uh, OK, I hear. Yep. For We Yeah. Should she coming in from the computer. Was that I’m Mute each one of the hand. Um, that work, Tom? I don’t, I. I don’t know if you can hear me if Hamilton Wyndham Cam isn’t. Happening through there. All right. And then I realized the

echo is coming from there. Uh Oh I see what. Said connect the ADI cable to the wall and make sure the speaker and microphone and laptop are off. So will come through. I’m still. All right, so turn off the microphone. is that one. And the speaker is also on. Oh So I need it, right? And then.

It’s crazy Have Yeah. Did you hear what type of Joe? Is it anything serious or just like, but it’s like gallbladder but it’s like gallbladder or OK but it’s like gallbladder. pancreas or kidney stones or something, but. Oh yeah. I don’t think it’s working. Now they should hear you through uh. Good point.

OK, awesome, uh, folks on the line, whether that be Kain or Tom or even Christine, can y’all hear us in the room right now? Yes, yeah, there was an echo going on for a while, but now I can hear you. OK, Tom, like he’s in a well right there.

Hold on, Tom. Hello. I thought it was Timmy who fell. Try that again. Lassie, remember? Tom Yeah, I’m talking. Can you hear me? You shouldn’t? You shouldn’t be here? You shouldn’t back there. OK, well, that’s a start. Oh, I don’t have a computer. You hear me? I don’t have anything. I’ll use

my cell phone. Are you using your cell phone? You know, multitasking. You OK with that for now, because Tom, are you making your way in here or no? Um, depends on how long it goes that my wife gets out at 7, so, OK, we’re going to get, yeah, we’re gonna go ahead and get

started. Um, we’re gonna keep in mind that if there are comments on the phone, they’re coming from a distance, somewhere near Wenham, so everyone just listened closely, um, with that, I will call to order the select board meeting of Monday, March 31st, 2025. I will take a roll call vote

because we do have a remote member. So I’ll start with you, Tom. s Yes, Tom Myers, yes, here, Rosie Kennedy Rosie Kennedy here, Olson here, Bill Wilson here. Caroline Boe here. Um, all right. Welcome everyone. Um, we are here for hopefully a very swift agenda today, but before we get started, we have had an unexpected, uh, an

unexpected chain of events today, and Tom cannot join us. Um, as is our policy, uh, Tom either needs, uh, Joe either needs to, um, officially designate by letter. For Russ to stand in for him or the select board can make a motion to uh Have Ross be the acting town manager until such time as

Joe returns and officially lets us know that he’s on duty. Uh, so before we can actually continue with the agenda, I’d be grateful if somebody could make a motion. I move that we appoint Joe as the actor. Sorry, Russ. Uh the, uh, acting town manager. All right, any discussion. He’s a wily one,

and this could, this could go sideways. Yes, ma’am. Just a question, do we have any idea? How long we would anticipate your being, I am imagining that it is perhaps 24 hours but possibly a little bit more or less. Yeah, he’s he’s rounding the bend, but we’re we’re not

certain if he’ll heal up to it tomorrow. I was hopeful that’s what it would be. Yes, that seems to be the case. Um, so we’ll go ahead and take a vote. Tom Myers. Tom Myers, yes. Awesome. Rosie Kennedy, I Bill Wilson and Caroline, I, uh, with that, sir, town manager, we will move to our first

agenda item, which is the recommendation for our new police chief. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about it’s exciting for me because it starts a new chapter for me as well as it starts a new chapter for the town and for uh Lieutenant Eddie Guy from

Andover. So first, I just want to talk about the process real quick, how the process is, how we came to be where we’re at right now. So we did it in 5. phases. The first phase was the creation of the job announcement, uh, we do the job announcement we’re looking at

the current job description for the police chief now we look at the town, we look at the demographics of the town. We created a 1.5 page job description. The job description gets posted for 30 days. It was posted to Mass Municipal Association. It was posted to Mass Chiefs Association as well as posted through uh our CIS website

Criminal Justice Information System website. After the 30 day period we got 15 applications, 15 resumes. The second phase is phase 2, which was the written essay phase, and that’s when we send out questions to each one of the candidates and the candidates were required to respond to written questions asked, questions were related to best

practices in today’s policing as well as questions relating to the town. And their philosophies on policing. So, first phase was resume, collecting resumes, waiting the resumes, scoring the resume. Second phase was response to written questions. Now, we do written questions to find to also look at their writing

skills. We ask that they not use AI we run it through a scanner to make sure they didn’t use AI, um, we wanted it to be their words. We’re not looking for dangling participles. However, a police chief should be able to write, so we’re looking for that. The second phase will oral

interviews. So, excuse me, the 3rd phase was our own interviews where we ask candidates to take part in an oral interview. Different set of questions were asked of each of the candidates. That gives us the ability to look at their old communication skills think fast on their feet, and again

we discussed philosophies of policing we discussed the town itself. What does it look like for them? What did they basically what is, what is their vision as the new police chief for the town of Hamilton. The 4th phase was the assessment center. Now assessment centers have been proven to be a powerful tool

for making promotional decisions on In assessment that uses a series of simulated on the job challenges to gauge a candidate’s ability to perform the target job. Individuals, um, and job simulations offer in-depth information and insight into individual strengths, weaknesses, and overall performance to perform the job, so we did a in person

assessment center. It was conducted by 4 chiefs, not I. I was not present at the assessment center so we had 4 chiefs that came from like towns, like towns similar to our town here that came and did and have experience. and more seasoned chief of what we should be looking for.

Every town is different. The police chief in Hamilton has different roles and responsibilities that a police chief and whatever other town we want to compare it. It’s just different. Every, although we wear a blue uniform, it’s just different. Our expectations are different, the way we interact is different.

So we were looking at that. At this point, we narrowed the search out to 3 finalists, um, move to the next phase and they went through a, uh, the 3 finals for the in-person select board meeting, the meet and greet that was held at the community house and so that was a meet and greet and then from

there they went on a one on one interview with the madam chair as well as the town manager, which brings us up to today’s point, so after careful consideration, the town manager threw me as the acting town manager, uh, looking for your car from and support to vote for Edward Guy in as the next

Hamilton police chief, and I as police chief, although I’m wearing two hats right now, agree and support him on this decision. But before you take a vote, I would like to tell you a little about Lieutenant Guy. Now, I’ve known him for 12 years in a professional role.

He was one of the, he’s been involved in the mass accreditation assessments for years now, and he was when we came to our initial certification, he was one of our first assessors. So that’s when I first met him. He is over 30 years experience starting his career in 1995.

in Methuen. He joined the Andover Police Department in 2004. He was promoted sergeant in 2008 and then again lieutenant in 2012. In 2016 he was signed as the he was assigned as the executive director of the Andover Police Department, where he serves as second in command of the department so in

Andover, a lieutenant is 2nd in command and serving serving as executive officer, so he does for Andover PD what Captain James does for us in Hamilton. He has a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Western New England College. He’s attended numerous professional leadership classes to include the FBI National Academy, Harvard Kennedy School, executive program Northwestern

University School of Police Staff and Command class in Roger Williams University senior leadership and many more. More importantly, he’s a family person. He’s been married for over 17 years and has a 15 year old daughter. On a personal note, um, I’ve been very fortunate enough to have been given the privilege of being Hamilton’s police chief for the

past over 15 years. The townspeople, town managers, numerous select board members I’ve have been nothing but supporter of me during my tenure in the police department and everything we’ve done. I’ve also made it known that I would not leave the town, the department, or its residents to

someone I feel would not serve them in the manner that I would expect. Being approach chief in a small town is also about the fit and I personally believe that that guy possesses a knowledge skill set and the demeanor and is the right fit for the position. Um, Madam Chair, through you, to the

board, I’m requesting a vote to appoint Edward Guy as the next Hamilton police chief Penny successful psychological, medical, and background investigation, but before you take a vote, does anyone have any questions of me or questions of Lieutenant Guy. Any questions? I would. How many questions the chief, but I

would love to hear from you by all means, please. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Chief. Chief, um, Russ Stevens said, uh, I have over 30 years. Um, I am a family man, um, and it’s, I’m very excited for the, um, opportunity to be able to be

the next police chief upon your vote. I can assure you that, uh, I believe in the highest level of professionalism. I’ve been devoted to and committed to professional policing throughout my career. That’s why when he mentions about the Massachusetts Police accreditation Committe. I’ve been an assessor since 2010. I’ve been involved with the standards and training

committee. Which uh basically comes up with um uh as far as what the, what the, um, best practices in policing are going to be, we base that off the national model and uh we, we deal with training and making sure that people in other police departments are ready to be able to make their, uh,

police department’s professional as far as being able to meet the standards and without question, that is something that I’ve I’ve taken in really, uh, hone my skills out. I’ve mentor other police departments to make sure that they’re able to, uh, achieve that same recognition as far as being certified or accredited within the Massachusetts Police

Accreditation Commission, but throughout my career, I’ve I’ve had a wide array of different types of experiences, whether it be, um, community policing when I was with the city of Bethunen, it was called Neighborhood Services and working in actual troubled neighborhoods where there was actually a lot of different types of crime. When I went

over to Andover, it was different, um. community policing was more about community engagement and about looking at the community and some of the trends and the things that were, that they were having issue, whether it be drug addiction or mental health and then being able to implement different programs to be able to help people out, um,

and I look forward to be able to come, come here with my own experiences in that background and in, and do the same thing here. I know it’s a smaller community, but I, I feel very strongly about being able to go in, be able to meet the people

here. be able to listen to them, listen to you, and see what it, what it is that you need to make sure that your police department is run effectively and efficiently and make sure that we’re, you know, committed to providing you with the best police service that you would expect, uh, you know, for the

town of Hamilton. Thank you. Thank you. Um, just a follow up with that. I mean, you got, you got some, I appreciate you jumping in to try and fill Chief Steven’s footsteps and feet because he’s done a, he’s done a good job, uh, for over the years and always gained a

lot of respect. So two kind of quick follow-up questions, comments, sort of what he does and sort of responses to it. But the one thing that we appreciate from Chief Stevens is that all the forces important education always seems more important to him, and he’s always about educating before he does anything else, make sure everybody understands

what they’ve done and what they need to do. So you want to understand you sort of general theory, education of the public versus. enforcement and then number 2 was, you know, what I noticed about Hamilton, I don’t know about other communities that everybody, everybody waves to the police officer when they

drive by. The kids, the adults, the senior citizens, you know, the employees and everybody like, we were very, we, we’ve developed a culture where the police are part of the community. So I just want to understand sort of comment on those two things about how you see that moving forward with

you, with you as a chief and, and how’s that is important to you? So on your first question, as far as education, you said education enforcement. Like somebody says something wrong, you know, there’s two ways you sort of can react to it, right? You can sort of tell me not to walk around with wine, not take

me to jail for walking around with wine. Thank you for uh clarifying. Uh, so when it, that’s very good. I like that. So when it comes to that type of thing, listen, it is a small community. You need to take those things into consideration when you’re policing any given community because what it’s

what you have to do with what the community expects, OK? So each community is going to have its own differences about what, what is, you know, allowable in, you know, as police officers, we need need to understand that you just don’t go out and do, um, enforce the law just because you can do something

doesn’t mean that you should, you know, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of different ways to be able to handle different types of incidents and many times, especially in a community like this, where people are gonna be for the most part, probably very respectful of the police.

You need to just have to maybe just talk to people if they’re doing something maybe that somebody’s complaining about. You just have a conversation with them and you get them to understand why that might be a problem. Arrest in summonsing people is a last resort. Writing citations is a last resort.

There’s a lot of things that you need to take into consideration before you move to that, that next step where you’re going to affect somebody either monetarily or somebody’s gonna have to go through the court system. So it’s about using, you know, the, your, uh, best judgment in that, you know,

every situation is different and you have to take all of the information and Realize, OK, well, what, what am I gonna do with this based on the information that I have? Is it something that I need to go to that, that area where I have to arrest somebody or is it a case where maybe it doesn’t, we

don’t need to do that. So each, each case is different, but you know, in a small community, most people are respectful. It isn’t like, you know, when I worked in Methuen, it was a very different, you know, it was, there was a lot of crime,

so you, you have to deal with it the way that you have to deal with it. This is Hamilton, and it’s a small community. Everybody knows each other. and I would expect that most people know the police and the police know the people, and it’s probably it’s best just to talk to them about it, you know, and

then that way they can understand what was, what the problem was and maybe not do it anymore. Maybe. And there was a question, second question. This is about the culture that, you know, I think we’ve seen in Hamilton about everybody sort of waves the police. How, how are you going to maintain that

culture of having the police be part of the community. People aren’t afraid of them. People go to them, people become friends with them, see them in the store, say hi. That’s important to everybody so the similarities with Hamilton, um, in Andover, uh, are just that. We receive a lot of support from our citizens in the town

of Andover. When I tell you if there’s ever a problem or a situation where we’re dealing with a, you know, um, a tragedy or I’ll give you a prime example in 2018, we had the gas disasters in Lawrence Andover, North Andover. The community came out of the woodwork to support us, you know, whether

it be bringing cookies or, you know, whatever it is that we needed, you know, just bringing in notes, kids coming in, that’s, that’s a great thing and that goes to the level of community involvement with, we have at the in the town of Andover, and that is the same exact way that I’ll be here,

because I, you have to have community involvement. If you don’t have community support, then you’re not able to do the job that you need to do effectively, because people need to have lines of communication, whether it be with the board, whether it be with other town departments with it, it’s with the community itself. So when you

do that, you’re able to build relationships and then you’re able, if somebody has a problem with speeding, they should be able to come to you and you should be able to effectively address that. Without the community, we can’t do our jobs effectively and it’s very important. And I’ve learned

that whether it be, you know, in Andover, in even Methuen, um, there was plenty of times when, you know, communities were able to tell you things that were going on and when you have communication with them, then they trust you and then you’re able to do your job more effectively. Thank you.

It’s. Well. May I? Yes, I’d like to make a motion that we that the select board vote in the affirmative to um Welcome Edward Guy as our new police chief. Um, one thing I’ll add before we take a vote, um, I was lucky enough, fortunate enough to interview the three candidates. I know Rosie also

met with them. Um, and I do want to, uh, just kudos to Russ and also Joe. Um, there was, there was not a bad candidate among them. It was an exceptional group, um, which actually made the decision all the more complex. It wasn’t just about skills. It was about the current force, the future

of the forest where the town is now, where the town will be in the future, um. And finding somebody who had a very unique set of, you know, leadership skills, experience, time on the forest, mentorship capabilities, things like that. Um, the other two candidates are incredible candidates who will go on to do

great things, um, but this process was was more fruitful and more impactful than I had ever imagined it would be, and we were so lucky and so you, you certainly came from the cream of the crop, and, you know, we’re excited. So with that, um, Carolyn, like I just make a quick comment before we

vote. Oh yeah, sorry. Just talk very loudly because you’re talking from Wyndham. OK, can everyone hear me? Yes? Not really. All right, well, I can, I can hold my comment if it’s gonna go unheard. I mean we can, we can hear that you said that you were going to make a comment and you, you don’t want

it to go unheard. So we’ll be very I can hold my comment I guess if no one’s gonna hear it. If I’m just speaking to the abyss Ross is standing under the speaker and can hear it. OK, well, I just wanted to say that it was a pleasure getting to meet Lieutenant uh Guy uh last

week at the community house. I was really impressed with your background, what you’ve done in over. I was even more impressed with, um, you know, your understanding of Hamilton and what your vision was for Hamilton, and the fact that you have the full confidence of, of Chief Stevens really gives me a

reassurance, Chief Stevens has been a staple in this community for the last 15 years, uh, and the fact that you have his full support makes me feel like we’re making the right choice here. So it’s a pleasure to have you on board. Yep. Thank you. Yeah, and I’d just like to add, we haven’t met yet, um but

it was a great process. I’ll let go on that. Um, and that lieutenant Guy, future chief of the town of Hamilton, um, clearly by your experiences, uh, your accomplishments over time, the accumulation of all of that, we’re lucky to have you. You do have big shoes to fill, but I do feel like this will be a

very easy transition. You seem like you come from a, a similar mode or foundation of how you will lead a team, uh, and I think that’ll make for an easier. transition. So, so welcome. Thank you very much. Awesome. All right, Tom Myers, I will start with you.

Tom Meyers, I We’re more than I, Rosie Kennedy, I Bill Wilson, I, Caroline Boeu, I. Congratulations. check your car for wine, please. Yeah, of course, thank you. Madam Chair, it’s not the glasses. It’s the two bottles of wine and 3 glasses. You’re holding at the

same time. I was, I was holding it, you know, I was told it was the cork missing that was the problem that if I could find the cork, that wouldn’t be a problem. Thank you all. I truly appreciate it and I do, from the bottom of my heart, I

appreciate all the support the board’s given us in the police department over the years, but nothing, but I don’t care. It’s, to be honest with you, I got hired September 9, 2014. At that time, we had a 3-person board, Bill Bowler Dave Carrey, who’s now down the Cape and Jennifer Scutari, who is now in

Gloucester, where the three person board that voted me in so. It’s been a great run and I’m not done yet. I’ll be here for another 3 more months, but, uh, thank you very much to everyone in the town residents have been great, truly appreciate the support. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right,

um, the next item on the agenda we’re hoping to just speed through, which is the, um, The assignment of uh the motion makers for the town warrant, um, do we have a list of the, we’ll just go through them, um, OK, so the first stop is, we don’t

actually have a, uh, reports, right? So we don’t need to a motion maker. Uh Yes, moderator, we don’t have any, uh, we don’t have any uh town reports, do we? Are the annual report? I know there’s gonna be My presentation by Oh, they are doing that at the top of the,

the top of the meeting. OK, so what, who would like to do um the motion 1-24 reports. I’ll do that. All right. Sounds great. Uh, consent agenda. Rosie, you want to take that one? Sure, why not? Rosie’s on consent. Uh, compensation classification table. Tom, that sounds like a good one for you.

Love it. Great. uh prior year bills, um, yeah, I think it’s, yeah, that’s you, that’s Wilson. Um, General To departmental Appropriations. I like that one for you, Olsen. Sounds great. Great, perfect. Um. Capital expenditures, um, who here is like a capital expenditures. Tom, you’re taking that one, OK?

Love it. Love it. Which ones, yeah, once we get into, let’s see, 2-5. Chris W? Woolston. Yep, Chris Wilson. Annual financial actions, Harry P. HDC is uh John P. OPA also. That’s 28 though, yeah, which I think is in the, in the consent, but yeah, OK, but if not, John P.

um. Capital stabilization fund, also John P, if it. Uh, CPC is hairy if it doesn’t end up in the consent. Um, OK, and then we have 2-11, which is the consolidated Elementary school project. Which is John McGrath. I’m wondering though, Oh, he’s just calling it the override. Do we, do we want FICO to present elementary school

project or school committee. Or us, I guess it’s us, but then we call. Right. Folks. So should we go ahead and introduce it or let Finn introduce it I think one of the select men will make the first pass, and then it’ll go on to John McGrath, and then he’ll probably put it on to the

schools or however they have decided to do it. So as liaison, would you like to do it? Great. That’s gonna be our friend Wilson. Uh, the hero Act, Rosie, please, yes. Um, extension of lease of Cutler School. Would you also like to take that one? Sure. Great, thanks. Excuse me, Mr. Olson is here, the other,

he’s gonna take the uh the recreation revolving fund establishing a new spending limit. I didn’t want you to feel left out. Yeah. Um Then, uh, acquisition of easements of Woodsbury Street. I’ll take that one. Uh, all right. And then Olsen. How are you feeling about the chunk of zoning

bylaws. Well, there’s one that I did not, That I did not uh I’d rather not move that one. So GPOD I could do the rest, which was a 212 vote. Um, I’m happy to take it. I’ll do the GPO, OK Rosie will do GPOD. It doesn’t matter. Um, I know, but it, It’s because you’re moving

it, it kind of makes it sound like you’re. Uh, Olsen zoning bylaw member for temporary signage. That’s fine, yeah. Great, cool. Um, zoning bylaw amendment definitions. This is the building commission, I think it was the building commissioner. Yep, that’s gonna be Olsen as well. Uh, 80U.

Um, I’ll take it. I don’t care. Uh, 4-5 is 80U by right, I’ll also take that one, be like a little. Um, zoning bylaw, inclusionary housing. Um, this is the language updates, I believe. Is that right? Um, I’m happy to do that. Somebody would like. Me too. Um, would you also like to take site plan review? Sure, OK.

48 uh floodplain overlay district, Tom, that sounds like a good one for you. Your backyard’s wet. Um. Is your wine spill, it’s probably, uh, and then the final one is the Citizen’s petition. Would you like that one? Sure, yeah. Not the. Who was it? We have we figured out who the

spokesperson for that is. But just to introduce it, I don’t. I, I guess it. It’s really up to them, but, They haven’t Someone’s. Probably the first first one to sign it. Um, I see that our board ask for that. Well, I was going to say I see that Angela is on the line and

Angela, I know that you were one of the signatures on there. Do you know if there’s someone planning to speak on behalf of the petition. Just nod or shake your head. Uh, the, the, um, Uh, gosh, I’m forgetting his name, um, had, I wasn’t expecting to speak, um. gentleman’s name is Ed. OK, Ed. All right. So we’ll,

we’ll just, we’ll assume that, we’ll assume that someone will be there to speak to The petition. Um, but if it’s Rosie, I do believe he is planning to speak to it, yes. Right. invite whoever is speaking to it to present. OK. And, and make the motion itself. Exactly. OK, perfect. All right, sorry about

that, Angela. I was just wanted to clarify. No worries, I’m just sorry I didn’t have my ducks in a row. No worries. Um, OK. Anything else here. Um, one thing to note, um, to a I believe, well, I do want to make a note of one thing. So uh

KP Law did take a look at the citizen’s petition language, um, and Tom was very clear that he was he Amended, not amended the language to change it, but try to write it in a way that was Concise and in the standard format for how these motions should be presented in the warrant and just said that we

should read it and ensure that like um it aligns. um, I just want to say that out loud because there was never an intention to change the, the wording, but that there were things in there that needed to sort of be worded appropriately for the warrant itself. So the language that you’re seeing in

your packet is the edits made by KP Law to that citizen’s petition. Um Because we had to include like the towns of Hamilton and Wyndham and sort of do all that. Um, OK. So I, it says in here that we’re going to take a vote, so I guess it’s to approve the script and the motion makers?

Is that what we’re doing? motion makers would do, do we just read it and then recognize somebody else or we, should we? I don’t, I don’t think we need to make a motion for the motion maker, and it’s just yeah, it just says vote in here. No, no,

I mean not now. I mean, it, it depends. So there’s certain things that will require, like, people will come up, obviously the school thing, there’ll be a lot of people that come up, but like things like Pra your bills or consent agenda. We typically just make the motion, we ask if there’s any questions and then

we said John McGrath wanted to speak to the school for instance. Will this come back with the motion maker’s name on it and then who they will recognize if they’re going to speak to it? Yes. OK. The packet that we get on Saturday should have all that information in it. If it

doesn’t, we just audibly blame Joe out loud in the meeting. Poor Joe Russ will be doing it if, uh. OK. Um, great. That’s perfect. So, uh, if we don’t feel like we need any votes, which I agree, I don’t think we do, um, we will move on. So, um,

the last item on the agenda was the request to allow placement of campaign signs on town property. Um, I don’t know if y’all were able, if, uh, Joe included or forwarded y’all the email from town council, um. But to recap, we had a request from a candidate running for

office to be able to put, um, signs on town property. We discussed it briefly in our last meeting. We then sent it to town council. Town council said a great deal of case law back to us saying that it was a not a great idea for us to

entertain this in any way, um, that it, it’s sort of um, we had asked for some parameters, uh, but essentially if we allow any non-commercial signs, we can’t limit the commercial signs. We really can’t limit the time frame, um, there’s no narrow way to define non-commercial signs, um, and

what aligns as political signs or support for political signs. things like that. Um, and it’s similar to sort of the flag policy of you either Every single one comes and you sort of find it or not, and so I, I bring that to the board that town council. Had said, don’t, don’t do that. But if they’re

strong feelings otherwise. We can continue. Um, sure, come on up here. Hi folks, so I’m Ben Galooza. I’m the person who submitted the request to the select board. Um, was the recommendation from the council is that based on specific case law that they cited in the email. Yes, they do. They did

share a couple of different, um, and we actually, one of the, one of the, uh, articles in the warrant this year actually was because we had a policy that outlined how long you could have certain signs in your yard, and we’ve had to update that because our policy was not legally compliant. We weren’t

allowed to, to tell people they couldn’t have those signs. Um, you know, the language that they used was not non-commercial. Is that, did I hear that correct? Yeah, yeah. So Let me just look. So it says, uh, as we discussed, is my understanding that the select board is considering adopting a

signed policy to allow candidates for local office only not state or federal offices in the annual town election to place one sign of a particular sign at designated locations on public property, which include two intersections. I think the map was viewed for a period of 2 to 3 weeks.

Um, It would, the policy would not allow for placement of signs concerning ballot questions or any other issues. In my opinion, such a policy would be problematic under applicable constitutional principles and exposes the town to liability for the reasons set forth below. Um, government re uh regulations that target speech based on its communicative content are presumptively

unconstitutional and may be justified only if the government proves that the regulation is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest. There’s case laws quoted, um, multiple case laws,,,,,,, 123433, Moreover, the legitimacy of duration limits, particularly as applied to pre-election political signs is doubtful, um, overwhelming majority courts that have reviewed sign ordinances imposing durational limits for

temporary political signs tied to a specific election date have found them to be unconstitutional, um. For all these reasons, in my opinion, the board cannot adopt a policy limiting the posting of a of signage on talent property to candidates, political speech. In my further opinion, the board could adopt a policy

allowing non-commercial signs to be placed at designated areas of town property and limit the duration of such site is based upon content neutral reasons such as aesthetics after careful review of each of the specific locations and environment, allowing different groups to access, access to post their signs, but again, that would open up to whomever

wanted to post signs in that place. Um, moving forward once you open the door for non-commercial signs. So if you adopt a policy because we, there’s not currently one in there, is there? There is not there is not currently one and what has happened in the past, which sort of brought this up.

There was sort of this, um, Like, I’ll call it a gentleman’s agreement, right, that everybody was posting signs and what we later found out was public property in front of the Cumberland Farms. Most people who posted signs there, asked Cumberland Farms, thinking it was Cumberland Farms’ property, and Cumberland Farms, assuming it was their property, said, of course,

posting us. Um, we had complaints last year from people who did not want signs posted on public property, um, proved that that land was actually designated public property, and we had to send DPW out to remove all the political signs. From the property. So up there was sort

of a an inadvertent precedent set that we didn’t know about leading up to that like, we never stopped it because we didn’t actually know we were doing it. And now we are in a position where we have to define what that policy is. And when we talk to counsel, it’s one of those, if you say one

person can do it, anybody can do it. they all have to come through the select board to do it? No, we would, we would adopt a policy that like that’s For the future though. I mean, based on the current policy, anyone who wants to post a temporary sign needs your pre-approval to do so.

Right? And and I think the difference is like when we get into political speech. Communicative political speech, but that’s not currently limited. Is that correct? It’s not currently something that we allow without a policy policy that signs we allow on public properties, you know, or on the, on the On the

tennis courts, yeah. Outside the schools, And and and and and on the um and advertising for on the um on the baseball field. That is it. Yeah. So it’s not like there’s some gray area, there’s all these signs of what it is, like that’s it. Like we don’t have any other sign on public property.

I understand that. So it sounds like that’s all that you have previously approved. That’s a precedent. That’s what our policy is based on, yes, that’s the precedent that’s the policy to be honest, people have just posted their political signs on um the areas specific uh that we’re talking about in front of

Cumberland and at the blinking light, um. Um Gas station, but there, I mean, It was never approved, but then again, up until last year, they were never taken down either, so. So seek forgiveness, not permission. Right. Policy. The only other exception is that we have senior banners that are

posted, um, on the walkway, public walkways along 1 A like a graduation season, yeah. But we’ve never And again, like I, I understand what you’re saying, which is that based on the current policy, anything would be at the approval of the select board. I think what the legal opinion is stating is

that if we come, if we say yes to you, and then next year, fascist for Donuts says, I would like a sign put out here, and we don’t have a policy that says why we let Ben but not fascists for donuts. We then get into a speech issue of saying we’re making decisions based on preference to people

who are putting signs, and so currently the non-existent policy policy is there’s no political signs at all on public property. And they’re also stating that you’re not allowed to limit political speech of any kind in the policies, is that what I’m hearing that’s it gets to a constitutional issue once we start to, to decide what we

think is appropriate, we don’t think is appropriate, gets really so constitutional sort of like this, this great, the, the sort of like gentleman’s agreement is just sort of like, no, no political signs allowed anywhere on public property for that reason. It is, it is a, uh, yeah, it’s a, it’s an

interesting conundrum, one that’s not come before us and if Tom was able to be here tonight, I would have a few questions for him, so we would love to rewrite our sign policy so if somebody wants to take a stab at it, we can, we can

debate it next, next, next year, but I think but right now I’m not, yeah, I’m not prepared I think one of the opinions here says the United States Supreme Court has been extremely unreceptive to distinctions drawn between different kinds of non. commercial speech or speakers. Case law quoted and between commercial and non-commercial speed in some

First Amendment case law has drawn a hard line with regards to laws and regulations that attempt to restrict speech based on the content of the message, including broad classifications like commercial and non-commercial speech, and as a result, laws that distinguish between commercial and non-commercial speech must be narrowly tabled to serve a compelling government interest.

So there has to be a very specific and compelling reason to limit uh The Non-commercial speech. Yeah. And I’m, I’m it’s, it’s a little confusing because and his further opinion, he says, in my further opinion, however, the board could adopt a policy allowing non-commercial signers to be placed at designated areas of town property and limit the

duration of such signage based upon contra content neutral uh reasons such as aesthetics, so if it gets messy. I, I’m wondering if this is a sort of like remember when we were talking about the flags, you could have, remember the whole Boston like they just had a flagpole that was generally for

Non-American flags. One little square foot and it was like the one, the pole, and then you had your, your government speech flag. I feel like that’s what he’s saying here is that like if you wanted to say this patch of grass is for these types of signs, but the same applies.

Anyone can put any sign at any time in that space. And if it is removed, Well, it could be for a limited duration. It would have to be right. That’d be part of it, but so do we don’t have such a space. I mean, we talked about in front of

Patton Park. We’ve talked about a few areas. I wouldn’t even know how to even start to define, I think they traditional areas in front of the blinking light on Asbury Street. Yeah, high visible areas because that’s what we’re talking about visibility and, and combo I put your position

and views, but saying, hey, you’re gonna go to town meeting and vote just put this name in your head and maybe go online and research and look. Learn more about what I’m about, not the sign in front of. I can’t do it, but I would, I would challenge you with is in this town adjacent to every single

one of those is a piece of private property on both sides. So Phil consensus with you because that’s what you’re trying to build a distance to get your vote. So go out, go out and knock on doors, build consensus, put your signs on. There’s plenty of private property out there, so right

adjacent side of the street side of the street that’s my point of view and the reason why I put the Question was because I wanted to put it in a, just to be transparent. I wanted to put it in a public place because I didn’t want to

put it on, I, I don’t have a ton of money, so I can’t make sure everybody gets a sign, um, I bought the signs of my own money and I thought putting it in public property would help signal that I intended to run for the whole town, you know, not just any one particular individual, um, and those

probably who have prime real estate where it’s high traffic. It would be harder to engage in a conversation in good faith if they felt like my only purpose for being there was to stick a sign on their lawn. Um, so I’ve definitely been doing the door

knocking. I know all of you had to do the same thing probably and freeze my butt off out there for the past 3 months to get my name out and this was sort of what I thought was kind of like a All right, there’s a town policy that says here are all the requirements for signs.

I got a sign that was met all of the policy and said, OK, you know, that’s what’s allowed, it’s temporary, and then it comes down. Um, I also submitted in my request that If there was a problem and you guys wanted to attach an additional condition that says, hey, this is getting out of

hand, or there’s somebody else has put a sign up that didn’t get permission. I’ll take mine down the next day. Um, so I submitted that. I’m happy for any additional conditions that you all want to apply or if it’s just one sign in one location, uh, be happy with that too. So. I’m very open to

other ideas and concepts, but I also wanted people to know why I was interested, as a path, um, as opposed to go on the private route. I wanted to right it sounds like a reasonable request, and I appreciate all you’re doing. The problem is, is that we have to, we have to think about worst-case scenario.

And the worst case scenario in the precedent we set would be something that I don’t think that we would want to engage in as a town, and that’s the unfortunate thing. It’s not people like you. It’s, it’s, it’s, in a worst case scenario, we don’t, can’t even imagine. There’s always something that comes up, you’re like, oh, I

didn’t even think about that. So until we really think about it, and like I said, if we wanna, if you wanna make, make this your mission to rewrite a, a, a policy that we really think about and talk about and converse about, I’m more than welcome to do it, but it’s just,

it’s too, um, it’s not something that I’m prepared to make an exception and then it’s gonna create a can of worms for us down the road. Yeah, thank you, Bill. My opinion is we’ve always let people do it and they’ve always taken their signs down promptly. I don’t, I, I don’t have a problem with it.

We have limited ways of people, um, a announcing that that they’re running and I would just vote for it because I think it’s limited as long as the signs are down like within 3 days after the election. Think about somebody who could afford a 1000 signs.

They’re going to have done that. Well, but the, we have to, we have to govern the worst case scenario. I just find this very inconsistent with the fact that like we’re saying that like very specific groups for very periods of time where there has to be a policy for the digital

sign. There has to be a policy for the rooms. There has to be a policy for this. And now suddenly we’re like, I mean. Just let it happen. I don’t, that doesn’t seem consistent. Like I don’t think we can do that. I, well, but I, but it

always has happened and people have always just none of us, it never, you said we continue to let it happen. The moment that someone called last year and complained and showed that that was town property. The signs were removed. That wasn’t like authorization from the select board. I’m saying, so last year,

that’s true. Yeah. But for multiple years before that, people just put their signs up and they took them down, and, and I agree we wouldn’t want 25 of one person signed, but what this, I think what this case law is saying is that unless there’s an airtight policy of which the constitutionality of

that, of creation of that policy, they’re saying is not correct. And then they’re saying that there is a way that you could do it, but you would have to decide the space and you would have to say. anytime year round. So if we say that, the corner of Cumby’s belongs to the town and it’s the sign

corner. Anyone at any time can put any sign there, but people have they put they put signs up for their landscaping for, you know, different, different things because we thought it was because we thought they were asking, OK, aside from that, the, uh, I, I don’t, I don’t know. I, I can’t speak to

that specifically. I can just say that through the years there have been signs up in front of the blinking light gas station and Asbury. Same thing. I I, I asked Asbury. I went into the Asbury gas station and asked if I could put my sign out there, and they said yes.

I’m I’m just, I’m just looking at it as an innocent opportunity for candidates to put their signs up for a very limited amount of time and if it turns out to be a problem, then we, was it a problem for the Hamilton Win Pride picnic to advertise on town property, but it is not a problem. for us

to allow anyone to place a sign on town property. I would like consistency in the way that we govern. That’s what I’m asking. OK, so I, I, I will just make a comment. I’m not. Broadly judging what I’m saying is the Hamilton Wenham Picnic and the um initiators of that use the town logo. I, I, um, improperly

and I’m, and, and my comment to that is that does not include a sign on public property and, and I think we can look at those two situations differently. Because of the specific situations, that’s, I have one last comment, and then I’ll be done, which was that all of the candidates received

an informational like little write up about the zoning bylaws, Section 6.3 in reference to 6.3.1, and that any signage that they would need the select board’s approval, so everyone had equal opportunity, if you will, to come and ask and so I also felt kind of like, oh, people wanted

to do this. Go through the pain of sorry that I’ve now made you all kind of go through the the brain damage on this, but that everyone had equal access and the opportunity to do this and um you know, I just want to provide that context in case folks didn’t know that all candidates received the same

message and understood the same process that I’m attempting to go through. So if there’s any concerns about that. Well, my concern, and this has nothing to do with keeping someone’s sign. I want to be consistent that if, if Ben puts his sign up, And another candidate also wants to go through this

process. There’s no time for them to do that because we like, like a month and a half ago and I think again, if, if somebody would like to make a motion, we can vote on it. That’s fine. I, I I find this inconsistent with how, how policy and focus we

are and making sure we have control over who can use the rooms and for how long and for what purposes and who can do what. And all of a sudden we’re like, nope, any signs of any kind, put them out there. We, we, we trust you’ll take them

away. But like, that means. Oh, but they have, but they have Caroline. That’s, that’s. That doesn’t make it OK. Like the history is riddled with people who did things that they weren’t supposed to. That doesn’t mean we codify them. Um, I, I think it’s over regulating to not let the let poor

candidates put their but again we’re not saying we can’t say just candidates. What this is saying is if we say you can put your sign out there. We are authorizing that put signs in the middle of July. You can put signs on town property, but who sent the packages to the candidates that said they could

come in front of the select board and put a sign up with these qualifications to me if I’m a candidate, I’m pretty mad that I was given that guidance. I have no idea. I’m assuming that come from the League of Women Voters or for Karen is on the call. She might know if

there’s some sort of packet given out it’s a fair warning kind of notice like these are the zoning bylaws and guidelines that need to be followed. And so I, I read on the. There was no exclusions for any types of signs whether it was like for for profit, for money, for advertising, or for,

right, and, and, right, and that’s the issue with people come before us all the time asking to put up their signs and we don’t have any issue with it, so I do, we have, we, we do. We have debate everyone if it’s a town organization or raising money for a town organization we’ve allowed it.

I relate to candidate someone running for a town board the town. It’s like and that’s, but they’re not, but they’re not, they’re not a town representative yet. That’s the don’t underestimate that stipend, not a representative. I’ll start by saying I think we need a policy to do it based on

the guidance, but it’s a shame I don’t believe the guidance is being read correctly, but we can make that. I. I don’t. I think. I that that that the guidance is that we would should allow it’s it’s saying we shouldn’t, so I’m saying absent saying that it’s saying it, we could, we, it’s. He gave

us right, he gave us the options at at the bottom of his opinion, but I think come up quickly, not for this, when you say guys, I mean, I’m talking about the guys he got from. Yeah, no, I get it now. Right. Just be careful what you do.

There are zoning laws that you can get temporary signs, uh, approved if you request it through the select board. It didn’t have any limitations about who can get a temporary sign in place, and I said, well, that’s me. I’m looking for a temporary sign on public property. I didn’t read it as.

I appreciate all the context we’ve received now from council, which I can see the. No, so that works and, uh, let’s. I like We’ll definitely put it on new business for a policy that we could be You know, specific on, but we did absent that to your point, we do need consistency and so kind of my

hands feel tied. Well, he’s here asking us, so why that’s sort of. But it is inconsistent with some examples that were brought up. If, if again, if somebody would like to make, yes, sir, to the mic. It sounds like we didn’t approve anyone. No one came to us before ever to say, can I put it up there

so we have, we don’t even have a precedence. People are just doing it. It’s just like Bob Stallard Bay Road. I was wondering what other towns are doing. You It’d be very helpful to know since we really don’t have a big problem here, but we’re thinking there could be.

Why don’t we look at two ways, what other towns have either done it or not done it. Yeah, I mean, I, I look, I did because we always do that. It’s the first place I always go, I always look at other towns. There’s either, they’re either no policy or there’s a policy

against it. I couldn’t find any time I had a policy supporting it, so they clear cut, no political signs of public property, or they were silent on the issue, but nobody had a policy allowing it. In the ones I looked, yeah. I don’t see it as a problem as you drive. But when you see 1000 signs on

school property for something that the school doesn’t support, that’s a problem. Well, and I used this example the other day. So when I was home. Over the last election. There is a, I, I don’t know if it’s policy or just nobody says anything that you can put signs on public property in my mom’s town.

So she’s going to vote and there are Dozens and dozens and dozens of political signs all over the courthouse lawn, all over the town hall lawn, and it’s like it’s a lot. It’s, it’s a lot that it, that you’re taking in in that state, that means people can put them on the library lawn, they can put

them on the fields to hold them in our town, you mean? Are you talking about our town? But if you say that A candidate can put a sign on public property and you do not designate exactly where. That’s what the policy would have to they can just go stick one in in a field.

And I’m not saying they would, but I’m like, we, we literally were saying that the, the library couldn’t put something on the digital sign unless they had an official friends group, and now we’re like, just this time. I, I just, it feels weird to me. That we, we like the library book sale was going to

be a problem on the digital sign, but Policy is on political signs were just saying like, see what happens. Well because they don’t, I, I suppose they don’t have the advantage of being a town entity and And how else do they get their message out to the greater community. Yeah, but I

mean like. Again, I, I want to support the candidates. It was terrible. It was terrible that like one Fallon’s gas day or one of the gas stations told me I absolutely couldn’t put my sign up when all the other candidate signs were up because they politically didn’t agree with me, and that’s frustrating.

I didn’t get a sign there, but that was, that was his problem. No, well, technically that wedge of grass, oh, here we go with any of them but technically that we your grass belongs to the town, you know, and so it’s like, Again, a motion can be made. I’m happy to vote on. I’m not, I’m not

saying that they can’t, but, well, OK, so I’ll make a motion that we allow this candidate to put his signs up in um in front of Cumberlands or in front of the blinking sign and have it. Promptly removed 3 days after the election. I don’t think we’re allowed to say that according to this, we cannot

put a time restriction. yes, for, for aesthetic reasons, you can’t do that. No, no, this says if we, if we designate a specific location and environment where all groups can do it, but we cannot, we, it says in here, but we’re not making a policy where we’re agreeing to this particular

candidate who has come before us, but it’s still a regulation targeting speech based on its community content and it is Presumably unconstitutional to justify. That we can that we can prohibit we’re not prohibiting anybody. No, we’re saying after two weeks you have to remove it. Your free speech is over, right, for aesthetic reasons, but the aesthetic

reasons only applies to the specific location that we designate later. And I did designate two locations. OK. Do I have a second? I just think there’s too many loose ends on this as much as I All right, all right. Um, I wish Joe was here because I know he was, he spoke with counsel or counsel

was here. It’s difficult to go against a council recommendation didn’t say not though, if you, if, if you’re putting ourselves at risk. Yeah. Uh, he, he gave. But he also says that we have to adopt a policy, not that we approve a singular, the entire thing stems around. We said we’re thinking about this, and they

said, and we said we want to put together a policy, and this was the response. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Yeah, do we have a second? All right, so with no second, the motion fails. You can put one in my yard. Yeah, no, you can

put one in my yard. Yeah, you put, yeah, you’re welcome to come put one on you. I’ll show you where he lives, yeah, he’s got a prime location. Thank you, Bill. Uh, Joe will have to officially, officially email all of us tomorrow morning or whenever he’s back. I’d like to follow up with you just on some

stuff. Some stuff Uh, yeah, you’re welcome. I have no one passes by my street, but you’re still welcome to put a sign there. Um, it’s the wine bottles. Uh, all right, uh, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. I move that we adjon. OK, I’ll talk so quick. I know, uh, Tom Myers. Tom Meyers I

William Mos I. Rosie Kennedy, I, Bill Wilson, I Caroline Bolieu,