00:00:00,000	S1:
And their birds run large. Like fill your life. Are we good? Yes. Are we alive? Everybody.

00:00:06,669	S2:
Welcome to December. It is 634 on December 1st. And I want to call to order a public hearing for the property of 19 Old Cart Road. So I think we need to do a roll call on this. Start with you, sir.

00:00:22,670	S3:
And Kaluza here.

00:00:24,170	S2:
Uh, Bill Wilson Here we have Bill Olson online.

00:00:29,870	S4:
Bill Olson here.

00:00:31,170	S2:
Okay. And missing is Rosemary sending her our best wishes. And Tom Myers will join us in about an hour. I believe so, so let's get started. So as I said, this is a public hearing we're holding at the request of the neighbors for the property at 19 Oak Park Road. Thank you to Joe and team to to give the select board the timeline and all the events that have took place leading up to tonight's hearing. So I thought tonight is an opportunity, you know, to kind of speak publicly about the events that took place. I think we have a number of parties involved. We have our director of health, our building commissioners here in the room with us. Joe is here. Who's been involved? I believe we have an attorney for the state here as well. Um, and any other parties and a lot of neighbors. This is really an opportunity for an open mic, if you will. There's no time limit. I'll just preface on.

00:01:21,269	S1:
Except we have to be there 30 minutes. Yeah, Yeah.

00:01:23,829	S2:
Uh, for public comment. I mean, you know, as you know, typically we, uh, we allow three minutes or so for public comment, but this is a hearing. Uh, but we do have a cap, as Joe said, of 30 minutes for this meeting. We have another meeting starting promptly at seven. Um, so what this, uh, with that said. Is there a recap Joe or somebody on the team would like to kind of walk us through the timeline and where we're at today? I understand a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks.

00:01:48,329	S1:
Yeah. I think we can let Rich get it started. As you noted, the attorney for the homeowner or the property owner is here. Okay. And we have members of the neighborhood, so. Okay, great. Do we want to go back to the beginning? Are they? Um, I don't know.

00:02:04,170	S2:
I think in March or so. Or was it August? I think March 1st came to our attention from a neighbor. Maybe start there.

00:02:10,469	S1:
With some timeline up through where we met with one of the neighbors back in mid-summer. And I put a timeline together, uh, up to that up to mid-summer. Pretty much.

00:02:20,930	S2:
I think we have that from Joe. Thank you.

00:02:22,699	S1:
Yep.

00:02:22,969	S2:
You have a copy over there?

00:02:24,000	S1:
I do in the packet. Actually started many years ago. I first started in Hamilton in 2001. The neighbors contacted me about the property. There was an unregistered car and a little trash outside, and the owner was living in California. He had cancer. So we contacted him. He got rid of the unregistered car and kept it reasonably. He had the lawn cut and, um, he had passed away a year ago. And the neighbors found out before us, and, um. Thank you. And the, um, the son who hadn't really taken ownership of the property wasn't going to pay the landscape or to cut the lawn. So, uh, that started us. We were notified in March. Um, we went out there, took some pictures. I knew at that time it wasn't going to be an easy situation. We got town council involved immediately. Um, took Joe to the property. Uh, Town council scared us toward the attorney General's office. They have an abandoned property division. There was another property in town on Beach Street we're working on also. Kind of the same situation where the owner had passed away and it was in probate. And, um, so anyway, the attorney general, uh, was very interested in both properties, and they started their process. And I think, as anybody knows, nothing happens quickly with the state and that kind of get dragged out. And, um, in the meantime, the sun got back involved and we are working. Well, we're waiting for the courts to clear this out of probate. And I have met with a builder 3 or 4 times. I understand there's a purchase and sale agreement once the property gets out of probate, and we have a builder that's going to take that property, um, and use the existing structure gutted out and refurbish it and he is ready to go. The courts release the property. That's where we stand. We've been fighting the property every working day and we still sending out zoning tickets on that. Ipswich District Court contacted me today. They are appealing the tickets. So we'll see where that goes. Once we get a magistrate hearing that's going to be scheduled soon. And that's where we are. As far as I am up to date.

00:04:47,899	S2:
So you said the son's involved now, so is he considered the owner or is it still in probate and the son is in, you know, the son?

00:04:56,670	S1:
The son's attorney is here. He can answer that better. They do give us weekly updates, which we appreciate. Uh, I was told there was a bass and we were just waiting for the courts to act.

00:05:09,069	S2:
Okay. And you said you've been there, done inspections, brought Joe there. Is there anything that dangerous or a risk of fall or liability.

00:05:19,870	S1:
Well, it's not it's not an occupied house. So all the utilities are shut off. It definitely needs some love, and that's for sure. Um, would I say it's imminent to the public health? I would say no. It's, you know, it's set back from the street. Anybody on there on that property would be trespassing? It definitely. You know, the chimney needs some work. That's probably the worst part. Uh, the roof. Probably going to remove the roof. I'm guessing it doesn't look that good, but with nobody living in the house, it's.

00:05:51,399	S2:
So structurally nothing imminent, as you said. What about just cosmetically and and and.

00:05:56,470	S1:
You know, it's funny, the worst facade of the house is the one that faces the street. The the the the back is probably the best looking facade, unfortunately. So, um, but I, I believe the end is near. It's been a long road for the neighbors. I understand that, uh, it went and I started in 2001 and they've been dealing with this for a long time. So 21.

00:06:19,800	S2:
2021 I think.

Right. 00:06:21,029	S1:
I'm sorry. Yeah. 2021 I haven't been here that long.

00:06:25,569	S2:
It feels that way. Right? Some days.

Um. 00:06:31,769	S5:
Do you have any questions?

00:06:32,829	S3:
You mentioned that you've been finding the property daily. Uh, the fines kind of start and stop and then restart the daily. Or. When was that?

00:06:42,769	S1:
Well, we again, we the first set of violations nobody's ever accepted. We sent them out to California. They got rejected. We sent them to the mortgage company. Nobody's ever signed for them. They went out certified mail. So we met the attorney. We kind of had a gentleman's agreement. Uh, and then we started rewriting the fines.

00:07:05,170	S3:
As of when. That's what I'm.

00:07:06,769	S1:
At. Well, I guess, I mean, um, I'm beginning of November.

00:07:10,000	S3:
Beginning of November.

00:07:11,230	S1:
So we've written about $9,300 in fines. Okay. Currently. So the most recent one, starting the beginning of November, have been appealed to a 21 day appeal period. Okay. Um, so they have, uh, protecting their rights. They have filed an appeal for those tickets starting in November.

Okay. 00:07:30,970	S3:
Thanks.

00:07:33,129	S1:
Peter Morandi, our health director, is here as well. If you have any questions for him. He was the one that was in contact with the Attorney General's office.

00:07:39,370	S2:
Yeah. Can you, uh, just briefly update us about that conversation with the attorney general and where that stands and other next steps for them as well? Or are we waiting on the, uh, the sale of the probate and then the sale of the property?

00:07:51,629	S6:
Uh, sure. I spoke with the AG. He is the assistant AG, and I spoke with her on the 21st. That was ten days ago. And, you know, originally she was coming on board. They have a neighborhood renewal program, and, uh, this property was going to go that direction. So she was helping us out with that. But after I summarize the potential resolution that's being proposed. You know, I pressed her on whether she could assist Hamilton Health further, and she clearly stated that her office would keep the case open in case we needed to revert to an active role. And so that's been the role of the AG since we got her on board. Uh, I got them on board. That is, and it's, uh, it's about a catalyst. Nothing was happening. But once you know, people start seeing what materials are formulating, uh, it really motivated folks to get to get going here. Uh, she was pleased that we were making progress, that is. But I remain concerned. And, you know, frankly, she stated that this can be more reasonably done when less bodies are involved. I insisted that this was the Hamilton Way, elected boards and neighborhoods that want to speak up. You know, I worked for local, local health for a number of years, and I think it's the right way to go, and it's the way we are headed. So hopefully we'll stay on track. I think we have a resolution in the works, and I just hope it's, uh, it can be resolved.

00:09:19,769	S2:
Did the AG comment on the fines? And, um, my understanding there's a request to dismiss them. Correct. Did they comment on on fines and dismissal and how we should proceed to continue fining and such? Or did that was that not part of your discussion?

00:09:38,230	S6:
No, that wasn't part of discussions that came out of the building inspector's office. And AG made it clear that she's here as a partner, a full partner with with local health. And that's the way they operate on these on these cases. And fortunately, we have a good team here in Hamilton. Rich and I go back a few years before Hamilton and we've been working together. And I think it's working out successfully so far.

00:10:03,830	S2:
All right. Great. No, it absolutely is. Um, Mr. Olson, did you have any questions or comments or anything we may have missed?

00:10:14,169	S4:
Um, no. I mean, I think that's a good update. I mean, I guess obviously this is coming from the Butters who obviously have concerns. I'd like to hear from them about, you know what? You know, we I think we I think we've had every organization go as far as they can currently go until it gets out of probate, with the goal that they get sold to a builder who will turn it into a, you know, a property with an asset value and sell it. But I just want to hear from the lawyers to make sure that we're addressing their concerns and see if they have any other suggestions on how we can motivate this to continue moving forward, so they don't have to deal with this on a daily basis.

00:10:56,629	S2:
Okay, great. I don't know if it makes more sense to to move to the Butters or Mr. Haney, if there's anything you'd like to add up front or, you know, just be in the wings for comment or any updates that we might have missed.

00:11:07,200	S7:
Thank you. I believe I should be a respondent tonight. Okay. Based on the way the meeting's been, posture the meeting so we can let the neighbors go, then I'm happy to answer any questions.

00:11:14,100	S2:
All right.

00:11:14,330	S7:
I appreciate a lot of answers for you.

00:11:15,769	S2:
All right, I bet.

00:11:17,169	S3:
Sounds good.

00:11:17,700	S2:
All right. Why don't we open it up? Open the floor to any butters or anyone on the line or here that wants to provide feedback. And as Bill said, you know, you know, any comments on the process so far or anything they want to add to the condition of the property or concerns?

00:11:41,000	S8:
Good evening madam. 12 Old Cart Road. Um, I would completely contradict a town's position that things have gone smoothly so far. Um, it absolutely has not. Uh, there's, uh, half a decade of formal record and another half going back of complaints about the property. Uh, so then nothing. Uh, I would not say that it's going smoothly at all. The town has a bylaw that we're supposed to, uh, enact promptly. Uh, it requires fines. Uh, the property was assessed. It was, uh, um, found to be in violation of our town's dilapidated, unsafe property. Bylaw fines started a little stopped. They started again. Um, so nothing has been smooth about that at all. Uh, the the Board of Health had a meeting. They said they really didn't have anything to do with this. Uh, told us to maybe talk to the building inspector. Or really lack of, uh, any enforcement capability at all. Um, and, uh, uh, however, they did get ag advice, which is to obtain a receiver which the purpose of a receiver. Well, so in terms of going smoothly, we didn't. We decided not to accept that advice. We don't know why. Didn't accept the advice. Don't exactly know why the starts and stops have happened. The communication with neighbors has been extremely poor. So we don't get significant updates about what's what's happening. So a town position that things are going really smoothly, I think is not supported at all by the facts. You know, administrators have jobs. They only work ten hours a week. It's hard to do cover a lot of things that are going on. I understand, but we have a bylaw that requires enforcement. So, um, I think the Select board was uninformed of what was happening, didn't know fines had started, stopped, restarted, what the amounts were in amounts that are like hugely impactful to you and the town's revenue. You've got water meter issues on the front page of the paper. I remember being a select person, and, um, we were very careful about, you know, 100 few hundred dollars of water abatements. And this is thousands of dollars and many more, thousands of dollars of missed revenue that is due per these fines. So, um, I think it's taken an inordinate amount of effort by residents and in particular myself. Um, fortunately, I helped, uh, assist with the writing of this bylaw, actually, uh, because there's some other properties in town, so I happen to know it a bit, but I think an average, normal resident doesn't know how this works, and they don't get good communication. And there's not outbound reach to the neighbors to explain what's happening for significant events. So, um, so no, it's not going smoothly. And I think that the, the town oftentimes creates a policy for behavior. There's one thing to have a bylaw. Then it's like, okay, well how do we how do we make sure that happens? How do you get informed that fines are happening if they're significant or not? How do you know if things are being done timely? How do you know if you've got an advice for the attorney general and the town has decided not to accept that? What what is the basis for all these things and the follow up required more promptly for this particular hearing? So in the end, I think what's happening is the fines are they start working the, you know, there's an absent owner. That's the purpose of this bylaw. The purpose of the bylaw is to address it through fines. And I don't think that the town position should be it should cave on those fines as soon as there's a purchase and sale that arrives. The town decided not to accept the free services of a receiver from the state. We have our own costs, hours and hours of documentation. The building commissioner, the board of Health, Jos time. I don't know who else the lawyer costs. Why forgive fines when we have cost? It doesn't make any sense to me. So. And the point is, the fines were created to. In the end, it forces a sale and a transaction. So, yes, there's a rumor of a person sale. That's nice. There's other legal procedures that are happening. But that's not the concern of our bylaw in our town. What we put into law in our bylaw was to insist on fines and follow proper process for remediation. In this case, we decided not to accept the state's advice of the attorney general for this free receiver, who would essentially do all the things that the town is doing today, act like a property manager. So even though you can say it looks bad only from the front, there's holes in the property. You can see them from other angles that were animals come and go. I personally, personally witnessed it before the water got shut off. Water just pouring out the front of the front of the house. The door entrance is barely covered up. Um, it last official report we had, there were open windows, so those are opportunities for kids to penetrate it. Anything to happen? Um, so I think we're not interested in from a neighbor standpoint at least, that I understand of having the place boarded up. And until this final, final thing happens because now suddenly it feels like we're getting close. Well, maybe we are, and maybe we're not. But in no way would I say you should ever take the pedal off the metal on this and not continue the fines, nor consider abating them, at least until the town fully recovers all of its costs. Related to what, uh, what we've incurred. So, um, I've have heard from one of our neighbors, and I share a lot of this information. I'm the only person here. I don't know if I know neighbors. Phil wants to speak or not. His daughter is personally written essays in school about what it's like to grow up her whole life next to an abandoned house.

So. 00:18:26,930	S8:
I think you should not accept the town position that this has gone smoothly. And I think you should establish a policy which I'm happy to help write or some key conditions to say, wait a minute, something like this comes up. How do we handle it better next time so that the next neighbor doesn't have to wait for ten years for some resolution? So, um, I asked, I saw in your agenda. There's a potential decision. I ask that you not decide to abate any fines. I don't think you have any information that allows you to make that decision. You have any accounting of what your own costs are versus what the fines have been. So I think I appreciate you having this hearing. It's mandated by the bylaw and that you should instruct the the town manager, continue assessing the fines and when the purchase sale's concluded, then possibly negotiate a fair settlement where we get our the town's cost covered.

00:19:25,900	S2:
Thank you. Scott. Yeah, a couple of things. Um, I appreciate that timeline in history. I was unaware of the decades of such, but, um, you know, going forward, I think is what, you know, I want to impact. And I don't know that this board I know I've missed the last couple of meetings due to work travel, but has talked about abating and he finds correct or that is clearly, personally speaking, not my position. In fact, you know, I would make sure that we have find everything and anything we should have find, you know, to date. You know, I don't know. I know there's been mail returned and such, but for the record, that should be, you know, accrued up to the, the find amount, whether it's 9300 or double that. But that should be a number that, you know, once you know the the property is sold and from proceeds of the sale potentially there's a discussion at that point. But but we don't want to take that off the table at this point, at least personally. That's nothing I would want to do. That's something we need to do. Um, so as far as how we can impact going forward, is there any other neighbor first that would care to speak? Sure.

00:20:27,769	S3:
I'd just be mindful of time.

00:20:29,670	S5:
Yeah.

00:20:34,430	S2:
Go ahead. Sir. Name and address.

00:20:36,329	S9:
Phil Butler, 26 Old Cart Road. I want to apologize. This isn't a written. It's more of an emotional instead of a logic statement. Um, but my understanding was the fines began before the summer, so we should be far beyond $9,000 in fines. This should be significantly more. Uh, not that I want to see any anybody lose their inheritance or profit or whatever to a fine, but I don't want to see this thing fall by the wayside out of its priority and just have this person go. It's out of sight, I don't care. Right. Uh, the house is a dump. The roof. I'm not a carpenter, so I won't pretend to think I know what I'm talking about, but I'm certainly very handy and informed. I would think this house is a teardown. And there are. Like Scott said, there's holes in the place. The doors are unlocked last night, and I don't go and investigate the house. It's not my place, but the fact that it's it's open and we have ten kids in the neighborhood under the age of 14 that I'm just going back to when you were a kid. That's prime explorer zone, right? Party zone? Whatever zone. That's a horror show waiting to happen. Um. Never mind whatever mouse got, uh, feces is throughout the house, and it's a sickness waiting for these kids to. Um, but,

00:22:10,430	S9:
um.

00:22:16,700	S9:
As far as I know, Scott's been on top of this for, like, ten years working with the owner of the house. Tell him to keep up on the lawn, take care of the place, stop making our properties look like trash. And it really does. And this? This house is the eyesore of the neighborhood, by all means. And any other neighborhood near it. It's painful, and the wood's rotting on the front of it. The the structure on the side of the garage has a huge crack going up, although I don't think it's structural, but it is the stonework right on the garage, the fence falling down and has a section missing out of it.

00:22:59,869	S2:
I think I have a good picture of, of the, you know, the length of in duration you guys have put up with, with the property, the absence of the of the owner when they were deceased and then it went into probate. And then now it sounds like, you know, the son didn't really come in and take care of the property because it was inappropriate, you know, for whatever reason he had to. But I think what I'd like to do with the next couple of minutes, if that's okay, is I want to understand the path ahead. And, Mr. Haney, I don't know if there's something you might add on to, um, you know, the a timeline or even a likelihood of a resolution to, uh, probate and, and and the likelihood of a sale on the property, you know, right thereafter, if that's okay with a few minutes. We have. Absolutely. At that do.

00:23:42,230	S9:
I do want to add on. Thanks for all the effort that everyone has put in on this. This is I really appreciate that.

00:23:47,369	S2:
I appreciate you coming out.

Thanks. 00:23:48,869	S3:
Thank you.

00:23:50,900	S7:
Thank you. My name is Bill Heaney. I'm an attorney from Beverly. I actually live here in town. I typically avoid town issues because I want to avoid confrontation in my own town. When, uh, when Matthew Levin called me in early September of this year, I looked into a little bit. I met with Rich. I met with Peter. Uh, did not foresee the anger that's coming from the neighbors. That's that's pushing this forward. So, um, it's caught me a little bit off guard. I'm a little bit shocked and embarrassed, frankly. But, um, I'm here to answer your questions, and I think that maybe we should go back a little bit and fill in some of the blanks. And I'd be happy to address most of what Mr. Madison said to you, because it's perfectly fine in this world to have different opinions. It is not. We all have our own opinions, but the facts are the facts, and we don't have our own facts. So if Mr. Matter wants to stand up here in front of you and tell you that he was a part of drafting this bylaw and that you have to find people, that's factually incorrect. If you read the bylaw, you're going to see it says may fine. So it's a lot of these little things like that. They're going to raise the animosity on this issue that we don't need. But I do want to take some time to kind of address his concerns and correct some of those, those factual corrections that he represented to you. So what I did bring for you tonight is some pictures that are from September of this year of the Prophet. Um, these are taken from the street on my first view.

00:25:19,470	S7:
This was early September when I first went to the property. Just two pictures from the street so you can see what the neighbors are seeing. And I do I do get what the neighbors are saying. Um, I have a similar property in my neighborhood that's been in duress for over a decade, and we've watched it. It's now, uh, Being rehabbed by a builder, so it's not for lack of sensitivity. There's just a certain amount of time that goes into these. So, um, essentially what you do have is you have you have a decade of neglect at this property. Nobody's disagreeing with you. But what you're doing is you're punishing the son. This wasn't his house. This wasn't his problem. Uh, Daniel Levin died in May of 2024. Uh, he was living in Pasadena, California. He owned property in New Mexico. Matthew, the son, lives in Oregon. Uh, opened up a probate in New Mexico. Got an attorney there, got that probate through. That was where Mr. Lavan was domiciled. So that's the primary, uh, probate. He's. He's never had to do a probate before. This is all new to him. Uh, September 6th was the first time he got a notice. So that's a date that I think is important because your your fines and your penalties are punishing a young man who got his first notice on September 6th. That was a certified letter from the building inspector, Rich Maloney. If you want to look at the timeline immediately following that, he had my office hired by September 10th or contacted us by September 10th. And I was meeting with Peter and Rich. I believe it was September 15th or 16th. Uh, I met with him. I explained to him I lived in town, really wasn't looking for anything. It was going to be confrontational, but I thought that I could offer some services that would be mutually beneficial for both the town and for Mr. Levin. And when we left, that meeting felt pretty good about it. Uh, the building inspector agreed to stop the finding, so there had been some fines issued up to that point. He agreed to stay those. Uh, Peter Morandi put us on the next Board of health meeting, so we went to the Board of health meeting in October. Again, I was, uh, shocked by the anger that came in with the neighbors and their very unrealistic opinion that this should be turned over to the AG's office because the AG's going to work for free, and somehow this property is going to be put into receivership. You know, there's a little thing called due process. I know our constitutional rights are eroding daily in this country, but due process and property rights, I don't think any court is going to be able to take any property any quicker than we can sell it through the open market. So the Board of Health listened. It was an hour long meeting. They heard both sides of it, and I think at the end of it, they understood that my client, Matthew Levin, is just trying to clean up his his dad's property and move on. So at that time, the Board of Health continued the matter generally, so there was no fines from the Board of Health. I agreed to reach out to the AG's office to get a timeline for them, because I did represent to them that I thought a court action would take a lot longer than our plan. Okay, we have a we have a very viable plan that's coming together. If if we can get the town to just let us get through it. And I'll get to that. Um, I reached out to Janice Faherty, or I think it's Farraday from the AG's office. No, no return phone call from her. Uh, Peter did share a letter from her to the town, which was for draft purposes only. Uh, that kind of laid out a little bit of the process, and I was hoping to get a little bit more of that process from her, but. But I didn't get it. But. But what I can tell you is the AG wants to get involved with abandoned properties when there's nobody on the other side, when there's nobody responding, properties that are truly abandoned. This property is not truly abandoned. My client's been paying the property taxes. We we are in the process of opening up to Massachusetts probate so that he has legal authority to, um, to sell the property.

00:29:15,430	S2:
How long will that take? The math.

00:29:17,000	S7:
So, yeah. So this is where we're at with that. So we had to wait for certified copies from New Mexico. We got those about two weeks ago. My office has, uh, drafted up all the probate documents. They've been sent out. They're in final form. They've been sent to Mr. Levin out in Oregon. He is reviewing them. I expect to have him back this week. We hope to have their probate filed this week. Um, now, this particular issue is a little more complicated than the usual, uh, probate because we have land that's registered land. So because it's registered land, we have to do a formal probate, and we're going to have to get a license to sell the process that I believe that we're in for as soon as we file with Mr. Lavan, or when we get his signature back and we file, we're looking at about 45 days before he's the appointed the person representative. Once he's a personal representative, we can then apply for our license to sell. Once we have the license to sell, we can then take it down to Boston, to the land court, and then to review the deed. Every property that's registered, land that's sold out of a probate has to be reviewed by the land court. So that will take a little bit of time. So I believe the best case scenario is a 45 to 60 day period. Realistically, probably looking at a 90 day turnaround time on this.

00:30:27,170	S2:
And you have a will, an owner that is. And you've negotiated.

00:30:30,799	S7:
So on the purchase and sale. So one of my points tonight is whatever the town is issuing for penalties, it's not going to make this move any faster. It serves zero zero purpose. I can understand when the town wants to issue fines, when people are thumbing their nose at you're not paying attention. My client got a certified letter on September 6th. I was meeting with the Board of Health and the building inspector on September 15th. He is not. He is voluntarily complying. I'm not even so sure. He's not in compliance with with with the order. Um, but we're working on it. But the fines aren't helping. So we do have a purchase and sale sign with a local builder. Uh, it is signed by my client as an individual. And as, you know, the potential PR for the property, he's the sole heir. So we believe we have a binding contract. One of the issues in that contract is we have a we have a limited asset with limited equity. These these fines are mounting pretty fast. As you've already heard tonight, they're $10,000. At some point this property could be. It could be out of equity. It could be a short sale, if you will, or negative net worth. And if we don't get these fines waived, we're going to be heading in that direction. So our purchase and sale does contemplate that. And the purchase and sale is contingent upon the town waiving the fines so the town can be a part of the solution here, or it can be a part of the problem. We're asking the town to be a part of the problem. If tonight's not the night, we will ask you to waive the fines. I've been listening. I've heard you. If you don't feel it's appropriate now, we can come back at the appropriate time and make that request. And the fines are also under appeal right now, pursuant to the citation that we received. We had 21 days to file in Ipswich District Court, which we did. So the fines might go away with the magistrate at that hearing.

00:32:16,099	S5:
Okay.

00:32:18,170	S3:
Sorry. Do you mind if I.

00:32:19,130	S2:
Yeah. Yeah. We're just going to wrap up. We'll get like three.

00:32:21,329	S3:
Last question then. Are there any other contingencies in the sale?

00:32:25,369	S7:
Uh, no. Oh. Permitting, permitting. Local contractors are going to fix up. It is contingent upon them receiving their permits.

00:32:32,970	S3:
And permitting through the building commissioner and through a.

00:32:35,900	S7:
Uh, through the building commissioner. They're not asking for any relief.

00:32:38,700	S3:
Thank you.

00:32:40,970	S2:
Okay. Well, I appreciate that update. I do think at this point, we're not going to have a vote or make any decisions on fines or otherwise. I would like to kind of get an atomization of what has been fine and what truly is a fine to motivate and move along a potential seller. And what is a fine to recover any services. Water was mentioned. Property taxes were said were paid. I want to know if there's any like true liability to the town that is part of any of that, or is it all fines to motivate and move along? But there are probably costs on our behalf that we have to cover. So it would be good to look at that. I get the it does sound like we have a more viable, faster approach through your process. I would if you could send Joe or whoever you're communicating with weekly kind of that recap that for us so we can kind of anchor in on that. I know it's not a good one, but I'd like to understand and and follow through the process and see when it moves from Arizona or New Mexico to, to Massachusetts, and just see if we're moving along within milestones that we could look at to potentially get to that, to that point where we can talk about, you know, fines and the contingencies and what stays or doesn't.

00:33:40,799	S7:
I'd be happy to, Mr. Chairman. And just, you know, we we were asked to provide a weekly update and we do do so. My client is we are on behalf of my client. We're working with the town to solve this issue. We're not trying to be problematic here. We're just having to deal with it as it comes through us from the town. I think we're on a really good path on our end. And if the town can just let us get to the end result. And I said it to the neighbors at the Board of Health meeting, if you let us sell it, you can get this thing sold quickly. You're going to have a better property there a lot quicker than any other options that you have and a lot cheaper. And that's, you know, 100% genuine when I say that.

00:34:20,769	S2:
Okay, I appreciate that. That's a good update.

00:34:23,530	S3:
I'll just do one last question. So in terms of an accounting of our costs, cost for any services, whether it was water or otherwise, if there's soft costs involved in terms of people's time going out there and tracking all that stuff down, I think should be part of the accounting. And then lastly, if there's any imminent safety issues some of the neighbors have been pointing out around potentially putting up some signage or who the neighbors can call if they see any activity there that that shouldn't be going on, you know, or if they're concerned about children's safety, things of that nature. Just making sure that, you know, people are if the lock the doors, do whatever you need to do to make sure that people aren't getting in there and shouldn't be neighbors, know who to contact if there is a problem. I think those safety concerns do need to be addressed.

00:35:03,769	S7:
Sure, so I have I have been to the property. It is secured. There was one window that was open to the garage. The garage? You could not access the house from the garage that was locked. So the one window that was open when I first met the building inspector in September, that has been secured, shut now. So that's not a concern. If you want to sign put up on the property. It might attract more attention. Yeah. But if if you want to have a sign, put up the property. I'm happy to check in with the building inspectors.

00:35:30,429	S3:
Get them some information so they know who to call, whether it's handing out flyers to those folks. Just take some initiative there to make people feel comfortable. Would be greatly appreciated. Whatever you can do.

00:35:41,030	S7:
Yeah, we'd be happy to do whatever people think is best. I'm not so sure about putting up a sign, but.

00:35:45,170	S3:
Yeah, smart, I think. Don't find the right avenue.

00:35:48,829	S2:
But we'll we'll stay on this. And if you just stay open, dialogue and communicate and we'll work through Scott in the neighbors and make sure we're moving judiciously. You know, we can affect what's going forward. I can't what the last decade, but sounds like we have a viable working solution. It's just how we can compress the time to get it down.

00:36:05,869	S5:
Yeah.

00:36:06,469	S2:
Thank you.

Thanks. 00:36:07,530	S5:
Okay. Um, one more.

00:36:10,530	S2:
Thing. Yeah, one more thing. I'm running late. I'm always accused of running late than meeting, so.

00:36:14,670	S5:
I'll.

00:36:15,329	S10:
Take this system.

00:36:16,269	S2:
I think I was set up.

00:36:17,670	S5:
No.

00:36:19,469	S9:
Well against all 26 old Cat road. Um, I do appreciate the effort. I wouldn't want to see any signs just to make the property look even sketchy here. Um, however, I do want to call attention to one thing you said, which just rubbed me the wrong way, is his father died in May of 2024. That's a year and a half to be sitting on $100,000 maximum from this property. I would think, just for the shape it's in. I find I find the credibility of him, his effort to get rid of the property weak. If you had 100,000 sitting there and waiting for you, sure you would have done something. He's the sole heir. He knows.

00:37:03,829	S4:
But I thought. I thought it's in probate, though it's not his son's property. And if it's in probate.

00:37:08,329	S2:
It really is.

00:37:08,900	S4:
He's not. So that's the issue.

00:37:10,570	S9:
True. But he would have known about this.

00:37:12,300	S2:
I got it, but I'm gonna have to stop us there. You know, if you. You know, it's been great to come down to. If you wanted to chat with him, you're more than welcome to. But so can I get a motion to close the of this hearing?

00:37:22,900	S3:
Motion to close the public hearing second.

00:37:26,530	S2:
This second bill seconded it. Roll call. I Bill Wilson, I.

00:37:34,570	S4:
Bill Olson I.

00:37:35,530	S2:
All right I appreciate it. Thanks, Bill. Don't know if you'll be leaving us at this point or not, but I appreciate your feedback during that. Um, now I'll take a motion.

00:37:44,429	S3:
We can't leave because we won't have a quorum. Bill can't leave anybody else.

00:37:49,130	S1:
Who wants.

00:37:49,530	S3:
To can leave.

00:37:50,099	S1:
But, um, we have a, uh.

00:37:53,269	S11:
Peter. Peter Marandi is also free to go. Um, okay.

00:37:57,730	S2:
All righty. We have some esteemed guests I see in the front row. So, uh, I don't know, in conjunction or in concert with, uh, the HTC or the Development Corp.. I think we want to recognize the Connolly family for all they've done for this community.

00:38:17,400	S2:
Madam. Ladies. All, please.

00:38:24,030	S12:
All right.

00:38:26,429	S8:
Good evening everyone. I'm Scott Mattern. I have the pleasure of presenting the customer service Excellence and Community Service award to the Conways. These fine people represent three quarters of a century of outstanding customer service and community involvement. Mr. Connelly started as a fountain engineer. A nickel for a soda. A bottle of aspirin was a dime. It still might have been when they recently closed. He took over from his father, Henry, in 1973. Mrs. Connelly started the card shop in the 70s. To my dear friend Chris started running the pharmacy in 1999. But more importantly, who doesn't remember being greeted by kind smile in the most courteous service. Who hasn't received deeply personal attention or even a home delivery on weekends? What sports program hasn't knocked on their door for a contribution or to help stocking their first aid kits? Who hasn't entered our beautiful town and been greeted by the warm glow of their neon sign? Our community will miss all of that and so much more as you move on to the next phase in your wonderful and rewarding lives. Kylie's pharmacy will endure in our hearts and minds, reminding us of the kind of people and neighbors we all should be. Thank you for three generations of service and contributions to our community. On behalf of the Hamilton Development Corporation and the Hamilton Select Board. With the greatest of honor and pride in our community. That these fine people helped us build. I present this award to the Conley's and it reads Customer Service Excellence and Community Service Award. Conley's pharmacy 1946 to 2025. Henry 1946. Mr. Conley's father, George himself, in 1973. Christopher 1999. Personalized care. Dedication. One pill at a time. Signed by Bill Olson, chairman of the Hamilton Select Board, and Rick Mitchell, president of Hamilton Development Corporation.

00:41:30,829	S10:
So.

00:41:34,269	S3:
You guys want to close the other one?

00:41:36,300	S10:
I want to get a picture. Sure. Scott. Scott. Scott. Scott. Scott. You want to post a photo with these guys? Oh, yes.

00:41:48,199	S10:
Can you take a quick photo for them?

00:41:54,769	S10:
Oh my God.

Yeah. 00:42:00,630	S13:
All right. Ready? Three. Two. One. Can I take one more.

00:42:08,699	S10:
Look out.

00:42:10,500	S13:
Three. Two.

One. 00:42:16,000	S10:
All right, you can.

00:42:23,500	S10:
Get this one right here.

00:42:28,269	S10:
Crystal.

00:42:30,699	S10:
Shank. Yeah. All right. Okay. All right.

00:42:38,900	S10:
Moving right along. I think we have it. I know.

00:42:44,670	S1:
I.

00:42:45,099	S10:
Get it, I get it, I guess. Do you want.

00:42:49,400	S1:
To take things out of order and go, just like here in the variety of questions? Because, um, this was supposed to be at seven, two and a little late. So if you want to come back to the stuff afterwards, you have just let.

00:42:59,769	S2:
People get a call to order.

00:43:00,800	S1:
Right? Yeah. Call the.

00:43:02,800	S10:
Time.

00:43:03,170	S1:
Yeah. Well, I guess.

00:43:04,170	S10:
From.

00:43:05,070	S2:
I don't need to do a little call off the call to.

00:43:06,670	S10:
Work. I don't think I know.

00:43:10,130	S1:
I know.

00:43:10,429	S10:
For sure.

00:43:14,800	S10:
Is that really? Oh my God.

00:43:18,929	S10:
You got to walk in a jog tomorrow. That's why I take every day. You're out of the game.

00:43:31,000	S1:
You gotta get better at this.

00:43:32,929	S10:
How you doing?

00:43:34,869	S1:
I think I think Nashville is here, too, so you might have to do trophies and then go back.

00:43:40,369	S10:
All right.

00:43:42,130	S2:
All right. We're gonna keep things moving over here, if people don't mind.

00:43:46,030	S10:
I know, hey. How are you.

00:43:52,099	S3:
Feeling?

00:43:54,269	S10:
I hate it 100%.

Oh. 00:43:57,829	S3:
They have.

00:43:58,099	S10:
A new.

00:43:58,329	S3:
Location, though, in Ipswich.

00:43:59,530	S10:
I think they pushed people. Oh. That's right. It's a different family.

Oh. 00:44:03,269	S3:
Oh, okay.

00:44:04,130	S10:
They close. Maybe some dudes. No hard time. How are you? Good. Okay. All right. How are you doing? I don't know. Great. Are you?

00:44:15,230	S11:
I'm assuming.

00:44:16,329	S1:
I don't know.

00:44:16,969	S10:
That's good.

00:44:17,829	S1:
There's probably.

00:44:18,429	S10:
Notes.

00:44:23,400	S10:
On my phone. It's okay.

00:44:25,429	S2:
This is a good cause. I'm like, I could do this all night. Yeah, we'll order some pizza.

00:44:33,230	S10:
You went to Maryland? All right.

00:44:36,369	S2:
All right, I do call to order. Uh, the Hamilton Select Board meeting at 719. Um, and in respect to time, I'm going to. And we have some other guests with us on a couple other hearings, believe it or not. Uh, I'm going to take some things out of order, if that's okay. Um, why don't we start with the hearing on the Verizon cable license renewal? I know probably a month or so ago, we had a pretty A detailed update from our attorney as well as Bill. So I don't know how deep we have to get into this. My understanding is the contract's been done and finalized, so I don't know if there's something we need to vote on or any more updates.

00:45:14,869	S1:
Will you have a motion in front of you and you have a statement to read? Okay, Bill. August, you. Should we start with the bill reading the statement.

00:45:21,869	S2:
Or the motion?

00:45:22,769	S1:
We start with the bill. Can you hear me?

00:45:26,929	S6:
Yes. I would start with the opening.

00:45:28,769	S4:
Statement.

00:45:29,429	S6:
Just for the record.

00:45:30,469	S1:
Start with the opening statement. Thank you.

00:45:33,199	S2:
Okay, so I need to read a statement for this public hearing on Verizon cable television franchise renewal. Good evening, and welcome to the Town of Hamilton's public hearing on the Verizon New England Inc. cable license renewal. By way of background for the public state law requires the holding of a Select Board public hearing prior to the final action on a proposed renewal license to allow public comment on town needs and the proposed renewal license. Notice of this hearing was in the local newspaper for two successive weeks, and copies of the notices will be entered into the hearing record as hearing exhibits one and two. A copy of the proposed Verizon's license, as negotiated with the town, is exhibit three. Based on information and testimony before us and the record of the prior public hearing. The Select Board may take final action and approve or reject the proposed non-exclusive. Hamilton Verizon license renewal. Comments from the public and other interested persons should be directed through me, and I will rule whether they are in order. Before getting started with accepting public comments, I would like to recognize and thank Bill Melville and the local program and provider Hamilton Wenham TV and John Harrington, Verizon's representative for their hard work and collaboration through a productive license renewal process. Now we shall proceed to accept comments from the public, if any. Please keep your comments no longer than four minutes. I would appreciate it. Any comments sir?

00:47:07,969	S10:
Do we.

00:47:08,199	S2:
Need to read a motion.

00:47:08,929	S10:
First?

00:47:09,570	S1:
Yeah, I'd read the motion, so.

00:47:11,170	S10:
Just.

00:47:11,369	S2:
Read a quick motion.

00:47:12,429	S3:
Sorry about that motion a second.

00:47:14,030	S1:
Yeah.

00:47:14,829	S3:
I'd like to make a motion. Uh, a motion for a Hamilton Verizon license renewal and vote by the Hamilton Select Board, acting in its capacity as the statutory cable television license issuing authority pursuant to MGM 166A, and finding that the cable license renewal proposal of Verizon New England, Inc. reasonably meets the cable related renewal needs and interests of the public in town. In finding that Verizon's financial and technical qualifications and Verizon's local programming channels, facilities and services are reasonable to meet town cable license needs. The Hamilton Selectboard hereby approves and shall execute the proposed Hamilton Verizon Renewal License to be effective June 7th, 2026.

00:48:06,570	S1:
Oh, wait a.

00:48:08,130	S4:
Second. I second.

00:48:08,969	S1:
That.

00:48:09,599	S4:
I second.

00:48:10,369	S2:
All in favor.

00:48:12,929	S1:
Say no. You're not going to vote it yet.

00:48:15,000	S3:
Now you want to do public comment and vote.

00:48:16,800	S1:
All right. All right.

00:48:18,929	S2:
Public comment.

Sir. 00:48:20,000	S1:
Good evening. Dan Kowalski, 186 Echo Cove Road. Um, this kind.

00:48:24,469	S14:
Of relates a little bit to, um, a discussion I had with some folks from National Grid. Um, we were talking about telephone poles and double telephone poles, and the folks from National Grid basically said it's real difficult to get Verizon and Comcast to move their lines off a pole that National Grid has abandoned, you know. So that in essence produces double poles in the community. So I'm not sure whether they're whether this vehicle is an appropriate opportunity for some contract verbiage that might put a little bit more, um, you know, a little bit more, give the town a little bit more ability to motivate, you know, in this case, Verizon, to get off of the pole that the town is trying to get rid of. So maybe a question more for attorney August.

00:49:18,730	S1:
Okay.

00:49:19,530	S14:
So thank you.

00:49:20,599	S2:
Okay.

00:49:20,869	S1:
Appreciate that feedback.

00:49:23,500	S2:
Um so let's talk about the language. And can we incorporate that that comment in the discussion of the language. And would that language be appropriate in this to kind of help motivate Verizon or others to, you know, move, move lines off a pole? So there's not double pole issues if I understood that.

Correct. 00:49:42,599	S6:
It's a great question. It's a tough area because the courts have ruled.

00:49:51,130	S1:
Um, that.

00:49:53,670	S6:
Unfortunately, that only.

00:49:55,369	S15:
The Department of Public Utilities has enforcement powers over double poling in the Town of Bedford case, where they adopted a bylaw to just implement to adopt some just basic common sense enforcement powers. As you know, the common area with legal doctrine, with utility issues is is one of um, unfortunately, in my opinion, um, very expansive state preemption of local enforcement. So all the verbiage could potentially give us is the power to seek enforcement from the GPU, Which we already have. Um, just under the, uh, uh, general operational practices of the GPU and under the, uh, GPU, uh, uh, procedures for uh, municipal, uh, complaints to GPU. What I have been told by Verizon and by Comcast on, uh, double poling issues because believe me, this is, by the way, you know, it's a great question. I totally get it. And emphasize with the speaker, I'm not trying to in any way question, uh, the merits of his asking about that. And I've had similar questions from municipal officials, um, in many towns over the years, and I've directly discussed it with Verizon In in Comcast in terms of their cable wires and other wires and facilitating coordinated efforts on that. And what they have emphasized is that because the DPU retains the enforcement powers, the most effective thing a town can do, you can already do, which is a request of John Harrington, who I believe is here. John, I see one of the the Verizon representative is to establish a Verizon liaison to work with the town and coordinate those efforts, because what often happens is there's no ongoing identified double pole liaison unless the town is a squeaky wheel and asks for it and then has an ongoing coordination effort with them. Not enforcement powers, but a working relationship. And those towns that have established that have, you know, got into the most progress on the double pole removal timetables, which, by the way, is subject to a statute that does say they have to act diligently to remove the double poling. So there is some leverage. You have a leg to stand on in terms of the statute making noises at the DPU and building that relationship. So I don't think we need to add anything to the license to really just have to build a collaborative working relationship with Verizon. John I don't know. John, if you are here, can you show a video and comment on that? John Harrington I don't know. This is.

00:53:39,769	S6:
John.

00:53:40,030	S3:
Harrington.

00:53:40,429	S16:
Representing Verizon. I believe you can hear me.

00:53:43,699	S1:
Yes, yes, yes.

00:53:44,730	S16:
Okay. Thank you. Yeah. We have never. Verizon has never included any double pole language in any of the, um, cable franchises. Um, and this is really more of a title two issue. And as, um, Bill, uh, August has already explained the law. It sits with the DPU on this issue. So I know it's an important issue. It's come up before, but it's never been addressed in a franchise agreement.

00:54:24,099	S2:
Okay.

00:54:24,530	S15:
I did see one charter license, another company that had some creative language, but all the company would say was that will establish a liaison, you know, designate a liaison to work with the town. And I think, John, would you use your good offices if requested by Hamilton to identify a human being. You know you need a human being these days. You can end up in voicemail. Hell to be a liaison. Uh, if we have double poll questions.

00:54:58,429	S16:
Yeah. Again, this really goes more to the title to, uh, telephone company issue as opposed to the franchise manager issue. Uh, Bill, I'll give you the franchise manager contact information, and you can give it to Joe and take it from there. But Verizon, uh, the telephone company also does have, uh, community relations people that you can deal with. But I'm happy to give you the franchise service manager, who I don't think is the most appropriate person to deal on a double poll issue.

00:55:36,230	S15:
Yeah. Well, no, I mean, we just would like to know that if.

00:55:40,230	S2:
Bill, if we could, I think I think we're right. I think you guys are saying the same thing. Let's say connect to get a contact. So we have it. I think that's more of a telco title two than a franchisee agreement, although it's a very important issue. It could give us leverage. I don't think it's properly put into this, this agreement. I don't know if anybody.

00:55:57,070	S6:
Right.

00:55:57,329	S15:
The poles are not part. You know, we're pre-date the cable system. They're you know, they are under the title two Original registrations.

00:56:06,929	S2:
So let's kind of just bring it back to the task at hand. Then on this agreement, is there anything different from our update that we had a month or so ago relative to.

00:56:15,130	S15:
No, no, I'll just say for the benefit of the public, we have the maximum permitted by law as the annual franchise fee to support your very valuable three local channels. And we're getting a four. We have the option under the license to get a fourth channel. Also a very valuable asset as a high definition Peg channel. So that is some growth. But in terms of the financial package, it's the same as the old the 5% of the gross. We actually have almost a 5% increase in the capital funding, which is fantastic given the fact that they had a big loss in subscribers, and it's more than Comcast is paying on a per subscriber basis for capital funding. So as discussed in detail, only like about five weeks ago at the other public hearing to identify needs, you know, we're in good shape. Um, you know, Bill Melville is happy and he knows the ins and outs and details of the license and was a resource, along with Joe, uh, town manager, who was, you know, fantastic. They're very familiar with it. So we're in good shape. No changes since the last discussion.

00:57:23,230	S2:
Okay. So I think we're probably at a point where we've had a discussion on the renewal. We've got a negotiated contract, and we had a point just to vote to adopt.

00:57:33,369	S1:
It, unless there's anybody else that wants.

00:57:34,829	S2:
It. Yeah, probably. Any other public comments. You know, going off script I know I read earlier, I definitely want to thank, you know, um, Bill Melville for all the work he's done, as well as you, Mr. Augusta, uh, in bringing us through this, uh, long involved process.

00:57:49,199	S15:
My pleasure. Thank you.

00:57:53,099	S2:
Okay. Seeing no comments, um, the motion was read. It was seconded. There was discussion. Uh, all in favor of, uh, approving this agreement as outlined? Uh, say a or do we need a roll call?

00:58:06,699	S1:
We need a roll call.

00:58:07,230	S2:
Vote roll call, starting with.

00:58:08,599	S1:
You.

00:58:09,070	S3:
Ben Kaluza.

00:58:09,769	S1:
I, uh.

00:58:10,369	S2:
Bill Wilson, I.

00:58:14,000	S2:
Uh, Mr.

Olson. 00:58:19,699	S2:
I appreciate that. Thanks, Bill. Okay, uh, since we have John on the phone, I'm going to move us out of order one more time and we'll talk about the the National Grid poll hearing for Echo.

00:58:29,670	S1:
Cove and National Grid debt. John's with Verizon. Okay. Sorry. We got National Grid in the audience. And then Tom McEnany is here to do voting stuff too. So you may want to just go into that after that point.

00:58:39,000	S2:
Is that it's.

00:58:39,570	S1:
Fine. It's a script. Okay. Get a signed motion makers. All right. You got to approve the manager change of manager license to Jesus. You want to get the whole hearing first?

00:58:51,269	S2:
Yes. So do I need to open that up?

00:58:53,769	S1:
Yeah, it was tabled from the last meeting. So you you can still just take it off the table and then.

00:58:59,030	S2:
So this was voted to continue from your last meeting, which I was not part of. So we'll just table it and have further discussion. So this is the situation where they want to get a second poll across the street. So we would have two polls.

00:59:11,500	S1:
So the board had asked. Some had asked for them to look at the design and trying to come back with some other alternatives. Okay I think Ismail's here.

Yeah. 00:59:22,769	S2:
All right. I think that was Verizon.

00:59:26,230	S17:
Good evening. Ismail 44 Reverse Street and Beverly. I'm representing today National grid, uh, for Echo Cove road. Uh, as last time. Thank you for having us back. So last time we went back and did some investigation, uh, to see what we to come up with a better solution. So first of all, if you remember, we were looking at, um, a tree guy that we weren't able to find on Google Maps. We went there on November 18th with investigation with my coworkers, and we found out the tree was actually down and someone removed the tree guy. So that's why we don't see it anymore. And we still have it on our system. We just didn't know about it. We weren't notified. Uh, so that being said, uh, National Grid doesn't want to keep all four, seven, nine and we don't need to keep it. So the only reason we kept it in this design is our engineer didn't know that the house 186 Echo Cove Road. Mr.. Dan, we didn't know that they were going to demo their house and have a new house closer to the road, so we kept for 79 to surface them. But now that we have this update and we took some measurements, we were thankful to go there and we found out we can actually remove it and service them from the new poll that we're petitioning to today. The only thing is, we will not be able to remove that poll right now with this design. So this design will be done to place the new poll only, and we will keep serving them. The only reason is because they are getting their temporary service from the the old poll. If we remove it the temporary service will be very low, so it's better not to touch it. Once you guys are ready with the new house, you can call us to demo the temp service and do the new service, and we come at the same time to remove the old poll. The only thing again, I would like to say, first of all, it's not going to be on cost of anyone. It's going to be national grid costs to remove the poll. And finally, National Grid only removes the half top of the poll. This is our agreement with Verizon at Comcast. We install the remove. So when our team will be there they will remove the top and our cables. They will connect you to the new pole. And we send all the paperwork. The customer of the city doesn't have to do anything. We send all the paperwork and extensive notice to variety in that case, and they are usually very responsive in Hamilton area to come and remove their second half.

01:01:57,000	S2:
Okay, so I knew Verizon had a stake on that pole. So so just to be clear. So this is a pole going on the other side of the street. And then there'll be one temporarily to provide service until the new houses is completed. And then it will move.

01:02:09,630	S17:
Yeah. So the old one will be the temporary to keep. Okay.

Yeah. 01:02:13,099	S2:
Was there any issue with the pole not being at that? The meeting we had, the initial discussion being on the other side of the street with any neighbors there.

01:02:22,130	S1:
No, none of the neighbors there came. Okay. Um, Dan was here, and Dan did speak to his mail and evidently worked out a solution.

Okay. 01:02:30,869	S2:
Seems like it sounds like we have a solution.

01:02:33,130	S1:
It's the same.

01:02:33,769	S2:
As we have. Briefly. You want to say something, or you can.

Sorry. 01:02:39,199	S13:
Okay.

01:02:41,400	S14:
Yeah. Dan Kowalski, thanks very much, National Grid, for accommodating my request. Um, I think it'll work out a lot nicer. I do want to just clarify. I, I just wanted, like, to clarify or understand. Are there other poles that are going to be changed out on Echo Cove Road? Um, I thought you had said 480 was going to be re was going to be replaced as well.

01:03:05,969	S17:
Um, so replacing many poles on the street.

01:03:09,199	S3:
Can you come up to Mike? Yes, ma'am.

01:03:11,030	S1:
Sorry.

01:03:11,269	S17:
Oh I'm sorry. That's okay. So 12345. So we are replacing, uh, six old poles, but we're replacing them on the same spot. They're just old, and it's time to update. So we will have six new poles. So we're not changing any position, and or petition for one new poll. And of course, when you are ready, we will remove the old poll.

Definitely. 01:03:34,199	S1:
Okay.

01:03:35,130	S3:
Is that the same strategy as cutting off the top half? And then Verizon comes and takes the bottom half?

01:03:40,230	S17:
No. For the other ones, what we do is we cut the top. So we install the new poll, we remove the old poll, we put it on the side, we install the new poll, and then we transfer our cables and then we cut the we cut the top and the bottom. And we only keep the wood that has the Comcast or Verizon cables. We stick it to the new poll and they come back and they do their part. They're also very responsive for it. They already have their exchange of knowledge. It's already confirmed that they got it. So once we finish our work they will go and do their part.

01:04:17,030	S2:
That's the old poll goes away completely except for the middle section.

01:04:21,199	S17:
Yes, I will.

01:04:21,869	S2:
Say about that.

01:04:22,670	S17:
To about two feet of the old pole will stay Hanging, not hanging, but stick to the new.

01:04:29,530	S2:
Pole about.

01:04:30,099	S17:
It. Exactly, yes.

01:04:32,530	S2:
Okay. Does that answer your question?

01:04:35,599	S14:
Yeah. It does. I'll just, uh, request that maybe you do take the opportunity to identify a liaison to work with these companies, because what I'm hearing is, is going to be like six one and a quarter poles as opposed to two double poles. But thanks very much.

01:04:50,530	S3:
Thank you.

01:04:50,769	S7:
Dan.

01:04:51,130	S17:
We can also provide the engineering department phone number. I will send it to you by email to horizon. Yes, we will send it to you. They are also very responsive.

01:05:00,730	S1:
Yeah.

01:05:01,199	S2:
Thank you. But the owner of the house needs to contact you on when they're ready to move the pole. Then you'll. Yes, you'll move the pole. Except for the piece.

01:05:08,929	S17:
So they will contact us. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

01:05:11,329	S2:
You'll contact Verizon. There's no other step for the town or the owner after they tell you where.

01:05:16,829	S17:
No. They just. When you create a new work order, let them know I want to remove a pole. So they notify us to see and remove it, but we are already aware of it. Just notify it.

Yeah. 01:05:29,900	S1:
So? So the request and the whole design is the same as was in here, except that you're going to be taking out for the old for 79.

01:05:37,599	S17:
Yeah. So for 79 will be removed later on. Yes, sir.

01:05:42,130	S1:
So the design that was in the original packet is what you're voting on.

Okay. 01:05:46,500	S2:
Yes.

01:05:51,070	S2:
Yeah. Is there anything. Do we have a motion in there or anything?

01:05:53,570	S3:
Was there a motion to read?

01:05:54,400	S1:
Or did we do a motion again to accept the design and the removal of pole? Pole for 79?

01:06:01,730	S3:
For 79. All right. I'd like to make a motion that we accept the current design with the removal of pole for 79. Is that. Cover it.

Jo. 01:06:14,869	S2:
Yes.

01:06:15,570	S1:
Covers for you? Yeah.

01:06:17,099	S17:
Thank you. Thank you very much.

01:06:18,599	S2:
Do I have a second, Mr.

Olson? 01:06:22,670	S2:
Thank

01:06:25,199	S2:
Bill. If you're there, you're on mute. If you can just second the the motion on accepting the design.

01:06:39,170	S1:
You may have lost him.

01:06:40,269	S2:
It might have some coverage issues. I know he's mobile.

01:06:46,269	S4:
Sorry, Bill. Did you say something?

01:06:47,900	S2:
Yeah. I just need a second on a motion to accept the design for National Grid on the pole replacement. In fact.

01:06:55,599	S4:
I second that. Sorry. I thought you heard me.

01:06:57,869	S2:
Oh. No worries. All right. Um. All in favor? Roll call.

01:07:02,570	S3:
Ben Kaluza, I.

01:07:03,570	S2:
Bill Wilson, I. One more time.

Bill. 01:07:06,300	S4:
Bill Wilson I bill tonight.

01:07:08,170	S2:
So thank you very much.

01:07:09,300	S17:
Thank you. Have a good evening.

01:07:10,670	S2:
Okay. Thank you. Unless you want to move or.

01:07:12,369	S3:
Should.

01:07:12,500	S1:
I get. Yeah. Bill, bear with us. We just want to. We have the change of manager for the Myopia Hunt Club. The whole packet is in the. The whole packet for the change of manager is in your packets. Yes. Um, it's a standard change of manager. The manager that was there is no longer there. New manager. And in order for us to renew their license at the next meeting, we need to get the manager issue straightened out.

01:07:34,369	S2:
So now we have all proper documentations and it wouldn't be the other.

01:07:38,329	S1:
We wouldn't have moved it to you and put it in your packet if it wasn't already all taken care of.

01:07:41,900	S2:
I already knew the answer to that. Um, so can I get a motion to approve the change of manager for the Myopia Hunt Club?

01:07:49,329	S3:
I'll make a motion to approve the change of manager for the Myopia Hunt Club.

01:07:56,000	S4:
Let's go. Look at that.

01:07:59,000	S2:
Uh, can I get a second, Mr.

Olsen? 01:08:00,769	S1:
He just did.

01:08:01,130	S2:
He said I got a second. All in favor?

01:08:05,099	S3:
And Kaluza, I.

01:08:06,269	S2:
Bill Wilson, I.

01:08:10,570	S2:
Uh, Bill.

01:08:10,969	S4:
Olsen.

01:08:12,170	S2:
All right. Thank you, sir. So that is passed. All right.

01:08:18,130	S1:
Uh, your next item is the town meeting. Assign motion makers and speakers.

01:08:22,329	S2:
Okay, sorry, we're kind of going out of order here, so.

01:08:25,130	S1:
I'm giving you these here.

01:08:26,569	S2:
All right. Um, so we have the script in our packets. Um, everything's been finalized. Any further discussion and we'll assign motion readers.

01:08:35,729	S3:
Sorry, which one are we on? Script.

01:08:38,970	S1:
The script? Yep.

No. 01:08:41,329	S2:
I said, do I have a hard copy?

01:08:43,930	S1:
Yeah, it's in here.

01:08:45,670	S18:
It's good. We should.

01:08:46,529	S2:
Go. Any any comments or discussion on the script while I look for the motion?

01:08:50,600	S1:
I have moderators here as well. I don't know if he has any comments.

01:08:52,930	S2:
Any comments on Ron, a show or

01:08:56,869	S2:
no.

01:08:57,600	S19:
Well. It's good. Yeah.

Um. 01:09:00,770	S13:
You're.

01:09:03,399	S4:
Looking good.

01:09:04,670	S19:
Any, uh, presentation on Wednesday.

01:09:09,170	S2:
On Wednesday we'll get presentations.

Yeah. 01:09:12,529	S1:
So, yeah, we'll have everything by Wednesday. Um, so the first first motion is going to be on. Um, we're going to I think we're going to skip that time. You're going to probably wind up skipping motion one one and one two, one one is a motion to hear reports. There are no reports. Okay. Motion one two is an article for content. Since there are only five items that the board had previously discussed. Not having a consent motion, uh, that would bring up article 2-1 prior year bills.

01:09:46,699	S2:
All right, so we have some prior bills.

01:09:50,130	S1:
Yeah, a couple, um, totaling, uh, $26,000. Um, they were just bills that came in after we had closed the books for 25, uh, for FY 25. So, uh.

01:10:02,470	S2:
All right, um, anybody want to read that or do you want to just assign people?

01:10:08,500	S1:
Usually we've let the fin con do that. John McGrath's not here. You can.

01:10:12,130	S2:
We know if they want to. Or is that going to delay us?

01:10:14,369	S1:
Or I would say you could make a motion to assign it to John, John McGrath or fin com, or have some one of you act as an alternate.

01:10:22,529	S2:
Yeah. Why don't we have, as a financial matter, have someone from the Finn. Com read that, you know, and if they they for some reason can't maybe then you could read that one.

01:10:32,029	S3:
Sure.

01:10:32,930	S18:
Okay, good.

01:10:33,729	S3:
Alternate items first.

01:10:35,470	S9:
Kevin, I believe it's the last meeting. John had indicated that he would make that motion.

01:10:41,170	S2:
John McGrath, down there. You can just validate. Thanks, Tom. Um, article 2.2, uh, community preservation. Um, I'm the liaison to that group, so I'm happy to, to read that motion. Unless there was somebody else that, uh, wanted to read that from the. You want to read that, sir? All right. Yes. Right. He's in the group to.

01:11:05,569	S2:
Get. Sean Farrell.

01:11:07,100	S18:
Okay.

Uh. 01:11:08,300	S2:
Extension of the lease cell tower. So there's been a lot of discussion on that and extending the the lease terms. You know, I've been advised that because I'm in the industry, you know, I'll have to abstain from, uh, any decisions on that. So I'll look for either Bill or Ben to read that one.

01:11:25,029	S3:
Sure.

01:11:25,699	S2:
So we'll put Ben on that.

01:11:26,899	S18:
That's fine.

01:11:30,770	S2:
Article 3.1. That was, uh.

01:11:36,130	S2:
3.2 authorization to convey an easement for National Grid, uh, at 577 Bay road. Is that.

01:11:46,300	S1:
It? Could be you or Bill Olsen. Or you can give it to Tom because he's not here.

01:11:52,500	S2:
Um, I'll read that. Bill Wilson.

01:11:56,369	S1:
And I think the intent was to have Planning Board make the motion on the Brownsville zoning. And then there's a speaking order that's obviously the biggest article of the evening, the one that created the need for the special town meeting.

01:12:10,729	S2:
So do we know who on the planning boards.

01:12:11,930	S18:
And I believe.

01:12:12,369	S1:
It's going to be Marnie Crouch.

01:12:13,829	S2:
Okay. And then do you know who the speakers are?

01:12:16,000	S1:
Or Marty Amiel and somebody from your board to talk to, to talk specifically about the development agreement?

01:12:23,770	S18:
Okay.

01:12:25,270	S2:
Do we know who's going to do that, that Bill Olsen?

01:12:29,529	S1:
Well, so that's something we could talk about. Um, you know, obviously Rosie is not physically likely to be able to be there next Tuesday. She's still in rehab and will be for a couple more weeks. Um, I know that she would have wanted to speak to this because she worked on it for so long. I think if the board wants and I can work out a way to tape a statement from her, we may be able to play a tape statement from her, but I definitely think that the motion should be made by somebody that's at the meeting and that.

01:12:57,069	S4:
I can I can do it. I can read Rosalie's words. So Joe put me in for that one and we can figure it out.

01:13:03,470	S18:
Okay.

01:13:04,229	S2:
Yeah. So in concert with Rosie, however she feels fit, if she can, you know, be there or a statement of some sort, I do think. Yeah, she's put a lot of hard work, as has Bill on that. So I think the combination of the two would be great.

01:13:17,729	S1:
And rosy obviously because she's not there physically. State law doesn't allow her to to participate and vote, but we are trying to work on some kind of a zoom link as long as we can make sure it doesn't mess with the, um, the other technology in the room to allow her to listen and at least feel like she's part of me.

01:13:36,000	S3:
Awesome.

01:13:36,369	S1:
We're working on that now.

01:13:39,000	S2:
So December 9th, 7 p.m. at the Hamilton Regional High School. Is that in the, uh.

01:13:44,770	S1:
It's in the cafeteria.

01:13:45,569	S2:
The cafeteria?

01:13:49,869	S2:
Any other open items on town meeting? I think a lot of hard work has been done on this. Um, I know of no open issues. Banned. You or.

01:14:02,369	S3:
Uh. Are we are we doing, uh, public comment after this or.

01:14:08,899	S1:
Oh wow. Yeah. We're going to go circle back to bubble because you had a lot of things where people had to be in and out, and that's why we took everything out of order tonight. Sorry about.

01:14:16,770	S2:
That. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We're going to get into that last.

01:14:18,829	S3:
Public comment on, on that item I guess is the nice.

01:14:22,270	S2:
Oh one town meeting.

01:14:23,100	S3:
Yeah.

01:14:23,699	S2:
We can, we can. It's it's a voting item right now. So we are open to a comment.

01:14:28,430	S3:
We can if there's anybody here.

01:14:30,270	S2:
Is there any, uh, anybody here.

01:14:32,329	S3:
On this over the past week or so? Um, so anybody that wanted to speak up.

01:14:40,569	S1:
Don't have any. Nobody online. Nobody in the room.

Okay. 01:14:45,000	S2:
Good point though.

01:14:45,930	S3:
No. That's fine.

01:14:47,270	S2:
Keep us on the straight.

01:14:49,930	S3:
I spent a lot of time on that policy.

01:14:51,729	S2:
I know that was it was, um, a lot of hard work on both sides. Um, do we need to vote on anything for that, or are we assigned folks?

01:15:01,270	S1:
Yeah, I think you're assigned. I think, Tom, anything else that the board needs to do before we let you go?

01:15:06,630	S9:
No, I have nothing further. Thank you.

01:15:09,000	S1:
Thank you.

01:15:09,869	S2:
Okay, thanks.

01:15:10,770	S4:
Okay.

01:15:11,369	S9:
All right. Have a good night.

01:15:12,199	S2:
Thank you. Bill. Um, okay. Next item will stay in the agenda is a discuss request for Hamilton to seek climate leader status with members of the Hamilton Environmental Impact Committee, I think.

Emmett. 01:15:24,470	S19:
All right.

01:15:25,029	S20:
Thank you. Jean. Jack, forgive me. Moral support and answer any questions that I can't answer.

01:15:32,569	S6:
Um.

01:15:36,199	S20:
Hand out here.

01:15:39,029	S3:
Thank you so much.

01:15:41,899	S2:
Thank you.

01:15:44,369	S19:
Thanks.

01:15:48,670	S21:
The climate. Uh, the Climate Impact Committee is an advisory committee to the Select board to try to help us achieve the objective. The town meeting voted to be climate neutral, net zero carbon for the community by 2040. So what? We've drafted a letter, which is kind of the the cover sheet that I gave you there, uh, which is what we want to suggest that the select board get behind this year is making, uh, Hamilton a certified climate leader community. And the reason for that is it'll give us another million dollars worth of grant funding, um, that we've maxed out on all the green community funding that's available to us. And, uh, so if we get reach this next level, there's another at least 1 or $1.1 million worth of grant funding that's available. So that's the why. And the whole recommendation here. Um, and just wanted to, um, say that, uh, you know, um, I guess I wanted to highlight that just for everybody knows that the energy manager that we're working with, Vicki Moosonee, is just is going to be awarded at the state House with a Climate Leader Recognition Award, Individual Recognition Award coming up, and that's on. I have it in my notes here. Uh, what is it on the 12th of 12th on the 12th of December?

01:17:31,899	S20:
December 9th.

01:17:33,699	S21:
December 9th. I thought it was the 12th.

01:17:35,399	S1:
No. December 9th. Next Tuesday, the same day as the town meeting. But it's.

01:17:38,800	S2:
Okay.

01:17:39,229	S1:
It's in the. It's in the afternoon at the state House.

01:17:41,670	S21:
Yeah. 2:00. But anyhow, so, uh, we're working. Vicki is the energy manager for the schools, for the municipal town of Hamilton and the town of Wenham. Uh, we're working in collaboration, actually, with our equivalent board with Town of Wenham to work, to get them climate leaders certified to their talking to their select board tomorrow night, and which will be on a zoom call. And they're having Dylan Patel, who is the door person head of green communities from the northeast, will be presenting to go to to them tomorrow night and we can bring him here to do the same thing. So if there's any sort of follow up, but the net of what what's involved in in the next steps for the town of Hamilton to become climate leader certified is actually in your packet. And we're three out of six steps have already been achieved. Number one is to be a green community, which we are. Number two is to have a group like the climate, uh, the Environmental Impact Committee guiding the town and all of that. Um, And so really the next two things are, is, uh, creating a um. Oh, I know, excuse me. The third thing that we've completed is a, um, or in the process of doing is a municipal, uh, decarbonization, uh, roadmap, which, uh, we've already gotten Vicky linked up with Joe, linked up with Heather Ford on the, um, on the finca, on the cap com committee to kind of put all what are all the assets that need to be upgraded over the next 15 years, roughly to 2040, to achieve the town's objectives.

01:19:45,869	S20:
And does.

01:19:46,199	S2:
That include the school district or.

01:19:49,369	S21:
School district is part of us. So we're responsible for in between the two towns and uh, so yes. Okay. There really the point of this whole thing is obviously they're going to need a lot of cash in the towns, a lot of taxes to, uh, you know, whether I's the schools and bring them up to speed and all of that kind of thing. So getting the two towns would, would be the equivalent of $2 million towards that project. Um, but the two other things that are involved in this is a, um, an zero emission, uh, vehicle, a policy for buying a new vehicles for the town. Um, which we're doing that already. Bill Olson, you know, as a good example where we try to get him a truck. Last year, it didn't really survive the winter in terms of the usability of it and all. And so the reality is, is just to put together, um, you know, a procurement process for new vehicles. Uh, so long as there if there is a zero carbon vehicle available. Then we try it. But if it doesn't meet the specifications or the requirements and all that, you don't have to go forward with it. So that's a zero emission vehicle policy. And then really what the last thing here is a specialized stretch code, which is something that would have to be put on a warrant article. We talked about it last March, uh, and go through the whole town. But what that really is is all new construction for houses that are under 4000ft². They don't have to be electrified, but the pre wiring has to be put into the walls when it's being built. So it's really just an addition to the current code. And uh, uh, you know, that's the that's the ask here that we'd be looking to the select board to make that commitment to put that forward.

01:21:49,930	S1:
So real quick, before you respond to that, I just want to make a note for folks here and for the meeting recording. Tom Myers joined your meeting at 7:50 p.m., and Bill Olson, unfortunately had to leave. He dropped off at 7:54 p.m.. So you've maintained a quorum throughout.

Okay. 01:22:06,930	S2:
Welcome, welcome.

01:22:07,670	S1:
Barely. Just barely. But you did maintain a quorum.

01:22:11,869	S3:
For the record. All right.

01:22:14,529	S2:
So what is the timetable of accomplishing? You know, the next two items, because they're big items it feels like. Um, is there a goal?

01:22:23,100	S21:
The only one that has a real timetable is to get on a warrant and pass the stretch code.

01:22:28,100	S2:
The stretch code. And that would be on the warrant for April. Is that the configuration?

01:22:31,630	S1:
Well, that's what they're asking you to.

01:22:32,670	S21:
Do, right? Right.

01:22:33,729	S20:
Okay. The, uh.

01:22:35,229	S21:
The the vehicle, uh, zero procurement policy of the vehicles is something that we can just joke and draft up and just sort of have it out there. And it's also to put together with the Capcom an inventory of all of the vehicles and equipment that we have, and just get them on a schedule of everything over under £8,500 and anything over that for a vehicle. Heavy trucks.

01:23:05,229	S2:
School.

01:23:05,670	S21:
Buses, ambulances, all that kind of stuff. You know, you just thought about.

01:23:10,930	S2:
Right. And then did you also say as long as you go through the process, even lighter vehicles, if you will, you know, do not need to be like the example you gave of the DPW truck, right?

01:23:22,329	S21:
If it if it cannot do the job, then it doesn't.

01:23:27,270	S1:
Yeah, that was one of my concerns. For instance, if you don't mind, I'll just say one of my concerns with the vehicle policy was that, um, we've learned what the what the use of the limited use that we got out of the lightning truck that winter months in particular are very difficult. So those those cars have to be charged. And for instance, if we wanted to do this and make over our police fleet, our cruiser fleet, we really wouldn't be able to. You'd need twice as many vehicles as we currently have. Because while one's charging, the other one could be. Could be used. So we have six cruisers and 8 or 9 vehicles total in the police department. You'd need to double that. And that would be really not something we can afford to do. Not to mention adding the infrastructure. Currently we can do it a little bit over time and as the technology changes and battery life improves. But during the winter time, we.

01:24:17,199	S21:
Don't expect to have two police cars for every one that's there because it just the capacity of the car can't keep up with the usage of it. So there are a lot of towns that have already gone and had approved policies.

01:24:31,800	S3:
And so how many miles a day are they doing right?

01:24:35,899	S1:
I don't know that offhand. I'll have to. I can get that for you.

01:24:38,800	S3:
But it's I was asking, how many miles a day does the cruiser do? That's all.

01:24:42,800	S1:
The cruisers are pretty much in continuous use.

01:24:44,800	S2:
Yeah.

01:24:45,100	S21:
They are. It's a number of hours that the engines are being run. It's. It's all about winter. I'm eating it and all that.

01:24:51,270	S3:
Like if I got the heat on.

01:24:52,930	S2:
Yeah.

01:24:53,270	S3:
Yeah.

01:24:53,569	S1:
Especially in the winter. Yeah. Or air conditioner? Hot in the summer. Yeah. And that all that draws battery life.

So. 01:24:58,529	S3:
Yeah.

01:24:58,970	S2:
Okay. So we can look at the policy, and it's Capcom involved. Heather. You know, just to identify the assets or to show we have money in a five year plan. Well, just curious.

01:25:07,000	S16:
So.

01:25:07,899	S1:
We have we have the vehicles in the in the five year plan. We need to fill it out a little bit more for this. Yeah. But we've already got an inventory of our fleet and we have a standard cadence replacing them. So we just need to put that more in writing so that the state can see it.

01:25:24,470	S3:
So we have a list of equipment, vehicles things like that when they're coming up to their end of life.

Yeah. 01:25:31,000	S21:
Right. That we had all of the boilers in town and all the stuff. So what did what happened at the high school last year in middle school where they lost their boiler and it was a crisis at the last minute. We have now we are in the process of putting together a complete inventory of all that stuff.

01:25:47,529	S3:
Okay, so that system that went in, they ended up going boilers, their gas boilers presumably replacing kind.

01:25:55,699	S21:
They just replaced what they had because there was a crisis.

01:25:58,500	S3:
And and then so kind of for the next time around we'll have a plan in place or stay ahead of it by a few years, presumably. So it's not a crisis. Exactly. And we can make this transition.

Okay. 01:26:10,699	S2:
So, um, and on this stretch called code, is that, um, new construction only under the 4000 or is it leasehold improvements?

01:26:19,729	S21:
It's it's new construction. Or if there's a total renovation where there's stripping everything out of a house and doing a total rebuild where the wall and the interior walls are coming down, all that, then that's up. But, um, but that's.

01:26:35,199	S2:
So the ass there is that it's wired pre wired.

01:26:38,470	S21:
Pre.

01:26:38,729	S2:
Wired. And is that, is that something that there'll be grants for homeowners or do we know kind of have a sense of the cost for a homeowner. Or is that a later discussion when we get to warrant discussions?

01:26:50,329	S1:
I'm sure that will come up to the word.

01:26:52,369	S21:
It's the same sort of tax rebate status. It's great grey right now, quite frankly, as far as the homeowner is concerned. There is some information out there. It's on. What is the rough estimated cost of that? I was talking to Rich so we could get that for you. Okay. How much additional cost? But it's really just running the wires from the okay. From the box to.

01:27:20,529	S19:
Where we are.

01:27:21,170	S3:
Is there any, like, thresholds? I mean, this is other stuff for kind of like the next time as well. But around, you know, if you're increasing the volume of your home by certain percentages, does that kick in the specialized stretch code if you're making additions or alterations?

01:27:37,369	S22:
I think within it, if you sort of like double the size of your house or something like that, It would be.

01:27:43,729	S3:
And you have to bring the whole house up to up to code. Like from that point. Right? Um, okay.

01:27:49,270	S22:
So. And just to say something. Uh, Dylan Patel from DWR will be speaking directly about this tomorrow night with the the Wyndham Select Board, which Emmett referred to. And he has a wonderful slide show that does explain all this. And we could even send that slideshow to the select board members so that you can see this and, uh, see a bit more about it. Um, you know, the builder, of course, would have to pay the, the cost of, for the, you know, for the new construction. So but my understanding from talking to Dylan is that it's compared to the cost of construction. It's minor. So, um, but nobody wants to put more money in, of course. But, you know, the idea of having homes that are already ready to be electrified means when the homeowner is ready, they can easily do this, uh, rather than having to upgrade their electrical system. Um, you know, any homeowner with an older home, you know, you might have to put a new panel in or something like this. And that's going to detract people from electrifying. And the whole point, of course, is to decarbonize, get rid of fossil fuels and to be, you know, a clean environment. And the larger picture is climate change. You know, and that's that's what we're all about here, trying to mitigate and slow down climate change. And, uh, so by the way, I'm Jeannie Moran from 21 Garfield Avenue, the chair of the Hamilton Environmental Impact Committee. And we do meet every first Thursday of the month at 4:00 on zoom. So we do welcome anyone to join us. And I did want to introduce a member of our community as Jack Whittier, who as his whole career has been in alternative energy. And I just thought we might introduce him because, uh, I don't know if you mind saying he helped to build a city from scratch. Ouch. That was no fossil fuels. Do you mind speaking? Just a minute.

01:29:44,670	S1:
That's impressive.

01:29:46,069	S7:
I'll keep it very brief.

01:29:47,229	S1:
I did have 50 years in the in the industry, and I recently retired. And I'm talking to Jeannie about joining the committee, so.

01:29:56,670	S2:
I appreciate your support here.

01:29:58,729	S3:
Yeah, I think this is a request that we put this on the warrant for April. I think it's a few more.

01:30:06,300	S1:
To come here to ask.

Right. 01:30:07,300	S3:
Yeah. Okay. I think it would be useful for us as a town and the community to have, you know, we can all go back and watch, you know, the one on ones and whatnot, because they get posted as well. But to hear from this individual at do as well, we can come with prepared questions, maybe even send them in advance about the types of scenarios I think, that are maybe a little more concerning than others. I can understand the concept of new construction continuously improving a lot of new homes too. People are already opting for heat pumps because they get the air conditioning in the summer, and then they get the heating in the winter, kind of all with one system. So people are kind of moving in that direction anyway out of just improved creature comforts. But I think the renovation ones where where people might be looking to expand if their family is growing or they're, you know, having their elderly folks moving with them, that's the type of stuff, you know, that I think would have more of an impact on this community and that we'd want to have more specifics on and allow other people to ask specific questions. And so we kind of get all those facts together if we're going to get prepared to put it on a warrant. So if that's an option for us to have that person come in.

01:31:18,569	S19:
Yeah.

01:31:19,069	S3:
Be very helpful.

01:31:20,729	S21:
He'll come up. He's tied up. If you give me some dates.

Okay. 01:31:25,100	S2:
He's ready. Well, we'll look to a new business when we get to that. We'll. We'll look to have him come in. And if we can get a well, we can watch it. Or if there's something you want to send us in advance to just learn more. That'd be great.

01:31:35,869	S21:
It'd be great to be on the agenda and have him here.

01:31:39,130	S1:
Okay.

01:31:39,470	S3:
Was it was Heather also looking at the the kitchen equipment and things like that for the schools? Is it included, um, cooking equipment or is it just HVAC and vehicles? Sorry.

01:31:50,470	S21:
Everything that, uh, uses carbon. Okay. So there's a lot.

01:31:54,329	S3:
That's all on.

01:31:55,500	S21:
Line type of question to ask, but.

01:31:57,699	S1:
Uh.

01:31:58,369	S21:
There's, uh, it covers a lot of areas.

01:32:00,770	S3:
Okay.

Thanks. 01:32:02,069	S2:
And do you know how many towns have this status in Massachusetts?

01:32:07,000	S22:
Community cities? Yeah, it's somewhere around 25. I did want to say I just attended the Green Communities Summit. Uh, but that was in, uh, Worcester. And Vicky Mazzoni again presented as part of the conference. Uh, the two are two town halls that have been, um, electrified. And, you know, all of this great work that Vicki's been doing and the the Hamilton Windham climate action team and our group, and the one in Windham, you know, is putting Hamilton and Wenham on the map. Um, and I just wanted to make sure that people know this, that we are out in front, but we're lagging a little bit now because these climate leaders are getting ahead of us. But, uh, you know, because we started out with the green communities, and so we want to catch up to them, but we're making headway, and we appreciate all the support the Selectboard can give us. And, uh. Mr.. As well, who's been very helpful. And, uh, so we want to just keep going forward. Um, and so the closest one to us, the closest to is swamps. Salem swamps. Salem and Swampscott. Yeah. So thank you very much for this. And, uh, we would love to get this on the warrant. And then we have to do an application, which would be, uh, in June of 2026. So if we have all of our ducks in a row, we can then apply at that point.

01:33:29,600	S2:
Okay. Well, sir, thank you for all your hard work and bringing us towards the goal that we have. And, um, you know, definitely put it on new business to further explore because as, as Ben said, I think we just want to understand the impact to folks and what the dollars out of their pockets are to to comply with this, whether it's new construction, renovation, what are the triggers? And if we have Vicki come in as well as Mr.. Um, was it Patel?

01:33:51,399	S22:
Patel. Yeah. That'd be great to have Vicky here too. Yeah, yeah.

01:33:54,630	S21:
Well, we know that we have a lot of expenses in the town with the school system alone and $2 million worth of, uh, off off the tax rolls paid by grant funding is really why we think this is. There's some level of urgency.

01:34:10,500	S2:
All right. Appreciate it.

01:34:12,170	S1:
Thank you.

01:34:12,800	S19:
Thank.

01:34:12,970	S22:
You, thank you.

01:34:14,069	S2:
Thank you very much. All right. So do we want to keep going down or do we want to go back up and clean up the front of the meeting.

01:34:21,100	S1:
It seems like you can clean up the front of the meeting and a lot of public comment, because we didn't get to that. And then the last couple of items are just small housekeeping.

01:34:28,600	S2:
All right. So I'll just, um.

01:34:32,829	S2:
Start with board and committee openings. We have affordable housing trust. There's one opening. Conservation Commission. There are two openings. Community Preservation Committee has one opening for a member of historic district Commission. Finance and Advisory Committee has two openings, and those are appointed through the moderator. Uh, the Historic District Commission has two openings for three year terms, two openings for two year terms. One must be a resident of the historic district and one must be a resident realtor. The Human Rights Commission has two at large openings. Um, any public comment at this point? We'll entertain public comment.

01:35:11,630	S1:
On General Colin. User number one raised his hand.

01:35:14,800	S2:
All right. Let's start online. And then, uh, Sean, we'll get to you. Uh, Sean Farrell.

01:35:19,600	S4:
I have.

01:35:20,029	S2:
A.

01:35:20,829	S4:
Caller. I think I probably.

01:35:22,029	S23:
Caller one Tosh Blake, Sagamore street.

Hello? 01:35:25,829	S2:
Yep, yep. Got you.

Tosh. 01:35:27,470	S23:
Oh, good. You can hear me. Okay. Yeah. Just a question. You're going to approve the November 3rd minutes, I believe, on your agenda. Is that correct?

01:35:36,430	S2:
The number? Yeah. That's on the the next item.

01:35:40,229	S23:
Right. Okay. So I'll make my comment about that. Now just a correction. I did make a comment about 40 minutes in. It was in regard to it was just sort of like an offhand comment or something. Someone else said it was um, the section in the meeting was after the, uh, Gordon Caldwell Theological Seminary, um, agenda item and, um, Mister, Mister matter. And he spoke at that in the comments after that section mentioned something about having a fund or money going to a fund that's going to be released from some activity. I forget specifically what it was. It's not clear from the minutes, but it says that I, it says Tosh Blake and it says Asbury Street. You know, Sagamore Streets, the actual street, says Tosh Blake agreed with the money going into a fund. My comment actually was I was cautioning against it in the sense that I didn't want money automatically going to fund and just to have it be discussed and, and maybe, you know, just dealt with normally in our budget and not put into a fund necessarily just to have it as a sort of fait accompli, to put to something that may be controversial or something like that. So just to I think just to correct the minutes, I didn't agree with the money going to the fund. I was more giving a caution of money going into a fund. Does that make sense?

01:36:54,569	S2:
Yeah. So I'm looking at that right now. Um, I don't know if you follow that or.

01:37:00,829	S1:
I understand what you.

01:37:01,699	S4:
Said.

Yeah. 01:37:02,029	S1:
It was. I have it in front of me.

01:37:03,399	S4:
Yeah.

01:37:03,800	S2:
You got.

01:37:05,199	S23:
The section.

01:37:08,100	S2:
Just tell me exactly where it is. One more time so I can make sure.

01:37:11,000	S4:
Yeah.

01:37:11,300	S23:
It was. Okay. November 3rd, agenda minutes. Uh, it's under the section review final development agreement with Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and vote to authorize signing. It was comments public comments listed after that item. So Scott Mattern spoke first and got it.

01:37:30,130	S2:
Okay. So when we get to that, we'll strike. Uh, your comment about, uh, money going into a fund.

01:37:37,170	S23:
Yeah. He said you could write that. I cautioned about the use of money going to fund, like, just to make sure it's not controversial or whatever. Or you can, you know, you could go back to the video and see what I exactly said, but, um, but yeah, just to make that point, because I didn't disagree with it and also correct, it says Ashbury Street, which in mind it's Saginaw Street is the real address. Just a correction on that.

01:37:58,600	S2:
Yeah.

01:37:58,800	S4:
Okay.

01:37:59,100	S23:
And just.

01:37:59,470	S4:
To make that.

01:38:00,399	S23:
Just to make a note, just, um, yeah, that's just a general comment about Rosie. Oh, yeah. Sorry. And, uh, and just to say, just, you know, I think, well, you know, hope Rosie gets better soon. I just read in there. I was unaware she had the the accident or just put in a, you know, best wishes for Rosie. That's it. Thank you.

01:38:20,329	S2:
Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So we'll strike that.

01:38:23,170	S1:
Yeah. Well, Jay.

01:38:23,869	S4:
Sorry to cut you off there.

01:38:24,729	S2:
Tosh. No, I'm, uh, Sean Farrell, 15 Hamilton Ave. I just wanted to kind of ask a question to the board. I know you guys are talking about signage and all kinds of things downtown sometime in the near future. When I was on the board, we worked on that too. I have a kind of a request slash suggestion, uh, on Willow Street, when you're coming from Linden Street across towards Asbury, when you get to Railroad Ave intersection, there's a stop sign there on both sides of the road. And we all know that railroad is a one way. Uh, over the 20 plus years I've lived here, I've seen a ton of people taking a right at that stop sign and going the wrong way on railroad. I would request some type of a no right turn sign at that stop sign. That seems to be the most common mistake of people who are not familiar with the area turning right on railroad, when it's a one way going left there. That's it. Got it. Thanks, gents. Thanks for that feedback. Any other anybody else online or in the room? Public comment?

01:39:20,529	S7:
Okay.

01:39:21,130	S2:
Uh, Consent agenda is next. I think we're going to remove the minutes for this evening. I think you took some notes and we'll make some edits. You can follow up with me if you have any questions, Joe, but I think you got it as well. So we'll put that on the next meeting agenda for approval. And that brings us back to the main event. Um, the recap of the five board's meeting with the Hamilton Wenham Regional School District and when. So I was not there. So I don't have much to say, but any feedback, uh, you know, on the discussion, the dialogue concerns, next steps, all of it.

01:39:58,100	S3:
Joe or Tom, are there any highlights? Um, yeah.

01:40:01,729	S1:
I mean, I wouldn't call them highlights. Uh, the as happens annually, the, uh, the two towns and the school district kind of outlined some of the challenges and opportunities ahead in the coming year. Uh, prior to the meeting, the school committee or the school administration had shared their first draft of a budget and what they're expecting the assessment impact to be for Hamilton. Um, you know, it's not good. It's going to be a much, much larger. Some of this we knew because the district last year did put more money from, um, excess and deficiency into the budget to keep the assessments low. And they don't have the amount of money on end this year to do the same thing again. So last year, more than $2 million from end was put into the school department budget, which helped which had the effect of keeping the assessments to Hamilton and went them lower than they would have been otherwise. This year, there's only $700,000 from AMD going into the budgets. Um, what we did outlined for the school committee was that if you just take the projected revenues for FY 27 and take out the projected request that the school committee or school administration rather has outlined for the Town of Hamilton's assessment, the Town of Hamilton's operating budget would take a hit of $1.4 million. And that's before we do anything with looking at increases on our side of the ledger based on inflation and tariffs and all the other things that have caused us to go up contract negotiations, etc. we also have another increase coming from our health insurance. Projected to be between 16 and 22%. We also have, um, to negotiate a new trash contract. Casella Waste Management contract expires on June 30th of this year at the towns of Hamilton and Wyndham have already begun talking to Casella, but that increase is going to be substantial, and so it will be difficult to avoid an override this year. But the point I did try to make at this at the board's meeting was that the town, if it approves the zoning at um Browns Hill, stands to gain several hundred thousand dollars in new revenue. The town has already, um, not not strictly for cost, but the town has already entered into an agreement to move the dispatch to Middleton to the North Shore region 911, which will net a savings to the town in next in FY 27. Those two moves alone mean that the town of Hamilton is within $100,000 of being able to balance our budget and handle our increases.

01:42:44,399	S3:
Before the insurance contract.

01:42:45,899	S21:
For the school.

01:42:47,329	S1:
We can handle, but not with the school. We can handle everything with the school. So if there's going to be an override this year, I've asked the school department to take the lead on it. It's a school overriding. The town of Hamilton would not have to ask for an override to cover town services. We've already taken steps to try to address those.

01:43:07,529	S3:
Yeah.

01:43:07,899	S2:
So, did you guys get into. You talked about a 2 million use of end last year, offset by 700. Always dangerous to use one time funds for ongoing expenses. Um, aside from that, did they itemize anything like teachers contract or maybe leasehold?

01:43:23,470	S1:
Some contracts have a big part of it. They also did note that because the school vote wasn't successful and that they heard during the forms that the neighbors or the residents wanted them to address school security concerns. They have a larger request for school maintenance, which includes designing safety zones in the three existing elementary schools and the middle school, uh, to make those schools safer than they currently are. Um, but it's the first it's the first track.

01:43:56,770	S2:
Yeah, it's first.

01:43:57,529	S1:
Their first budget.

01:43:58,329	S2:
So they're going to they're going to try to close the gap. But what was the percent year over year change? With all of that said at their first draft, I apologize.

01:44:06,270	S1:
I don't remember the percent off hand.

01:44:07,899	S2:
And it's probably in the packet somewhere I could.

Okay. 01:44:10,899	S24:
For Hamilton, it was less than 10%.

Joe. 01:44:14,329	S1:
Thank you.

Wendy. 01:44:15,569	S2:
Yeah. Hey, Wendy.

01:44:17,100	S24:
Hey.

01:44:18,729	S2:
Okay.

01:44:19,569	S1:
Um, she does that to me at the office, too. I just hear a voice from another room that, you know, straightens me out.

01:44:23,970	S2:
And. So good. Thank you. You covered the school piece. You covered Hamilton piece. Anything around? When I'm in isolation relative to challenges and issues they might have.

01:44:32,329	S1:
Their challenges are similar to ours. Um, uh, maybe a little bit more pronounced in some areas. Um, the shift is going their way again this year. So there, even before anything else get added. They got another 100. It was Wendy. What was it, another $100,000 added to their side of the assessment based on the shift in enrollment?

01:44:53,270	S24:
I believe that's correct.

01:44:54,569	S1:
So it's another $100,000 that just moved from Hamilton to Wenham, and yet we're still going to have more than $1 million in new charges on Hamilton's side.

01:45:04,399	S2:
So so early discussions. Is there scheduled another meeting of any sort or not? Does each entity move on their own a little bit?

01:45:11,199	S1:
Well, so the school committee then got their budget. Then had their budget first budget presentation the following night. I think it was. And then there'll be a second five boards meeting. As we all move through this process. So we'll continue to work on our budget. The the town of Hamilton is going to have department head meetings with fin com next Thursday of the 11th. Um, that'll be mostly all day affair for us. And then once we get through those, we'll be able to put together a more detailed budget, and we'll start to work on what will be presented to the select board and the fin com at our meeting. And is it January 20th? Wendy, am I remembering that date? Right. The second meeting.

01:45:51,130	S24:
Something like that 21st maybe.

01:45:52,869	S19:
Yeah.

01:45:53,770	S24:
Something like that.

01:45:54,869	S19:
Yeah.

01:45:55,729	S2:
So that's the operating budget I assumed. Capital committee. And you're working on that as well in parallel?

01:46:01,699	S24:
Right. The 20th.

Joe. 01:46:02,600	S1:
Sorry, it was the 20th. Um, so, uh, that meeting will be at the. Well, that meeting, I think we've confirmed we'll be able to be held at the community house just as it was last year.

Awesome. 01:46:13,829	S2:
Good update. Anything Ben or Tom you want to add from the meeting?

01:46:23,470	S4:
Nope.

01:46:23,770	S14:
Nothing to add to Joe's commentary.

01:46:28,270	S3:
Good.

01:46:29,369	S2:
All right. Appreciate the update. It's going to be a challenging budgeting process. It is. All right. Have I missed anything?

01:46:41,729	S2:
I see new business discussions. I know we want to continue discussions. Um, um, from the climate leader status. I know that's going to be on a future, uh, future meeting. Um, relative to the schools. Uh, the district agreement. I don't know if if if it's time for an update on that or where that stands, that might be a good item.

01:47:01,069	S1:
We can have one for you at the next meeting. We're having the five, and, uh, the three boards are finally getting back together. The representatives getting back together again tomorrow at 330. I believe Tom is now the negotiator for the town in that. So Tom 330 tomorrow at the school district.

01:47:18,500	S9:
Yep.

01:47:19,100	S25:
I'll be there.

01:47:20,770	S1:
Um, so we'll have an update at the next meeting.

01:47:24,100	S2:
Any other topics from the board?

01:47:26,300	S3:
I want to circle back. I'll cart any action items there. Need a discussion?

01:47:31,829	S2:
Yes.

01:47:32,270	S3:
Good.

01:47:41,130	S2:
And we kick off budget season when? I'll kick it off. But you said you've got that meeting, so we'll stay.

01:47:46,229	S3:
I've met already with the department heads. That kind of draft or so.

01:47:51,930	S1:
We've got the the department heads, manpower sheets and basically telling us what the staff is. We've applied the, uh, contracted raises. Um, we're working on on revenue. Um, we'll have a big piece to fill in, depending on how the vote goes next Tuesday. If the if the vote goes forward, well, next Tuesday we'll be able to, um, estimate a new revenue from the sale of the apartments and what they'll be able to take in going forward.

01:48:21,000	S19:
Great.

01:48:22,770	S26:
Do we, um.

01:48:24,029	S2:
Is it beneficial to have anybody from the state come in and update on state funding or challenges or.

01:48:30,470	S1:
I mean, it might be too early, but I can ask, um, Senator Tarr or Rep Kastner to come in, but House one hasn't been released yet. Doesn't usually get released until, um, it usually actually the second half of, uh, January. So typically the the state's budget process starts with the release of what's known as the House one budget. And that's really the budget proposal from the governor's office. The administration releases their budget, um, usually right around the time of the Mass Municipal Association annual conference and trade show, which this year is scheduled for. Let me look at it. Hold on. It's scheduled for January 22nd and 23rd and 24th, so it's too early.

01:49:13,899	S2:
But I'm just a little early of any pressure coming from the state for this district and us, you know. So we'll just keep our eye on that towards the end of January I guess. Yep. All right.

01:49:25,630	S3:
I saw in the paper that there was with three a being accepted as well. There are some additional grant opportunities.

01:49:33,069	S19:
For.

01:49:33,430	S1:
Well we didn't get we didn't get locked out of any grants at least. Um, so.

01:49:37,029	S3:
We'll be pursuing those presumably though, for any improvements in that district.

Okay. 01:49:42,930	S2:
And then I assume everything. Uh, no updates on town hall or move in. It's all pretty much on path from what we've discussed historically.

01:49:49,869	S1:
I mean, there's, you know, whether it's starting to get into it a little bit, but, um, you know, people who drive by can see a lot of progress has been made. The, um, elevator edition is mostly up. I think they still need to put the roof on. The stairs are going up inside. Um, the elevator will be added and then the roof will be put on. The new roof is on the original building. The siding is mostly been fixed. There's still some parts to be done there. The new ramp has been poured, um, interior wise on most of the major stuff has changed. Uh, has been completed. We just need to hook up the new, um, HVAC systems and the ground.

01:50:25,670	S3:
Uh, they haven't drilled yet, have they?

01:50:28,430	S1:
They've drilled. They've drilled the wells. We have to connect the wells to the building now. Um, they'll be trenching that and working on that here in the next couple of weeks. And, um, so it's making good progress. The, um, general contractor still is citing a, uh, mid-February completion. We substantial completion. We won't be able to finish the landscaping and striping, the parking lot, etc. until, uh, probably the spring. That's why we're targeting a mid late April, uh, early May. Moving for staff.

01:51:00,699	S7:
When the weather gets.

01:51:01,399	S2:
Good stuff. Ready to go back right there.

01:51:03,970	S1:
And I think there's I think there's a mix. I think some people like it out there. I mean, it is it is a nice setting. And, um, you know, esprit de corps has really kind of come up a little in the building. I think anybody who's ever been in the military knows that when you, uh, you go through something hard with other people, it, uh, it makes you closer. And I think we've had some some of that at the homestead. People like it out there. It's a little different environment. It's not really set up to be an office. It's getting the job done. But, yeah, it's very homey.

Um. 01:51:34,100	S2:
I was there a couple of weeks ago around sunset, and it was pretty amazing out the back.

01:51:37,899	S1:
Yeah, it's.

01:51:38,899	S2:
So anyway, good, good updates on that. Lastly, I had was I always enjoy when department heads. I don't know if we're in cycle or anybody you know coming up, but that could be something on a future meeting as well. Just updates from a department head.

01:51:51,899	S1:
Yep. Um, and we had talked a little bit about wanting to do more like we did tonight. So for those who joined the meeting late. We had a really nice presentation. Joint presentation from the HTC and the select board earlier to the Connolly family for all their years of service to the community. Um, they stuck it out through the end of the meeting.

01:52:08,270	S2:
I know I was going to.

01:52:10,000	S1:
I really I didn't really expect that, I appreciate it. Uh, it's good to see them here. And it was really good to see the outpouring of support for them. The room was full, and I thought it was because I had said or done something wrong again. But it turns out everybody was here for the conference and that's that's better.

01:52:23,000	S2:
Absolutely.

01:52:23,569	S19:
Yeah.

01:52:24,970	S2:
On that positive note, I'll take a motion to adjourn.

Yes. 01:52:30,869	S3:
Well. Motion to adjourn.

01:52:32,970	S2:
Do I have a second? Thomas? Second. Uh, Bill Wilson. Oh. Let's vote.

Sorry. 01:52:39,630	S3:
Roll call. Ben glues a I sorry.

01:52:41,229	S2:
Bill Wilson, I.

01:52:42,829	S4:
Paul Myers, I.

01:52:43,770	S2:
All right, that's a wrap. We have some things to sign.

01:52:46,069	S19:
Thanks.

01:52:47,869	S1:
Not a lot this time.