00:02:11,770 S1: The Town of Town of Hamilton. Selectboard meeting to order at 702 on Monday, February 5th. Uh, we'll start with, uh, announcements and board openings. Everyone's favorite part of the meeting. Um, listen up if you're waiting to get involved. Uh, we have one opening on the Community Preservation committee. Uh, two openings on the conservation committee. Two associate openings on the Council on Aging. Isn't that a nice way to get started as an associate member? Uh, one associate opening on the finance and advisory committee. The hottest committee in town. Uh, we have two openings for three year terms and two openings for two year terms on the historic district commission. And just a note that one must be a resident of the historic district, and one must be a resident realtor. Uh, one opening on the Human Rights Commission. One associate opening on the planning board. It's a good time over there. And one associate opening on the Zoning Board of Appeals. So line up. Uh, next, we'll have a few minutes for public comment. If anybody has anything. Would you like to be recognized, Corinne? 00:03:20,699 S2: Yes. Thank you. Corinne Cale, town clerk. Um, in addition to the openings on the boards and committees, and I would encourage people to take a look. It is always a good way to break in and make a contribution to community. Um, but I have a couple other things going on around local election that's coming up April 11th. So I just want to make sure people listening or watching know that the nomination papers are available and are due back on Thursday, February 22nd by 5 p.m.. So folks are more than welcome to come to the clerk's office and pull those papers. We're still looking for more folks to run for the select board. The planning board. Hamilton Wenham library trustees and the School Committee, along with all the other positions as well. There's a lot of information on the clerk's web page, so please take a look at it. So deadline again February 22nd presidential primary is March 5th here in Massachusetts. And folks, all would have received the postcard at home in the event you care to vote by mail. Those are due back by Tuesday, February 27th at 5 p.m. so if anyone's planning on returning those, please return them as soon as possible. And if I could beg people to complete them correctly. People forget signatures. People forget to indicate what ballot they want for a primary if they're enrolled. And it's a whole nother round of steps and expense to get those mailed back out, to try to get folks to fill them out completely. Um, census forms everybody received in the mail in mid-January. So at this point, they're overdue. They're due ten days after receipt. So if folks haven't got them in, we'd greatly appreciate getting those in ASAP. Uh, with the census forms also, came your dog license renewal forms. 00:05:05,199 S1: I don't know why you're looking at. 00:05:06,370 S2: Me, so, um. 00:05:08,269 S3: Yeah. That's right. 00:05:10,529 S2: Those are due soon. Um, so any questions on that? You're welcome to call or come to the clerk's office. Um, just a couple other things, too. Anybody currently serving on a board or committee or an employee and a board of committee, whether elected or appointed, would have gotten an email or should have gotten an email regarding the conflict of interest, acknowledgment of the summary as a reminder to everybody, we all have to take training every two years. Most of us took it last year, so we are not having to take that again. But every year we must sign an acknowledgement of receipt. Any questions? Please track me down. And just so folks know. End of the day, today I did get approval from the Attorney General's office for the stormwater management bylaw changes. But there they're about a page and a half of, um, recommendations that I will pass along back up. It did go to town council as well, and then I'll circulate it through everybody else as well. So that's all I have. Again, key dates. People can keep an eye on the website, and I do want to give a shout out. Um, Tim Wilson's in fabulous. Getting some of the dates on the LED board in front of the Public Safety Building. He's been very, very great about that. Bobby Gates has been helping, getting stuff out on Facebook, creating a lot of it as events so that people will see that in their feed. But as we know, without a newspaper, it's kind of hard to get all that information out. So, um, spread the word and. 00:06:34,230 S1: It'll be a town flogging for the people who don't do the census. And if so, what's the date? 00:06:39,100 S2: It is possible, but we haven't we haven't quite decided on that yet. We'll we'll give it a few more weeks, okay? Okay. Any other questions? 00:06:48,029 S4: Lot going on. Good. 00:06:48,899 S2: Thank you all. Thank you. 00:06:50,069 S5: Thanks, Gordon. 00:06:51,800 S1: Yeah. Don't forget about those select board openings. This could be your life. Any other public comment before we move right along? Nope. All right. We'll move forward to the consent agenda. We have two items on the consent agenda tonight. The first is to approve a request by. You can run for two road races. One is on April 21st, 2024. The other is September 15th, 2025. Type four. That's a typo. This is they're happening, uh, both in 2024. And we're also going to approve the minutes of the Select Board meeting from January 8th, 2024. Do I have a motion to approve? 00:07:31,800 S5: So moved. 00:07:33,199 S4: Second. 00:07:33,800 S1: Second by Bill. Awesome. Any discussion about you can run. I can't. But perhaps y'all can. 00:07:41,399 S5: No, I don't run. 00:07:42,699 S1: All right. Then we'll take a vote. Uh, all in favor? 00:07:47,000 S5: Aye. 00:07:49,370 S1: You're not voting, friend. You just serve spectating the. 00:07:53,399 S5: Honorary member here. 00:07:55,600 S1: Uh, all right, I will next. Am I calling to order the public hearing? 00:08:02,069 S5: Uh, yeah. 00:08:02,699 S1: Cool. Uh, we're going to call to order the public hearing concerning the cable television license renewal of Comcast communications management at 709. 00:08:14,569 S5: And Bill August. 00:08:15,800 S6: Our attorney is on to discuss the cable license. 00:08:19,500 S1: Bill, I heard you have a unique enthusiasm for cable license renewals. 00:08:25,600 S5: Um, I. 00:08:26,829 S7: Must say, that's a true statement. 00:08:30,269 S1: We all have to have something. 00:08:31,829 S7: And I think that the cable act is actually a paragon, legislative paragon. So anyone who wants to talk to me about it, because it lets the communities meet with these major companies and update their contracts every ten years, and there are not many industries that have to do that with municipalities, so I am enthusiastic. 00:08:55,029 S1: I'm delighted to hear it. I'm often called the Paragon myself, so I feel particularly good about that. 00:09:02,169 S6: Because you want Caroline to read the opening statement? 00:09:05,700 S7: Yes, please. 00:09:06,470 S5: Yes. 00:09:06,870 S1: All right, buckle up, buttercups. 00:09:08,700 S5: Just stop it. 00:09:10,029 S1: It's long. All right. Good evening. Welcome to the town of Hamilton's public hearing on Comcast cable license renewal. I'm Caroline Beaulieu, vice chairman of the Hamilton Select Board, which is the cable license issuing authority under mass general laws. Chapter 166 a with me tonight, our other members of the Select Board, as well as the town's cable counsel, Bill August and Bill Melville from the Hamilton Windham Community Access Media, who we thank for assistance with the renewal process. Notice of this hearing was in the local newspaper two successive weeks. Copies of the legal advertisements are here entered into the Record of Ascertainment hearing exhibits one and two. A copy of the proposed license has been available for public inspection at the office of the clerk. By way of background, state law requires the holding of a public hearing prior to final action on a proposed renewal license, which shall include opportunity for public comment on town needs and the proposed renewal. Based on information before us this evening, and based on prior public testimony and a prior public hearing, the Select Board may take final action on the renewal proposal before us for possible execution this evening. Any public comments or questions should be directed through me and I will rule whether they are in order. Please keep your comments no longer than four minutes. At this time, we invite and welcome members of the public to come forward. Identify yourself and testify and provide comments, if any. Thank you. 00:10:34,299 S6: No members of the public seem to be indicating a desire to speak. Bill and Bill. Melvin. 00:10:41,669 S8: Okay. Good evening, members of the board. So my name is Bill Melville. I'm the executive director of Hamilton William TV. Um. It's funny, this, um, I was thinking I've known Bill August probably since 2005, maybe earlier. So this is like our third cable license, including the Verizon. So maybe fourth. Um, we've had really good luck. Um, I think a lot of it the last couple of licenses, um, through Comcast and Verizon, have to do with not only Bill's expertise. Uh, Joe's been very, very supportive. And the Board of Selectmen also have been supportive. This, uh, license is a really good license. Um, it's it's win win. It's not your usual. Well, if you give us this, we'll give you that. Uh, we're getting a HD channel which the government access will be on. We are recording an HD, but we don't broadcast in HD unless you're on YouTube, so that's a bonus. Uh, the capital is increased from the previous license, which is good. Um, and we're getting the largest or the, the legal limit of how much gross in revenue from Comcast, which is, is really good. We get 5%, which is a legal limit. So I just see all pluses with this. Um, yeah. Some of the languages cleaned up. That's that's old. But uh, generally speaking I think this is a really good license. 00:12:12,929 S5: Thanks, Bill. 00:12:13,730 S8: Yeah. 00:12:15,600 S6: Bill. August, you want to offer anything else? 00:12:19,470 S7: Uh, also, thank you. Uh, to, uh, the, uh, several persons, especially, uh, town manager, uh, Joe Danilovich, who was personally involved in, like, the important negotiation meetings with, uh, the Comcast government relations representative, as has been, uh, Bill Melville, who has fact checked and verified all the technical details about the local architecture in terms of bringing the signals back to the studio and the upgrades of the technology. 00:13:04,830 S7: In addition to getting the first ever high definition local channel, uh, for your uh, uh, shared Hamilton Wenham studio, uh, the other channels are also being upgraded from standard definition to a higher resolution level. Um, well, that's being continued. Actually, they were recently upgraded to SDI. Um, and as Bill really covered the main points, uh, it's, you know, the two main buckets of support are the annual, uh, peg access franchise fee. And that's at the maximum 5% of gross annual Revenues. Um, and the supplementing that above and beyond the annual franchise fee is what? Capital funding for equipment and facilities. And that is increased 20% above what it has been. Um, so this growth in that area also despite Comcast's loss of subscribers due to cord cutting. So I'm very confident that in terms of the main elements, it's a strong license. And, you know, there are 101 lesser but important, uh, protections in terms of annual reporting of, uh, complaints and, uh, financial condition of Comcast and uh, obligations in terms of right of way management and very comprehensive insurance requirements. I won't get into that level of detail, but in terms of the, you know, where the real negotiation energy goes into supporting these very valuable local assets. You know, we take it for granted when we have three local channels. But that's how HBO got started. And it's those are pretty priceless. Uh, um, to just have your, uh, your own local community channels and, uh, so it's a strong package and I'm pleased with it. And I really again, I can't thank Joe and Bill Melville enough. Uh, they were there at every twist and turn and every phone call and really helped out a lot. 00:15:26,100 S5: Awesome. 00:15:26,669 S1: Thank you. 00:15:27,029 S5: Bill. Thank you Bill. 00:15:28,830 S4: So what, uh, what do we do with the franchise fee and the capital investment on infrastructure? What are some of the good things we've done for the community? 00:15:36,399 S8: Um, the zoom hybrid, uh, that was paid for by that. The the upgrade we did about 3 or 4 years ago to all. HD. 00:15:45,970 S4: Nice. 00:15:46,629 S8: Um, that that is part of that too. So don't forget we split it with three ways. So if we do something here in turn, it's done in Wenham and it's done it done for the schools. 00:15:56,429 S4: So do you have a kind of a a wish list on what to do with the any future funding? You said we can't broadcast right on the channel. That's the desire. 00:16:08,600 S8: I mean the next set of upgrades, I my guess is when we do the town hall upstairs, that's going to be 4K, it's going to be 4K. So, um, I think the transport and maybe other ways of, of getting to the, the residents, um, February break where I'm upgrading the playback system at Railroad Ave that's going to have built in closed captioning. So all the meetings that take place are going to have, you know, the closed captioning on it. Um, there is a better, database retrieval system that's in there that people can access it. That's going to be better streamed streaming from our server. We, you know, we stream on YouTube, but we also stream locally from from a server there that's going to be much more robust. So those kinds of things I think that's great. And there's also an app that's going to be, uh, coming with it. That's great. You can either put it on a smart TV or you can put it on your phone, Android or iOS. 00:17:11,799 S4: So that'll be new this year or. 00:17:13,430 S5: Oh yeah. 00:17:13,869 S4: Oh, nice. 00:17:14,569 S8: Yeah. So that's that's going to be good. And the thought I'll have to talk to the board of directors if we get a branded app. So instead of going to the App Store and looking up, uh, tightrope or whatever, you can look up HW cam and then we'll have our own branded out. 00:17:31,000 S6: When you're traveling, you can lots of planning board meetings from. 00:17:34,099 S5: Yeah. 00:17:34,369 S4: You're welcome from the airplane. 00:17:35,599 S5: Right from the airport. That's great. 00:17:37,000 S8: So those are some of the things. But I think, you know, I'll be going to the conference in April to nab like I always do. And, um, that's real high end. That's HBO, that's Netflix, that's Sony and Canon and all that real where they have multi multi-million dollar facilities. Um, but I get a lot of good information from there. What's what the future looks like. Uh, what are some ways that I can utilize, um, locally here. You know, that I don't have to spend a lot of money. 00:18:11,329 S5: Yeah. 00:18:12,829 S4: Excellent. Thanks for all you do. 00:18:14,170 S5: Yeah. 00:18:15,230 S1: If there's no more public comment, I would entertain a motion to close the public hearing. 00:18:20,430 S5: So. Moved. 00:18:21,500 S4: Second. 00:18:23,230 S5: Uh. 00:18:24,099 S1: All in favor? 00:18:26,369 S5: Aye. Aye. Tom. Oh. 00:18:30,569 S1: Great. Thank you. Um, awesome. At this point, we can, uh, take a motion to approve the Comcast license renewal. I have a motion here that needs to be read. Is that true as the motion? Yeah. If anybody would like to do a dramatic reading. You did such a good job that last time. I think you should probably do it. It's not for the public. 00:18:55,069 S5: To do my motion. 00:18:57,769 S9: For Comcast license renewal vote by Hamilton Selectboard. Acting in its capacity as the statutory cable television license issuing authority pursuant to Mass General Laws, chapter 166 A, and finding that the cable license renewal proposal of Comcast, the town's current cable licensee, reasonably meets the license and cable related renewal needs and interests of the public in town, and finding that Comcast financial and technical qualifications and local support for the local programming channels, studio facilities and services are reasonable to meet town cable license needs and based on the recommendation of the town's Renewal Negotiations Council, the Hamilton Selectboard hereby approves the Comcast proposed non-exclusive Renewal License effective March 2nd, 2024, immediately following the expiration of the current license on March 1st, 2024. 00:19:44,000 S4: Second. 00:19:47,130 S1: Any further discussion before we vote? All right. All in favor? 00:19:54,369 S5: Aye aye. 00:19:55,130 S1: Aye. The ayes have it. Well done bill. Well done. 00:19:58,670 S3: Bill. Thank you all. Thanks. 00:20:00,700 S4: The bill's. 00:20:02,299 S5: Okay. 00:20:04,500 S7: Stay in touch. 00:20:05,930 S5: Yeah. 00:20:06,730 S3: All right. Okay. Bye. 00:20:07,900 S4: Do we accept, uh, Verizon on a similar cadence or. Already done. 00:20:12,799 S6: We did Verizon about two years ago. 00:20:14,700 S5: Two years ago? Yeah. So this is. 00:20:16,299 S7: Well, that raises an interesting question because while Comcast does ten year licenses, Verizon has refused to go beyond five year licenses. So they're not that far off again. It's it's annoying to have to do it every five years. But that's their timetable. So we'll have to look at. You guys should take a look at peek at that and see where they are. Okay. Take care. 00:20:42,130 S5: Appreciate it. 00:20:42,670 S1: Bill. 00:20:42,930 S5: Thanks, Bill. All right. 00:20:46,170 S1: All right. We don't have to do anything else. All right. Next stop and look at us. We're ahead of schedule by ten minutes. I want everybody to take note of that. Um, I recognize, uh, Ray Burnett, who's going to come up, say a few words. 00:21:03,269 S5: Um. 00:21:03,930 S10: Good evening. Thank you for having us here tonight. Um, as you all know, um, uh, we're here to award Ben Thunberg, uh, one of our call firefighters with a commendation for his life saving measures. Uh, uh, from the other night at local restaurant, um, where he was instrumental in saving a life. I'm going to ask Ben to come up, and I'm also going to ask Andrew, um, Captain Ellison to come up. He was the OIC, uh, that night, and he's privy to all the details. And he would he ask me to present it? Um, he's, uh, we're all very proud of Ben and what he did the other night, and, um. 00:21:48,069 S5: So great. Andrew. 00:21:50,670 S8: So, uh, good evening. Uh, I recommended. 00:21:52,799 S5: This. 00:21:52,970 S11: Letter of commendation to Chief Burnett because it's important to recognize when our members does something exemplary. Uh, on January 27th of 2024, firefighter first responder Ben Thunberg did just that while off duty and eating at dinner at a local restaurant, a fellow patron had a sudden medical emergency. Firefighter Thunberg acted immediately to perform lifesaving interventions, and as a result, that patient is alive. Today, your 30 plus firefighters perform lifesaving measures routinely under the course of their duty, and most of these actions go unrecognized. Frankly, we all prefer it that way, and I think Firefighter Thunberg would have preferred this. However, in most of those cases, as firefighters, we have the benefit of time from the moment our pagers go off. To listen to the dispatch, understand the nature of the emergency, plan our response, mentally review our training, consult with our partner responders, and utilize our medical equipment to intervene. On this night, Firefighter Bloomberg had none of that. He simply observed someone in need and immediately relied upon his training to intervene and change the outcome for the better. So, on behalf of Chief Brunet and the Hamilton Fire Department, I'd like to present Firefighter Thunberg with this letter of commendation. And it reads. Firefighter first responder Timberg. This letter of commendation is in recognition of your efforts on January 27th, 2024, in which your quick actions while off duty resulted in the regain of consciousness of an Apnic and pulse citizen. On January 27th, you were off duty and out of uniform, eating at a local restaurant. You observed a male party suffering a medical emergency and immediately intervened. You evaluated the male party, recognized he was not breathing, and initiated lifesaving medical intervention interventions consistent with your training as a firefighter and a first responder. As a result of your quick actions, the patient began breathing again and regained consciousness prior to HFD arrival. The patient was then transported to a local hospital for further evaluation and treatment. Without your quick recognition and immediate action while off duty. It is believed by all responders that the outcome for this patient would have been much different. It is for this reason that you are being recognized with this letter of commendation signed by the chief of the Department, Chief Brunet. 00:24:07,930 S5: Thank you. 00:24:17,400 S10: As Andrew said, you know. 00:24:19,430 S12: We don't like to take praise in it, just at the right place at the right time. Um, you always say you don't want to help when we're not on duty or working, but all of a sudden, there you are, and you're doing it. It's what we do. And for 16 years as first responders, we have to do CPR every year. Um, having to do it and go off my judgment immediately, not being the third person there. And we're already doing CPR. It's very definitely difficult. Um. Much appreciated. Thank you for the commendation and glad to serve. And I'm glad for a good outcome. 00:25:01,430 S5: Thank you. 00:25:02,170 S1: Thank you so much. 00:25:07,430 S1: We certainly won't make you more uncomfortable. But for a moment, we will. Um, obviously, on behalf of myself and the rest of this board, we are incredibly grateful to you. I'm certain the family as well is incredibly grateful. Um, and I know that all of y'all do so much that we don't see, um, training for things that may never happen. Um, but I think this is a great example of when they do. We are so grateful that you're there and available and ready. So thank you so much. 00:25:33,500 S5: You're welcome. Yeah. 00:25:35,769 S4: I'll just second. You know, it's one thing to be trained, and I give credit to the whole department in chief for that. But you mentioned time in your your statement ahead of it. And that to be able to execute on that training with no time. You know, we don't know how we will be when the moment happens. And the fact that you were there and you acted is amazing. So I appreciate that. Thank you. 00:25:57,599 S5: Well done. Thank you. 00:25:58,900 S9: Yeah. No, just really remarkable just reading through these these notes of what you what you went through and, you know, like, as Bill said, to not have any sort of mental preparation, like you said, when you're going on a call, you get your on your way, you can prepare yourself and you know, you can review your training, but to not have that in you just got to jump into action is just pretty remarkable. And very grateful that you were there as the family is, I'm sure, very grateful as well. 00:26:22,769 S1: We'll have to bring pizza by. It's true. It's time. 00:26:26,769 S5: Overdue. 00:26:27,569 S1: Tom and I can weep in the car afterwards like we did after the training that day. 00:26:34,430 S1: All right. Thank you so much. 00:26:40,170 S4: Thank you all for coming out. Now there's a team right there. 00:26:42,700 S5: Yeah. 00:26:44,099 S1: The next agenda item is also fire aligned so that y'all can do this all together. So. Next, we'll review the request from Chief Burnett to place an article on the annual town meeting warrant for the adoption of provisions of chapter 22, section four, to be. 00:27:01,730 S10: I guess I'm on the hot seat tonight. 00:27:02,900 S5: You are. 00:27:03,430 S10: Okay. Um, I think that was 32 of my. I might have heard you wrong. Uh, 3232 3244 two. 00:27:10,630 S1: Yeah. 00:27:11,170 S10: So this is a local adoption. It's a mass general law, and it's been in place for a while. Uh, but what happened was, uh, the retirement system, um, that this whole law is about buying back time, uh, for call firefighters and reserve police officers when they go. If if they were to go full time and when they go full time, they're allowed to buy back a portion of their time based on certain criteria. Um, and um, these there's so many different systems. There's Essex regional retire system, there's Beverley Retirement System set its own retire system. And everybody was kind of doing their own thing. And what happened was Patrick, which is the controlling body of all our retirement system, um, came came down and condensed it all and came up with rules that everybody has to follow. Um, because everybody was kind of doing their own thing. And once they did that, they realized that all but one town actually adopted this way back when the rest of the cities and towns did not adopt this home petition, this rule. Um. And legally doesn't allow Essex Regional Retirement System to allow us to buy back the time without us adopting it. All these years, they've just been going on well. It's a law we don't, you know, have to worry about someone adopting it. So now it's come to a head and everybody needs to adopt it. And that's why I brought it up. So there's kind of a grace period. It was May 22nd of 23. Essex Regional Retirement System voted to adopt what Perec ruled they did. And in turn, they came back to our Fire Chiefs Association. And I told I showed us that we that each city and town has to adopt, that in order to follow the law properly and do the right thing. Um, so that's what I'm asking, why I'm asking this to go on to the warrant, because it has to be done by a town meeting vote, and that's the only way it can be done. You guys, as a board cannot, Um, vote on it here and enact it. It wouldn't be lawful to do that. 00:29:32,900 S6: So the request here tonight is just to include this in the list of worn articles. Um, you'd have time between now and town meeting for town council to vet it for. Com and you to review it and make your recommendations on the warrant. So this is just to see if you'd agree to put it on the list of worn articles. As you know, we close the warrant. The next meeting, which is February 26th, I think the last last Monday of the month. So, uh, there's another article, um, on this list, too. I gave you an updated list. The one that was in the, uh, in your packets was was wrong. It was missing one article that you previously agreed to add. So I included that article, as well as the two that you're being asked to consider tonight. 00:30:11,769 S1: So do we require a motion to add it to the list? 00:30:15,369 S6: Uh, it'd be better. Yeah. I mean, I'd just like your endorsement that you want it on the list. 00:30:19,069 S10: So do you have any questions for me about this? I mean. 00:30:21,670 S5: They. 00:30:21,799 S6: Get a month and a half to ask you questions. 00:30:23,329 S5: Yeah, I just I figured. 00:30:24,869 S10: If I didn't explain it, you know. 00:30:27,269 S1: My understanding is that there's basically like a math problem that they do to take like a certain number of years of service as a as one turns into the. And that's all sort of in pre-established. And it's fair and just and. 00:30:41,470 S5: It's so. 00:30:42,069 S1: Consistent. 00:30:42,769 S10: That's why I'm explaining that, um, everybody was kind of doing their own thing and people were, well, this, this body does it this way. Y you know, there was individuals contesting. Why am I not getting what I feel I deserve? So that's why they came down with this, this ruling that makes it fair across the board for everybody in the state. And, and they found out all these other issues that need to be cleared up. Um, like anything else, you know, things happen. So. 00:31:12,329 S5: Okay. 00:31:15,470 S4: Roughly how many people does this impact. 00:31:17,369 S5: Right. 00:31:17,569 S6: Now would affect Chief Brunet and, um. 00:31:21,069 S10: Christine Ellis? 00:31:22,900 S5: Um, yeah. 00:31:23,369 S10: And, uh, potentially Bob Wallace in the future. And Dan Sullivan, our new deputy from he was a call firefighter and one of them. 00:31:34,930 S5: Gotcha. Um. 00:31:38,400 S5: Okay. 00:31:40,230 S10: It's it's basically they've done service to be awarded this. Um, it's just they they need to purchase it, and and it comes down to the formula, and and that's what they changed. 00:31:52,799 S4: And you said it only, uh, on call who become permanent. Right. 00:31:57,269 S5: What if they did a full time five. Right. 00:31:58,470 S4: It absolutely doesn't open it up if somebody hadn't. Okay. 00:32:01,799 S10: No, it's people who become permanent are eligible. Gotcha. To 20 hours of service, uh, per year. Actually, is is a threshold. So anybody that's 20 plus hours and would be considered, uh, a full time employee by the town standards. 00:32:20,430 S4: Gotcha. 00:32:21,329 S5: Okay. 00:32:22,170 S4: So I would make a motion to add to our warrant provisions regarding MDL. Chapter 32, section four. To be. 00:32:31,569 S5: Second. 00:32:33,799 S1: Any further discussion amongst the. 00:32:36,670 S5: Board. 00:32:37,130 S4: I will. Like you said, Joe will go through that. 00:32:39,230 S5: Okay, perfect. Yeah. 00:32:40,930 S1: All right. All in favor? 00:32:43,170 S5: I 00:32:45,569 S5: very much, thank you. 00:32:48,799 S1: Should we prepare for the mass exodus of firefighters at this point? 00:32:52,200 S5: Um, how about a break for all? Okay. 00:32:56,200 S6: You don't want to. You don't want to hang around and talk to the Little League guys. 00:33:00,470 S1: Well, thank you all for coming tonight. Uh, a worthy a worthy reason to show. 00:33:04,829 S5: Great. Appreciate you all. We appreciate. 00:33:06,869 S4: It. In honor. 00:33:07,269 S5: Of Brenda. 00:33:07,869 S1: Absolutely. 00:33:08,630 S5: Thanks, guys. 00:33:11,400 S13: Thanks, Scott. 00:33:12,599 S14: After these messages. We'll be right back. 00:33:17,130 S1: All right. Next up, we have a Hamilton one. A Little League request to hang banners on outfield fences at Patton Patent Park? And I believe that Shawn Timmons and the H.W. L.L. board is here to tell us more. 00:33:34,299 S7: Hey, everyone. 00:33:35,500 S15: Yeah, John McMurtry is is on the zoom as well to to answer any questions that you may have if something comes up. So it's really, uh, two requests from Little League. Um, the first is a, uh, a repeat request from last, um, from last year. Uh, and the second is sort of a pivot from what we had thought we were going to be able to accomplish, um, when the scoreboards were, were approved. So, um, the first request is to hang, uh, banner sponsorship banners at Peyton Park like they did last year. And again, um, they are requesting to hang no more than ten, uh, three foot by six foot banners across the baseball diamonds. Uh, those banners go on the permanent fences. Um, the chain link fence is the permanent fences that are down there on the on the baseball diamonds. Um, as well as one, um, sort of special recognition banner, which is a little bit bigger. Um, and that goes on the backstop at the Little League field, uh, at Patton Park. However, if you if you look at that particular banner, um, it's color coded and designed in a way that it actually looks just like 2 or 3 by sixes, even though it's, you know, one large banner. So you really need to kind of sort of, uh, go take a close look at it to know that it's just one as opposed to, to two separate. So that's the first request. And like I said, that's, you know, a direct repeat from what was approved last year. Um, I don't, you know, we didn't really have any issues. Um, you know, that I knew of from last year with the banners being hung up. Um, there season typically. I mean, Little League is one of the few, um, they work really hard to provide three seasons of play. Um, so, uh, the banners were up last year from, um, I'd say late April, uh, to about mid-October when they when things start wrapping up. So that's the first request. And again, these sponsorship banners go directly towards, uh, you know, towards Little League and specifically to a lot of the field improvements that they've done. They just completed another field improvement at both fields at Payton as well as one field, excuse me, two fields at Pingree. That was, you know, upwards of close to $25,000. So I'm super grateful for all the work that Little League has done on the field. And this is just a way for them to raise funds to help accomplish that. 00:35:56,170 S1: Absolutely. Uh, we'll keep the two issues separate. So I, we could probably go ahead and entertain a motion to approve the patent park banners for the upcoming Little League season, if anybody so moved. 00:36:07,570 S5: Second. 00:36:08,300 S1: Awesome. Any further discussion or questions for John or Tim pertaining to this motion? 00:36:14,230 S4: Yeah, just you had mentioned no issues last year, Sean. So no, no residents around there or who enjoy the park as a park called. 00:36:20,929 S5: Complained of. 00:36:23,030 S16: I didn't hear anything. 00:36:24,170 S15: No, I mean, I think, you know, I think folks are, you know, fairly, you know, if they go to, you know, diamonds or fields or whatever. Fairly used to seeing some sort of sponsorship banners up there. So last year was the first year. But, um, I mean, it's tastefully done and there's not, you know, there's, like I said, less than ten or no more than ten spread across the two diamonds. Doesn't really, um, you know, it's not really kind of eye popping as they're kind of done tastefully and, um, there's not, you know, banners just splattered everywhere. 00:36:55,699 S6: It's better than. 00:36:56,500 S5: Not. Like. Yeah, they're I think we're. Yeah, exactly. Awesome. 00:37:02,070 S1: All right. 00:37:03,230 S4: Can we get some sponsors for this room? 00:37:04,829 S1: We'd like our heads. We'd like our faces. Put on one of them this year. That's what we'd. 00:37:08,530 S5: Like. Yes. 00:37:09,429 S1: Very large. 00:37:10,269 S17: We'll talk to you later about the cost of that care. 00:37:13,329 S1: All right, I will. We'll take a vote. All in favor? 00:37:15,929 S5: Aye aye aye. 00:37:17,699 S1: All right, so next, tell us a bit more about the improvement to the base of the scoreboards. 00:37:23,929 S15: Perfect. So when the scoreboards were approved, um, Little League, um, as part of the approval process, um, was committed to, um, sort of beautifying that area. Um, originally we thought some sort of planters box in front of or kind of below the scoreboard in front of the, uh, where the control boxes are for the lights. Um, was sort of the idea after, you know, really given that some thought and based on a lot of different things, maintenance being one, safety being certainly being one. Um, we do think it's a much better idea. Um, instead of having a physical structure there, the, you know, the planters box, um, to do sort of shrubbery below and underneath it, um, you know, easier to maintain, um, a lot safer, um, you know, don't really realize how close, um, that scoreboard is and it is in play. Um, so we figured, you know, to to be safer. Uh, as well as, you know, to kind of have, um, less upkeep or consistent upkeep. Um, that the shrubbery or bushes or, you know, however you want to, um, you know, whatever you want to call it would be more of a better look. Uh, does that about, uh, on everything, John? 00:38:41,199 S17: Yeah. That's it. Just. We talked to the Hamilton Garden Club. Who's going to help us out with this? Or at least 1 or 2 members just to do some kind of shrubs and make it look. Make it look nice, uh, down there under that scoreboard. But that's something that, uh, you know, folks are going to run into and kick their shins on. So. So that's it, Sean. That's that's a good summary. Yeah. 00:38:58,699 S15: Yeah. So I just wanted to make sure to get that on everyone's radar. So, you know, if that does get approved or if, you know, if we didn't come before you to, to ask for it, if you know something different than what may have been previously talked about. Um, I just wanted to make sure that we were all on the same page with what Little League is planning on doing. 00:39:15,800 S17: Yeah. And indeed, the plan is to get this going in like March this year. Whenever we get a little warmer weather. We kind of whiffed on it last year, but we got it. Wheels in motion for for this spring. 00:39:24,570 S1: So awesome. Um, to begin, I'll entertain a motion to approve the outlined plan for the base of the scoreboards. 00:39:35,369 S5: So moved. 00:39:36,329 S4: Second. 00:39:37,070 S1: Second. All right. Uh. Further discussion. 00:39:41,500 S4: Where is the scoreboard? 00:39:43,099 S1: On the back between the tennis courts and the outfield. 00:39:46,570 S5: Right field. Right. Yeah. Yeah. 00:39:48,599 S1: Am I. 00:39:49,300 S15: Right? Yeah. Right field line. So the scoreboard is directly in front. I don't know how familiar you are, but the scoreboard is, uh, directly in front of, um, the, I guess, kind of the the the area that has the all the electrical, uh, breakers in the boxes and things for the for the lights. Um, which is, you know, basically on the other side of the tennis fence, kind of. But it's right, right field line. You know, basically, you know, really close to that road coming down the right field line there. 00:40:19,030 S4: Thank you. 00:40:20,800 S1: Last question. And it does say it here, but I just wanted to ask, um, the sort of ongoing maintenance and replacement and upkeep. I assume we're all sort of talking about, like, a reasonable standard of upkeep when the, when if somebody lands on it falls apart, breaks, it will be sort of maintained. When the plants die, they'll be replaced at a, at a, at a clip like the plan is to sort of in perpetuity, make sure that it's maintained, uh, at the cost of the Little League. Is that the plan? Okay. 00:40:52,469 S17: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think we're going to try and get things that aren't, you know, particularly, uh, delicate choices out there that'll be nice and nice and durable. But, you know, that will be, uh, on our list of, of things to maintain, much like a lot of the other field infrastructure. 00:41:06,570 S5: Perfect. 00:41:08,730 S1: Just don't want a lonely, sad, broken down box of dirt in the field. It's not really any of dreams in that case. 00:41:17,030 S1: Anything else? 00:41:19,230 S6: A motion and a second. You get a. 00:41:20,230 S5: Vote. 00:41:20,869 S1: We said. We said it. 00:41:21,800 S5: We second. 00:41:22,469 S4: Seconded. All in favor? 00:41:23,769 S1: All in. 00:41:24,030 S5: Favor? All right. 00:41:25,869 S4: Great job. 00:41:27,000 S1: All right. 00:41:27,469 S15: Thanks, everyone. 00:41:28,130 S5: Thanks, John. Thanks for coming. Thanks, John. Thank you. Take care guys. 00:41:33,329 S1: Cruising right along. Uh, we have another request for adding another article to town meeting. This one is to create the special revenue fund for the opioid settlement funds. 00:41:45,000 S6: This is a request for myself and our finance director, Wendy Markowitz. So most of you are probably aware that there were some there were several court cases settled, um, about the, uh, about the practices of the companies that make opioids. Uh, Hamilton was a party to those to that class action lawsuit. As a result, through a really bizarre formula, we get a certain amount of money from each of those settlements. Uh, it has to be spent in very specific ways. It can't go to the general fund. It can't be appropriated for whatever we want. It has to go to be spent on certain things that are approved under the settlement agreement. And that was all started to take place last year in 2023. The state had kind of been trying to figure out how to advise us to segregate those funds so that they were available for the proper purposes, and we finally have some guidance from the state that they can be set up into a special revenue fund and segregated for use by the local board of health for programs and projects that align with the purposes of the settlement. So we've got the first couple checks, but they've just been sitting there in our bank account and a line item waiting to be put somewhere where we can use them. So we'll probably ask for the creation of the revenue fund and the transfer of those funds from the general fund into the new Special Revenue Fund, where all future opioid settlement funds will go. And then the Board of Health would have the ability to, to a vote, authorize the health director to spend those funds going forward. 00:43:20,199 S1: I'm assuming that, like the other one, once we approve, will then get like act. We'll get deeper into this after. 00:43:26,599 S5: Yeah. 00:43:26,969 S1: Okay. Yeah. Okay. Uh, who would like to make the motion? 00:43:33,269 S9: Uh, I will make a motion to add to the an article. The town meeting warrant regarding, uh, creating a special revenue fund for opioids, opioid settlement funds. 00:43:43,829 S4: Second. 00:43:44,800 S5: Awesome. 00:43:46,099 S1: Any other discussion or questions for Joe? Or do we put it on there and talk about it later? 00:43:51,769 S9: So for this fund, is there going to be ongoing contributions to the fund or is it just the money that I. 00:43:56,369 S5: It's. 00:43:56,500 S6: A certain number of years that we get it. We'll be getting annual payments. There's like eight different companies that were joined in the class action lawsuit. Um, different entities have different amounts of payment that they have to make to the federal government. That gets dispersed out. We'll get for the next couple of years, we'll be getting it's I think it's like ten years. We get like $6,000. We don't. Hamilton isn't getting a great deal of money out. 00:44:19,400 S5: Of this, okay? 00:44:20,570 S6: It's like $60,000 over ten years and they they won't give it to us all up front. We have to wait. 00:44:25,769 S4: So specific. 00:44:27,230 S5: Uh, yes. 00:44:28,099 S6: It all has to go towards things that would help people that are in the throes of addiction or, uh, you know, help guide people to resources that that would help them with that or provide Narcan and things like that that we could do. 00:44:39,769 S1: Today. The Board of Health passed the was it the clean needle thing? What did. 00:44:43,769 S5: They. 00:44:44,170 S6: They did vote to do something with needle. Um, you know, bring, you know, uh, collection and exchange collections. 00:44:51,269 S1: I wonder if this helps fund. 00:44:53,670 S6: Well, for instance, we could we could, we could use the funds to buy a needle disposal box that we could just leave either at the police station or somewhere. So although people don't usually like to drop their needles at the police station. So you need to. 00:45:06,500 S5: Find. 00:45:07,269 S6: A better public place for that. 00:45:08,429 S5: But yeah, I can't imagine. 00:45:10,070 S4: And it makes sense to put it with the Board of Health, not with the police department or the fire or public safety. 00:45:14,130 S6: It's really it's really more health related than it is public safety related. 00:45:17,869 S4: So and if we did not have a fund like that, where would it go to free cash or. 00:45:22,300 S6: It's not allowed to go to free cash. So so it's been in our general fund, but we're not allowed to appropriate it or do anything with it until we kind of designate where it should go. So this is this based on the based on the recommendation of the Da. This is the best. 00:45:35,829 S5: Way to. 00:45:36,130 S4: Make sense. So it allows you to kind of park it somewhere and not just have to allocate it. 00:45:40,000 S6: And it's very transparent this as much as going in. And this is what you can spend it on. These are the votes of the Board of Health that authorize the spending. 00:45:45,670 S5: It's nobody can question. 00:45:47,900 S6: What we're. 00:45:48,170 S5: Doing with it. Yeah. 00:45:49,869 S1: All right. All in favor. 00:45:52,230 S16: Aye aye. 00:45:55,329 S1: All right. Next, we want to review our previous vote to reopen the regional school agreement. Uh, discuss a vote. And my understanding is that we have voted previously to reopen the regional agreement, but it coming back up as a topic, and we want to sort of double down on our commitment. 00:46:12,369 S5: Yeah. 00:46:12,530 S1: So to that. 00:46:14,070 S6: Yeah, the the board over the last couple of years, Hamilton's board, a select board over the last couple of years has been trying to get the district and the town of Wenham to reopen the district agreement. There's a lot of things that we've identified. In a letter to the select to the regional School Committee almost three years ago now, um, at the time when we initially began this, the school committee was open to it. But Wenham Selectboard at that time was still only three members. They demurred. They chose not to ask. The agreement calls for all three entities to agree to reopen the agreement. So we've kind of been pushing quietly behind the scenes trying to get this done. Um, that everybody's in agreement. Now, the my understanding is the one on the Select board has a vote like this planned for tomorrow night. The school committee voted last year to do that. So this is this would just be to reaffirm what you've already done. Um, And get those conversations started with the attorneys. 00:47:14,269 S1: All right. So I would entertain a motion to reaffirm our affirmative vote to reopen the Hamilton One Regional School agreement. 00:47:24,199 S4: I move that we reaffirm what we affirmed to open the school agreement. 00:47:30,800 S5: Second. 00:47:31,769 S16: Awesome. 00:47:33,070 S1: Um, I guess the only question I have is after. After all three agree. Is there like a subcommittee of folks who go in to sort of tweak the things that we opened it to tweak? 00:47:46,500 S6: So we've already basically agreed to let the lawyers talk it out. We've signed we've signed a, um, because KP law represents both Hamilton and Wenham, we had to sign off saying that we did not believe that there was a conflict of interest for KP to represent both our interest in this negotiation, and the district has authorized their Um council. To begin conversations. They actually did start last year. Um, uh, Lauren Goldberg of KP law started having some initial conversations with the district council last year on behalf of Wenham. But because time meetings were coming up and there was nothing they could get done before then, they had. My understanding is they agreed to, um, stop, pause, pause discussions and pick it up again. But then it didn't. It didn't get picked up again. So we're we've asked them to do that. Um, Tom McEnany might wind up picking up the baton in this case. Um, but it'll either be Tom or Lauren working with district Council. 00:48:42,530 S16: Perfect. 00:48:43,969 S1: Any other discussion? 00:48:45,769 S5: No. Nope. 00:48:47,699 S1: All in favor? 00:48:48,969 S5: Aye. 00:48:51,769 S1: Uh. All right. Lastly, anybody have any new business to discuss or for future discussion at a meeting? 00:48:59,730 S4: Uh, we we talked about, you know, bringing 3 a.m. to three a, you know, with kind of a full meeting just to do a deep dive. I'd like to see that on a meeting. Joe. We've talked a little bit about cell coverage, and the second one I have reached out to Chris Davis. I'd like to maybe put that on a. 00:49:18,170 S1: You're going to look at the buyout. Is that. 00:49:20,030 S4: Yeah, there's a buyout offer, but I think there's some couple paths we could take there. 00:49:23,769 S1: Okay. Yeah. It came up and the the question, I think you were the one with the deepest expertise and you could run the annuity. 00:49:30,099 S5: Yes. 00:49:30,630 S1: And see if it was worth it. Okay. 00:49:32,099 S5: Yes. 00:49:33,929 S1: Anything else? 00:49:36,099 S5: Um. 00:49:37,329 S6: I just, you know, I'll take a quick minute to just update the board so I know that you remember last year we had a period of time where we didn't have any, um, minutes takers working the Select Board and planning Board fell far behind in their minutes at that time. Um, over the summer, we had we addressed that. We hired a, a kind of minutes coordinator and then several people as part time, what we refer to now as recording secretaries. They have been busily building up and getting the backlog done, but we were having some technical difficulties. We have been having some technical difficulties and getting them uploaded to the website and filed with the town clerk, which I was not aware of, unfortunately, until it was brought to our attention by a resident. So you you've passed several sets of minutes in the last 2 or 3 months. We have, I think, eight more sets that will be up for the next select board meeting and then select boards. Minutes will all be up to date and passed. And where Lori has started helping the recording secretary or the minutes coordinator getting them up on the website and filed with the town clerk. So we're about halfway through our backlog and the same same as going on with the planning board. So I just want to let people know that it's coming. We have been diligent in trying to catch up since we hired the secretaries. The work is being done, but it's not recognized because it's not yet on the website. So it will. 00:50:56,929 S5: Be. 00:50:58,530 S16: Thank you. All right. 00:50:59,670 S4: No. That's good. I know I got an email on the same topic and Appreciate it, Joe. You guys jumped right in and realized the issue and kind of mitigated future minutes not being put up there and fix the process. So I appreciate that. 00:51:15,199 S6: And anytime you switch to something new, there's going to be, you know, a period of transition where things aren't connecting. 00:51:21,730 S1: So is there a now a standard of minutes across all boards. 00:51:25,400 S5: All. 00:51:25,630 S6: The boards that the secretaries are are doing? We have a couple of boards that are doing their own minutes. Fin com a couple of others. So they may be slightly different. But we've we have provided we have previously provided the state's template for what minutes should look like to most of those boards and committees. So there I think we're all pretty close at this point. 00:51:45,570 S1: Do you hear that, John? You're the outlier. 00:51:48,130 S5: I did not mean to outline. I did not mean to call. 00:51:51,099 S1: We called John's minutes out. 00:51:54,030 S5: Yeah, we're. 00:51:54,929 S18: We're behind, but we've got, um, I don't know, probably a dozen that are going to be approved here shortly. So we're we fell behind and we're catching up. 00:52:04,099 S1: It's everyone's fine. We're in it together. All right. If nothing further, I will accept a motion. 00:52:12,170 S4: I move that we adjourn. 00:52:13,670 S5: Second. 00:52:14,670 S1: All in favor? 00:52:15,800 S5: Aye aye aye. 00:52:17,429 S6: Thanks, everybody. 00:52:18,199 S5: Thank you. 00:52:18,829 S1: We have signatures needed here.