look at this wonderful building September 9th from 12 30 to 4 it's open to the public for tours Valentine project things are moving forward on the barn they're laying some flooring on the inside they're putting collaborates on the outside so that'll be buttoned up soon and then in September or October we are going to have a discussion about how we're going to use it Michael Michael Herbert Our Town manager has a plan we'll discuss it at a select board meeting and then we'll have an open forum for the
053public to come and give their feedback on the use of that space because once that Barn is done we need to start using it it's a beautiful space from there we talked about the Warren District so the barn is being put on hold for another year until we can have a little more time and energy to spend on that the hall house which has been completely renovated was on the market apparently it already has it's under agreement if you hopefully saw pictures online it's a beautiful home from there we went into town manager reports MBTA project had quite a bit of discussion so the MBTA station in Ashland is going to be closed as of August 26th right now that date has been shifting back and forth right now as of August 26th there will
054be shuttle buses for people who get dropped off or walk to the station otherwise you'll have to drive to either Framingham or Southborough we are still trying to work to see if we could possibly get the station parking lot open for at least some cars but as we find out that you'll get updated but right now know that the Ashland train station will be closed trains will not be stopping there as of August 26th uh civil service so we had the vote back in July to move out of civil service and so now the paperwork in the process to actually get us out of civil service and let them know is in the works Human Services we lost Jennifer wolfing probably about a month ago who was the record of our Human Services over at
055the community center so different changes are being made but congratulations to Kristen French who has been promoted and also Caitlin two people who have been in the department who have now stepped up to have higher higher more in inclusive roles so congratulations to both of them uh trash billing if we had a discussion in the in the spring our trash costs our trash costs are going up and our trash fees are going up so to make it a little bit easier for people we're splitting it into two billing Cycles so instead of just one bill you'll have one in the fall and one in the spring and we talked about how we can make sure that people realize that so when they get the second bill they don't think that they don't need to pay
056it and the new bicycle laws so again back in April a new law was passed here in Massachusetts that as a driver you need to give four feet between you and a cyclist or Walker on the side of the road so we are getting some signs they are provided by Mass Department of Transportation and they will be getting put up uh within the next month or two once we get them we don't have them yet and you'll see them on most of the entrance ways into Ashland to let people know about this new law and to keep our bikers and Walkers safe from automobiles um we had a we discussed the police department promotional ceremony there were two promotions that were made and then DCR is having a an event here on October 21st regarding
057the Town Forest if you're interested you can reach out to our town Forest committee about it or I believe there's probably information on the website and we've wrapped up just after 10 o'clock we had to take that vote to go past 10 o'clock as we were giving board reports um