Select Board: May 24, 2023

Transcript captured from MHTV’s Vimeo auto-captioning. No speaker labels; proper names and dollar figures occasionally misheard. Click any timecode to jump to that moment in the source video.

0:00 Okay, we’re good. We’re right on. Okay. We are at seven o’clock sharp. I’d like to bring this, uh, meeting to order. Sorry. Try and turn it off. Hey, what the, what’s that? I was, that’s announcing the meeting, finding my phone as opposed to shutting it off. Sorry. Okay, great. No, no problem. Uh, just, uh, to, to let everybody know that this meeting is, uh, being recorded and videotaped, uh, via Zoom. Uh, we have a, uh, 16 point agenda here tonight. And I’d like to start with our first agenda item, Memorial Day. David, if you could, uh, please come up and, uh, as you do every year, ex explain to us this, what’s, what’s gonna happen this Memorial Day. I just wanna Say I just came. Dan Dixie did a documentary all last summer on fishing lot.

0:49 I just came and I just, I am just coming from the Marblehead Museum and it is fabulous. Mm-hmm. Oh, no kidding. Outstanding. Outstanding. Can you, Renee? Well, yeah. Well, that’s Star Hugh Bishop and it, it, it was really fabulous. They went way back into history and you’d have to see it. How, how long is it? I, I had to leave. It was almost, it’s two hours, two hours long. It’s time. The opening night Yeah. For the fisherman. Nice. Who was nice. Good. Awesome. It’s outstanding. Memorial Day weekend. Here we are. I’ll start with Friday. There’s a Veteran’s Breakfast at the COA at nine 9:00 AM sponsored by the Masons.

1:34 And what I understand is there’s 75, 80 people coming. It’s always a good take. Good. They do a great job. Saturday 9:00 AM at waterside. We do the traditional flagging of the graves. Everyone the public is encouraged to participate Sunday at 1:00 PM This small service at the start of the Sea Cemetery,

2:07 Monsignor Moran will be coming for the prayers and, uh, it’s very nice. It’s short but meaningful. Monday Memorial Day, traditional Memorial Day, there’ll be a trolley leaving for anybody that would like to go to the eight o’clock service. It leaves the B F W at seven 30. But any veteran during the whole day or any person really can jump on. So that’ll be open to veterans and elderly, elderly people. But we’ll go to, uh, Clark Landing State Street Wharf at eight o’clock with the service down there with the high school band and Glover’s Regiment

2:58 and the parade. It will reform. Walk up State Street for the main parade at nine o’clock. Uh,

3:07 go to Memorial Park Reform. Go to the go to the cemetery, and then back to the old townhouse.

3:18 Uh, our Grand Marshall this year is Dan Jenn, US Navy World War ii. Dan grew up in Lin, went to Lin English, uh, and he taught at Marblehead High School for many years. He taught English like German teacher in German. I never had Dan, but, uh, he’s a gentleman. He’s a great guy, and he’s 95 years old, so he’s looking forward to it. Uh, our speaker at Memorial Park will be rear Admiral Jay Clark or US Navy retired. He lives over in, uh, NA Hunt, and he agreed to come over here and, uh, be the speaker and at Waterside Cemetery, uh, Francisco Arena.

4:04 Great. Former Veteran Service Officer, uh, secretary of Veterans Affairs in Massachusetts, and now he, superintendent of the Lawrence Airport. Hmm. Uh, great guy. Lives in town. Been here four years. So, former, former, Former Marine, former Marine As well. 10 years in the Marine Corps, purple Heart. Yep. And, uh, we’ll have a little reception at the BFW afterwards, but should be a great day. I appreciate you letting me come down. Fishing movies. Everyone should see. It really was really good. I know you’re busy, so I won’t,

4:50 I won’t delay things. We appreciate all you do. Thank you, David. Thank you. See you appreciate it. We really look forward. Really look forward to it. All right. Good brief, uh, number, uh, agenda item number two. Um, I understand that we’re gonna have two public hearings, two licensing hearings. Um, and, uh, by way of background, uh, the board received a letter of interest in application for a wine malt beverage license from Hotel Marblehead. Uh, in February of 2023, the board placed a legal ad March 22nd, 2023, seeking interested applicants for the, uh, one available wine malt beverage license with a deadline to apply before

5:35 April 13th, 2023. Two applications were filed, one from the Marble Ho Marblehead Hotel, L l C of 2 64 Pleasant Street, uh, the manager being Julius SoCal and Hypothe three Ailes Marblehead llc, doing businesses Hypothe Ailes, tap Rome, uh, 31 Atlantic Atlantic and Avenue Manager, Steven. Uh, Garba. Uh, now what I’m gonna do is open two sequential, uh, open public hearings. All right. And, uh, we will go ahead then and, uh, go through a very specific format. I’m gonna now, uh, open, uh, the first public hearing. And this public hearing was legally advertised in Marblehead in the Marblehead

6:22 current on May 10th, 2023. And it’s regarding the Marblehead Hotel at 2 64 Pleasant Street. I’d like to call the applicant if I could, uh, to the table to present the application. And it’s Julius and, uh, Sok and, and Paul Lynch. Good evening. Thank you. Well, good evening. Welcome. Good evening, Ly. Thank you. Um, so for the record, my name is Paul Lynch and I’m the attorney for the Marblehead Hotel, l l c. With me is Julius SoCal, who was the manager, um, was seeking the transfer of, was seeking a new wine ball, beverage license, which is available by the this board as a licensing authority to grant. Um, I want to give you a little history. Um, the Marette Hotel has been in operation since 1972

7:12 when no Rebeca purchased the property. Moving on from being a high school co football coach. Over the years, improvements have been made to the building and it currently has. What they’ve done now is they created a reception area on the, on the ground level, together with a gathering place of approximately 400 square feet with seating for 11. So guests in their visitors can come and congregate there in the afternoon or in the early evening. Um, this is something that the in has never had a license, never had a liquor license, never had a beer and wine license, never had a co license. At this point. It, it really is needed to add the addition amenities, uh,

7:58 to the end by allowing guests to enjoin enjoy the wine and bulk beverages without the necessity of leaving the property. The end is going to become more and more on demand. Now what the Marin is being across the street, families gotta come. They’re gotta stay there. They’re gotta visit their, their family that the Marin is, they’ve gotta go back to their place at night. They don’t wanna stop traveling around town to try and find, you know, across wine or, or, or a beer. And I think, uh, given the proven track record of the end over the past decade, I think it certainly justifies the awarding of the license, the Marblehead Hotel llc. With that, I have nothing to add. Thank you, Paul. Uh, any questions from the, uh, from the board?

8:45 Um, if I may please. So is this the first time, um, the hotel is applied? Yes. Okay. Any, Any other questions Through the Chair? Please go ahead. Do you Anticipate doing any other events? Like, I, forgive me cause I don’t remember the date, but like, I I, we granted a one day liquor license at one point, you know, there was somebody who like hosted a wine tasting or some sort of an event Yeah. At the hotel. Would that be something that you would be considering as Well? Anything we would have to do with that would be beyond the grant of this license. If we needed a one day alcohol license because someone wanted to have a small reception or a small wedding, we’d have to come before this board and seek that license. We was just board. Right. Ken Grant or Ken realize that the, uh,

9:36 venue was not appropriate for that particular day on that particular event. But it’s up to, it’s up to this board’s judgment. Okay. Sorry, one more. Um, please go ahead. Yep. You might have already said this, but, um, like the capacity of the hotel, The capacity of for, for, Um, to stay for Ready. 10 rooms. 10 rooms. Okay. Yeah. And then room for those many guests. Many guests, yep.

10:01 All right. Any other, any other questions, Jackie? No, Jim. Okay. With that, I’d like to ask, uh, to call anybody up who is opposed, uh, to this? Anybody, anybody in opposition?

10:18 All right. Uh, nobody in opposition. Uh, if anybody would like to present themselves in favor of this application,

10:27 anybody online? No. Okay. I’d like to, uh, close the hearing. Thank you very much. Thank you. And then proceed to the, uh, to the second open public hearing. And again, this public hearing. Uh, the second one was, uh, legally advertised in the Marblehead current on May 10th, 2023. And if I could call up, uh, uh, Bacca three Ailes, uh, 31 Atlantic Atlantic Avenue to the table. Much appreciate it. Uh, it’s, uh, Steven Gabardi and John Cannell. Counsel. Welcome gentlemen. Evening. Welcome. I’m the council. Yes. Well, thank you for the clarification. Appreciate it. Hi. It’s always a getaway. I’d like to, uh, first of all, introduce myself, John Cannell,

11:15 from the firm of Upton Connell in Devlin in Boston. To my right is Steven Gabardi, the proposed manager of record. I’d also like to go on the record is stating that I grew up in Marblehead about a mile that way. And this is my first time appearing in Marblehead after about 200 different municipalities. And it’s, it’s a great night for me. Welcome Back. Welcome back. I’m staying at the Harbor View, uh, the Harbor Light. I’m sorry. Uh, just cause I wanted to walk to a hearing once in my life. Instead of drive Nanny event, uh, hop at the Carey Ales Marblehead llc, 31 Atlantic Avenue. I knew it as the old Eatons, but it’s apparently now the Mariner’s Welcoming Office.

12:01 The applicant has operated a, uh, similar themed craft brewery restaurant in North threading since 2021. They’ve had no violations. It’s become a very popular destination. Um, the seating is approximately a hundred to 110 inside, uh, it’s 2,700 square feet inside the manager of records. Steven is a US citizen. He’s a mass resident. He’s familiar with the rules and regulations relating to the provision of alcoholic beverages, his substantial experience. The hours are 11:30 AM to 11:00 PM seven days a week.

12:44 All staff will be TIP certified. Uh, we have provided, uh, Ms. Wiley with a petition in support of, I think 140 separate signatories. Uh, I have another copy for this board if it would like, the applicant has made, uh, extensive canvassing through the town. Uh, as far as whether this is, uh, this, this concept is in demand and it’s been found to very much be in demand. Uh, there are similar type craft brewery tap rooms in Salem and Lin and Newbury Port and Beverly, uh, it seems like every town has one. Marblehead does not. Uh,

13:30 it will be located on Atlantic Avenue, which is a, uh, commercial area, commercial zone. We expect to create at least 15 new jobs. We think Atlantic Avenue will be sort of, um, in my experience, and I come back every year. My parents lived down the hill. Uh, I think we’ve lost a lot of restaurants on Atlantic Avenue over the years. I can remember Michael’s house. I don’t know if you remember that, but we think this will be a popular place for Marble Headers to go. We just heard the application of the Marblehead Hotel, as I always know it, the Marblehead in, and in a few words, just to contrast the two applications, uh, a liquor license is a public asset.

14:16 So this board wants to use it for its best public use. I would like to contrast the two applications and say this applicant will be in a commercial zone, whereas the other applicant is in a residential zone. Now, across from a substantial retirement community, we would be serving primarily Marblehead people, whereas the other applicant will be serving primarily people from out of town. Uh, we have a far greater seating capacity. We expect to create more by way of, uh, mills taxes and jobs. Um, if this board grants this applicant, the license or the other applicant will have one net new business in town instead of a previously existing business. And with that,

15:02 those are sort of the legal nuts and bolts. I’d like to, uh, introduce Steven and allow him to provide this board with a little bit of a flavor of what he would like to provide the, the town. Sure, Sure. So we Great. Please. No, thank you. I appreciate, uh, the opportunity. But, uh, behind me as my brother Mike, uh, and a business partner, Rob, uh, we started a brewery planning pre pandemic. Uh, we built a, uh, 10,000, or about just under 10,000 square foot, uh, restaurant and brewery. Uh, we have 70 barrels of seller capacity. Uh, I’m a pharmacist by, uh, training. I’m still working at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. And the irony isn’t lost on me that we’ve, uh, leased out the old Eat Apothecary. Um, but, uh, we created,

15:53 uh, in a sleepy little town, um, one of the top breweries, uh, in the state. Um, I think last vote. And we’ve only been open for a year and a half. We were ranked 30th out of 250 breweries that the state has. Um, you know, we’ve created a very loyal, uh, local following. You know, I don’t anticipate that many of you guys have ventured down to North Redding. It’s a sleepy little town that, you know, people get up and come up here when they want to, uh, come for vacation, or they want to get away, uh, for the day. Um, I grew up in North Redding. I live in Wilmington. Um, and we looked at this as, um, when we opened a North Redding, we wanted to be a thread of the community. And we certainly have, uh, we host little league events. We host, uh,

16:41 a whole number of, uh, local community events at the brewery. Um, every month we donate, uh, a portion of beer sales to a particular beer, to a medical charity. Um, because coming out of the medical industry, even though I’m still in it, uh, and getting into a quote unquote vice industry, uh, there was something that we looked at and said we wanted to make sure we gave back. Uh, and so every month we do local charity, uh, work with, uh, we try to do it with North re based charities, but, uh, we’ve gone up to Southern New Hampshire and, uh, in other areas, uh, locally. Um, and we’ve given over $10,000 in the past year, uh, to local charities. But it was important to us, uh, you know, we think we have a very good brand. We’re very happy with what we’re doing in North Redding. Uh,

17:27 but we looked at this in saying, um, you know, there are other opportunities for us. Uh, we have a good thing going, and we’d like to bring it to, uh, parts of the state that are underserved from a a craft beer perspective. You know, I’m aware that, uh, there was a brewery here that opened and shut and, uh, um, you know, but, uh, we, we’d be very different. Uh, you know, we, uh, you know, we’ve been a steward to all the, the laws into the town. Um, and certainly, uh, would be looking at, uh, creating a space, uh, not only for the, the locals, but also the visitors. Uh, and, you know, I have a number of friends over in Swamps Kit, and they said, oh, I can’t wait. I hope you guys, uh, open up. So our vision, opening up a tap room with the small, uh, kitchen, uh,

18:16 enough food, uh, to, uh, to feed our patrons, um, you know, we found that in North Redding. It’s a very handheld, uh, kind of atmosphere cuz you want one hand on a beer and one hand on a sandwich or some appetizers. So we would lean heavy on that, uh, from that perspective. But, uh, you know, feel like this is a good opportunity for us. We really started looking about two days before you posted the notice. Um, but, uh, so it was very fortuitous for us. But, uh, I feel like this is a good addition to, uh, to the town. And I feel like we’d be good stewards to the town, um, and would be providing an opportunity, uh, for employment, uh, and entertainment for, uh, for the town of Marble.

19:04 All right. Thank you. Understanding. Thank you. Is that, that’s good. Okay. Any, uh, any questions from, uh, from the board through the chair? Yep. Please go ahead. You Know, timing wise, like what would you be your anticipating opening date? Like, what are your other obstacles that you’re facing right now? Yeah, I mean, uh, right now we’ve all kind of joked. We, we want to be open in three months. You know, we have the lease secured. Um, we do have a walkaway, uh, included in there if we don’t get the license. So, uh, but if the license is granted, we’re, we already have a lease signed. We have a marble head resident who constructed our property down in North Redding already hired. We hired a, a Marblehead, uh, resident to, uh, do the design. Uh, he sent the, the first rendition of our proposed plan.

19:51 Um, and to be honest, compared to what we built in North Redding, uh, I think we all think this’ll be a snap, uh, because there’s what the Mariner did to the place. There’s not a lot, uh, left other than building the bar, uh, and the cold storage, uh, and the kitchen piece for us. Uh, so we’re hoping to, to turn things around in three to four months and, and try to be open, uh, by the end of the summer, beginning of the fall if we could. Okay. And any other questions?

20:21 So, kind of, how are you, how are, how are your beers positioned in town? I mean, how, what does that, what does that look like? What, what, what are your Thoughts there in, in terms of Just, you know, the type of, uh, you know, we do have, uh, you know, uh, bars in town. Yep. And, uh, kind of what’s, what’s your unique proposition from a business point of view? From a business point of view, it’s, it’s, it’s craft beer, you know, and this is locally made. Yep. Um, you know, we would have guest taps. I would want to have, uh, beer come over from the notch. I would want to have beer come from Granite Coast. I would want to have, uh, beer come from Beverly. Um, but the majority of the beer that we’d have on tap would be made, uh, in North Redding. Um, you know, we have beers for our pallets. Uh, I’m, I’m a big IPA guy. That’s how I got into to Bruin beer. Uh,

21:08 but in North Redding, I have 14 tap lines, and they range from, you know, new England style IPAs to pastry stouts to, we just put on an Italian pilsner today. Will it be different from what other locals will, will carry? I, we’re not gonna carry macro beers. You know, if you want a Bud Light or a Budweiser or Coors or Sam Adams, we won’t have that available. But I’ll show you a beer that’s just as friendly and just as approachable as those, uh, that we made down in North Red. Okay. Interesting. It’s almost a whole different universe. The craft brewery crowd. I represent Bent Water, Riverwalk Newburyport, uh, done a little work for Notch Brewing. Uh, a lot of these, um, people who are devoted to the craft beer, um, uh, concept,

21:54 you know, they travel from all over to sample different towns and towns become identified with oftentimes the craft beer that’s, you know, sold there or made there. So we’re hoping that Marblehead will be hop at the carry.

22:11 Any follow on? No. Very good presentation. Hmm. Yes. Okay. With this, uh, with that, uh, I’m going to, uh, ask if anybody, uh, is opposed or in opposition to this application. Uh, we do have one person. Go ahead. Please. Go ahead. Uh, if you could go to the microphone please, and name, name and address would be great. Thank you. My name is Lynn Chenowski. I live at 21 Hawk Street, unit number one and unit number two. I own the condos on the first level. My condo, um, will be facing this property and the proposed site for the dumpster. So, most importantly,

22:58 I want to say we have concerns about it changing the face of the neighborhood. There’s a lot of residential on Hawk Street, and we are concerned with crime, with safety, and with vacancies. We also have, um, concerns with the congestion on the street. I’ve seen numerous cars be hit in front of 21 Hawk Street. My own car included two weeks ago. So thousands of dollars worth of damage from just backing up and hitting the car. There’s not enough parking for the resides. This is 140 seats that will be coming to Hawk Street. Not only the patrons, but also the cleaning crews and everyone that works at the restaurants,

23:43 um, restaurant that would come as well. So we do have concern with the congestion and with the parking, number one. Um, number two, the noise pollution just to lift a dumpster. I saw that happen today with innovation waste. The noise, the beep beep, the hyloronic to hydraulics to bring it up is very noisy. That’s right next to my bedroom to say. But also, other neighbors are affected, and I believe there has been a letter sent to you as well. Um, so we have noise pollution of cleaning crews coming in, patrons lingering and talking and smoking and laughing in front of our windows. That’s all going to happen, we would suspect. So we have a noise pollution,

24:29 a pollution of diesel trucks that are coming for deliveries. The street is already very congested. Deliveries come early morning, late at night. Um, we can hear them now. This would only add to that. Okay. Okay. And I just wanna look at my notes here. Um, the dumpster itself find that to be somewhat of a hazard for foul smells, for insects, for rodents to overlook a d dumpster. It’s an eyesore. Um, and that is needs to be addressed, we believe. And also just the peace and quiet of enjoyment of our, uh, neighbors. My building of, or I’ll speak for myself and another, the other unit owner for 21 Hawk Street, to be next to this,

25:16 when people are coming out late at night, is just for someone who goes to bed at nine o’clock at night for an establishment to be open until 11 o’clock when most are closed at 10. And then cleaning crews usually come in after that in dumpsters. That open and close and that are removed is just a very noisy proposition for us. And I am opposing the license. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, anybody else, uh, in opposition? Is there anybody online? Kyle, that I don’t see him. Okay. With that, uh, I’d like to move to anybody in favor in, in the public. Moses? Yes, ma’am. Shall I come? Yes, please. Come up to the, uh, microphone. And, uh, My name is Wendy Webber. Yep. And I am all for this.

26:04 I think it’s a great thing for the town. I think that it’s a great place to gather for social, family, friends, and it’s going to be walkable for a lot of people in town. You won’t have to drive, um, for people that are living in town they can walk to and from. And, um, anyway, I’m just, I’m for this, for this Hypothe area Brewery. Okay. Thank you. Uh, anybody else? Anybody else, uh, on Zoom? No. Okay. Uh, with that, I’d like to, uh, close this hearing. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Thank you. Really appreciate it. Thank you. And the way we’re gonna proceed is I’m going to, uh, uh, solicit a motion, uh, for whomever it is,

26:50 for whichever application. And then we’re gonna take a poll vote. And the first, uh, uh, named applicant to receive a majority will be, uh, awarded the, uh, the license. Um, I just have to say, it’s, it’s a, you know, it’s a very, you know, both are are very, very appealing and it’s very difficult in some ways, we wish we, you know, could procure more licenses more, more readily. And that’s, you know, that’s a real, uh, something I, I certainly feel, uh, we should do. Um, so does anybody, would anybody like to make a motion, Just a point of order? Are we dis are we going to discuss before we vote? Like

27:36 I, yeah, I would be, I would be Vote and then state your, I’m Sorry. I would be happy. I mean, I think we, we talked about each applicant individually. Uh, if you’d like to deliberate. I mean, I think we can open right now to, to, if you’d like to deliberate on each, I think, you know, what we’ve done traditionally is just, you know, move to make, I just wanna Make, put Some context, Context to how I vote for the sake of the applicants. You know, I mean, I, you know, I’ll allow that. But, you know, you know, typically we go straight to a vote and just, and make that decision based on the, on the individual merits of each of the, you know, the applicants. But if you’d like to set context, go ahead. Okay. Yeah. If, if that’s all right. Um, so, you know, just among our board, I, you know, I just, this is a very, um,

28:22 really difficult decision. And, uh, you know, I sympathize greatly with anybody, um, running a business in 2023 in this town. Um, and, you know, I think our responsibility here obviously is to think of what is for the greatest good of the town. Um, you know, we have a business district that we’ve been trying to, um, you know, really activate that specific corridor, um, in town on Atlantic Ave. And I think that, uh, just the scale and the opportunity, um, to service, uh, that many residents in town to activate those other surrounding businesses

29:13 and shore up that, um, and have that anchor there for that will impact positively the opportunity to impact those businesses as well. Uh, is speaking to me, uh, when I’m thinking about my decision. Um, and I am leaning in that sense towards, um, hypothe Carey because of the scale of the operation, and therefore its benefit that I see to the, to the business district and the community as a whole. And I am greatly sympathetic towards, um, Mr. So’s, uh, application. Um, and it’s a really tough decision, I’m sure for, I know for all of us, it’s a really tough decision. But that’s kind of where I am, um,

30:01 setting my, my framework for, um, how I decide. Okay. Thank you. Um, the chair, would you like, Yeah, just a point of information, and this is just to direct it to the senior members of the board. Uh, I just, I don’t have this frame of reference. What would you say historically, the turnover of the licenses is that you have experienced, you know, do you, can you guys put a number on that for me? That’s a good question. I, I can’t, uh, off the top of my head, honestly, Attorney Lynch might know

30:37 You are going ago, I believe, or two years ago, we had three different applications come Before come in. Yeah. We had, I, yeah, I do remember that. It goes, it goes in, it goes in waves typically. Yeah. We Had, so we’ve had some accident the last few years. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, hard, hard to, hard to predict, that’s for sure. Right. Okay. Yeah. I just didn’t know there was it just, um, curiosity on that. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, I know we’ve, this property has come before us in several different forms. Yeah. Venue, yeah. Forms and venues. So, I mean, I, I know we’ve addressed this property in that location and the impact in multiple different ways. So I also was just curious, you know, if this, if this,

31:25 if this, uh, property was being looked at without the request for, um, a liquor license, if it was a restaurant that was opening without a liquor license, you know, uh, addressing the noise concern and, you know, the other things, you know, that were voiced tonight, you know, these are, um, what, you know, what would be, uh, I guess the mechanism in regards to that. You know, I just am trying to think about that process. Well, I, I think there, you know, the other brought Into, obviously it is also, you know, there’s several businesses down there, but trying to be respectful of what those concerns Are. I think there is a another option for a site specific license that that goes before the legislature, but that, that gets a little bit more involved. Um,

32:12 but that’s, I think, another avenue to kind of expand the, you know, the availability of licenses. Yeah. Okay. Uh, and I don’t know what the, what the runway is to that kind of option. Yeah. I mean, I’ve done it in, in a city foreign government. So we, we have the legislative body available, you know, to, to do their part. And then as, as mayor, submit it to the legislature, and it, you know, it, it goes through the process where they’re at the beginning of a legislative session, they’re more active. Um, you know, if our representative senators can push it through, probably be a several month process. Um, but that’s an avenue. So, um, it, it would be a site specific license. So it, it would be particular to that address that can’t, it, it wouldn’t become a license. It becomes available that you can move around.

32:59 So if the, if the site that’s selected stops using the license, the license is gone. Um, but that, that, you know, that’s the option where you’ve used up all the available licenses, the, I don’t know what we call general licenses that are available. Um, that’s what we’ve done in, in the city. So I, what I’m not clear of sitting here now is whether the select board can initiate that Yeah. To, to request, or whether that’s a Tami I’m not, I’m not clear. Well, that’s not a Guarantee either. Yeah. Right. It’s not a guarantee. Yeah. I just, it’s just good to know that, like what are options? Yeah. What are the options, what is the process? Just, you know, how do we address some of these concerns holistically? I just, to me, thank you. Yeah. Just, I need to have that information in my head before I Yeah. Can make That Decision. No guarantee on any of the paths. Right. But no, there’s a difference between if something has an,

33:45 an available option. Yep. You know, and mechanism or none. If the only option is just weight, that might not be a realistic option depending on Yeah. What the, you know, what the plan is, so, Okay. No, I Just, I meant to, um, just address, um, our resident, um, neighbors and, and your concerns. And I just want you to know that I got your, I received your email and that I, I really take to heart your concerns. And, um, I, you know, I, when a property is zoned, the zoning is commercial. Um, you know, it is, it is, it is the character and the nature of the neighborhood. Um, so for me that I, you know, that, that’s, um, that zoning is there for a reason. And, and, and it’s, it’s been there.

34:32 And I just wanted to acknowledge your concerns. And I do, um, I’ll, you know, uh, take Mr. Gabardi and hold Mr. Gabardi to his word that he intends to be a, um, a good neighbor. And my letter Thank you, though. Oh, I’m sorry. That’s another owner’s letter. Okay. Okay. So, yeah. So Mr. Gabardi, you have some neighborly tending to do and introduce yourself. And if, if that is the will of the committee. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to No, of Course. We live on a public street right next to us. We have, yeah. Well, we need, we need to take the vote first. Yes. I as if that was a little, Yep. All right. Uh, okay. So any other, uh, questions just for board de deliberation? No. Anything else? Okay.

35:18 Would somebody like to make a motion? All you need to do is name the, um, the relevant, uh, applicant and I will read the motion. So moved. Oh, okay. You want me to read the whole thing? Well, well, no, no, you just tell, you, just tell me which, uh, which one you’d like to Marblehead Hotel. Marblehead Hotel. Okay. Um, so I’d like to entertain motion to approve the application as presented from the Marblehead Hotel 2 64 Pleasant Street for wine, malt Beverage license manager Debra McMullen, hours of operations Monday through Sunday, 10:00 AM to 12, midnight. Seating capacity is 11. And subject to the approval from the A, B, C, C receipt of all, uh,

36:05 applicable sign-offs, all fees paid, and Corey approval. Do I have a second? Uh, second. All right. And, uh, it is a polled vote, so we’re gonna go around the table. And again, I’ve, uh, if, if, if we reach a majority, we’re done and the, the application is awarded. If we don’t, then we go to the, to the second round. Okay. Ms. Singer? Um, opposed, Ms. Uh, Nunu? Um, not in favor? Okay, Mr. Aye, in favor, Ms. Be Becker in favor,

36:46 Mr. Greater? I’m going to ha, I’m going to cast my vote in favor. I apo, you know, I’m, I, I feel very sorry about this. I think we already have an existing business, and I think that’s what kind of seals it for us. Uh, you know, for me personally, um, although I have to say I’m, you know, intrigued, intrigued, a as these, as the other two members, I hope you can persist, uh, in this and, uh, you know, and, and, and make your business happen. Tough one. That’s a real, it’s a real tough one, though. I mean, that’s what it came, it came down to who had the existing business. So, in my mind, So Chairman, if, if, just so well, I can do some research on the, the option of a site specific, could you look at what that would entail? And,

37:31 uh, How long can you keep your that, That Won’t work for us. We have to let the landlord know about it June 15th, So We’ll be, actually, we’ll be exercising our right two, three weeks, Louis.

37:44 Okay. Thank you so much for Celebration. Congratulations, Jillian. Thank you. Thank you. Take care.

37:52 All right. Thank you. Thank you. And, uh, yep.

37:58 Okay. That’s, that’s a brutal, That’s a, that’s a tough one.

38:05 Okay. Uh, number three on our item is the bell ringing for July 4th. I’d like to entertain a motion to request the church bells throughout the town to be rung on Tuesday, July 4th, 2023 at usual holiday hours, 7:30 AM to 8:00 AM 12 noon to 12:30 PM 6:00 PM to 6:30 PM Second. All those in favor? Okay. Unanimous.

38:39 Okay. The next, uh, item is a motion to approve of the preservation restriction for Dev House 16 Franklin Street in accordance with Mass General Law, section 180 4. Section 32, and authorize this chair to sign on behalf of the board. So move can be evident. All right. All those in favor? All right. Um, home rule petition. This is what was, uh, uh, voted on, uh, at, uh, town meeting, right? Mm-hmm. And, uh, you can see the contents of that, that you can see the specific, uh, home rule, uh, petition letter on the second page, and the follow on letter to, uh,

39:26 Senator Kreon and Representative Armini. We know what that’s all about. It’s about extending the terms for the, uh, select board for three years as opposed to one year. And the motion is that the select board submit article 44 of the May 1st, 2023 annual town meeting, select board terms to the general court. And can I have a second please? Second. All those in favor? All right. Thank you. Uh, item number six is Festival for the Arts.

40:01 Um, this is coming to us through, uh, Jodi Taana Charles, and it’s related to an activity at the Festival of Arts.

40:15 And, uh, I guess it looks like a ceramic orb shock this way. Events, art themes,

40:29 And, uh, the motions, I think are pretty self-explanatory. It’s, uh, entertained A motion to request from Jody Tatiana Charles, marketing Strategist Festival of the Arts for the following event, subject to approval from Wreck and Parks Conservation Committee, water and sewer, oh, M M L D D P W Police and receipt of the acquired certificate of liability, uh, 23 ceramic orbs to be hidden throughout the walking trails from July one to July 31st, 2023, three, and chalk this way, inaugural Chalk Art Festival, highlighting 23 open spots for amateur and professional chalk artists to transform the sidewalks of Atlantic Pleasant Washington Street and Crocker Park sidewalks into an art experience on July 1st, 2023 from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM

41:18 Can I have a second please? Second. All those in favor, unanimous. Thank you. Okay. This is a, a long awaited temporary outdoor table service. Doctor, do you want to give us a little background on that? On that, on, on what, on what you’ve been doing? Sure. So we, um, again, the, the, the state extended the allowance for, um, this expanded outdoor dining. Uh, you know, we went through the covid period where they allowed it, and they, they’ve since extended the repeal. The whole covid emergency extended the option to allow restaurants, um, uh, to have out outdoor dining, um, um, sort of above and beyond what was been normally allowed for, for, uh,

42:05 for dining purposes. Um, so what we intend do, we, uh, if, if the board approves, um, um, these votes, uh, would allow for the outdoor dining to extend until, uh, November 30th. Um, and then, uh, we’ll see what the state does, whether there, there is deliberation and, and legislation to make this permanent, but as of right now, they, they’re just extended for, for one more year. But if, if this is approved, uh, we have applications that are ready to go out tonight by email to the restaurants, um, that what would happen if with your approval, the applications go out, they fill out the applications, which provides us the details of how they intend to do the outdoor dining,

42:55 so that myself and, and, and other staff can look at to make sure it’s compliant and, and fits with the area that, that they, they are proposing. And our intent is to quickly approve, uh, those applications so as to get them into, you know, extended out, hopefully for this weekend’s, holidays, it’ll be site specific. Some sites are pretty straightforward. Some may require just some, some conditions or requirements to make sure it’s safe and, and, and traffic flow and those kind of things. Given the fact that, um, this was pretty much done last year, uh, my guess is for, for most of the situations, it’ll be a repeat of, of what the restaurants did the prior year. Any word on kind of a permanent extension. It was at the state level,

43:41 Depending at the, up at the legislature. So, um, we’ll wait and see whether they make it permanent or extend another year. Um, no. Any other thoughts? Questions? Okay. I’d like to Actually, so if we do approve this, then it’s up to Thatcher to, to negotiate with the restaurants And on a site specific basis. Right. Cuz you’re gonna be taking in app the Application. Yeah. And so, so the examples being, um, in some cases the, the jersey barriers for protection. So, and what on, on that matter in particular, you know, we’re gonna restrict use of jersey bearers, uh, on public property. Um, if there’s a requirement for barriers on private, the, the, the, the establishments will need to accommodate that in some fashion,

44:30 but we’ll work with ‘em to, to sort that out. Um, and then down at the docks with the, you know, the fishing, commercial fishing going on, we, we had, uh, we, we put some time restrictions as to when they can operate in, in the area. So we will reengage on that to make sure that it’s compatible with the commercial fishing men coming and going. That’s, that’s the only area really where there’s kind of a, a negotiated Yeah. Issue, because again, the fishmen have really been Oh, yeah. Whacked from that, from the right whale. Um, yeah. Yeah. So they’re still putting their traps in and things, so just Yeah. You know, as we’ve spoken, just be very cognizant of fisherman. Yeah. I mean, things were worked out last year. We, there was some negotiation that went on and, and, and it got to a,

45:15 it’s a good settlement though, a workable arrangement. And then, uh, thanks Mr. Na, and, you know, we, we’ve been involved in some conversations, uh, to do another check-in to, to make sure that that or something similar will work for this year. Excellent. Okay. If, if I could just, um, encourage, um, specifically this area, but, um, on School Street, um, I have been approached by the neighboring businesses that are not five corners. If you could, you know, just make sure to reach out to them, which I’m sure you would, but I just Yeah. Behooves me to say it because it’s been brought to my attention. Yeah. Course about the parking, right? Of course. Yeah. Right. And those are the things that we wanna look at when we get the applications to Yeah. Sort those out. Yep.

46:01 Okay. So there are two votes. One covers zoning, and the other covers alcoholic, uh, beverages. So I will move, entertain a motion pursuant to chapter 42 of the acts of 2022, and notwithstanding the provisions of chapter 48 of the general laws or any special permit variance or other approvals there under, or any general or special law. To the contrary, the select board for the town of Marblehead shall reinstate approval for the outdoor table seating and food service. This approval is freely revocable upon the determination of the Health Department. Chief of police, board of health, town administrator, or their designee at the operation of the outdoor dining area is negatively impacting public health and safety. Restaurants must remain compliant with all ADA fire building and zoning codes, and all tables and chairs shall allow for the required 36 inches of sidewalk

46:47 space for handicap accessibility requirements. Further, this approval shall automatically be rescinded on November 30th, 2023, and is subject to final approval by town, by the town administrator, police and fire restaurants seeking to offer outdoor dining. Should submit a completed application to the office of the select board, Abbott Hall, 180 8 Washington Street, or email w uh, Wiley k marvel head.org. It’s a polled vote. Some moved second. Okay. Oh yeah, Paul. So, Ms. Newan In Favor, Mr. Deny in favor, Ms. P Becker In favor, Ms. Singer, Mr. The Greater In favor. And the next, uh, motion covers, uh, beverage license and entertain a motion pursuant to chapter 42 of the acts of

47:36 2022, and notwithstanding the provisions of chapter 1 38 of the general laws or any, uh, general or specific law or local bylaw rule regulation to the contrary and the town’s carrying beverage policy to the Select board as a local licensing authority pursuant to general law, section 1 38 for the town of Marblehead shall reinstate outdoor seating. This approval is freely revocable upon the determination of the Health Department chief of police, board of Health, town administrator, or their designee that the operation, the outdoor dining area, is negatively impacting public health and safety. Restaurants must remain compliant with all a d a fire building and zoning codes, and all tables and chairs shall allow for the required 36 inch sidewalk space for a handy handicapped accessibility requirements. Further, this approval shall automatically be rescinded on November 30th, 2023, and is subject to approval by the town administrator,

48:23 police and fire restaurants seeking to offer outdoor dining. Should submit a completed application to the office of the select board, Abbott Hall, 180 8 Washington Street, or email wiley k marblehead.org. Some won’t second. All those in favor? No. Oh, it’s not a poll. Not a poll. Oh, I’m sorry. I stand. It’s, it is not a poll. Right? Yeah. So all those in favor, unanimous. It’s put, that’s pulled as well. This one, The second one’s pulled. Oh, this one is pulled too? Yes, It is. Yeah. You know, without, without the, without We pull, we cover the bases whether we need to or not, right? Yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s a light you usually do with Becker’s license. All set? Mr. Na In favor, Ms. Be Becker in favor? Ms. Singer?

49:09 Newman in favor? Mr. Greater in favor? Okay. Uh, I’d like to make a motion, uh, to approve and, and second, and to approve the minutes of May 10th, 2023, which are attached. Second, please. Second. All those in favor? Okay. Unanimous. Um, this is, uh, a letter from, uh, plus CAFE to amend the hours of operations for a Common Vic license. And motion is self-explanatory. I’d like to entertain a motion from Clevis Kisi plus Cafe to amend the hours of the Common Vic license for plus Cafe 34 A Atlantic Avenue as follows, Monday through Friday, 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM Saturday and Sunday,

49:54 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM Have a motion. Second. Some moved and a second. Second. Okay. All those in favor? Okay. Unanimous parking regulations. Um, there’s an explanation there. I dunno if you wanna, uh, summarize it Patrick, for us real quick. So, as part of the Village Vine reconstruction, that intersection project, um, in order to make that whole whole project work, the business right there, um, I don’t see the name, um, had to give up and donated, uh, three parking spaces of their business spaces in order to make that project layout work. And so part of the agreement was that when the project was done

50:43 to convert three of the parking spaces right around that area to be, uh, limited, um, was it one hour parking? So as though it’s not dedicated to the business, it allows for movements Yeah, yeah. The turnover. Yeah. To, to, to help that business. So that’s keeps that business whole doing a, a, a a, a gracious donation. Um, and I think it, with the school nearby and such, it, it gave opportunity for people to park there all day. So it would just limit the, the amount of time in those three spaces, which would mostly be used for the business. Is It the cla cla box? Is it, Is that, yeah. Okay. Now that was generous of them to, to do that, uh,

51:29 I’d like to entertain a motion to approve the following parking regulation on Vine Street. One hour parking in the intended area, approximately, uh, 30 feet in length on north, on the northern side of Vines Street, which is located parallel to Village Street. And in the inten in indented area, approximately 24 feet in length, located on the eastern side of Vines Street. That’s three spaces, as shown in a Mass Department of Transportation plan entitled parking location and boundary description, Marvel Head, pleasant Street, village Street, vine Street. And to which the map is attached in your package. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Okay. That’s great.

52:17 Patrick, if you could give us a little, uh, background Sure. On this next, uh, agenda item. So this is a request of a letter of support from the board. Uh, the sample letter is, is, it’s not coming to me. It’s, uh, it’s actually going to mepa, which is the environmental permitting office for the state. Uh, this is in support of the coastal zone management efforts to make the harbor more resilient. All the work that Becky and, and, and many others have been working on, uh, anticipation of rising sea levels and such. Um, and so, uh, uh, as part of the permitting process for the design work on, on particular sites still listed here, um, uh, letter support to Mepa that it supported the effort to, to,

53:04 to issue a permit for this work, to, to proceed. Okay. So it’ll go to the MEPA office, 100 Cambridge Street in Boston, uh, is the actual addressee. That’s great. That’s great. That this is getting, yeah, getting This is progress. This is progress. 100%. And does this get us in line for grants or anything? Yeah, it’s part of, yeah. I mean, we need to it’s first step. Yep. Yep. The grants. Cuz we need to get the permits for the grants to be, to be fulfilled. Yep. No, it’s great to be able to bring this, you know, into the whole harbor plan. Amy is here, does she, What’s that? Sorry, Go ahead, Amy or Becky’s online? If, if Becky, if Becky wants to fill in any details. I don’t think she’s, oh, she’s not. Okay. You know Amy. Oh, Amy, okay. Detail. Unless he’s here.

53:50 Yeah. I mean, you’re being called, you mean you’re here. Anyway.

53:56 Um, So I sat through a lot of the, uh, meetings that they had. And this is in the area down by, well, they looked at a lot of them, uh, sea walls and especially down by electric light. Yeah. So, um, they worked with Barbara Warren also. Um, and it was, uh, a lot with the Harbormaster and Electric light, and Becky and everybody had a lot of input. Um, Yeah, it’s a big concern down there, right? I mean, they, the wall is pretty low. It’s probably the lowest point in the harbor, isn’t it? Um, Well, as we all learned in that talk a few years ago, there are some really, uh, intense areas in Marblehead that are gonna CC level rise. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, Sergeant Road, that area. Fort Beach. Yeah. Uh, beacon Street. So this is one of the many, you know,

54:43 the harbor is an asset and everything around it’s an asset. So it’s good to see people looking to the future. Well, it’s also good to set up a, a plan around it and get organized around it. So it, it’s excellent. Excellent. Alright. Um, all right. Any other, any other questions, comments? Thank you.

55:05 Okay. So I’d like to enter, entertain a motion to award a six month contract to provide professional engineering support services for MS four general permit support to Woodward and Kern. Wait A minute. Back up. So sorry. Huh? That’s not the right motion. Listen, is to accept On the next I’m on the, oh, no kidding. You’re kidding. Okay. So it’s authorization. Just Uhhuh send the letter. Well, I saw Amy’s name there as well. Okay. Li to, in a motion to authorize, uh, uh, the, the sending of a letter and, and for the, uh, chair of the board to sign on behalf of the select moved Second. All those in favor? All right. Unanimous? Yeah. Okay. Now That was on. Now we can, now You can do this one. Okay. So now this is, okay. Scope of services.

55:52 So I’d like to entertain a motion to award a six month contract, provide professional engineering support services for MS four general permit support to Woodard and Keran 40 Shaddock Road Suite hundred and 10 Andover, mass 0 1 8 1 oh in the amount not to exceed 22,000, uh, $500. And authorize this share to sign the contract on behalf of the board. Moved. Second, please. All those in favor? All.

56:26 Okay. We’ve, uh, arrived to the public comment period. Uh, Wait A minute, anybody? We have, uh, I think we have a, do We have another, A late agenda, Late breaking agenda item. Okay. Okay. Um,

56:42 this is a letter from the Marble Ed Festival of Arts for one day Liquor licenses, and I think the, it’s from Cnda Roamer, and the motion is pretty self-explanatory, which is a, I’d like to end a motion to request from Cnda Rommer Festival of Arts for one day liquor license Bijoy only at Abbott Hall on Friday, June 2nd, 2023 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM subject to the following delivery of and receipt of the licensing authority of the required fee, $50 delivery of and receipt, uh, by the licensing authority of proof that the alcohol will be purchased from unauthorized source, proof that the applicant can receive proper delivery, provide proper storage and disposable alcohol beverages purchased. All in accordance with the requirements of general law Section 1 38 liquor liability insurance. Alcohol is not allowed to remain on the premises overnight.

57:30 Alcohol will be purchased from Carolina Wine and Spirits. And, uh, I have a So moved and a second, second, second. And it’s, and it’s app polled and it’s a polled vote. Thank. Thank you. Sure. Okay. Ready to vote. Ms. Becker? In Favor, Ms. Singer? In favor, Ms. Noon In favor, Mr. Deny In favor, Mr. Greater? In favor. Okay, thank you. Okay. Uh, we can proceed to public comment. Uh, if there’s anybody, uh, in the room? I don’t think so. Anybody online?

58:10 Okay. Town administrator update, Patrick? Sure. I’m gonna take advantage of Amy being in the room, gives some updates on trees. Um, fantastic. First of all, the, uh, uh, I received notification that, uh, Marblehead has received, once again, um, uh, tree City usa. So designation is for the year 2022. So, once again, it’s, um, as I say, residents, uh, Marvel should be proud to live in a community that makes the planting and care of trees a priority. And it is a priority, so, So much so that they’ve taken over our sidewalks. Yeah.

58:50 Um, but yeah, so John Fulbert and, and Amy and, and the, and the tree crew, um, deserve credit for receiving this. Um, so in addition on trees, just sort of more of an update of, of what’s going on in that area. So, um, uh, you know, I’ve heard Amy’s heard it. Uh, there has been a ton of work by our tree crew to catch up on our dead tree back list. Um, and so they’re pretty much caught up on the back list. So they’re, they’re dealing with the dead trees as they’re being, uh, more recently reported. So, uh, that’s been a high focus for the, for the crew. Uh, so they’ve done a really good job to get, get caught up on that issue. Um, what they’re working on now is, uh,

59:37 uh, John Forward has, has, uh, put together and is now implementing a five year pruning plan. So a very systematic approach to pruning and main and, and keeping up on, on the trees around town, um, uh, limbs and such. So, uh, he has a five year plan in place. It, it, it moves around the community. So the crews are out there now doing the first phase or phase one of, of that plan. I, I just think it’s important to note the fact that, you know, there is, uh, sat down develop a, a plan and strategy and implementing it in order to, to keep up with the work rather than, um, you know, in the past falling behind and Amy, myself and others getting,

1:00:24 getting the phone calls, uh, from the residents. So this is very much being proactive, uh, rather than reactive to, to those situations. Uh, once the, uh, the pruning work is done for this season, uh, the next area where there is a quite a backlog is removal of stumps. Mm-hmm. Uh, we’ve taken out a lot of trees, removal of stumps. Again, we hear the calls. Um, the challenge there right now is our stump grinder is not grinding. Uh, it’s, it’s, uh, I don’t know if it’s completely, uh, dead, but, but, um, so the strategy is when they go to, uh, address the, the, the backlog of the stump list is running a pilot program of looking at using a contractors to go out and,

1:01:09 and hit the stumps versus purchasing a new grinder. And so, Amy and, and John, what they wanna do is analyze what is the more cost effective way mm-hmm. Uh, to address it. Is it better to just hire crews that, that do this and, and send them out and pay, pay the relative costs, or is it the price out and purchase a, a new stump grinder and do the work in-house? So, um, they’re running a pilot program to, to vett that out to again, maximize the dollars that we have to get, uh, the most work done. So, uh, overall great work by our Our Tree folks. And John leading, leading that charge. Um, so that’s on the trees. So, uh, couple things on the finance, oh, actually we have one more. I didn’t get,

1:01:58 I didn’t get to see the email. If you would like to talk about the, was it water sewer award? Yep. That’s, well, congrats on the trees though. That’s, that’s really great. That’s really great. Yes, John’s done a great job. I’d be interested in the analysis of that pilot project. You know, it will, Will be. So the stump Grindr was not something that we put in our budget. It’s a $90,000 piece of equipment. Um, so we’re looking at, the one that we have now has been rebuilt a few times. Um, the engine itself. So we’re looking at, uh, the options of replacing the engine rather than just kind of rehabbing it to see if that will work or not. But that we have to look at the whole thing. But the other option is to bring a company in. Um, and, you know, they supposedly can do these things faster since they’re set up,

1:02:45 whatever it is. A lot of people are maybe very happy right now. Yeah, it does. And that it’s, the D P W will still work with this. So we’ll be doing the sidewalks along with this other company that comes in. So all they’re doing is just the stumps. We’re not putting out sidewalk work. We’re still gonna do that in house. That was a joke, by the way. It was, maybe I shouldn’t, maybe. No, They’re everywhere. They’re gonna A lot of conversation going forward as we developed sidewalk plan. But on really exciting news, the water department received the, um, consecutive community service award from the DEP and the epa. Um, it was the award entails, uh, following five years of regulations and meeting all of the regulations. And then the last year, uh, exceeding regulations that you get it.

1:03:33 And that is generally when you have your sanitary survey, which is when the d e P comes in and looks at every piece of paper and everything that the water department has done in the last five years. Um, you know, from how much water we use, how much water we lose, uh, our cross connection programs and all the programs that you have to have. Um, and it’s a pretty intensive, uh, review. So it was very exciting to be, uh, uh, able to get that award. And it speaks volumes to the water department. Um, you know, we have a younger crew now, they’ve learned from the people who retired, who were excellent at passing on knowledge and everything about our water system. And, you know, our water system is older too, so it has all, it has extra challenges on top of that. But, um,

1:04:20 it’s been good between the engineers and the commission moving forward. Um, you know, our water quality has really, uh, been accelerated and our, um, our duplicity for getting, uh, water into Marblehead where we put a lot more money into the pump stations, and we removed one of those water tanks, which was actually, uh, becoming a difficult point for water quality. Yeah. So it, um, Congratulations. Congratulations. They really, a Lot of years have heard congratulations. Absolutely. I bet Amy won’t remember this, but tonight, tonight marks the one year anniversary of when this board voted not just to hire me, but it was the same night to appoint Amy to, in addition, oversee dp dpw Overseed epw, right? That’s right. So,

1:05:08 so two of the, two of the smart, two of the smartest decisions we’ve made. Yeah. You’re both still here. So, so I, I mean, I, I, listening to this, you know, on the water suicide and, and the work, Amy and, and the folks over there, the excellence that they’re bringing, that that same effort for excellence is being driven on the D P W side. Uh, thanks to Amy and, and the rest of the crew, the team that’s, that she’s building there and the, you know, sort of the organization, the Sprier Corps, you can just feel it and see it and, and, and, and it, the return we get is in, in production. Uh, so we’re, we’re on a very good path. Uh, and D P W in as well as the water sewer. Well, congrats on your, on your one-year anniversary. Yeah. For job well done. You didn’t know that.

1:05:53 Keep at it. I can’t believe it’s been a year. But, you know, Towe is full of a really, a lot of great employees who are so dedicated, you know, and it was, it was great to be up at Dbw and see that they had the same, uh, feeling of really trying to get things done. So that’s great. Thank you. Fantastic. Thank You. All right. Um, so some finance area updates for you. Um, so just, uh, uh, I guess heads up for next meeting. So, uh, we’re gonna send, we, we’ll be coming with the year end transfers, which is normally done. Um, we’re gonna do it once and it’s gonna, uh, address any of the, you know, the year end transfers is for those line items that are, that have, uh,

1:06:40 have gone over budget. There are other line items that are under budget. This is where we reconcile out, uh, uh, level out the counts for the end of the year. Uh, I don’t have any exact numbers. I can just say that we are in much better shape this year than, than what the transfers that were required last year. So we’re, we’re really, um, with the help of all the department heads, really kind of getting control of the numbers during the course of the year. And, and I see it just improving, uh, in, in the following years. Um, the other thing we intend to do, uh, for the next meeting is, um, uh, provide to the board, uh, uh, the final draft financial policies for your re your look

1:07:27 and review. So, again, we talk about this way back when there were draft policies that are available. I indicated I wanted to wait till I had a finance director and allow the finance director to get settled in and into review and look at them and, and working with Alicia. Uh, we’re ready. She’s done her review and, and, and her input. So what we wanna do is, uh, provide the, the draft policies at the next meeting so you have them, and then at a subsequent meeting, you know, vote to approve or, or deliberate or whatever actions you want to take. I wanna give you time to That’s great to have them and to, and to look at ‘em. So, fantastic. Um, financial policies that I know you’ve been waiting for a, a number of years. Um, finally, the, the last item, um,

1:08:13 I’ve talked about, you know, one of the challenges we’re working on is our, our internet access reliability and the precariousness of our, of our, our connections. And so, um, we convened a meeting, uh, of representatives from, from municipal light, from the schools, uh, and, and all of the departments that have it, folks in them, uh, to come up with a strategy for, for implementing a, a new fiber backbone. It, we’re gonna go out to vendors, we’re gonna price it out. Uh, there is a line item in the opera list that was set at the time it was scored. It was, um, it, it, it was scored low, you know, below the cutoff line by given,

1:08:58 with the new information we have and the urgency and the, uh, just to describe what’s created, the urgency, is the fact that our fiber line that’s u uh, decades old, um, is a single string that goes from building the building. And one of the buildings that goes through is the library that’s under renovation. And we, the fire chief had to kind of stop the contractor, uh, and to explain that that fiber line runs into the basement of the library building and back out to our public safety buildings. And had, you know, a contractor with a saw hall doing the reconstruction could have easily taken out our whole dispatch center. And so once I became real, you know,

1:09:44 cognizant of how that was laid out, that brings urgency to we need to, we need to change our, we, we gotta upgrade that whole backbone loop. There’s lots of other IT work to be done. This is the, the, the, the, the major backbone that everything, all our information travels on. We want to increase the bandwidth, you know, all the discussions about, uh, transparency and, you know, videoing, uh, and, and, you know, meetings, all that moving video around, we’re gonna need that additional bandwidth plus all the other needs. So anyways, we convened, uh, you know, a group to discuss that project. And the realization in the meeting is, uh, um, and therefore what I’ve, I’ve said is established as, as an IT task force to work, not just the backbone issue, but really to get a handle on all our IT needs. Um, you know,

1:10:32 what I shared to the group, uh, my, my experience in the Air force, in the communications world environment for years and years and years, communications was a support function for the other components of the Air Force, right? Uh, somewhere along the way the Air Force figured out, this is what we call, it’s a major weapon system. In other words, if our IT systems are not, um, in the fight, uh, uh, you know, everything else fails. And so I brought that same sort of approach to municipal government, whereas, you know, the, the, the traditional legacy thought is we have it just to, so we can, you know, be on our, uh, on our desktop computers and type letters and, you know, do that. That’s not the, what we use it for. All of our information, all of our services,

1:11:20 the way we’re more and more interacting with the public, everything is based on our IT systems, our information systems. And that’s why I’ve talked about all the, all the data systems, but all the, the database systems that we use, uh, and everything is reliant, is dependent upon the infrastructure that it runs on. And so this task force is gonna help guide us through that process of really getting handle on our team. If I could ask a quick question, uh, Thatcher, so the precariousness of the network is what you think can potentially shift the criteria to a public safety and, and health, uh, piece there? Um, Yeah. As we talked about, so we have, we have the various criteria that we score things on in that, um, one of the,

1:12:06 one of the, the, the, the most critical is, um, public health and public safety, right? And so I think at the time there was no, no awareness of the public health, public safety aspect of the, the, that request. And, and given the information I have, you didn’t rise it. That’s why it didn’t rise up. And, and so we’re, part of what we wanna do is, uh, engage in at least two vendors to go out and come back and provide us a plan of what they would do and how much it would cost. And then based on that information, that would help us kinda lock in the, the number of what we would request and then bring that forward. That’s great. So this is something you really think is, is, is long overdue,

1:12:53 it sounds like. And, uh, it’s, it’s, Yeah. It’s, It’s precarious and, and vulnerable. Yes. Yes. They’re, these are part of the public safety aspect of our internet system is, has to be, no excuses cannot fail. And that’s the approach we need to take. Yeah.

1:13:16 So that concludes, those are the items on, on finance and, uh, d w and trees. Alright. All right. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you. Amy. I can just Say one thing about the loop. Um,

1:13:32 KBW on Friday, um, Became unconnected too, the rest of the town really. And for, you know, we worked to, Jen came in, we worked over the weekend to try to find, not until Tuesday that we had connectivity back. Hmm. For, so for, For two days. Right. And the amazing part is like payroll, not having that connection to the, uh, finance department, that meant you were driving up, you were dropping payroll off, there was a change, you were looking at it on your phone trying to figure out, you know, if all the numbers were right, head back up. If I mean, it, just, the time that’s lost when you’re not connected is really detrimental. And that’s not during an emergency time. So, okay. I just wanted to say it is really important for all the departments.

1:14:18 Yeah. So the work of the vendors would be to provide a, a, a plan of how we should put out that infrastructure to include all of those facilities that are on different parts of the town and connect them. Right. And we’ve always been connected some very unique ways. Um, you know, when the water tower came down, so did the, uh, antenna that we used to go through and you know, now we’re dependent on Comcast and it, it is just a struggle each time that you don’t even want to think about it. It would just be when it’s up and running, you don’t even think about it. Yeah. Yep. So Thank you. Thanks. Appreciate it. Okay. I think we’re done. We’re done. Uh, Patrick, no more questions. Uh, select board announcements,

1:15:05 Anything now? Executive session for the minutes? Well, any, any any slide board announcements, comment, Jim Announcements. Oh, I just wanted to, so, um, Yeah, just move here. Where, Where are we with, um, you know, the website and people being able to, um, understand, get some kind of like street basic four 11 about, um, the override. Okay. So this in term, this is still part of your update. Okay. Yeah. Your, Your, Oh, okay. Yeah. Let’s just make it part of the update. Yeah. So, so we, I have, um, working with Alicia have, have draft sort of FAQs. Yeah. So what I need to do is just do my final,

1:15:52 final edit and then probably either, either share it as a draft with all of you, but I, I, I don’t want deliberation I, or just produce it and get feedback. I mean, with an faq we can, we can update on the, you know, live. So, um, what we can do is get the, finalize it, publish it and Should we have a a landing page? Yeah. You’ll write itself. Yeah, that’s what I was asking. Just make that right. Yeah. I mean, I think Yeah. Information page. Yeah. We can, Yeah. And, And if we can get kind of a one page summary of the impact. Yep. I think we talked about that. Yep. Yep. And potentially, you know, this is my thing is to have a, you know, perhaps a very simplified, uh, historical, um, PNL as it were,

1:16:38 or a revenue expenditure. Yep. Very similar to what you did. Very similar to what you did for the, the override. And just, and just keep it relatively simple. I think it just, it just gives people a sense of the history, the context of how we kind of Yep. Came to this place where they haven’t, you know, and I think maybe the, the last three columns or one is this is where we are with the deficit, given the, given the revenue expenditure structure, here’s what it looks like without the override and, and, and the Cusco and this is what it looks like with the override. And I go that way. Right. I think it just gives a little bit more clarity that’s right. Out of the, the master spreadsheet that a hundred Been working front percent. So that shouldn’t be too difficult. I think, I guess the call The projection one for like the following year. That’s right. Yeah. Yes. That was Basically, you’re, you’re seeing the historical that

1:17:25 Was visually, um, you know, easy to kind of, that was a good visual I think. I think it helps, it helps orient people and you know, it doesn’t have to be too detailed, but I think it allows people to think about it more holistically. So, yeah. And, and any other ideas I’m sure that we might, you know, through you guys. Well, and it was in my announcement just to put out, I know the sample ballot is already on there, but if we can link that onto that same landing page. I know we did the same thing last year with the capital projects. Yeah. But it allows people to look at it, we’ll look at the wording, have a chance to digest it. So if we can co-locate that information together. Yep. Like that piece is a Specific question. Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s already up. But if we can connect that, that’ll be great. Good. We could also, um, just link to the, um,

1:18:10 warrant night. I guess it would be the presentation, the presentation at warrant night and maybe this year’s state of the town. Just those links to mht v you know, so we’re not even taking up storage. We could just Yep. Link to mht B’S video cuz we have that great resource. Yeah. Perhaps. And um, Perhaps the FinCon Review as well. I think there may be some financial, um, what do you, um, it’s Actually, that would actually be very helpful. People that would want maybe even see the actual budget book. I don’t know if that’s something that go gate. If, if that Oh, it is. Okay. Yeah. It’s Already, yeah. So a lot of these are already, but it’s I think just organizing. Yeah. So we unify it on, unify it so they, Yeah. Perfect. One, one stop.

1:18:55 That’d Be really helpful. We Get those links. Yep. I don’t know, is it difficult to make video clips of say, uh, you know, Alec Gobys piece and then another video clip of, I don’t know your piece. I know it’s, it’s causing a lot of, a little bit of work, but I think it’ll save, it’ll be very helpful. Yeah. Who has the video clip? That would be my On tv. Yeah. Tv. Yeah. They should be able to Yeah. Cut that up. Some music. I’m sure our friends there help Out With music, put some music and, you know, Do it. I don’t think we can, I don’t think we can hurt by, you know, pushing out as much information Yeah. As possible. Well, you know, I contextualize it and make it easy and easily accessible. Great. Right. I don’t see why not. So yeah, I mean, I think select board announcements are more kind of one way, you know,

1:19:43 announcements if you have any, anything to That’s true. Add, right. That’s fine. Yeah. Try to keep it. Any, any please, Jim? Yes. Uh, just last night, as I mentioned, uh, before the meeting upstairs, uh, in the auditorium is the, uh, senior art show, uh, opened up last night. That was the art show that used to be down in the lower level of the library. Uh, so it’s a, it’s a nice venue, go out and support our students. Mm-hmm. Really some fantastic artwork, art artwork up there. I think it’s up there all week. Good. Awesome.

1:20:19 Any other Announcements, Jackie? No, not all right. With that, I’d like to, uh, have motion to adjourn Executive session. Hold on. Oh, whoopsy doo. Yeah. Adjourned The executive. Thank you. Sorry about that. Yeah, I think we we’re, we’re to move into executive session at this point, honor. Okay. Ah, yes. So we, okay. We have one more motion to enter into executive session. We will not convene after the executive session. So, uh, So moved second, cannot hold up Motion to, to move into executive according to general law 38. A, uh, section 2117 to review executive session minutes. Folks may be taken and if they are,

1:21:05 votes will be released at a time deemed appropriate by counsel. The board will not reconvene an open session. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. So are we doing poll vote? Not done. Doing poll vote. I think we’ve done the cycle. So, Ms. Singer? In favor? Ms. New in favor? Mr. Denied In favor, Ms. Bill Beck in favor? Mr. Greater in favor. Um, Sorry about that. Thank you. We can, we can, we can stay right here. Oh, clear. And uh, just have to Kick, we have to kick out the journalists. That’s.