00:00:01,300	S1:
All right. So I'm going to call the, uh, Tuesday, September 23rd Select Board meeting to order because we're on zoom. We'll do a roll call vote. We'll start with, uh, Bill Wilson.

00:00:13,767	S2:
Bill Wilson here.

00:00:15,267	S1:
Rosemary.

00:00:22,000	S1:
I see she's on, but she's muted.

00:00:27,100	S1:
We'll go to uh, Tom Myers.

00:00:30,267	S3:
Tom Myers here.

00:00:32,100	S1:
Uh, William Olson here. And we will circle back with Rosie. But we do have a quorum until she, uh, gets on with do the introductions here. All right. Um, got a few things to go over today, but let's start with, um, our boards and committees. Openings for affordable housing trust. We have one opening for Conservation Commission. We have two openings for community preservation Committee. We have one opening for a member of the historic district Commission for fin com fin. Finance and advisory committee. We have two openings. Historic district commission. We have two openings for three year terms and two openings for two year terms. One must be a resident of the historic district and one must be a resident realtor. And then for Human Rights Commission, we have two at large openings. So I feel like this list is getting smaller. So it's a good sign, correct?

00:01:24,667	S2:
It does feel like it's getting a little smaller. It's still, um, you know, Conservation Commission openings are real big issue. Um, we get an opening on the Affordable Housing Trust, as you mentioned. Uh, and two opens on the Human Rights Commission. So we'd like to see those get kind of get filled, but two openings on the finance advisory committee. So we need to get people active involved in these committees.

00:01:45,868	S1:
Um, it's a portion of our meeting we will take, uh, public comment will be taken for 30 minutes, and each speaker will have, uh, no more than three minutes to speak. So it's a zoom call. Please raise your hand. Virtually with the yellow hand. And Joe will call on you. And you can shoot yourself with your name and your address and and preferably camera on, if that's okay. Just so we can see you as we talk to you.

00:02:16,767	S1:
You can go ahead and see what he wants to speak.

00:02:20,801	S2:
Nobody's raising their hands, sir.

00:02:23,767	S1:
Okay, I will check in with Rosie. Rosie, are you there now? I am okay, great. So roll call. Don't say roaches. So we'll go back to roll call. Say Rosie Kennedy here.

00:02:38,100	S4:
Here. Rosie Kennedy here.

00:02:39,868	S1:
Great, excellent. And I think we're just missing Ben. And Ben said he was going to travel.

00:02:45,367	S2:
He wasn't Ben's driving. He wasn't sure if he was going to make it tonight okay.

00:02:49,167	S1:
For consent agenda. We have one item to approve minutes of the August 4th, 2025 Select Board meeting. Any comments or questions or revisions needed on that?

00:03:03,801	S3:
None here.

00:03:04,767	S1:
Can I get a motion to approve the minutes of August 4th, 2025 select board meeting.

00:03:09,868	S4:
To moved.

00:03:11,367	S1:
A second.

00:03:12,367	S3:
Second.

00:03:13,100	S1:
Second by Bill. So all those in favor say aye. Thank you, I do. Roll call. Vote. Sorry. Uh, Bill Wilson.

00:03:20,467	S4:
Rosie Kennedy, I.

00:03:21,901	S3:
Bill Wilson, I Tom Jones II.

00:03:25,067	S1:
And William Wilson, I thank you. I got a few things on the agenda today. We'll kind of go over the overall agenda and then we'll, uh, back up and do so. We've got a cell phone. Let's see. We got department reports first with Tim Olson. Yep. Uh, and then we've got then we'll talk about, uh, and that's at 730. So is there. Um, do we got to come back to that, Joe? Is he ready to go now?

00:03:50,467	S2:
No, I just we had given ourselves, um. We might need to change the way we do the agenda. We've given ourselves time for public comment and nobody sells at that time. So, um, we could take things out of order. So you can start with that. Um, somebody has a question later. We can always address it.

00:04:06,667	S1:
Okay. I just want to give people a rundown. So department reports first, then we'll do a cell phone lease discussion. Understand what the, uh, terms are and how that fits within our current agreements with the town. Uh, finalized town manager evaluation in 2026. Unfortunately, we're at the table that because I did not finish it. I was working on the development agreement a lot this week, and, um, I'm gonna need a few more days on that, so we'll do that at the next meeting. We have, uh, budget goals, uh, for fiscal year 2027. Uh, we're going to talk about the Gordon Conwell development agreement, and we're going to talk about, uh, special time meeting calendar for December 5th. Um, so we're not the only thing we'll be voting on tonight is the budget goals and guidance for fiscal year 2027.

00:04:52,300	S1:
So let's start with Tim Olson.

00:05:01,100	S5:
Can everybody hear me? All right.

00:05:03,767	S3:
Perfect.

00:05:04,601	S5:
All right. I got a new computer. So my the microphone is kind of a little tricky sometimes with zoom and teams and all that.

00:05:12,701	S1:
Oh. We gotcha.

00:05:13,801	S5:
So, uh, yes. Tim Olson, DPW director, come before you guys tonight to, uh, bring you guys up to speed on some capital projects that we are currently working on, uh, and planned in the future. Uh, answer obviously, any of your questions, uh, pertaining to any of the projects and, uh, if you have any questions or, um, projects that I don't bring up that you want some information on, I can be happy to share that with you as well. So, um, I know probably the biggest project on everybody's minds right now is the Hamilton Town Hall. Um, let me just give you a kind of a recap of where we are. Um, we just, uh, actually yesterday poured the, uh, foundation for the addition. Uh, the original project timeline was to do some of the additions work prior to the, uh, historic building. Um, because of some unforeseen structural issues, the contractor, uh, switch gears and went inside the building. Uh, the existing, uh, town hall and has performed all the utility upgrades. Uh, drywall is up. Trim work is happening. Uh, getting ready for some interior paint colors and mockups. Uh, within the next week, uh, a week and a half. Um, so some of the things you don't see outside. Uh, there was a lot of work going on in the inside. Uh, I just wanted to bring everybody up to speed with that. That the contractor, uh, has been, um, really very diligent on, uh, working, uh, trying to get, uh, the project, um, back on track. It was a little delayed with some of these structural issues. I think they've done a great job working with their timeline with the subcontractors, which is not easy when there are some delays. Sometimes those subs, uh, they only have a short window for them to come in, uh, if they miss that window. And now we're waiting a little bit for them to come back. So there's, uh, some, you know, some negotiating. There's some working with the schedule. Um, there's some recovery that we are working with. Um, last meeting we had, um, they are on track right now. They're telling us of February 2026 completion, uh, which is fairly close to where we thought they would be. Um, so I think they're they're still moving ahead, uh, doing so, um, at a, at a good pace. Um, next up on that would be, uh, the roofers are up there right now. They've been there. The. Well, not right now, but the last few days, uh, they've been roofing. They've, uh, stripped all the old shingle. Uh, they've installed all the new, uh, insulation, as well as the new, um, decking. Uh, prepping for new shingling. So they've got about half of the roof fully decked, ready for shingle. Um, and then they postponed some of the work today just because of the rain coming in. So everything is weather tight. Uh, what they have installed is weather tight. Ready for, uh, next couple days of rain is what we're hearing. So, um, they're moving at a good pace. Um, the the addition itself. The next steps are the CMU, uh, elevator tower. That is going to be happening, I believe, in the next week or so that week that works. Going to start. And once the CMU tower is up, they will have one more concrete pour for the basement flooring. And then they can start going vertical, uh, with the construction of the addition. Um, so talking with them, they're still on track to have the full exterior of the building, um, completed and painted before winter is what they are trying to. That's what they're working for. Um, so yeah, I'm not sure if anybody has any specific questions about the construction itself.

00:09:02,067	S1:
Um, that was my. Yeah, that was my question, Tim, was that we, uh, with a February completion date being in the middle of winter, uh, what risk do we have to, uh, winter conditions affecting the completion date? Would they be done with all the exterior work before snow falls? And then we'll do what? Landscaping in the spring.

00:09:20,801	S5:
That's correct. Yeah, that's that's kind of what their schedule shows right now is to have everything done before winter come back in. Uh, you know, finish up, you know, the inside, the interior work, uh, over the winter, come back in the spring and do the final restoration. Um, some of the site work that can't be obviously done that time of year. Um, but, uh, the building itself, uh, would be mostly complete, if not fully complete, before that spring. Uh, restoration time frame. So, um, that's kind of what we're shooting for. To have everything, uh, the exterior fully weather tight, uh, painted, and then working on the interior, uh, the data, the telecom, uh, you know, the the outfitting of the building, uh, the final, um, HVAC, electrical, uh, all those component plumbing, things like that to, uh, the furnishings and things like that in the building.

00:10:14,400	S1:
So and of all, if all the trades been awarded, is there anything that has not been awarded yet in terms of finishes or any of, you.

00:10:21,267	S5:
Know, all the trades have been awarded? Yeah, that's part of like with with the public work, a lot of the trades are it's it's awarded they're awarded up front. Uh, what hasn't happened yet is not all the obviously all the submittals have been, um, put in for review. Um, they're working on right now. They're working on, uh, the, the gutters and the downspouts of the town hall. So they're moving ahead with submittals, but there are still several to go that tie into the finishing of the the finishes of the project. So.

00:10:56,167	S5:
I do have um, I just did want to bring up, uh, you know, we are currently, uh, on or within the contingency of the budget. Um, but I have, um, and then maybe it's out of the abundance of caution. I have, um, planned to, um, to apply for additional CPC funding, uh, just to carry me through, uh, with a healthier contingency. The rest of the project. There are some still unknowns, obviously, with the historic building. Um, we have a lot of them figured out. We have a lot of them surfaced. Uh, but I would like to have a little bit more contingency, uh, to work with if needed. Um, I do have a grant that, um, should be awarded. Uh. Fingers crossed in November. And if we do receive that grant, it's through the Massachusetts Office of Disability for $250,000. That would go towards the expense of the elevator and ramp itself. If we get that grant, that gives me, um, uh, a little bit more comfort, that will have the required funding to finish the project and all and complete all the necessary items. So there will be a CPC. Um, and, uh, I've been, uh, I told Jay Jay Butler about that. I've been working on the application, but that would be in I wouldn't call it a placeholder, but that's how I intended to use it. Um, but it's obviously depending on what we come across. Uh, it's just another source of funding that, uh, we have to go through the steps to get that. And that's what I'm doing. Just to be more out of the abundance of caution is what I said, just to make sure we have enough money to complete all the tasks assigned. I also have the, uh, working with Vicki Mahoney, our energy manager. We are looking at a AV grant, uh, to help offset the costs for outfitting the new memorial room upstairs with the required PA system. Um, the monitors, uh, speakers, things like that. Um, so that is, right now I have encumbered those funds in this project. I budgeted for them. But obviously, if we land that grant, then that that funding would come available for other items, uh, as necessary. Um, so we're, you know, I've been in touch with Joe. Uh, I've been in touch with, uh, you know, Rich, the other OPM, um, as well as our, our design team and things like that of where we are and where we can potentially recover or or look to, um, avenues of, of, um, reducing costs or even some ducts, uh, in our project, uh, where it makes sense. Um, I'm not looking to take away things that are necessary. I'm looking at strategies in order for us to save some money. Call it value engineering, if that's what you want to call it. But, uh, ways to save some of the money, uh, and recoup some of that and, and, uh, keep that contingency as healthy as possible. Uh, for us to finish the project.

00:13:58,968	S1:
So we have pain killer yet?

00:14:02,501	S5:
Uh, so the outside is going to remain the same. The outside says, you know, we're going to stick with the historic colors that we had on there. Uh, inside, there's going to be, uh, the plan is offices are going to be like a gray tone. Um, throughout the building, the interior corridor, the main corridor on the first floor. The historic color was a gold. So there's going to be several shades of gold that we're going to have mocked up, uh, for to look at the staircase. The first and second floor. The historic color is a green, so there's going to be a few shades of green in that area. And, uh, the meeting room upstairs, there was a, a poll that was put out. Um, seems like blue. It's like a steel. Blue is the preferred color there. So we're going to mock up a few colors there for, for, uh, you know, to look at, see what it looks like on the walls. And then, uh, obviously ceilings are white. Uh, so there'll be a lot of white. There'll be a lot of kind of off white, um, and then some, some nice historic colors that we, uh, that the architect is, has brought up to our attention and done some homework and research on. So, uh, and looking at the paint itself, once the wallpaper was removed in the corridor, it was a it was a gold, uh, a nice, rich color. I think it would look really nice there. So. Mm.

00:15:23,868	S2:
Okay. Okay.

00:15:25,400	S4:
Can I ask a few questions about the colors? Why is institutional gray going to be inside the offices?

00:15:34,667	S5:
So the gray is a, um, just a neutral color that we felt would go well with the desk. Um, the desks that we have pre purchased, um, as well as the flooring color.

00:15:49,200	S4:
So what is the what is the, um, historic commission? Think about institutional gray for the beautiful renovated town hall.

00:15:59,767	S5:
I haven't asked them.

00:16:01,868	S4:
Okay. Well, because I, I give that thumbs down. The other question. The other colors, I give two thumbs up, but gray anyhow. Not my sole decision. But if I were voting, I would not vote for gray. Um, okay, so when you're finished, I just have a couple of questions about some of the work that you're you're doing.

00:16:25,200	S5:
Um, no, I'm, I'm I'm happy to answer any questions. I was pretty much wrapped up with what I was. Um, you know, I. Let me just add that, um, the work, um, that's currently going on. And then in the near future, uh, they are working on the trimming side, uh, the wainscot, uh, chair rail, all the door trim. It's all historic. It's all been millwork, um, milled to match, um, the interior trim. Uh, they are working on the exterior trim right now with, uh, the roofline and, uh, the insulation and, uh, roof work that I mentioned before, waterproofing in the basement. Uh, we've done a lot of packaging and waterproofing in the interior, uh, areas of the basement where the fieldstone foundation was, uh, leaching and, uh, wicking. Uh, so we've done some waterproofing work there. Drywall is pretty much up throughout the building, uh, being sanded, uh, today, uh, getting ready for the interior paint mockups, um, site work, elevator shaft, like I said, should be starting again back in the next few weeks. So, um, that's kind of where we in a summary of what's happening now and what's planned. So.

00:17:41,567	S5:
Happy to answer any questions on the town hall.

00:17:44,000	S4:
Yeah. Okay. Bill, for me just ask a few questions. So, um, I know that there were issues with the foundation work where the addition is going. Was that a significant problem? And I don't know if I remember being told exactly what the issue is and how expensive it was to, um, to resolve the issue.

00:18:08,601	S5:
So, uh, long story short, what what happened was there wasn't a there was an exterior staircase that got removed from the from the building underneath this mysterious staircase, there was a large concrete foundation. Uh, that was not, um, it was it was. We didn't know the size. We didn't know the significance of this. So when the contractor had to obviously remove that area in order to open up the excavation for the, the the addition. Um, I think I think some of that concrete was cast into the field stone wall. Um, not much we could do. Uh, they were very diligent with working with trying to remove it, but it was cast within. So when they removed it, um, some of the field stone, that section of the field stone wall became compromised, um, and was not, uh, structurally sound. And that was kind of that was a couple we always were planning a, um, a penetration into the field stone wall, uh, foundation. But in that area that was about six feet away from that. Uh, so we had to enlarge the, the opening. And in doing so, we had to then put in a new, larger header, uh, larger Your structural support as well as, um, we looked at two options. We looked at a steel header, and then we actually looked at a concrete wall. Uh, we went with the wall option because on the back side of the wall, uh, in the mechanical room is where they are installing all the new geothermal, um, system. So they needed some type of wall structure, a support structure to, to, um, attach all that system. Uh, so we went with the concrete wall and the price that we got, uh, from the contractor to do that extra work was just over 40 grand. So.

00:20:07,601	S2:
I mean, I mean, at this point, as Tim was saying earlier, we're within our contingency, but that wasn't unforeseen. And we're just trying to, you know, look ahead and make sure that we we stay within our contingency.

00:20:17,701	S5:
So, yeah, I.

00:20:18,601	S1:
Think but I think I do feel we talked about this before. It's at a previous meeting. So I'm not sure if you were at the meeting or not. But we did talk about this issue at a premium, I think, within the last couple of months, but I don't remember what meeting it was. Joe.

00:20:32,200	S3:
Yeah.

00:20:32,801	S5:
Yeah.

00:20:33,000	S4:
Well, that's that's a pretty good explanation. I appreciate that, Tim. So it doesn't sound like it was anything horribly significant?

00:20:40,667	S5:
No. Um, and then inside there was some structural work. Since we're on that topic. There was some structural, uh, with the existing headers in the building to accommodate, uh, to, to allow for us to re, uh, to, I guess re, um, to put in new office space, uh, to a relay out. I guess you want to call it, um, we needed to we were relying on some of the headers being in good shape. Uh, and they were they were not in good shape. And they were also, uh, a lot smaller than we, um, originally thought. Uh, once we got into the ceiling, we could see the size. We could see that there was some, um, um, some concerns with that. So we had to then put in some structural work inside. And that's not just on one level that actually has to be all the way supported down to the basement. So there was a series of, uh, support headers, levels that we had to put in to accommodate the new layout, but also make it safe for, um, for the function of the new town hall. So that was the other thing. And that was that was a lot of that wasn't able to be seen because it was hiding in walls, uh, until we demoed the, uh, demo of the building. Uh, then we opened up all the walls, we saw what we were working with, and, and, uh, we had to make some improvements and enlarge some of the beams. Carry beams, actually, in some spots. So, uh, that was a significant, um, I think that was up near around $70,000 to do that work. So, I mean, the contingency that I was given with this project was about 10%. That contingency also covers not only the construction costs that we may incur or unforeseen circumstances and addressing those. And every job, there's going to be smaller ads and deletes and what? Things like that. But um, but my the contingency also covered my engineering construction administration costs, my builders risk insurance, which was over $100,000. So if you look at the big picture and the construction itself, right now, we are in pretty good shape with what we've had, uh, with the construction change orders, uh, we are far with well below the 10% of what if you're looking construction itself, I just have some other costs, the soft cost and things like that, that add into that contingency, that are are, you know, decreasing it to a point that I feel like I may want to just try to gain, you know, make it a little bit more healthy for us to finish and be comfortable with what we have to make sure that I'm not having to disregard something that may be a priority or may be important because of funding. I just want to make sure I don't plan to use all of it. I plan to use as much as I need to make sure that we're making the right choices, and we're completing the job and the scope as desired.

00:23:38,067	S4:
So thank you.

00:23:41,567	S3:
Yeah. And Tim great job. First of all, you know, and you pretty much just answered my question that was trying to connect the dots a little bit better with the CPC. Ask for funding. Um, because as we know they've donated a lot already and their funds are pretty depleted. And there's, there's a there's a couple other grants, I think, coming at them as well on the ninth when they vote. But, uh, primarily what I'm hearing is, you know, the foundational issues, the structural issues in the foundation and the headers kind of were the added costs that on top of those other soft costs, you're looking to create a buffer, you know, with the with the money from the CPC for unforeseen things going forward. Nothing. Nothing right now, in your view, that says, hey, I need it.

00:24:23,701	S5:
Correct. Yeah. I mean, I have forecasted out, uh, some upcoming items that I believe, um, will fall within the current contingency. I've, I've done the best I could estimating, uh, working with the architect to give me a number. Um, you know, part of that whole contingency as well is the National grid, uh, service upgrade. Uh, we haven't even got a price yet from them because they, um, are working through the design. I think my price that I have is, is with. I think they're going to be within that. I think I was a little conservative with it, but I still I don't have all the kind of the items on the table for me to say right now. Yeah, we got enough. So what my thought is, is if we have the ability and yes, I have some grants pending, but my I don't want to get to a point that we have say we don't get those grants. Now we're having to decide what's coming out. And, and we've gone down that road and a couple of other buildings in town and we're paying the price a bit for those at a later date, and it's much more expensive when we're doing it now. So I want to make sure what we're doing, and I'm not it's not going to be a, you know, I'm not doing anything that's lavish and and not these are all standard, you know, items that need to be done to make it a safe, uh, working environment for not only the staff, but obviously the public as well. So these are items that are our standard construction needs that are just a little bit different than what the plan set was, um, back, you know, almost eight years ago. Um, you know, those are the items that we need to make sure and maybe the little, you know, overruns on, um, flooring, for example. You know, the flooring was covered. We put in a certain percentage of, of flooring, additional flooring. But once we take off the covering, we may need a little extra flooring because the flooring is is damaged in some spots is. That's all I'm looking for. Is there some unforeseen and unknowns at this point that I want to make sure I have a healthy contingency to, uh, to move in the right?

00:26:26,467	S3:
Yeah. No, no, I think you're doing all the right stuff. And I did hear gray paint is more expensive than other paints, so just kidding. Uh, hey, so my next question really is around. Uh, if it is, you know, which I believe it will be completed in February. What does that mean for, uh, move in, Joe? Is that the same month or is there a phased approach thereafter?

00:26:45,300	S2:
Well, I mean, so look, I was I've always been trying to be really cautious about the whole construction. You never know how long things take. You never know if weather affects the deadline. When when we handed the building over to Campbell, they told us at the end of January. Now, this in the middle of February, which really isn't that bad, but I based on their original schedule, I had always said I'd try to move us in there after the town meeting on the first weekend in April.

00:27:10,467	S3:
So that's what I thought, I recall.

00:27:12,067	S2:
So I we're the change in schedule isn't affecting us at all. We're still talking about? An April early May move in, you know, around that time. So I. I'm none of this none of this is is concerning to me. I think we're we still got that well in hand.

00:27:26,801	S3:
We still have winter. Okay. Perfect. I'm good. Good. Great job.

00:27:30,667	S5:
Yeah. Thank you.

00:27:33,167	S2:
Tim, I know that. I know that we're we're probably needing to run into other things here soon to. Do you have any updates on sidewalks or road projects and. Yeah.

00:27:42,501	S5:
So, uh, route 22 paving is almost complete. I think the state was in the last couple of days doing the driveway cutbacks, bridge Street paving. Uh, that's going to be the same, uh, same group as doing the driveway cutbacks. So that should be done within the next, uh, probably week. Um, those were the kind of the larger projects this year. Um, I am working on the next round of road projects, which is planned. Miles. River. Um, Bridge Street, lower Bridge Street. Uh, that's got a pretty good sized drainage component to it. Um, I'm looking at, uh, Essex from Woodbury to the Wenham town line. Essex street. Uh, if we can get those three roads done, that side of town is in really good shape. Um, and then, uh, you know, start moving into, uh, the sidewalk along, uh, we got a note on sidewalk along Highland, uh, from Linden Street to Lake Drive. We're looking at that, uh, looking we're under design with that right now. Um, so that may be a spring time project, because I think there may be a permitting element to that, that, uh, might kick it down the road a little and we might miss the window. So some of these road projects, we're going to try to get the bid out there, maybe some of the work done before winter. Uh, most likely it's going to be a spring. Uh, gearing up for the spring of 26 on those projects. So, um, for road projects, that's what we got. So we're going to be going through a lot of tree work over the next few weeks getting ready for winter. Um, and, uh, we just did a new, uh, replenish on our gas filtration. Uh, so our media was planned to last about, uh, about a year. We got about a year in three months out of it. Uh, and then the replenish, um, we did all four filters with, uh, Virgin Media. Uh, the next time we can do it, we'll actually use the media we just took out. They recondition it, and they'll put that back in and it'll be less cost. Um, but then we'll get into that cycle of trying to, uh, replenish what we can. If not, we may have to go back to a virgin material, but, um, it's very effective. It does a lot. It. The GAC is performing, uh, as an as designed. Uh, and, uh, the quality of the water is, is definitely, um, you know, in much, much better shape than And in, uh, you know, prior to it. So, um, but I. The only other thing I wanted to mention is the lead and copper, uh, with the service work, we are working with Stantec. Uh, it's a state mandated, EPA mandated, actually, uh, led and, uh, led service, um, regs that we are currently under. Uh, I believe some of you may have got some letters. There's going to be another round of notices for people that we don't know. Uh, it's the services. The material is kind of unknown. Uh, that means it could be unknown. On the private side, it could be known on, uh, unknown on the public side. Regardless if you have an unknown on either one or both. Uh, you're going to get a notice of our next kind of steps in this process. Um, the goal is to, um, get to a certain point that we can confidently say, uh, by looking at statistical analysis, by probably doing some pot holing through town. We'd like to say to the state that we are led free town. That's what we're getting to. So we just have to go through proper procedures and phases to get to that point. But every other town and city are under the same under the same time frame as we are. So it's it's, uh, it's something that I feel like we're in good shape. I think we're way ahead of some other communities. Fortunately, um, in this, um, you know, with the, with the regs and keeping up with the compliance as and, uh, to my knowledge, to former DPW employees, water employees that have been here for 40 some odd years, they've never seen a lead service in town. We just need to, um, we need to make, uh, mass DEP and EPA comfortable with that assessment. So that's what we're doing.

00:32:04,200	S6:
Thank you.

00:32:05,367	S2:
Thanks, Jim. Yep.

00:32:09,267	S5:
Is there any questions? Are there other projects anybody else has? I mean, I'm happy to answer them. I know you guys. Time is. I just wanted to make sure that you can always email me. Feel free to come by. I'll give you a tour of the town hall. Um, happy to do so. So.

00:32:27,801	S1:
All right. Great. I appreciate.

00:32:29,067	S7:
Your time.

00:32:30,167	S3:
Yeah.

00:32:30,367	S1:
Thanks, Tim. Thanks for diligence.

00:32:32,400	S5:
Okay. Thank you. Have a good night.

00:32:34,467	S2:
Thanks.

00:32:37,901	S1:
All right. Next item on our agenda is a cell tower lease discussion. So, Joe, from last discussion we had was obviously we're trying to look at a sale of the of the lease. And our issue right now is that the sales are based on a 25 year term, and we are not quite compliant.

00:32:59,300	S2:
Yes. Close. The bids were based on the assumption we could offer a 30 year term. Um, and we've discovered that because we've already got a 30 year lease in place and uh, we've run about five years off of that, we could really probably only offer a 25 year term. Um, Lee Smith is counsel with Capa. He's been working on this for us. I asked him to be here tonight to answer any of your questions. Um, I do get the sense from talking at least to tower lights that had the bid at $627,000. Um, their hard and fast. That would have to be a 30 year lease in order for them to go forward. And they've, you know, they're of course, telling us that changing market conditions, you know, this is probably the best we're going to get, uh, offer we're going to get. That said, we have the $650,000 lease offer from blue Sky. Um, that's also for 30 year term. Uh, the consultant that we had hired and had engaged with to help us get the bids said that she was going to go back to them and see what they thought about the 25 years. But as we had that conversation Thursday afternoon and I haven't heard back from her, I'm but overly optimistic that they're interested in changing the term either. Um, so Lee is here to answer any questions. Uh, help frame what our options are. Um, Bill Wilson and I talked a little bit about the about this on the phone as well as, you know, Bill works in this space, and he had some interesting ideas that I thought the the board could benefit from. So I watched you guys talk to Leonardo.

00:34:28,467	S1:
All right. So, yeah, I think the frame, the discussion is number one. Right. Sort of understand why we said that there was value to it, and we got over that $625,000 range. We thought it made sense from a standpoint of money up front. The town could do what they wanted to do with it versus getting a smaller bit every year for the next 25 to 30 years. So I think we like the value of it, because we got them up to the right number for us to pay attention to it with Bill Wilson's help. Um, so the issue now is if any company is going to base their offer on a 30 year lease. We need to talk about if we want to go back to town meeting and extend the lease to 30 years, so we have the flexibility to negotiate with these providers in the future. So I think that's kind of the topic of today. I don't know what that means. And if that's, you know, it just gives us flexibility. Um, because right now we are what now town approved was a 20 year lease with two five year extension, which is a total of 30. We're five years into it. So. So Bill, that you speak on on your thoughts and then we can listen to a league of his recommendations. And then, then the rest of the board can, uh, ask questions.

00:35:43,367	S3:
Yeah, yeah. So good recap. Are you both so. Um, I think, you know, we've got an asset right now. Right. And, and, and we've learned that it's worth quite a bit of money. So we have the ability we know we could sell it. I think that's still an asset. I still think even with market conditions, you know there's value there. I think the issue and we know we have another location right behind the public safety building that will likely be another tower in in the near future. So then we'll have two assets which we which could be combined might even be more valuable. So I think it's it's nice to have that portfolio if you will. Lee. So I guess one of the things that um, we struggle with though is the lease term, right. Because we're already five ish years into it, I guess. And and say we anytime in the near future or even years from now, you know, if we keep it, you know, how do we get flexibility where I don't think anyone's going to buy it with less than a 30 year lease commitment? Is there any way we could put language on the town floor in December that said, upon sale of either of the assets, you know, we could pivot to a 30 year lease, you know, or do we have to have a bunch of auto renewals? How do we preserve that language where whether it's next week or five years from now, we could go to a third party to sell it and say, we have 30 years that you could purchase.

00:37:05,801	S6:
Hey.

00:37:06,701	S8:
Thanks for everything. Nice to see everybody. Um, I think you're stuck presently with the remaining, uh, length of the 30 year term. That's what was approved by, uh, your town meeting and a number of years ago. Um, just as you raised that question, one thought I have is you could enter into maybe some type of option or written agreement that, uh, goes through the amount of time you have remaining with an option that has a contingency subject to an upcoming town meeting that might, uh, enable the parties to extend it to 30 years or potentially more. But unless and until that happens, I think you're really stuck.

00:37:47,400	S1:
No, I think I think we I think that's where we're at. I think we're, we're I think we're beyond that. I think we know we need to go to town meeting before we do anything. So the question is what do we do? So we're going to put the sale on hold Until we go back to town meeting, come up with more favorable language, and then maybe we wait until the second tower is online. We sell them all together. But yeah, that's what we're looking for. Your advice? If we go back to town floor to to get to get a better language in place, do you have options for language that will give us more flexibility in the future so we don't have to have this issue?

00:38:18,868	S8:
I think it would come down to asking town meeting for a longer term than than they've previously allowed. So.

00:38:27,601	S2:
Right. You could you could you could help us draft that Warren answer with the term that we would want. Right. And get that.

00:38:35,367	S6:
Okay.

00:38:35,767	S8:
And one way to do that is rather than asking for another, you know, consent for another full year, full 30 years, you know, decide what what length, total length, the term that you want and just say, hey, we're just looking for an additional ten years or whatever the case may be. And again, there may be if you think the buyers are going to go away between now and your next town meeting, perhaps. Um, it's it's it's phrased as an option. So you've locked in those terms and let's just say hypothetically, it's $650,000. You're at least able to present those numbers to the town meeting with some form of written agreement that that explains that explicitly.

00:39:19,968	S3:
Yeah, I think we're just looking. I mean, I think I'm willing anyway, to take the risk to hold it and tell these the current buyers, hey, we're going back to town meeting. We're going to have it extended, you know, now, even if we have to RFP it or send it out again, you know, we'll do that. I just looking for your guidance on, you know, do we just say is there a maximum number of years we could put on this on the floor to say, hey, we want to have a a lease, you know, for the towers for 50 years. What I'm trying to do is create a window over the next five or plus years, potentially, let's just say five, where we can sell the asset if appropriate, Yet with at least 30 years left. So a potential buyer would buy it because they want 30 years. Anything less than that, they're not going to buy it.

00:40:03,300	S6:
Right?

00:40:05,601	S3:
So I didn't know if it was flexibility to say, for instance, upon sale of, you know, lease, you know, the town could guarantee 30 year lease, but I don't think we can leave it that open ended.

00:40:17,567	S8:
I don't think so. I don't think you get the contractual ability to to offer a total of 30 years without further town meeting approval. Um, keep in mind, though, if you're talking about other towers as well, if any of them. I apologize for not knowing this, but if any of them are affixed to a building as opposed to just a freestanding tower, you're going to be limited statutorily to those 30 years. But whereas the one behind Town Hall is a freestanding structure. You're you're not necessarily limited to those 30 years.

00:40:50,901	S2:
Yeah. And I guess just so that everybody's aware of all the details, the existing or the proposal to put a second tower behind Public Safety building is with the same company that built the current one ever infrastructures and their partners. Um, that that arrangement was actually signed at the same time the original one was. But, um, Everest chose not to pursue it at the time for a variety of reasons. They've since been out of sight, walked and come up with a plan. They've circulated a draft of the, um, you know, design and location and are planning to go and file for a special permit to build the second tower behind the Public Safety Building, um, at the end of October. So, uh, barring some unforeseen complications, uh, and assuming that it it gets the special permit, then they could be building the second tower, hopefully as soon as this spring, which would be, I'm sure, relief to many people who live in the center, because the one thing we continue to hear is, from residents who live closer to downtown about the sportiness of the cell service in town. And so I think that a second tower, which we've all been working for, working towards for the seven years I've been here, is, uh, seems to be on the horizon. And I think Bill Wilson brings up a good point. We've got one tower that has generated, you know, interest at a level of $650,000 for 30 years, but with two towers be more valuable once we have the second one up. And maybe we pause this, um, and then pursue, um, putting them both out together.

00:42:25,801	S9:
So how long did it take to build the first tower after the permits were secured? Do you remember?

00:42:30,567	S1:
Um.

00:42:31,667	S2:
I'd have to go back and look and give you an exact timeframe. But it was it was relatively quick. They they, um, maybe a year.

00:42:38,367	S1:
A year? Yeah. Yeah, about a year. Yeah. There was some issues with some, uh, at the end of the day, we had to get an easement to go across some property, but it took some time. But but the construction was construction was under a year.

00:42:50,567	S2:
We would we would think and hope that at this point, now, having learned from the last time that we'd get all that stuff together in time. So if there they go through the permitting process here over the winter and have the permits in hand, they won't start building until the spring. We'd be able to line up whatever we needed from time to time, meeting as far as far as easements, um, to support the tower for the annual town meeting. Those would go through, and then they break ground and build it. And probably this time next year, you'd have much better cell service in downtown.

00:43:21,100	S9:
And the proposal is behind the building. Not a fix to the building.

00:43:24,467	S2:
Nope. It's behind the building. Separate freestanding. Okay.

00:43:29,901	S2:
So we had we had it. We had to be a little creative where it would go, but, uh, it looks like they come up with a plan that will minimize its appearance from the roadside and kind of hide it a little bit among the trees that are behind it. So.

00:43:42,567	S4:
Joe, I looked at the plans and I don't I looked at them quickly. I don't remember reading how high this tower is going to be.

00:43:51,067	S2:
I think it's about the same height of 120ft, as if I recall. Um, they haven't put that in. They haven't put that in in writing yet. But they had indicated to me in the sidewalk that they thought it'd be about the same height as the existing tower behind Town Hall.

00:44:05,100	S4:
And, and they're convinced that this is going to make a dramatic improvement in our cell service, because I know that the one at the town hall wasn't the panacea it was promised to be. But I also know that it that they had talked about building the second tower for some time.

00:44:25,167	S2:
So I'm so I mean, if I wasn't here obviously when the first one was approved, right. The, the, the town meeting was in 2016 or 17 that the contracts were signed a year, a year and a half before I even got here. So, um, I if I recall, though, from reading the minutes and talking to some of the folks that were on the boards at the time, And it was always. It was always very clear that they might need two towers in order to solve the problem in town. There was a lot of pushback. Folks wanted to minimize the number towers were putting up, and so it was decided to put in the one behind town hall first and and see how effective it was. And then they'd come back and revisit if they needed a second tower. But I would note that leases were signed with Everest after the town meeting vote for both locations. So they've had signed leases in their hands since 2017. That's them. It's their decision to take a while to act, and the leases don't take effect until, um, they build it and they start building.

00:45:25,868	S1:
But we were presented lots of science and said that. Yeah, that that the more towers you build, it takes the stress off of the other towers. So take stress off of one tower. That tower performs better. And then the new tower performs better. So every time you add a tower in order to add a million. But it takes stress off of one tower and it creates capacity on the new tower. So it's sort of a The a win win. But you know the height is the biggest issue, right? We have to balance the height. We don't want them too high to be an eyesore in town. But height is obviously what makes them perform better. So I think that's also something to consider.

00:45:56,467	S4:
But and.

00:45:57,901	S2:
120ft height might not be ideal to get the best coverage, but it was the.

00:46:02,000	S7:
Best.

00:46:02,701	S4:
Limit.

00:46:03,367	S3:
But but they'll they'll do those tests, Rosie. And they'll, they'll put a crane up or balloons and they'll provide the town with maps to show you exactly how that RF travels and where you'll get coverage and where you won't know. We could take a look at what was proposed back behind the town hall to see if we got what we thought. Um, but remember, the carrier or the provider has to go on that tower, or this company is just building it. They have a a carrier you like behind town hall. We know who's on it. Verizon's on it, and Dish Network's on it. If you have any other carrier, you're not going to have good coverage there because there's not antennas for that carrier. A carrier is a Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, that type of thing. So you can build it. But they gotta come. So.

00:46:44,868	S1:
Right. You're right. Verizon won't have to be another tower to have it be, in fact. Right. That's a good point. So. Yeah. Um, so yeah. So what I was going to say is so the next step sounds like, you know, next steps. We can go back around the board again. But just so I can summarize, next step is we want Lee to form some language format, some language for maybe adding this to the December 9th if we think we want to do it quickly to December 9th meeting, just to give us some flexibility for lease negotiations as we try to monetize our assets. Right. Um, and then number two is, Joe, if there's an offer letter that one of these companies would be willing to sign and says, hey, sign this now, and it guarantees you the $630,000 on December 10th if it's being approved. I'm not sure if someone's going to sign a an offer letter that leaves it open ended until December 10th. But that's something we want to consider, is we want to consider as a board and say, hey, we can't sign the lease now, but we'll let you, know, we got we got competition right now. Right. So we have two people wanting to bid on it. Maybe one of them is willing to sign an open an offer letter, uh, pending the December 9th approval at town meeting.

00:47:51,667	S2:
So I can definitely take that back to both. So we're working with a woman named Samantha from, uh, Tyler Alliance, and I'm working with a woman named Lisa with, uh, in on behalf of, uh, blue Sky. They currently each have offered, um, a letter of intent, which I think would would be enough to lock in the price. I double checked that with them, but those letter of intent specified 30 years. So let me talk to them and see if they're willing to sign the letter of intent. Uh, pending the outcome of a special time meeting in December. And then we'll get here.

00:48:23,267	S1:
But we have to do it. But, I mean, my point is that we negotiated one of them now, right? Hey, you've won the you've won the negotiation as long as you want to sign as an open ended offer letter. Otherwise, it goes back on the street to somebody else.

00:48:34,067	S2:
I mean, currently the biggest, the, you know, the best offers with with blue sky. So we can we can talk about this.

00:48:41,000	S1:
Rosie and.

00:48:41,767	S3:
Rosie. Sorry. Left. Right, Joe.

00:48:44,167	S2:
I'm sorry.

00:48:44,567	S3:
We'll come back to you tomorrow and say. Yeah. The left, 2527.

00:48:49,167	S2:
They could. They could come back and say that they're fine with the 25. I like I said, I talked to Lisa about it Thursday and she said she would contact blue Sky and get back to me, and she hasn't. So I'll call her again tomorrow. Let her know about this conversation. See what she thinks.

00:49:01,901	S3:
And that is a possibility for this board. Whether or not we would say we would take if they said six, 50, 27 years, do we want to do we say yes? Do we vote on that?

00:49:13,267	S9:
Bill Wilson, just a question for you from my own curiosity. Is there any benefit in not doing anything now and just waiting for the second tower to sell them together? Is there is that more value or is it just the same? You know, when we get the same price, just selling them separately?

00:49:29,267	S3:
Yeah. You never know. You know, a bird can. But I think there's I personally think there'd be more value with two. But I can't be certain about that, I would be. You know, this is my my own asset here. I mean, I'd be real. I'd be trying to to get that 650 right now. So I think we're safe, though, to say for either of them to say, okay, we're going to bring it to town meeting. Our hands are tied on this one, you know. Then, Lee, you help us with the language on maximizing what we can, because we could even get more if we said 40 years, probably, you know, if we if we started going up, that's a bigger asset for them with a longer term. Um, you know, so if we adjust the language, you know, I think they would wait till after December 9th.

00:50:13,767	S3:
Even with one tower, Tom. I mean, but but but to answer your question head on, I do think two are more valuable than one to any one buyer.

00:50:22,767	S2:
Because the board want me to consider adding a warrant article to the special town meeting, um, in December 9th. That would include the ability to have, uh, extend the lease from 30 years to 35 or 40 or whatever to get, um, negotiating leverage with the cell tower operators.

00:50:41,400	S3:
I do.

00:50:43,367	S1:
I mean, that's why I propose. So Tom and Rosie, any thoughts on that?

00:50:47,267	S4:
No, I think it. I think it opens our options even more. I mean, I'm listening to Bill's, um, discussion here, and I think it sounds like we could do either, but I think if we extended the lease further, then that would give us more opportunity to choose whatever option we are presented with.

00:51:11,200	S7:
Exactly.

00:51:11,868	S2:
I'll get to work on that tomorrow.

00:51:13,400	S7:
Okay.

00:51:14,267	S9:
Quick question to. Are there potential buyers aware of the potential second site, and have they expressed interest in that?

00:51:23,367	S2:
Uh, so one of the one of the potential buyers is connected to the company that's building the tower. So I know they're aware of it. Um, and the other one was the, you know, our consultant was made aware of that fact and provided with the existing lease for the Public Safety building site. So I would imagine that she divulged that that would be her job, but I will confirm that I wouldn't. I'd be very surprised if she didn't divulge that, but neither expressed. Not nobody made an offer on that lease yet because the tie was thrown up.

00:51:52,067	S9:
At what point can we offload that asset? You know, like, can we do it before it's built but after permitting, or does it have to be fully built before we can start negotiating? Like at what point do we have the ability to start negotiating the sale of that asset?

00:52:07,367	S2:
I'd lean I'd lean on Bill and Lee for that. Um, I wouldn't know for sure. Legally, what we're allowed to sell before the assets completed. And I don't know if we're in the best negotiating position until the tower is up and functioning and has a carrier on it. Um, because they're not going to until they know that, you know, who's who the carriers are and how much revenue is possible. Yeah.

00:52:31,868	S3:
I think you're right on that, I think basically otherwise you're selling an option for service down the road depending, you know, assuming it generates a certain RF capacity. I think the answer is it's got to be up and running probably for and see how many carriers, how many providers go on it. Yeah, I like where you're going with it, but I think we'd have to wait. So I think the better discussion might be to pull Chris Davies in Joe and and have that he, he knows for certain about both locations and say hey, you know you're very interested in this now you're going to own an area that's very valuable to go, hey Verizon versus onesie to Z. I'm giving you a whole cluster, you know, a whole downtown area that extends down the state road, connect in the next town. You know, I think there's value in that.

00:53:18,968	S9:
Yeah. Makes sense.

00:53:21,901	S4:
So I just had one more question, probably for you, Bill Wilson. Um, and it may be adding a fly into the ointment. But my question is this. I have, um, I have been told that there's a Verizon is going to be going before the planning board to request a special permit for a particular small box that's going to be sited on a telephone pole down near where the train crosses one A and I don't know a whole lot about it, except that I have been told it's coming to the planning board. And so my question is how will that affect this new potentially sited tower? And do do you have any knowledge of what this particular project will be?

00:54:22,000	S3:
Bill Wilson Yeah, you know, I'll let Joe go first and then I'll jump right on that. Yep.

00:54:26,868	S2:
The, uh, the proposal to put a box on top of this, uh, on top of the Encrypted telephone calls is actually for AT&T. It's a different so it's a different carrier. Uh, they've been made aware of the, um, the coming, uh, special permit application for the Verizon Tower that was being planned for behind the Public Safety Building. They've chosen to go forward with their own plan for the small box on top of the light, uh, electric pole instead. Um, so, uh, I mean, details about what went into their thought process, I don't know, my understanding from folks in that field is that generally, a monopole is considered the way to get the best coverage. But maybe maybe AT&T doesn't want to be involved with renting space on a Verizon pole. Um, maybe they just see that they can get that pole, that that small box up faster, and that will provide some relief to their customers and potentially a possibility to expand it. But given that it's going to go on a telephone pole that the town doesn't own and won't have any interest in, there's not very little that we can do to, uh, capitalize on that.

00:55:33,167	S4:
Yeah, I was just interested in the concept.

00:55:35,267	S3:
I know, so it's called a small cell, and a lot of carriers do that. And they'll do kind of to answer what Bill was saying earlier. The more site you have, it takes away from the capacity of a, you know, too much traffic. I doubt there's too much traffic anywhere in Hamilton, but it's probably more of a coverage thing where and I think it's over down near 15 Walnut, isn't it, Joe on Walnut or it was.

00:55:55,100	S2:
They originally wanted to put it on Walnut Street across from 15 Walnut in the mall. I think that the planning board had urged them to look closer into the parking lot, closer to the, um, to the train station. And I believe they they agreed to that guidance. And their application is inclusive of a bowl that's inside the parking lot.

00:56:14,868	S3:
Yeah. So carriers these providers will do that and they'll go in and they'll probably say, and you know, they'll get on public utility or telephone poles, probably to cover the train tracks. That's probably why they're coming in and it's probably speed to market. But I would bet you anything if they knew there was a big 120 foot tower, you know, coming within a year, you know, that's where they'll want to end up. You know, you get much more breadth of coverage than you do on top of a telephone pole. Mm. Okay. But a lot of communities use telephone poles. They'll hang little canisters and it allows. Remember we talked about it on Railroad Ave if we didn't get this tower right. It's very similar. And they can come in and they can do Wi-Fi or cellular.

00:56:54,267	S4:
So yeah, I just I mean, when you pass Salem and there is just no cell service on the train all the way north, it is unbelievable. And so maybe that's what they're they're looking.

00:57:08,100	S3:
I would imagine there's there's a benefit to going around the 177 train stations that we have, you know, and carriers can get like faster approvals, you know, with these little monopole thing, not monopoles, but canisters onto a small cell.

00:57:23,100	S4:
Okay. And and that would be pretty effective as well.

00:57:26,767	S3:
Yeah it would. For that area, for that area locally. We've got for big carriers out there, if everyone has to do that on every other or third pole to cover a street or a downtown area or a train station. It's just it looks worse than one big pull that gets everybody on it.

00:57:42,667	S4:
Yeah. You know, and I'll just make the comment that I think every resident of Hamilton knows that our cell service has just just gotten worse over the past couple of years. It's just incredible. No matter what carrier you use. So I think any, any towers or cancers that are going to improve the service are certainly very welcome.

00:58:14,000	S3:
So we have a path Joe then or.

00:58:15,868	S7:
Yeah, I'll, um I'll plan to have it on. Add it to the warrant language. Uh, add it to the warrant and the, um.

00:58:22,667	S2:
And when you guys close the warrant, I believe that's next week. At the next meeting. Rather, um, they'll be an item there for this. It'll be a placeholder for this. There'll be a placeholder for a bill of a previous year that we just found out about. And there'll be the item for the zoning overlay. Um, and, you know, understanding that if you still decide not to go forward with the overlay, um, the bill of the previous year, and this can always get bumped to an annual time, so you won't have to have a town meeting for this. Um, if you don't want to, if the if stuff doesn't go forward for some reason with zoning, you don't you're not bound to have the special time meeting by adding these things. None of them are make or break have to be done next month deals except for the zoning.

00:59:05,667	S3:
So yeah, and I don't know if now's the appropriate time, but we just heard, uh, Tim talk about a potential CPC funding grant application that's going in front of the the CPC on the ninth. Uh, there's some there's another one going in front of that group as well. So I know they reached out to me and ask that if we could accommodate. If something gets approved. Warrant article as well to approve some grants for the CPC. Just. I don't know if that's on the agenda later, but I just while you have that on there and your pen was out, you know that might be a I just.

00:59:36,400	S2:
Took a note down. It wasn't on the agenda, but I mean, I.

00:59:39,267	S1:
Oh, the board has closed the meetings on the agenda so we can talk about it at.

00:59:44,000	S3:
That point. Awesome, I thought so.

00:59:45,701	S1:
Okay. Um, before we move on from this topic, I'll just have the opportunity because this is kind of an important topic in town. But if anybody's on the call would like to make public comment at this point. Uh, two minutes each, we'll give you an opportunity now to say something. So I'll let you raise your virtual hand, and Joe can, uh, identify who it is.

01:00:09,267	S10:
Does it look like it's anybody?

01:00:10,601	S1:
Okay. All right, so move on to the next topic. I was ready to move on. Yep. Um, next topic is, uh, we're going to skip one is financial. Financial goals. Right, Joe?

01:00:23,367	S2:
Yeah. Well, so just, uh, I'd ask you formally table the evaluation goals to the next meeting.

01:00:29,767	S1:
Table? That's the next meeting.

01:00:31,868	S8:
Did I excuse myself?

01:00:34,200	S1:
Yeah. Thank you.

01:00:36,000	S8:
Okay, thanks. Thanks, everyone.

01:00:37,100	S2:
For your time.

01:00:38,067	S8:
Sure.

01:00:38,567	S3:
Thank you. Thank you. Lee.

01:00:40,467	S1:
So, Joe, we got a memo on organizational wide goals. That has nine bullet points on it. Um, they seem to make sense. I just want to go through the process. Did you start with 20 and whittle way to nine or, like, what's the process for. How do you get to these nine and then um, and then sort of talked about how you settle on these nine.

01:01:02,467	S2:
These nine goals are, is that is that showing the nine goals?

01:01:07,667	S1:
Yes.

01:01:08,567	S2:
Okay. Uh, these nine goals with the goals that we've had more or less the last couple of years. Um, a little change in the GFA process. They want us to tie these goals to my goals, then down through the departments to their goals. And we can do that process behind the scenes. But we do need some guidance from you in the in the fin comm. Um, these goals kind of outline our financial, um, our financial goals for the year, uh, for the coming fiscal year. So, uh, ensure the long term financial viability of the town and limit property tax burden on residents by minimizing expenditure increases and working in partnership with all relevant stakeholders within our financial limits. Uh, continue to offer the same services that residents of Hamilton have come to enjoy. Quote unquote level service budget. Ensure staffing levels are appropriate to complete all necessary tasks within the town's operational umbrella. Maintain all capital assets at or above the current level, including buildings, roadways, underground infrastructure, equipment. So that's a big one. We need to commit to making capital improvements to meet required financial policy. Funding of all reserve accounts to include free cash stabilization funds, retained earnings in the Water enterprise trust funds in the overlay to fund a reasonable amount of capital projects as a funding allow. So you can see this is a big concern for the GOP and for our time is making sure that we're staying on top of our capital needs. Um, this one is really related to last year, but to if anticipated revenue and excess free cash is insufficient, then identify options for specific expense reductions and or new revenue sources. So this is kind of getting at the, uh, making sure that we avoid an override. Um, this is really kind of language that kind of tells us to try to live within our means, very specifically, uh, to produce and submit the document, which we did last year. And we were we received the budget presentation award, which we appreciate all the hard work of all of our staff, um, all of our department heads and many of the people that work for them worked very hard on that document last year, and there's room for improvement, and we're going to work harder this year to. To make those improvements and to improve service delivery through program consolidation or other efficiency measures. So that's things like regionalization, which, you know, we've done over my entire seven years here. We've looked for options to deliver services in a different, more efficient manner. And that's certainly something we'll continue to do. Um.

01:03:36,767	S11:
I, I'm listening to the planning board meeting on my on my. Okay. I'm.

01:03:44,367	S2:
I just muted her. Um, so, um, I guess what I'd ask that you know, you provide any feedback on these goals, any changes that you'd like to see us make? I know we're waiting to get, um, some feedback from the fin com as well. I have I think they have this on their agenda for a meeting. Is it tomorrow night, Wendy?

01:04:08,868	S12:
No, they're not meeting till October now.

01:04:11,567	S2:
Oh, okay.

01:04:12,367	S12:
So October 8th.

01:04:13,968	S2:
Okay. so they'll meet you. Meet October 6th. They'll meet October 8th. We meet with the folks at the Collins Center to go over the budget on October 9th. So if you didn't want to vote on this tonight, you don't have to. Um, I just asked that we'd be ready to vote on it on the sixth so that we can provide guidance to our department.

01:04:31,200	S1:
I mean, I think you're right. I think we're going to wait to vote until we get a chance to look at it. I only have one question, and we can go around the board, but, um, my question, Joe, was just get clarity on the comment about 24 free cash because it's sort of I know what you're trying to say there, but it kind of seems to be, uh, in conflict with, uh, not using free cash to lower tax rates. I'm just trying to make that you're talking more free cash to pay for one time expenses out of the budget.

01:04:57,868	S2:
Yeah, right. So when we look at the whole but when we present the whole budget in this document, we present, uh, operations and capital and, you know, you know, uh, we know that we only use, uh, free cash in our budget to fund one time expenses. Um, we don't fund operational expenses. Generally that is limited to capital. Occasionally a few other things that are more volatile to change year to year we might lean on, but we don't. We don't fund our annual recurring costs with free cash. And so, um, that line just really speaks to making sure that we have enough revenue and excess free cash to fund operating and capital so we can we can do a little bit of work to make that more clear.

01:05:44,100	S1:
Yeah, I think I think you just need to be in alignment with our in alignment with our other policies. I know you're trying to say they're just trying to be concise, but we might need to add a couple more words. So it's clear to future people that we're not using free cash to lower our tax rate.

01:06:00,467	S3:
Okay. I think it's just a wordsmith thing. Yeah. You know, like I might say. Yeah.

01:06:08,267	S3:
Reductions and or new revenue or new? No it's not. Is it revenue sources or new funding sources, I guess? Uh, no, because we might come into money. We just talked about cell towers and other things. Other one time or grants or other other sources to fund, you know, out over and beyond, uh, free cash. Right.

01:06:29,367	S2:
Okay, we'll work on that and get that ready. We'll have something for you to look at on October 6th.

01:06:34,267	S3:
And then I would also say, you know, on the second bullet, these are good, by the way, uh, continue to offer the same or better or improved something, you know, like that says enhanced services. I would speak to a step up if we can. Um, and then.

01:06:51,601	S3:
And then on the last one to improve service delivery, delivery through program consolidation. Um, we got I got to think of that about that a little more, but, uh, but maybe to optimize service delivery over improve might be a better word. Uh, you know, the consolidation piece sometimes draws flags with people, as we heard. But, you know, I think the bullet's good. I'm not sure how I'd smith it yet. Okay.

01:07:17,667	S2:
Um, it certainly, you know, between now and the sixth, we'll take any suggestions that anybody wants to email. Email to us. We are anticipating hearing from, uh, from fin com. I'll see if, uh.

01:07:29,667	S3:
In your goal would be to link those down through the next section of yours and then your staff thereafter. Yeah, I love it. Yep.

01:07:37,501	S2:
Um, Goa wants us to crosswalk that stuff and show that there's a connection between those things. So.

01:07:43,467	S4:
So I think I would just like to make a comment about the second one. Continue to offer the same level of services. I mean, we know that the same level of services becomes more expensive every, every year. And I'm wondering if there could be a qualifying word in their, um, best efforts to continue to offer the same services. Um, because the others are sort of cross-cutting, and this one says that we're going to continue at the same level of services. So how can we do both? Right.

01:08:20,767	S2:
Um, okay. That's that's fair. Um.

01:08:24,767	S3:
Well, I think we have to do that end.

01:08:27,067	S2:
I mean, we just we generally more or less ignored that in the past, but we've had to provide, uh, options to cut or consolidate or do something. But we've been doing that a little bit. But yeah, you're right. We should be more clear about it. Let people know what we're doing there. We're in the one hand, we're making a statement to to commit to offering the same services. But we have, um, we have adjusted services at times, so we should probably be more clear about that. So I appreciate that feedback, Rosie.

01:08:54,767	S4:
Otherwise I think it's a really good document, Joe.

01:08:58,100	S2:
Thank you I appreciate that. And it's not mine. It's the work of all of our, our you know, we've had Wendy's worked on this. Alex McGee worked on this. 3 or 4 years ago before he left. We've had input from past boards into fin com, so it's an evolving thing. It changes a little bit every year. This is all good feedback. We'll tighten it up and have a better, um, a better set of goals for you to vote on, on, on the sixth.

01:09:22,601	S1:
Uh, Tom, I think that.

01:09:28,100	S1:
Um, and I would just echo what Bill said, I think, um, I agree with you. I go back to pull it up real quick. I agree with this comment where you said, um, to improve service delivery through program consolidation. I think that's right, I think. Optimize, right. Improve lead people to believe that they weren't good to begin with. And it's not always about improving. It's about optimizing it. So I think that's a great suggestion Bill.

01:09:54,367	S4:
I like that word optimize. That's good.

01:10:01,000	S2:
Yeah I like that.

01:10:02,300	S1:
Tom anything else to add?

01:10:05,067	S9:
No. Nothing else. Thanks.

01:10:07,467	S1:
Okay.

01:10:10,467	S1:
All right, let me just go back.

01:10:12,000	S8:
To the agenda.

01:10:12,667	S1:
Here. So the next item on agenda is to review the draft development agreement with Gordon Conwell. So bear with me for a moment here. Just a little bit. A little different than we have done in the past. So let me kind of walk you through the process where we are, what our goal is for tonight, what our goal is for the next days, weeks and months ahead of us. Right. So currently right now we are in negotiations with Gordon Conwell on both the development agreement and the and the aligning of zoning bylaw. Um, and I recognize a lot of people have worked very hard on this, uh, to better the town and give the town some guarantee in the future about what happens on that property and also hopefully us being in a better position with financial and 40 being other things that might impact the. And you know Rosemary's been on that is also um, Joe, I recently joined that group. Um, and we've had, uh, John, our attorney, working on it. And obviously Marilyn is. From the, from the from the, uh, um, from the Gordon side. So because we're in negotiations still. The goal of today is not to get into specific debate on the agreement. Today is just sort of. Put it out there into the public realm, answer some questions, but let people really read it. Um, and get out, because there are some things that aren't settled yet, but we did not want. Want to wait any further to get the draft agreement out into the public, out to the. Select board so that people can start to comment on it. And we could get some feedback on it. So. My goal of today's discussion is to sort of just for me to sort of describe where we're at with it. Um, and then we can get some questions. Um, but the goal is not to debate and we're not. Obviously not going to vote. It's not agreed to yet. So that's my goal. But obviously we have a board of three other people here and they can have other comments. But let me let me get my comments out first and then we'll go sort of go down the run here. Right. So um, so kind of give you the, the concept right from 10,000ft. Right. In order. So, so Gordon has come to us because they, they have an opportunity to sell some property, help fund the school because the school sort of has some financial requirements right now. And this is an opportunity where it can help the school. And they feel like by helping the school can also help the town, by giving things a town that might protect some of the land and some of the housing on the on the project. So it's supposed to be a give and take and a real negotiation where both should be getting something beneficial out of this agreement. Um, there are two parts of the agreement, right? One part of the agreement is the zoning bylaw, which is the responsibility of the planning board. So Planning Board has been working very hard with with, uh, with the seminary to understand what they're what they how they want to develop the property, the future, what flexibility they want. And we've looked at the planning board, looked at what they wanted to do to protect, protect the property protected the future development and improvement of the property. So they are working sort of not in a silo or a vacuum, but they're working as a, as a, as a board with input from, from a lot of resources to come up with this bylaw. And they will have as part of the schedule that's been presented, they will have public meetings to discuss where they're at. Right. Our responsibility is, as the Select board has come up with a development agreement, which is really supposed to dictate everything else. That's not that's not involved in zoning bylaws or or improvements to the land or land changes, land improvement. So our development agreement, if you look at it, really refers to it refers to the zoning bylaw as a as an agreement, but it really defines everything else. And I want to kind of go through what it defines. Um, it defines really the terms of the agreement, legal terms of the agreement, how it ties into the the deed and the owner and future owners and future development of the property. Um, there's a big section there about affordable housing and what they're going to work with us on, allowing those 209 units to become affordable housing, which means that 25% will be will be, um, will be, will will be fit those requirements which they give up. Right. Their ability to give up 25% affects the value of that property. They're transferring value to the town by taking the lower deal and allowing us to to hopefully meet our 40 B requirements. So there's a big section there about affordable housing and the apartments, but it also limits future 40 B. So it allows us to transfer the the 40 the 209 units to to affordable housing. But it also eliminates any future possibility of a 40 b, uh, project going on on that project site. Um, it also allows them to split it into three lots the lower, the middle and the upper campus, which allows for future flexibility. It allows the apartments to be developed. It allows for the seminary to stay at the top of the hill, and allows for a potential for the middle property to be kept by the seminary or sold by the seminary, depending upon what their needs are. As a private landowner, um, it defines money, um, of of of a of a partnership with the seminary that as the project gets developed, the town will get reimbursed for for impacts that we've had over time. And and it's come to currently rent a $1.1 million, um, number that gets divided into four sections. It's defined in the, um, in the agreement of how we get paid those four payments, the total $1.1 million. It defines access to the site in terms of allowing public access to remain. Um, unfortunately, there's not trails on the property, so it's not like we can do trails like you would have typically for areas around town where we have trails have been this is just open access to the property. So it grants some access but there's some limitation to it that's in the agreement. Um, it dictates on site water treatment. Uh, so obviously it's managed by the health department. We did add some clauses about making sure that they understand that they're responsible for any on site water treatment of any development, current and future. Um, it defines, um, sort of the deed. Um, and that it's, you know, it's transferable to any owner, uh, over time. So it gets registered with the as the deed. So those are sort of the things that it defines, right. And each one of those things has its own paragraph in the agreement. Um, there are a few items to finalize. Right. The first item to finalize that, we're going to negotiate with them and debate with them and talk about in smaller groups. Is the disbursement right? We've they've come we've gone back and forth into disbursement and the schedule of disbursement. Um, the agreement we got today. Where they were looking at today was really just finalized on Sunday. So being Tuesday today, we've not had a lot of time to look at it. So but there's been some updates to the disbursement and how that gets dispersed and some of the risk is on them and some of the risk is on us, um, but favorable that we get $100,000 up front. And then as each property gets sold, uh, the town gets money. If the seminary chooses not to sell the property, then there's no value to the the seminary for this agreement. So they don't, you know, so it would stay as it is and the town wouldn't have any risk and and no money would change hands. That's kind of how it stepped in the agreement. But we still need to finalize that. Number two is access to the, to the property. Um, over time there is there is allowable in the agreement an opportunity for the summer to say, hey, do we have there's some risk with either how we're using it, developing it in terms of just having to open to the public. We do it with insurance or with other risk items that we would want future flexibility as a private landowner to, you know, we have no intention of limiting and changing the access to it, but it is private property and there are insurance risks that in the future may, may limit that. Um, unbeknownst them or uncontrolled by them. So there's some there's some language that we need to finalize at number three. Um, we had had some language in a previous agreement about what what was defined as heritage landscape, which is the which is what the planning board came up as a sort of the sacred, the sacred landscape, um, on the property and what they did not want to have developed. And there's a map. So I think we need to define what that heritage landscape is, because I thought we would take. I thought we had taken it out of the development agreement at one point, because we're going to let the planning board, through their bylaw dictate how the property was, was it could be improved in the future, and we didn't want to have conflicting, um, documents. And so we wanted to leave all the developments Just stuff into the actual bylaw and not in development agreement. Um, so if we're going to include some language of a heritage landscape and development agreement, we need a better definition of what that is and also that it can't limit Dover. So we don't we can't have a development agreement that that is in conflict with the Dover Amendment. So those are sort of the three things that are still in review that we're looking for people to ask questions on and comment on. Um, over the next days, weeks and months. Um, but the goal really is to go back to the bigger goal, right? The bigger goal is, is that the seminary is in a position where they want to work with the town and give us a lot of flexibility to to have what we want in that property, to have it for 40, be to have some of the area protected and in turn and also get, you know, future revenue from tax base and some and some cash upfront. But in turn they get some flexibility too. So we're trying to come up with agreement that balances that. That's not just completely one side, right? Negotiations to be fair and equitable. So we're trying to balance the agreements that we're both. So we both want to sign it because we come up with an agreement that's too, uh, that's too rigid. Um, the cemetery's not going to sign it. And we come up in agreement. That's that's not advancing the town. We're not going to get it passed at, you know, we won't get it past the town meeting with the 66% or two thirds vote. Right. So it has to be balanced. Our goal is not to create, not to work all this time on something. It's not going to get past the town meeting. That would be a waste of time and waste energy. And it would put us at risk for a future development that we can't control. Um, so that's kind of how I want to summarize where we're at right now. Um, I know Rosie's worked on it too, but I just want to stress that, um, we don't want to get into specific debate right now just because of the negotiations, but we're allowed to sort of give high level status, and people can ask some questions, and I'll just be and I sort of I don't know I don't know if it needs to come back to me as it goes on table. I think I've said my piece on this, but right now where we're at, where I think we need to go. But I just want to and I know Marilyn's here, but I just also want to leave Marilyn with something. Just, you know, when this, you know, we need we need to have 67%, two thirds approve it. So I've just asked for his partnership to make sure wherever we end up on this development agreement and joint bylaws, I want to make sure that the the neighbors, the buttars have all had the opportunity to speak with him in the seminary for any questions or concerns they have, because I think that's the most important thing when we get to town meeting, is that we want to make sure everybody's been heard in the process. Um, and part of the process, even we might not all agree on it, but at least if we all get our input into it, we may get an agreement that we all see value to at some level. And and the pros might, might outweigh the cons. So, um, so that's my piece for it. I will go around the, the room and let Rosie, uh, um, make any comments, uh, that she wants to add.

01:21:45,100	S4:
Yeah. I think the first thing I just wanted to add is that the, um, the financial, um, payment to the town is for any future impacts that we have, um, contemplated. Um, and then the second issue is access to the to the public. There has always been public access, and it would be very beneficial if the seminary were to include language in the development agreement that would exclude public access for cause and not just arbitrarily say that they can, uh, cancel it at any time because it has been a great benefit to the town for, um, for many, many years. And then the second and then the third thing I just wanted to mention was about the heritage Landscape. The Planning Board has been working for three years on the Browns Hill overlay district, and multiple um, public uh, meetings have, um, have have helped to develop the concept of the heritage landscape. The planning board feels that's important. Important. And, um, many, many of butters and residents have also felt that that was important and important aspect to it. So that's something that still needs to be discussed. And then, um, finally, regarding the heritage, uh, landscape, um, the, uh, that particular issue, whether there is or isn't to my knowledge, does need to be on the development agreement and then the particulars through the planning Board. So I think there's still some issues. We certainly are making, um, a lot of really good progress. And I remain very optimistic that things will work out to the benefit of the seminary and the town.

01:24:00,467	S1:
Thank you for all your work on this. Rosemary. Um, obviously, Tom and and, um, Bill Wilson, you've just seen this right over the last 48 hours, but do you have any general questions that we can help answer or guidance you can give at this point on next steps or what your thoughts are?

01:24:20,467	S3:
Uh, yeah. Um, I know a lot of good work has been done. Uh, I appreciate everyone who's been working on this. I love the kind of scale that section em at the monetary contributions going through that. I think that's pretty creative. Um, I would ask Joe, you know, does this, uh, I think the first two are probably high probability, right? The 100,103. I would assume if you still have a buyer for the apartment section, does that cover cost? Which I think that's the intent of this. Yes. And then my other part is on three and four. You know, I don't know if that actually 1.1 million sounds like a big number. I don't know if the bottom three and four ever come to fruition. Curious if there's any insight or feedback from the seminary. If. If what? The probability if that's even possible to say on those two are, and the word conveyance is used in there, is that sale of ownership or could that be anything where you're turning it into a revenue source where you still own it.

01:25:21,200	S1:
It's sell it, you know, it's sale, how we defined it. And I mean, we can look at the wordsmithing of a bill, but the intent was on the sale of the property because, because while they while they own it, it still has to be. They can't change the use while they own it. Right? While they own it still needs to be, you know, a religious institution, right? They can't put like a commercial building on the on a project. Right. So. So, yeah.

01:25:44,968	S3:
So last time around. Um, some revenue sources on the Hill, whether I think even Starbucks, Starbucks was mentioned or some type of, uh, rental area for, uh, conferences or something. Was that. Did I make that up?

01:26:02,367	S1:
No, I was mention, but we haven't circle back on what actually they meant by that because there's some some gray area to what they can actually do within their existing facility. They want to have a retail store or cafeteria for their for their students. Yeah. We I don't think we circle back on what that would mean, but that would be in their existing facility at the top of the hill, not building a new building.

01:26:20,567	S3:
Okay.

01:26:21,167	S1:
So yeah, the idea is the idea is it's supposed to be on sale because they don't sell the property. Then. Then there's no it doesn't change. There's no risk, there's no development. There's no there's no value. But if there's value to the to the to the to the seminary, then the town should get, you know, their, portion of that, of that impact.

01:26:40,267	S4:
Yeah. And also those, those issues would be further discussed in the overlay district. I think to to decide just what sort of retail would be, um, or commercial would be available to them.

01:26:54,767	S2:
Yeah. I think the, the, the overlay district really kind of designed for what happens in the event that the seminary doesn't own property up there anymore. Right. The anything that the seminary tries to do in their current situation that they're likely going to try to do under Dover, there would be some restrictions on that. So if they were going to bring in a food vendor for their students and then allow that to be open to the public, I think we'd still need to talk with them in a kind of a separate way about what that looks like and, and how you get a permit to have that open to the public. But, um, you know, the conveyance of the property at some point to a third party, um, to do other things will all be covered in the overlay district and what those uses are. The planning board has been working on on what all that zoning stuff would look like now.

01:27:44,467	S3:
So is that just, I guess to the seminary folks, is is there that part of the longer term plan, maybe three and four, or are you just leaving it open in the event of.

01:27:54,567	S1:
I mean, I will if you're going to ask Marion a question, let's get the questions together. But we'll ask them all. I'd rather go down the planning board than we can get Marilyn speaking to some of it. So I'll write that down here and we'll.

01:28:05,100	S3:
Okay. No, but but other than that, I mean, very creative. I think a lot of progress was made.

01:28:10,267	S1:
Okay, Tom, you got any questions, comments or guidance?

01:28:15,067	S9:
No. No additional comments or questions on the rest of the board is raised. But no, I applaud the the efforts here. And I think there's been a lot of progress. So it seems promising that we're moving this along.

01:28:27,100	S3:
I agree.

01:28:29,100	S1:
So, Marilyn, I mean this I mean, there's some questions for you. So I guess I'll let you address specific questions or anything that you need to correct that one of them that I may have summarized to, but um, but yeah. Go ahead.

01:28:41,167	S13:
Yeah. Thanks again. Thanks so much for all the work that that, uh, that you and Rosie have done as well. Uh, yeah. The only one is a historical one that, um, it's actually the master planning committee for the town that came to us first. So we, uh, we responded favorably to that and saying they came saying this was really identified as one of the few spots in town that there could be some commercial development and some increase for the tax base. So, uh, you know, that's and then it sort of came from that. And then the seminary sort of started looking at the potential for sale of the apartment building. So, um, yeah. Bill, does your question again was, uh, you know, there's I think we're trying to set up a structure that if there are further developments in there, that those will then trigger these payments so that because that's when we would be realizing the value of of the overlay district in that place. And that's when, you know, rightly, the town should, should get a mitigation payment. So that's the goal there.

01:29:41,467	S3:
Um, okay. Yeah. So structure and alignment. I get it. That makes sense.

01:29:45,267	S1:
But the goal of the seminary, they tell you today is that they want to stand. The whole idea of this entire restructure is to be able to raise the funds, allow them to stay on the upper campus. Right. If they wanted to, if they wanted to vacate, they would sell the whole thing right now. But that's not the goal. The goal is to spend all the time and effort to restructure so they can actually stay on the upper campus, right?

01:30:05,601	S13:
Yeah, yeah. The long term goal at this point is once those apartments sell, is that we're there for another 55 years or more.

01:30:15,868	S3:
Excellent. Thanks.

01:30:18,000	S1:
Um, Joe, you raise your hand.

01:30:21,467	S2:
Yeah. Just real quick. I just like to remind everybody. Part of the reason we got into all of this was because the town really wanted to make sure that we didn't allow, you know, that over time, piecemeal development of the site. We wanted the 102 acres to be looked at as, as a contiguous site that even if something else happens there in the future, it should conform with what the town expects in that neighborhood. It should be something that the town continues to be able to enjoy the the heritage landscape and landscape that all the. So even though the seminary is only looking to sell the apartments, we didn't want to allow that without considering the entire site. That was the whole reason for the exercise with Abramson and Gamble and trying to identify what the future value might be, etc. so I just.

01:31:07,300	S1:
Well, that's that goal. And the fact that we don't have them sell any more housing properties one by one and creating, you know, issues in town, right? We're trying to come up with an overall master plan that benefits town, not just has these one off lot housing, lot sales that people aren't like, no, that didn't come before the town. That was that was approval not, you know, answers. Right. So we're trying to mitigate and eliminate approval now required stuff and come up with a master plan that isn't a better fit. Benefits to town in lots of different ways. Tax development. Open space access. Affordable housing. Like, there's a lot of things we check off the box by this development agreement. So.

01:31:43,901	S13:
Um, if I could. Yeah, just, you know, this has been it's a fascinating process that we're going through because we're we're obviously we're working with a select board and then we're also the planning board. And, and so we're we're trying to make as many concessions as we can. And we really have conceded as much as we can both to the select board, but also the planning board and the bylaw, the planning boards put together. You know, it's it's they're they're really watching out for the town and it's, it's, it's restrictive. Virtually anything that's going to be built up there would have to be done with a special permit. So the planning board's retaining, uh, really tremendous control over this. And we, we, you know, we pushed back really hard against that for a couple of years. But the chair of the Planning Board and the Planning Board has been adamant about that. So, um, you know, we we're, uh, we're we've made that concession. But I think you'll see that between the settlement agreement, the development agreement and the bylaw, the town has a lot of control. Uh, you know, almost the one concern we have just looking forward is, is will there be the possible, uh, tax revenue from other projects, you know, will those actually ever happen? That that's that's just something to think about. But certainly once the apartments sell, uh, there's going to be a, you know, in terms of your number one and number seven goals that you just talked about, uh, there's a there'll be a significant tax influx at the moment. The department sells. So, uh, you know, we're we think the town can look forward to that.

01:33:12,267	S1:
Yeah. Um, so, so like I said, we're going to I'm going to let public comment happen. If people want to make comment, it's not a question and answer session, but it's you can ask questions if you choose to. You may not answer them, but, uh, public comment. I'm going to let that go. But just to reemphasize what I said, that, you know, Maryland has agreed to have open an open door policy. Um, and so he's available for any questions anybody has. Uh, this this development agreement draft that is not finalized. And we're not voting on it any time in the next week. Uh, Joe, that's going to go out to the public or it's already posted on the town website. Is that going to go out this week?

01:33:51,868	S2:
It's it's not posted on the it. We will post it now that we've had the discussion. It'll get posted as an addendum to the, uh, meeting package. But I did this afternoon, uh, as a courtesy to the neighbors, um, to those who I have an email address for, I sent it out to the, uh, the butters list today. Um, yeah. So trying to keep them in the loop.

01:34:12,300	S1:
And the first, uh, public hearing for the zoning bylaw. I want that in front of me, Joe. But what's the date for that one there? I believe planning.

01:34:21,467	S2:
Board, I believe, is currently scheduled for October. Uh.

01:34:27,000	S2:
Check it. October 21st.

01:34:29,367	S1:
21st. Okay, so four weeks away. Okay. So, um. All right. With that. So if we are done as a board discussing it, um, I will let two people, 2 or 3 people looking for public comment. Anybody else on the board have anything else to say before we turn it over to the public?

01:34:47,000	S3:
I'm all set.

01:34:49,367	S1:
All right. So, uh, two minutes each, and, uh, I only see two people, but I don't have my whole screen here. But I'll let Jake go first.

01:34:59,267	S14:
Thank you. Can you guys hear me? Okay.

01:35:01,767	S1:
Yes, yes.

01:35:03,567	S14:
Oh, great. So, um, look, you guys have known me, heard from me for the past three years, and working on this site, I've met with Merwin, Scott, Joe, Rosie, a whole bunch of people. Um, I took some notes, but I'm kind of going to go off script. I think, first of all, it's important to note that Gordon did try to sell the whole site. They couldn't sell the whole site, so they pivoted. We are negotiating with a business. I live across the street from this business and I'm trying to mitigate what happens at the site. I am okay, and I've convinced a lot of neighbors to be okay. With the 209 units going from dorms to apartments. I am supportive of that. It was nice enough for Merwin and Scott and actually Christie Wilson to invite me up to the to their campus to negotiate, to which Rosie was there. Joe was there, Caroline and a couple other people, to the point where, frankly, they'd given a lot more than they've given today. Do not, please, do not be wooed by the $1.1 million. You're talking about giving a business the approval to build on a site that is only allowed to be built for single family housing. I moved into this neighborhood because of the way it looks and the way it is, not because the 100 acres across the street was going to get developed into another downtown area. I am supportive of the 209 units becoming market rate apartments, but to give up more beyond that has to be really it. Merwin is incorrect in saying that there are strict restrictions on them. They are getting an overlay district. To that point. I owned five acres adjacent to this. Can I put my five acres in it and build a nursing home on my five acres of land? I don't understand why Gordon Conwell a business is getting this benefit. So you guys have seen my emails to you, the planning board, everyone else. March 18th. Latest was a couple of weeks ago. I've reached out to. I'm going to go to planning board meetings. Everything else. I've had over 22 meetings with neighbors around. I struggle. I want to get this to the point where the apartments can get through. I don't think you get to your 66% with this deal that's on the table right now. Because of the leeway that's being given and the sway that, frankly, this neighborhood is going to have over this decision process. So I'd like to see the 209 units. And I've met with Alex Westra, I've met with the buyer. I think he'd be fantastic in this neighborhood. The seminary needs to give more. And Christie Wilson offered more at our meeting. And now they pulled back on it, which is why they went silent from talking with neighbors. But now I get that Merwin has an open door policy. But it doesn't matter what you go in and say, because things change when you get out. So I'm happy I'm available. Anyone should feel free to call me Merwin. If it's you or anyone from the seminary, I'd love for Joe or someone else from the town to be present. But beyond that, I'm available and would be happy to talk with anyone. Thank you.

01:38:13,300	S1:
Thank you.

01:38:13,667	S8:
Jake.

01:38:15,667	S1:
I see John. Go ahead. John.

01:38:18,567	S15:
Yeah. Jack Davis, 57, lowest street. Uh, I'm a long time employee of the seminary, now retired. But I want to speak as a property owner, uh, in the town of Hamilton. And just making the point that certainly the Butters have a legitimate interest in this whole deal, but that, uh, every homeowner in Hamilton could potentially benefit by some of the current apartments going back on the tax rolls. I've been paying taxes, I think, for the property taxes for the last 48 years, and the direction of the property tax rise is only one direction. It's always going up. Now, my wife and I would, now that we are retired and on a somewhat fixed income, would like to stay in Hamilton. And I think there are other people in our situation too, who have lived here for a long time, who think it's a wonderful quality of life, and who would like to be able to Age in place. So the sale of these apartments here, if it would mitigate the unending rise in our property taxes here, would be very welcome. And I think there are also a lot of property owners who would welcome a greater variety in housing stock in terms of market rate housing, which would provide the possibility for, say, firefighters and policemen and teachers, employees of the town and so forth here who might not otherwise be able to afford to live in the town in which they work. The last thing I'd like to say is that our young people, we had a daughter who went to the regional, graduated as the valedictorian, went away to college here, got married, now has two kids, and she and her husband, who's a carpenter, could not afford to buy a house in Hamilton. They barely got into a very modest home in Beverly. That was a family connection and so forth. So I just urge the select board to keep in mind that it's not only the seminary and the butters in the town, but also the residents of this town who would like to stay here. Who would benefit from this sale. Thank you.

01:40:28,267	S1:
John.

01:40:30,300	S2:
I think that's all speakers.

01:40:32,100	S9:
Okay.

01:40:32,667	S1:
I appreciate that. I took notes on both those, and if I follow up on those items as well as other people will. But no, thank you for your comments. Um, and I think we will move on. And so, I mean, this is going to be a continuous topic on our meetings moving forward. So it'll be on all of our meetings, uh, you know, as we move forward, whether we're voting or discussing, um, it'll be a constant topic until December 9th because we want to keep this thing moving forward. And and like I said, our goal is to get to a our goal is because there's so much advantage to this thing for the town to get to an agreement that will pass, not that will fail. So we need to take everybody's thoughts into account and make sure we're getting, uh, you know, building consensus because it's a waste time, as we know, in town to to do things that don't get consensus. So thank you all for your sharing your thoughts. All right, Joe, what's next? What's the last item on the agenda?

01:41:24,801	S2:
Last item. Agenda is just looking at the, uh, some minor updates to the, uh, uh, schedule for SDM. So, as you know, you've scheduled a special time meeting for December 9th. Um, that's going to be at the high school. It does look like it's going to be at the high school and the cafeteria, not in the auditorium. Uh, the auditorium is going to be staged for the annual holiday choral concert, and we can't undo what's in there in time for us to meet and then put it all back together for them to meet the next day. But, um, we can we can definitely handle, uh, about 350 or so people in the auditorium, in the cafeteria. And I think that that will be sufficient for the number that we expect to turn out for this special time meeting. Um, I already talked it through with Brian and Joanie, the principal there. And we'll do what we need to do to make sure everybody can see and hear what they need to see and hear at the special time meeting. Um, the one change.

01:42:18,667	S3:
On that, did you talk about the gym or you just thought that that'd be too big?

01:42:22,767	S2:
I think the gym would be too big. It cost us a lot of money to make that gym work. I think it'll cost us quite a bit less money to make the auditorium. To make the cafeteria work. Excuse me. Um, it's also a little bit easier to get to. I think that we had some challenges with people finding how to get to the auditorium. I mean, at the gymnasium at that one special time meeting, I think we're going to try to limit limit how often we use that space.

01:42:47,868	S3:
Yeah, I agree with all of that. Yeah.

01:42:50,467	S2:
Um, the, uh, the big change that you see here is that, um, down on November 21st, originally they said, um, the last day for the warrant. Oh. I'm sorry. This wasn't their. It's the last day for the warrant to be signed. We need to make sure that once all the recommendations are incorporated into the warrant during that week leading up to the 21st of November, I. We arranged to get signatures from the select board members so that we can post the warrant on the 25th properly. So we'll, um, we'll work with you to make sure that's all possible. But, um, I just wanted to highlight that as an issue. We have opened the warrant and we're planning to close the warrant. And so I should say close the warrant. I at this point, I think we're probably I think we were originally going to oh, we haven't have it on there for the sixth, but um, and uh, we'll plan to close the warrant on the sixth with the items that we talked about this evening. But you may want we may wind up looking at, uh, just confirming that again on on the meeting on the 20th, just to make sure you have the language of what the warrant articles will be, because, uh, as Bill alluded to there, a couple of things may be coming from the CPC now. And we had the addition of a cell phone tower lease extension. Um, so we want to make sure we have language for you to look at. We can close the word so nothing gets added after the sixth. Um, but then we'll take a look at it on the 20th and make sure you know what exactly everything looks like. Okay.

01:44:19,367	S3:
So the CPC meets on the ninth. So you're saying we could put it in there and just adjust numbers and take it off? So reopen it.

01:44:27,267	S2:
Yeah. So what we've what we have done in the past is because, you know what? Not to not to go back into ancient times. But when I before I got here at seven years ago, I guess there was a lot of opening and closing the door and opening and closing the door. And people were upset. So they wanted us to open a warrant, close a warrant. And when we closed the warrant, we closed it with all things that we think will be on it. So I'll show you on the sixth, we'll have a list of the items that we expect to be on the warrant. And if there's one or 2 or 3 things that are before the CPC, I'll have all those things outlined for you. And then we'll close the warrant, assuming that all those things will be there. And then if the CPC withdraws one of them or doesn't choose to move them forward or something, We can really quickly on the 20th open, remove them and then close it again.

01:45:11,667	S3:
Okay, perfect.

01:45:13,868	S2:
Okay.

01:45:17,601	S2:
That's all I have today.

01:45:23,868	S1:
Is new business. I'll go around the room. Rosie, anything to add a new business?

01:45:28,968	S4:
No, not right now. Thank you.

01:45:31,567	S1:
Tom, anything?

01:45:33,267	S9:
Nope. No new business?

01:45:36,267	S1:
Yeah. I think we got a lot to focus on between cell phone agreement and CPC. So between now and the ninth, we only have a few minutes left. Bill, anything else on your.

01:45:51,667	S3:
I think I'm good. That is a lot. At some point, you know, the regional agreement. I'm curious about how that subgroup is doing, but.

01:45:59,567	S2:
I think the subgroup had originally planned to have a meeting, um, last week with the, uh, with the district representatives from Hamilton went to Matt Perry. Prior to that, with, uh, KP law, we had some things that we wanted to work out between ourselves before we got back in the room with the district. And so, Lauren. Um, Lauren Goldberg from KP law is doing that now, and I believe we're planning a meeting next Monday among ourselves again, uh, in the in the early afternoon. It's 12 to 3 on Monday sometime.

01:46:31,501	S9:
Somewhere between 12 and 3. Yeah.

01:46:33,267	S2:
Between. And and then after that meeting, we'll meet with the district again and we'll be able to provide an update after that. But that that group is kind of working towards trying to finalize, um, language for an amendment to the agreement, uh, in time for it to be adopted at the annual town meeting in April.

01:46:51,100	S3:
So in April. Okay.

01:46:56,868	S3:
I'm good.

01:46:58,000	S1:
All right. Do we have any more motions?

01:47:00,367	S2:
Oh, actually, I'm sorry, I, um, I'm glad I mentioned April Table again. Currently under new business. I'm not asking for you to decide right now, but to think about it. And maybe we can talk about it on the on the sixth. Uh, our town clerk, our illustrious and wonderful town clerk, pointed out to me today that under the town's bylaw, annual town meeting is the first Saturday in April this year. That first Saturday is the day before Easter, and it is Holy Saturday. And she said that we may want to consider moving it. It will require a vote of the select board. You may want input from the. Com and the town moderator. She said that she has discussed this with the town clerk and one of them, and their board has also been made aware of it. You may want to have a joint meeting with the at least a part of a joint meeting with the Wenham selectboard to see if you jointly want to call a different date. It will affect the election, too, because the bylaw ties the election date to the special time meeting date. It's the Thursday after the town meeting, being. So if you move it even by a week, that's going to move the election for the week. So just want to put that on your radar. Um, it's just a glitch in the calendar, and I'm glad the count the clerk caught it so early. I certainly wasn't looking that far out and realized it didn't take a lot easier. So, um, I'm glad you could put that on our radar. I wanted you all to think about it, and we can hopefully have it on the agenda to talk about next one.

01:48:26,767	S1:
No.

01:48:27,367	S8:
Yeah, it needs.

01:48:27,868	S1:
To be on next meeting agenda. Um, for sure. So. Good point. Yeah. Thank you Karen.

01:48:33,567	S3:
Thank you Karen. Yeah.

01:48:36,000	S1:
It doesn't happen that often.

01:48:39,467	S2:
Right.

01:48:41,567	S3:
I move that, we adjourn.

01:48:43,400	S4:
And I'll second.

01:48:45,467	S1:
All those in favor say aye.

01:48:47,567	S9:
Tom Meyers.

01:48:48,767	S2:
Roll call. Vote. Roll call. Vote.

01:48:50,601	S1:
Tom Myers. Myers I Rosie.

01:48:53,567	S4:
Rosie Kennedy I.

01:48:55,267	S3:
Hello. Wilson. I.

01:48:57,000	S1:
Uh, Bill Olson, I thank you, everybody. Good meeting.

01:48:59,601	S3:
Tara. Thank you.

01:49:00,801	S2:
Thank you.