00:00:37,400	Mikes are on. We should be good now. Test. Test. Get ready. Okay. Good evening everyone. I’m going to call to order at 6 p.m.. A call to order the Wenham Select Board meeting for June 9th, 2026. Um, just a quick roll call in attendance. Myself, Deirdre Peretti. Ben Simon, Finn Sprague.

00:01:32,900	And Peter Clay will not be joining us this evening. And for the public’s information, we did not hold our executive session at 6 p.m.. We did not have quorum at 6 p.m., so that will be rescheduled for another date. So this evening we will start with public input.

00:01:51,130	If anyone is here to make a public comment on an item that is not on the agenda this evening, I’d like to invite you to come forward or raise your hand on zoom. Anybody? Michele. Good. Alrighty. Okay, so we will go to reports and announcements, and Steve is going to start. Thank you, Madam Chair.

00:02:19,970	Um, so as most some or most are aware or received a recycling tote, um, yesterday that was unexpected. So the short of it is, is that Casella? Our waste manager, contracts with the third party to procure these, uh, recycling totes.

00:02:46,730	And since we’re in a partnership with the town of Hamilton Hamel, the totes have been received from the third party vendor in Hamilton, authorized the delivery, and we had told them not to deliver them. However, the third party vendor, um, I guess just a misunderstanding, thought that, you know, they were just the guys who are in the truck, thought they were delivering them all, and some got delivered to the town of Windham.

00:03:04,930	So we’ve, um, you know, we found that up. We called Casella. Casella called their vendor and stopped the delivery. So they’re being held and they’ll be delivered at a later date. And, you know, long and short of it is is the service will remain the same. Uh, you’ll you’re still going to get the recycling picked up.

00:03:24,030	The difference being is that the container is automated friendly so that when they when the trucks move to a fully automated setup, these bins will be able to be picked up by the hydraulic arm and dumped into the recycling truck. Uh, we definitely will.

00:03:42,800	Uh, give any, you know, the update to the plan was always and still is to do like some sort of a postcard mailer. Once the, uh, contract is solidified that the select board is very close to signing, it will be brought before them in their meet at that meeting in two weeks.

00:04:01,970	And to itemize the dates of any changes into, you know, sending out a postcard or something similar to every household. So you’re aware of any changes in the dates and the timeline. So this is just a little bump in the transition road. However, no changes are taking place immediately and there’ll be no changes at all until you’ve received notification. Thank you Steve.

00:04:21,100	A couple more updates. So, uh, Kate Mallory notified me today that we have successfully acquired, uh, in finalize the Streeter, uh, conservation restrictions. So 115.5 acres, uh, the town of Windham now holds a conservation restriction on that, uh, in perpetuity. So, you know, well done to all involved.

00:04:48,870	We, uh, also, you’ll see as you move into you’ll see the agenda was amended and we, uh, we amended in part to remove Jeff Baxter from the appointments. The annual appointments, Jeff just recently submitted his retirement notice. So, you know, we’re going to be planning a farewell to him.

00:05:08,170	He was with the town of Wenham for or still with the town, but has been with the town for 28 years. Uh, and I’m working with the fire chief to identify alternate appointments, and those will come back before the select board before the end of the fiscal year.

00:05:27,900	I also wanted to point out we get here, I work with, um, through Sally Kern’s office every year in request a number of earmarks through the state’s budget. And we have gotten a number of earmarks, uh, over the last five years. However, they’ve always been cut, um, by the governor, uh, early in each the state’s fiscal year.

00:05:48,270	But we did receive we were lucky enough to receive some funds for the first time, and that’s for the, uh, if you see behind the fire department, we have a two new rescue boats. Um, the other one had to be retired. The hull was waterlogged, the engine did not run well.

00:06:10,570	So the, uh, the new one is, um, is, you know, a nice aluminum boat, probably 18ft, 17 or 18ft in length. Uh, and the other one is a ten foot with a three and a half horse on it. For some of our smaller lakes. So those funds did come through. You know, I thank Sally Kerins for going going to bat for us.

00:06:26,870	Um, and we were able to acquire those in there behind the fire department right now, this year, we do have earmarks for they’ve been appropriated due to the immediate need. They’ve been appropriate to town meeting through our capital. But the cemetery commission requested some historic archival software and GIS tracking for their cemetery, uh, platform.

00:06:50,200	And also seniors, the senior care software, uh, Jim Reynolds and his team are looking to expand the use on that to better serve our seniors through, um, the van and ride sharing program. So both those are earmarked. We’re hoping to get at least one. But again, we did appropriate a town meeting.

00:07:11,570	So should we not receive the earmarks? We’re still moving forward with the purchase. Should we receive the earmark? We will, um, just simply re appropriate those funds for a different use at a future town meeting. Um, and that is all I have for you this evening. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Steve.

00:07:32,430	I’ll just reiterate what Steve said, that we, on behalf of the town, we apologize for the confusion with the recycled totes. Um, it will be straightened out, as you heard. And we do appreciate all the residents who let us know what was happening so that we could, um, investigate. All right.

00:07:52,700	I would just like to thank Martha Brennan, the Human Rights Committee, for the organization and holding the event last week for the pride flag raising. It was a lovely event. Very well attended. We had people from Hamilton join us as well, and their human rights committee, and it was a very wonderful event.

00:08:13,000	So thank you to all who participated and who attended the event. And that’s all for me. Ben. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, the one, um, Veterans Committee this morning at its monthly meeting hosted three, um, local high school graduates who are joining the service. Um, uh, two are from one of them and one is from from Hamilton.

00:08:34,230	But, um, we invited him as well. Um, it was a really nice event. It was an opportunity for veterans, members of the Veterans Committee, some of whom are, um, you know, 90 years old plus. And so have, you know, experience in military service.

00:08:56,170	Um, Vietnam and earlier, in some cases, a chance for them to meet these three young people, to answer questions, to hear from each other about their experiences, and to hear from the students about their, their plans. Um, the, um, the three students are, um, Philip, who lives here in Wenham and graduated from Saint John’s Prep in September.

00:09:15,930	He’s going to West Point, uh, Findlay is, uh, Saint John’s Prep graduate as well, from just over the line, uh, in Hamilton, he’s going to the Naval Academy. And Marissa, Sibert, who graduated from Hamilton Wenham High School, and she is joining the Marines. So we got to hear from them.

00:09:39,370	Um, Marissa is going to boot camp at Parris Island in South Carolina in August, which makes me want to collapse just thinking about it. But, um, um, so these are really excellent, uh, students and a credit to their community.

00:09:55,530	And it was a nice, as I say, a nice opportunity for the Veterans Committee to recognize them and meet them and for there to be a, you know, a discussion amongst them. Uh, Tim’s colleague, uh, Emma from the Hamilton News was there and I think is going to write a story about it this Friday. So you’ll be able to see some of that and, uh, read more about it.

00:10:13,500	That’s it for me. It’s wonderful. Thank you. Chair. Finn. Thank you. Uh, so the only thing I’m gonna talk about is that we heard from Eric, Tracy and Tracy about a draft long term strategic plan that, uh, the district put together.

00:10:32,700	Um, you know, notable to me was that they’re kind of guidelines on the facilities, um, kind of expectations about standards, but nothing really specific about what they’re going to do. In fact, they spoke about a plan to make a plan, really, with money that there’s going to be spent on facilities audit. Um, and establishing kind of an overall, uh, facilities master plan.

00:10:54,700	Um, they talked about aligning that with the Hamilton and Wenham town master plans. Um, and there are some other things in there. You know, it’s a fairly involved document talking about, you know, communicating in more plain language to the citizens and receiving feedback more regularly, along with kind of educational standards and digital world, that sort of stuff.

00:11:14,600	Um, you know, considering the impact that the last time we went through that cycle had on the town. You know, I recommend that we invite, uh, Mr. Tracy to come and kind of more formally present that, um, you know, the results of that, you know, you know, six months effort with 20, 20 people in the community

00:11:33,030	trying to put this together. So I’d like to hear about it. So that’s my recommendation. Great. That’s a great idea. Thank you. Finn. Okay. With that, we will move to the consent agenda.

00:11:49,530	We do not need to read the list in its entirety, correct? No, I just want to call to note the in the it’s in the it’s in the, uh. Excuse me in the motion, but, um, the police chief came with a couple, uh, last minute changes on the appointments.

00:12:08,300	So you’ll see the agenda references those and makes the correction, um, that differ from how they are printed in the, um, agenda. Okay. Thank you. So this the list is printed in the agenda, if you would like to reference it. This is the annual appointments for mostly town employees.

00:12:31,230	So would someone like to make a motion? Uh, I’ll make a motion to move to approve items A through D as printed in this evening’s consent agenda with the following revisions. Emergency Management deputy will be Kevin DiNapoli and Sergeant John Phillips. Do we have a second? And then we have Special Officer Michael McKissick second. All right. Oh, and apologies. There’s also the appointment of Julie Holbrook to the Wish Committee.

00:12:59,730	And liquor one day, liquor license for the First church. Okay. We’ll take a vote, Finn. I’ll vote I. Ben. Ben. I Deirdre, I all right, motion passes. And we will go on. Sorry. We now have a very wonderful presentation.

00:13:26,230	I’m sure this is we are going to hear from Molly Corson from the Ipswich River watershed Watershed Association and Kate Mallory, our land use director on the Miles River Watershed Action Plan, which we have funding from the mass Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program. So I will turn it over to you. Thank you so much. This working, can you hear me? I believe so awesome. Thank you for having me here tonight.

00:13:46,500	Um, I’m Molly Corson from the Ipswich River Watershed Association. We’ve been working in partnership with the town of Windham on this project. So we’re here to give you an overview. As we kind of close out the grant process and look forward to next steps. So we can. Move ahead.

00:14:06,300	So just to give you some context, um, so the Miles River is the largest tributary in the lower watershed to the Ipswich River watershed, which Wenham is a part of. So you can kind of see the outline of that area here, but it also reaches down into Beverly, goes through Hamilton, and meets up with the Ipswich River in Ipswich.

00:14:24,430	So this project, well, it started between the town of Wynnum and Euroa, was also really geared towards looking at the entire watershed itself because we are all connected. Next slide. And it actually was mentioned specifically in Hamilton or Wenham hazard mitigation and MVP plan.

00:14:46,430	This is how we kind of came to this idea that restoration of the Miles River is a priority, and it kind of describes the river as it flows through these towns, and it does still provide excellent riparian and wetland habitat, but faces a lot of problems, including low flow, nutrient inputs and other barriers.

00:15:07,700	So we wanted to take this and really, um, develop some targeted projects and implementation steps that would work for the region. So in partnership together, we applied for and received funding from the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program. That’s a mouthful to support the development of a miles River Watershed Action Plan that improves the long term climate resilience of the Miles River.

00:15:27,530	And obviously, my PDF fonts did not export nicely. Um, and we also specifically wanted to explore nature based solutions to environmental concerns, um, nature based solutions aren’t the only thing that ended up in this plan, but they were specific focus of ours. Um, as a part of the plan development.

00:15:45,570	And we’ll get more into that as a part of this whole process. We’ve conducted a lot of community engagement, some traditional methods. So including a community survey, stakeholder interviews with residents, businesses, organizations up and down the watershed.

00:16:09,100	But we also hosted a number of events, including two walk and talks, an event, um, native seed ball making at the senior center. Um, we had a couple of youth focused events, including a climate cafe. Um, and the lower picture down here is water quality monitoring, training and the importance of citizen science to long term climate resilience.

00:16:31,000	And we actually were able to, um, get a couple of new water quality monitors out of that. And who specifically worked on the Larch Row site throughout this project, which was really great. Um, and then this middle picture on the right here is from our backyard Buffers charrette, which was a nature based, solutions focused event with our technical consultant, BSI Group, that actually had

00:16:51,770	folks take an aerial image of their lawn, some sketch paper, and give them the tools to figure out how would you redesign your lawn in a way that reduces your need to water, promotes better habitat, reduces runoff, and helps cleaner water enter the wetlands near your property.

00:17:09,970	Next slide please. In addition to that, we collected a lot of data. So we did a literature review of existing town plans and looking for overlap in goals and maybe strategies.

00:17:31,930	We looked at high level water usage of each of the communities, because all of them either have water resources within the Miles River subwatershed or the Ipswich River basin. We looked at water quality data, so we had three sites within the watershed that had monthly testing data and additional testing that we conducted, an analysis. We created a stream crossing map of all the barriers identified within the whole watershed. And that data is available in a map for communities to use.

00:17:54,400	And we’ll talk more about that in a minute. And then again, as I said, we had a particular focus on nature based solutions, and we worked with a technical consultant, B, a C group, to visit 11 sites in the watershed to look at nature based approaches to, um, climate resilient in those spaces.

00:18:12,970	So, for example, we went to whole street, specifically looking at a culvert that’s been identified previously as a priority for the town. And the town has gotten funding for preliminary work, but not for full replacement.

00:18:30,030	And so one of the things that came out of our discussion with the consultant is if there’s crossings that we’re flooding is an issue where maybe meeting the full Massachusetts stream, crossing stanzas is not achievable, or maybe whether that’s financially or because of other infrastructure surrounding it.

00:18:52,600	What we’re doing, what places are doing now is considering how do we redesign roadways to move flood water during extremely high events? How do we redesign different parts of the culvert to accommodate when high flows happen? Um, and so this is one of those examples where that that could be possible here based on where the driveways are located, based on how maybe floodwater could be moved quickly and not

00:19:13,500	allowed to settle. So this could be even a potential option for other location. But it was a very interesting idea that we wouldn’t have never thought of that came out of this nature based solution approach. So as a part of the project, we developed an action plan.

00:19:33,570	There are four priority action areas, and all of the actions that we recommend fall into one or more of them. And this came out of both the data collection efforts and also the community engagement and qualitative responses that we got. Drought resilience was one of them.

00:19:50,330	And I do think that that is probably a reflection of the time that we were doing a lot of our events and engagement. We’ve been in drought for a while, so it was at the forefront of a lot of people’s minds. Um, water quality and flood management, um, still a concern.

00:20:05,770	We actually expected that to be more of a concern going into this process, based on what we read in the MVP plan. But that switched a little bit, kind of with the weather patterns that we’re having, um, connected, healthy habitats.

00:20:25,300	People really value, um, the space around the river and its tributaries for the habitat that it has, the animals, the plant life, um, being able to kind of have that resource in their backyards and then public awareness and education, this is always ongoing. One of, um, the best ways to continue climate resilience and to continue long term solutions. Is this constant engagement, which I’m sure I’m sure you’re already aware. It’s true with almost everything.

00:20:48,300	But, um, many people can grow up in this area and maybe not not be aware that the Miles rivers is in their backyard. So, um, all of our action items kind of fall into one of those buckets. They you can go to next slide, please. Actions.

00:21:06,000	So there’s, um, action items in the plan that encompass both what we would consider watershed wide climate resilience initiatives and specific projects. They can be led in partnership or with one town as a lead. And we worked with municipal contacts in each town on that.

00:21:25,130	Um, but the Miles River collaborative, which Kate will explain in a minute, may expand upon these in the future. It’s really meant to be kind of a guiding document, a starting point with the tools that we have now and then to help us all continue to work together, moving forward. And with that, I will turn it over to Kate. Hi, everybody. Thank you so much. Um, Kate, Mallory.

00:21:43,770	So Molly and I were thinking, all right, we have this great plan and we have these great strategies that really work for these for cities and towns, um, to sustain climate resiliency. But how do we keep this going? So we’re at the end of the road here.

00:21:59,370	How do we keep this going? And the answer was creating this Myles River collaborative. Um, so we got together representatives from Beverly Hamilton and Ipswich. And we talked to them and showed them our plan. And we said, would you like to join this collaborative? And it’s a commitment that we made that would only be twice a year.

00:22:20,100	And after we went through the plan and Molly kind of in more detail, gave a presentation of what we’ve been doing and they’ve been we’ve had representatives from these four towns working with us along the way. Um, every single city and town said that they would join the collaborative.

00:22:37,870	So, um, it’s pretty amazing. And basically what we’re hoping to do is meet once a year with the four cities and towns in Iowa. And then the second meeting, meet with other stakeholders as well.

00:22:57,000	So New England Bio Labs is one, um, Appleton Farms, the farmers at Reynolds Farms, we’ve got we’ve been talking to all of them throughout this whole process. And they’d also like to be involved. Um, so, you know, the value of this is really the regional problem solving. We all have the same problems. We’re all looking at it a little differently between towns and cities and topography.

00:23:18,900	And, um, the strategies that we’ve put together in this report really work well for this collaboration. Um, so it’s pretty exciting. What else it really does is it gives us stronger grant applications and more funding is possible.

00:23:41,330	So, you know, we’ve seen when we apply for grants, when we get, um, you know, Wenham is a smaller town, so it doesn’t get seen as much as maybe some of the larger cities. And so when we do this regional approach, the idea is that we’ll be able to get higher grant funding, but then also be less staff time. Um, for example, Molly, we’ve already started on this.

00:24:03,170	Um, Molly applied through mAPK for a $40,000 grant on invasives and public education with invasives, teaching residents how to recognize them, how to eradicate them.

00:24:23,970	Um, so if we applied for this just as Wenham, it would take a lot of my time or staff time, which really is impossible with, you know, other things that are, um, bigger priorities. So Molly did all the work for us, and, um, everybody except for, well, Ipswich when I’m in Beverly all sent letters of support and said, yes, we’d like to do this. And so we’re hoping for a $40,000 grant that will come in to share with the three towns.

00:24:41,030	Um, so this regional approach really, we think it’s a great thing. And, uh, less staff time with more resources. So you can’t get better than that.

00:24:57,130	Um, before I end, I really would like to publicly say that Molly has really been the one who did most of this work. I do have to say, um, and it was so impressive. So if you do have time, we have the website up. Please check it out. It’s a it was a really great project. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Um, I think both of you can take credit.

00:25:18,570	This really well done project. And it seemed like you did it very rapidly. Frankly, it seems like we just got the award, so that’s extraordinary. Yeah, that’s. I believe that, but that’s extraordinary progress. And I think this is wonderful. The collaborative that will continue on. Any questions before we go on. All right.

00:25:38,330	Thank you both. Okay. Next we have a presentation from Earnest Ashley, the chair of our Open Space committee about West Winton Park. And sounds like we may have a name change request as well as an update on progress for the tennis courts. Thank you. Ernest. We’ll start with the tennis court. Okay.

00:26:01,700	Thank you, Ernest Ashley, representing the Open Space and Recreation Committee. The select board gave us a challenge. Uh, some time ago to look into the dilapidated sport Court area of Pingree Park. And so this is somewhat of a lack of progress.

00:26:25,230	Uh, briefing in that we have started and had a survey we’ve reviewed and we’ve come up with some concepts of what we’re doing. But I think we have reached a point where we want to seek more community input to, uh, expand our list of options of what is to be considered.

00:26:46,170	Uh, we have heard from representatives of the boulders that are adjacent to the sport court about some concerns on some projects that are concepts that have been put forward. So nothing has been identified in stone as a recommendation to the Select Board at this time.

00:27:06,930	It’s up that I think we would like to move forward with somewhat of a community event where we would advertise and have an opportunity for people to come to see the sport court area, to share some ideas of what have already been brought forward, as well as gain additional ideas and then end with somewhat of a more structured survey where we could feel like we had an adequate amount of community input into what we

00:27:28,170	would like to move forward. I believe there’s a couple of other slides, so this is the sport court area. Um, it is currently being used more for pickleball than anything else.

00:27:51,100	Um, the, um, at one point when we had a meeting, it was brought to our attention that the cracks in this, uh, surface are possibly as a result of some of the trees that are around there. But I did walk the court the other day, and they’re not looking like they’re coming specifically from routes into the court, but they’re a little bit more, um, random and going all the way across the court.

00:28:09,300	So obviously something needs to be done here. Um, but as I say, it’s being used primarily for pickleball at this point. Next slide please. Uh, so this is the area you can see the courts in the center, the boulders in the property to the lower left, the rest of the park.

00:28:28,700	And the park is very much a multi-generational use facility. There are a couple of swing sets as well as a younger person’s playground. And then all of those fields are being used for everything from youth soccer through baseball. And then you really have two community gardens.

00:28:52,200	There is one that Hamilton went on, uh, community Garden Club and is run as developed, and the other is the former Dodge Tree Farm, where the, um, garden, uh, community garden, uh, location is. So we’d really like to add to this entire complex. Next slide please. So some of the possibilities, um, one of the things that had been identified is to redo it as four tennis courts and overlay with lining.

00:29:17,630	Another was to, um, do, um, two tennis courts, three pickleball courts, which would fit and one portion of it, and that would leave another optional area for future development.

00:29:40,570	And the one that has been brought to our attention was a proposal for a memorial skateboard park, where there was an interest in developing that. It has been done at other communities Ipswich, Amesbury, Georgetown, uh, and the target demographic again, would be someone in between the elementary school style playground and getting in your car and driving. Ralph. So that is definitely one of the concepts that is a significant amount of infrastructure.

00:30:05,630	So once again, I think it’s important that we get more community input before moving forward with something like that. Is there another slide for us, Michelle? Okay, so here’s some of the ideas that have been through. So uh, bicycle riding, skateboarding. Well, that gets to something like the skate park that could also be used with scooters.

00:30:25,370	Other things. Um, street hockey was one concept which would be on a hard surface. Basketball. Um, but many of these others were just in a survey. But again, that survey wasn’t very focused on some of the concrete options that we had looked forward to. Um, bocce ball, Gaga ball was installed at the West Wyndham Park.

00:30:52,030	Uh, shuffleboard, um, other things, you know, some of which would be lower in a capital, uh, sense than something like a skateboard park, which would be requiring a good deal of concrete and construction. What else do we have, Michelle? Okay, so the next steps was just to have our presentation.

00:31:14,500	And up to today, um, we’re unfortunately, we were not able to form a quorum for the last couple of meetings we have. So we’re a little bit behind schedule in what would be an ideal time frame before school lets out to have more of a community event.

00:31:32,830	Now we feel like we’re a little bit behind the eight ball as we try to organize something where we were getting a lot of people to come out, and maybe they’re not here for the summertime, but nonetheless, I think engage the community to give us more suggestions and engage the a level of interest.

00:31:51,300	Um, and then this would be something that because it is a shared resource at Pingree Park, we feel it would be something that both Hamilton and Welwyn would contribute to through the community Preservation Act. Any questions before we move on? Yeah, let’s pause there for a second.

00:32:15,370	Any comments or questions? Um, earnest, I think when you referenced the potential, um, skateboard park, you mentioned a memorial skate park. I don’t have the name, but anyway, there was an interest brought to the committee more than once. Um, and it had been discussed even when we were talking about West Wenham. But to park topographically, that wasn’t a very good option there.

00:32:41,470	But yes, there’s an interest and there could be something in the way of fundraising and additional, um, assistance and kind of helping a project move forward. Okay. Thank you.

00:33:01,830	So if I understand right, you’re going to try to get back together with a quorum, and then you’re going to put together a kind of a more robust kind of schedule to engage the the community, come up with some kind of narrow down the, the field of ideas, and then, um, you know, make a more formal sort of presentation of a, of a timeline. Yes.

00:33:25,970	As far as that event, we were considering that we would have a mailer or direct contact to a radius of the, um, sport court or for neighbors to make sure they were informed as well as to advertise at an event that anyone from the community that was interested in what was being proposed for that, and an opportunity to look at the court, look at the area and get some additional ideas, and then follow that with a survey

00:33:47,700	distributed at that time and available online to see if we can get more concrete level of, um, expressed interest. But then from that, we would have to come up with a specific proposal estimating relative magnitude what the types of cost would be, and schedule moving forward.

00:34:09,270	And then we’d have to bring that to the select board, whether that goes to town meeting or not, or just through the CPC would be the next steps. But what’s your, um, what do you think a reasonable timeline is to get to, uh, you know, you know, a handful of, of options.

00:34:26,670	Where I’d love to back up a month and be able to accomplish a community event in July. In June, before the school lets out. But I think I only have a week or so and where they can accomplish it, so I’ll have to get together with our, uh, Open Space and Recreation Committee.

00:34:42,700	And then, um, uh, I would say early fall would be the ideal time for the event and be able to come back to the select board mid fall with more specific recommendations. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Which might be just enough time to make a CPC deadline in the late fall. So we’ll see. Thank you. We possibly. Uh.

00:35:08,870	Speak to the Wenham CPC and just presented some general ideas of what we were, that we would be coming to them in the future with a request to help work with this park. Great. I appreciate you taking this up, and I think this is a great opportunity to add something to the town. , potentially.

00:35:29,130	Underutilized. Exactly. Um, do you know if you are likely to have a vacancy on the committee? Should we be encouraging people to volunteer right now while we have you? Um. I think it was full, but maybe we don’t know just yet. I don’t I don’t know. I’m sure. Okay. I don’t have the information.

00:35:53,800	All right. So I will encourage current members and interested potential members to submit applications to be part of the Open Space and Recreation Committee. And this is some really interesting and cool work that you could be involved with. Okay, there’s my plug. Okay, okay. Now you. Have slide. Next topic please.

00:36:13,500	Thank you. So our last project was working on the park in West Wenham. And Kate has been working on signage for multiple locations throughout the town. And, um, we were fortunate on our committee. One of them is a graphic artist in Tom star.

00:36:35,500	And so these are some of the concepts for the signage for the park. Um, it has been referred to as the West Wyndham Park, but it has also been referred to as the Higginson Playground and the Higginson name is from the greater property that includes the Cedar Ponds.

00:36:56,700	The remnants of what was the Higginson House and that came to the town through the greater Higginson Estate, so back and forth we found that the West Wyndham Park uh, signage didn’t look consistent with some of the other signs that are on other properties like this.

00:37:17,030	Throughout the time where the name of the person associated with that park was on the sign, like Pingree Park, right, Reynolds Farm. So our concept is that this would be, um, the West Wyndham playground at the Higginson Park. And so I recommendation as a committee, uh, is to go with the Higginson Park sign that you see in the left lower portion of this sign.

00:37:42,630	So any comments or any thoughts on that? I think it looks great. Honestly, I love the logo, the signage I think looks wonderful. Any comments? I agree, I like how it looks. Um, I like the fact that, um, revises the Wenham part a little bit at the bottom by saying West.

00:38:05,630	One of them playground. Um, and I certainly support, you know, your and your colleagues rationale behind it. It sounds, uh, like a good thing to do. I think they’ve covered it. Um, you know, you’ve spent a lot of time trying to come up with these names and attach them to the the history of the area.

00:38:27,500	Um, if, uh, you know, if you’ve gone through the process to, you know, get the appropriate feedback from the community and, you know, get that involvement, you know, these these have been on the books for a number of years here. So okay. Okay. Yes. Thank you. We we queried the committee.

00:38:45,030	We did look, uh, do some research on the Higginson name to make sure there wasn’t any things we’d be overly concerned about. So I think we’re in the clear on that. Well, so that’s our recommendation. I do like the green circle and the interior. Would that be the same? I let Kate respond with, yes. So yeah.

00:39:06,470	I like the green I think makes it stand out nicely. Mhm. It’s my $0.02. Thank you very much. All right. Do you need anything else from us. I don’t believe so. Okay. Thank you very much. Earnest. Looks like there’s a gentleman in the audience who. Wants to speak. Oh. Did you have a comment? Sure. Thank you.

00:39:25,100	Just please state your name and your street. Okay. Dennis Markowitz, 15, Wallace, drive the boulders and. Excuse me while I read this. Sure. We live in a number of houses in from Pingree Park, not a Buttars. It is a quiet neighborhood. We hardly hear the traffic on one a but sound travels on occasion.

00:39:52,900	We can clearly hear the baseball game at the other side of the park. Children yelling and cheering and having a good time. It is music to the ears. In the time we have been at the boulders, there have also been occasional pickleball games at the courts in question. The noise is entirely different.

00:40:17,970	Ping ping ping. Okay, a little noise once in a while, but imagine how this would be if the courts were developed. Pickleball is very popular these days, and the courts could well be heavily used. You would not want this noise in your backyard, and we do not want this noise in ours.

00:40:46,770	And it is not a question of the volume of the sound. Ping, ping ping. Distracting, annoying, erratic. A degree of sound abatement will not change the nature of the sound. Here in Patent Park up the road, there are tennis courts that I have seen used for pickleball.

00:41:11,370	The courts are along the road by the open park area, not a residential area. If we want pickleball courts in town, that is the type of environment that is appropriate. You would not want these courts in your backyard, and we do not want these courts in ours. Thank you very much. Thank you.

00:41:38,000	Sir. Um, I just had a request for you, actually, and I appreciate it. I appreciate you, um, you giving your input? Um, I’ve, I can’t say that I’ve actually ever heard, um, pickleball noise myself, but I’d like to hear it because obviously it generates a lot of complaints. Um, my email address is on the town website.

00:42:06,900	My name is Ben Timon, and if you send me an email, um, I’ll respond to it because I’d actually love to hear it. And so if you’re home, you know, on a weekend or any day and there’s a bunch of pickleball happening, um, I’d like to come

00:42:24,130	and hear it myself, because I think that’s the best way for some of us to have to make these decisions to actually assess the noise nuisance. I would answer as follows. Uh, the courts are in bid repair right now. They’re very few games, uh, happening. Okay.

00:42:42,170	Uh, when you have a game over there occasionally. The other day, I heard some noise. I went over, it was a parent, and their child was playing a little bit. Not much noise at all. If you really want to hear what pickleball sounds like, uh, I often go to the, uh, Ipswich y.

00:42:59,700	And they have an extremely extensive schedule of pickleball. Almost any time you walk in, you can hear it and you can hear the real noise of a real of a real game. I appreciate that. Yeah. I think just the experience of hearing what what you hear from your distance and with, you know, the topography. Yeah.

00:43:19,500	Excuse me, would, um, sure would be helpful too. But I understand that right. Good questions. Right now that it’s, um, a limited number of games that are going on, I guess because of the condition of the courts.

00:43:32,870	But and, you know, I didn’t bring this as a slide or anything, but I went to the Y in Ipswich and made an image of their pickleball schedule, the number of hours I can’t give you the number, the number of hours of pickleball that they have a week is simply incredible.

00:43:55,770	Okay, people love the sport, okay? And so I think that there’s an issue here in that, um, we are opening the cork on the bottle or Pandora’s box or something by saying we’re going to put pickleball in there because it could become the love of the community to play pickleball there. And there could be hours and hours and hours of pickleball, not totally anticipated today.

00:44:15,570	That would be the result of some fabrication there. So thank you. Okay. Thank you for your comments, sir. Thank you. All right. Next we have Historic New England is here to discuss the potential preservation restriction at nine Maple Street. I believe someone is. Here. Okay. Is someone here? Yes. I’m Elizabeth. From historical England. Is being promoted now. Oh. Great.

00:44:47,500	Thanks, Joe. Didn’t know you were there. Hello. Hello. Can you see me and hear me? Not we can hear you. We can’t see you yet. Okay, okay. Um, well, I will go ahead and introduce myself. I am Elizabeth Palka.

00:45:12,430	I am here on behalf of Historic New England or the society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, to discuss old farm at nine Maple Street. Great. Thank you. Um, if I could share my screen, if that is possible. Yes. All right.

00:45:50,030	So I just have a brief presentation to kind of discuss preservation restrictions and in particular, um, the restriction on, on old farm that we are here tonight to ask the Selectboard to approve. So this is, this is I’m hoping you’re seeing a photo of a beautiful property. Yes, yes. Okay, good. Um, you’ve already referred to it tonight, actually. Is the Streeter property. This is subdivided out of the larger, um, the larger parcel that will remain undeveloped in the conservation restriction.

00:46:15,300	So just briefly, historic New England, if you’re not familiar, is a 5 or 1 C3 non-profit charitable corporation created in 1910. We operate across the six New England states, and our mission is to preserve and share New England’s history through our historic properties, landscapes and collections and archives.

00:46:37,030	We also operate a nationally recognized preservation easement program to protect privately owned historic homes. We’re here to ask the one I’m Selectboard to approve these preservation restrictions that you have before you on Old Farm at nine Maple Street. We previously met with the Wenham Historic District Commission, who voted to recommend approval of these restrictions at their June 2nd meeting last week.

00:47:02,170	Old farm was originally built in the 17th century and was expanded as a Colonial Revival estate by noted architect at the time, Joseph Everett Chandler. In the early 20th century, he greatly expanded the footprint of the house, as well as several interior upgrades.

00:47:26,700	However, the post-medieval architecture that is the original is still extant, and it’s paired with an elegant garden design by landscape architect Ellen Shipman. These create a beautiful, intact and significantly historically significant historic property.

00:47:50,170	Now, before they sell the property, the Essex County Greenbelt Association, who currently owns it, are seeking to protect this property for future generations by donating a preservation restriction on the property to be held and administered by Historic New England under Historic New England’s restrictions. The significant exterior and interior architectural features of Old Farm, as well as its landscape, will be protected against alteration, neglect and also demolition.

00:48:17,970	These features include wood and masonry elements such as side walls, doors, windows, shutters, roofs, chimneys, etc. then interior protected features of the house include room configuration, framing members that you can see here on the left, and one of the attics. Plaster walls and ceilings, woodwork, flooring and door and window hardware. Additionally, the gravel driveway and designed garden will also be protected.

00:48:42,430	These restrictions will ensure that this locally significant building will be preserved. Massive Massachusetts General Law Chapter 184. Section 32 requires approval at the state and local level for a preservation restriction to be perpetually binding the state, through the Massachusetts Historical Commission, has already reviewed the document and provided their preliminary approval.

00:49:07,630	And now we are here seeking local approval. Without local approval, we will have to rerecord this restriction every 30 years. Moving forward. So in approving this restriction, the town of Wenham assumes no responsibility nor accepts any liability for enforcement. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you. That was very helpful and I particularly enjoyed seeing those photos. What a beautiful property.

00:49:37,500	Chris, did you want to add any comments? Chris Lapointe, president, Essex County Greenbelt I don’t have anything in particular to add other than to say that I’m here if there are any questions, but we’re really pleased to be partnering with Historic New England.

00:49:58,930	Please, of course, to have partnered with Wenham on the acquisition and permanent protection of the vast majority of that land, and it’s a unique opportunity to have a great conservation opportunity and a really nationally significant historic preservation opportunity coupled. So thank you for your time. Thank you. And likewise, thank you. This is a tremendous amount of work on your part. On Kate’s. There you are, Kate.

00:50:19,100	And a huge accomplishment. This project is it’s really amazing for the town of Wenham. So thank you both. Do we have I mean, the I’m definitely in favor of this. It seemed to be straightforward. All of this stays in perpetuity, as was my understanding.

00:50:39,370	Once it’s all approved, stays with the property regardless of what happens. Chris is saying yes. And Ben, do you have any comments? Um, I just had a question about the state of play on the ownership for the house. I just read in the real estate pages. I think that it that it sold recently.

00:51:00,470	Is that right? Or Greenbelt purchased the entire property from the Streeters on May 29th. Including the. Including the house, the house and the cottage on Maple Street. So at that same closing, we conveyed conservation restrictions to Wenham. Right? So we now own everything, and we’re under agreement to sell the house, the main house, subject to this preservation restriction. Okay, great. Then.

00:51:25,270	No, that was going to be my question to. So I appreciate you going into that detail. Great. Thank you. All right. This is wonderful. Yes. Are we ready for a motion? Uh, sure. I will move to approve the preservation restrictions for Old Farm located at nine Maple Street.

00:51:48,770	One in Massachusetts, owned by the Essex County Greenbelt Association pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 184, section 32. I’ll second. Thank you. All right. We’ll move to a vote. Finn. Finn votes. I, Finn. Ben. I, and Deirdre. I thank you very much. Thank you. Historic New England for the presentation and for your work on this as well. I lost sight of you, but I think you’re.

00:52:13,000	Thank you very much for your time this evening and for your approval. Thank you very much. Thanks, Chris, for being here as well. And Kate, of course. All right. Now we are ready to move to item I.

00:52:35,970	Review discussion and a potential vote on the following CPC grant items related to the Wenham Museum, the HVAC, and the Cleveland Richards House roof. Two preservation restrictions and two grant agreements. And who’s presenting this? This is Jo Jo. Okay, Joey. Hear me. Okay. Yes. Great. Sorry I can’t be there tonight. By the way, a little under the weather.

00:53:01,370	Um, but, yes, this is, uh, two separate projects for the wet museum that are being funded by CPA. Um, I think it’s just easier to talk about the cliff and Richard’s, um, home first. That’s just a recent project to repair the, uh, weathered roof that’s been deteriorating for some time.

00:53:22,870	Um, so that was approved recently at town meeting as part of the CPA funding article. And there’s also a separate project that actually dates back from 2021. And for a multitude of reasons, I think one of which was just it was during the Covid pandemic. And, um, you know, the the project, from my understanding, just never got off the ground.

00:53:44,130	But this is for the HVAC project at the museum. Um, they they also wanted museum had requested additional funding at this past town meeting, which was approved. So there’s two, two grant agreements for that.

00:54:07,630	The grant agreements are essentially a contract, um, that the town, you know, enters into with any kind of external, um, organization that is awarded CPA funding. Um, so there’s those two grant agreements, and then there’s also two preservation restrictions, kind of similar to what we were just talking about with nine Maple Street.

00:54:27,900	Uh, these preservation restrictions, um, essentially are just, you know, protecting the architecture, the facade of the two buildings, Clifford Richards home and then the Windham Museum itself, or the HVAC project. These, um, preservation restrictions have to go to the mass Historical Commission for approval. So there’s actually no vote needed on that tonight from the Select Board.

00:54:43,570	It’s just sort of before you for review or any questions you have to to a grant agreements. However, should be voted on if possible. Um, so the fundings can be accessed for um, both projects. I will note though, um, the town will be withholding 10% of the funding until the full preservation restriction paperwork is completed and approved by the Historical Commission and the Select Board.

00:55:06,500	So really, the votes tonight are just for the two grant agreements. Long story short. Okay, so the preservation restrictions will come back for a vote. Yes. Okay. Correct. And similar to the prior one, it stays with the property in perpetuity. Correct? Yes. That’s my understanding. Okay.

00:55:26,800	I came by a strong recommendation of town council that when realized that the Wenham Museum does not have any historic preservation restriction on the property, that if the town is going to be awarding them CPA funds, that they highly recommend that, um, we urge them to pursue a historic preservation which which they’re doing.

00:55:51,330	And the grant agreement is contingent on them, uh, following through with that, especially to protect our. Investment. What are you supposed to. Sorry, what do you suppose the timing would be on, on going through that and getting that? Well, they say, Joe, over a year that. About a year for the full usually takes about a year, sometimes for lucky, a little less like ten months.

00:56:09,530	But it’s just a little slow moving. At the historical commission. Um, but that is what council recommended just to, you know, protect both both properties. So if we start the clock now, it’s ten months. So we’ll have will be already to another town meeting at that point.

00:56:25,470	Um, and are we going to we’re going to repair the roof first or. I think my understanding is we’re allowing them to proceed as long as the application is submitted, but we’re withholding 10% of the funds until the review process is completed.

00:56:44,170	So, you know, we’re trying not to hold up their project because it’s needed, in theory, to protect the structure that, you know, we’re trying to also protect for the preservation, but also protect the town’s interests in ensuring that the historic structure stays historic and doesn’t change, you know, use or I guess I could change use, but change the way it looks.

00:57:04,300	So from town council’s perspective, it’s enough that it’s in progress, and the paperwork. Yes. I try to work it to come to a kind of a mutual agreement and to not hamper the progress of the project, but also get the town’s, uh, give the town some, some teeth to ensure that it’s done. Great.

00:57:24,070	Good catch by town council. Ben. Any comments? No. Okay. All right, so we’re not voting on that one. Joe, do you want to explain anything about the grant agreements? Yes, please. We just need to vote on the two grant agreements. Yep. Okay. Anything else about that? Or we can just go to a. Vote.

00:57:45,900	No, just. You had a good point, though. They are contingent upon the, um, the historical commission approving the restrictions, the historic preservation restrictions, as well as the Select board eventually as well. Okay.

00:58:06,300	And this this is the standard grant agreement that the Select Board approved a, um, a standardized grant agreement that we, uh, implement for all our CPA grants. And should the CPC weigh in and request for changes, that’s when we present them to the select board. But it’s just the standard agreement with the with the with the historic preservation. Um, as outlined by Joe.

00:58:29,470	So as you look at the the motion language here, this is sufficient to cover us with the, the kind of grant. Hold back. Yeah. Because it’s all at the grant. It gets all spelled out by council in the grant agreement itself.

00:58:48,700	So the grant agreement itself is what, you know, authorizes the transfer of funds in any restrictions to pull the money back should they not uphold, you know, if they weren’t to complete the project or do a different project or, you know, um, not get a historic, we’re able to pull some of the money or all the money back from them. Okay. Thank you. Yep. I’m ready to make the motion. Sure. Go ahead. So.

00:59:04,730	Uh, move to approve and authorize the execution of the Community Preservation Committee. Grant agreements for the one a museum HVAC project, and the Kaplan Richards House roof project as presented. Second. All right, we’ll move to a vote. Ben. I, I. And Deirdre, I. All right. Motion passed.

00:59:29,230	We are on to item J, which again is Joe who’s going to update the board on the climate leader progress review our carbon roadmap and request a vote to adopt the new electric vehicle policy. Yes. Thank you. Michelle has the slides. I believe. Sorry you’re under the weather there, Joe. Oh that’s okay. Thank you. Yeah. Sorry, Joe. I think I might have started though. You brought it.

00:59:59,130	No problem. All right. Okay. Um. Okay. Everyone see that? Okay. Yes. Oh, actually. Sorry. Michelle, can I have the, um, the PowerPoint that I sent earlier? Um. Send. The slides, if you don’t mind. I’m, um. Yeah, I emailed them a few hours ago. Yeah. Yes. Thank you. It’s for a slideshow. Thanks.

01:00:41,300	Yes. So, um, this is a just an update on climate initiatives for the town of Wenham. Um, so the town has a long history of sustainability and energy efficiency investments. There’s been a lot of great progress over the years, uh, one of which has recently been the solar ground mounted solar panels lease at Iron Rail.

01:01:03,230	However, I’m actually going to talk about a couple others here. Um, weatherization led upgrades of some of the schools. Council on aging, um, going to a heat pump conversion and so on. I’m actually going to talk about, um, climate leaders tonight because, uh, the town of Wenham is close to achieving climate leader status.

01:01:23,670	We’re already part of the green communities, which is, um, you know, very important. However, climate leader is definitely something the town has been after for several years now. And just we’re really close to getting it. There’s five separate criteria that we’re trying to achieve.

01:01:41,630	We’ve already achieved three out of five, so we just need the final two tonight, which I’ll talk about in a second. Next slide please. Yeah. So the goal is again um, will be to approve the hopefully approve the municipal decarbonization roadmap that uh, in large part was drafted by Vicki Mason. And also consider adoption of the EV or electric vehicle first policy. Next slide please.

01:02:10,500	Just an FYI, green community versus climate leaders, green communities. Um, there’s over 300 communities in the Commonwealth that have the status. And this is again, this is a great title. You know, it’s a focus on energy efficiency, fuel efficient. Um, and also, uh, uh, competitive grants up to 125,000 for one. And we’ve already received over $1 million.

01:02:32,630	I think it was in the previous slide, um, through green communities, actually, I believe 500 K went toward the HVAC project at Town Hall. Um, but again, we’re after the town has been pursuing a climate leader status for some time now and sort of the next evolution. I see it of the green communities.

01:02:48,430	It’s an extension of that. Um, it’s focuses on municipal decarbonization and net zero planning. Um, by the way, decarbonization is sort of just trying to lower, um, you know, fossil fuels, greenhouse gases, where net zero is ultimately sort of offsetting, um, whatever greenhouse gases come into the atmosphere, it’s basically offset completely by humans.

01:03:16,770	Um, releasing, um, you know, the green gases back out of the atmosphere. So essentially it’s a net zero. That’s why they call it that. Um, and if one were to receive a climate leader status, they potentially could open up, uh, up to $1 million in implementation funding through grants.

01:03:32,700	And again, it requires the town to meet five climate leadership criteria, which I’ll talk about next slide please. The five requirements are. The first one is form a climate action sustainability committee. And this was established back in 2024. And this this group has this board. This board has been amazing. Just um, pursuing climate initiatives.

01:03:55,100	They’ve worked on some of the solar projects. They’ve advised Steve and I on the HVAC project in town hall. They’ve done a lot of great things. So that’s the first check. The next check was the climate resolution, which was adopted actually recently at the town meeting. The Select Board actually had approved this back in 2022.

01:04:12,300	But at the advice of council, we brought it before town meeting to get the final approval. Hamilton had done this several years back, but we were able to complete the the um, the achievement of town meeting.

01:04:31,470	And this is basically saying that the town will aim for a net zero goal, that that net zero, um, greenhouse gas goal that I was just talking about, uh, complete that by 2050. The third, um, criteria is a specialized, uh, energy code. This was approved at town meeting as well. Again, this is just for new construction. This helps, um, new new construction buildings become more efficient climate wise.

01:04:53,300	This was passed in April. And the two before you tonight is the municipal decarbonization roadmap. And also the electric vehicle policy. Uh, next slide please. And again, Climate Action Sustainability Committee form 2024.

01:05:21,100	These are some of the mission goals promoting sustainability resilience and basically tasked with carrying out some of the master plan goals for climate initiatives as well. And, um, identifying certain grants and sustainability initiatives initiatives. Next slide please. The second criteria is the climate resolution. Again, this was passed at town meeting. Um, a couple months ago. And this was originally adopted by the Selectboard in 2022. Next slide. Specialized code.

01:05:46,330	So this again, I just touched on this, but it applies primarily just to new construction. Uh, when it was already in the original stretch code. This sort of was an extension of that that says that all electric buildings meet requirements automatically.

01:06:08,030	Um, buildings using gas must provide infrastructure for future electrification, install solar panels, but only where feasible, and larger multifamily These elements must meet higher efficiency standards. I believe the Willows Flats in Hamilton falls under the category and just reducing future building emissions. Greenhouse gases in general. So this is the one, one of the two that hopefully will be approved tonight. Um, this is the electric vehicle first policy.

01:06:30,500	The purpose of this is to reduce municipal fleet greenhouse gas emissions through town vehicles. Um, again, this is supports the climate leader designation as it is one of the criteria needed and it aligns vehicle purchases with decarbonization goals of the town. Next slide. So essentially, um, under this policy there is four options.

01:06:55,370	Uh, so it actually is I put a list here and this is the sort of the priority list starting at the top being the most preferable under after we procure the vehicles. The first one is a battery electric vehicle. This is a fully electric vehicle not run on gas at all, just purely by electricity.

01:07:11,570	The next one is a plug in hybrid electric vehicle. Or we have this is an electric vehicle, but it has a gas backup engine. But again it can be run on electricity and it can be charged by plugging it in. The next one is a hybrid electric vehicle.

01:07:30,770	Uh, this is totally gas powered, although it does have a small electric motor to assist and you improve fuel efficiency. There’s no plug in with this. And the final one is just a conventional gas vehicle. Um, traditional, powered by gasoline. It’s important to note that this policy will have certain exemptions. Um, public safety will be exempt from this. Police and fire. Um, also, heavy duty vehicles.

01:07:52,170	A lot of some of these would include some DPW vehicles, um, ambulances as well. And again, police are also exempt from this. Although um this could be up to the select board as my understanding fire is automatically exempted. But you know drafting this up with um, green communities, they felt that it was kind of just cleaner to exempt all, um, public safety vehicles.

01:08:15,170	But this could be subject to the Tas and the select board’s um, approval as well. Next slide please. So, Joe, could you pause for a second? I was just wondering, as I look through all the exemptions there and I think about the fleet, you know, the ambulance, the fire, the

01:08:31,700	police, you know, the DPW, um, you know, the the mowing equipment, all that sort of stuff that exempt, you know, how many vehicles do you think that the town has that would, uh, kind of, uh, not be excluded from this qualifications? I think there’s, uh, you know, vehicles that, um, permitting

01:08:52,430	uses, um, some of the, you know, vehicles. I think the chief’s at least the police chief uses as well. Um, there are some smaller DPW vehicles as well. Um, that would, you know, qualify under this. Um, I missing any other Stevens that I can think of? Got it.

01:09:12,230	Basically, admin vehicles? Yeah. Right. Is that your would be a number? I don’t think it’s even that high. Okay. I mean, I can think of maybe two or DPW two at police. One fire. Uh, we share the permitting vehicle. Uh, Eric. So that would be.

01:09:35,830	And you could maybe make an argument out of the DPW exemption if he needs a three quarters truck. Um, I don’t believe he currently drives a three quarter ton. And, I mean, uh, Mike Hardy. So what’s that? Eight. Eight. Okay. Thanks. Yeah. There’s one question. The, um, the police cruiser exemption. That’s under state law. I take it. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Um, sorry. Next slide please.

01:10:07,770	And the criteria number five again, this is the second of the policies. Hopefully that will be approved either tonight or on the 23rd. This is a decarbonization roadmap. Now Vicki Mason, uh, in large part drafted this is definitely the expert.

01:10:26,200	I’m sort of just delivering this to a sort of a high level, but essentially, um, this is, uh, actually helped. Uh, it was drafted also by the same consultant that did the electrification study several years back with the town for a town hall, and I think some other buildings as well, but establishes the town’s baseline greenhouse gas emissions using 2022 data, to measure and track emissions

01:10:48,300	reductions beyond 2022. Um, one of them is allocated, uh, one third of the school district emissions. So essentially, you know, as greenhouse gases, emissions are decreased, we receive one third of the benefit of that. So that’s kind of laid out in the roadmap.

01:11:07,030	Um, essentially in the roadmap, again, it’s a quite dense document, but it does provide a building by building analysis of municipal emission sources, including the school buildings as well. And it identifies prioritizes reduction strategies, one of which is just building weatherization. Um, that’s just one example.

01:11:26,230	Insulation is another, LED lighting is another that some schools have already done. I believe Winthrop had done that. Um, this mentions HVAC system upgrades. As you know, Town Hall had recently done that. Um, so that’s a that’s definitely a big step in the right direction. Electrification of water heating systems. Again, I mentioned the Co having the new heat pump as well.

01:11:45,970	And just expected capital improvement schedules of all these buildings, sort of putting them at a certain priority over others depending on how badly they need capital improvements and the sequencing of upgrades of those upgrades over time. Uh, next slide please. So actually, can you go back one more? Michelle, sorry to the, uh, roadmap.

01:12:08,430	I just wanted to point out, um, one highlight of the roadmap was that the three buildings that have the largest emissions of greenhouse gases are the library, the iron rail building, and town hall. Now, again, it’s important to know town hall just put in, you know, the geothermal or geothermal esque, um, system.

01:12:28,170	So that hopefully will help offset a lot of the, you know, the carbon ization. Via rail building, obviously. Um, there’s a real best use study going on with the working group. So that’s a relevant factor with that. Um, I wanted to note that as well.

01:12:44,470	And again, a library was one of the three as well, with the largest emissions. Uh, the goal there is to have HVAC electrification by 2027 with the water heating, electrification, um, down the road in 2050 and potential rooftop solar. That was just a recommendation for the library. But there have to be you know, we’ll have to talk about that a lot more. Um.

01:13:03,930	We already have also. Yeah. I think they already have solar panels on the roof. The library does. Yes. Oh. I’m sorry. The library does. Okay. Those. Thanks for pointing that out. Um. And. Yeah.

01:13:23,800	So, yeah, essentially the last slide, just, uh, hopefully the select board tonight will review and adopt municipal decarbonization roadmap and the EV first policy. And again that will be the last two steps needed. Um, to finish out those five criteria to be a climate leader designation. Again, I don’t know if I mentioned this, but only I think it’s two dozen.

01:13:39,870	Um, municipalities in the state have the claim leader designation, so it will be quite the honor if we’re able to, to achieve that. And there’s one more I think that’s might be for questions. The last slide. Yes. Thank you very much. And for if anyone has any questions. Happy to answer them. Thank you Joe.

01:13:57,400	I appreciate that I’m a huge proponent of this achieving climate leader status. So this is thrilling to see these last pieces coming into place. Um, I want to ask Sue Petrolia who’s here from our climate. I can’t. From our climate action and Sustainability Committee. From Casc. Um, we have two openings in the Casc.

01:14:22,430	One we’re potentially thinking, but we would love to have another person join us. Very exciting. Um, two comments on what Joe has presented. Thank you so much, Joe. Um, the EV first policy is I’m going to be in a policy to look at EVs first.

01:14:45,900	Obviously, the state has given us lots of leeway because the infrastructure and the batteries and whatever is going on in the world doesn’t seem to be in our favor right now for electric vehicles, but it is kind of what you all, uh, requested or cast to do, which was to be to sort of move our eyes towards what we can do environmentally before we just

01:15:00,600	decide to do what we’re used to doing. So I think that’s a really important key for that. EV first, and I understand that we have a the lawnmower that can do all of Pingree on half a charge. Yeah, yeah, we bought that. Heard through the grapevine. Yeah.

01:15:18,470	Do you think this might be a second season in Operation? Dog walkers? Right. Uh, communication works really well. That was Rich Susan’s idea. It’s awesome. Yes. Yeah. It’s nice and quiet. Yep. Um. I still get the War of the blades. You can’t. But, I mean, yeah, you know, to the motor. For sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

01:15:37,300	Um, uh, the second is the decarbonization roadmap, which I believe Vicki got us a grant to, um, through green communities, I think. Or MFC to have done. I’ve looked through it. It’s a really great, uh, roadmap for what Casc and the town to sort of look at very clearly what we’re thinking, what needs to be done when it needs to be done.

01:15:57,630	And then, you know, focus one by one by one, because that takes a lot of work for someone to figure out. I do want to mention that, um, in our communications with the, um, regional school district and the, the solar and this and that and what’s going on, and Vicki is amazing.

01:16:16,700	Um, we have a member of CIC Hamilton environmental group at the town and, um, in, uh, have been invited to be with the capital. Um, the regional school district Capital Committee meetings. So that communication is really beautiful now. Uh, they’re looking for help. We’re looking for information and help.

01:16:37,530	And now the three of us are working together, so that’s great. The schools, which are a huge part of our emissions. Both towns. Um, and with all the all the plans they’re making, we have, um, well, we’ll all have the same information to be growing in the same boat, so I’m thrilled about that. Thank you very much. Please vote yes. All right.

01:16:57,700	Any questions for Joe or Sue? No. I wanted to point out, you know, I’m in support of this. You know, I’ve got solar panels on my own roof and a solar farm up in Maine, so I’ve. I’m definitely all for this.

01:17:10,730	You know, I just want to point out the language of this is is mostly it seems to be mostly guidance. And for us to be, um, you know, doing our best to, to do it, but within reasonable constraints and budgetary constraints. So this is not obliging the town, as far as I can tell. Correct. Major investments, um, in the short or long term.

01:17:27,170	Um, but it is our goal to do it and we will we are going to especially with the the town’s recent vote, do our best to, to achieve it. But we’re not, you know, obliging ourselves or requiring ourselves to outlay huge amounts of money to achieve these in the short term. So I think it does.

01:17:44,170	Uh, both uh, gives us that, that target and that aspirational goal, but also gives us flexibility to, to handle our budget and, and get there in our, in our time, in our best time. So I, have an approval. So thank you. Well said. Thank you. Fin. Uh, I fully support it as well.

01:18:01,370	I’m excited about it. And I know that there’s a lot of people, um, Sue being chief among them. And Vicky Mason, who have worked really hard on this over the years.

01:18:17,570	But I also want to recognize, um, my colleague Deirdre, because you’ve sort of been, uh, tour de force on these issues in the in the three years that you’ve been on the select board and have really, um, kept us focused from a policy perspective. And, you know, first, getting the first criterion, then two, three, and now we’re going to do four and five.

01:18:32,300	So it’s really a great achievement that you’ve quarterbacked. So I want to thank you for all the work and commitment that you’ve put into, uh, uh, getting us close to achieving this, uh, climate leader status. Thank you. I appreciate that a lot. Actually. All right. Did I hear you correctly, Joe? We’re ready.

01:18:50,970	The electric vehicle policy is ready. I thought you said there was still some work tweaking to do on the road map. Is that correct? Or are you actually think the roadmap is good to go? Vicky was, uh, tweaking a little bit of the, uh, language for the EV policy. It’s just more procedural.

01:19:08,100	But, um, I can, you know, we might have a cleaner copy for the next meeting, but we’re hoping to get it definitely approved by the end of June, though. So if we could get a vote by the 23rd, that’d be amazing. Um, the roadmap is my understanding, is is good to go. Um. The way which one? The roadmap. Decarbonization roadmap.

01:19:25,100	So she still wants to tweak the electric vehicle policy? Yes. Correct. So you want us to hold off on that until next meeting? Um. What do you think, Steve? I think if you’re ready to adopt it and you feel like you have enough information, then go ahead or we can bring it

01:19:45,000	back. Additional information is certainly also fine. Opinions? I think. I think, you know, if we have a meeting in two weeks and we can have a document that, you know, is is clear and doesn’t have, you know, comments and and edits and bubbles all over the place, then, um, I’d be more comfortable. Okay.

01:20:06,200	All right. So let’s do that with the electric vehicle policy. And we prepared to approve the roadmap. I am, although I confess that I’m not certain that the final version of that is in our packet. Pack. You want to bring them back? Okay. All right. So why don’t.

01:20:23,370	We digest. I think the bulk of the discussion just took place. and we’ll clean them up. And. Yeah, I think we’re basically fine, but clean copies would be great for next meeting. And then we’ll approve those. Sound good? Whatever you folks want. Okay, great. All right. Nearly there. Sue. I think the deadline is.

01:20:44,070	June 30th. So that’s what they keep talking to us. Okay. We will. Get some deadlines. So as long as the before that, I think. All right. We’ll we’ll do that. All right. Thank you. Joe. Thank you for hanging in. We appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate it. Better. Thanks, Joe.

01:21:01,730	Okay. So those will be back next time. And now we have item K, so I apologize. I think you’ve been waiting for this. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that. So we have item K. We have plat du jour for a two day extended liquor license for Friday, June 12th and Tuesday, June 16th. Yep.

01:21:23,070	Do you want to come up for. A moment? It’s just my background. Sorry. Before. So the select board is aware. So the the legislature just recently passed some special legislation that can be put into effect until July 31st of 2026.

01:21:44,900	So this is, I believe, just for the soccer games that are taking place, but it allows the local licensing authority, which in this case is the select board, to opt in to this special act and allow requesters or establishments to stay open up to one hour later than their traditional closing time. So the request is from plat de jour for two dates to stay open. That additional hour for I’m assuming. Yeah, so.

01:22:13,270	I did an email with Joe. So some of the facts weren’t there at the time. I just said to him we were asking the question and I had said, you know, the first. Two. Games are that are presented at 9:00. We would like to air. So those are only the first two.

01:22:27,970	Obviously, there are other 9 p.m. games which are coming up. I have a list of them, so they’re not included in this. Um, we would like to extend it through obviously the World Cup. Um, there are a handful of games that are at 9 p.m..

01:22:43,430	We were looking to extend until midnight because I don’t think they’ll be over at 11. Um, it is obviously the state’s gone until 3 a.m., which I don’t want any part of. We would like to be able to air the 9 p.m. games because, you know, say there’s a three and a nine in the same day.

01:22:59,700	Um, we don’t know that we’re going to get the crowd or the attention on it, but we’re excited because we’re really big soccer fans. Um, and kind of want to get the community more interested in it because we haven’t had it here in a really long time.

01:23:12,570	Um, so it is a big ask because it is an extension to a liquor license that’s already been established. Right now we’re 10 p.m., um, and we were hoping to get midnight only on the days that the games are on at 9 p.m.. Um, our council again, this just came through. Yes, yesterday. I think it passed. So, uh, the a BCC we did reach out to them.

01:23:31,230	They deferred us to our local council for any advice. And their interpretation is that it can only the local, the LA, the local licensing authority can only grant one additional hour pass the normally scheduled closing time. So in this case, if it was ten, they only have the jurisdiction to grant until 11. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah, yeah.

01:23:54,100	So if we you know, we would I would think I’m not exactly sure how long these games go, but we would stop serving liquor at 11. Right. Yeah. I’m guessing. That’s. Correct. Yeah. So right now it’s just for these two dates, and you. have I mean, we’ll come back for addition.

01:24:12,000	Yeah. I mean, one or the other games, I mean that the the problem is, is the next time is. Yeah, I have the list of the other games. So I looked up to 9 p.m.

01:24:23,630	games when we first talked about it, I just mentioned because he was asking kind of what I meant, and I said the couple that I see coming up were the next week. There’s on Friday the 12th and Saturday. So there is the 13th. Is the request came in, I think, Friday. Yeah, we amended the agenda with these two dates in anticipation that the legislature may pass right between then and today.

01:24:42,230	And they did yesterday. Uh, and so I guess it’s up to the board’s comfort level to pass additional dates within the motion. Sure. So what are the additional dates? So they are, uh, June 12th and 13th, which we’re talking about.

01:25:02,570	And then June 15th and some of these dates right now, plot treasurer is not open on Monday and Tuesdays. We haven’t yet decided if we’re going to open for them. If we see that people want to do it. Um, so these days may be mute, but the, the Monday, 615, Tuesday 616, Thursday 618, Friday 619, Sunday 621 and Wednesday 624.

01:25:22,830	And then after that is like, I don’t know what you call it in soccer, playoffs or the next matches that come along that haven’t been given times yet. So. So we have our next meeting on the 23rd. So I was just. Going to say. Yeah, that’s yeah.

01:25:36,130	So uh, I think it probably makes sense. Like this is a it’s a good number of days, a good number of events. I didn’t realize that either. Just pulling up the soccer schedule myself. Um, you know, there are a lot of 9 p.m. games. I didn’t realize there were so many.

01:25:51,030	Yeah. The other thing Michelle just pointed out. Um, just reading from council. Uh, so the LA also has the authority to grant essentially. Hold on. Um, a blanket extension to, uh, a an establishment through July 31st, 2026.

01:26:31,270	Um, but what it what it doesn’t specify is whether that’s effectively a daily liquor license or do you already have alcohol license, right. Oh, yeah. Till 10 p.m.. Yeah. Okay. So this would okay. So that that has that question here. Right.

01:26:47,230	So in this case it would just be the select board does have the option to grant a blanket extension for plat de jour to open one hour later than normally scheduled through July 31st, 2026. Or it can go by date specific days. It’s totally both options are totally within your just discretion. So my count here is seven days out of the next 14. Would would be, um, are covered by the dates you just gave us.

01:27:11,330	Um, but it is just an hour. And if we, uh, kind of went through the end of, uh, until the next select board, you know, I, I don’t see any any members of the community objecting to this.

01:27:28,870	I don’t know that they’ve been notified, but we’ll probably hear from them at our next select board if we if we have a problem, and then we can decide whether to extend it into the, you know, the playoffs, uh, portion of it. So that makes sense. Makes sense to me. So this would be maybe a blanket extension through I don’t know. I’m sure you’re advocating for blanket extension, but an extension through June 24th is in. That.

01:27:48,500	We meet on the 23rd. But the 24th being the next day. But if we were to extend through the dates on the 24th and then have it on the agenda for the 23rd, and consider then whether. To do the full. Blink. To do. The full, right. Okay. Yeah. Like it. Yeah, yeah.

01:28:06,300	All right. I think that’s a good plan. Should we do a blanket through June 24th or just the specific dates that you mentioned? I would do a blanket. It’s only one hour. I think this is great. I hope you get interest. I think. Excited about it. There’s a lot of interest.

01:28:25,970	So we even have customers coming in and asking, are you guys going to show the games? And I’m like, I can’t commit to 9 p.m. games. If you want to drink, you know, and we don’t have we don’t have heavy drinkers over there. It’s a more social, fun family stuff.

01:28:37,170	But I do want to be able to do that. I don’t want to say to somebody at ten, sorry, you know, and that’s really all we’re asking for. And you’ll be inside. So this shouldn’t contribute any additional noise. It would be on the patio as well. Is that an issue? It should be. Here.

01:28:57,400	Any concerns from Rose? Yeah I guess I. Would just. Be mindful of the noise is supposed to. It’s quiet on the patio all the time now anyway. They, you know, obviously would end by ten now with liquor, but we never get to that hour. I don’t think people want to hang around that late in this town anyway.

01:29:12,700	But if they’re interested in an IPM game, then we’ll be there. All right. I think. Yeah, I’m good. With it. We’re all. On the same page. Sure. I agree, I can, uh, take a crack at a motion to, um, approve plat de jour extended hours for its liquor license of, uh, to 11 p.m..

01:29:43,370	Beginning on Friday, June 12th through June 24th. Uh, that’s it. I’ll second. Great. All right. Fin. I’ll vote. Aye, Ben. Ben. I dare I. Thank you guys I. Appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah. Good luck bringing some fun. Yeah. Yeah, it sounds great. We’re excited. Thank you so much. All right, we’ll finish it up at the next meeting. Thank you.

01:30:05,770	And thank you for your patience. I apologize that you had to wait. That’s fine. Okay, so now we’re on to old business, which is a continued discussion. And potential vote to authorize the police chief to hire an additional patrol officer. So we’ll discuss where we are with this issue.

01:30:32,470	Steve, are you presenting? Yeah. Well, myself and I believe the chief. The chief. Here, we want to promote him to. Yeah. All right, so I figure I’ll start that just by way of background, uh, we talked about this a little bit two weeks ago, but just as a as a refresher, the, um, the

01:30:56,970	currently the police department is down one full time patrol officer. So the department is in hiring efforts to fill that single, um, that single, that single spot.

01:31:25,830	And the police chief, you know, came to me and brought, brought to my attention that they have two very qualified candidates, um, that, you know, is somewhat of an anomaly given the market today. And so the, the, um, and both both, uh, both applicants have gone through the academy and are trained and, you know, all that stuff, which is costly and timely for community to do. Uh, in the, in the result that they don’t have it.

01:31:48,830	So, you know, we, we started looking at the request was really, you know, twofold, you know, to add to look at, you know, whether we could fund part or all of this position through overtime because the idea is that a second we’re adding one regardless.

01:32:09,730	But we’re comparing adding the one to adding the two. And in theory, you know, at least initially when we started discussing it, was that from a purely financial perspective, could the second hire be offset by the, um, overtime? So the department has a significant amount of overtime? Uh, in part, it’s the nature of policing.

01:32:37,370	There is, you know, every police department has an overtime line item. Uh, we’re also a little unique in that where, uh, part of partially part time department, which was about a decade ago, was 20 plus part time officers. Now we have three.

01:33:00,430	So it’s not that we have an increase in overtime as much as it’s our ability to fill the overtime with lower cost part time officers, uh, is getting less and less and less. So what we, you know, an overtime event that what could be filled at 25 or $30 an hour is now being forced to be filled with, um, a full time officer, which is, you know, 65, $70 an hour. So this in the chief will go in.

01:33:23,330	I’ll go through the finances. But, you know, so this was coupled with also the illustration, which was in the memo that we reviewed last time was all the, um, you know, the, the, uh, all the stuff that’s non-monetary associated with hiring and moving more towards a full time police officer.

01:33:42,230	I don’t want to get too much into it because the chief is gonna provide an overview, but that goes to the professionalism of the department preparedness. Um, you know, having folks fully trained and, uh, you know, doing it full time, uh, just makes a lot of sense from a proper policing perspective.

01:34:03,300	But so just looking at high level, um, so we looked at it two ways. I want to, you know, give full credit to Ernie has really rolled up his sleeves and has gone through the police department staffing budget in a way that hasn’t been done before. So kudos to him.

01:34:21,430	And we’ve certainly been able to, you know, have have a much deeper understanding on, uh, you know, how the overtime works and things like that. But so just that as we looked at it two ways, one was how much did we budget for and what would we look like next year from a budgetary perspective, but also one of the total costs to the

01:34:37,100	town. So in both situations, if you if we, you know, the one higher which is going to be hired anyways because we’re down one officer and we need to fill it where estimating again a bunch of reasonable assumptions that were, you know, the, you know, the, um, the tires were kicked and

01:34:57,770	proved with, uh, through the fin com, which, by the way, voted, uh, favorable action on this, uh, 2 to 1. So two in favor, one opposed. Um, so with those assumptions, we’re looking at roughly, you know, $19,000 under budget next year with two hires.

01:35:23,530	Uh, you can see I tried to illustrate where the kind of buckets moved with, um, you know, a lot of the money is coming from salary reserve. Uh, the two hires would realize some departmental efficiencies. We think we can save, um, through, um, part time jobs that we can eliminate and realize some additional savings.

01:35:43,900	But at the end of the day, it’s about $4,300 on the budget. So question one is answered. You know, if can we can we do this where we’ve already budgeted, we’ve appropriated, we don’t have the ability to raise more money. That trip has sailed, so to speak, at town meeting. Like, would this with reason under reasonable assumptions.

01:36:01,300	Uh, come in under will. Do we have enough money for it? And the answer is yes by about $4,000. Again, there’s a lot of what ifs, right, of the assumptions gonna prove true. But we’re going to have additional military leave.

01:36:20,670	Are we going to have any any additional long term disability, which has been pretty common in the department the last two years? Right. We don’t expect it to continue to repeat itself, but it could um, so but you know, but then at the end of the day, what, you know, we looked at, you know, how much is it? But how what does it really cost in the town? So basically the additional cost and this is

01:36:36,570	where the select board is being asked to weigh the benefit of what the chief is going to tell you is better, better policing worth the additional $15,000? Because, you know, apples to apples, this is costing us $15,000 more.

01:36:56,530	Uh, we do have the budget, but, um, you know, is it worth it to the select board? And, chief, I don’t know if you want to, um, you know, go through the preparedness and, um, you know, just basically.

01:37:13,370	Before you hop off the budget, I appreciate the fin com kind of coming together and being able to give us that, that opinion on on how it affects the budget. So that’s really, really valuable as we come to our decision. Could you help me understand the last two rows there that are really eating into the, into the, you know, significantly better than, um, uh, you know, the $41,000 versus 19 and it drops down to $40.

01:37:31,700	Yeah. So what we did was we took, um, the PR taxes, the payroll taxes, uh, and then the possible additional benefits and the possible additions pension. Um, so we, um, just looking at those numbers are inverse. That should be 23, 23 under benefits and 13 under pension.

01:37:52,500	But so basically what that is, is it’s assuming the individual would select a family plan. So that’s the cost to the town. And the $13,000 is a fairly rough. But I think reasonable assumption is what it would cost us. An additional pension contributions by adding an extra full time employee.

01:38:18,700	So you write those two are large dollar amounts, but you know they would. They’re not there under the overtime scenario that currently exists. Um, because they’re being filled by existing FTEs. Okay. Understood. Thank you. Yep. Any other questions on the finance before we. I do, although maybe one that the chief. , um. Is better equipped to answer.

01:38:44,230	But where the rubber meets the road here is really the reduction of the the projected reduction of part time salaries. So, um, I’d like to understand a little bit better, um, if we’d go with the one higher at $60,000 is projected as the reduced line item for part time.

01:39:06,900	What does that translate to? Like how many part time officers are we talking about? Are they people who are currently in place? Um, are they people who would become full time? It sounds like not based on the fact that the two potential hires are already, uh, are not with the department presently, as I

01:39:24,930	understand it. And then versus the line item shrinking down the next to zero $3,000 for two, so does that does that effectively mean there would be no part time officers and and is that is there sort of a plan in place for like, what would that mean? Are there people who are part time now that would no

01:39:46,200	longer be with us? And so I just kind of would like to understand how the part time force will change, um, based, um, on these two different choices. Um, now, a good time for me to jump in. Yeah.

01:40:10,630	Do you have I mean, I can add you can talk about there’s one position over there. Um, that would be eliminated to fund this. It’s a part time. Um, and then as far as, uh, in, you know, but that’s, uh, non, I guess non, my non officer part time. But then and right now we only have three part time officers.

01:40:33,200	Uh, in chief you can weigh in as to, you know, how that’s going to change. My understanding is that it doesn’t change much. They’re not taking many. Well way over budgeted in that line because they’re just simply not taking many shifts to the tune of a couple of months or something like that.

01:40:49,530	Yeah. So I mean, a few years back, as I said, the part time academy no longer exists. Uh, but we’re talking about five years now, so the remaining reserve Part-Time officers, um, went to the Part-Time Academy and is still in place for an agency now in Massachusetts to hire a part time officer that’s

01:41:10,630	not already certified. It would it would have to be somebody that goes to a full time academy now, that chooses to be a part time officer, which really doesn’t happen anymore. Um, through, through attrition. Uh, because of this, no longer having a part time academy, we stopped bringing them on. Like most agencies in the area.

01:41:32,400	For example, Hamilton just actually did away with their part time officers. They no longer have any, uh, we’re down to three. The current collective bargaining contract that’s in place with the union does still have some, uh, situations that address a first right of refusal specific to certain types of shift coverage, that part time officers are entitled

01:41:56,300	to. However, what’s happening quite often, no fault of their own, all three are remaining part time officers, have other full time jobs, and they’re phenomenal. And candidly, all three that are in place now, uh, the last probably 4 or 5, if not more full time openings. They’ve been offered the positions first.

01:42:15,570	It just doesn’t work for them at the current time. So they’re very highly thought of, uh, ethically and work product wise. Uh, so, um, they yeah, I mean, they’re essentially one of them is is able to work a little more. He’s averaging probably a couple shifts a month.

01:42:34,870	The other one, um, the other several are averaging probably one shift a month. And we do have all those numbers, uh, broken down. Pretty, pretty clearly. I’ve been open, honest and direct in my almost ten years here.

01:42:54,570	Now that, uh, full time policing was the root, um, that I think is more, more productive, better policing, a better model, um, for the citizens of of one of them. Um, it’s I’ve always said policing isn’t a hobby. It’s a full time commitment. It’s a livelihood.

01:43:13,230	It’s something that affects, uh, families, and it affects the proficiency of an option to do the job more effectively through training, through muscle memory, through atrophy of certain skills that are completed in a radial basis. Those skills can kind of dissipate a little bit.

01:43:29,770	And, uh, so when this situation presented itself, my original thought when I approached Steve, and if I haven’t already, I know I mentioned it last night with the finger on how appreciative I’ve been with Steve and Joe and Ernie, and certainly the finger camp for hearing me out on this. But when I did bring this forward, it’s because of the situation that presented itself relative to having two full time certified candidates present themselves.

01:43:47,900	Uh, one with prior policing experience, I believe it’s about 6 or 8 years. The other is brand new. However, he is an academy trained, which in and of itself it’s about a $3,200 savings. Just the academy costs.

01:44:06,230	And then, aside from the time to get an officer on the road from when you first start a background to when they’re cleared to be on their own, you’re looking at about a year. If I were to have an applicant walk through the door that has no prior policing experience, so it’s literally about a year from soup to nuts to background psychological, medical, field training academy before they’re able to actually

01:44:22,300	assume the role of filling shifts by themselves. So when when this kind of showed it on in in our lap, if you will.

01:44:40,770	Um, I, you know, I looked at the line and I looked at the 105, $105,000 in our reserve salary line and I, you know, I, I approached Steve with it and I said, hey, listen, let’s let’s take a hard look at this. And as we started crunching the numbers and Ernie really did an incredible job doing so that we the possibility of, of it happening seemed more realistic.

01:44:56,870	And that’s kind of where we got where we are today. Hopefully that answered some of them. Makes sense to me. And um, you know, I think I’d be in favor of this. I think I’d like to see something ahead of the next, uh, town meeting that kind of reconciles our actuals versus this estimate.

01:45:19,500	Um, since we are going a little bit beyond what we explicitly had voted in the, um, in the at the town, uh, town meeting, but it is still, you know, below, in both cases, below our, uh, what we were authorized for at the town meeting. So, um, I think I’d, I’d be in favor, but I’d like to see that that estimate versus actuals.

01:45:41,070	Yeah. And I that was, um, that is the plan. Not. Well, it can be for town meeting, but it was just to keep an eye on right over time. Um, and make sure we’re direct tracking. True. Because next year, um, like, every year. But it’s getting increasingly difficult.

01:46:02,030	Um, is, you know, every year is a tough budget year, and things are getting tighter and tighter. Uh, we did, just to add, um, uh, the we did get an opinion from council. Lauren Goldberg reviewed our our warrant, our motion. Uh, and deems that this is under that this is a under the Select board’s authority to do this.

01:46:26,670	Um, given the way the motion is taken and the appropriation for the expenditure that it’s within your, um, power to do so, and it’s not like you’re taking a risk and doing something outside of, um, I agree that, you know, you could you could argue that, you know, you are you are adding a person because

01:46:41,470	you are adding a person, but legally, you’re within your authority to act on this. Um, in the within the appropriation, uh, awarded to the town through town meeting. I supported two I think I think it’s important to communicate to the community.

01:47:03,070	However, as as the chief has done and does very, you know, ably in his public statements, meetings and so on that, that the addition of two full time officers is made necessary is being made possible by the effective elimination of part time officers, just based on the, you know, the very low, uh, projected cost for, um, part

01:47:29,500	time officers once this goes forward. So I think it’s important to communicate that, that there’s a, you know, there’s an offsetting, um, staffing change here and that, um, the overall effect is not quite budget neutral, but pretty darn close. So I support. It. Okay.

01:47:56,700	And likewise, I think from a policing standpoint, I 100% support this. It does make me a little bit anxious. How slim the margin here for error is. Um, so that does give me some pause. But you know, go forward. We must and take one thing at a time. So I will also be, um, in support of this.

01:48:23,900	Any other discussion? Only a question about the motion. So does the motion as it’s written here to to, uh, hire to authorize the chief to hire one additional patrol officer because one’s already been authorized. Or are we saying two? Yeah, I think that’s fair. Uh, and it also just to remind the board is actually the appointing authority here.

01:48:41,670	So it’s really just the authorize the police chief to move forward in the process. The, the the hiring process, ultimately, the ultimate appointment is you folks. Okay. I, I anticipate hopefully at the next meeting to have one is already ready to go. And the other one will be ready.

01:49:02,970	I would have two, two names to present to you on the next agenda, assuming, uh, this this is a go. All right. So I’ll make a motion to authorize the police chief to move forward in the hiring process for one additional patrol officer full time. I’ll second. All right. Great. Let’s go to a vote. Ben. I., then I.

01:49:26,900	, then Deirdre. I. Thank you, chief. Thank you. And I’ll echo the thanks to Ernie as well for some tremendous work in short order. So we appreciate that. And per usual, thank you again for the your support and the town support.

01:49:44,030	And thank you again to everyone involved with helping us take a real, uh, forensic breakdown of making this a viable option. So thank you again. Thank you chief. Thanks, chief. All right. Last item on the agenda is just to review the on board onboarding and orientation guide for the select board that I presented. Last meeting. Um, and potentially approve it with a vote.

01:50:11,770	Yeah, we did just, um, so fin forward over, um, this afternoon that we’re able to squeeze in, uh, one, um, the, um. Oh my God, the name escapes.

01:50:32,630	Oh, the treasurer, we we were referencing that back when we were originally calling it the treasurer, but the treasurer as the officer on the board, any the bylaw amendment that was made that required in board organization that any board that has a budget, uh, a nominate a which was originally a treasurer, but then was changed to financial officer. This still referenced treasurer. And it also did not have the job duties. Uh, in, in it. So I added that.

01:50:57,570	So the those changes were also submitted by Diane, um, prior to today. So I’m just wondering if her other changes are also in here. Is Diane corrected that actually. She did. Yeah. Um, then I don’t know, maybe we’ll have to do it next. I’ll have to. Do it.

01:51:20,600	They’re not I’m not sure how the how the versions. There was so many versions, I guess going back and forth. But the. most issue. most recent. Um, but I know I’m almost certain that that was one of the things Diane corrected. So I think we might be missing a couple of edits. Okay, so.

01:51:37,130	Yeah, so I did I did go through it. It was it’s, uh, though it seems like a very short document and very intense. It references so many other things that, you know, it’s it’s it’s like a table of contents.

01:51:53,200	Contents really on a, on a library of, of information behind it. So, um, you know, there was the, the version that I had was still talking about the treasurer. I think I saw version, but we could before that mentioned, um, the financial officer.

01:52:07,830	But then I had a bunch of literally question marks saying, you know, we need to put in the the language specific. So I think we’re, um, we’re kind of closing that loop. Um, and, um, if there’s anything else for my comments, um, you know, I think that the idea of, uh, you know, recommendation to speak with the, the chairs of the various committees to kind of get up to speed is great, but there are

01:52:28,430	not quite 50 of them. So I think it would take a week of, uh, you know, a week of Sundays to basically make that connection, um, which would give me something to talk about at the beginning of every single one of these meetings of what I heard from them.

01:52:44,130	So, um, just coordinating that would be a bit of a challenge, but, um, maybe I’ll talk to Steve about figuring out a. Way to. Well. The old language did did recommend that you meet with everyone, but I had changed it to make it a suggested list.

01:53:03,170	So that was the intent that you then select from based on either gaps in your own knowledge or specific interests that you have, because Ben and I tried when we were elected at the same time, and it was extremely difficult to get to everyone, which we were not able to achieve. Um, so that’s why it is now. I suggested list.

01:53:19,630	Yeah. So we’ll have to go back because I think. I think. The, the version we. Yeah. I mean, not to belabor the point, but there the version we used incorporates Diane’s formatting, but I think that it got back to her. You know, she sent the version, an old version that she formatted it. Okay. All right.

01:53:39,370	So we know so apologize for the confusion. We’ll go back through, tick and tie it, make sure it’s updated. So why don’t you and I. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Make sure. That we spend some time. It’s the right versions. With all the. Just took the right took the version. That was. I know what version I’m talking about.

01:53:55,970	Okay. Perfect. All right. So Steven, I will get the correct version with all of the comments incorporated. And we will just very quickly approve it at the next meeting. Sounds great. Okay.

01:54:19,630	And then the last agenda item I just slightly reworded just to open it up, that if you any of current and future board members would like to suggest future agenda items, you have an opportunity to do that. In this last agenda item. So that’s just a slight shift. So if there’s anything you’d like to suggest. Um, not right now. I think I’ve got some time scheduled with Steve.

01:54:38,930	So I’m going to go over a few topics that I’d like to cover, and we’ll see if they rise the level. Being on the board agenda. All right. Steve can convey that to me. Also. If I may, I just wanted to put out another reminder to the public to please exercise your Democratic.

01:55:03,470	thank you, right to vote on a week from today, Tuesday, June 16th, for, um, the fifth and open Select Board seat so that we can have a full board. Uh, this is for the final year of the currently vacant seat. So please get out there and vote. And if you’re not able to vote on Tuesday, as I’m not because I’m out of town, um, see the town clerk about an absentee ballot.

01:55:24,230	Yes. Thank you. Ben, we have two exceptionally qualified candidates on the ballot, so please come out and support them. All right. We look forward to welcoming our fifth member. Okay. I think that’s it. Next meeting. As we said. June 20th. June 23rd.. And with that, I believe. This is Peter’s role. That’s Peter’s not here. So I know.

01:55:50,870	You have to fill. The breach. I will move to adjourn the meeting of the one Select Board at 8:25 p.m.. I’ll second. All right. All in favor? Aye.