00:00:00,467 S1: All right. Um, back in open session at 623. 00:00:06,067 S1: Um, Karen has a 645 roughly departure time. So as a result, um, I'd like to move a couple of things up, um, on the agenda before we get to reports and even public input. Um, if no one has an objection to that, we'd specifically, we would be starting with item F. Uh, regarding Gordon College. 00:00:30,267 S2: I appreciate that, and thank you. 00:00:34,100 S1: All right. Great. So let's go to item F. The board will discuss messaging to be conveyed to Gordon College by the working group assembled by the town administrator ahead of their meeting with the college president and staff. Steve, if you could just kind of bring us up to speed, um, on that. 00:00:52,000 S3: Yeah, sure. So a couple of months ago now, the Select board drafted a letter in open session that expressed our thanks to the college for allowing us to utilize their Bennett Center as basically the backup and ultimately needing to use the center for our special town meeting. And with that, we, you know, we asked if they would consider a meeting to, you know, kind of use the opportunity to open communications with the college to see, you know, if there's anything we could collaborate on that could be mutually beneficial to both the town in the college in this here is, uh, and I pulled together a working group who, uh, Karen Hanger and Deirdre Perotti. Uh, and I think Theodora had some comments, um, some reservations that she wanted to bring up, but, uh, unfortunately, she got called away to an emergency here. But, um, basically, we're just looking for, you know, essentially talking points, the of messaging that the board would like us to bring to the meeting. The, um, you know, we don't want to meet without an agenda, and we're looking for feedback from the board, uh, on thoughts that they would like the working group to deliver on behalf of the board. Um, to the meeting of the board. 00:02:20,367 S1: Great. Um, you made the original recommendation after the special town meeting that we engage with Gordon College, and you're on the working group. So I'd like to turn it to you to, um, get your feedback on what you think the objectives of this initial meeting should be. 00:02:43,000 S2: I think initially the objective was to open the dialogue, understand and have a little bit of a history to go back. Obviously, I, I am new to the engagements of the town of one. I'm using Gordon College. I don't have the longevity of some of the history that goes back there. Um, between the school, between the college and the town itself. Um, I'd really like to be able to move forward with them, find a way to set up a working group with them. Um, I there was a lot of concerns that we had received from residents going into the town meeting regarding their ideologies. It's not something that I feel under any circumstances that we need to change their way of thinking, but I do think that we should have an open dialogue to find out how we can better support them as far as the community goes, and have them understand maybe some of the concerns directly of of what were the residents had said and, and really see if we can move forward together. It's a beautiful college. It's directly in our backyard, and I'd like to be able to move forward and leave a lot of the concerns or some of the history behind us and find a way to to work together. And I know that that, you know, we've received some pretty, uh, eloquently written documentation about why the residents don't necessarily want to continue using Gordon. And, um, you know, maybe we address that on not necessarily our first conversation with them, but go in and start the conversation and, um, let them know that we have some concerns. But at the same time, we'd like to move forward. 00:04:32,267 S1: Thanks, Karen. Um, Gary or Peter, do you have any comments on, you know, what you you would see as goals for, um, for this initial meeting? 00:04:47,167 S4: So, Miss Gary, so I would say that, uh, one of the most important goals would be to Maintain the dialogue about potential Gordon College developments. You know, we, uh, a couple years ago, we had the Pulte Homes possibility. So certainly anything of that scale or any other activity that Gordon College would move into. Certainly the impact on the town would require us to at least stay apprised and hopefully have early notice so that the town can plan on such a changes. 00:05:21,267 S5: Good one. 00:05:22,667 S1: Thanks, Gary. Peter. Anything to add? 00:05:25,868 S5: Nope. 00:05:28,167 S1: Great. And Deandra is not back, is she? No. 00:05:30,467 S5: She's not. 00:05:32,000 S1: Um. All right. And it sounds like Steve that, um, that Deirdre may not want to be in the working group. Um, I don't know if she's expressed that explicitly. Uh, but I know she, um, had a, you know, some concerns about the approach, and so let her speak for herself. But if if. If that's the case. And the board decides it's wise to go forward. Which I think there seems to be a consensus. Um, to do that and we've we've sent a letter saying that we want to do that. So I think we ought to follow through with it. Um, then I don't know whether either Gary or Peter, you might, you know, be willing to replace dear during the working group. I say that only because my understanding is that that that may be something that Deirdre wants, but she's not here to speak for herself. 00:06:26,300 S3: I think generally, as you said, there's seems to be a consensus that we'll move forward. And I can talk with Deirdre offline and see if she wants to continue participating. And if not, I will pull somebody else in. 00:06:40,868 S5: Great. 00:06:42,167 S1: Um, are there any members of the public? Um, first of all, are there any members of the public who are physically in the Council on Aging or no. 00:06:51,601 S5: No, no. 00:06:53,767 S1: So are there any any members of the public who are in a zoom world like Karen and me who wish to be heard on this agenda item? 00:07:03,601 S5: Nope. No answer. Is Mister Chairman. 00:07:05,801 S1: Okay. Thank you. All right. Um, why don't we. I know that, um, that Karen, you've got a short window and that you want to be part of the, um, item H school committee. I'd like to do something quick before that, if we can, because I know Deirdre would also want to speak to H. And it sounded like she thought she might be able to return to the meeting relatively quickly. So why don't we move to to item C? Um, which I know Martha Brennan is present for one of the human Rights committee to present Indigenous People's Day Proclamation. 00:07:56,267 S5: Can you hear us, Martha? 00:07:58,567 S2: I can hear you. 00:08:01,267 S1: We can hear you, too. Hi, Martha. 00:08:03,000 S5: Hi. 00:08:03,767 S2: Thanks for letting me on the agenda. 00:08:06,767 S6: Special thanks to Steve, because a week got away from me last week, so thank you for amending that. Um, the Human Rights Committee did want to have an official proclamation this year about Indigenous Peoples Day and also recognized the work of, um, Robbie Cochrane, who wrote a book about indigenous people in Wynnum. And so sort of recognizing that we have used his, um, his research in informing this proclamation, and we're also putting a little link into it. Um, the group also, before I get to the official proclamation, we're also working on a self-guided tour of some of the sites that he has highlighted in his work, and we hope to roll that out. Um, for November, which is Indigenous People's Month, we couldn't quite get it to the finish line for Indigenous Peoples Day. Um, because we didn't have a quorum at our meeting last night. So, um, we're just going to do a few touches on that. I'll run it by, um, the town manager and then just hope to do some social media posts, just kind of highlight some of the places in town so people can actually drive by and think about it. 00:09:17,801 S5: Hey, Martha. 00:09:18,868 S6: And. 00:09:19,267 S5: Martha. Martha, this is Peter Clay. You might want to check in with Kate Mallory in terms of how you get the word out. 00:09:28,868 S6: Okay. Yeah, I think she was my inspiration, actually, because I saw the Miles River, um, self-guided tour, and I was like, that is what we need to do. So. Right. Um, we have we have all the little pieces. We just kind of need to, um, make it look a little better. So we just need another couple of weeks to do that. So, um, anyway, uh, I'm happy to read this. Or if one of the select. I don't know how it works. Like officially, I know that at other proclamations, sometimes the select board member reads it into the record. But you guys tell me what you prefer. 00:10:02,767 S1: Why don't we just to to be efficient? Why don't we ask a select board member to read it in as part of a motion so it could be moving to, um, declare the following and then reading it. 00:10:16,667 S5: Do you mean to read it? 00:10:18,467 S1: That would be great. Uh, Peter. Thank you. 00:10:21,467 S5: Draft 2025 Indigenous Peoples Day Proclamation. Town of Wenham. Indigenous Peoples Day October 13th, 2025. On October 13th, 2025, the town of Wenham joins communities across the Commonwealth and the nation in honouring and celebrating indigenous peoples. We recognize the enduring presents rich cultures and significant contributions of indigenous peoples past, present, and future, and we acknowledge their deep and continuing ties to this land. Whereas the Pawtucket people migrated into what is now Essex County between 750 and 1000 years ago, and whereas the first English settlers of Wenham chose to establish their homes near the near land that the Pawtucket had already cleared for growing corn along a well-traveled trail that connected their villages of Agawam, now with Ipswich and Nome King, now Salem. And Whereas indigenous people lived and worked and went into the late 1600s. And whereas in 1700 their heirs of. 00:11:33,601 S5: Contact also known as mask and mask, and indeed deeded the land now occupied by the town of Wenham to the English settler settlers. And whereas the town of Wenham strives to be an inclusive and welcoming community, committed to understanding its full history and honoring the legacy of the first peoples of this land. And whereas residents of Wenham are encouraged to learn more about this important local history, including through the work of local author Robert O. Corcoran, uh, indigenous People and Wenham, 2023. Available via archive.org. Now, therefore, the one Selectboard does hereby proclaim October 13th, 2025, as Indigenous Peoples Day in the town of Wenham. We encourage all residents to take this day to reflect on the history, resilience and cultures of indigenous peoples and to honor their invaluable contributions to our community and our nation. 00:12:36,667 S4: Kerry. Second. 00:12:37,367 S1: Thank you Peter. Great. So we will take a roll call. Vote on the motion to so proclaim October 13th as Indigenous Peoples Day in Wenham. Uh. Roll call. Karen? 00:12:50,567 S2: Absolutely. Yes. 00:12:52,100 S1: Gary. 00:12:52,701 S4: Yes. 00:12:54,367 S1: Peter. 00:12:55,100 S5: Yep. 00:12:56,601 S1: And Ben is. Yes. Martha. Thanks once again for spearheading an important initiative like this. And I appreciate you bringing this forward. 00:13:06,000 S6: Thank you. And thanks for having me. 00:13:09,000 S1: Thanks. All right. Um, now let's move to item H of discussion on the upcoming joint interview with the School Committee to fill David Polito seat scheduled for the one m select board meeting on October 21st. In two weeks, the Select Board will review the interview questions previously used by the School Committee and Hamilton Select Board during the appointment of Trent Honda's seat recently, and use those questions as a starting point to develop our own set of questions. So if we could put the questions which I believe are in the packet up on the screen. 00:13:52,767 S1: Or are they not in the packet? 00:13:56,667 S5: No big deal. 00:13:58,567 S7: I'm just trying to figure out how to get them on there. Um. 00:14:04,100 S1: Do you have the. I know that PDF is in your email, Steve, I could. 00:14:10,767 S3: Um, can you get on your email? 00:14:12,167 S1: Dig it up. 00:14:12,667 S3: Okay, perfect. 00:14:16,901 S1: So while we're waiting for this to go up, um, the questions that you're going to see on the screen are a combination of Hamilton select board questions and Hamilton Wenham School Committee questions. So each each of those boards came up with their own questions to ask candidates to fill the recent Some vacancy on the school committee that was created when Trent Honda, Hamilton resident um, moved out of state. And um, so we're going to work off of those and uh. 00:14:56,300 S5: Uh, Ben, what did you think of the questions? 00:14:59,767 S1: I thought they were good. I had a couple. There were a couple of, um, select board questions that, uh, Hamilton selected, questions that I might want to tweak a little bit. But, um, it's possible that there may be other questions that aren't on there that members of our board may want to ask. So that's the sort of for discussion. 00:15:22,100 S3: I'm finding that email on my phone. 00:15:24,467 S1: Yeah I must. Am I allowed to share my screen or. 00:15:27,300 S3: No actually yeah. 00:15:29,300 S7: Yeah. I can make you a call. 00:15:30,367 S1: Absolutely. 00:15:31,267 S3: Yes. 00:15:31,968 S1: All right. Well, so let me do that. So. 00:15:36,167 S2: Ben, Classic question. Why are you doing that? Um, yes. Are we stuck to these questions, or can we pivot as people answer questions and we can, you know, further deep dive into some of their answers? 00:15:50,567 S7: Oh, I didn't see it on here. Oh, yeah. 00:15:53,901 S5: Karen, I would think absolutely. 00:15:57,801 S1: Well, so yeah, I don't think that we're stuck with these. I do think, however, that, um, that if we, if we get more than one candidate and I think right now we only have one candidate. So this may not be an issue, but if we have more than one candidate, um, the, the initial sets of questions I think ought to be the same so that they're on an even playing field. But I think, yeah, I mean, if, you know, based on how someone answers a question, I don't see any reason why there can't be some, you know, some back and forth that, um, probably will make it a more meaningful dialogue. Um, all right. So let me. 00:16:38,267 S7: Know. 00:16:38,601 S2: That was actually my main question about this, because in looking back at the hiring of or the appointment of Trent's replacement, there wasn't a lot of deviating off the conversation. So I want to make sure as people answer the questions that we have, the availability to, you know, deep dive into this. I think this is a very important seat from a town perspective. And I think from a select board perspective, this truly does show, um, you know, our our commitment to the town and the commitment to the school committee. And, and, um, I think this is a huge appointment. So I don't want to get stuck where if we have a question that somebody doesn't answer correctly or if they provide, you know, a strength or a weakness that might not necessarily be in tune with what we're thinking, I'd like to be able to discuss it with them. And that was my main concern for, you know, category H at this point. But if you say that, that's fine. Then I'm back there. 00:17:32,868 S1: Yeah, I think I mean, I think it sounds like all, all of us would want the ability to ask follow up questions. And since we're going to be, you know, part of the interviewing group, then I think we should do that if we want to and we can when we provide our list of questions, our list of sort of standard or the starting questions, let's call them, uh, to the school committee. Um, we can also make it clear that, that we also may have follow up questions based on the responses. Thank you. Um, now, so this this list, um, the italicized questions, which start with number four, were the Hamilton Select Board questions and the ones that are italicized for the school committee questions. So why don't we just start going through them. You know, and they're only six. So be easy. Um, all right. So the first one, in your opinion, what is the district doing? Well. And what are some challenges that you see? How would you work on the committee to work through those challenges? Um, when I read that, I thought, that's perfectly fine. But I think that like a more to me, a more meaningful question and answer might be whether there are whether the candidate thinks that there are certain priorities of the school committee that ought to be changed. Like, I'd be interested to know if there's a if there's a candidate who says, for example. Well, you know, I think that the following issue should be made a greater focus or greater priority. That's sort of like what I'd be more interested in. The language of challenges is a little bit, a little bit fuzzy for me. Um, so I think more about like, what are your what are your priorities? You know, your top three priorities as a school committee member. What do you what do you think are the top three most important issues of the school district needs to address, or something like that? 00:19:31,767 S4: Gary agrees. I think, number one, it needs to be more specific. So something as you said. Ben, what are your three top priorities rather than just a general question? 00:19:44,100 S3: So one, what are your three top priorities and or or with the how would you work on the how would you work on the committee to work through those three challenges? 00:19:59,667 S1: Yeah, I think so. In your opinion, what, um, what are the three top priorities for the school district, and how would you work on the committee to focus on those priorities? 00:20:16,601 S5: Maybe solely. 00:20:20,300 S1: Great. Alright. Number two, what do you see as the role of the school committee? What are your areas of interest on the committee and what strengths do you bring? To me, I thought again, like it should be tightened. And just like someone should ask the the candidate, what are your qualifications and experience that make you that make you believe that you're, you know, a good fit for the role? Sort of what they're getting at asking what strengths, but. 00:20:48,567 S4: What does HR say? 00:20:52,200 S8: Yeah, I mean we could separate those. I also think number three is like a yes no question. And I think it's kind of a waste of a question. Um, and is it going to change our opinion regardless of what they say? I mean, people can think about if they want to run, but, um. 00:21:11,601 S5: Why would you want to be interim and not run? 00:21:14,968 S8: Yeah, it seems like you would want to, but if we if we're doing six, that seems like not a priority question to me. So you could split number two is one option. 00:21:26,767 S1: Well, the other thing is that the school committee is going to be meeting to come up with their own questions. And number three in this example was a school committee question, not a Hamilton Selectboard question. So we also haven't decided, like, is there going to be a total of six questions between the two boards, not counting follow ups? So all of that seems to suggest that as far as our board is concerned, that we would we wouldn't have number three as one of our questions at all. But number two, maybe we want, as you said, you had to break that out because the first question is different. What do you see as the role of the school committee? That's probably a full stop. Yeah, that's. Yeah, exactly. And the school committee itself is probably going to have that question. So that so that could be our question too. And then our question three could be what do you see as your qualifications and experience that make you, you know, a good fit for a position on the school committee. 00:22:18,567 S8: A good candidate, yeah. 00:22:20,467 S7: Good candidate. 00:22:22,601 S1: All right. So that gets us down to number four, which this was a Hamilton Select Board question. Before asking about budget season, how would you get up to speed on the budgeting process? What do people think of that question? 00:22:36,501 S5: That's called connect with Vinny. 00:22:41,667 S8: I mean, I guess I would broaden it and just say, yeah, I mean, we're at the front end of budget season, but I think it's how would you get up to speed on the governmental aspects of school committee and municipal budgeting? 00:22:59,100 S5: I like that. 00:23:00,767 S4: Yes. You know, the large part of the job, although they have their specialties. You know, the biggest part of the job is the finances. That's the big question for the school committee. So I think, as Deidre said, we need to expand that question a little bit more. 00:23:18,868 S1: Okay. Um, Steve, Joe or Michelle, you guys are, um, taking down the. 00:23:25,167 S3: Yeah, we got the tape. 00:23:26,300 S7: Yeah. 00:23:26,501 S1: The questions? 00:23:27,400 S8: Yeah. That's true. You might have a better way to worry about getting up to speed. 00:23:32,400 S3: I think. Sounds good. 00:23:34,901 S7: Okay. 00:23:36,868 S1: All right, how about number five? It's critical to engage with diversity of opinion when discussing issues and proposing solutions to those issues. What are your strengths? And reaching consensus when not everyone agrees? 00:23:57,167 S8: What is your experience? 00:23:59,868 S4: Perhaps be more illustrative. If we got very specific and said with the recent number of school votes not passing. How would you unify the two towns to find a new path forward? Something like that. A challenging question, but it's going to be the one they're going to have to answer on the board. 00:24:22,868 S5: Right. 00:24:23,300 S8: That's a good one. I don't think it's a one person job, but. Yes. 00:24:28,200 S1: Yep. All right. Good. And then six is just. That seems like a school committee question. You know, that's really more. I mean, not that we're unconcerned with the time commitment, but that's, I think, something that the school committee can decide whether they want to ask the candidates in terms of subcommittee membership and time investment. But I would think we would leave six off of our questions. 00:24:52,300 S8: Agreed. 00:24:54,901 S5: Okay. 00:24:55,400 S7: The one thing. 00:24:55,767 S2: That it doesn't have is anything regarding their feeling or their understanding about the regional school district agreement in general. And so that seems to be an extremely hot topic. And I especially coming from A1M seat. I'd really like to know not necessarily what they're thought of. Yes, I would like to know what their thoughts are. They don't necessarily have to provide that, but I do think that they need to be able to to Answer. You know how. How much information they have on it. You know where they stand a little bit on. On. Um, you know. Have they researched the agreement or things like that? I think that people are going to be looking for that kind of answer more than. How do you feel about working together? 00:25:39,667 S1: Yeah, I think that's a great idea. I think I think. 00:25:41,567 S2: It's not about. 00:25:42,167 S7: Word. 00:25:42,267 S1: It's as you said, it's a hot topic now. Um, I mean, we at our last meeting, we talked a little bit, you know, publicly about some of our priorities there. So, you know, not that there were hundreds of people watching us talk about that, but, um, the information is out there as far as, you know, some of the issues that that are important to when I'm on the renegotiation of the, uh, of the regional agreement. So I think to me, I think that would be an important question to ask. Well, does anybody disagree? 00:26:18,000 S8: I think it depends on how you're phrasing it. So what's the specific question? 00:26:24,567 S1: Um, I mean, I think it's maybe, you know, what is what is your understanding of probably starting with what is your understanding of the current state of the regional agreement? Because then it'd be interesting to see what does the person even know that it's something that's coming up for renewal. Um, so that would be kind of a baseline question. And then if they answer yes, um, perhaps the question is, um, you know, do you have an understanding of what some of the key issues to be resolved are in the agreement? I don't know. I mean, it's to be if somebody has that information and that background, like I would want to I would want to know it. Like if someone said, yeah, I think that we really, you know, that there should be changes to the, you know, to the, uh, Apportionment funding mechanism or something like it would be something we'd probably want to know. I'm not sure how we draw it out necessarily, other than just trying to get a sense of what knowledge they have about the regional agreement and potential issues in it. 00:27:35,501 S2: I'd also like to find out, by wording the question, whether or not their focus would be on Wenham, or whether it would be on the regional school district in general. I mean, I don't necessarily think you can ask somebody how they voted, but I definitely would like to be able to have a candidate that that more aligns with how the select board and how the town in general has voted. Wenham has has eloquently voted for the school district board, has voted for the school. We had some some challenges with that. So I'd hate to be able to not acknowledge that during this process. 00:28:12,567 S7: I think I. 00:28:13,567 S8: Don't know, I think that's a slippery slope to. 00:28:16,467 S7: The. 00:28:17,100 S8: Question if someone agrees with us as a condition. I mean, I don't. 00:28:23,000 S2: Necessarily have to agree, but they have to agree on the next steps. Right. And I think that that's where where as a representative of when I'm on the school committee, I think that they should be aligned with the rest of the leaders in one of them. 00:28:40,300 S8: I mean, to me, the question is more about the skills and experience. And does the person have experience with complicated negotiations and how would they approach that type of situation, then sort of feeling out their specific feelings on this issue before they're actually in the position? I don't know. I guess I'm more interested in what strengths they bring and what experience. 00:29:09,801 S1: What's the practical timeline Gary and Steve on when the regional agreement is likely to be agreed upon in principle, versus the new member coming on to the school committee and having any input into that process. 00:29:30,000 S3: My understanding is the input phase is effectively over or will be is it tomorrow, Gary, or next Wednesday? 00:29:38,467 S4: Yeah. Next Wednesday. Right. 00:29:39,667 S3: Next Wednesday. And not to say I mean I guess since I say things can't change, but basically where everyone is coming together next Wednesday to, you know, effectively say like, yes, you know, we've we've all put our input in, in, you know, send it to the lawyers to see if you know, what we're looking to do is legally, legally allowable before we start negotiating the the finer points. 00:30:12,767 S3: So I guess all that to say is I'm not sure this individual would have much. 00:30:16,167 S7: That's right. 00:30:19,767 S1: Karen. Does that change your view of things or. 00:30:23,267 S2: Yeah. I mean, I'm well aware that they're not going to make it a substantial impact. And for what? For months. Um. 00:30:31,667 S1: No, actually, specifically on the on the the fact that the regional agreement may be baked by next week. Um, and, you know, when we're interviewing the person, it may no longer really be a live issue. 00:30:46,467 S4: But in any case. 00:30:48,000 S2: My issue for quite some time. 00:30:49,868 S4: But in any case, I mean, it is the basic document. So if they're going on the committee, they ought to demonstrate an understanding upfront of what the document is and what it says. 00:31:01,367 S2: And that's my point. I think that we need to have somebody in the seat that is understanding of, of the sides and, and not just somebody who, you know, has read the paper or Facebook. I think we need somebody who is truly ready to commit to this position. 00:31:17,501 S2: And I think that that kind of question is, is important. 00:31:22,367 S1: So maybe the question is something like, please tell us your understanding of the current state of the regional agreement and 2 or 3 important issues that it covers, something like that. 00:31:40,567 S7: Yeah. 00:31:42,667 S2: You could also give them a Hail Mary and say, is there something in there that you would have added? Let's see where they go with it. 00:31:51,868 S2: And that could be anything. That could be from scores to, you know, another softball field. I mean, you're it could be. That's a very open ended question with the idea that hopefully they'll be able to divulge a little bit more information about how they're feeling. 00:32:07,501 S1: One of the other select board members think about This. Should we have the question? And if so. 00:32:15,868 S8: Yeah, I'm not convinced that that's illuminating when it's largely negotiated. Sorry. Go ahead Gary. 00:32:23,701 S4: So I'm thinking, uh, I think two times ago, the chair of the Selectboard and the chair of the school committee need to arrive at the agreement as to how the interview is going to go. And I think couple times ago we went through we had five standard questions from the select board, six from the committee. So each person asked one standard question. So we really don't need six here. We need just five from the select board. And then you could agree with the chair, the school committee, to have the second round of questions posed by individuals as we go around the time, because otherwise I mean that gives you 22 questions for the interview just so. Six standard from school, five from us, and then somewhere between 1 and 11 as the individual interviewers get to ask their own personal question. That's more than enough, I think. 00:33:27,100 S8: Yeah. For sure. 00:33:28,767 S2: So is that a no? 00:33:32,567 S4: That's a I think, you know, if it's particularly interest then that's perhaps your question. Otherwise, you know, I would like to see it down to just the five because otherwise the time is going to run crazy at the meeting. 00:33:50,501 S1: Do you think that what I've discussed is with, with the chair of the school committee so far? And we've had a couple of calls on this, including, you know, looking at these questions, it did not include and I'm not saying that we couldn't revisit it, but it did not include, um, you know, a full round of individual member questions after the um. After these questions. That does not mean, as we've just talked about, that there won't be follow up questions to the candidate's answers to the question, the to the questions that are on the script, so to speak. So sort of a different issue. But I think the way that that Dana and I have discussed it, there would be a list of questions like this list that would be a combination of those that we've just come up with and those that the school committee are going to come up with. Some of those are probably going to overlap because we've already identified some that we like slightly revised that were school committee questions the last time around. So it may be that there ends up being, let's say like eight different questions between the two boards. And then those would be divvied up. However the they're divvied up in terms of board members asking certain questions and then follow ups. We'd like to have follow ups to the candidates answers to those, let's say, eight questions. So if we did it that way and we didn't have the regional piece as one of the questions, and I don't see that it would be asked. Um, so 00:35:31,868 S1: I think that if we if we include it on our list, there's already going to be some overlap on some of these with the school committee questions. So I don't think we're going to end up with too many of these, um, scripted questions. 00:35:48,400 S4: So let's put it on our list. And are we going to have the full list back from the you and Dana before the meeting? 00:35:57,868 S1: Yes. Yeah. So what we'll do is when, you know, after tonight's meeting, I'll send Dana And Stephen and John McKellar were, you know, working on the tweaks to our questions. So we'll agree on however many questions we agree on, which I guess would be six, 5 or 6 up the. And then we split some up. Um, and then we would send those to, to Dana. So I would, I would support a version of the regionalization question that says something like, you know, what is your understanding of the status of the agreement? And what are 2 or 3 issues that you believe are important that are covered in, in the regional agreement, something like that, open ended. And, uh, and then there'd be opportunity for follow up, you know, a little bit of Q&A depending on how the people answer it. 00:36:52,100 S2: Um, I fully agree. And unfortunately, um, as I mentioned, I, I really gotta go. So, um, do we need a, do we need a vote? Or are we just discussing. 00:37:03,100 S1: I don't think we need a vote. I think if we have a consensus on the questions, then we'll add them. And so I guess just right now it's just a question of whether there's a third member who it sounds like, Gary, that you're okay with them with adding that question to our list. The regionalization. 00:37:20,567 S4: Yes, sure. 00:37:22,000 S5: Me to be quiet. 00:37:25,000 S1: All right. Great. So I think we have a consensus. And, Steve, I can, um, on the regional question. I mean, I just said it a couple of times, but it probably in artfully. And there may be a better way to to put that question so we can talk more about it tomorrow if needed. In terms of, um, finalizing the wording before I send it off to Dana, that works. 00:37:45,501 S5: Uh, Mr. Chairman. 00:37:46,200 S9: There is a hand up. Just so I know. I just want to point it out. 00:37:49,167 S1: Okay. Um, all right. If you could bring the person over to the panelists side so they can speak. 00:38:02,367 S1: Uh, Miss Nancy. 00:38:06,467 S7: Hi. 00:38:07,601 S10: Um, I'm a Wenham resident. Um, I was just curious. Is it public? Who is running for the school committee, or is that is there some way to find that out, or is that, like, hidden or private at this point? 00:38:23,367 S1: I think it's public record. Steve is a is a public record. Who has applied for the position? 00:38:28,000 S3: I am actually unclear on that question. However, if we can take your information down, I'll get the answer to that. And if it is public, I will release it to you. 00:38:39,801 S7: Okay. 00:38:41,067 S1: And my understanding is that that so far only one we've only been informed as a board of one. Um, when a resident who's applied and as we said in prior meetings, we encourage, um, anyone who is interested in filling the school committee position and who lives in Wenham to please throw your hat in the ring. But right now we just have one. 00:39:02,000 S3: And what's your give me an email. I mean, generally if it was staff it would not be public information. But this is it's like a it's an elected official that's going elected seat. That's going to be appointed. I just don't want to release anyone's private information, um, without double checking. So what's your email? And I'll get back to you. 00:39:23,567 S10: Uh, so I don't know if you can see my name there, but it's just Nicole Castagna at gmail.com. 00:39:30,000 S7: Okay. Perfect. 00:39:31,567 S10: Do you want me to spell it? Or you can see it there. 00:39:33,667 S3: I can see it. And I'll get back to. 00:39:35,100 S7: Okay. 00:39:42,267 S3: Cool. 00:39:43,067 S1: All right, well, thank you. Thank you for your comment, Miss Nancy. And are there any other members of the public who wish to speak? 00:39:52,267 S9: No, that is great. 00:39:55,100 S1: All right. Well thanks everybody. I think we've, um, We had a good discussion on that issue and now we can. I think, return to the top of the agenda. And I appreciate everybody's flexibility and allowing us to move around a little bit on the agenda. So we're now at number actually I'm sorry. We're at the at public input. So if there are any members of the public who wish to be heard on an issue that isn't specified on the agenda, please raise your hand. Or if anyone has joined the CoA forum, they can speak up. 00:40:36,968 S9: There is no public comment. 00:40:39,100 S1: All right. Thanks. We'll move to reports and announcements. Number one, town administrator's update and town announcements. 00:40:45,767 S3: Yep. Thank you, Mister chair. A couple event updates this evening. Uh, first being, uh, open house at the fire station on October 8th. That's tomorrow night, Wednesday, 5 to 7. There'll be pizza from five suns in. Ice cream from Cherry Hill Farm will be served free of charge. They'll be going over a fire safety trip. Fire safety tips. The kids can meet the firefighters and Sparky, the fire dogs who I haven't met neither. Uh. And see and climb on the fire trucks. 00:41:19,367 S4: So that's. 00:41:20,167 S5: Tomorrow at. 00:41:20,701 S3: 6:00. Tomorrow at 5 to 7 p.m.. Five at the fire station. And it also is in, um, this week is, uh, fire prevention week, October 5th through the 11th. So that's the reason for the open house. 00:41:39,400 S3: Um, other big news is the grand opening of West Windham Park will be Saturday the 18th at 1 p.m.. West Windham Park is located up on Topsfield Road. The Cookie Monster will be here, and we'll be offering free cookies and ice cream for the first 150 people face painting. They'll also be a dedication of a memorial bench and some learning opportunities about the Miles River watershed, with the Ipswich River Watershed Association. And there will also be we'll be celebrating Arbor Day there by planting Williams 12th Memorial Tree. So again, that's Saturday, October 18th at 1 p.m.. Rain or shine. And I'll be saying a few words there. And I know Kate, if she hasn't already, we'll be reaching out to see if any of the members of the Selectboard would like to say a few things. And finally, the another update on the Town hall HVAC for all the public that are out there listening. We will be officially moving off the second floor next Wednesday. Um, the 10th of the 11. 00:42:56,200 S7: 15. 15. 00:42:56,968 S3: 15. All right. So next Wednesday, the 15th, will we move that? The trout movers will be back to move about nine desks and a bunch of file cabinets off the third. Excuse me, second floor down to the first floor will be all the staff that are currently on the, uh, that are typically, uh, called the second floor home will be moving temporarily down to the first floor and sitting in the select boards office and kind of an open concept office space. We'll have approximately nine desks there. And uh, and we will um, and then the following day on the, the 16th will be, uh, it will be setting us up so similarly to last time, uh, there's a lot of moving pieces. We're going to have to close Town Hall down to the public on that. Wednesday and Thursday, however, will all remain available via telephone and email for questions, and online payments are still accepted, so remain in operation as much as possible. But it's just, um, you know, we're going to be in the midst of those two days and luckily have limited access to, um, the network at certain times throughout the day. Um, and that's all. 00:44:18,200 S1: Great. Thank you. Um, I don't have anything to report this evening to other select board members. 00:44:24,267 S7: I do not. 00:44:26,567 S4: Know. 00:44:30,868 S1: Peter. 00:44:31,801 S5: Well, I don't then. 00:44:33,901 S1: All right. Thanks very much. Move to the consent agenda. Uh, there are two items on the consent agenda. Minutes. The three? Three of which executive session minutes we have. Um. Or do we? So we need to. What do we need to do about the executive session? Minutes in, open session. Steve, we need nothing now. 00:44:52,167 S3: It'll come back at the next meeting. 00:44:54,667 S1: Okay, so the consent agenda will be, um, to approve, um, the open session minutes of June 9th and June 11th, 2025, as written and to a point memo, uh, to an EMT position for a term starting October 7th, 2025 through June 30th, 2026, to any members of the Select Board wish to discuss any of those items before we move to a consent approval. 00:45:25,300 S3: Just a quick clarification. I just I didn't realize that we have them on the consent agenda for release tonight, so that's totally fine. Um, if we can just do it now. So if you didn't. Did you amend the consent agenda? No. Change that. Okay. So just. Yeah. Move forward with the consent agenda. 00:45:45,067 S1: No, except that we're not releasing, um, the May 6th ones. 00:45:50,167 S7: Right? 00:45:51,567 S3: Yeah. Okay. 00:45:54,100 S1: So I'll, I'll, I'll make a motion to, um, to amend the consent agenda to approve minutes from the April 1st in June 17th, 2025 executive session and the June 9th and June 11th, 2025 open session. And, uh, item B remaining the same. Is there a second? 00:46:18,901 S4: Second. Gary. 00:46:21,167 S1: All right. So this will be a roll call vote. Just to amend the consent agenda, starting with Deirdre. 00:46:25,868 S7: Yes. 00:46:27,000 S1: Peter. 00:46:27,868 S5: Yes. 00:46:29,100 S1: Gary. 00:46:29,601 S4: Yes. 00:46:30,701 S1: And Ben is. Yes. And then I would entertain a motion to approve the amended consent agenda. 00:46:37,501 S4: So moved. Gary. 00:46:39,567 S5: Second. Second. Peter. 00:46:41,567 S7: Thank you. Peter. 00:46:42,567 S1: Thank you. Roll call. Vote. Gary. 00:46:45,267 S4: Yes. 00:46:46,367 S1: Peter. 00:46:47,067 S5: Yes. 00:46:48,367 S1: Deirdre. 00:46:49,067 S7: Yes. 00:46:50,200 S1: And Ben is. Yes. Thanks very much. All right. We did item C already. We're on to item D. Discussion and potential vote on Halloween trick or treat hours. 00:47:03,767 S5: We're not going to change them, are we? 00:47:05,167 S7: No. 00:47:05,968 S1: We're holding the pumpkin on that to discuss. 00:47:09,167 S3: What are the hours. 00:47:10,267 S8: 5 to. 00:47:10,901 S7: 8. 00:47:11,267 S4: Hour. 00:47:11,567 S7: Day. 00:47:13,000 S3: So the hours, I guess typically they maybe we just. I guess it's like, what changed it based on the day of the week it falls. I'm just trying to think of a policy with just something that just we can vote on every year, and then I'm sure it has to be voted on every year. We just set the hours from 5 to 8. Unless you pick it like set of some communities change. I don't know when does this like the it falls on a Wednesday and move it to a Friday or something like that. I think. 00:47:42,467 S5: We're overthinking. 00:47:43,267 S7: It. Yeah, I think. 00:47:45,000 S8: Just. 00:47:45,367 S4: I think we've been 5 to 8 for a long time. Yeah. So. 00:47:48,801 S5: So we're not going to change it. 00:47:51,501 S3: We'll bring back the policy. 00:47:54,667 S8: I'm going to move. 00:47:55,501 S7: It. 00:47:56,267 S8: To approve Halloween. Trick or treat hours between the hours of five and 8 p.m.. 00:48:02,267 S5: Second. Peter clay. 00:48:05,200 S1: Thank you. Roll call. Gary. 00:48:06,601 S4: Yes. 00:48:07,767 S1: Deirdre. 00:48:08,467 S7: Yes. 00:48:09,601 S1: Peter. 00:48:10,267 S5: Yes. 00:48:11,367 S1: And Ben is. Yes. All right. Thank you. Item E. Discussion and potential vote to select the 2026 Annual Town Meeting date, along with discussion to set key dates and milestones needed to complete town meeting preparation materials. And Steve, this has to do with the fact that the date that we would normally have town meeting and the date that it's presently planned for is Saturday, April 4th, which is the day before Easter. And there's been some, um, Discussion with the town of Hamilton. I believe in the School Committee. Regarding budget issues and town meeting dates and um, proposal to I think to. Move the town meeting a week out to Saturday, April 11th. Is that right? 00:49:00,501 S3: Yeah. They in? Uh, Joe did call me Joe to call me this morning and said that last night the Hamilton Select Board voted to move the town meeting, continuing on, Wenham also approving. So that actually took a vote last night that we agree that they want to move theirs to April 11th. And then by default, the election would then take place the following Thursday. 00:49:26,067 S5: Makes sense. The 16th is a big travel. 00:49:29,567 S7: We can't. 00:49:32,067 S1: It doesn't change. Correct me if I'm wrong, Steve. It doesn't change anything. With respect to the, um, the budget calendar other than it basically builds out an extra week? 00:49:43,601 S3: No. The budget. So this right is built in an extra week. So we'll essentially we'll the annual town meeting and budget calendar. We'll just work backwards from town meeting. So essentially that will buy us an extra week. Everything gets to move out about a week as far as because we really move around. We take town meeting date and you back out about 4 or 5 weeks off that, and that's the mailing date or the date. We have to get the final one into the mailer so that the residents can receive it in their mailbox approximately two weeks before town meeting date. And while we're talking about dates as well, is the other key date that I would like to ask the board, and something I think I sent them email last night, the night before that. We're looking to set the first Saturday in December. Traditionally, we need to leave the first Saturday in December for our, you know, budget kickoff meeting. It's generally a four hour ish meeting will be slightly less eight to noon time on a Saturday at Beaver School. That's really another key driver in our calendar. So the blackboard, you know, is amendable to that date. That would work well. And we can go ahead and then probably at the next our next select board meeting, we can roll out our more comprehensive calendar. That would include, you know, the planning board meeting CPC and everyone's like Board and Pinkham. And as we work up into town meeting. 00:51:13,167 S5: That makes. 00:51:13,601 S4: Sense right. For the motion. And then, yes, please move to hold the 2026 Annual Town Meeting on April 11th, 2026. 00:51:23,667 S5: Peter Clay seconds. 00:51:26,200 S1: Thank you. Roll call. Deirdre. 00:51:27,767 S7: Yes. 00:51:29,000 S1: Gary. 00:51:29,567 S4: Yes. 00:51:30,767 S1: Peter. 00:51:31,267 S5: Yes. 00:51:32,467 S1: And Ben is. Yes. That's great. All right. Thank you. We've dealt with item F already. Um. 00:51:39,667 S3: December 6th. 00:51:40,400 S4: Okay. December 6th. Okay. 00:51:42,501 S1: Oh, good for me. 00:51:43,667 S3: It is. You guys generally. 00:51:45,701 S1: That works for me. 00:51:48,267 S3: Yep. 00:51:49,901 S1: All right. That moves to item G. Overview of what it means to be designated a climate leader in Massachusetts, and the achievements the town would need to meet in order to receive that designation. Um, who wants to take that? Deirdre. Steve. 00:52:05,100 S7: Oh, uh. 00:52:07,300 S3: Probably talked a lot about a lot better than I can about this, but I'll just take a quick shot at a high level. It's, you know, Massachusetts used to have or still does have a have a green community, uh, designation to communities that have done certain, made certain requirements that met some criteria and now they have how new it is. But it is certainly newer than green community, but they have a designation called Climate Leader. And what this is, is it's a green community, which is one of the requirements. You have to be a green community in good standing to be a designated climate leader, but then adds a number of other benchmarks that you have to need. And, um, you know, I have a list here which I'll just scroll down on. 00:52:59,100 S3: The big ones is, you know, we've done it. We've done a couple of them. Like, we're already a green community. We've already established, uh, a climate committee, a climate action committee. And but we as far as I know, I think we've started for our municipal decarbonization roadmap. I think we've started exploring that. But I don't have anything formal in place. So really, if you're looking at this list here in front of you, where it's one through six, we've kind of checked box one and two and three, four, five and six. Our outs are outstanding with Would probably, you know, the big and I looked at it in full. 00:53:41,100 S4: Force. 00:53:41,567 S5: And process and then we'd have to work with. 00:53:45,868 S9: The geothermal project. 00:53:47,267 S5: The five and six. 00:53:48,167 S3: Yeah, but it's all town buildings. So I mean, yeah, I mean, we're making strides, but we had to formalize a plan. And, you know, one of the big things, I guess there are a couple of our probably pretty heavy lifts, I think. But the number six is there's been a lot of talk about the stretch code. So this is something that. So essentially what I did was I added this as a goal and objective to the template that we looked at briefly last time. And then the action items, you know, essentially the overall overarching goal is to become a climate leader in the action. Items are effectively three, 4 or 5 and six. So if the board decides it is kind of just a very general overview, but if the board decides that this is something that they would like to dedicate resources to and start exploring and working towards. Then, you know, in another future meeting and it can be relatively soon we'll bring forward. The Climate Action Committee made a recommendation to adopt the stretch code. Uh, and then also maybe bring forth some, uh, practical concerns that the building inspector has about the stretch code specifically and have a more in-depth conversation on that. And really, each one of these individually. Not sure the other, you know, you have a better understanding of what's involved in some of this is something that is a one year project or this is a multi year. Um. 00:55:21,367 S8: I mean, a lot of it's developing plans, but just just to clarify, so that the climate committee has recommended that we pursue the climate leader designation. So I think the committee needs the opportunity to come in and present their discussions. They've sent us a memo sort of outlining a lot of what you just said, but also to explain the rationale, because part of what this does is allow towns and cities to access a higher threshold of grant funding. Um, you know that there's previously been funding through the green communities, but this is now sort of next level. Um, and a lot of the things that are outstanding are planning. You don't necessarily achieve all of this in sort of one fell swoop, but it's about working towards all of these things, um, including the stretch code, which I think we need to discuss in more detail. The I'll just say the stretch code only applies to new construction, not existing. And that's an important distinction. So I think. 00:56:29,667 S7: So. 00:56:30,467 S5: So Michelle, in the packet you had there. There. Memo to us. 00:56:35,901 S3: Yeah. The memo has been distributed. 00:56:38,100 S5: Yeah. 00:56:40,000 S8: But I think they need the opportunity to come and discuss it and. 00:56:44,701 S3: Right. Well, just this. 00:56:45,767 S7: Is. 00:56:46,000 S8: This is like the high. 00:56:46,868 S7: Level. 00:56:47,200 S3: This is like a high level because it's been added to the goals and objectives. And if this has, you know, at a high level, the board is like, yeah, it's something we want to work towards. Then it becomes a goal and then. 00:56:58,300 S5: Stuff will come in. I like it all the time. 00:57:02,801 S7: I do also. 00:57:07,200 S1: Deirdre, what do you think that the committee will want to come in and present? 00:57:13,400 S8: Um, Tom's here tonight. Um, like. 00:57:18,467 S9: We're happy. 00:57:18,767 S7: To come. 00:57:19,267 S8: You're happy to come? Right? Yeah. Whenever we can. 00:57:22,601 S7: Yeah. 00:57:23,100 S3: We can call it Julie. 00:57:25,267 S8: Or we could do a joint meeting. That's true too. If you think that would be. 00:57:31,100 S7: Might be good. 00:57:31,767 S8: Might be good. Then everyone can speak if they want to. Yeah. Do you have a meeting coming up? 00:57:40,100 S9: We're meeting this. 00:57:40,701 S7: Week. You do? 00:57:43,100 S8: So maybe. 00:57:46,300 S8: Well, we wouldn't. I mean, we don't, but. 00:57:48,467 S7: But we could. 00:57:49,567 S8: You could talk. You can bring it up and see if people want to just come and present. Or would it be nice to have a joint meeting? 00:57:56,267 S7: Yeah. Okay. 00:57:58,501 S8: That would be. 00:57:59,000 S7: Great. 00:58:02,267 S7: Great. 00:58:03,467 S1: Um, just I would just note that, um, if you're meeting Thursday, um, Tom, that you wouldn't be able to, under the open meeting law, put put this on the agenda. If it's not on there yet. Um, because you need 40. Sorry. Yeah. 48 hours. Right. 00:58:23,467 S9: Isn't there for you. 00:58:24,167 S5: For your provision. 00:58:25,567 S7: For scheduling. 00:58:26,467 S11: Being discussed? That could come up. Is that possible that I could qualify for that? 00:58:31,367 S8: Yeah, it's. 00:58:31,701 S7: Largely. 00:58:32,467 S11: Like unexpected. 00:58:33,601 S3: Yeah, it's like that'd be appropriate. 00:58:36,100 S8: And it's largely a scheduling question. 00:58:38,467 S11: Yeah. It's not like. 00:58:40,100 S1: Okay. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Certainly if it's scheduling. Well, in that sense. 00:58:44,501 S3: Uh, Mister chair. Uh, just Lucy McGovern. 00:58:48,567 S7: Oh. Lucy's here. 00:58:50,100 S8: Oh, there we go. 00:58:51,767 S1: Yes. Uh, yeah. Um, Mrs. McGovern, I don't know if you're on the panelist side yet, but as soon as you are, please feel free to introduce yourself and speak. 00:59:13,000 S7: Oh, yeah. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Yeah. 00:59:16,467 S10: I just wanted to let you. 00:59:17,367 S7: Know that this this. 00:59:18,601 S10: Actually. 00:59:19,167 S7: Is, um, an. 00:59:21,100 S6: Item on our agenda to, uh, listen. 00:59:24,901 S7: In to. 00:59:26,167 S10: What. 00:59:26,400 S7: You. 00:59:26,567 S8: All had. 00:59:27,100 S7: To say, and. 00:59:29,000 S6: To report. 00:59:29,667 S7: Back and um, and then go from, from there. 00:59:35,167 S10: So, um. 00:59:36,167 S7: I. 00:59:36,667 S6: Would agree. 00:59:37,968 S12: With Tom that the can that we would probably be more than happy to, um, discuss this with you and, and give our rationale as to why, uh, we sent the memo and believe it, uh, would be in the best interest of the town to seek, uh, this designation. Yeah. So it so we will be able to discuss it on on Thursday. 01:00:07,167 S7: Excellent. That's great. Excellent. 01:00:10,367 S1: All right, well, I think it's I think you have the full support of, of the board, um, to move towards this designation. So look forward to meeting with you jointly. Um, whenever that can be arranged. Any other comments from anyone on this topic? 01:00:32,567 S8: Sounds great. 01:00:33,868 S5: I think that when we do this, we need to publicize this, that we're doing this. I mean, residents should feel really good about what we're doing here. 01:00:45,367 S1: Yeah. 01:00:48,667 S4: Perhaps. 01:00:50,868 S1: I'm sorry. Anybody else want to speak on G. 01:00:53,167 S4: Yeah. That's Gary I just going to say that perhaps, too, that the board needs to become, uh, technically smarter on this. And perhaps we need to have rich building inspector come and talk to us, too, about what the real noise are on this. 01:01:07,267 S3: Yeah, he's writing a letter and also going to try to get them to come on the meeting. 01:01:11,200 S9: Right. 01:01:13,868 S9: Okay. 01:01:16,100 S1: I agree. Then move on to item I. Um, so at our last meeting, Steve, correct me if I'm wrong. We we went through Very long list of accomplishments of your administration, with the support of the Select Board in FY 25, and including that in that discussion, were the objectives for FY 25 that were not, you know, fully met because of, you know, for good reasons, priority prioritization and so on. That will be carried over for FY 26. So I think we've covered those goals for FY 26. And unless you disagree, I think tonight we would just want you to give a high level overview of your proposed new goals for FY 26. 01:02:08,801 S3: Yep. Yeah, that's that's a good summary. 01:02:14,667 S1: So if you want to go ahead. 01:02:17,100 S3: All right. So I'll tell you start from the from the top I mean I mean some of these. Some of these are old and they get some overlapping. So I might repeat myself from last time, so I apologize. But, uh, so the first one is out of the land use master plan implementation. Scroll down a little. So where be we are? Um, applying for grants and working towards essentially the three outcomes that came from last year's presentation where we kind of distilled the, the core, um, recommendations out of the master plan. And we'll be working towards a Complete Streets program economic development study in the Downtown Revitalization Study. The hope is that we'll be able to get grant funding for all three of these initiatives. 01:03:08,100 S9: So the next one. 01:03:11,567 S3: Is zoning. So this is obviously ongoing. But now that we have submitted what we believe to be, uh, zoning that complies with and with the MBTA. Three A we're now working through the process with the Attorney General's office in Chelsea to ensure that it continues to move through, and ultimately, we get certified or designated. Three A community. 01:03:39,601 S7: Great. 01:03:40,868 S3: One is website development. Again, just a piece of this was I added a piece of this. The website was done in completion. However, the one missing piece that we still need to work on and hopefully something we can get into this year is uh, it does have that public outreach, which, uh, mass notification database that I'm not sure if anybody here is a member of it. I know I've signed up for a bunch of stuff myself, and it works really well, but you can essentially tell the website how you want to be contacted, either phone or email or both, and exactly what you want to be sent to you and when it's updated. So if you want to say, you know, whenever a new select board, whenever minutes are posted, let me know and it'll send you a link and say the new minutes are posted or what? A new meeting is set and you can do that right down to pretty much any, any board committee, new news, new stuff like that. So I think it's underutilized. It's a really good tool. It's a selling feature on the website. When we decided to go this route, it's just trying to get folks to you. So hopefully we can push that a little bit harder this year. 01:04:56,367 S3: And see creation. Yep. So this is kind of standard operating procedures for all major roles in your organization to prevent things falling through the cracks as much as possible with turnover of of key staff members. So we essentially spent last year identifying those staffs and creating redundancy within the departments and working on cross training. And then with the cross training will come written procedures for those key roles. 01:05:26,167 S9: That's what we're working on this year. 01:05:29,200 S3: This is ongoing. From last year. 01:05:34,567 S8: I talked about that last year because it's it's not every committee lends itself to an SOP in the way that the Veterans Committee does. So we had talked about creating onboarding guides, the knowledge base that people need to have, the rules that they need to understand for joining committees, boards and committees because not everyone does SOPs. 01:06:01,300 S7: Great. 01:06:02,267 S3: Um, somewhat generally. 01:06:04,667 S8: It's more generally onboarding knowledge base, how the committee operates. And some of them may include SOPs because they do events that repeat and so forth, but not all committees do that. 01:06:21,968 S3: Diane's been working on. 01:06:23,000 S9: Something that I think kind. 01:06:23,968 S3: Of fits that bill a little. It can be certainly tailored, but yeah, I'll, uh, I'll just we can add. 01:06:30,367 S9: Something like that to it. 01:06:36,067 S3: Then financial software, you can skip that one. It's an ongoing budget transition. So this is. 01:06:47,501 S3: Uh, so again, not not to repeat myself too much, but but essentially, you know, sort and purchased and set up, uh, budgetary software. We have the transparency module up and running. This year is the first year that we include the we'll start using the capital module and then produce the file, uh, formatted with fits and of general. The Government Finance Financial Officers Association, the National Association for Accounting Best Practices in the United States. And they have essentially a um, an outline of what needs to be in a budget document to check all the best practices about a 200 to 300 page document. It's very robust, and that should be something. That's what we're gearing to publish this year and hopefully every year into the future. Okay. Moving down trash collection alternatives. Again. This is, um, Carrie from 25. I gave an update on this last time. If you continue down town on land, this is, um, so we've, as you know, we've kind of we've this is a semi carryover, however, with an additional action item that's been added to create a working group that will. Um, sorry, a typo there land parcels, but town owned land parcels and prioritize them for disposal. So now we've generated a list. It's not it's not complete. There's still a number of parcels that have significant research needed for to get clear title and whatnot. Um, but the ones that we have relatively comfortable with the title and how it was acquired to start working in a working group with folks to prioritize what ones would lend itself best to be disposed of, which one would be self best to possibly be utilized by the town, and then bring those recommendations forward to the select board. 01:09:03,868 S1: Just on that one. On that one, I, um, as you're assembling the working group, um, I know that I'm pretty confident anyway, way that David Anderson and Scott Schoenberg are on the planning board. Would be interested in being on that working group. Um, so you may want to just check check with them as you're assembling it. 01:09:25,868 S8: Yeah, I would as well. 01:09:27,267 S7: Okay. 01:09:29,300 S3: And then we have the permitting study that to carry forward from 25. And as I said last time I see review and update committee charges. This is was a select board initiative and that is ongoing. Yeah. But the airport commission went and receipts that again ongoing. I gave an update last time, but the long and short of it is is they actually pay taxes. They don't pay a pilot, which is what differentiates us from Danvers. I believe they should be paying a pilot. Pilot, not taxes. So we're trying to unravel as to how we came to that. 01:10:06,667 S9: Arrangement until we can move forward. 01:10:10,167 S5: They're in the process of adding another huge hangar over there. 01:10:14,667 S3: Yeah. Right there Derek. I mean, I think that's their plan is to know what's happening. They are only two. 01:10:22,767 S5: Really? 01:10:23,767 S9: I think so. 01:10:25,467 S5: Yeah, well they could only expand it into one of them. 01:10:32,767 S3: I don't know. I don't know all that. That's what I. 01:10:35,300 S9: Heard. The official. 01:10:38,000 S3: News. 01:10:43,701 S3: Review of the regional school district agreement. So this is ongoing. I gave a brief little status update tonight, and also a more comprehensive one at the last meeting. Iron rail best use study. This is a multi-year project that is has the potential to finalize, um, or at least get some closure on the final steps of the outcomes out of from the from the best you study. So what this year would be looking to do is get the select board in conjunction with the Planning. 01:11:15,767 S9: Board. 01:11:16,501 S3: To move forward at least part of exploring the rezoning and potential disposition of the property. If ultimately that's the direction the. 01:11:27,567 S9: Select board wants to move. So we'll be looking. 01:11:30,968 S3: To align. 01:11:31,467 S9: That. 01:11:32,100 S3: With our April 26th Annual Town meeting. 01:11:37,267 S3: Uh, to the next one. Let's see. 01:11:44,267 S3: Oh yeah. So this is something carried from 2025. However, I didn't touch on it. But this is just to a reminder that we have the flag policy. We have the white board policy. We have a general website policy about what we use the website for. But to build it out more robust, um, as far as like town wind and what can advertise, what can go there and just kind of, you know, kind of protect the town from what's considered government speech and freedom of speech and to have a policy in place that everybody is treated equally and that, you. 01:12:23,167 S9: Know, we're not you know. 01:12:24,567 S3: We're not. The town is the town land isn't open for advertising of all purposes. And a climate leader. That's what we just discussed. So that's items, uh. 01:12:37,200 S9: Three through. 01:12:38,200 S3: Six. Six. Yep. And emergency response plans. This is actually something that was started when I very first started. Tom younger dropped down my lap and we formed a management response team, which is comprised of the both the deputy police and fire chief and the chiefs of police, and they were tasked with updating our emergency response document, which is a pretty thick manual that essentially outlines, you know, disaster scenarios and how the town responds and who you call and all of that. And it's a pretty, pretty, you know, it's a pretty heavy lift to update. They have done some of it in that there was a number of trainings they had to do. They had to do inventory of equipment, purchase some equipment to make sure we're outfitted so that they have started that. But it was it's kind of been it's kind of fallen off the last couple of years. And we're kind of re mobilizing the the team here and um, with hopefully be uh, planning on delivering a draft by the end of the fiscal year of an updated emergency. 01:13:56,801 S9: Response plan. 01:13:58,567 S3: To the select board. 01:14:00,367 S9: By the way. 01:14:00,868 S5: A couple off a couple of weeks ago, maybe it was two weeks ago. They had an active shooter drill at, uh, Gordon Cromwell that I did that was insane. 01:14:14,000 S5: And they had to. They had to, like, get out and tell everybody that this is a drill. Because if you if you say there's an active shooter, people from all over will come. People from Boston will come. Cops. 01:14:30,400 S7: Wow. 01:14:31,667 S5: But it was it was insane. I have a lot of more respect having seen that. 01:14:42,067 S3: So? So hopefully we can get that in front of the board by the summer. And the next one sees the, um. Community choice aggregation is something that was accepted at a recent town meeting. So Joe has been working kind of behind the scenes getting that program up and running. So more to come on that. But the hope is to have that at least close to fully implemented, implemented, if not completely implemented, by this summer or shortly thereafter. Excellent and moving down. Safety improvements on one, eh? This is the traffic sign. The traffic light project in front of the fire station. This is a pretty major undertaking. There's a significant amount of temporary construction easements that we're working through with residents to. Um, you know, it's it's not a permanent taking, but they do need to have a couple of years where they have, uh, allowable use to park construction materials and do demo and dig things up on people's front yards. So we're working through that process. It's a does need, uh, town meeting vote. Uh, the appraisals need to be done. We've got to interview, uh, all the all the residents. And it's pretty. It's the first time I've gone through. It's a pretty involved process. Certainly. Um, you know, the state of kind of it kind of fallen off for a while and they came back, you know, with a vengeance just a couple months ago and just kind of went from nobody, you know, crickets through, through, uh, deacon and then, um, Dot excuse me. And to, uh, you know, to being a very, very, um, a high sense of urgency coming from the state to get it done. So but our hope is to be able to align again with the April 2026 annual town meeting, as all the tapings will be, hopefully in that one. Collective bargaining. So we're working with Joe. Um, uh, the goal is working to take those the MLAs that, uh, executive sessions we just released and integrating them with Labour Council to our Labour Council, with unions, Labour Council and working to integrate those terms into the contract town hall back. Everybody knows about that. We will hopefully wrap that up this year at all. Seems to be going well. Thus far 24 Cherry Street. This is the state owned property that was formerly assisted living facility. That is, state is now exploring the disposition of, with, and working with the town to prioritize affordable housing and um and provide a structure that at least maintained some of the historical significance in fits into the neighborhood and town wide speed limit. So this is, again, some of the stuff we've kind of already done because we are a number of months into the fiscal year already. So some has been started or partially complete against the 25 mile an hour speed limit that we took on this last July and West West Wind Park, just so they could kind of get these. These have been going on for a couple of years now. West wind and park. Someone told me seven years. It's it's been in planning. So it's been a long it's been a long time. But it looks like, you know, cities get they're mentioned and memorialized. Both projects should be be completed this year. Excuse me. And then the next two are coming again out of the land use and planning. Reviewing. We got we got the grant. But, you know, obviously this is somewhat backdated as we're looking at it like. 01:18:43,400 S11: We're. 01:18:43,601 S3: Back in June. But we applied for a grant to have our subdivision rules and regulations reviewed and have a consultant work with the planning board through the process of updating them. The last time we updated ours was in 1982. 882. So we did receive the grant. We have contract. 01:18:59,567 S5: 1982. 01:19:00,701 S7: Yeah. 01:19:01,667 S3: And we, um, and we have contracted with the consultant and are moving that forward through the the planning board process and the Affordable Housing Action Plan. Our affordable housing action plan has recently expired, so we need to put another one in place. With that, we're adding the component of a housing needs assessment. So what's that going to do is it looks at the community's existing housing stock and kind of what the needs are in the community for affordable housing. And one of the things we want to look at specifically is the Harbor Light is Maplewood. So you get the name of the neighborhood where, you know, we thought that that was essentially a slam dunk for one of the residents as far as affordability and in, you know, I believe it was 20 or 30 of the first Apartments were reserved for London residents, and the interest was much, much lower in anybody thought to the tune of it was just a small handful. Um, you know, so we're looking at kind of, you know, if that's like, what is the need? Like where what not not wrong because it's a great facility. But what where did we miss the mark when we're looking at that? These developments that are affordable and we want to allow women residents that, you know, currently want residents to kind of age in place and continue to live in town. What type of housing stock is is attractive to them where, uh, you know, Maple Woods didn't didn't seem to to be it. And with that, well, you know and then with that, we'll take that and develop an action plan. Uh, that kind of shapes the next five years and where the Affordable Housing Trust will continue to help And that's all I have for 26. 01:20:59,667 S1: Thank you. 01:20:59,968 S7: Steve. 01:21:01,501 S8: Town meeting also approved the $50,000 for the historic district guidelines. 01:21:07,100 S3: Oh, yeah. Yep. 01:21:08,200 S7: So that should be. 01:21:09,200 S3: Yeah. Well, that. 01:21:13,167 S11: Actually already approved the scope of work, so we're just looking at a couple more edits, but then we will be going after the vendors, you know, broken laws and everything. So we'll be doing that. 01:21:26,567 S3: It will definitely be up to that. And then also on board for the boards. 01:21:31,801 S11: And committees you mentioned. 01:21:33,400 S3: Oh and then. 01:21:34,300 S11: Recirculate. 01:21:38,000 S1: Thank you for flagging that. Deirdre and Joe, any other comments on the FY 26 goals? 01:21:48,167 S5: Can you update that? So all the stuff that's done goes away. 01:21:54,367 S3: Yeah I could. And what I tried to do if you scroll up. If, if is like if you see in column E Peter. 01:22:02,367 S5: Column E. 01:22:03,567 S3: Yeah. Keep going up until there's actually something in a column. Me. So like that's the year it was completed, right? So it's just, you know, some of it are continuing. If it's completely done, it's not on me. Right. It's a goal that has existed in a prior year. It's a kind of a tracking machine. So you can see what, what what action items were completed and when and then when it's completely done. Something big this year. 01:22:29,667 S5: There's a lot of good information here. Yes. In terms of like what what you guys have been doing. 01:22:34,968 S3: Oh yeah, it's great. 25 if you go to 25 that that's what we went over last time. Right. And it might not it's not there. But anyways that, that that's kind of what you're talking about. All this stuff on there is what was completed. And then the stuff that's completed is not on this 26 one. This is new stuff. 01:22:52,067 S8: So the septic loan program. 01:22:55,667 S3: I took that off last year. 01:22:57,267 S8: We look at it as completed. 01:22:58,868 S3: I took it as completed. 01:23:00,467 S8: Did we actually appropriate approve of the borrowing? 01:23:04,901 S3: Yeah. We're good. We're taking applications. We when you select for about a month or two months ago. 01:23:13,100 S5: There is a great story here. Yes. In terms of what's been accomplished. 01:23:17,868 S4: Yeah. I mean. 01:23:18,467 S3: You know, that's the idea is to help shape the story eventually. And we've been getting closer and closer with this document. It's taken many shapes and sizes over the last few years. But I feel like we're we're closing in on something that can be, you know, it's not pretty, but it was a decent tracking document. 01:23:34,901 S5: Would you ever consider putting it on the website? 01:23:38,100 S3: Yeah, we were going to put the 20th. Yeah, we were going to put the 20. 01:23:41,467 S5: That'd be really good. 01:23:42,501 S3: Yeah. 01:23:42,801 S5: So if people are interested to go, oh what what are those coconuts doing. 01:23:48,467 S8: And what happened to this project? 01:23:50,367 S7: Right. 01:23:50,901 S8: What happened to that? Yeah. 01:23:52,567 S7: Right. Okay. 01:23:55,000 S3: So again, lofty goals. Like last year, I don't expect it all to be done, but I think we'll put a pretty good dent in it this year. 01:24:02,501 S8: It's well on its way. 01:24:04,868 S11: Yep. 01:24:06,067 S7: Yep. 01:24:07,767 S1: Excellent. All right. Well thank you, Steve. That brings us to, um, old business. Any other matters that may not have been anticipated by the chair? I have none. Does anyone else have any other matters? 01:24:22,300 S7: Nope. 01:24:23,868 S1: All right. Seeing none, I would entertain a motion to adjourn. 01:24:27,367 S5: So I move that we adjourn the October 7th, 2025 Select Board meeting at 7:47 p.m.. 01:24:35,567 S8: Second. 01:24:37,667 S1: Great. Thank you. We'll take a roll call. Gary. 01:24:39,567 S4: Yes. 01:24:40,868 S1: Peter. 01:24:41,567 S5: Yes. 01:24:42,767 S1: Deirdre. 01:24:43,367 S7: Yes. 01:24:44,567 S1: And Ben is. Yes. Thank you everybody. Thanks, everybody. 01:24:48,167 S7: Good night. Thank you.