2017 Sherborn Annual Town Meeting

001But I won't be standing here. Town Clerk Carol Marple confirms that the warrant was properly posted by the town constables and that the tellers for tonight's meeting have already been sworn in. I have a couple of reminders for you. If you leave the auditorium for any reason, you must leave your ballot with a check-in official at the rear door onto the cafeteria. And if you plan to return, ask for a pass to reclaim your ballot when you re-enter the auditorium. And this applies to everyone. Number two, please put your cell phones on courtesy mode and leave the room if you do want to take a call. Three, if you could make sure that you stay out of the aisles, particularly in the rear of the auditorium. And four, we welcome non-voters as guests at our

002town meeting, but they must sit in the appropriate designated areas. And number five is that assistive hearing devices are available. They're at the audio table in the rear cross aisle and see Pat Cassell if you would like one. And I also would uh admonish everyone that if you are speaking into a mic that you speak directly into it. and also that you not have a paper that you're reading from that is between your mouth and the mic. Um, I'd like to make some introdu introductions now. On the stage to your left, my right, is the advisory committee. Beginning with the gentleman sitting right next to me, chairperson George Marl, Vice Chairperson Vicky Relis, Susan Aheronian, Barb Cantosski, Steve Lehey, Russ Pollock, Jeff Waldron, Ben Williams, and Mary Wolf. And to your right is our town

003council, Barbara San Andre, who's right next to me. Then town clerk, Carol Marble, and then the board of selectman, Mark Brandon, Paul Durensis, chairman Mike Jimo, Chuck Yon, and Sha Colleen. We'll begin this evening with brief reports from the board of selectmen and the advisory committee. And then following their reports, I'll review some rules of the road for tonight's conduct of town meeting. and then we'll proceed with the evening's business. First up is Mike Jimo. Good evening everybody. My report is in this document which is also uh on the website. So I'm not going to read from it because I didn't know you could write a short one and mine's kind of long. Uh so I'm going to just give some highlights. Uh 2016 was our first full calendar year with a five member board.

004I think that's working out quite well. Uh we've got a lot of uh uh different kinds of input on the board and we are able to bounce ideas off of each other. We've got more people who can do the work of the board and it's actually been a a very good change for the town and for the board. I think we have had some transitions over the past year. We had vacancy in the finance director, town accountant position. We're very thankful the entire financial team stepped up to fill the gap uh when we were without a finance director. Uh Suzanne Marshand was brought in as a consultant to help bridge that gap and the town has now hired Sharon McFersonen to serve as our uh acting finance director. We also had a vacancy in the

005fire chief position. Uh and the town once again turned to two gentlemen with very broad shoulders to carry us through that transition. Neil McFersonen who served as acting fire chief and chaired the selection committee for our new chief and John Dow who's the deputy fire chief. Uh the town has hired a man named Aaron Kenny in that role to start in June and we're very pleased that that process has completed and we're looking forward to our new fire chief. Uh the board of selectment has also been attentive to some environmental concerns over the past year. Uh and as we all know Sherburn values its environment. We've got some some good and some less good issues that we're dealing with. On the good side, the Farm Pond Advisory Committee has uh shephered through a management plan

006for Farm Pond, which is very impressive and will help to protect that beautiful asset for years to come. Uh on the uh less good side, we've been watching the general chemical uh environmental release and addressing those issues, being advised by uh some consultants on that and speaking with DP trying to make sure Sherman is protected from that migrating uh groundwater release. We've se we also see a critical and growing need to address years of underinvestment in our buildings and infrastructure. Uh we began the process of developing long-term capital plans with our town administrator David Williams uh leading that role and it would be a capital plan. It will be a capital plan that has recommendations both as to what the future investment should be and as to timing. Um so in short, we continue to

007be what I call a small town with big expectations and it's challenging to manage and pay for that. We have a great town hall staff and we also have uh and cannot underestimate the critical importance of our great group of volunteers in our town. That's a very critical aspect of managing the town of Sherburn. Uh one volunteer in particular I want to single out. Um this volunteer is only in the spotlight a couple of times a year, but tonight she is. And we want to thank uh Corey Lincoln for being the town moderator for the past 13 years. We We do have a gift for Corey. We We have some flowers for Corey. And And we have uh Paul Dorencis is going to read a proclamation. Paul, you can read a proclamation. We also have

008a proclamation for Corey. I want a tiara. We forgot the tiara. That's coming next week. Sean was supposed to bring that. I don't know why in the car. The board of selectment adopted a proclamation. Whereas Corey Lincoln has been a resident of the town of Sherburn since 1976. Whereas Corey has served on countless boards and committees throughout her years such as the housing partnership committee, advisory committee, affordable housing study committee, and many more. Whereas most notable is Corey's commitment as the town moderator. She has graciously served since 2006 and has raised the bar for town moderators. Corey has done this job with efficiency, fairness, congeniality, and always with a smile. Corey, you will be missed by all. Now therefore, we, the selectmen of the town of Sherburn, on behalf of its citizens, extend their utmost

009appreciation and boundless gratitude to Corey Lincoln for her years of dedicated service to the town and its residents. A witness whereof, we have caused the seal of the town to be affixed to this proclamation on this 25th day of April in the year 2017. Cy, thank you. [Applause] Um, I just want to say that it's been a huge honor for me to serve as your moderator and to have had your confidence to be reelected. Um, I'll have to say I've enjoyed almost all of it and um, I've tried really hard to encourage civility, uh, succinctness and to move things along in an effective but amiable way. And I think that we have an extraordinary town. We have intelligent, common sense, compassionate people here. And I'm sure that we'll continue to find our way. Um, and

010I I really appreciate once again everyone's support and comments and input. And I've had people ask me why I'm stepping down and I've given various answers, but basically I think I've hit my expiration date. And I said that I would rather leave while there were still a few people who would say, "Oh dear," rather than, "Thank goodness. So once again, I thank you very much. And now George is going to talk. Good evening. Good evening everyone and welcome to the 2017 annual town meeting. My name is George Moral and I'm chair of advisory committee. We're pleased to report that for the fourth year in a row, we propose a budget that avoids a Prop 2 and a half override and is balanced without using free cash to close a gap between revenues and expenses. Unfortunately,

011because of significant increases in departmental requests for spending above advisory guidance of level funding this year, we were not able to use general revenues to pay for some capital items as we have in the past two years. Nor will we able to provide tax relief through excess capacity in the budget. Rather, we were able to avoid some borrowing for capital items and continue to provide some of the tax relief through the application of free cash, which this year spiked to a record level. But this spike resulting from large turnbacks by departments before the change to trend budgeting and some other unusual circumstances is unlikely to repeat. And without the unusually large amount of free cash, there would have have been no tax relief and all capital items would have been paid for through debt. The

012service costs for which would again raise our tax rate for fiscal year 2018 and for years to come. After multiple iterations of many departmental budgets, requests for increases over guidance came in at $843,540, more than twice the $410,000 we had in our departmental and guidance reserve to cover costs for these departments, unable to meet V advisories guidance of level funding. Moving forward, the town continues to face major financial challenges that we need to be aware of. Salary costs associated with collective bargaining agreements continue to rise. The school contracts are currently being negotiated with no settlement as of tonight's meeting, but the operating budget that advisory is recommending here supports more than $500,000 in increased salary compensation for school personnel at the region and at Pine Hill to cover the first year of a three-year contract.

013This year, we saw a spike in out of district special education costs of approximately $325,000. These costs are statemandated and are out of our control. Currently, Sherburn's paying 44.4% 4% of the operating costs associated with the do sherburn regional school budget. Due to due to population trends in the two towns, this percentage is projected to increase to 45.8% by 2023 and of 46.8% by 2026. Based on today's operating budget level, this expected change in the ratio of Sherburn to do students at the region would equate to an approximate increase of over $300,000 in annual cost to the town of Sherburn over the next 5 years and an increase of more than 520,000 in annual cost to the town of Sherburn residents by fiscal year 2026. We as a town need to prepare and plan for

014this expected increased cost. It is important to note that these costs do not include any increased costs arising from the potential 40B developments that v that are in various stages in the pipeline. We continue to address in a small way our obligation to provide other post-employment benefits otherwise known as OPE to our town employees. Again, this year we asked the town to appropriate $200,000 for OPEB, an increase of H 100,000 over what we have out allotted in recent years. Despite our continued contribution to the trust, however, the town's unfunded local OPED liability is estimated to be 9,613,010 and continues to grow. While we do cover on a pay pay as you go basis our yearly OPED health insurance obligations to current retirees of both the town and the regional schools, at the regional schools, we

015make no contribution toward our acred OPED liability. Sherburn Advisory and Dover Warren have stated a desire to begin the process of addressing this obligation. So further costs are likely to become part of the budget if not next year than sometime in the near future. Housing prices remain stagnant in Sherburn. The slide on the slide on the screen over here shows how housing values are basically the same as they were in 2005. Yet the cost of operating the town keeps growing. The number of households supporting the town's operation hasn't changed much in over 10 years. Yet the cost of running the town has grown from approximately 18.8 million to 25.9 million, an increase of 38%. The current pace of growth in the operating budget far exceeds the rate of revenue growth and is not sustainable long

016term. So how do we manage our finances to keep pace with the increased costs we know we can expect? Since there are many things that we cannot control like the uh op like the out of district cost as I mentioned before it's important for us to manage well those things over which we do have some influence we need to be proactive rather than reactive for example last year the town of Sherburn switched health insurance providers health insurance was projected to increase by 15% this year due to the switch the town saw an increase of only 7.5% in its health insurance rates while at the region which did not switch the increase was 15%. %. We call upon the regional schools to look seriously at their choice of health insurance provider as 15% increases in health

017insurance costs are simply not sustainable for the town. In another example, as Mike had mentioned before, the board of selectman and town administrator this year completed a review of the condition of town buildings which found that many of the buildings have deferred maintenance that need attention on an ongoing basis. We recommend over 500,000 this year to for addressing these needs sooner rather than later. will not only save the money save money in the long run but will maintain our town assets properly. Further going forward we need we must negotiate responsible collective bargaining agreements. The school contracts are currently being negotiated and as noted earlier we have included approximately half a million dollars for salary increases at both Pine Hill and the regional schools. But once a contract is signed, the town loses flexibility in what

018it can do to cover the com competing needs of town operations. As union wages combined with benefits regularly outstrip guidance from advisory, department heads must contain costs elsewhere by curtailing services or the town will face even higher taxes, dips into free cash, andor overrides. After all we have done over the past four years to avoid such a situation and as we look to a future with the possibility of more tax relief to benefit the current residents and encourage new families to choose Sherburn at as their home, we cannot afford to have labor costs escalate disproportionately. We should also continue to use cash for capital expenditures wherever we can. As we have noted on multiple occasions, using cash where possible to pay for capital expenditures saves future debt service costs, contributing to a higher tax rate.

019If the town votes to follow advisor's recommendations to pay cash for certain capital items proposed in this budget, it will have saved in fiscal year 18 future debt service costs on a total of over a million dollars. Going forward, continuing to make some capital purchases each year in cash will continue to have a positive effect on future tax rates. We must also continue level funding budget level funded budgeting advisory fields. We rightsize the budgets in fiscal year 2017 through trend budgeting. We now expect budget makers to justify every increase over previous years. After a after many meetings, we feel the proposed fiscal year 2018 omnibus budget as well as the accompanying capital budget have been reduced to a satisfactory level that meets the current needs of the town and avoids a prop 2 and a

020half% override 2 and a half override. But as noted earlier, the rate of growth represented by this budget is not sustainable long term. Over the past 5 years, the town consistently improved its management of the operating budget through reductions and other savings. This year, that trend was has reversed. We're taxing up to the levy limit, and we are unable to purchase any capital items from revenue. Without this year's one-time spike in free cash, that is providing both tax relief and the ability to avoid significant debt for the purchase of capital items. We would be facing an additional 18 cents per thousand on whatever the final tax rate turns out to be and future debt service costs that would add to that increase. I would like to end it with I'd like to commend all the

021elected and appointed officials whose dedication and willingness to address difficult choices allowed us to recommend a non-override budget this year with limited borrowing and some measure of tax relief through free free cash to all of us. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you gentlemen. If you were a first timer at a New England town meeting, a friendly welcome to Grassroots Democracy in Action. I hope you both read and brought with you the advisory committee's report that was mailed to every household in Sherburn. And new this year, we also have a citizens guide to Sherburn Town meeting posted on the town's website, and there are hard copies that were available at the check-in desks. Tonight, I ask you to please listen and watch, and you'll soon get the hang of how we conduct the legislative branch of town

022government. If you are from another community's town meeting, you should also listen and watch carefully because each town has its own set of local bylaws, customs, and best practices that shape its procedures. And if you're still a bit confounded, quietly ask your neighbor for help or ask me. So, we're going to have a quick review of our rules. The agenda for tonight's meeting is the warrant that was prepared by the board of selectmen and printed in the advisory committee report. A motion must be made to bring an agenda item before the meeting. I will recognize a member of the advisory committee to make the initiating main motion on each article in the warrant. To speak on a motion, you must ask the moderator for permission. To save time, I ask that you already stand at

023one of the microphones. There's one in the back cross aisle and there's one down here in the front and wait ask before asking to be recognized. Once you are recognized, please state your name and address first and then make your comments. Your comments must be relevant to the motion. The traditional phrase is that they must be within the four corners and limited to two minutes. I will not recognize the speaker a second time unless all others who wish to speak have had an opportunity to do so. If you do receive recognition to make a second comment, it must contain new information. If debate is running long, I may not allow second comments. So, make your best point first. My objective is always to move the proceedings along as efficiently as possible. And as my predecessor

024wisely counseledled a number of years ago, once something has been said, everyone else doesn't have to repeat it. Because thorough presentations can answer questions before they're asked and shorten debate, I will allow up to five minutes for presenters who have previously filed a request form. A timekeeper is sitting in the front row this evening. She's going to raise her red card. Who will raise a red card when your allotted time to speak is up? I attend to be firm in observing time limits limits. I hope you will understand if I interrupt you when your time is up. Better yet, see the red card and stop yourself. All alternate main motions and amendments to a main motion must be submitted in writing to the town clerk. She has forms for that purpose. Um and their teapot

025tear apart form so that I get one copy and town clerk will get one copy. No more than two amendments can be on the floor at the same time. A vote is first taken on the amendments and then on the main motion. Sometimes the main motion made by advisory is a negative motion. That is a motion to quote take no action close quote. A negative motion must be defeated before an affirmative action can be put before the meeting. I will offer a full fuller explanation when the situation arises. Our normal procedure is to use a voice vote on all motions. We will have a show of cards. You received one when you checked in and this year they are lime green. If any voice vote is not clear to me, if it's still not clear

026or if seven voters question the vote immediately after it is declared, we will have a count of hands by the teller. On motions requiring a twothirds majority, we will try for a unanimous voice vote. If the voice vote is not unanimous but is clearly twothirds to the moderator under a Sherburn bylaw, I may declare that the motion has been adopted by at least twothirds of those voting. At any time 50 voters may request a vote by secret ballot. And last procedural point, I will read only the titles of the articles as printed in your advisory committee report. Brief descriptions of each article and the complete text of the advisory main motion will be visible on the screen to your left as we proceed. And finally, a reminder, political debate can be intense, but tonight in

027this place, we gather to promote the common good of all Sherburn citizens and not just our own self-interest. I remind you to speak with respect and civility. Personal remarks or speculation about others motives are always out of order, as is applause. And I'm experienced enough to know that repetition and escalating intensity often work against you, not for you. And this is my last opportunity to say tonight we may agree and disagree, but tomorrow we will still be friends and neighbors in one community. And let's begin with article one of the warrant. Madam moderator, Mr. Moral, I move that the reports of the town officers and committees as contained in the annual report be accepted. Second. It's been moved and seconded. It I will pause right here to tell you that we have an unusual event.

028This is a one-time occurrence. This is simply to accept the reports of the various standing committees of the town. And the selectmen this year have made a special request that the town center study committee headed by Roger Demler be permitted. They were thinking of having a warrant article for tonight, but we're not prepared to do so. But they are going to make a status report of where their work is at this report at this point. So Mr. Demler, why don't you come down and make your report? Uh, good evening. Um, I've been asked to make a brief report on what this the town center water and wastewater options committee We have a override there that isn't very helpful. U the selectman charged us with trying to define [Laughter] Can you back up here? There we

029go. To identify the technical cost and legal options for alternative drinking water and septic systems principally in the town center. Uh last year you voted to give us $20,000 to hire professional engineers to go through this and we're beginning to get some results from that that we'll talk about briefly. Uh this is largely in support of what the planning board is doing with the new general plan. If they have ambitions to make significant improvements to downtown, they probably have to deal with some of these issues and we're prepared to help them out. Next. So why are we here? This is a snapshot of most of downtown Sherborn. Here's the school. Here's the traffic light. Here's the split. In this picture you see here are uh 76 septic systems, uh 63 private wells and 12 public

030water supplies that are regulated by the state. You see the regulated wells is typical here. That circle if you were to build a new construction and wanted to put in a public water supply like that, that circle would have to be on undeveloped land. It could not be on any pavement. There couldn't be any buildings on it and it had to be on your own lot. So none of the 13 public water supply wells we currently have would be allowed to for new construction. and that causes all kinds of problems in terms of improving properties and that sort of thing. There are safety concerns with having this concentration of septic systems. In fact, the reason we see that the state regulations have changed because a lot of these there's contamination potential from septic systems, accidents

031like a train wreck or a truck wreck. Several I would say many wells in this area are not tested at all once they're built. All the private wells are only tested once unless your bank makes you do it. There are no public restrooms in the town which really hampers a lot of businesses and sports teams. Uh if you have a recovery problem they get through from some kind of contamination, it can take a long time and a lot of money. The Wood Haven project a number of years ago ran into some trouble with the state and it wound up costing over $350,000 using the existing wells. Uh there are few automatic sprinkler systems and buildings because the fire main is not pressurized regularly. Next, so we were concerned about the viability of the town center

032under these current constraints. The risk in the that we talked about discourage improvement and investments. The town wells that are in this area are kind of marginal in capacity. Um the commercial tax base is pretty stagnant or perhaps even decreasing. It's hard to tell. A lot of desirable things people would like to see takes more water. You know, a nice grocery store, maybe some residential use, restaurants and whatnot. and even watering the sacred purple beach tree has become a problem. The state's newly required and enforced sprinkler system for any new construction or major expansion has become a real problem. The library is going through a significant addition, but there's a $500,000 in the budget to put in a sprinkler system. And a lot of that cost relates to the fact that they have to put

033in a big tank and a pump and a backup generator because we don't have a fire main hooked up to it. Next, we have a good potential place to put a well. This is in the Price Woodlands area here uh at the end of Morse Road. The town center is down here. Uh this nice gravel area. This red says it's pretty good uh potential for doing that. We have a test well there now. Um, the way this would work, water would go from there to a pump station and treatment center at the town garage. There'd likely be a a uh water tower next to Pineh Hill School. This would use the existing fire manes, these now dry fire manes that takes care of the downtown area. We don't know the capacity, but there might be

034some capacity for growth in in that area. To put in a public water system that would cover most of this area here is about a $4 million job. I'd like to call that four fire engines. But next, uh, shared septics. It's become very common even in new constructions, in new development, is to have everybody have a septic system and you only pump the liquid to a treatment facility. That's a little simpler than a classic water treatment system. You can knock down the nitrates. Um, you can pump at long distances without a lot of difficulty. There's possibility of using the ball fields here to put in a field. There's also town forest all around in here. And there's an interesting situation here at the end of Zion's Lane. The town uh land acquisition committee, I guess,

035has bought a chunk of land over here that was has a lot of room that could possibly put a septic system in that. The nice thing about the the shared system is you don't have to do everything in all at once. You can do just the business section here if you want. This south end in our view is fairly safe for the time being, but you can wait and do that later if you want. Again, to do a shared sept septic system for most of this section here is another $4 million. Next, we're still researching things like a matrix of district boundaries. We haven't settle on a firm set of customers. if you will, because we don't know the capacity of the well we're going to get. We don't know what the ambitions of the

036planning board are. So, we can look at, you know, what happens if you add more customers or reduce the number of customers. And there's a difficulty in figuring out a fair way to assign cost to the various users. Right now, in that dense town center, the town uses a third of the water that's consumed down there. So they're a big customer to begin with. Uh funding sources, there may be some grants. We know they're low interest loans that the state can give us. Then the legal framework of how do you protect the district? How do you get things paid for? How do you collect the bills and all that sort of stuff we're working on? And again, we're supporting the planning board, general plan, and we're working with them when they say, "What happens if

037we want to do mixed uh use downtown and we need more water? what would that cost us? That sort of thing. Next, now if in the future we come to the town meeting and and the town is interested in taking another step to look at this and it seems like a reasonable thing to do with this other information we're going to get you. Uh these two engineering steps would be the next logical thing. We'd like to do a proof test of the well and price woodlands. you know, put in a fulls size well, pump it to find its capacity. This would have monitoring wells around it so you can find out what happens to the uh water table and possibly other wells. That that kind of work is about $100,000. We'd also like to do

038some soil sampling in support of potential septic systems. There's a quite a bit of mystery about what goes on in the ball fields and we like to go through that and find out what's practical there. And again, this is a $40,000 task thing. So, thank you for your time, but you're not asking for any money this year, so I'll get off easy. Thank you. [Music] [Applause] Thank you. Um, I'd like to remind you that we are not uh voting on any actionable item. We are not voting on the content of any of the reports. We are simply voting to acknowledge receipt of them. So, is there any debate on the emotion to accept the town reports? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes. Article two, unpaid bills.

039Madam moderator, Mrs. Alis, I move that the sum of $6,74344 be transferred from free cash in the treasury for the purpose of paying bills dated 2016 from CMD for the Millis Police Department $41656 for CMD item is Shady Tree Landscape $3,325 for CMD first $69. 9 for the selectman Caruzi refrigeration $237.50 50 for the police sprint. $42743 for the transfer station electronics redux corporation. $419.91 for the selection Verizon $47.35 for a total of $6,74344. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate? If not, we'll proceed to the vote. This requires a fourfifths vote for approval. So, we'll try for a unanimous voice vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Article three, supplemental appropriations. Madam moderator, Miss Ronian, I move favorable action that the sum of

040$319,261 be transferred from free cash in the treasury as printed in the advisory committee booklet. Elections and registrations, contractual services, $873. Elections and registrations, supplies, printing and mailing, $1,478. Board of Health agent work on general chemical $7,500. Board of Health Computer and Phone costs $2,410. Board of Health 50% cost of vaccine refrigerator $1,000. Pineh Hill School out of district costs $70,000. Snow and ice. Snow and ice expenses $171,000. Ambulance reserve fund. Ambulance re reserve fund subsidy $65,000 for a total of $319,261. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate? If not, this is a majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes. Article four, omnibus budget. Madam moderator, yes. I move that the numbered items appearing in the advisory committee's fiscal year 2018 omnibus budget and

041the amount indicated in the column under the heading recommended fiscal year 2018 be called over by the moderator. And if no objection is made that such amounts be raised and appropriated for the purposes specified, except that where a transfer is indicated by a numbered footnote, the specified amount shall be provided by such transfer that the salaries for the various town officers including those indicated by numbered footnotes be fixed effective July 1, 2017 as specified in the omnibus budget that becomes effective pursuant to this motion and that any item to which objection is made be separately considered and disposed of in accordance with the vote of the town. Second. It's been moved and seconded, but I have to wet my whistle. I'm going to read through the budget line by line. If for any reason you

042want to ask a question or debate the number, please just call out hold. I will mark it. At the end, we will review to make sure that we agree on where the holds are. and then we'll proceed to a vote for all of the non-held items and then we will return to the held items and consider them line by line. So we'll begin with the general government selectman line 122 selectman salaries $263,566 122E selectment expenses $44,350 zoning board of appeals expense $2,700 legal counsel 151E $80,000 assessors assessor salaries 103 $3,937 assessor's expenses $14,70 treasurer salaries 53,798 treasurer expenses $9,545 collector salaries $15,12 collector's expenses um $19,385 accountant Account salaries 178,694 accountant expenses 82,710 advisory salaries $483 advisory expenses $3,310 conservation salaries $48,589 conservation expenses $9,143 planning Board salaries 46,260, planning board expenses 3,936. Town clerk

043salaries 113,561. [Music] Town clerk expenses 5,893. Election salaries 15,317. Election expenses 11,514. Town buildings expenses $228,610. Police salaries 1,65,023. Police expenses $110,98. Police equipment $16,857. Fire and rescue salaries $247,023. Fire and rescue expenses $69,742. Ambulance salaries 80,000. Building inspector salaries $86,820. Building inspector expenses $3,863. Minute man Regional High School zero. Do Sherburn Regional School District DS Regional Assessment 9,358,457 Tri County Vocational 1,300 Sherburn School total 6,947,28 Norfolk Agricultural zero community maintenance and development $553,184 community maintenance and development expenses 316,473 Snow and ice salaries 29,574 expenses 52,790 street lighting expenses 22,000 solid waste expenses 238,000 564 recycling expenses 3,230 cemeteries expenses $63,000 excuse me board of health salaries 106,923 board of health expenses 21,681 Council on Aging Salaries 114,524 Council on Aging Expenses 29,250. Veterans expenses 6,490. Library salaries 326,436. Library expenses 151,629. Recreation expenses $15,000.

044Historical commission $500. General insurance $245,983. Employee benefits including OPEDB and retirement 2,688,268. Debt service 1,637,850 reserve account 281,36. And that's it. The only hold I heard was on Pineh Hill School. Does everyone agree? Okay, then we will. All those in favor of the lines without a hold, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Madam moderator, Mr. Pollock, I move that the amount of $6,947,028 be appropriated for Sherburn schools and that of this amount $100,000 be transferred from the special education stabilization fund and the balance be raised and appropriated. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate on this item? If not, all those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Madam moderator. Yes. Mr. Wald. Uh, article five, premiums. Yes. I move that the town

045vote to supplement each prior vote of the town that authorizes the borrowing of money to pay costs of capital projects to provide that in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44 section 20, the premium received by the town upon the sale of any bonds or notes there, less any such premium applied to the payment of the costs of issuance of such bonds or notes may be applied to pay project costs And the amount authorized to be borrowed for each such project shall be reduced by the amount of any such premium so applied. Is there a second? It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate? If not, this is a I beg your pardon. Um, do you have your report with you? Did you read it? I can't translate it. Would anyone like to translate

046it? Sure. Town council will give it a shot. Thank you, Madam Moderator. Uh Barbara St. Andre with KP Law Town Council. Um this um this language was a change that was made in the municipal modernization act that was passed last year by the legislature which made numerous changes to the uh municipal finance laws and this was one of them and it it has been recommended uh I would say pretty much across the board that towns adopt this. I was dreading that someone would ask me to explain it because uh it's the the vagaries of it are probably beyond my skills and bond counsel would probably be able to explain it better. But in summary, what it means is that when the town sells bonds, different companies bid on those on those bonds. And one of

047the things that those companies do to try to to win the bid is they pay a so-called premium, which is a a cash amount to the town. It's all perfectly legal. And what this what the municipal modernization act has done is said that you can now take that premium and apply that upfront to the costs that you have with borrowing. There are always costs involved with borrowing. So that you actually can end up borrowing less money and saving the town money in the long run. So my understanding is that now under this if we adopt this we can now uh do that um for bonds that have already uh been um issued by the town. And when we get to the um capital items, you will notice that there's language in each of the items

048that we're going to borrow that mirrors this this language right here. So that going forward for each bond that we uh go out for, we're now going to include include this language so the town has the flexibility of how to use those premium payments in the best manner possible to try to reduce the town's costs. Thank you. Did that answer your question? Oh, good. Thank you. All right, then we'll proceed to the vote. This is a majority vote. All those in favor, please say I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Article six, cemeteries. The moderator, Mr. Williams. I move that $20,000 be transferred from the cemetery enlargement fund to be used pursuant to Massachusetts general laws chapter 114 section 15 for the improvement or embellishment of the cemeteries throughout the town the care preservation or

049embellishment of any allot or its pertinances therein. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate on this item? If not, we'll proceed to the vote. This is a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Article seven, revolving funds. Madame moderator. Miss Wolf. Advisory will be making eight separate motions under article 7. First motion. I move that the town vote pursuant to the provisions of general laws chapter 44 section 53E and a half as most recently amended to amend the general bylaws by inserting a new bylaw establishing various revolving funds specifying the departmental receipts to be credited to each fund, the departmental purposes or programs for which each fund may be expended and the entity authorized to expend each fund. such bylaw to

050provide as follows. Chapter 28 revolving funds section one. There are hereby established pursuant to the provisions of general laws chapter 44 section 53e and a half the following revolving funds. Elder housing rents for units uh sorry elder housing committee rents for units at Wood Haven to maintain buildings and grounds. Farm Pond Farm Pond Advisory Committee fees in connection with Farm Pond sticker fees used to maintain the property and pay waterfront personnel. Council on Aging Programs. Council on Aging fees in connection with lifetime learning, social events, transportation, and home delivered meals for Sherburn seniors. Board of Health Immunization Clinic. Board of Health. fees and charges received from emergency clinics, from Medicare, and other private insurance reimbursements from administration of vaccines at Board of Health immunization clinics. Town forest sale of firewood. Town forest committee fees and

051charges received from the sale of firewood. Recycling committee sale of bins. Recycling committee fees and charges received from the sale of bins. ambulance, fire chief fees and charges in connection with ambulance services. Section two, expenditures from each revolving fund set forth herein shall be subject to the limitation established annually by town meeting or any increase therein as may be authorized in accordance with general laws chapter 44 section 53 and a 53e and a half and further to set FY 2018 spending limits for such revolving funds as follows. Elder housing, $291,482. Farm Pond, $110,000. Council on Aging Programs, $50,000. Board of Health Immunization Clinic, $10,000. Town Forest Sale of Firewood, $5,000. Recycling Committee sale of bins, $860. ambulance $235,67. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate on this motion? If not, we'll go.

052Oh, there is someone. I'm sorry. I have a I have a question relative to the inclusion of um Could you tell us who you are, sir? I'm sorry. George Shay, 19 Deerfield Road, Sherburn, Massachusetts. Thank you. Um my question is are all of the uh operations of the town that receive revenue uh eligible to create a re revolving fund? Are you the one who can answer the question? Thank you madam moderator through you. Uh there are a few exceptions. There are a few departments that are not allowed uh to use revolving funds, but for the most part, um the town can set up revolving funds for pretty much any um any uh receipts that they want to to do that for. Okay. I have another question. Yes, your question. Second question, u what criteria was

053used to uh identify these particular revolving funds? The only the only new revolving fund this year is the ambulance revolving fund. That's not my question. I'm just sad that my first answer. Um anybody want to field that question from the selectman? Receipts. Well, anyone George, these specific items we have cash receipts for. And we have a history of receipts. Are there any operations in town that you have cash receipts for that are not listed? I think that was already answered. Did Mary already answer that? There are some. Mary, are you talking to me? Barbara, are you saying that Mary answered the question? No, I meant Barbara. Oh, there are some that don't qualify for this. Does the library have receipts? What was that question? Does the library have receipts? Income? It's your question. Why is

054the library not have a revolving fund? Ultimately, but I was laying the groundwork for that question. Well, so the endline question is why does the library not have a revolving fund? Correct. Okay. Wish we could Who's going to try and answer that question? Oh, we have the librarians going to answer that question. Elizabeth, the head librarian. I'm Elizabeth Johnston, the director of the library. Elizabeth, you have to speak directly into the end of the mic. I am Elizabeth Johnston, the director of the library. We receive overdue fines that go into the general fund of the town and we receive replacements for books that are lost by patrons and we use those funds to buy a replacement of the book that the patron paid to to replace and those are our receipts. Does the library receive

055interest on the various trust funds that support the library? I is the question relevant to the motion about Yes, it is because I would like to ask finally is it possible to add the library to the list of revolving funds? Would that be appropriate or would it be outside the scope of the article? Just a moment. Yes. Go ahead. Yes. By by statute, George, the uh enabling legislation for libraries allows them to have a revolving account with regard to the unpaid with regard to the fines for overdue books. The trust funds are created by people donating money to the library and those trust funds are operated by the trust instruments that were used to make the donations and are available to the library to use. There is no need for a revolving fund for those

056trust funds. Well, I'm looking at the uh item at the bottom, elderly housing. I have some familiarity with that. It says the general fund debt service. They have a revolving fund which they have they pay debt service. Would it be appropriate to create a revolving fund for the library so that they had uh the responsibility of meeting the payments on any debt that the town incurred in their behalf? Um actually George I think at this point what I'm going to say is that you've raised an interesting question but it's outside the bounds of the I'll I'll abide by that. um of of this particular motion. Okay. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other debate? If not, all those in favor, this is a simple majority, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously.

057Madam moderator, Mr. tomorrow. I move that the Elder Housing Committee revolving fund be reauthorized pursuant to general laws chapter 44 section 53E and a half and that the Elder Housing Committee be authorized to spend up to $291,482 from the anticipated revenues in such revolving fund without further appropriation for expenses and contractual services required to operate Wood Haven Elder Housing during fiscal year 2018 and that such revolving fund be credited with all fees and charges received during fiscal year 2018. 8 in connection with the operation of Wood Haven Elder Housing. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate? If not, this is a simple majority. All those in favor, please say I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. moderator. Miss Relis, I move that the farm pond revolving fund be reauthorized pursuant to general

058laws chapter 44 section 53 and a half and that the farm pond advisory committee be authorized to spend up to $110,000 from the anticipated revenues in such revolving fund without further appropriation for expenses and contractual services required to operate and manage farm pond during fiscal year 2018. And that such involving fund be credited with all fees and charges received during fiscal year 2018 in connection with the operation of farm pond. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate? Yes. Okay. Excuse me. Brief recess. We just need to change it. Um, we're having a question with town council about the language of the motion. Yes, Mr. Dorances. We can't hear you. on. Is this on? Yes. Could I move to amend the motion just made by changing the spending authority from the farm pond

059advisory committee to the board of selectment? Is everyone looking at the motion on the screen where the phrase farm pond advisory committee Well, it authorizes the selectman to spend the money rather than an advisory committee. Is that the gist of it? Yes. Advisory Committee. Farm Pond Advisory Committee. Yeah. Not these guys. I need a second. Does everyone understand the amendment? Would you like to make a remark about your amendment, Mr. Yes. The reason for the amendment is that there's uh at least one and possibly more than one special act of the legislature regarding the operations at Farm Pond. And that legislation designates the board of selectman as the authority having the responsibility for operating the farm pond facility. This the motion without the amendment is not consistent with the enabling legislation. Everybody following that? We're

060going to vote first on the amendment and then we'll vote on the main motion. All those in favor of the amendment and this is a simple majority, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes. Now we're going to return to vote on the amended main motion. Is there any further debate? If not, this too is the majority vote. All those in favor of the amended main motion, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Yes. I'd like to move reconsideration of the bylaw that we just adopted the definition under farm pond to make the same corresponding amendment. Yeah, you need to talk directly into the mic. Paul, I would like to move to reconsider the earlier vote taken to adopt a bylaw for the revolving funds, particularly the farm pond revolving fund

061to change farm pond advisory committee to the board of selectment under the column authoriz authorized representative or board to spend. Is there a second for your amendment? Second. Okay. Um this is to return to the mo two uh motions ago we did a general bylaw setting up the revolving funds and we're now attempting to address correcting the language of that so that aligns with the language of the main motion that we just passed. Everybody follow that? Sure. Sure. It requires a twothirds vote to reconsider. We're we're not voting on the amendment yet. We're just voting to reconsider. So, all those in favor of reconsidering, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. The motion to reconsider passes. Now we're going to um you have to make a motion. You made the motion to reconsider. Now we

062need the motion of the amendment. All right. I move to Is there a main motion pending then if we're reconsidering up? I think we probably should do that. Thank you. Would you guys like to make your main motion once again? Sure. Since since we went through that at length last time, uh why don't you skip why don't you just read the part? Well, why don't you just read the first line and the last line? Okay, everybody knows we've already heard the interior. Okay. Um, I move that the town vote pursuant to the provisions of general laws chapter 44, section 53 and a half as most recently amended to amend the general bylaws by inserting a new bylaw establishing various revolving funds specifying the departmental receipts to be credited to each fund, the departmental purposes or

063purpose or programs for which each fund may be expended and the entity authorized to expend each fund. such bylaw to provide as follows and for the Why don't we just stop? Okay. Do you have a second? Second. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Now, do we have a motion for an amendment? Yes, madam moderator. I move to amend the farm pond revolving fund to delete the words far and pond advisory committee and to replace those words with board of selectmen. Okay, there were two charts. The first chart had the program, the authorization body, and then the purpose. All we're doing under the column that was authorization body of farm pond is taking substituting instead of farm pond advisory committee it's now going to say board of selectmen. Everybody got that? This is a simple majority.

064All those in favor of the amendment please say I. I. Those opposed nay. Amendment passes. Now we're going to vote on the amended main motion. All those in favor please say I. I. Those opposed nay. Motion passes unanimously. Good luck with the minutes. Madam moderator, Mrs. Aheronian, I move that the Council on Aging Revolving Fund be reauthorized. Oh, be reauthorized pursuant to general law chapter 44 section 53E and 1/2 that the Council on Aging be authorized to spend up to $50,000 from the remaining funds and anticipated revenues in such revolving fund without further appropriation for salaries, expenses, and contractual services required to operate transportation, meal, and special activity programs during fiscal year 2018. and that such revolving fund be credited with all fees and charges received during fiscal year 2018 from persons anticipating participating in

065Council on Aging Programs. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? If not, this is a simple majority. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Madam moderator, Miss Kantoski, I move that the board of health revolving fund be reauthorized pursuant to general laws chapter 44 section 53E and 1/2. that the board of health be authorized to spend up to $10,000 from the from the anticipated revenues in such revolving fund without further appropriation for salaries, expenses, and contractual services required to operate flu shot clinics during fiscal year 2018. and that such revolving fund be credited with all fees and charges received during fiscal year 2018 in connection with the conduct of flu shot clinics. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate? If not, all

066those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Madam moderator, Mr. Ley, I move that the Town Forest Committee Revolving Fund be reauthorized pursuant to general laws chapter 44, section 53E and a half. That the Town Forest Committee be authorized to spend up to $5,000 from the anticipated revenues in such revolving fund without further appropriation for expenses and contractual services required to operate a program to sell choirwood during fiscal year 2018. and that such revolving fund be credited with all fees and charges received during fiscal year 2018 in connection with the sale of firewood. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? If not, all those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed? Nay. Motion passes unanimously. Madam moderator, Mr. Pollock. I move that the recycling committee revolving

067fund be reauthorized pursuant to general laws chapter 44 section 53E and a half. That the recycling committee be authorized to spend up to $860 from the anticipated revenues in such revolving fund without further appropriation for expenses and contractual services required to operate a program to sell composting bins during fiscal year 2018. and that such revolving fund be credited with all fees and charges received during fiscal year 2018 in connection with the sale of composting bins. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Yes. What was the amount again? $860. If not, this is a simple majority. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Madam moderator, Mr. Waldron. I move that an ambulance revolving fund be authorized pursuant to general laws chapter 44 section 53E and a

068half and that the fire chief be authorized to spend up to $235,67 from the anticipated revenues in such revolving fund without appropriation for expenses and contractual services required to operate the ambulance during fiscal year 2018. and that such revolving fund be credited with all fees and charges received during fiscal year 2018 in connection with the operation of the ambulance. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? If not, simple majority. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Moving on to article 8, OPED liability trust fund transfers. Madam moderator, Mr. Williams. I move that the remaining funds in the town's other postemployment benefit, otherwise known as OPED stabilization fund and an additional $100,000 from free cash in the treasury be transferred to the OPB liability trust fund.

069Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Because this is a transfer out of a stabilization fund, it requires the twothirds vote for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Madam moderator, article nine. Yes. Sec. Transfers to general stabilization fund and special education stabilization fund. Miss Wolf advisory will be making two motions under article 9. I move that $50,000 be transferred to the general stabilization fund from free cash in the treasury. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? This is a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Passes unanimously. Madam moderator, Mr. Marl, I move that $100,000 be transferred to the special education stabilization fund from free cash in the treasury. Second. It's been

070moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? This is moving money into a stabilization fund. It requires a simple majority. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Passes unanimously. Article 10 is the capital expenditures article. Madam moderator. Miss Relis. Advisory will be making 11 separate motions under article 10. The first motion, I move that $66,614 be transferred from pre-cash to the treasury for improvements at the Pine Hill School set appropriation to be expended by June 30th, 2022 with unexpended funds as of June 30th, 2022 being returned to the general fund. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate? If not, this requires a simple majority for passage. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Line two, fire department dry hydrant maintenance. Madam moderator. Yes,

071Miss Aheronian. I move that $50,000 be transferred from pre-cash to the in the treasury for dry hydrant maintenance by the fire department. set appropriation to be expended by June 30, 2022 with unexpected expended funds as of June 30, 2022 being returned to the general fund. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? If not, this is a majority vote for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Madam moderator. Yes. This is the fire department pagers. Miss Kentoski. I move that $16,000 be transferred from free cash in the treasury for the fire department pagers and set appropriation to be expended by June 30th, 2022 with unexpended funds as of June 30th, 2022 being returned to the general fund. Second. It's been moved

072and seconded. Is there any discussion? If not, this is a majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Article 3A, CMD, snow fighter truck. Madam moderator, Mr. Mr. Ley, I move that 195,000 be appropriated for the purpose of purchasing a snowfighter and related equipment for the community maintenance and development department and that to meet this appropriation, the treasurer with approval from the board of selection be authorized to borrow up to $195,000 pursuant to general laws chapter 44 section 71 or any other applicable statute. Provided, however, that this appropriation shall not take effect until the town votes to exempt from the limitation on total taxes imposed by the general laws chapter 59 section 21 CK, which is Proposition 2 and a half, the amounts required to pay

073the principal and interest on the bonds and notes authorized by this vote. any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this vote, less any such premium applied to the payment of cost of issuance of such bonds or notes may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with chapter 44 section 20 of the general laws, thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount. The appropriation for this article and approved borrowing thereon will sunset on June 30th, 2022. Second. It's been moved and seconded. And you recognize the tail end of that motion as the thing that we discussed earlier that nobody understands except town council. Bond council. She corrected that. Um Mr. Williams, would you like to make

074a presentation? Um there are three articles that involve equipment for CM and D. And perhaps David, if you could do all three together. Thank you. So the three articles are a snow fighter and a one-tonon dump truck and then various road improvements. In recent years, CMD has met advisories budget guidance by reducing personnel subcontracting select tasks such as mowing and storm drain cleaning. In the past seven years, CMD has reduced and consolidated its capital fleet, saving about $500,000 over that time. And the town has been working with UMass Boston's Collins Center to develop a better fleet management system. And this work is being funded by a community compact grant. This is just basically a 10-year plan of all the vehicles laid out. The items with the stars on the left are the three articles that

075we're considering. Article 10.3.8 is replace truck number 24. That's a snow fighter. There are five of those in the fleet and the cost is $195,000. This the current vehicle is a 2001 International with 42,000 miles on it, 4,000 work hours, has a 12-oot plow, and it's a combination dump and sanding um body attached to it. The primary use is for frontline snow fighting. I think we've all seen these vehicles around. The problems with the vehicle is the deterioration of the double frame rail underneath, suspension corrosion, um, pretty much everywhere on the vehicle, making it a hazard to drive. The proposed replacement truck is a 2017 model year combination sander dump truck 12-oot plow with sander controls, safety lighting system, two-way radio system, and the cost again is 195. Justification um for one replacing this one

076um is dependability is paramount during snow operations and these things break when they're being used, not when they're just sitting around. So given the nature when these trucks are utilized, it is common for them to experience systematic failures um at the end of their expected lifespan. So those problems are increasing at a larger rate, more frequency. The second item is replace truck number 34. This is a one truck dump truck. There are three of those in the fleet and this one is set for replacement at 75,000. The current vehicle is a 2005 Ford F450 with 55,000 miles. Has a 9 foot plow on it and a dump body. This is used in daily uh multi-purpose use, material hauling, uh roadway repairs, snow operations. It has um aging condition to it. Uh declining safety issues and

077the dump body needs to be fully replaced. Although that is misspelled. It's not a Dumo body. The deterioration of the frame rail underneath and the body corrosion. Um those are just some pictures from the vehicle. Um and those kind of things uh just make the vehicle very unsafe. The proposed replacement is a 2017 Ford 550 with a dump body 10-ft plow, the sander, sander controls, lighting system, two-way radio for a cost of 75,000. Again, the justification is the same. These trucks are are getting older and they have more cost to repair and it costs us a lot when they are down, especially when they're needed. For road improvements, Sherburn has 65 miles of roadway. that turns out to be 130 lane miles. Um, chapter 90 state aid is typically 300,000 a year, which um, our

078needs are more like seven or 800,000 a year. This year, the board of Slackman, capital budget committee, and the advisory committee developed this capital item uh, dedicated to road improvements. The board of selectman will meet soon to discuss the proposed um, road projects and decide a priority list based on available funding. this article would the number disappeared. So I think it's 160,000 to establish a working capital balance and 290,000 to fund road improvements above the chapter 90 receipts. That's that's what I have. Thank you. The motion on the floor at the moment is about the snow fighter truck. Is there any debate? If not, we'll proceed to the vote. This requires twothirds for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes. Uh, yes, Mr. Pollock. This is the CMD

079dump truck. I move that $75,000 be appropriated for the purpose of purchasing the dump truck and related equipment for the community maintenance and development department and that to meet this appropriation, the treasurer with the approval of the board of selectmen be authorized to borrow up to $75,000 pursuant to general laws chapter 44 section 7 subp paragraph 1 uh or any other applicable statute. provided, however, that this appropriation shall not take effect until the town votes to exempt from the limitation on total taxes um imposed by general laws chapter 59 section 21 C sub paragraph K, which is Proposition 2 and a half. The amounts required to pay the principal and interest on the bond and notes authorized by this vote. any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this uh

080vote less any premium applied to the payment of costs and issuance of such bonds or modes notes may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with chapter 44 section 20 of the general laws thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such cost by a like amount. The appropriation for this article and approved borrowing thereon will sunset on June 30th, 2022. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate? I have a question. Yes. In the rear, artistville, 32 Maple Street. Um, I think I might have missed it. Was there a a figure presented for the repair of the dump truck? I beg your pardon. Was there a figure presented for the repair of the present dump truck, David? No, I didn't have the um existing

081cost for the repair. Um do you have any idea what it might be? Um, I would need the mechanic to actually bring a log book in and explain how much he's been putting into them. Um, I can tell you just recently a small repair on the street sweeping vehicle was over $6,000. So, every time one of these goes into the shop, it's a couple of thousand. And I would expect that it's probably been in the shop seven or eight times over the season. And each one of those a couple of thousand. So, I'd estimate 15 to 20,000, but I really would really need the mechanic to answer it. This truck has been in seven or eight times. Is that what you said? I'm sorry. Yeah, the truck is in routinely. Yeah. Thank you. Are there

082any other comments? If not, we'll proceed to the vote. This is a twothirds vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Uh line 3 CM and D various road improvements. Madam moderator, Mr. Waldron. I move that $450,000 be appropriated for the purpose of funding repairs, maintenance, and improvements to roads and that to meet this appropriation, $160,000 be transferred from pre-cash in the treasury and that the treasurer with the approval of the board of selectmen be authorized to borrow up to $290,000 pursuant to general laws chapter 44 section 71 or any other applicable statute. Provided, however, that this appropriation shall not take effect until the town votes to exempt from the limitation on total taxes imposed by the general laws chapter 59, section 21 CK, Proposition 2 and a

083half, the amounts required to pay the principle and interest on the bonds and notes authorized by this vote. any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this vote, less any such premium applied to the payment of the costs of the issuance of such bonds and notes may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with chapter 44 section 20 of the general laws thereby reducing the authorized the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount. The appropriation for this article and approved borrowing thereon will sunset on June 30th, 2022. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate? If not, this once again requires twothirds majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, pardon

084me, nay. Motion passes. Line. Yes. Line four, police department, two police vehicles. Madam moderator, yes. I move that $85,000 be appropriated for the purchase of two police vehicles and related equipment and that to meet this appropriation, the treasurer with the approval of the board of selectmen be authorized to borrow up to $85,000 pursuant to general laws chapter 44 section 7 sub one or any other applicable statute. any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this vote, lest any such premium applied to the payment of the cost of issuance of such bonds or notes may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with chapter 44 section 20 of the general laws, thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a

085like amount. The appropriation for this article and approved borrowing thereon will sunset on June 30th, 2022. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Chief, were you going to make any remarks? No. Um, is any comment or discussion? If not, we'll proceed to the vote. This requires the two/3s for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes by 2/3. Line 5A, town buildings, facilities improvements. Madam moderator, Miss Wolf, I move that $505,200 be transferred from free cash in the treasury for improvements to town buildings and facilities and that set appropriation be expended by June 30th, 2022 with unexpended funds as of June 30th, 2022 being returned to the general fund. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Um, David, are you gonna make a presentation? Okay. For several years, we've been trying

086to um pull together what the actual need is for um capital needs are for our town buildings. Um through a grant um from the community compact, we were able to hire an side consultant and the name is On-site Insight. It's the same firm that does the um capital plan for um several years ago for the Pinehill School. Um their projected year one need was over $1.5 million to catch up on severely unfunded system replacements and repairs. If you remember last year, we had a number that was around a million that we started with and I think we ended up approving around 200,000. So this year a list of potential projects was reviewed by the board of selectman in the capital budget committee and the following projects were identified as the top priority needs with a

087combined total of $55,200. This is just a page excerpt from the um on-site insight report and you can see just the town hall alone was estimated to be have needs of 311,000. So this is broken up into functional areas. So fire detection and suppression improvements 147,000. This is for fire department and town hall to replace and upgrade fire alarm control panels. This was um an item that we removed last year because of the cost and we continued to maintain those throughout the year with a costly uh repairs and a costly service contract. Um, also replace the emergency generator. Um, that's a $63,000 expense that we also avoided last year and we've been trying to keep the thing going this year, but it's definitely a needed repair. You can see the uh generator is on the

088lower right um and sits right outside my office, so I can keep an eye on it. uh HVAC and air quality improvements, $141,700. There are several items for the police headquarters. Um and if you remember last year, we reapproved doing the roof. There's a rooftop HVAC system that needs to be removed in order to do the roof. We thought it was best to to upgrade the whole HVAC system that had been deemed to be inadequate. um at the same time that we do the the roof, which would be if this article passes. Um several other items with um the HVAC system, uh that includes uh controls, um cleaning duct work, install air handling units, uh fire station two, improve the heating and town hall, troubleshoot existing heating cooling inefficiencies. Um could be cost up to

089$30,000 to correct those. This is just some pictures of the air handling units and um that have been deemed to be inadequate functioning right now. Vehicle door replacements and improvements $121,500 between CM andd fire department and station two. you have a lot of doors that you have to maintain and a lot of vehicles uh coming in and out of those doors as well as people. Uh there are a lot of safety issues there with um doors that can come down and not stop. So this um has some engineering for a vehicle base ceiling at the headquarters uh with some construction cost there and also installation of auto stops um at fire department headquarters station 2 and CM and D. Town Hall exterior renovation, $70,000. There's a lot more work that could be done there, but

090this is what we identified as immediate needs. This is to fix the masonry and reappoint um cement corrections to stairways, window and door replace aging, hardened window and door perimeter cocking. That was estimated at 22,000. The rest is all scraping and painting of um existing surfaces. Uh that would all be build bid out. I think anyone who shows up at town hall can see um the decay if you really closely look town hall campus safety and security improvements, $25,000. We're putting some of this money aside um to do a few projects now. After the library is done, we'll take another look at it and probably um spend some more money on um looking at how the whole area can be improved. Uh this would add security cameras at the PD booking area. Um improve the

091parking lot lighting with two additional poles, conversion of the existing poles to LED. um install install exterior flood light um so the police department um sign is actually lit up on the police department and replace a lot of faulty wiring fixtures and globes on granite posts that have been broken um or non-functioning. I think you've seen these things around. So that's a polemounted fixture in the lower right. Um we've been trying to get them to actually throw more light into the parking lot. We've had modest modest luck in that. So that's all the um capital improvements that we have for town buildings proposed right now. Thank you, David. Is there any debate? If not, this is a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously.

092Madam moderator. Yes, Mr. Marl. Uh, this is the memory statue renovation. I move that $30,400 be transferred from free cash in the treasury to be expended by the board of selectmen for the renovation of the memory statue and memorial monument located within the central cemetery on South Main Street assessor's map 11 parcel 168 and further to transfer from the board of selectment for such purpose as it is presently held for the board of selectment for that same purpose and for the purpose of conveying a permanent historical preservation restriction there to secure the preservation of set statue and monument. statue and monument. That mounded portion of the central cemetery occupied by the memory statue and memorial monument and the access block a pertinent thereto having an area of approximately 3,000 square feet and authorize the board

093of selectment to grant such restriction as required to secure a grant of funds from the Massachusetts preservation project fund for the preservation of the statue in mon and monument and to authorize the board of selectmen to execute any documents or in instruments necessary to effectuate purpose of this article in that set appropriation to be expended by June 30th, 2022 with unexpected funds as of June 30th, 2022 being returned to the general fund. Second. It's been moved and seconded. And I believe we have a presentation from Peggy Novak. Peggy Novak, 36 Nason Hill Road, member of the historical commission. Um, most of you probably drive by the memory statue oh nearly every day, but many of you may not know its history. The memory statue is Sherburn's most prominent and valuable piece of public art. The

094statue and granite memorial monument stand in one of the town's historic cemeteries, the central burial burial grounds, and are part of the National Register Historic District. The B bronze plaques placed around the upper plaza of the monument memorialize the citizens of Sherburn who died in wars from 1676 to 1918. King Phillips wore through World War I. The sculpture was created by Cyrus Dalan, regarded as one of the most important sculptors in American art. He is best known locally for his sculpture, the appeal to the great spirit, in front of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and for his statue of Paul Rivere in the North End. The statue and monument were dedicated in 1924 as part of Sherburn's celebration of its 250th anniversary. and to this day are at the center of many town ceremonies,

095particularly on Memorial Day. The structure was given to the town by William Bradford Homer Dow, a native son, prominent citizen, lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist. He also cried provided the funds for the Dow Memorial Library building next door. The Dow family settled in Sherburn right after the revolution and has remained a prominent family and familiar name in town ever since. As an outdoor sculpture in a busy location, memory is constantly exposed to the weather and to air pollution. It has been 10 years since work was last done on the statue. The surface and protective coating on the bronze are showing signs of deterioration, bubbling, and pitting, as well as being unusually dark. Without proper treatment, the surface will continue to deteriorate and risk damage to the bronze of the sculpture. We were unable to find any

096record of work having been done on the granite. Some of the large stone pieces that make up the monument, particularly the top steps, have shifted, creating gaps and uneven surfaces. The mortar in the steps and other parts of the structure have deteriorated and is missing in many areas, allowing water to get between and under the granite pieces, risking further shifting and damage. The stone is also heavily stained in some areas. Professional conservators have inspected the memorial and made recommendations for treatment and repair. The sculpture will be treated by removing the heavy coating of glossy lacquer that currently covers her and carefully cleaning the bronze surface. Then a protective coating will be applied, followed by several coats of wax. Recommendations for regular maintenance will also be provided to ensure that the work lasts. For the granite,

097the steps will be repositioned, leveled, and repointed. Other seams in the monument will be repointed as needed. Then the stone surface will be cleaned to return it to its original appearance. This is all work that needs to be done to preserve this piece of Sherburn's history. As mentioned in the warrant, the historical commission, not the conservation commission, has applied on behalf of the town for a grant through the state historical commission. If we're are able to receive grant funding, it will cover up to half of the cost of the work. Thank you, Peggy. You want to stay there in case there are any questions? Does anyone have any comment or questions? Is there someone heading for the mic? Okay. George, 19 Deerfield Road, Sherman, Massachusetts. Um, I didn't realize 10 years had passed since uh

098this body authorized the resurfacing of the statue. Is is has it been 10 years? 200 what? Seven. Seven. God, am I getting old? um in the fact that we had did it 10 years ago and we were assured that the repair would be uh needed and would be effective. Why do we need to do it again this year? Um the coating that was applied at that time has begun to deteriorate. Um we've been told by a conservator that it wasn't uh applied properly, that it was applied excessively heavily. Okay. um it's started to show signs of bubbling and pitting. Um if it's not properly treated now, that will just continue to deteriorate um and become more of a problem, more expensive to deal with. What precautions have been taken uh to uh ensure that the

099application of the new surface will not suffer the same fate as the old surface. We're consulting with um a preservation consultant and with a professional conservator to make sure that the treatment is done properly. They'll also give us a maintenance program, a recommendation for a maintenance program that should maintain the surface. And we've been told um by one person who who looked at it for us that properly maintain the surface should last for 20 to 30 years. Thank you. I recommend that we affirm the request for the resurfacing of the statute. Are there any other comments or questions? If not, we'll proceed to the vote. And this requires the twothirds vote for approval. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes by 2/3. Um, line six, Cemetery Commission, Cemetery Improvements,

100Road and Drainage. Miss Relis, I move that 327,000 be appropriated for the purpose of making repairs and improvements to the roadways and drainage system in the Pine Hill Cemetery and that to meet this appropriation, the treasurer with the approval of the board of selection be authorized to borrow up to up to 327,000 pursuant to general laws chapter 44 section 71 or any other applicable statute. Provided, however, that this appropriation shall not take effect until the town votes to exempt from the limitation on total taxes imposed by the general laws chapter 59, section 21 CK, Proposition 2 and a half, the amounts required to pay the principle and interest on the bonds and notes authorized by this vote. Any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this vote, thus any such

101premium applied to the payment of the cost of issuance of such bonds or notes, apply to the payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with chapter 44 section 20 of the general laws thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by like amount the appropriation for this article and approved borrowing thereon will sunset on June 30th 2022 second it's been moved and seconded I understand we're going to have a presentation from Jean H of the cemetery commission [Music] Hello, my name is Jean Ham, Cemetery Commissioner, 257 Washington Street. Behind me on the screen is a brief slideshow showing existing conditions and a summary of the engineering recommendations. There were handouts out front, I believe, and it can also be found on the cemetery page of the town website. I

102first wish to thank the citizens of Sherburn for supporting an engineering study approved at last year's town meeting and completed a few months ago. Secondly, I would like to report on the engineers proposed solutions to the serious drainage and road issues at Pineh Hill Cemetery. And please note that it is the only active municipal cemetery in Sherburn and visited daily. The capital expenditure line item should be supported by the town citizens. It has been approved by the capital budget committee and a majority of the advisory committee. The advisory minority opinion incorrectly reports that the roads in the new section may not be used for up to 30 years. These roads are being used now during burial processions by residents visiting loved ones already buried in the new section and by the police department. The project

103is designed to address serious erosion and drainage issues at Pinehill Cemetery that affect surface areas that include both burial spaces as well as road degradation. State storm water regulations demand that we manage water runoff within the boundaries of the cemetery. The Good News Pinehill Cemetery is well positioned to support town and state obligations for years to come. We have already begun selling lots in the new section. The reality in keeping with tradition going back to 1852, Pinehill Cemetery has been an everchanging landscape trying to balance the needs of a burial location while also being a place that is respectful of the departed and safe for all to visit. Safety also extends to the need for public safety. Rebuilt roads will ensure that police can rapidly respond to emergencies at Pineh Hill School since the cemetery

104affords a rapid response route from Cemetery Lane to the school as well as an emergency egress route for the students at Pineh Hill School heading towards Cemetery Lane. Also, the repair work will ensure continued access to the cemetery for example snow plowing on well-defined roadways. In summary, the muchneeded project calls for installation of 14 drainage control features and three major road repair efforts to complement the drainage controls, including rebanking, rip wrap, BMS, chip seal, and some paving. We thank you and urge your support of this capital budget item to keep Pineh Hill Cemetery safe and vital for those who rest there, for those who may join them in the future, as well as for the living who visit. Again, thanks Thank you, Jean. I Mr. Yan, I understand you would like to offer an amendment.

105Yes. Thank you, madam moderator. Um, first of all, want to thank Susie Tyler and Jean and Chucky Blaney for all the hard work they've done on this project. Um, it's a substantial project and the board of selectman is recommending that the town's chief procurement officer, Dave Williams, the town administrator, uh, be involved in the, um, approval uh, and review of these contracts. This is about a third of a million dollars in capital projects. So, the amendment that we're offering is to add language that all contracts shall be subject to review and approval of the town's chief procurement officer, the town administrator, and the board of selectmen. Um, is there a second for your amendment? Second. The amendment has been moved and seconded that all contracts shall be subject to review and approval of the town's

106chief procurement officer, the town administrator, and the board of selectmen. Is there any discussion about the amendment? This is a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes and we'll return to the amended main motion. Is there any further discussion about it? Is the person walking up the aisle going to talk? I Oh, there is someone there. Okay. Jim Campbell, 212 Farm Road. Yes. I noticed in the advisory committee report there is a minority report that talks about Excuse me, Jim. Someone said they could not hear. if you could not get too close to the mic but perhaps speak more loudly. Okay, I'll try again. Jim Campbell 212 Farm Road. My point is that the U advisory committee report on this discusses a minority report talks about

107a certain percentage of the funds to be expended aren't needed for up to another 30 years. I heard Gene H allude to the fact that that's because that was the new portion of the cemetery, but my question really is what percentage of the 327,000 or so could be deferred. Would you like an answer from Gene Hal or from the advisory from that minority report group on the advisory committee? Well, actually, why don't Jean was standing up, so why don't we have both respond to that? Who would like to speak for the minority? Crack at it. Okay. From my recol recollection of the presentation that we received, um there was this discussion of um a significant portion of the spend was to build roadways out that in the words of the presenters would not be used

108um for burial services uh or plots for decades to come. Um, for me as one of the denters, uh, at this time of a tight fiscal budget in this town, um, I don't know that we should be spending our capital dollars on something, a roadway that wouldn't be used for potentially decades to come. If the roadways that are currently there are old and are beat up and need to be repaired, why would we be building roads at the moment that before they ever are put to use, we are expecting that they will probably likely also need to be repaired? Jean, my clarification, I did mention allude to the minority report in my little presentation. Um, a cemetery doesn't we don't wall off a certain section of the cemetery and wait for x amount of time.

109The process is that people who choose to find a lot wander the cemetery and select the lot where they choose to be have loved ones buried. As such we have this the cemetery as a whole once a section is opened up and the new section is opened up um is available. We cannot predict where. We just have to make sure that we have the ability for get people to move around for the burial process to be taken care of at the time. So, it's not quite the same thing to as alluded in my understanding of the minority report that the new section wouldn't be used for 30 years. rather the new section wouldn't quote fill up for a substantial period of time. In that sense in about if we assume 30 years after 30 years

110the town would have to purchase new property to for a new burial for a new cemetery if you looked at it that way. So, I guess what I'm hearing is that in fact all the roads in the cemetery, including the expansion area, are are presently being used and therefore need not all I to be fair with you and to be honest, not all of the new section is being used because it's a new section and some of it is and and some of it is being sold. Lots are being sold in the new section, but it's a new section. It's only been recently over the last year that we began selling lots in the new section. So, it's not a situation where there are people, you know, uh purchasing lots all over the new section.

111That just hasn't happened yet. But that's because it is a new section. Okay. It Yes. Um we'll go up here and then we'll go back. I see someone in the back. Yes, Mr. Dances. I want to try I want to try and answer that question a little sharper. The uh original request was significantly higher than what you have before us tonight. We had the discussion that some roads weren't going to be used for a considerable period of time. We made an estimate as to what part of this original expenditure was going to be used for those roads and the original request was reduced by some $80,000 to get down to the 327 that's before you today. So, an effort was undertaken to do exactly what Jim Campbell had mentioned, and that's the reduced number that's

112before you today. Thank you. In the rear, Scott Embry, Wildwood Drive. Um, excuse me. You're standing actually too close to the mic. If you could step back a little bit and and then speak loudly and step back. How we doing? Uh you're pretty good. Good. What is the town's obligation to provide burial space? And depending on the answer to that, I may have a followup. Jean It is I'm not a lawyer but is my understanding from state law chapter MGL 114 I believe uh that the town every town municipal municipality in the state of Massachusetts is responsible for providing cemetery space for burials of its residents. But then again, I'm not a lawyer, but that's my understanding of the law. You are correct. Town council is shaking her head. Yes. Did you have a followup?

113Uh so yes, I do. So then the question would be with this I guess undefined amount because hopefully we're not expecting 100% occupancy uh immediately. No. So that's uh undefined. So, do we need to open new sections? And by what time period do we need to continue to open new sections? If we don't know how much space we need, then do we need to open more space? We based on estimates and I don't want to get into details on how we do estimates but basically we uh the cemetery commission at no cost at a town expended considerable amount of money to develop this new section that I'm alluding to which is basically an area between the main body of the cemetery and Pineh Hill School. That area was a hill and basically was leveled and

114there was a lot of blasting done. But in the end we have a relatively flat area surface area in which to bury and we only I can only speak to the fact that we are now beginning to sell lots in that new section and that's where people are turning to more and more. Thank Thank you, Jane. Thanks. Is there any other question or comment? Yes. Michael, it's not working. Where's the mic? Oh, there is. Hey, there we go. Thanks. Uh, Michael Jamo, 32 Mil Street, and and board of selectmen. Board of selectman voted 4 to one to support the article with the motion made by Mr. Jan. I was the one. Um, I don't think this is a necessary expense for the town. I don't think it's been vetted well enough. the engineering study was

115done. It hasn't been peer-reviewed. Um, we've heard a lot of discussion about the expansion area. What that really means is the cemetery commission on its own initiative created new roads, maybe more new roads than are needed for a period of time, and now we're asking the town to spend more than our annual ordinary road budget to pave them. Um, there are drainage improvements that need to be done. I would support doing those drainage improvements, but I don't think it takes anything close to the amount of money we've got authorized for or allocated towards this now until we've proven with some kind of a uh neutral review that the engineering study that was already done uh last year is actually accurate and defensible. I I think we ought to be careful about allocating all this money

116to this project. Thank you, Charlie. Charlie Williams, 10 Abbey Road, member of the Sherban Firewood crew that has helped clear some of that area. The 1852 Town Cemetery is Sherban's only active cemetery. The new area is already being used. My wife is buried there. There are three other burials right on the edge of it. Thank you. Yes, Elliot, why don't you just pass the mic down to Elliot? Elliot Taylor. I've uh lived and played in Pineh Hill Cemetery for 75 years, but uh I've watched many changes there. Just want to say when you build a road, you better think long term. and uh just to build a little section of road here and then come back and have to build a little more. You've got to have drainage and think of your drainage long term

117and when you first start have the drainage all in there so it'll be there for many many years. I think you might want to bond this uh project so you could spread out the payments, but uh I think it'd be foolish to go in there and dig a little here, dig a little there, come back in a couple of years and have to uh undo what you've done when you could have done it right the first time. You've also want to plant some trees and uh trees don't grow in two years. So, uh you can plant trees, do landscaping while you do this project. And I would recommend you do it all at once. I'll probably buried I will be buried in Pine Hill, so it will affect me. Thank you. Um, I don't see

118anyone else lined up to speak. Oh, yes, we do have someone. Uh Jane, not sure if I should say anything, but I just wanted to comment on Mike's point here and that when we originally went out and are actually the cemetery commission met and we discussed seriously the situation with the drain drainage and roads at Pineh Hill Cemetery. The original issues were how to go about it and we would did go to the town administrator and we asked lots of questions in order to go through determine what the approach would be and what the appropriate approach would be. We began with CM and D and found that their recommendation was to hire an engineer. So they really weren't anxious to provide any assist direct assistance. We did hire an engineer, in fact a reputable engineering

119firm that has worked for the town and their recommendation was um over $410,000. And in addition to that, there was money recommended, a separate set of money recommended for a project manager, an on-site manager to ensure that the work was being done on time, properly, etc. The cemetery commission presented to the advisory committee and capital budget. capital budget approved the 410. Uh the advisory committee uh had some issues with the new section of the cemetery because our original proposal was comprehensive for the entire cemetery. The reduced amount reflects the estimated cost from the engineer to pave the roads in the new section of the cemetery. Thank you, Jean. If there is no other comment, we will proceed to the vote on the amended motion. Yes, there was a suggestion that this should be bonded. That's

120exactly the motion before you is to borrow the money, spread the cost over an extended period of time so that people who are using the cemetery, that's probably the wrong word. Uh people who um will benefit from this in the future will be paying for it over an extended period of time. It's also a ballot question that we put on the ballot. So, it has to pass both here tonight and then it's going to go before all the voters of the town to vote at the ballot box. So, if you vote yes here, you're essentially setting up the question for the voters to decide at the ballot box. And my final point is that we as a community need to provide for a decent burial place. This is the place we do provide. And as

121you saw from the pictures, there is a lot of deterioration, a lot of erosion, a lot of deferred maintenance that hadn't been done for many years. This will allow us to bring this facility up to where it should be out of respect for those who are there and out of respect for those who may come to be there in the future. I would urge your support of this article. Now, I think we're going to proceed to the vote. Thank you. Um, of the amended main motion. This is a borrowing. It does require a twothirds vote for passage. All those in favor of the amended motion, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Nay. I declare that it passes by twothirds. We're on to line seven. The trustees of the Shervin Library repair of the library

122roof. Madam moderator. Yes, Mrs. Avaronian. I move that $190,750 be transferred from free cash in the treasury for the repair of the library roof and that set appropriation be expended by June 30, 2022 with unexpended funds as of June 30, 2022 being returned to the general fund. Second. It's been moved and seconded. We have a presentation from the library. Good evening. I'm Mary Moore. I'm chair of the library trustees. I'm happy to be here and I'm happy to happier even to report that the project has in fact begun. So that's really good news. Um, thank you to everybody uh in Sherburn who has supported this project. It's been a very long process and the end is in sight. We're going to have a wonderfully renovated and expanded library to benefit all Sherburn residents for years

123to come. Before we get there, we're here once more to ask for your support. The library board of trustees is requesting funds for additional roof work that was not anticipated in the original project that we brought before you in at town meeting in 2015. we have a chance to get it done right and get it done now and we think it's the right thing to do. So, I've asked Mark Brown who's on our library building committee to just share a few highlights of what we're asking and uh hope you support us. Thank you. Thank you, Mary. So, uh, our committee recommends that, uh, the town have the tile roof on the existing library building reconstructed as part of the current library renovation and expansion project. Um, this is the this slide shows you the uh,

124scope of the work. Um before you can get to putting in the new code compliant insulation, uh step one is to remove what is there and that is remove and salvage the existing roof tiles, the failed underllayment and one inch of insulation board. Uh the current underllayment dates from the original construction back in 1971. So it's 46 years old. It's embrittleled, leaking, and it's pasted its service life. Next comes uh the new code compliant installation. It's going to be an R of 27 to 28. Um that's compared with the existing R value of R3. So this is a big energy conservation improvement for the for the library. Then there's a new waterproofing underllayment and then reinstall the existing roof tiles which still have another 40 to 50 years of life in them. Now the cost

125advantage to doing this work u is obviously pretty compelling. The cost to do it now is 190,750 compared with uh an estimate of 500 over 500,000 uh in 2022. So the question is you know why the big difference? Why is there such a big difference in the cost now and then? And there are three reasons. Uh first of all, in order to uh tie the new roof of the addition into the existing roof requires a lot of work on that roof to the tune of $120,000. And that's work that basically is going to be thrown away in five years when the roof has got to be replaced anyway. So $120,000 of what I consider wasted money. That's reason one. Reason two, uh if the roof is replaced as a standalone project uh down the road,

126um a design professional is going to be needed to create a bid package to provide bid phase assistance and construction phase assistance. And that's at a cost of about 50,000. And this is all work that we own under the current contract with the existing architect if it's done now. So that's another saving of $50,000. And then reason number three is construction es escalation. Uh we're anticipating construction costs to escalate at about 6% a year. You compound that over six years and it's over 40%. So that's a big number. Now you might ask why is this work an ad alternate? Uh why was it not included in the base bid? And the reason is is at the time that the project budget was uh established uh back in 2010 and 2011 uh there were no known

127problems with the roof. It was not until fall of 2015 that u uh a lot of roof leaks developed. We brought in a roof expert who uh said that we could limp along with the existing roof for four or five years, but then it would definitely have to be replaced in 5 years anyway. So, because the pricing turned out to be so favorable, um you know, we accepted the ad alternate to remove and replace the roof now and we're asking the town to fund this major major capital improvement at a very favorable price. I'll take any questions. Thank you for your presentation. Madam moderator, I have some There's a question in the rear. Yes. George Sheay, 19 Deerfield Road, Shervin, Massachusetts. Uh, I'm going to lay a little bit of a factual foundation for the

128questions that I'm about to ask. Is that permissible? George, could you speak up a little bit, please? I'm going to lay try to lay a foundation, factual foundation for the questions that I'm would ask ultimately. Is that appropriate? Sure, if you can do it in two minutes. The question is going to out be outside the two minutes. Um, number one, the presentation with the library committee and when we were first considering this uh at a a advisory committee meeting was that it wasn't going to cost a town any money. It wasn't a money issue to be to be exact is the for the quote. The uh during the presentation after that, it was noted that part of the reason we should go with the new library edition was that the roof was in disrepair and

129the cost of fixing the roof was high and it would be better to do it all at once. Expansion and the roof. I noted in the 2016 town report that the town voted $100,000 or a million. Was it a million to supplement what the library had raised and what the state had given us. That was after it seems to me the presentation indicated that there was a problem with the roof. Now I don't question the amount of money that it's going to take to do this. What I do question is the process of coming to us peacemeal. First it was no money. The roof could be not could be fixed within the money. Then it was we need a hundred million or a million dollars and now we need a quarter of a million dollars.

130When will this camel nose under the tent stop? I urge you tonight to vote for the amount of money being requested. Notwithstanding the fact that the capital advisory committee capital Thank you, George. Now I'll ask the question. When will it stop? What precautions are the is the library taking to avoid these predictable expenses? Is is that rhetorical or would you like Oh, that's a question. Okay. Mary, would you like to respond or Mr. Brown. There really was nothing predictable about the replacement of the tile roof at the time of the project. Could you speak up, sir, please? On. Hello. Okay. There was really nothing predictable about the u replacement of the existing tile roof until fall of 2015 when a series of roof leaks developed. So, I'm just not I'm not sure why what the

131basis for your stating that it's predictable. Well, it seems to me if you found the problem in 2015 and we gave you a a million dollars in 2016, it should have been in that money that was requested in 2016. Well, the the project uh scope was still under development in 2015 2016. So, I'll let the group I'll let the group evaluate that response, but I don't think it's an appropriate response. Okay. Um, next. Thank you, George. Pass the amount requested. That's very easy to do. James Murphy, 44 Bear Hill Road. I'm one of the library trustees. Uh the library that was given to the town for nothing was in 1971 and before that in 1914. When we came to the town with this project, we estimated that the town's contribution would have to be $2.5

132million. And because of the fundraising and the hard work and the grants that we received, we were able to reduce it in the April 2015 town meeting to $1 million. In the fall, in September, October or November of 2015, which was after the vote for the $1 million, it came to our attention that the roof was leaking. Of course, there was money in the original 2015 budget to connect the old roof to the new roof, but there was no money for this particular circumstance. Luckily, we have had people like Mark Brown at our library building committee and others who have identified a way to save money. And not only have they identified a proper cost of 190,750, they have also been able to do identify other grants that we will be also eligible to receive

133to further reduce the cost to the town. The library has done a great job. The library has not been asking the town a lot. The library has been giving a lot. The library invites you into its living room every day. and we urge your support for this particular capital item. I don't see anyone else waiting in line. So, let's proceed to the vote. This is a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. And we're moving on to article 11. Madam moderator, Miss Kentoski, I move that $158,025 be transferred from free cash in the treasury for the purpose of paying the town's allocable share of the costs of various items of major equipment and building improvements, including the payment of all costs incidental and related

134thereto for the Dover Sherburn Regional School District pursuant to an intergovernment mental agreement with the Dover Sherburn Regional School District and the town of Dover to provide fund funding for such items. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? If not, we'll proceed to the vote. This is a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those no nay. Mo motion passes unanimously and we'll move on to article 12 free cash for tax relief. Madam moderator, Mr. Lehey, I move that the town vote to transfer from free cash $160,000 and authorize the assessors to use said sum in fixing the tax rate. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any debate? The people that are in the back are in the process of coming and going. Not speaking.

135Okay. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes. It was required a simple majority. Article 13, quarterly tax payments. Madam moderator. Yes, Mr. Williams. I move that the town vote to accept the provisions of general laws chapter 59 section 57C for the purpose of establishing quarterly tax payments and that the change to quarterly payments become effective on July 1st 2018. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Um I believe we are going to have uh two presentations. I'm not sure that either one of them requires the screen. No, I think mine has a slide. Okay. Uh Mr. Marl and the advisory committee is going to speak on behalf of the proponents and then Nancy did I there's Nancy she's going to speak afterward against the motion. Um article 13 is uh

136an article to switch from semiannual to quarterly taxes as 80% of other commun municipalities in Massachusetts have already done. This would allow the cash flow of the town to be smooth with four payments a year rather than two. Um, through an analysis that I went through with the town treasur, it provides a 70 to 80% increase in cash balances at the beginning of the fiscal year when many departments expend significant funds appropriated at town meeting and halfway through the fiscal year, which is February, when snow and ice expenditures are likely the greatest. Um, under a quarterly tax payment system, city or town substantially reduces, if not eliminates costly short-term borrowing in anticipation of tax revenue and generally increases investment income, according to the department of revenue. Uh, in Sherburn, fortunately, as we've talked about with

137with our cash position, it's not crit critical to do right now as we have strong cash balances. But this is an opportunity, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, to be proactive. So we have we don't develop a cash need down the road after with the potential developments we have in the pipeline and that this is an opportunity to change now before it becomes a problem. Uh the artic the motion uh proposes a roll out in July of 2018 to coincide with the collector's delayed roll out of the software program the remaining finance departments are implementing in 2017. This gives the collector plenty of time to work out any kinks with switching to this program. um one one item that uh it doesn't make more work for the collector in the billing cycle because it

138still is two mailings per year. It's just multiple coupons. Um just some other further research that I found. According to the 2006 American Community Survey conducted by the US Census Bureau, 74% of Sherburn households have a mortgage. Majority of mortgage banks require tax escrows which are paid monthly by you along with your mortgage payment. In addition, when buying a house, you may be required to fund the escrow with up to six months in taxes on semiannual as opposed to three with quarterly. So why let the banks hold your money for six months rather than having the town receive the benefit of the funds for three extra months twice per year? Thank you, dancing. First of all, thanks to the uh authors of the minority report. They were right on. No one is saying that we

139will never have to go quarterly tax billing, but we are very fortunate that our finance team works hard to get everything in place so our tax rate can be set and bills mailed on time and that our taxpayers pay their taxes in a timely manner. Quarterly billing is a solution to a problem that we do not have. It was created for cities and towns who didn't get bills out and could not meet their obligations, thus were forced to borrow in anticipation of tax revenue year after year. We have no such history. And that is the big litmus test of if and when there is a need for quarterlies. That and whether or not the cost of borrowing is so high that should something drastically change in a year, it would be detrimental to our town's

140financial health to have to borrow. The example used in the advisory report of having to borrow five years ago at a cost of a thousand does not give us the circumstances or the amount. But even without that information, if you consider that $1,000 cost was spread across 2,000 taxpayers, it doesn't compare to the amount of interest, as bad as the rate is, that has gone back to the taxpayer over the last five years, because we have not taken their funds three months early, twice a year, every year since. And quarterlys do not guarantee no borrowing. Unlike a business or your household, a constant even flow of funds is not so important because thanks to our skilled treasurers past and present, our debt and other significant payments due are structured to co coincide with the semianual

141peaks and valleys. If the chunk is there when the it is needed, we are good. Since the first half of quarterly is based on the prior year's taxes, the amount collected by the November 1st due date is likely to be less than what could be expected on the semiannual system, and that in itself could produce unintended consequences. In addition to the logistical issues created in the collector's office, quarterlys have some logistical issues for Sherburn's lifestyle as well. The first and second bill are mailed together at the end of June. We know as soon as school lets out in Sherburn, it vacates. Tax bills do not get forwarded. If they can't be delivered, they're returned at the tax office for reming and not always in a timely manner. The law says you have to pay that

142bill on time, whether or not you ever get it. Third and fourth quarter bills are mailed at the end of December over the holiday and vacation period. Every year, I ask our taxpayers to pay when the bill comes to help the town's cash flow and avoid the need to borrow. As with so many other things, including paying the second highest average tax bill in Massachusetts, they have continually stepped up and we have been able to bank significant funds in the first weeks after the ma the mailing, excuse me. Asking our taxpayers to pay a few weeks before it is due is very different from demanding that they pay three months early when it isn't necessary. It is not unlike a subtle bump up in their taxes because you're moving the interest potential from the taxpayer

143to the town. Also, the taxpayer who already has trouble scraping up the payment together for the later due dates under semiannual will now under quarterly start acrewing interest three months earlier. Our taxpayers have always done what is asked when there is a need. No real need has been demonstrated and no real study of the impact on the tax office or anything else has been done. We again hear about the do report in their recommendations based on a template for the whole state. Some of which we have chosen to embrace and some we have rejected as not a good fit for Sherburn. Much of which has been litigated right here on this town meeting floor. In one small town report, the do actually acknowledged that going to quarterlys for smaller towns might not prove to be

144as economical. The consultants report also referred to in the advisory report was again a regurgitation of the do report. Sherburn is not every other town. We are small compared to our neighbors. Even though our budget is big, we are fortunate that we can keep our collection operations simple and relatively inexpensive. Unless you plan to stop paying your taxes in a timely fashion, putting this in place at this time is neither right nor reasonable and the old everybody else does it is not a justification. Advisory suggests that we cannot depend on the goodwill of the taxpayers, but I think history shows that we can. Please vote no on the advisory motion. Thank you. Yes in the rear. uh Peter Lifford and Dopping Brook Road. I I think the minority report I find the minority report compelling.

145Uh and I even hear the proponent saying that we really have no need to do this at this time. Um and I'm going to speak from experience about the idea of getting one tax bill with two vouchers sitting in it. I I pay taxes on some property in Norphick and that's the way they do it. And you know, the most unfortunate thing happened this last time I I got the bill and I took the first voucher and I paid it. You know, the second voucher went missing and I was in a rears and that was not a comfortable situation and it's not one that I think anyone here would want to find themselves in just because the second voucher got lost on the desk or in a pile of papers. Uh we're doing very well

146with twice a year tax payments. Uh we're in tune with that. We're used to it and I don't think there's any reason to go to quarterly and I think there are good reasons not to. Thank you. Uh is there someone stepping up in the back? Okay. George Shay, 19 Deerfield Road, Shurn, Massachusetts. I first observed that the proponents for the uh uh amendment uh to the collection process has indicated that there is not a problem and it's my understanding that we have not had to borrow any money uh based on the current system for at least five years. So, I would suggest for people like myself who have most of my money tied up in the stock market and I live off of that, for me to go in and take dividends or sell stock

147to go on a quarterly basis would deprive me of three months of growth. I suppose you could flip that coin. or three months of loss if I uh take it out uh to pay your quarterly payments. So, I urge you and the people in this room to decline and vote against the recommendation to go to quarterly payments. Robert Robert Johnson, 272 Western Avenue. Um, how many extra hours uh would be necessary for the tax collector for collecting and depositing these uh quarterly statements? I think that's a question for the collector. Well, I I wonder if the advisory committee has thought about this. Do they have an answer? We've asked the collector and the we're asking to implement this in July of 2018 when a new software package is rolled out. So, we're hoping more and

148more of this becomes automated with new software. We have asked for that data, but you still need to receive the checks uh enter them, deposit them. That's going to take time regardless of what hardware you have. And uh did the advisory committee figure out uh how much time that would be and uh the cost for for the department? We have we have not received that information from the collector now. We've asked for that information from the collector. We know there will be additional costs. We just don't know how much. That's a that's an assumption. Yes. In the rear, uh, Alex Stouse, 100 North Main Street. I would not be in favor of passing this. And my unique situation is that I depend on my harvest to pay my tax bill. If I have to start

149borrowing money in August to pay a tax bill, doesn't work for me. I would leave it as it is. Is there any other comment? If not, we'll proceed to the vote. This is a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. I think the motion fails. Article 14, the land acquisition committee. Madam moderator, Mr. Pollock, I move that the town vote to amend the mission and membership of the land acquisition committee voted on at the 1995 annual town meeting as printed in the warrant. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Uh, I see a waving hand. Peter Luffin on Dumping Brook Road again. Um, I looked at the wording here and I just want to ask, it's not a rhetorical question. It's a specific question.

150Is the wording intentional that it says include representatives designated by and list several bodies? How many representatives are designated by each of those bodies? Because it seems to read that they could designate as many as they like. Is that my cor is that the correct reading? Um I will refer that question to the board of selectmen. Yeah, Peter, thank you for for that. I think the intention is that it's one member. We were correcting an issue in the 1995 vote that saw us with a land acquisition committee made up of people who had been on boards in 1995 and in many cases were no longer on those boards. And so the change intended was to have uh one member designated by each of the boards listed here and that would allow the boards to appoint

151people who may or may not actually be on the board itself. Thank you very much. And I fully expect that was the intent. Unfortunately, that's not what's written here. And if I have to come down there and fill out a form to have one each added, then I will. But I believe it should be important that one each be added to the language. It's not clear. It's not implied. It's it's for each other. So, madam moderator, may we amend this uh motion or propose an amendment to this motion? Yes. Okay. I I would uh move that the motion be amended by adding uh in the first line where it says the LAC membership shall include representatives designated by and then it lists the boards. Change that to the LAC membership shall include one representative designated

152by each of and then listing boards. Okay. Thank you. Is there a second? Is there a second to your amendment? Second. Okay. It's been moved and seconded that the text of the proposed LAC membership, the first sentence shall now read, "The LAC membership shall include one representative designated by each of the and then the appointing committees. Does everybody understand that?" Okay. This is a simple majority for passage of the amendment. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Okay, we'll move back to the amended main motion. Is there any other discussion? If not, this is also a majority for passage. Simple majority. All those in favor, please say I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Article 15, the general plan. Madam moderator, Mr. Waldron. I move that the town vote to approve

153the planning board adoption of the guiding principles and goals of the Sherburn general plan which are on file in the offices of the town clerk and the planning board. It is hereby acknowledged that in accordance with Massachusetts general law chapter 41 section 81D such plan may be officially adopted added to or changed from time to time by majority vote of the planning board and shall be public record. Second. It's been moved and seconded. And I understand u Marian has Marian Nitra has a presentation on behalf of the planning board. Marian Nitro, 25 Prospect Street, speaking for the planning board. As many of you know, the the board is in the process of producing a new general plan for the town. This is the first revision of the general plan since 2001. That's over 15 years

154ago. And we all know that the town faces a number of new uh challenges. You've heard some about some of them tonight. The writing of a new general plan is an opportunity to think together about our vision for the future of the town. What do we want Sherman to look like in 10, 20, 30 years? And what are the major goals that might get us there? The general plan also serves as a reference, a guide to boards and committees as we make decisions over time. Are these decision decisions taking us in the direction we want to go? Now, it's very important to understand that the general plan is nothing more than that. It's a plan. It's a collection of ideas. It doesn't change how decisions are made in the town. It doesn't change the laws

155or regulations of the town. It's a guide for the town's future. And we put forth this warrant article tonight just to ask your approval of the overarching goals of the plan. We're not delving into the details. It's impossible to do that in the town meeting format, but we want you to let us know if we're on the right overall track. And we also want to update you on the general plan process. It began over two years ago in 2014. We had a townwide survey followed by the formation of three working groups who worked over the course of two years very hard I might say to uh generate drafts, detailed drafts of the plan. And these over last fall and winter were reviewed by various boards and committees in town. They were revised accordingly. And you'll

156remember early this year we took some of those sections uh to public forums to get public input and we got very good feedback. Now here we are tonight asking for your approval of the overall goals. We want to know if we're going in the right direction. Um the process continues though. It's important to know that the details are not all in place. There's a lot of discussion still happening and there will be more forums, there will be more discussions and we hope to complete the process before the end of the year. Now, very early on in the process, it became clear that there are certain values that we value most highly and serve as guiding principles that guide the entire plan. And these, you can read them up on board. None of these are a

157surprise. Our excellent schools, our clean water, our healthy forests, the open spaces and farms. Basically, the character of the town is what we value the most and what we want to preserve no matter what. But even back in I should say back in 2001 at the last plan, these were exactly the same principles that people came up with and they're the same if you back in history decades before. We really haven't changed. This is why we live in Sherburn. But even back in 2001, there were changes that people recognized we needed. Financial sustainability was an issue back then. People wanted a greater diversity of housing options for older people and people getting started in town. And they wanted a more attractive town center which that would work better as a meeting place. Now, those changes

158are still needed in town, but they're really exacerbated because, you know, we face much more difficult challenges today. For example, the pressures for a dense development are moving quickly into town, especially with the uh state affordable housing mandate and the financial pressures get worse and worse as we've just heard. So the big challenges that we face are how to address these issues, these challenges while still preserving our town character. And it's difficult. We know through our discussions that there are a lot of diverse opinions. Not everyone is going to agree on everything that's suggested, but the general plan tries to confront the issues. And you can see from your outline uh that we handed out that the major goals that we're asking your approval of tonight are grouped into sections. And if you take a

159look at the sections, it's a very comprehensive plan. It's a big document. Um, and for each of the goals that you have on your handout, there are a series of recommendations to achieve those goals. Now, back in 2001, the plan also had very good goals and recommendations. But what's different this year is that we're adding a tremendous amount of detailed ideas. What are the alternative strategies that might get us to those goals? and what are the specific actions and steps that we might take to get there. And further, we're putting much more emphasis on the implementation of the plan so that it's really usable over time for each action. Who's going to be responsible and uh how long might it take? How much might it cost? And most importantly, we're building in a tracking and

160follow-up plan, so that we can see over time what works and what doesn't, what's acceptable and what's not, and adapt the plan, adjust it accordingly. Of course, now the plan is electronic, will be electronic format so that uh it's much more adaptable and we hope it will be more useful. Now, the process is ongoing. It's not done. As drafts are fleshed out, and some of them already have been, they'll be posted on the town website, and as they're uh more complete, we'll be posting more drafts. You can view and download the sections that interest you. You can suggest changes and comments and send them to the planning board by mail or by email. And better yet, join in the discussion. you can attend a planning board meeting. They're all open. They're all uh posted on

161the town website and we hope you'll join us in this effort. So, we hope you'll approve our overarching goals at this point and uh vote yes on article 15. Thank you. Is there any discussion about article 15? If not, we'll proceed to the vote. This is a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Article 16, marijuana bylaws. Miss moderator, Miss Wolf, advisory will be making three separate motions under article 16. I move that the town vote to A1, amend the general bylaws by adding a new chapter 29 as printed in the warrant. Second. It's been moved and seconded. I think we are beginning with the presentation. Mimi. Yes. Thank you, madame moderator, and thank you, board of selectmen, for sponsoring this article and for

162your majority yes vote. My name is Mimi Kreer. I have lived on Forest Street in Sherburn for 24 years. A yes vote tonight will tighten our zoning bylaws and enforce a moratorum on any marijuana establishments until July of 2018. I love the town of Sherburn. Sherburn is an incredible place to live and raise a family. It provides a beautiful landscape, incredible schools, wonderful and caring community. We take care of one another and most importantly we nurture and take care of our children. I have been an active participant in this effort through my work over the past 10 years with substance abuse prevention. In my opinion, article 16 presents the Sherburn community with a simple yet very important question. What impact could marijuana establishments in Sherburn have on our children? Do you think marijuana establishments in

163Sherburn could be good for our children? In my opinion, the the answer is obvious. Marijuana will never be good for our children. It will only expose our community to potential significant problems. Consider the products by that are sold by some of these recreational marijuana establishments. Orange kush soda, cannabis quench lemonade, blue raspberry edible gummies, mile high chocolate bars, breath mints in canisters with cartoon cats and dogs. Consider the scientific research that has been done regarding the negative effects that marijuana can have on an adolescent brain. They include memory, attention, executive functioning, and IQ. Consider the studies that link marijuana use to poor performance in school, higher rates of addiction, depression, anxiety, and to more serious drug use such as the use of opioids. Consider all these things. Then ask yourself again, do you think marijuana

164establishments in Sherburn could be good for our children? I also urge you to reconsider some of the arguments made to downplay the risks of marijuana coming to Sherburn. Some focus on the financial relief that pot shops could bring to Sherburn, a benefit to our town. Some question whether pot shops would actually come to Sherburn. Why worry about this if the shops may not come? Some point to the sale of alcohol in our community, which is also a problem for our youth. Why allow these establishments, but not marijuana. Some question the scientific research? They say there are studies that come up with different conclusions about marijuana use. In my opinion, the response to these arguments is simple. Again, do you think marijuana establishments in Sherburn could be good for our children? Whether the pot shops would

165bring financial relief to to the town begs a more critical question. At what cost? The potential benefit cannot even be compared to the potential cost in form of in the form of impact on our community and youth. Whether the pot shops would actually come or not does not change the fact that if they did, pot shops would be a bad thing for our children. Whether liquor store stores also pose concerns for our children does not change the fact that by adding marijuana that list would be a bad thing for our children. The fact that other studies exist related to the risk of marijuana usage does not change the fact that there is significant evidence from actual experiences and other communities that tell us the consequences of this issue are simply too significant to ignore. Again,

166allowing marijuana establishments to come to Sherburn would do nothing to help our community. Just the opposite. I'm I'm realizing here. I may have I I just forgot one thing that I did I overlooked on my on my own paper here. The experience of of other communities such as cities and towns in Colorado. Um, the information does indicate since legalization, Colorado has the highest use of marijuana use for 12 to 17 year olds. And uh, there's been a dramatic 32% increase in automobile related deaths caused by operators testing positive for marijuana use. So, with that said, um I really ask you tonight to join me, other concerned citizens, including Abby Fisk, who did a wonderful job putting together the bulletin, and the Sherburn Police and the planning board. We would join good company, Medfield, Westwood, Norwood,

167and Walpole, who have also opted out of marijuana in their towns. Thank you. Thank you, Mimi. Uh yes, Mr. addresses. I want to take a I want to take a moment and explain the legal framework that we're dealing with here. The state has legalized medical marijuana. That's not the issue before us. Ballot question four passed at the last election that legalized recreational marijuana. It also allowed for facilities to be located in cities and towns that would dispense recreational marijuana. The issue in this motion is whether we should permit those recreational facilities to be located here in Sherburn. The question before us tonight has a companion piece to it, which is a ballot question that goes on the ballot for us to vote. We need both a town meeting vote and the ballot question for all

168the voters to vote upon to opt out of having recreation facilities here in town. That doesn't mean that somebody who wants recreational marijuana can't drive to other communities around us and buy it. It doesn't mean they can't use it consistent with the statute. It doesn't change the rights of people to use marijuana as allowed by ballot question four as voted by the state as a whole. So the question here is, is this appropriate to have a building and a structure that would be what's called a pot shop here in Sherburn? Thank you, Paul. Any other comments? Uh, yes. I'm Bob Ambos. Can you hear me? 47 Lake Street. I'm will vote no on this question because I feel that it's premature to consider it. I'd like to consider it a year from now. Uh I'm

169especially interested in the financial benefit to the town. What would the town earn out of shops like this? Yes, I'm Michael Newman on Nason Hill Lane. Uh, I also don't would vote no on this, but I would like to point out a structural problem with it that it includes marijuana cultivation, which I believe is a protected activity on agricultural uh properties greater than 5 acres. And if this was uh passed in its current form, I don't think it would survive. So, even though I'm against it uh in some way in support of it, I would like to see it amended to remove marijuana cultivation in all uh locations that it occurs. And I'll write that for the uh for the amendment. Okay. Town council, would you have a comment about that? Thank you, madam moderator.

170So, uh I don't think you are you turned on. Can you hear? Yes, I'm I'm turn. Okay. So, I just want to make sure that people are clear. You certainly do have the right to amend this to remove the uh marijuana cultivation. However, we want to make sure that you are aware that it is not a uh protected agricultural use in Massachusetts. The legislature passed an amendment a few months ago which specifically provides that the cultivation of marijuana is not covered by the agricultural exemption under chapter 4A section 3. So again, you certainly have the right to take that out, but it is not required by state law. It is not protected under the exemption. Okay, Elliot, how about down here? Elliot Taylor. A yes vote is for no marijuana. Is that correct? I will

171be voting yes with a capital Y. Well, actually, you'll be voting I with a capital A. Um, why don't we take the comment in the back and then I think there's um Addie May down here. Thank you. Uh, Tim Tapley, 17 Great Rock Road. I actually just have a question for town council. There are a number of marijuana uh delivery services that are currently active and growing within the Commonwealth and I'm wondering whether there is any consideration or whether there could be any consideration to prohibit the delivery of marijuana within the town of Sherbornne as well. All right. So, under the under the uh state statute, first of all, I'm not going to comment on those delivery services as to, you know, the legality of their current operation or not. That's a that's another issue.

172But the way the law is set up, there are certain types of marijuana facilities that are defined in the law and there those are the ones that are listed in the proposed um the proposed by that you're voting on today. and those are the ones the town has been given the authority to um exercise control over. Uh there's nothing in the state statute about those delivery services and since they operate uh across town boundaries uh that if the town were to amend this right now to to include those I think that might cause problems in terms of the legality in getting it approved by the attorney general. Um Addy May, did you want to speak? Hi, Addie May Weiss. Um one Jackson Road. I'm just wanted to point out the planning board discussed at length

173section B and our concern was B essentially gives our town time to see how the state's going to decide to handle things. Um, if you notice in the language that the state statute allows for applications for pot shops to be um, submitted on or before April 1st, 2018. The state needed some time to that was the state's chance to figure out how they were going to work this out. As a planning board, we wanted to ensure that we had at least as much time as the state had and uh, before we decided whether this was a good thing or not for our town. So, at the bare minimum, we wanted to ensure that we um because town meeting any zoning to prohibit would be at our next town meeting in 2018 and would fall after

174the April 1st date. At the bare minimum, our town wanted to have uh we felt that it was important for our town to have at least a time to to wait and see how this was going to be handled. So, um, section B, it was fairly unanimous on planning board that we supported section B. Um, I see someone in the back. Do you have Artist FL 32 Maple Street? Could I just This You need to step back from the mic. You're quite garbled. Step back and then speak up. Okay. Artist FLL 32 Maple Street. Um, this may be a redundant question. I'm sorry. Um, do I understand it correctly that um the state uh does not permit a marijuana testing facilities and so we are we want to um amend zoning bylaws to say that

175Sherburn does not either. I marijuana testing facilities. Could you could somebody explain that to me because Yeah. Um, let me repeat what I think is the question. Okay. Um, what you what we are discussing right now in your uh report from the advisory committee is the section that is labeled A1. We're talking about the general bylaw. And um we have already had someone question the phrase marijuana cultivators, right? And I believe artist is saying that she is questioning the meaning of marijuana testing facilities. Yes. And who feels they can answer that question? Is it town council? Thank you, madam moderator. So all of the phrases that are listed in this article and in this motion are all defined by the state law. So, a marijuana testing facility is defined as an entity licensed to test

176marijuana and marijuana products, including certification for potency and the presence of contaminants. So, that's that's what the definitions of of a marijuana testing facility. Okay. And the state has prohibited um marijuana testing facilities. Uh can can you explain the pro prohibition that we are what are we are we voting to we also prohibit that here we are dis yes that the motion is to adopt this as a local sherburn bylaw. So, so it would, this bylaw would prohibit um all the things that are listed in here, including marijuana testing facilities. I think what I'm I'm sorry I'm think what I don't understand is why do we need to do that if the state currently has already prohibited that? Through you, madam moderator. This the the state has not prohibited these facilities. Okay. Uh the state

177the what was passed by the by the voters on the ballot last year was an act which would now allow these types of facilities all the facilities that are listed uh in this proposed bylaw. And then the state provided a local option that if a town or a city wants to prohibit some of the some or all of these types of facilities that you may do so. But as was explained earlier uh by Sleekman Dorenzis, the only way to do that is to have a town meeting vote and then have it on the ballot and have it approved by the vote is that's the way to prohibit these types of of facilities. Thank you. And the cultivating which I know was already addressed, does that uh apply to any number of plants or is it

178large cultivation or what is what is that? Any cultivation? Sure. Well, feel free. The law that was passed by the voters in question four allows everybody to grow their own marijuana up to 12 plants. Nothing before us will change that. Mhm. There is no vote yes or no on this article that's going to change that right to cultivate your own marijuana. Instead, what this is trying to do is to take defined terms in that statute which deal with large operations, not these small home cultivation for your own use. to decide whether or not we want those in this town or do we want them not in this town. Thank you for the clarification. I appreciate it. I'm not sure why we would be opposed to testing facilities. It seems like uh it's a pretty uh

179it's not something that would seem dangerous to us to have a testing facility, a business um of that nature located in Sherurn. I'm not sure what the negative impact of that would be. If anybody has a opinion on it that would shed light, I'd be willing to hear it. I'm just wondering because we're talking about, you know, a lot of things that impact taxes and so on and businesses and town centers and I'm just just wondering why that would be ownorous. Thank you. Yes. I just wanted to make one simple comment that when the perception of harm decreases, the use among teens increase. So if we had a testing facility here, we were supporting a commerce that was related to marijuana. It really may change the perception of harm among our youth. That's my my

180opinion. And I just want to say one other thing. The planning board said it so well at one of the meetings that these A1 and A2 are really tightening things that we've already put into place. The moratorum which is B is something new. So I thought that that was helpful. So a yes vote would be to tighten the bylaws and adopt the moratorum. Uh John, we're just doing A1 right now. Do you do you want to com It's a general bylaw. Do you want to comment it? Sure. John Higgley, 14 Saddlebrook Road, uh chairman of the planning board, just to be clear on a couple things. One is when the planning board did deliberate this and others, we uh voted unanimously in favor of these three parts. But the the clarification here is that um

181this this provides protection for the town until the state uh regulations are formulated. That's what we're that so so this is to provide time for for just these kind of details to be better formulated by the state including testing facilities and the other parts too. Okay. If there are Madam moderator, could I just say something? Sure. Um, there actually are three articles here. What what John just described was the moratorium article, which is B. Uh, A1 and A2 are actually permanent changes to the bylaw. They're not set up as mortorious. [Music] article to to reiterate what Mike said, article A1 and A2 would take effect immediately regardless of what the final regs are that are implemented by the state. The moratorum, you're correct, John, that the moratorum section B would allow the town to wait

182to see what the final regulations are that are adopted by the state of Massachusetts. Okay. Um, just for clarification, the motion that is on the floor at the moment is simply about A1 to amend the general bylaws by adding chapter 29. Um, and Mr. Newman has proposed an amendment. Um, if he is here, where is he? Um, if you'd like to step to the mic and say, I move to amend. Is there a second? It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion about the amendment? Hi, I have a question, madam moderator. My Can you hear me? Okay. Um, sorry. No, not really. You're in the back. My name is Abby Oonnell. I live at 13 My name is Abby O'Connell. I live at 13 Pleasant Street. I have a clarification question. It seems to

183me, and I'm just maybe not understanding this, that section A is contradictory to section B. Is that correct? Go ahead. Uh, thank you, madam moderator. Uh, they they are not contradictory. They're actually somewhat connected. I'll try and explain it. So again, the the um ballot question that was passed by the voters contained a number of um provisions, local options for control of marijuana. One is to adopt zoning bylaws uh with respect to the various types of facilities that are now going to be allowed. The other option is um to adopt bylaws to completely prohibit certain types of facilities in the town. So to some extent these rather being contradictory, they're sort of belt and suspenders. Um be because and because the way the law is written, there are some ambiguities in it to say the

184least. um in order to ensure that any loophole is covered, you you have to you have to do all three of these votes if that's you know the direction the town meeting wants to go. So the first two votes are the general bylaw and the zoning bylaw to prohibit these certain types of facilities and then the the second one is a moratorum which would allow the the town uh about a year plus to wait and see what happens with this new law. There are currently over 40 uh bills pending before the legislature to amend what was passed by the voters. All of those have been referred to a committee and that's currently uh under review as I'm sure many of you have read in the papers. So we have all of those amendments coming along.

185In addition to that, the cannabis control commission when once it's established by the state is going to be promulgating regulations. We haven't seen those either. So the the purpose of the moratorum is to simply to put in a temporary hold on any any um current zoning that the town has to ensure that no marijuana facilities come in under the current zoning. Because for example, if you allow a store, a retail store in town right now, then theoretically a retail marijuana store could come in to the town just like any other retail store. If you can have a bookstore, you could have a marijuana store. So the idea is to is to make it clear that whatever your local zoning is right now it does not allow marijuana and that's the temporary moratorum and that's the

186one where hopefully by next year we'll be clearer as to whether or not we need to make any permanent amendments to the zoning bylaw to address whatever the final form of the marijuana of the mar state law uh ends up being. So at the end of the moratorum period would would those outright bans have like a sunset provision and expire and we would reconsider our ban? I guess that's what I don't understand. Like I I I don't object to giving us time to consider until the law is finalized. But is the ban then going to be overturned or reconsidered? So the the bans will not necessarily be reconsidered. Again, we don't know what the final law is going to be from the state and it may be that when we come back next year, we

187may have to make adjustments to those uh or we may have to make amendments to them. It's hard for me to predict that because I don't know what all of these amendments that are pending right now are going to end up looking like. So, for right now, this is this addresses what's the current state law, but that state law is going to change between now and next year. Okay. Thank you. Okay, we're going to return to Mr. Newman's amendment about removing um the phrase marijuana cultivators from A1. This is a it's been moved and seconded. This is a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. Those opposed say nay. Amendment fails. We'll return to the original motion. Is there any further discussion? If not, we'll go on. It's a bylaw, so

188it is not a zoning question. It was a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Mos motion passes. Madam moderator, Mr. Marl, I move that the town vote to amend A2, amend the zoning bylaw by adding a new section 4.8 as printed in the warrant. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Uh, yes, Mr. Dances. This looks a lot like the one we just adopted. The reason for this is as town council said the law that was voted by the voters in question four is ambiguous. It could be that you need a general bylaw which we just adopted. It could be that you need a zoning bylaw, which is before us now, in order to accomplish everything that every conceivable interpretation of the statute

189that gets us to the result. We need to adopt all three of these things. It may look the same as the one you just adopted, but this is a zoning bylaw. The one that you just adopted is a general bylaw. Thank you. Um, John Higgley, is there a report from the planning board? John Higgley, 14 Saddle Brook Road, chairman of the planning board. Um, it's much as I uh intended to make it clear with the general by the zoning bylaw, the planning board held a hearing as it's required to and uh the zoning board voted in favor of this uh ban um um and stated uh at a minimum. This article provides protection for the town until the state regulations are formulated. This article does not affect the medical marijuana bylaw, nor does it impact

190the medical marijuana bylaw, nor does it impact individual rights regarding non-medical marijuana. Thank you. Uh Mr. Newman, did you want to try again on your amendment? You okay? Because when you said gave it to me, you said in all locations. So, okay. Is there any further discussion about this? If not, we'll proceed to the vote. Um, because this is a zoning bylaw, this requires the two/3s for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes. By two. By two/3. Madam moderator. Yes, Miss Relis. I move that the town vote to amend the town zoning bylaw by adding a new section 4.9 temporary moratorum on marijuana establishments as printed in the warrant and further to amend the table of contents to add section 4.9 temporary moratorum on marijuana establishments. Second. It's

191been moved and seconded. John John Hgley, 14 Saddle Brook Road. Um, I'll just I could just repeat what I just said, but that's actually I I read the um the planning board held the hearing and on u on article 16B uh voted in favor of it um uh to provide protection for the town until the state regulations are formulated. Thank you. Any comment on this? If not, this also requires twothirds for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Mot motion passes by twothirds. Moving on to article 17. Let me say we usually pause about this time at town meeting to see if we're going to get No, no, no, no, no, don't. Wait. Hear me out. hear me out to see whether we're going to make it to the end

192in one night. It's 10:24 and we have six more articles which I think we can probably get done tonight. Agreed. Okay. Are you still unhappy? Okay. Article 17, small accessory structure exception. Madam moderator, Miss Aheronian, I move that the town vote to amend the zoning bylaw by adding a new section 4.1.1 as printed in the warrant. Second. It's been moved and seconded. John report from the planning board. Uh this is an amendment to uh the zoning bylaws. The planning board held a hearing and voted in favor of this article. Um the planning board sponsored the article in response to a request from a resident who wanted to put a shed uh closer to his lot line than the current um setback lines allow. um and discovered that um that this is done commonly and and

193uh only when there's a complaint is there a is there a um uh is the building inspector involved. Um that virtually all the communities around us have modified or have a different setback for ex a small storage shed or or accessory building. um by placing a small storage shed 30 to 40 feet from a lot line can result in inconvenient locations that inhibit other uses uh of the side and rear yards. And this bylaw maintains protection of the abutters by still requiring half the normal setback distance um that would be appropriate for a house or garage. Uh half the normal setback distance uh that be maintained while providing some flexibility for the homeowner. other, as I said, other towns uh bylaws allow small sheds to be much closer. Um um um and then uh so

194the planning board voted in favor of this article um but with the recommendation um uh to replace the the word structure with shed. So I'll make a motion and I guess once there's discussion. Okay. Um you're where are you going to make a change? Uh replacing the word structure for shed uh in 4.1.1. Correct. Okay. I'll explain the reason that the the discussion um as it was presented and in in a subsequent meeting with the planning board the word shed seemed to have a be much more specific than structure. Um um the a shed is a I have a definition. I do the shed is not defined in the uh bylaw structure is and um just a second I'll read it. Okay. Would John Yeah. I if I sort of state what I think your

195amendment is, would you like to repeat it and make a motion? I think what you want to do is every place the word structure is used, you want to strike that and substitute the word shed. Correct. Would would you like to move that as an amendment? I move that. I I move that um I move that the uh warrant article as it appears u um in the town warrant as an amendment to section 4.1.1 um uh the small accessory shed exception. Um um and I can read each place Saturday just where you place the word structure for shed in the article as it's proposed. Okay. Do you have a second? Um yeah, you're going to need a after we get through this, you're going to need to write this down. Carol has a form for

196you. Oh, you're a sport now. But first before you leave the mic, you have to explain why you think this is a good amendment. Um this was discussed it uh with advis at the advisory meeting and um the planning board decided that shed was much more limiting for its use where a structure could include a swimming pool or a tennis court or a basketball court. A shed is a more specific limiting structure and that's what so shed seemed like a better thing than structure. Thank you. Okay, I guess we're gonna Does anybody have any discussion about the amendment? Uh, there's somebody waving their hand in the back about the amendment. Nothing about the amendment here. Um, this person has something about the amendment, right? Uh, Rick Novak, 30, too close. Rick Novak, 36 Nason Hill

197Road. Uh I support the amendment because of the uh clarity of structure versus shed for exactly the reasons described by the planning board chair. Thank you. Uh there's one more comment about the amendment. Yes. Sarah Ragi, 464 Street. Oh, excuse me. We have two comments going at the same time. We we'll take the one back there and then we'll take you. Um Sarah Ragy, 464 Street. And I'm just curious if you're switching it from shed uh structure to shed what the point is of having a 1 and a half story shed. Um it's uh it's a good question. the the one and a half stories is a height limitation and and the height of a of a building is defined as the average from the uh where the supporting wall meets the ground to the

198top of the building. So the one and a half story allows for a peaked roof. Just allows for a peaked roof. Yes, down here. Michael Newman, 16 Nason Hill Lane. Absent a definition of shed, I think we're opening up a whole area of trouble. You you you can uh make a claim one way or another. The idea of making it more specific is very reasonable, but if you aren't going to define what more specific means for real, then I think we should leave it alone. If there are no other comments about the amendment, this is a simple majority. All those in favor, please say I. Those opposed, nay. Most motion passes. I'm having trouble with the word motion tonight. I'm sorry. Okay. Now, does anyone have anything to say about the amended main motion? I

199see two people standing in the back. Three people. Uh Mike Keptniss uh 85 Brush Hill Road and my questions are more for clarification purposes. Um why limit the size and who came up with 250 square feet? Um the other one is relating to the foundation. Does this mean that I have to have something on wheels or skids or something so I can move it at a moment's notice? And the last thing uh refers to storing automobiles and why would anybody regulate what I can put in my own property. Um let's the first is 250 square ft. that was considered a the a we wanted to specify a maximum size 250 square foot using using uh tools that are available online from various uh suppliers of sheds. Um um that would include uh storage for a

200patio table, four chairs, two reclining chairs, a garden, potting bench, shelves, two storage bins, a lawn tractor with trailer, mower, snowb blower, fuel cans, generator, snowblower, grill, and hand tools. And if you have more stuff than that, you need that's a pretty big shed. So we figured that was a that's the largest size. So we wanted to put a maximum in square footage. Um with regard to garage we have uh those are larger buildings and we have already defined uh garage uh in our other in section 4.1 that defines the setback lines. So this is for small small uh uh use. It's not to be habited it inhabited. It's not for car storage. We already have those in our existing bylaws. Yes, in the rear, Rick Novak again, 36 Nason Hill Road. I'm also the

201very lucky chair of the ZBA. Um, and we have to administer this and uh we we strongly support the planning board on this one. Uh the this is an exception to an otherwise prohibition. People like the gentleman here are frustrated because they want to get essentially garden sheds and put them within the setback area. Um, and under our zoning bylaw, we have to say no. We can't say, "Oh, heck, it's close enough. It's it's right or wrong, and it and it's out." And as the zoning inspector has pointed out, in many other communities around here, something like a garden shed can be in the setback area under circumstances just like are described here. Now, why does why can't it have a foundation? Because if it has a foundation, someone's going to build something big and

202say, "That's my garden shed. It's 40 by 20 and two stories high and I keep five cars in there, but it's my garden shed and that is exactly why these limits are in here. Yes, there's someone else in the rear. Hi, thank you madam moderator Kevin Cole 19 Ivy Lane. I am the guy that was trying to build the shed. Uh so, uh I got a brief thing. Um, you know, I just want to thank the planning board for taking up the matter and actually, you know, listening to the residents and, uh, the selectman for supporting it as well as advisory. Um, so, uh, this basically just allows people to utilize their property in a in a sensible manner. You can place your shed outside of the middle of your yard. I mean, the the

203topography of my lot is such that the only flat spot I have other than inside the setback is dead center in the middle of my yard. and it's an accessory building, not a feature of your yard. And that's basically all I have to say. Thank you. Yes, there's another comment in the rear. Uh Sarah Raggy, 46 Forest Street. And I do think it's a great idea to design a bylaw that addresses this. I agree with the gentleman that spoke just after me last time that it might need some tightening. When I read this, I thought, "Oh, that reminds me. It looks just it describes exactly the tiny house that I see in my neighborhood. And that may be fine, but tiny houses are effectively a story and a half and 250 square feet. John, did

204you have something you wanted to say? Um, it's a very tiny house, but it's um a um if it would help, we could we could add another amendment to specify the definition for shed. We have a language for accessory building um that's more general. Um but so we to address that concern there's a definition for shed a simple roof structure typically made of wood or metal used as a storage space or shelter for animals or a workshop. Don't think it's necessary. Um it's not allowed to be um the the principal use of the building on the site. I think the language is okay the way it is. Okay. Are there any? If there are no other comments, we are going to vote on the amended main motion. This is a zoning bylaw, so it requires

205twothirds for passage. Um, all those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. We'll move on to article 18, Nolrest Farm Lane. Madam moderator, Miss Kentoski, I move that the town vote to accept Nest Farm Lane as a public way as laid out by the board of selectmen and as shown on a plan or plans on file in the office of the town clerk and further to authorize the board of selectmen to acquire by gift purchase eminent domain or otherwise and to accept a deed or deeds to the town of an easement in said street and any associated drainage, utility, snow, slope, or other easements associated with said street. Second the motion. It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Moral, uh, I just want to explain originally at our public hearing, we

206voted to recommend no action since at because at the time the planning board had not held their public hearing yet and the board of selectmen had not seen it. Since that time, uh, the planning board has held their public hearing. The board of selectmen have also held their public hearing and both supported. So, tonight before our meeting, we voted seven to one to one. Uh, no, I'm sorry. Um, to 7 to1 to support this article uh, as as the motion was read rather than recommending no action. So, we have a positive motion. Is there any discussion? Uh there's somebody in the back and then we'll come up here. Uh Sarah Raggy, 464 Street. I just have a question as to why a development begins as a subdivision and then we're asked as a town to

207take over the maintenance of the road and why it doesn't start out as a road to begin with. I remember this conversation with Barcat Lane a few years back. I'm not opposed to doing it. I just don't understand the process. Um, and maybe a planning board question that something gets designed that way. Thank you, Mike. Which Yeah, I'll I'll address that. Okay. Yeah, that was a good idea. Thanks. Uh, this subdivision control law lets people develop subdivisions if they're approved by the planning board. And it's common practice once the subdivision is constructed to have a municipality accept the road and and bring it into essentially the town's road network. That's what's been done with most of the subdivisions in town already. This is a request by the developer of this road who's completed the subdivision

208to have the town do this. The planning board had a hearing. The town planner reviewed the uh road and the requirements for the road. the the selectman then had a hearing as well. The selectmen are favorably inclined to this and voted to support this, but ultimately it is up to you. What what what you're being asked to do is to authorize the selectman to accept the road to take the road or to acquire the road on behalf of the town. And we have some conditions before we would do that. One of which is that the issues that the planner uh noted, which were not significant issues, but had to do with a a couple of items uh repairing some pavement and planting some trees that uh have died uh since they were originally planted. Until

209those are done, the planning the uh selectman does not do not intend to accept the road, but we are but we are supporting having the authorization to do so and we do expect that the developer will take care of those. He's told us he will. Thank you. Are there any other comments or questions? If not, we'll go to the vote. This is a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes. Article 19, establish speed limits. Madam moderator, Mr. Ley, I move that the town vote to accept the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 90, Section 17C, which would allow the board of selectmen to establish speed limits of 25 miles per hour in a thickly settled or business district and to accept the provisions of Massachusetts

210General Laws Chapter 90 sections 18B, which would allow the board of sleen to establish designated safety zones with speed limits of 20 miles per hour. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Are there any comments or debate? If not, this requires a majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion. I'm having trouble again. Motion passes. Article 20, amend the personnel administration plan. Madam moderator. Yes. I move that the town vote to accept pursuant to chapter 20 section 4 of the general bylaws of the town of Sherburn the amendment of the personnel administration plan by deleting such plan in its entirety and replacing it with an amended and restated personnel administration plan dated April 10th a copy of which is available for inspection at the board of selectman's office during

211the regular business hours thereof and available on the town's website second. It's been moved and seconded. Am I to understand there's the presentation here? Is there? So, one one quick thing we did, again, this was another item that we uh voted on before the meeting tonight. Originally at our public hearing, they were still making some changes to this plan and since then they've uh the personnel board has finalized the revised personnel plan which we saw which we talked about tonight and voted 7 to one to one to accept this plan to support this plan. Since 2009, the town's general bylaws have witnessed significant changes in the authority of the town administrator in regards to human resource responsibilities. There's also been a new finance director, town accountant bylaws, as well as other changes in state and

212federal labor laws such as uh Fair Labor Standards Act, um FMLA, Family Medical Leave Act. Um after nearly six months of review and meetings open to the public and employees, the personnel board voted unanimously on March 10th to approve the plan draft. Um these are just the highlights of it was removal from section seven the paragraph formally C that allowed an employee to request additional sick time from the personnel board after the employee has used up all their earned vacation personal and sick time. Revisions were made u that are required in order to be consistent with the bylaws. uh that I just mentioned and the addition of a new section on layoffs and position eliminations that states a clear process for handling those events. And there were also many language and procedural improvements to other

213sections including the work from home request and approval process, performance evaluations, position reclassification, hiring and performance improvement. Um Fred Abdalah is the chair of the personnel board. I think he just wanted to say a couple of words if he's still here. There you are. I'm not sure I'm going to say much more than uh was already said, but uh this is a process that we went through for the last 6 months or so uh to go through and we actually went through page by page. uh and the the personnel board besides myself also comprises uh two uh labor attorneys. So I think we did a pretty comprehensive job in going through this and making sure that we've got uh got everything set up properly and it and also is reviewed by town council. Any questions?

214Okay. Are there any comments, questions? M madam moderator, the selectman voted tonight uh five to zero to support uh this plan after the kinks had been worked out uh over the past few months. Okay. Thank you. If not, we'll move to the vote. This is a simple majority for passage. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. The motion passes. Article 21, removal of elected financial officials. Madam moderator, Mr. Waldron, I move that no action be taken. Second. Second. It's been moved and seconded that no action be taken. Uh there's a presentation I understand by the sponsor. Do you need the screen? No. Okay. Sorry to to keep you back again. Uh this article provides us with a tool that we should have but hope to never need. Mass General Law Chapter

21541 section 39B used to provide the option of having the commissioner petition the court for removal of a finance officer. But the new governor's modernization bill eliminated that option and pushed that responsibility back to the cities and towns, indicating that they were better suited to take on that role and that most already were taking care of it themselves. Terminating someone's employment is always a sensitive issue which has the potential of landing in court whether the employee is elected or appointed. There is a cost associated with that but there is the potential for a greater cost if a bad situation is allowed to continue with one of your financial officers. This process requires cause, malfeasants or non-feasence, but gives the town and the employee a step that might bring about a resolution short of a court

216proceeding. We have seen several attempts at recall bylaws, and there is always concern that they are politically motivated, could become a witch hunt, or puts too much power in the hands of a few people. Since this would apply to me, I hoped that my proposing it would dispel the politically motivated piece. The fact that concerns from a variety of people can trigger the process and that the process spreads the responsibility of determining an outcome over the chairs of many of the relative town boards and committees with council a required participant. It should provide some level of cover comfort to those who fear too much power being placed in a singular person or board. It also takes some of the onus of the outcome off any one person or board. It is generic in that it

217is not designed around any existing committee or board, but would pull together a review committee from the chairs of the designated boards and committees at the time it's needed. These designated committees would be the people most likely to first be aware of irregularities in the town's financial matters. Excuse me. At the hearing in March, some concerns were expressed regarding whether the provisions were legal. Town council has reviewed the document several times and given the opinion that if you pass this act in this article tonight and as a home rule petition, it is passed by the legislature. The provisions are valid. When I consulted the attorney at the Department of Revenue, he was quite surprised that the town did not already have such a protection in place. It is not perfect, but it is adequate and

218will fill the vacuum left by the change in the law. Please vote no on the advisory motion to take no action and vote yes on a later motion that I will submit to support the article. Thank you. Is there any comment or debate? Uh yes, madam moderator. Board of selectmen voted 4 to one to support the advisor's no action recommendation. Um I think we understand this is a well-intended uh article, but the language in this legislation is is complicated and and uh not necessary at this time. We can I think we'd be happy to work with Nancy on trying to come up with something that works a little better. Uh but this one is uh overly complicated and we support the advisory no action motion. Oh, okay. Person walking in the back is just walking

219in the back. Um this is a case of a negative motion to take no action. If you agree with the intent to take no action, then you will vote um I. If you disagree with that, you'll vote nay, vote it down. And if that vote is successful, then um my understanding is that Nancy will substitute an alternate uh positive motion. So everybody understand what's happening with this? Okay. All those in favor of the advisory motion to take no action, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes to take no action. Article 22, conflict of interest, Board of Health candidates. This is a citizens petition. We're going to hear from its proponent. Motion first. Oh, we have to hear the motion first. Madam moderator, Mr. Williams, I move that no action be taken. Second. It's

220been moved and seconded that no action be taken. Yes, Mr. Morgan. I'm George Morgan. I live at 41 Bear Hill Road here in Sherburn. Warrant article 22 calls for all candidates seeking office on the Serban Board of Health as a local extension of existing state law to complete the state's disclosure statement of conflict of interest at the beginning of any campaign. Present law requires that only those elected to office must file this statement prior to taking office because Sherburn is one of only a few communities out of the 351 in Massachusetts whose water and soil can by envir department of environmental protection determination be particularly and adversely stressed by both artificial and natural means. It is especially important to the larger Sherburn community that all members of the board of health be able to deliberate,

221review, and render decisions on all matters brought before it rather than have any members not share equally with the others on the board the vital business of the board of health. The purpose of article 22 is to maximize for Sherburn voters in the interest of a more fully informed electorate information on candidates for the board of health prior to election to the board of health. Disclosing a conflict of interest does not prevent a candidate from running for the office. Disclosing conflict of interest does not prevent anyone from voting for the candidate. Disclosing conflict of interest does not prevent the candidate from assuming office if elected. Article 22 does not limit a candidate to any specific active set of credentials to hold office on the Shervin Board of Health. Article 22 leaves it up to the

222individual voter to decide to what, if any, extent any stated conflict of interest or lack thereof, will influence their choice of candidate. The disclosure statement provided at the beginning of a campaign gives voters the opportunity to evaluate on their own to what extent, if any, they may agree or disagree with the opinion expressed in the candidates's disclosure statement. Article 22 officially gives voters this opportunity. The advisory committee has voted with three abstensions. No action on article 22. Reasoning that requiring upfront disclosure of conflict of interest constitutes restraint or constraint on the candidate and that candidates for other town offices are not similarly constrained. Article 22 does not restrain or constrain a candidate from running for office. Article 22 does not restrain or constrain voters from voting for the candidate. Article 22 does not restrain or

223constrain a candidate from being elected to office. If there is any restraint or constraint on the candidate, it could only be on the part of the candidate harboring issues that the candidate would not want voters to consider. In such a case, the interest of the candidate would be taking precedence over the interest of the public who the candidate presumes to serve. We the voters deserve the opportunity to decide for ourselves in advance of the election to what extent we agree or disagree with the stated interest disclosed in advance by the candidate. Events over the last six months in Washington have given all voters an elevated reason to value transparency on the part of candidates. Voter opinion continues to differ on a national scale between an elected candidates's opinion of any conflict of interest and that

224of the voter. I submit that we the Sherman voters are entitled to have the opportunity pre-election to be more fully informed than is now the case regarding a candidate's opinion of conflict of interest as it may be relevant to serving on the board of health. Regarding the advisory committee's reasoning that other town officials offices are not subject to a candidate's pre-election disclosure of conflict of interest and therefore candidates for the board of health should not also be subject to such a requirement. We can fairly note that town offices differ from each other in important respects. There is no imperative requiring that pre-election disclosure of conflict of interest apply to any other town department beyond that here addressed by article 22 to the board of health. If one holds that pre-election disclosure of the conflict of

225interest should apply to all town offices and not just to the board of health, then one could as easily reason that all town offices must have only five members or that all town officials must serve only two2 years or that all town officials must receive equal financial compensation. Sherban's town offices differ in all of these respects as they must in order to best operate in the public interest. Article 22 permits a degree of transparency by candidates for the board of health that directly serves the public interest of all Sherburn residents. Ultimately, it should be the voters who decide these matters relative to the individual missions and requirements of each town office. In order for article 22 to proceed to the floor for a vote tonight, it is necessary first to vote to set aside the

226no action vote of the advisory committee. If you vote to set aside the advisory committee's vote of no action, then we will immediately make a motion to allow article 22 itself to come before the voters here assembled to be voted upon. In the interest of a more informed electorate, we ask that article 22 be voted forward for action by those here assembled. Receive your yes vote. Thank you. Is there any discussion? Yes. in the rear. Warren Wheel Wright, 137 Hunting Lane. The role of the board of health is too important not to provide full disclosure of conflicts of interest before a candidate runs for office and gets elected. Vote no on advisory motion to take no action. Then vote yes. We need full disclosure. Thank you. Yes. In the rear, a couple of questions. Is

227there a legal definition for conflict of interest? Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Yeah, you're on. No. Is it on? Okay. Yes. Sorry. Uh, as far as a a legal definition, there is an entire chapter of the general laws, chapter 268A, that goes into detail as to what various things constitute a conflict of interest under that statute. So there's no single definition. It's there are numerous sections that define different types of conflicts. Okay. Uh, so is there been litigation regarding that definition, that chapter? I'm sorry, could you repeat the question? Yes. Has there been litigation regarding the application of that section of the law? Has there been litigation? So again, there are many numerous sections in that chapter and I have no doubt that there has been litigation over one or more of them. Okay. And

228what would be the effect if one did not disclose all of the quote conflict of interests on the outcome of the election if that person won? Would it negate the the uh election? Can you answer that? My understanding is there's no there's no effect according to the the statement from the gentleman. I'm sorry. The again, so the proposal under article 22 is disclosure of conflicts of interest by board of health candidates prior to an election in accordance with state law chapter 268A section 23 or take any other action relative there too. I don't see anything in there that says anything about an effect upon the election. So, someone could challenge the outcome of the election if they claimed that I didn't disclose all of what they thought was a conflict of interest. I think that's

229a rhetorical That's not a rhetorical question. That's That's a question that I'd like to have an answer to. Anybody want to take a shot at that one? I think Mr. Morgan's going to take a shot at that. Whoever gets elected gets elected. uh you can say okay you got a conflict of interest but that doesn't prevent you from getting elected so what's the point the point as I iterated earlier is to have I don't disclose anything I get up I get elected so what so if you have a conflict of interest uh and you get elected uh what you actually disclosed at the outset if you claim not to have a conflict of interest is a public document that can be brought to the for to hold the elected official accountable for not disclosing a

230conflict of interest. What happens after that again is up to the law and up to the voters. And how would you hold that candidate accountable? Well, he's no longer a candidate if he's getting elected. Well, how would you hold that elected official accountable? I the point I'm getting is that I see nothing but litigation in challenging to the outcome of out of elections based on someone's difference of opinion as to what needs to be disclosed and what doesn't need to be disclosed. Since there's no legitimate definition or one that has not been litigated, it seems to me you're opening a box and I would urge you to support the vote of the advisory committee on this particular article. Response. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Morgan, for answering the question. Is anyone actually got my response?

231Uh what he's talking about is not the substance of article 22. The point of article 22 is to give voters an upfront understanding of what the candidate believes to be a presence or absence of conflict of interest to allow them to make a more informed vote. Now, what happens after the vote is entirely separate from this article. Mr. Morgan, you you've made your point several times. Is there someone in the backlap street? I think I think he's making the point because it was just it was just there was just a question about it. Um, every town employee has to sign this conflict of interest. Um, you get a document that you have to sign and you have to say that you've read it and that you've disclosed any conflict of interest that you have. Um,

232I um, with all due respect, I think this is a a question for town council because it's it's a state law that you have to have disclosed as a town employee your conflict of interest. So, what would happen to any town employee if you had not disclosed your your conflict of interest? There must be an answer to that. That's a legal answer. So, it it's impossible for me to predict what would happen. The the uh state eth uh the state ethics commission is the enforcing authority and if there's a complaint made to them, they investigate it and then they make a determination as to whether there's been a violation and then if there's been a violation, they make a determination as to what penalty, if any, they want to impose. And in very extremely rare

233cases, uh a criminal complaint can be sought um for a conflict of interest. But those are, as I say, very rare. Okay. But so that would seem to be the answer to your question that if someone were elected and or and and were Okay. That that that they could in fact be uh there there could be some actions by the by this ethics commission about the legality of their employee by the town. Right. Is there someone in the rear who is waiting to speak? Yes, there is. Okay. Rebecca Honeywell, 104 Woodland Street. My understanding of the answer to his question is simply that if the conflict exists, that individual would need to abstain and so they would not be able to effectively represent the town's their responsibility to the town. That's all. that they just

234would not be able to participate in their duties, which would be to represent the town. If the if a conflict of interest exists, you would not be able to you'd have to abstain from a discussion or decision. That's all. Can I just make a comment? Excuse me. Uh yeah, but you have to wait for recognition. Uh why don't we take one more comment back there and then I'll come back up to you Vicki. Okay. Yes. Rick Novak, 36 Nason Hill Road. For the second year in a row, we're being presented with a proposal that there be special rules, special handcuffs on the voters, the candidates, or both. If it has to do with the board of health, that's a terrible precedent. It's an it's an awful idea with with all due respect to the good

235intentions behind it. It it seems to imply that there's our board of health candidates are more venal or less honest than the rest of us and it I I think it sends just an awful message. I strongly support advisory. Yes. Okay. Sorry about that. Um two points. One is um there's no conflict. No conflict exists until you're actually elected. That's that's what we found out um as an advisory. And the other thing is when anybody else anybody goes on the board of any any committee, you have to take um a test or you have to reply to the state ethics go online and then go through this whole test saying that you went through all the laws and you understand them as stated by the state. You have to sign something and give it to

236Carol saying you actually took that test. So there's several places where things can be um justified and and and you can attest to the fact that you don't have that you have you understand what the ethics are. And if you have a conflict once you're on a board, you have to state that you have a conflict and you recuse yourself. That doesn't mean you can't represent the town or people members of the town. So, it's just there's a lot of other things that are involved with this that I just think it's redundant and it should it should be board of health shouldn't be only one board should be asked to do this. That's um is there someone in the back who has not who has not spoken? No, I've spoken but I have I have

237a a reply to that particular point. Okay. Is there someone in the back who has not spoken? Yes. Sorry. Okay. That was the question. Go right ahead. Peter Black, 55 Maple Street. Uh, the board of health in my view is trusted entrusted with special duties and responsibilities and that is ensuring for the most part that development can be done safely. conflict of interest stands out to me that if someone has a vested interest, practices or works in Sherban trying to develop, sell, market properties, how can they not be torn between their obligations of safety and their personal obligation to themselves to make a living? That's a classic conflict of interest. And telling the public, I build houses. I want to build as many houses in Sherban as I can and I want to be on

238the board of health. That may be a conflict. I'll recuse myself, but having built a house in Sherban, I can tell you precedence. You hear it all the time. If we do that, then that's a precedent and the next house is going to be able to do it. And it's going to be in the interest of the person with the conflict to vote in a way that will benefit his profession or her business in the future. And as a voter, I'd like to know that. And that's all I understand that's being requested. Thank you. Is there anyone who has not had an opportunity to speak? Um, I'd suggest that since we've gone past the 11:00 mark that perhaps um we will take a vote on this issue. Question. I'll move the question from the floor

239if I get a second. Okay. Um, this is a simple majority because it is a negative motion to take no action. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Nay. Motion passes. Um, it's it's been a trip. Um, I need a motion to dissolve. Whoops. Is there a hold on one of the budget items? We took care of We took care of it. Yes. We We need a motion to dissolve. All those in favor, please say I. Those opposed. Thank you very much. Thank you, madam moderator. Oh, you're very welcome, Carol. Great job.