Select Board: October 25, 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.

0:02 And, um, let’s just kind of turn to our first item, which is Veteran’s Day 2023. So, um, Mr. Dave Rogers, if you could join us at the table. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Uh, well, we’re here again. And, uh,

0:21 just giving a little overview of the, the week bef on Thursday, oh 9 0 9 o’clock in the morning. The COA is hosting a breakfast at the Senior center sponsored by the Mason. It’s always a good take. I know. Uh, Thatcher’s been there. Mm-Hmm. And, uh, all veterans are welcome and they should, uh, let the COA know in advance. They’re gonna attend.

0:51 We’re our traditional Veterans’ Day. November 11th is on a Saturday this year. Stats at 10 o’clock in the morning in the Abbott Hall Auditorium. The doors are open at nine and, uh, once again, we’ll have parking a shuttle from the National Grand Bank parking lot, and the COA bus will start around nine. And the last shuttle two Abbott Hall will be 9 45. And they’ll also be there to take people back afterwards. The Coral Group always makes the event special. Andrew Scolio director, and they do a unbelievable job. Really, really helps a lot. Principal speaker, this year’s Colonel Josh Bradstreet, United States Marine Corps,

1:39 lives in town with his three children. Great guy. He is a member of the VFW and af after the services at the VFW is hosting a, uh, coffee. Breakfast. Everyone’s welcome to come on up The post. That’s about it. Same as usual. Thank you as always, David. Thank you. Any court? Any questions? No, you run a tight ship. So, Couple things. One, having participated as a veteran here in Myle head with the memorial activities, he does a great job of putting those things together. Um, just in case anybody’s looking, I won’t be here, I won’t be available every year at this time for veterans.

2:27 I fly out to Las Vegas to play in goal for the Massachusetts National Guard in a multinational, uh, armed Forces Tournament Hockey Tournament. So I spend my Veteran’s Day, uh, with all kinds of veterans from different countries playing hockey. But otherwise, I would be there very long. Dave? Yeah. Just a note, I’ll, I, I wanna push, uh, wreaths for America. I just thought of it. There was a nice fundraiser at the VFW, uh, a week or so ago, and it was well attended, and she raised some money and, uh, I know she’s having something at the Beacon, but, uh, if anybody wants to donate, uh,

3:13 I’m sure she’d love it. Uh, Theresa Collins, she works at the police station. They can make a checkout to Reese of America and drop it off to her, and she’ll forward it up there. I think the Beacon event is, is the 11th? The 11th, yeah. Veteran’s Day that night. Oh. So, But I hope you didn’t mind me mentioning that. Oh, Of course not. No. Thank you so much, David. Okay. Really appreciate it. Thank you, David. Thank you always, You so much. Okay. Course. Um, so, uh, next on our agenda, we have, um, Ms. Helene Haslet.

3:55 You all set? Yeah. Thanks. You wanna join me?

4:00 Good evening. Good evening everyone. We’re a small group tonight, huh? Yes. Yes. Good to see the people that are here. You have a quorum? Yes. Mm-Hmm. We’re like the, the, the Board of Health tonight. Yeah. Right Now, you know what it feels like, why we’re going for for five. Um, I’m Helene Halen in case no one knows who I am, but it’s nice to announce myself. Last March, I virtually attended the Lapin Foundation Summit on antisemitism and Mayors select board members and other community leaders were invited at that time. Uh, they asked us the ones in attendance to bring back to their communities, uh, the suggestion of celebrating International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which I did last year. Yep. And we had a great, uh, program.

4:48 And, uh, I’m coming here to ask you to do it again, and that hopefully, uh, we could do that annually, which I also asked for. Um, but it’s nice to remind everybody for me to come. As long as I am, uh, still on the task force, I’ll, I’ll come. But, uh, this, uh, international Holocaust Remembrance Day was designated by the United Nations in 2005, and as co-chair with Diane Gora of the Task Force. I am here to request that we do it again and designate January 27th as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. And I would like to also request, uh, the use of the Upper Abbott Hall Lawn, uh, on Friday, uh, January 26th at noon.

5:34 We’ll have to do it on Friday, because, uh, we won’t be able to have access here to have some chairs put out, or, I, I think it would be best to do it on the Friday. Okay. So, um, Friday, January 26th, uh, for a brief ceremony. Uh, we’ll have, uh, some students, we’ll have, uh, some, uh, clergy and, uh, it should be a, a meaningful, uh, program. In addition, rabbi Michael Schwartz will be recognizing this solemn occasion at Temple Sinai on Friday evening, the same day, the 26th. I’m giving you, you know, two different dates. I don’t wanna confuse you, but because the 27th falls on the weekend, it’s best that we, um,

6:20 keep it here on Friday. And the Temple has their, their weekly service, like their Sabbath service on Friday night. So friends, uh, and citizens are welcomed and encouraged to come to both gatherings. And I would like to read, uh, what the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, uh, commemorates. And I’d like to read the United, I mean the, yes, the United Nations General Assembly, uh, resolution, international Holocaust. Remnants Day is an International Memorial Day on the 27th of January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of a third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities between the years of 1933 and 1945 by Nazi Germany.

7:07 It was an attempt to implement their final solution to the Jewish question. January 27th was chosen to commemorate the date in Auschwitz concentration campus liberated by the Red Army in 1945. I’d like to read also the list that I got last year. There could be more, uh, countries that are involved, but these are the countries that celebrate the 27th around the world, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia, some celebrate a different day. So Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, north Macedonia, Norway, Poland,

7:55 Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, and the United States. So I think that it’s pretty extensive, uh, day around the world. And, um, I’m pleased that our community has joined to do this. So, um, I’d like to make another statement after you discuss it, whether you could, you know, discuss whether you’re willing to do this again. Sure. Um, I mean, I think I remember very well you coming back la or coming to us last year, um, for it. And I think it’s, I think it’s terrific. Um, I, I, you know, I, I was, I sure remember I was very, I was very ill that day,

8:42 so I couldn’t attend. Um, but I, you know, I’ve, I’m, I think it’s a very worthy, um, uh, date honor As, as, um, you represented, uh, at Star of the Sea last, last week. I’d like to, and, and someone was represented last year from the board. I, I hope that one of the board will be able to attend, um, this and make some remarks. And the same would go for the evening. Um, we had someone there, so in fact, uh, it was Moses that came last year Okay. To, um, temple Manuel. But Rabbi Meyer is retired. They have an interim rabbi, but I’ve, I decided that would change the space. Yeah.

9:29 I’m sure that we can. Um, we’d be happy to. Great. So you’ve got time to discuss it, but I’m gonna look at you, uh, Thatcher, because, uh, with the budget season fast approaching, and you all are gonna decide on it, but I guess he’s got the Magic Pen. I read it write And, uh, realizing that budgeting is tight, I would like to respectfully request if the Select Board consider could consider funding a thousand dollars out of your budget to the task force so that we can continue supporting Indigenous People’s Day, pride Day Juneteenth, as well as Holocaust Remembrance Day. We have been raising money, going to the banks, going to even one of the students went to her,

10:15 her, her physician, her her doc to ask for ask for money. He was very generous. But I don’t think that that’s where this belongs. I I really think that we as a community should be able to spare a thousand dollars that we can then participate with like $200 to each event. Mm-Hmm. And, uh, there are others that could give, you know, a little bit too. So I, I, um, would like to ask that, make that request. Okay. Where’s that magic pen? Thank, thank you. Thank you very much. I Just wanted, so I noticed that it’s out outdoors. Did you want, um, is are, if you would ever like, move it indoors if there was a weather event?

11:01 Well, certainly last year it was pretty cold and, and Right. And Wendy, we tried to light, uh, some candles and Right. We weren’t very successful. Um, I’m gonna meet, uh, with people that are going to be presenting the program Mm-Hmm. Um, if they feel that it would be safer indoors, would that be appropriate?

11:24 We Close at one, right. Aha. On Friday, we, we were done by, by one, be we, I called it for noon, because I know that, that a lot of the other, um, uh, um, offices close at 1230 mm-Hmm. And I figured that, um, that that would give people a half hour to get here, the various people, various departments if they wanted to come. So, uh, we were done way before one o’clock. It was, but Okay. Yeah. So, I mean, potentially That it was nice outside could, because Yeah. I mean, we can work it out as we get closer Inside last year, because it was pretty cold then, then. Yeah. Excuse me. Buildings, we’re here till one o’clock, so Yeah. If it’s done by one and there’s space available upstairs or wherever you,

12:12 I would think we could accommodate that. Alright. Good. Well then we’ll talk about that because, uh, it was cold and Windy. Yeah, I can imagine. That was just, It just happened to be a cold day. It was, I remember I had my hood on and everything. Yeah. So, um, Okay. Well, great. So, um, okay. So I will ask for a, um, a motion to proclaim annually January 27th as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and to sign the proclamation as prepared and, uh, to allow for the task force, uh, to use, uh, the Abbott Hall grounds or, uh, building Friday, uh, morning to set up

12:58 on January 26th. So moved. Okay. All in favor? Okay. Thank you very much.

13:08 Have a good rest of the night. Thanks. You too. Thank you.

13:12 Okay, so we have, um, the measure of leather interviews next. Um, I, let’s see. So

13:24 are we, do we want called call ‘em up at the same time? Or Do you guys want Well, there’s two candidates, so yeah, normally you would Go one, normally ask somebody to, to leave. I don’t, But I Think know that we need to do that in the situation. I Think that more traditionally happens when it’s more in depth. Yes. Uh, So Numerous questions being asked, Going in alphabetical order. I’ll ask, um, Amy, uh, Lia. Elia Lia. Okay. Thanks. Um, if you would like to come up and join us at the table. Sure.

14:01 Hi. Welcome. Hi. Nice to meet you. Yes. Our daughters went to high school together. I don’t know if you remember that. Sure. Oh yeah. Great. Yeah. So we’ve read your, um, that, your interesting background and letter and resume. Uh, so if you just wanted to tell us a little bit about yourself and why it is you’d like to serve in this role. Sure. So I first, um, I was on the marblehead.org website over the summer, and I was looking, I can’t remember quite what I was looking up. I live really close to the Gary School, which has been a big development project. So I think I was kind of trying to look up some information about that. And I then, when I saw volunteer opportunities, it really piqued my interest. And I saw the measure of leather roll,

14:49 and I did a few Google searches and really didn’t come up with much. I think I came across the, came across the 1913 New York Times article, um, about New Jersey trying to do a workaround. And, and then it sort of fell off my radar. And it was when you posted on Facebook, um, the list of opportunities. And I was, I still wasn’t able to sort of find out specifically what this was. And, and so, um, but I have, as I mentioned in my letter, I’ve always felt a real affinity to the town’s history to footwear and shoemaking. And I’ve spent 30 years of, in my career, my, my whole entire life, um, working in the footwear industry.

15:34 Um, and I have some professional affiliations with that industry. It’s been, it’s been a little bit sad for me, sort of bittersweet to see what’s happened with a lot of our Boston based footwear brands. Um, there’s been a lot of mergers and acquisitions and some of the real greats, um, have sort of fallen by the wayside. But, um, as I mentioned, I just have always kind of felt this, this connection and I have a real love of, of footwear and, um, and certainly measuring leather is a big part of my day-to-day job, so. Okay, great. Thank you. There was just an article in the globe about the C*****g Center. You guys see that? Oh, I saw that. Yeah. We’re getting lost there. But it was the biggest shoe factory

16:21 Yes. In, in the world, I think, at one point, or the shoe. Yep. So, um, okay. Well, thank you so much. Is there any questions from the board or, um, Okay. Sadly, uh, some of the local tanneries have also gone by the wayside. I think I visited Prime up in New Hampshire before they closed down. But, um, I mean, it’s, it’s an incredible local history that we have with that. And so, as I mentioned in my letter also, I, my, our kids are grown and I have felt sort of at this, like, what’s next in this next sort of chapter of my life and, and volunteering or serving the community in some way. And this felt like a, an interesting kind of, um, connection and a nice way to perhaps become more involved. Right. So,

17:10 excellent. Well, thanks for your consideration so much. Thanks for Volunteering. Yeah. If you just, um, have a seat Sure. And hang out for a few minutes. And, um, Mr. Ruco, Brian, you could join us at the table.

17:35 In 2005, my family moved to town and my son went up to Fort Sewell and bugged me for years. And in 2011, I joined Glover’s Regiment with him. One of the first things that I did with Glover’s Regiment besides, um, becoming accustomed to, uh, the history of the town and Glover himself, was people, um, ended up putting me to work. So I started making leather canteens that were historically accurate. They’re lined with boiling, uh, pine pitch. The outside is melted beeswax, and the stitching is all done by hand with linen thread.

18:22 The rope work was all done by hand, and the wood was taken from one of the local, um, um, areas to hike in. And so I turned that on my lathe. So I got busy with that. And as things progressed, this bag I made, uh, about a year ago, I, uh, decided to dive into a few other things that were leather related, but had a little bit more artistic value to them. Wow. So I take this over here, which is a, uh, piece of vean leather there really, um, there are a few different types of leather, but the main, uh, focus that I use is veg tan leather,

19:08 which was what shoes were made of back then. Interestingly enough, uh, I also sell real estate, and we just sold the cobbler shop in town. And where did all of his machinery go? Your garage? My garage, yes. So I take, uh, basically veg tan leather, and there’s lots of measuring. I turn them into belts. I take veg tan leather and turn them into bags. Um, and so with my hobby of leather working, I figured that and, and my, uh, connection to the town with Glover’s regiment, I saw that, uh, the measure of leather was open. And I thought, how neat would that be? That would be kind of fun to do.

19:56 And I’m fully versed in it. And, and if I find someone who is selling leather, and just so you know, there’s no conflict of interest. I don’t sell leather in a role. I only sell products. But I can tell you that if I find someone selling leather and the wrong measurements are there, I can find them $12 up to $55. And if I am lucky enough to be named measure of leather, of Marblehead, I’m actually allowed to go into other towns and measure leather. So I’m, I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited about it. I think it will go along well with what I do as a hobby. And thank you for your time. Thank you so much.

20:43 Do you have any questions volunteering? Yeah. Do you have any questions? No, no. It’s beautiful artwork. Yeah. It’s, uh, well, thank you. Craftsmanship. Excuse Me. Thank you very much. Yeah, that’s great that all. I see some pictures online on Facebook, but to see it in person’s a completely different, uh, Does my shop smells great. It’s like the best smell. Okay. And just, I did bring some measuring devices if you’d like to see Anybody here. Yeah. You two are probably the only two that know how to actually measure. Right. ‘cause A lot of leather is actually sold by ounces. So when you, when you buy leather, it’s sold in four to five ounce, seven to nine ounce, and it’s also sold in length. So this is a very old way to measure the ounces of weather. Mm-Hmm.

21:29 Great. Alright. Thank you. You’re very welcome. Okay. So, um, I’ll ask for a motion to place both names into nomination with the term to expire in June, 2024. So moved second. Okay. All in favor? Um, okay. Difficult Two very qualified candidates. Yes. Um,

21:59 This is a very, uh, difficult decision. I think both, both of these applicants, um, have great strong background in the relevant measuring of leather responsibilities. And, um,

22:17 yeah. So, um, you know, it’s, I I, I guess I am wondering, you know,

22:27 how people feel about appointing both Applicants. I believe, I believe we can appoint two. So under the statute, according To the law master law, um, chapter 95, section one, um, uh, the selectman of a town upon the request of two or more voters thereof, shall annually appoint. So it’s a one year appointment, one or more measures of leather. So One or more, the option Is available. I think that’s outstanding. No, it’s Okay. Yeah. You guys Throw my hat in the ring. What do you have in your bag?

23:11 Okay. Yeah. I think, um, it’s been great to have the enthusiasm and, and community interest around this position. I think it’s, um, uh, drummed up a lot of conversation and, and, and interest. And, um, so I, I appreciate both of you coming forward and, you know, wanting to serve the town and where we’re able to, uh, uh, appoint both of you equally, you know, qualified and, and capable of, of, of serving the town in this way. Um, you know, I’d, I’d ask for, uh, I guess why, why Did I make a suggestion that we do have to measure leather? You handle chrome tan leather, Leather, and I’ll Handle the VE tank.

23:57 I never order leather based in weight. I do square meters, square feet. I, I’m equally comfortable with the metric system and certainly inches and feet. And, uh, I also have, uh, quite a few, um, temper gauges and thickness gauges as well. So I think, we’ll, we Can, we will have every aspect of this, this covered. I think this is a big win. Okay. So, um, I mean, typically we, we’ve placed both the names and denominations. So, um, Yeah. A motion to appoint both Amy and Brian, uh, to the position for one year of measure of letter. I’ll second that motion. Okay. This is a roll, roll call. Vote.

24:45 Uh, I don’t know why it’s a roll call. It’s not a, oh, okay. All in favor? All in. Congratulations. Thank You. Congratulations And vote. Congratulations, Brian. Thank you. This is, this is excellent. Yes. Just for clarification for everybody. So all the terms generally end on June 30th. So the ex the expiration would be June 30th, 2024. So you’re, you’re filling the balance of a vacant position. So then the usual annual appointments will come up at that time. I Have a question. Um, Sure. Do I Get it back? You can get to make one. Yes. Right.

25:26 And don’t forget to get sworn in across the hall. Yes. Uh, before you begin your official duties. Amazing. And, uh, and, and, and again, like yourself, I saw that New York Times article about New Jersey trying to find a way around it, but I also found out I didn’t realize that Peabody was once the leather capital of the world. I mean, I knew it was always a big leather, but I didn’t realize it was, it was that big. But we also remember, I live in a house that was for a cord waner, you know, which was a shoemaker, you know, and, uh, used to be owned by the Bassett. ‘cause he actually bought a lot of the houses in my neighborhood and actually rented them out to his employees so that they could get down to there. So Marble Head has a big shoe making and leather connection, so thank you for carrying that Condi, you know, tradition. And, uh, hopefully, uh, Don Daher. And, you know, Pam Peterson will do some more research into this.

26:14 ‘cause I don’t know the last time we actually appointed this, this, this position. So that’d be interesting to, to learn more about it. And certainly there could be some nice crossover with the historical, um, and cultural Mm-Hmm. Commission. Yes. Yes. Okay. So, um, Madam Chair, that the former measure of weather, John Smith for 30 odd years has offered to mentor whoever The board. Oh, that’s great. Yes. I Can forward your emails. And he was very involved as family owned, um, Cameras. Okay, great. Yes. And Puberty also, he’s, Could somebody say what a measure of weather does?

26:57 Um, it’s, it’s a statutory requirement in Massachusetts for all municipalities to point a measure of leather who just does just that. Right. Regulate regulates the price and, and, and, and, or not price, but I’m sorry, weight and, um, and quality thickness and quality of the leather. It was to validate that whoever was selling leather Was legitimate cutting people. Yeah. Literally. Literally. Yes. Yeah. They had factories in, they used to make shoes. Rockaway. Yeah. So it’s like a regulatory roll.

27:31 So you want to hear an interesting fact. We have a couple of bikes, so we, so people Yeah. I’m sorry. This is for our huge audience at home. Yes. So, uh, my wife, uh, her, her main business is managing Airbnbs here in town. And we, uh, we have one on High Street that was once a cobbler shop. And on three different occasions, the owner of the house stated that she woke up one night and there was a cobbler standing at the end of her bed, or a man standing at the end of her bed with a leather apron on. She watched him walk outside down the stairs, op go through the front door, didn’t open it through the front door and down the street. And years later, when she had moved out and they had rented the house to some tenants,

28:20 she got an an odd phone call saying that there was someone watching her sleep and ended up going downstairs and disappearing. And then years later, another tenant that no one, and no one knew each other, said the same exact thing. So, uh, interesting that it’s a cobbler shop and that those were reported. And it’s almost Halloween. It’s October in New England. Yes.

28:46 Thank you. Thank you both for volunteering. Thank you very much. Okay. Um, next, uh, we, we have a sign applicant for a sign permit. Yep. Yes. Yes. Um, Tim Wig. Sweeter. W**r. Yep. W**r. Okay. Yes. We have the picture, we have your letter, and we have, um, a picture of or depiction of the sign proposed. Yep. And, um, yeah, so just, uh, if you wanna just kind of, you know, share us a little bit about your business and or like the sign Sure. Request. Um, in June, I purchased 1 34 Washington Street, unit four. Um, it was a shop selling kind of all different things.

29:33 And I’ve been dealing with antiques and documents and manuscripts and ephemera for a number of years. And I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to liquidate my vast collection. Um, and basically my interest is to sell Marblehead history. I have a lot of stuff that, uh, is Marblehead centric, so I brought some samples, if you wanna take a look at it. I mean, I got, uh, a ship’s log from 1804 for Captain John Hooper for the Ship Harem. I got, um, broadsides for the District of Marblehead from the late eight 17 hundreds. I got, uh, Elbridge Gary Letters. So this is the type of of thing I’m gonna be selling. Okay. It’s gonna be kind of high end, um, not open all the time.

30:21 And just marblehead related items, really. I mean, I’m just gonna be some furniture, it’s gonna be other things, but really just focus on Marblehead stuff. So like, I’ve been collecting postcards, like the old postcards from like 1905 mm-Hmm. I’m just gonna sell those on a turnstile and people pick up the postcard and like, you go back in time when you walk in the door. I want people to feel like they go back in time. Very nice. So, you know, there’s gonna be some, there’s gonna be some nautical stuff and, uh, a bunch of stuff, but mainly Marland stuff. Give what’s the give give us a landmark, um, for your store, just so I, do You know where the new bookstore is? Yes. Okay. Right next to the right. Great. Right. She’s on the little, she’s on the north side of the building. That’s great. I’m on the south side of the building. That’s great. So what material is the sign? Uh, to be native of

31:08 My intentions were wood. Okay. I mean, I think it looked, we have to give it a much thought, to be honest with you. Other than I, I know I had to get it approved by you folks, I guess, but, uh, yeah. It’s in the dimensions. Yep. Yeah. Three feet by two feet. Yep. Which is a pretty standard size. I think it’s the same size as FL Wood side. Mm-Hmm. Um, and so, yeah, my, my intention would be wood, just because that’s what you’re supposed to do in Old top. Yep. Okay. So just, um, just for those interested, this is in the old and historic district, but because of the size of the sign is, um, not larger than two by three feet, uh, it does re it doesn’t require OHDC approval, but requires the select board approval. Correct. So, does anybody have any questions? Nope. Okay. So I’d like a motion to approve the request from Tim W**r to 1 26 Front Street

31:56 for an overhanging sign for Old Town Antiques at 1 34 Washington Street, unit four, subject to receipt of the required sign permit and certificate of liability naming the town as additionally insured. So moved second. All in favor? Excellent. Thanks. Okay, great. Can’t wait to check it Out. Yeah, I can. Well, hopefully in April. That’s my goal. April. Oh, is that when you’re April next year. I don’t wanna rush into it because quite frankly, we’re peeling back the layers inside the building, and the building gets built in the late 17 hundreds. And there’s another part early 18 hundreds. And so there’s some wide beams and stuff that we’re gonna expose. And there’s two fireplaces. One was covered up, and so we’re re exposing them and just kind of really trying to bring it back to what it was. Yeah. What a great addition down there. Yeah. We Can’t have enough for you. That’s what I’d say, so

32:42 That’s Great. No, you had mentioned the liability. I already submitted that. That’s part of my application, right? Or is that something I need to Do? Um, that Yeah, Ms. Wiley. Right. Okay. So I don’t, so you’re on, you have it right. Okay. Just wanna make sure you have it. Okay. We just have to have in motion. Okay. Yeah. Just making sure I have all my ducks in a row. Thanks, Tim. Thank you. Good luck getting it all set up. I know it’s gonna be a lot of work, but it’ll be fun. That’s Exciting. Thank you for Your time. Um, okay. We have an interview, um, for cultural council. Jeannie Stahl. Hi. Oh, hi, Jeannie. Hi. Um, so just we, uh, welcome. Thank you tonight and Thank you. Welcome. For your interest. Uh, this is, um, and, and you referenced you have spoken with Anthony Silvas. I imagine, you know, and understand the role pretty well. You just want, well,

33:30 I didn’t speak to him a lot about it, but a little bit. Oh, Okay. So, um, do you wanna just, uh, you know, tell us about your interest in it? Well, I feel I’d like to give something back to the town, and I thought that this was a good match for me. Mm-Hmm. Because I’m a musician and this is the arts. Exactly. I’ve worked with museums, you know, I, um, I haven’t, I’ve dealt with getting grants. I’ve been on the receiving and not the giving end. You know, this would just be a good, uh, match for my skills. Excellent. Yeah. That’s great. Yeah. I think we had a couple, um, You saw my letter, right? Yes. We all have that. Sorry if I didn’t say that. Yep. Um, this, I think you’ll be a great addition. And we did have a couple people just stepped down so, so timely that you submitted your letter of interest. It,

34:17 Thanks to the, uh, the current or whoever Lists, You know, the volunteer positions that are open. That’s where I saw it, right? Yes. Thank you. Um, okay. So I will ask for a motion to appoint, uh, Jeannie Stall to the Cultural Council with a term to expire in June, 2026. So moved. Second. All in favor. Congratulations. Thank you. Thanks for volunteering. Yeah, thank you. Looking forward to doing it. Yes. And giving money away.

34:45 Okay. Oh, we have our Marblehead, uh, counseling center renovations. I’d like to invite Ron Grier and Ruth Ferguson to the table to tell us a little bit about your renovation plan.

35:02 We have, we have some, um, drawings here. Mm-Hmm.

35:08 Do you want start? Sure. Thank you, Aaron. So, without, I’m not an architect, thank goodness. We had, uh, Craig Bosworth in town here donated his design services to us. So we feel very good with the work that he did. At its core, what we’re trying to do is center all our administrative activities downstairs and only have counseling, therapy, behavioral services on second and third floor. The reason why we have to modify the first floor, which was all open, essentially, is that now we have people, administrative people who are, uh, processing, uh, insurance claims. And due to reasons for hipaa,

35:57 we have to be very sensitive. In fact, I think the town health department was involved in pointing that out to us, or they had an auditor or something. Right. Uh, Thatcher, I’m not Something like that. I don’t know the details, but I know the health department. Yeah. So that, that brought it to light. So we’re trying to, one wall, put up one wall where those folks are behind a wall. Uh, there’s a lot of confidential information that’s being shared about insurance payment, et cetera, that takes care of that. Then relocate our chief business officer or our business manager from the second floor down to the first floor. Put her down there where she supervises all this, these staff, she can be enclosed as well.

36:43 So there’s a number of doors that would also go with the two walls. And we had, um, as I said, uh, Craig Bosworth come, and he was superb. So really, this is his, we just said, this is what we need to do. He said, here’s where I think it’d be least expensive and meet the, the purposes. So I just want to give, we want to give a really big shout out to Craig Bosworth for donating his services locally, which we rely on for so many things at the center. So, that’s it in a nutshell. Great. I would like to take the opportunity here. I’m Ruth Ferguson. Mm-Hmm. President, uh, vice president of the board to thank the select board for,

37:29 uh, designating the Marblehead Counseling Center for the golf tournament, the annual, the semi-annual golf tournament at Tedesco. We had it on Monday. It was a glorious day, and we had a record number of players and a record number of sponsors. So we’re good. We’re all very happy about it, and we’re very grateful for that. Thanks. Good. Great. Thank you. And I would be remiss if I didn’t also thank Thatcher, Becky, the building, you know, we really got folks together and it, so this is, uh, the results of the court, the collaboration with the town. So, so I was gonna add, and Becky and I took a tour. We, they graciously gave us a tour to look through so we can visualize what,

38:15 what the effort is. Um, one of the, one of the questions I had and answer as far as maintaining accessibility for people with disabilities to be able to go into the areas that are currently designated for, right. For that type. So, in other words, designed for a wheelchair and such to be able to navigate through. So that those, one of the questions that’s been thought out, which is good, um, based on what they’re looking to do, it doesn’t create any permanent change to the structure. So it’s just, it’s walls and everything. None of ‘em are supporting walls. So if there’s some other future use for that facility Mm-Hmm. And the the needs change, the, the walls can easily be, be removed and reconfigured. So, um, it, it hit, hits all the spots, and then as part of your package is, uh,

39:05 segments of the lease agreement that articulates the allowances for this with board’s approval to, to make these type of changes at their expense. Um, but so it’s, as part of the lease agreement, it’s all consistent with that.

39:23 Okay. Yeah. Um, sounds like a, a great plan. I’m sure I, Craig has laid it out really nicely for it to be functional and comply with HIPAA and update a non-traditional, uh, um, space into a, uh, real clinical, um, uh, clinical space for, for, for The work and should say important, should grateful for the, excuse me. Uh, we’re grateful for the APA funds that have helped enabled us to be able to do this and the Board of Health. Mm-Hmm. That’s great. Boys are our strongest. Yeah, that’s great. Keep our budget.

40:10 No. Um, okay. So I’ll ask for a motion in accordance with the lease for the Sam Hobbs Memorial building to approve the request from the Marble Lake Counseling Center to make the renovations to the building at 66 Clifton Ave. As presented and at no cost to the town. So Moved. Uh, second. All in favor. Great. Thank you. Thank you. So Another item, right? Yes, that’s right. Sorry. He’s still on the agenda. Yes. Okay. Um, So that item, shall I Address this is the surplus property. Yes. Why don’t you just, uh, Well, you know, Thatcher is, uh, when we were giving him the tour tour, one of the first things he noticed was the stove. Wow. What is this? Uh, so when the town got the property, obviously it was a, it was a home.

40:56 Mm-Hmm. In future renovations, again, on the first floor, we’d like to be able to turn this, what was the kitchen space into maybe conference space, maybe place for group sessions. Mm-Hmm. Um, but there’s just gigantic. Do you think it’s as almost as big as this table? Not quite three quarters of your table you’re sitting at and it’s got, it’s quite wide. It really cast iron. Yeah. Ca cast iron. And we have no use for it. We don’t believe the town would have a use for it, uh, based on what Becky and Thatcher was saying. But there is a process Mm-Hmm. Before we, we just can’t get somebody to dismantle it. It’s town property.

41:43 We need to follow the surplus property with loss. Right. So we can hopefully clear up some space. Yeah. So we saw, and, and they were asking what they could do. So again, because it’s it’s part of the town property came with the building. So I suggested, send me a letter requesting that it’d be surplus. And that’s what’s being presented here. And then, uh, we’ll, I’m sure just being cast iron and such, it’ll be of some value. Mm-Hmm. And you’ll go, if I understand it right, do you have a municipal, you mentioned a municipal website. Website where you Can bid it up? Everybody Can, because it may be somebody who knows. Could You end up in that antique store on, uh, You I’ll talk to him on the way.

42:30 Yeah. Well, I can imagine it’d be nice to have the space reclaimed for your purposes there. Yes. Yes. Going down the road, there’s A conference table in there that somebody donated at one point, but you kind of walk in sideways and sit and, Okay, well, let’s make you some more room. Okay. I’ll ask for a motion to declare the following items as surplus and no longer needed for municipal purpose, so that it may be disposed of in accordance with the town’s policy on surplus equipment. One oven stove at 66 Clifton. So moved. Uh, second. All in favor. Alright, great. That’s exciting. Thank you for bringing, uh, thank you for coming tonight and, and sharing with us. Thank you for your support. Thank you.

43:11 Okay. Um, next is a, um,

43:16 a one day liquor license request for the Marblehead Friends of the Performing Arts, uh, for their fundraising gala. It’s right here. It’s a self-explanatory letter. Um, here it’s November 2nd, 2023. So I’ll ask for a motion to approve the request from Don Weed Marblehead Friends of Public Schools for a one day liquor license for Thursday, November 2nd, 2023 from seven to 10:00 PM at the King Hooper Mansion, eight Hooper Street for fundraising gala, subject to the following conditions, delivery of and receipt by the licensing authority of the required fee, $50 delivery of and receipt by the licensing authority of proof that the alcohol will be purchased from an authorized source, proof that the applicant can receive proper delivery, provide proper storage and disposal of all alcoholic beverages purchased. All in accordance with the requirements of general law. Chapter 1 38, alcohol will be purchased from cap’s importing.

44:03 So moved. Second. Okay. Poll vote. All right, Mr. Nye in favor, Mr. Murray. In favor, Ms. Newton, Uh, in favor. Um, next we have, um, a, a contract for the, um, historic properties in the Preston Beach and Clifton neighborhood. And I guess I’ll throw it over to you, Thatcher. Sure. Just kind of give us an update on this. So for this agenda, we actually have three separate contract items. So, uh, there’s a following page. Oh, yeah. The building, the garage. So in this first instance, um, Bre Keran working with, um, the, um, Preston Beach and, and Clifton neighborhood. They,

44:48 uh, using, uh, his Mass historic commission funds. And, um, the, um, what’s the other, I’m trying to find in the text here. There’s matching funds from the historic commission as well as a grant in order to do a study of historic properties in the Preston Beach and Clifton neighborhood. And so, um, the, uh, with this funding that hire a consultant, John Clemson, who actually is, uh, uh, along with the approval of the Mass Historic Commission, uh, for the use of this consultant, he specializes in, in, in these type of studies, uh, to, to, um, conduct a historic property survey, uh, in that neighborhood.

45:35 That’s great. There are some really older homes, especially down in the water. They’re like, almost summer, old summer cottages, and, um, so that’s great. Okay. Any questions? No. Okay. Um, let’s see. Okay. So we’ll vote them separately. There’s, So that’s just the fir Yeah. First one. So in the first, um, as a motion to award a contract to John Clemson for the historic properties in the Preston Beach and Clifton Neighborhood Survey Project in the amount of $40,000, and authorize the chair to sign the contract on behalf of the board. So, moved a second. All in favor. Okay. And then we have some change orders. So these, uh, the next two change orders, you know, there was separately same contract who was working on both the Old Coast

46:22 building in the Hobbs garage, um, primarily painting. But, um, as, as we get into these projects and some of these buildings, there’s, um, repairs that need to be done, rotted, wood removed, things of that for, for repairs, and that’s what, uh, initiates these change orders. So, um, and these will close out, uh, the contract. So the first one is for the Oak Coast Building, um, for $2,554 and 54 cents, um, for a change order. I don’t know if you wanna do that, each one separately or, Um, or Yeah, We can continue. Or actually the motion suggests both. Yep. So again,

47:07 the Hobbs garage, uh, for $6,927 and 13 cents, same thing. It’s for, um, additional, uh, repairs and materials that were necessary to, to complete the project. Okay. So, um, so first, we’ll, I’ll ask for motion to amend the contract with Tom’s Painting and Con contracting services for the Ocos Building, painting and Repair, increasing the contract amount by two, um, $2,554, and authorized the chair to sign the change order on behalf of the board. And 54 cents and 54 cents. Thank you so Much. Second, myself. Second. All in favor? Okay. And ne next, um, with the Hobbs Garage, I’ll ask for a motion to amend the contract with Tom’s painting and contracting LLC for the Hobbs Garage Painting and Repair by increasing the contract amount

47:55 by 6,927 and dollars and 13 cents. And authorize the chair to sign the change order on behalf of the board. So Moved. Second. All in favor? Okay. Um, great. So next we have a letter from Larry Sands, who is the chair of our Fort Sewell Oversight Committee. And in his letter, he’s asking us to change, uh, the representation or designations, um, his designation, uh, within the committee. So his request is to change his representation from, uh, GMR, which is Glover’s Marblehead regimen to, um, old Marblehead Improvement Association. And then to add Seamus daily, a 14 Ridge Road to Marblehead as the Glover’s regimen, um,

48:43 representative. Um, so I’d just, um, like to, like a motion to approve this, request, the changes as represented, um, the changes in representation on the Fort Sole Oversight Committee, um, as requested by Larry Sands. So, moved. Second. All in favor? Great. Okay. Minutes. We have many minutes. Um, everyone’s gotten these in their email and had a chance to review them. I’ll ask for motion to approve the following minutes. September 27th, 2023. October 6th, 2023. October 11th, 2023. And October 16th, 2023. So, Moved. Second. All in favor? Okay.

49:35 Um, and next, uh, we have a request from Jenny put, uh, Putnam for use of Abbott Hall. Uh, this is to, um, hold an East Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony. So, I’d like a motion to approve this request from Jeannie Putnam to use Abbott Hall on Sunday, November of 19th, 2023 from noon to 4:00 PM for an Eagle Scout Court of honor, subject to the usual rules, regulations, fees, and required Cate certificate of insurance, and to waive the rental fee for the event. So moved. Second. All in favor, Madam Chair, if I may, um, if we can also send a letter, congratulations, um, to the Eagle Scout to Samuel Puttman.

50:20 Oh, yes. I’d like to make that motion. Okay. Um, I’ll second that. Um, all in favor? Okay. So we can, we’ll do that. And then, um, a one day liquor license from Maria Kins, uh, a bubble bar, I think. Yep. Boston Bubble Bar. Uh, this is a request for one day liquor license. Um, and I’ll ask for the motion. It is beer wine only for Saturday, December 2nd, 2023 from five to 7:00 PM at Abbott Hall. 180 8 Washington Street. Sorry,

51:02 It’s, is it two requests? Yeah, it’s Oh, for two locations. Okay. Um, both at Abbott Hall here and the Jeremiah Lee Manchin at 1 61 Washington Street for the Christmas Walk marketplace, subject to the following conditions. Delivery of and receipt by the licensing authority of the required fee of $50, delivery of, and receipt by the licensing authority of proof that the alcohol will be purchased from an authorized source, proof that the applicant can receive proper delivery, provide proper storage and disposal of all alcoholic beverages purchased. All in accordance with the requirements of general laws. Chapter 1 38. Alcohol is not allowed to be stored on premise overnight. Alcohol will be purchased from Horizon Liquors. Just, it, it is only at Abbott Hall. Oh, it is only at Abbott Hall. Okay. So, So scratch Jeremiah Lee. Okay.

51:51 So moved. Second. Uh, Mr. Murray In favor, Mr. Aye. In favor, Mr. Moon In favor.

52:04 So Let’s see. I just have a letter of interest. Oh, this is great. Uh, letter of interest for the Affordable Housing Trust from Fund from Sheena, Nancy sars. Um, So there’s one vacancy listed on the website, And there’s one vacancy, and it’s been out for a while. So, um, we could bring her into maybe, um, what, what, what, how do we feel about moving forward to kind of fill this process around, this process out with the vacancy on the Affordable Housing Trust fund? I think that Vacancy’s been announced for quite some time, so, Right. So generally you would still accept ‘em until November 3rd? Yep. And then, and then have interviews on the eighth. Okay. So

52:50 Let’s, let’s plan on that. But what day We meeting 15? I was gonna say we change on Oh, okay. So keep them, uh, it applications open until, until the 10th. Keep it open the 10th, and then the 15th. Okay. Okay. That sounds good. Good. Thanks. And then 1230 in your office on the 10th just to cut off? Or what’s your end business day on the 10th? Yeah, I mean, we won’t be in that day anyways. Oh, so do Thursday then. Okay. I just have my email. I, I would go by email. Yeah. Okay. However, it’s, they put it in the mail outside. Okay. Yeah. Great. Um, that brings us to public comment. If anybody has any public comment, um, just raise your hand or step forward.

53:37 Okay. Um, town Administrator updates. Mr. Keer? Yes. Thank you. It’s my favorite part of the meetings. Uh, I just wanna cover, um, um, few items. One, uh, I had attended, uh, the Lieutenant Governor’s Listening Tour on October 13th, Friday afternoon. Um, uh, along with a, a number of other municipal officials from, from around the region, excuse me. Um, the purpose was of the, the Governor’s listening Tour is to, uh, listen to municipal officials about issues and things that hopefully the, the current administration would, um, get some ideas to engage with. And,

54:22 but the rules were outside of the normal, you know, requests for more local aid, sort of the usual list of, of, of requests. Um, the, among other things, a couple of the items I brought up, uh, as suggestions. One was, uh, asking the state to create a municipal building assistance fund, similar to the school, uh, building Assistance fund or program in which the state helps, uh, support the, uh, construction of new or renovations of school buildings to do a similar program for municipal buildings. So that, uh, you know, uh, town hall here is not an issue, but the, the other municipal building police fire stations, DPW facilities,

55:09 those type facilities, the idea being, uh, if with state assistance, uh, taking some of the burden off of the individual communities will help get support within the communities to fund these type of projects. Um, and then what I suggested also is that the state come up with a, with a financing scheme, uh, you know, they do the borrowing to allow the payback period for municipalities be extended beyond the normal, typically 20 or 30 years, so that the annual cost, uh, for these projects would be spread out and, and therefore more manageable. And on an yearly basis, uh, what I propose is, uh, I suggest is municipal governments are expected to exist into perpetuity.

55:59 We will exist forever. Uh, our buildings have life cycles, you know, 50 plus years. So allowing us to extend out the financing low is the burdens at the local level to allow us, I also injected that, that suggestion into our challenges for future workforce, hiring people looking, whether they’re interested in going into municipal government for jobs, and if they’re moving into some of the buildings, you know, some of Marblehead elsewhere, and look at, they’ll pick other places to work, uh, based on that, uh, as well as allowing the, you know, newer buildings to configuration to be designed for today’s municipal services delivery. So, anyways, they was, seemed to be well received.

56:46 We had the lieutenant governor, the Secretary of Administration finance, and, and the head of, uh, uh, the division of local services who works with municipalities, uh, in there. So, so that was the thoughts. The other suggestion I gave was, um, uh, given our recent challenges of looking at our financial software systems, where we looked at a number of different vendors and what put us on the, the vendor that everybody else is on. Uh, part of the reason that, that we couldn’t go with some of the other vendors was that the requirements from the Department of Revenue for municipal reporting, these vendors can’t, uh, they’d have to re-engineer their software to be compliant with dors

57:34 requirements for reporting. So I suggested that DOR look at the, the requirements they’re imposing on municipalities, make it easier for additional vendors to meet those requirements so that we would have more competition in the information financial systems help lower our cost, uh, make, make the reporting requirements easier. So again, I think, I think that was well received. So there were plenty of other good ideas of, of, of other people, but that those were my injections, you know, really based on some of the challenges we’re facing here. Yeah. Um, and the Lieutenant Governor was pleased with the turnout on a very beautiful Friday, the 13th afternoon of municipal officials. Uh, but it was well worth it.

58:23 Um, the other update, couple updates from, uh, involves our police department, um, uh, projects, the locker room project has been completed. Uh, so what they’ve done is they’ve taken out whatever the locker systems they’ve had and completely redone, uh, the whole locker rooms for the, for the officers. And the lockers that they got are, are wider and deeper for all of their needs and equipment, uh, on that. But the, the additional good news is the additional effort by the police officers themselves on working on the project, uh, generated a savings of $6,500 on the project. So our officers stepped in, did their part, and,

59:10 and, and saved funds, you know, saved, saved money for the town on the installation and, and the work that was there. So a, a job well done. The other good news for the police, uh, Marblehead received another Safe Routes to School Lines and Signs grant for $9,000, which is more than what we’ve been getting in the past. And this would, uh, allow for more signs, thermo plastic crosswalks in the streets, and additional pedestrian signs making the, the roots around our schools safer. So I think, I think it was typically a $6,000 grant. We’re now getting $9,000 grant, so great work by the police. Um, next item, uh, we are, we are doing the onboarding for, I think they call themselves I oh four, uh, in an oh four is the new, uh, vendor you approve. The, the, the contract,

1:00:00 the interim contract, um, to, uh, it’s replacing e plus for our network support, desktop support, firewall support, uh, services. Again, this came out of, um, Marblehead, uh, looking to join the, the, the municipal collaborative It collaborative. It’s, it’s hosted outta Danvers. Um, so the contractors who them, again, were doing the interim and we’re waiting for them to vote, they were scheduled to vote the collaborative to allow Marblehead in this month. They had a meeting, there were a number of members missing, so they held off voting, but based on the feedback that, uh, the members were there, were generally in support of having Marblehead join.

1:00:46 So as soon as they have their next meeting and everybody is available to attend, we, we expect to be voted into that collaborative and make this, uh, permanent arrangement. Um, already we’re seeing, uh, you know, improvements in the handling of trouble tickets, um, which, um, of them handling trouble tickets takes more, takes the burden off of our internal staff, uh, having to try to troubleshoot and solve problems. Um, so we’re already, you know, seeing improvement in, in, in that one area. We’re closing out the invoices and the, and the work projects with, with the previous vendor, so that, that, that part’s going smoothly also. And then I guess my, my, my final just, uh, FYI for the board, so I’ve been doing this, I think this is my third or fourth time that once a year I get asked, um,

1:01:36 by the Collins Center, which runs the training programs at the Fire Academy in sto. So yesterday I spent the afternoon in STO teaching a class to, to new fire chiefs or new deputy Chiefs. Um, my, my, my piece of it is, uh, is titled Intergovernmental Affairs, but I talk to them as, as a former mayor, as now as a town administrator, as somebody who’s overseeing and managed fire departments for quite some time, in addition to my military experience, uh, teaching new chiefs, uh, how to communicate to their, you know, their, their executives. Uh, what is it that we look for, what type of information, you know, I talk about, um, uh, crisis communication versus deliberative communication.

1:02:23 There was two different styles of communication, deliberative being, you know, budget planning and needs, you know, sort of in meetings. And then there’s how do you communicate when you’re an incident commander in a fire? What information does a, does a mayor or administrator somebody? What do they need to know? When do they know it? You know, those type of things. So absolutely enjoy it. Um, and now I have the benefit of sharing, you know, town administration experiences along with city administration, along with military experience of how to communicate and interact and work with others in different scenarios. So That’s my update. Great. Thank you. Those were really thoughtful, um, suggestions to the governor’s, uh,

1:03:10 administration that would be very impactful here if they were to be, you know, kind of pursued from the state level that that was really, um, that was thoughtful. Well, we have a lieutenant governor who knows exactly what I was talking about based on her, her experience. So, Yeah. Okay. Um, yep.

1:03:33 Oh, yes, yes, yes. One other item, which is in your package. Uh, an update, uh, Dan Elbit has submitted, uh, as you know, he’s our, um, MBTA, uh, our Marble Heads representative on the MBTA advisory board. So I just wanna make note that, um, his update is in there in regard to the efforts of the MBTA, primarily around electrification, uh, of services, uh, on that. So I wanna make sure to bring attention to that, appreciate, uh, the feedback on those activities. Great, thank you. Thanks. Any comments from the board? Mm-Hmm. Okay. So, um, can You mention that or do you want me to, or

1:04:18 Uh, go ahead. Uh, I just wanna remind folks that tomorrow night, oh, right. If you go to the website, uh, it’s under the planning. If you go to the calendar, it’s at 7:30 PM uh, it’s an online, uh, zoom meeting for the MBTA, um, you know, community zoning, you know, presentation. So again, I, I would say anybody, you know, again, it’s a good precursor to what’s gonna be presented at town meeting. Um, I think there’d be a lot of information that even the four of us, you will learn. Um, so I would really engage or recommend everybody, uh, tune in if they can, or watch the recording when it’s available. Yes. Yeah, That’s great. It’s, um, presented by the planning board and the town planner’s been working really hard to synthesize the information and help to educate and put

1:05:05 together this, um, kind of webinar, uh, styled first information session. And I know that she has plans to have a very, uh, shortly thereafter follow up in person, uh, forum where it can be a little bit more hands on around maps and, um, visioning, uh, and, and, and feedback in that way. And, um, thank you to our reporter, Willow, for helping us to publicize that forum.

1:05:38 Any announcements?

1:05:43 I don’t think of anything. When is our next meet our next meeting? 15th of November 15th. Are we doing one meeting right now? As of now, or, okay. Okay. Um, well, so, um, motion? No adjourn. So moved. Um, second. All in favor. Great. They are adjourned. I.