Select Board: February 28, 2024

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 Ready? Yes. Okay. There we are. Okay. I’d like to bring this meeting to order. Uh, we have a 16 agenda, uh, item agenda tonight. Uh, I also want to, uh, announce that this meeting is being recorded via Zoom, and what we’d like to do is get going right away and invite, uh, Michael Ward and his team at the, of the Edwards Collins Center for a Charter review. And I, and I think, uh, before you get started, uh, Michael, we wanna apologize for the miscue. Last time the agenda kind of ran away from us, and, uh, and we appreciate you coming back. So, No, not a problem. We, we know that this, that sort of thing happens, uh, uh, all the time, so, understood. If the audience wants to turn their, uh, oh yeah. Chairs so you can see might be helpful.

0:49 You can move all the chairs, whatever you want. Do whatever you need. Yeah. Yeah. Have yet to have a It will on the screen. Yes. You Need, you good? Okay.

1:02 Can, can folks here? Yep. Yep. No, I think we’re just, uh, give us one, one minute and we’ll be okay. Be ready to go. And we have a very brief PowerPoint, so if, uh, whoever’s manning the, uh, the Zoom could, could, uh, enable screen share, that’d be great. Perfect to, and we’ve got a, we’ve got a, a good screen here, so we’ll be able to, to see it all. Mike, do you have it on? Do you have screen share available? You should, Yep, I do. Excellent. Okay. Okay. Take it away. Alright, Great. Alright. I’m, I’m gonna, uh, pull up, uh, well, actually first all we’ll introduce yourselves, then I’ll, I’ll pull it up. So, uh, thank you all, uh, thank you to the board members of the public. Uh, it’s, it’s a, um, a pleasure to be here. My name is Michael Ward. I’m the director of the Con Center for Public Management, uh, at UMass Boston.

1:47 I’ll tell, we’ll say more about the Con Center in a minute. Um, I have, uh, been the director for five years. I’ve been with the center for 15 years, but, uh, until recently I ran the charter practice. Uh, um, uh, so, um, it’s charter work is near and dear to my heart, so I’m excited to be here to talk to you a little bit about it. Tonight, I’m gonna pass it off to, uh, two of my team, me members. First to Anthony Wilson. Uh, who’s the person I have turned the charter practice over to, uh, Anthony, you wanna introduce yourself? Good evening. Uh, it’s nice to virtually meet everyone. Uh, my name’s Anthony Wilson. I’ve been with the Council Center for a little, uh, less than two years now. Prior to that, I was the city clerk in the city of Cambridge. I was the city clerk in the city of Springfield and a lawyer in the city of Springfield for, uh, for several years. Um, so excited to be, uh,

2:34 at the account center working on charters and organizations. Something I’ve done in my past life and excited to, uh, possibly help, um, this community. I will turn it over to Mel. Thank you. All right. Hi. Good evening everyone. Uh, Mel Ner. I’ve also been with the Collins Center for about two years. Um, but I’ve, uh, recently retired as a, uh, town administrator or town manager of, uh, multiple, multiple Massachusetts communities over 41 years in service, uh, in those communities. The most recent was in, uh, town administrator in the town of Brookline, where I served for 12 years. And I’ve been working, um, primarily on the organization and structure group as Mike, uh, mentioned. And, uh, especially I’m interested in addressing, um,

3:21 town forms of government like yours that are interested in modernizing their structure and operations. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Mel. Thank you, Anthony. I’m gonna, uh, share screen now, uh, and bring up presentation.

3:42 And folks see that? Yes. Excellent. Alright, so, um, before I, we actually dive deep into the presentation, I wanna take a, a step backward, actually a small, small step backward. Um, I, this, uh, for anyone who hasn’t seen it, is your, uh, active incorporation, uh, from 1649. And I’ll enlarge, enlarge it a little bit. Um, I always like, uh, to do that when we’re, when we’re looking or talking with a town that, uh, has not yet, uh, adopted a charter to go back to the, the very beginning. So if, uh, if an, if, um, if no one else has, uh, wished you a happy 375th birthday, let me be the first to do so, coming up in a couple months, um, as you’ll see,

4:27 you can see here you’re active incorporation is very brief, uh, as were many in the, in the 17th century, just that single sentence, uh, there, um, which is on it looks like page 2 66 of the records of the, of the Colony. Um, and, uh, you know, we like to say, um, uh, sometimes that this, uh, uh, best practice, uh, to take a look at your organizational structure at least once every 400 years. Uh, so you got a, you’re, you’re right on, on track here with this, uh, with talking about a, a charter and, uh, charter review. So, um, uh, and let me just say that, uh, after we’re finished tonight, I’ll send over the presentation, um, uh, to, to the town. So you can have all this to, um, put on, on the website. Um, uh, so, so members of the public can look at it.

5:15 Alright, so, um, we’re gonna go really quickly here tonight, only about 10 slides or so. I wanna spend most of the time, uh, on q and a with, uh, the board and, and members of, of the public and get your, uh, hear what you wanna hear about. But I’ll wanna start briefly tell you a little, a bit about the center, about the center’s charter work, um, and, uh, um, then we’ll get into the, some, some sort of really, you know, kind of charter 1 0 1 for anyone who’s, you know, new to this. I know some of you have been talking about it for a while, but I think it’s for helpful if there’re people who have not been involved to really start at the beginning. So, charter basics, what is a charter? Uh, what does it include? Why have a charter? We’ll talk briefly about charter processes. There are two of them, but really is one of them. It’s only one of them that’s kind of relevant, I think at the moment. The one that you’re, you’re talking about starting down.

6:02 Uh, we’ll take a a minute to tell you about some of the ways that we can help, uh, and then we’ll turn it over to your questions. Uh, um, and we’re happy to entertain whatever you got for us. And just to my other team members. I think I said this before, but please feel free to jump in at, at any point if you have, uh, anything else you wanna add, if I’ve missed anything, if I’ve misspoken, et cetera. So, alright, to dive in just quickly about the Con Center. So we are created by the legislature and the Patrick administration back in 2008, uh, with a mission to provide technical assistance to cities, towns, school districts, state agencies, and other public organizations. You can think of us, uh, a little bit like a management consulting entity with a public service mission. Uh, we’ve completed over a thousand projects, uh, in our existence, mostly Massachusetts, mostly municipalities. We’ve worked in about three quarters of the cities

6:49 and towns, including Marblehead, uh, before, um, we really do pride ourselves on being full service to any city or town on any type of, of, uh, management challenge We do, in addition to charter work, we do finance, hr, operations, analytics, recruitment, it, you can see the rest. There are all kinds of other stuffs. And I think, uh, that’s important to understand, uh, that, you know, although we have a great charter team, we also have a lot of other experts. So when sometimes the charter work can tiptoe into other areas and people wanna know, well, what does, what does some finance experts think about that? Well, we have those, uh, back at the center too, and they can, our charter team often talks, talks to those folks about different issues. So, our charter work, uh, generally we’ve worked, um, on charters for towns as as small as, uh, I think Mel’s, uh, just wrapping up with a town under a thousand.

7:36 Uh, we’ve also worked with cities over a hundred thousand. We just wrapped up with Cambridge, uh, and their charter review. We’ve essentially, we’ve worked at every form of government and every region of the Commonwealth. And we’ve touched about 10% of the cities and towns of Massachusetts on org structure one way or another. Either charters or, or narrower topics. You can see there are a couple of the, uh, active projects we have going Cambridge, Framingham, Ludlow, Medford, Rockland, Sandisfield, Somerville, Williamstown. It’s kind of nice spread geographically in form of government wise. So let’s talk, uh, charter basics here. What is a charter? Uh, well, um, it’s really a foundational document. Um, some, some people talk about it like a, a as a constitution of the municipality. Uh, frankly, I’ve always liked this little paragraph. Again, I’ll send this so that you can, uh,

8:22 I’m not gonna read it now, but there’s a, a, a really nice summary of the what a charter is in the Guide for Charter Commissions by the National Civic League, um, that, that talks about, um, you know, what a charter is and, and why it’s important and what it includes. Um, so, um, you can, uh, get a sense of, uh, of that kind of going through that quote there. Most charters, most town charters look something like this. Not exactly like this. They, they vary a little bit here and there, but they’re usually about nine or 10 articles. Um, and they, you frequently run in this particular order where the first article includes a lot of technical, legal, um, pieces about the, about the incorporation, the name

9:07 of the town, uh, con continuity, um, the, the powers and duties of the, um, of the different, uh, branches and how they don’t interfere with each other. Um, after that, the Article two, uh, is usually the Legisl legislative branch. So in your case town meeting. And, and it runs through all kinds of things about the functions and operations, uh, of, of town meeting. Um, article three, the executive branch would include both the select board and the town administrator or town manager position, talking about the, the construction of the select board, the roles and responsibilities of the select board, the roles and responsibilities of the administrator or manager. Um, article four, uh, is typically the list of other elected officials. So in a town, obviously that’s gonna include the school committee,

9:53 it’s gonna include the moderator, and then whatever other, whatever other elected boards or committees or commissions or authorities there may be, um, article five, financial policies and procedures walk, uh, usually describes, um, in some detail the budget process, budget timelines, both of the operating budget and capital budget. Uh, usually it contains a requirement, uh, for, for audit. It contains, um, often, you know, a variety of other financial related policies and, and procedures. Um, uh, but the biggie is about the budget processes, both operating in capital Article six, uh, administrative organization. Usually that’s just about the ways that the town can reorganize departments. What are the steps, um, that are taken. Sometimes, um, towns will use that article to, to,

10:41 if they’re constructing a brand new department for the first time, uh, they’ll put it in there. Um, um, as, as a a, a sort of convenient place to put it. Article seven elections. Um, that’s usually pretty brief. Um, um, um, um, since most of elections is in state law, but occasionally there are little pieces, uh, that the town, uh, town will want to include. Citizen relief mechanisms that includes free petition, initiative, petition, referendum, and recall, uh, or some combination thereof. None of them are required. None of them are. Uh, you can, you know, select any, you could select any combination of those four, um, citizen relief mechanisms, um, if you don’t know what they are. So, uh, free petition is the ability to, um, to, to, to,

11:26 um, put, uh, forward a petition to get something on an agenda. Initiative petition, uh, is to, um, I guess that would be most more in, in, um, in a city form of government to get the council to take action. There wouldn’t, that wouldn’t be as much need for that since town meeting, obviously you can always put, uh, warrant articles on, um, referendum is to undo the, uh, the action of a legislative body. And then a recall would be the removal of an elected, uh, official, uh, between elections. Spelling out the process for that general provisions is a little bit like a catchall includes, you know, provisions for multiple member bodies. It includes usually a standard 10 year charter review, often a 10 year bylaw review. Uh, it includes, um, uh, you know, there’s, there’s a sort of a laundry list of potential items

12:12 that different towns can pick and choose from that they might want to include about, um, different, different, um, substantive pieces to go in there. And then lastly is the transition provision. So that is how do you get from what you have now to whatever changes you’re making. So the, the, the greater the level of change that a town is making, the, usually the longer the transition provisions are, if there’s changes are pretty minimal, those, the transition provisions can usually be pretty short. Um, alright, so, so that’s, you know, again, general, quick, quick and dirty overview of what the basics, what would go in it. Um, so why have one, uh, I know that’s a question that we hear often, uh, in towns considering a charter. What’s, what’s, what’s the benefit? What are the gains? So we’ve pulled together a couple things and, and, uh, that I, we think are, are real important values

12:59 and, and uses for, for having a charter. Um, and, uh, I’ll go through, through these quickly and then, you know, Mel or Anthony wanna add more, feel free to do so. Um, so first is, um, charter can really help you create a local government that, that remains, uh, responsive, um, to your unique history and culture. You can construct it the way that you the town want, want to, uh, want to build it, want to build the, the foundational document for the town. It’s not like there’s just a single cookie cutter, uh, approach. Uh, even the structure that I just showed you is entirely, entirely optional. It can be, uh, reconfigured however you’d like. It’s just sort of a template that you, you could use as a starting point. Um, the second bullet here, uh, is one that I think is incredibly important.

13:46 Uh, and that’s creating a document that’s presents a a single understandable, um, and easy to navigate source of information about town government. Um, particularly when, um, you know, when complicated issues up when conflict comes up. Um, it, we, in places that, that don’t have a charter, don’t have a recent charter, there can often be questions of, uh, you know, well wait, who’s actually in charge of this? Or What is the actual role and responsibility here? And how does this board and committee’s role interact with this one? And by putting it into a charter, even if you’re not making a major change to some particular process or set of board and committees, putting it all in a single place where people know to look for it and can find it and can understand it and be on the same page, is a really helpful, powerful tool.

14:33 Um, another important piece of it is that it is a chance to take a, a comprehensive systemic look about what’s working and what’s not working in the government. Look at changes that might make the government more effective, efficient, responsive, et cetera, um, and kind of put them in place in a holistic way. So we often, you know, often say that what you wanna do with a charter process is really try and step outside whatever any immediate crises or short-term problems or fights are. And, and use this as an opportunity to tackle systemic uh, issues. Uh, it’s not about what the, the, the particular policy fight of the day is, or the particular, uh, challenge of the day, unless that challenge of the day is something that’s been long, long running. Uh, but it’s really a chance for the residents, uh, or whoever is on the committee to, to take a pause from the day to day

15:19 and look at, think about systemically, uh, what’s working and that we wanna preserve and, and what do we wanna improve. Um, the next piece is that there you can, obviously you can make changes by charter and, and you know, uh, and that you can’t do by bylaw. There’s just, it’s simply a higher, um, level of change allowed, um, that you can do via a charter than you could be able to bylaw. So if there’s certain things that you might have wanted to do by bylaw, by been unable, or that would be a change you could make, uh, in a charter. And then the last thing, um, which I’ll, I’ll just say put out there is, uh, you know, it really is about the long term and about the future. And so if there are current best practices the town is following or is hoping to follow

16:05 that you would be worried about that, you know, a generation from now might be forgotten, anchoring them in the charter is a really good way to create that stability of whatever, um, positive steps, best practices you’re, you’re currently doing or wanna be doing and, and make sure that they are, uh, retained and that they stay for the long haul. Um, Mel Anthony and either, either wanna add no. Okay. Um, alright, so just a couple more quick slides here and then I’ll turn it over for questions, um, on the process. So there are really two completely different paths, and again, I’m gonna se send this over to you. So you’ll have us to look at the first, uh, is what’s called the home rule charter route. And that’s not what, uh, my understanding is that you’re following the home rule charter route would be initiated by a citizen petition by the collection

16:52 of 15% of the signatures. It would, um, put the question of a charter commission on the ballot. There’d be a elected process. And then it’s really spelled out in, um, con very clear concrete detail in state law, how that process has to play out going forward from that. Uh, my understanding is what you are pursuing is a special act charter. And this is typically initiated by the select board, uh, can be initiated by town meeting or others, but typically by the, a select board. And, and it’s the creation of a committee. And then the committee follows its own process and makes recommendations back to the select board back to town meeting about what, uh, what a charter might look like. And, and, and in many cases, drafts a, uh, a draft charter to present to the select board. Um, if the, the select board then can do what it sees fit

17:38 with it, and assuming that it, um, uh, accepts the, the work of the committee, it would then go, uh, to town meeting. Uh, town meeting would have its chance to debate, discuss at, uh, amend if, if, um, if needed. Um, and then the, the draft charter at that point would be sent to the legislature and the governor, um, as any special act, um, or, or home rule petition would be from town. If it is, um, then passed, assuming it’s passed by the legislature and passed and enacted by the governor, it would come back and in almost all cases, um, would go to the voters as the final stop who have get their say, yes, we, this is we want this, or, Nope, this is not what we want. So those are the pro that’s, those are the processes.

18:26 Um, again, can talk a little bit more about that if people are interested. Um, what does it, what does it look like from the point of view of those on a committee or the committee doing the work? Um, well, the first thing is that, uh, we, a committee is probably gonna take some time and familiarize itself with the current structure and operations of the town in particular, we would suggest doing so while thinking about two questions. The first is, what’s working well and what could use improvement? And the second is, what, what specific problems do we wanna try and solve? Once, uh, the committees really started to kind of understand the current operations and functions, um, and, and thought about those questions, they’ve, it’ll be off to a really, really good good start. Another key, key step for a committee, any committee,

19:12 charter committee, uh, would be to create some public processes to engage residents, to communicate to them what’s going on so that they’re not blindsided at the end. And to get opinions from, uh, from residents, from businesses, from other stakeholders to, again, to answer some of those questions at the start. What’s working well? What could use improvement if we’re gonna make changes, what do we not wanna, uh, what do we, what things, do we not wanna rock the boat ‘cause they’re working well? What things do we want to try to solve? Uh, committee the committee also then often will research other towns, um, uh, and say, well, okay, well we, we’ve, we’ve uncovered an issue. We don’t, we we’re not happy with how X or Y or Z is working in Marblehead. How other towns handle that? What’s working well, what’s not, uh, about, uh, at town X or Y or Z about how they’re handling that same topic.

19:59 Um, the great thing about, um, being a town, uh, in Massachusetts is you’ve got 290 or so peers, uh, in, in the town form of government. Um, now obviously peers varying, there’s wide, wide range within that, but, but within that there are a lot of di uh, different towns that, that are similar in enough that you could look at to say, what’s working well there, what’s not working well there. Uh, at the end, the committee would put together a report, uh, with its findings and recommendations. Ideally also would, would draft, uh, um, uh, a draft charter to present back, uh, that, that aligns with those findings and recommendations. Um, and, and present that back to the select board. Typically a 12 to 18 month process. But we’ve seen, uh, committees do it in in less than 12 months, and we’ve seen committees take longer than 18 months.

20:45 Um, uh, it really can vary quite a bit depending on the, the tempo the committee wants to set, the level of change they wanna set, the level of engagement that they get as they’re thinking and talking, uh, about it. So there’s, there’s a bit of a range, uh, range there. Last thing before, um, I open it up to questions and comments. Um, just a, a couple things about how we help, um, charter committees. First facilitation. Um, we, we have a team that has so much experience working on charters. Um, we can really help think through what are the frameworks that will assist you with decision making. What, what’s a good order of taking topics. Um, certainly there are orders, sequences of taking topics

21:31 that are very productive and there are some that are less productive that end up with more reiterations or more iterations and, and more undoing. And so we can help you think through what, what topics make sense, kind of in what order we can provide you documents and frameworks that help you think through various questions. Um, for example, we’ve got one that that helps towns think through what boards, committees, positions they might want elected and what they might wanna appointed. It’s, it’s, you know, there’s, it doesn’t say this board should be elected and this should be appointed. It says, here are some things to think about about what, what makes for a strong elected board. And here are some, um, things to think about that would make a strong appointed board. And you, the, you the committee and you the town get, get to walk through this and think through and discuss which you think, uh, make,

22:17 which, which variables which points are the most important to you and, and your town research. Uh, we have a lot of research. We can do a lot of research. Again, to this all, you know, what other towns are doing, what is working, you know, we, we’ve seen all, uh, you know, all their other, the other charters we’ve talked to all the other, uh, to many other towns about different things. We have contacts in them. So, you know, I I think of frequently on charter projects where a town says we wanna add X section to the charter. We’ve never had it in our charter before. Um, can you give us some examples? And so, yeah, here are three different charters that have similar sections of text. Um, you know, which, which do you like? Uh oh, we like the middle one. Okay, well, we’re gonna go talk to the town and, and here

23:04 and, and we’ll report back what they say about how that section is working. Um, so we, we have the ability to do a lot of, um, of, uh, research on that front. We also can assist with drafting, uh, again, both because we have examples and we have experience doing it. I do want to note that, uh, just as a, as it says there in the parentheses, um, you know, we legally do not provide, we do not provide legal advice and we strongly encourage any final, uh, draft charter to be reviewed by town council or special counsel. Um, uh, having said that, we’ve done so many charters, um, and worked on so many charters and worked with so many town councils, you know, I can assure you that, that most of the, the whatever text we assist you writing is gonna be, um, you know, is gonna be fine. It’s gonna, uh, pass that legal muster, but we just can’t legally say we provide legal advice to you.

23:50 Uh, lastly, general guidance. And this is really kind of a catchall, um, whether it’s procedural aspects, uh, whether it’s substantive aspects, um, you know, again, we’ve got a team, um, uh, not just Mel Anthony, but, but, uh, them and many others who have worked on lots of charters collectively. And so, um, we meet frequently as a team. We email frequently as a team. So we, even if whether the team that’s working on this has the answer or whether the larger team has the answer, we’re gonna, we’re gonna have or be able to get the answer for you, whatever, pretty much, whatever a question is, uh, as you go through this process. So that is about it. Um, um, for me, um, Anthony, Mel, do you have, uh, anything you wanna add before we jump into the, the questions?

24:38 No. Okay. I’m gonna stop screen share so we can sub see, see, uh, everyone better. Um, once again, very, uh, um, uh, excited to have the opportunity to, to chat with you about this, to, to help you, uh, if we can, uh, get you started down this, um, this, um, uh, great process, uh, important process that you are embarking on. So thank you for your time. Well, thank you very, very much. Uh, Michael, Anthony, and Mel really appreciate it. I think the, the presentation is, uh, very clear. Uh, I think it gives us a good initial sense of what’s involved and, and, and kind of what the roadmap is. I guess I’m gonna just jump in and ask an initial question, uh, before, before the, before the rest of the board. And I’ve asked this question before, but I’d like to hear it from, from you guys. What, what is kind of the relationship

25:24 or the delineation between the, uh, between the charter and the bylaws? And you had mentioned in your presentation that there were some things that could not get done, uh, by the bylaw. And I’m wondering, maybe you could also comment on how easy it is or difficult it is to change a charter versus an underlying bylaw, and whether that affects the delineation between the two. Sure. I, I’ll, I’ll take a start at it and then others can, can jump in. So I, you can often think of it a little bit like the relationship between the state constitution and mass general law or the federal constitution and, and, and state law. That the, the charter is, uh, a, a, uh, if, if you had a bylaw, uh, provision and a charter provision that conflicted the charter carries the, the charter, um, uh, controls.

26:11 Um, so often what you’ll see is, is places that adopt a charter will, uh, at some point within 18 months, two years, three years after that will then go through the bylaws, uh, and, and, um, bring those into alignment with the charter. So, so, um, uh, it’s not critical ‘cause it’s clear the charter, if, if there’s conflict, the charter is, is the final word. Um, in terms of the, the difficulty of, um, of, of changing the charter or, or I should say amending or editing, uh, um, it is more difficult than the bylaw it’s intended to be. So, um, but it is possible and places do it all the time. And there are multiple, there are several pathways. One is spelled out in state law, um, uh, that, um,

26:57 you can find in, uh, let’s see, is it 40 43 B section 11, I think. And, um, Anthony or Mel can correct me if I’m wrong in that, that spells out the, uh, um, one process. But you can also, um, file a special act, um, with the legislature in the same way that you would file any special act to, uh, um, amend, amend the charter. So there, there are two pathways at all points, uh, you know, to doing it. And then I, as I alluded to, most modern charters include a automatic 10 year review. Uh, so they’ll say something like, in every year, ending in an eight, uh, the town, uh, shall, um, shall create a charter review committee to update, um, to review and propose any recommended change to the charter.

27:43 And that’s not to say that you can’t, I mean, again, you can, you can make changes at any point in between the, the point of the tenure review is to provide a ceiling a, a maximum amount of time, um, between which the, the, the charter would not, uh, would have a chance to be reviewed. Thank you, Michael. Mm-Hmm. Oh, go ahead Anthony. Sorry. Just add, and, uh, it’s also, there are certain things that you can, um, add in the charter that you couldn’t do in the bylaw. Think about like the authority of different parts of your government, um, how you sort of do the allocation. Um, and then the, the last piece, just, just adding on to Mike’s thing. We, we often, as we do these charter reviews as part of the report, there are often recommendations about, um, there are co there are, there are things that you do on the,

28:29 on the bylaw, I’m sorry, in the charter, because there’re hard to change and there are things that you don’t want in the bylaw because facts on the ground in terms of the actual operation of the town may change probably more frequently. Mm-Hmm. And therefore there are recommendations on, this is an, a concern of the committee and it should be addressed in a bylaw to be determined by, uh, the town meeting the Board of Selectmen. So it’s also a good, um, time to sort of point out issues that may be causing structural organizational problems and then, and identifying where those, um, issues should be resolved. Thank you, Anthony. That makes a lot of sense. Yep. Okay. Any, any other, uh, questions from the board at this point? Um, go ahead. If you have yours, I’m looking through my notes. Um, you know, Michael Anthony Armell.

29:15 I wonder if you might be able to talk about maybe some of the surprises in a good way, maybe that that municipalities, you know, find during this process. You, you, you know, in terms of, you know, is it that they didn’t know that their bylaws said this or, you know, that they didn’t know that this was the best practice. Can you talk maybe a little bit about, you know, some of that with, with your experience with the municipalities that you worked with?

29:38 I, I can start and, and tell you that of course There will be surprises. And I would, I would venture to say that there is no one who could possibly tell you everything about the town Marblehead in those nearly 400 years. In fact, that’s why sometimes you, you, you create a charter is because there’s, it’s impossible to sort of capture these, um, centuries of, of, uh, uh, acts built on acts on bylaws and so on. So, um, that’s, that’s something that we would, we would do and what is done by a charter, but there’s always surprises. I didn’t know we passed that special act in 1948. Uh, it doesn’t even make sense anymore. So, uh, so that’s, that’s kind of the process we would go through. Yeah, I think, I think that’s, that’s absolutely right.

30:25 Um, and also I think in terms of, um, there may be places where, you know, in fact, I’m, I’d be willing to bet almost every town has places where they don’t realize they’re have fallen out of step with, with sort of mainstream, with best practice. Um, and in, in going through this, you, you may discover, oh, we didn’t realize that all that, you know, you know, 95% of the other towns of similar population demographics are doing it this way. Huh. Okay. Well we should probably take a look and see if, if it’s working, you don’t necessarily wanna change it. Um, but it’s wor it’s, it’s an interesting finding to sort of, uh, surface for discussion. Um, so yeah, those are a couple, uh, you know, a couple types of things I think.

31:11 Um, but I I, I would be shocked if you didn’t, uh, find some surprises,

31:20 Alexa. Yeah. So, sure. So thank you for coming tonight. Uh, just a couple things I was wondering if you could speak to, I mean, I, I liked that you highlighted the whys that was super helpful. And, you know, some of the things that spoke to me were the having the ability to have that single understandable, comprehensive piece of information. I know, you know, coming on the board and educating yourself on where things, um, can be difficult in pulling all that information together. So, uh, that definitely, I think was a great highlight there. As well as, you know, the analysis really for the, just doing to have a comprehensive look and doing the data analysis, I think that’s a great opportunity. Obviously, you know, I, I love research, I love the conversation.

32:07 It doesn’t necessarily say where or when you’re gonna go, but I think it’s great to have the conversation. I’m curious for your experience, uh, what if you could identify one or two driving forces that most of the towns you’ve worked with historically, how they have landed at this point? Meaning what were the things that, you know, those are some of the things that spoke to me specifically, and, you know, the idea of taking our unique history, looking at what works, what doesn’t, and then producing a document that is more user friendly and accessible to all, whether, you know, know it’s someone who’s, you know, a citizen or someone who’s participating in local government, but what are some of the things that have been the driving force that you’ve worked with from the communities you’ve talked to?

32:51 Sure. Um, I guess one key thing, and I maybe to to set, set this in some context. You know, I think we all know that the, that the operating environment that that municipalities have had to work in over the last 20, 30 years gets ever more complicated all the time. Whether it’s legal, uh, for, for, for changes in state law and federal law, whether it’s political reasons, um, whether it’s, um, uh, changes in the, in the communications landscape and media landscape. And so, um, you know, what we have seen, I think is a trend, um, um, to empower a, a town administrator position

33:37 or a town manager position with the day-to-day operational authority. Uh, and to empower the select board, uh, with the real broad policymaking goal setting leadership strategy authority, and to kind of delineate that in a, in a, in a more clear way, I think, you know, for a long time, because, you know, well, for, for obviously most of, of of town history, there was no town administrator, town manager, and then they started creating town administrator, uh, positions in the early 20th century. Uh, and, and so that role has evolved over time. And I think what we’ve seen in the last couple decades is a recognition that it’s really hard. The select board has so many things on its plate, if it’s,

34:23 uh, trying to do both the, the STR strategy, vision policy, leadership, and the day-to-day operations, and the town administrator, town manager, as that has evolved the last half century into a real profession, uh, that, that you can, you can put, uh, a town administrator, town manager in charge of the day to day and get the benefits of both worlds, right? The, the policy leadership by those selected by the voters and the professional management by the person chosen by the select board to manage the day to day. So I would say one trend has been a, um, the, the construction of stronger town administrator, town manager positions, again, not in every town, not right for every town, um, but it is a trend. Um, uh, another trend, uh, would be if, you know,

35:09 looking at elected positions, uh, in town, so that’s elected treasure collectors, elected clerks, things like that. Um, as the, um, the, the technical learning curve for those positions has grown over the last couple decades, you know, between elections and all the, uh, records management things that a clerk needs to know, all the, uh, fine mass general law around municipal finance that a treasurer or collector needs to know those positions are. Whereas 30, 40 years ago, I think someone, you know, with, with a, with a decent finance or decent organizational background could step in and, and get up that learning curve curve quickly. It’s really gotten very hard. And so we’ve seen a lot of towns recognize that and move, move in the direction

35:55 of appointing those positions. Again, not every town has done that. Not every town should do that, but it is a trend that we, um, uh, we, we would see. I dunno, Anthony, Mel, anything else you wanna, I, I would, um, I think that was a very good, um, explanation, Mike. I would only just add sort of, um, you know, like me, like Mike said, uh, several times, you know, different towns, things that there’s the trend, but then different towns may, uh, vary from the trend to, to, um, some degree or another. Um, as I think about it, there, really, the issues kind of fall into two categories. There’s the, one of the efficiency, which is streamlining operations, making sure things get done, and then making sure that there’s the same, uh, making sure that there is the public input in the process. And those two things can kind of be intention

36:42 and where the variation is, each community has its own identity, and as it goes through the various issues that will be addressed in the charter, you, you think about the benefits that you’ll get from streamlining or, or centralizing some authority in some place and, and having less places for, for public input, though none. And where you want the public input to trump the efficiency. Um, and that can, you know, vary in different places within the charter as you make a, a variety of decisions in terms of municipal operation. Um, I think one of the things pushing the, the trend that Mike identified is things have gotten so much more complicated, um, both in terms of, uh, uh, mandates from the state that the cities and towns have to, uh, uh, comply with, as well as just, um, just the interlocking, um, operations that, that you do,

37:30 you know, the towns do more now than they have done in the past with more equipment, with more, um, sort of expertise than may have been required in, in history.

37:44 Okay. Can I just follow up please? Yeah. Hi. Thank you. Um, so just to follow up on that, tell me if, um, this sounds correct or not. It sounds like for some of the towns it’s really to redistribute some of the leadership or those types of things for maybe some of the municipalities that are thinking about adopting a town manager or a town administrator, some municipalities that don’t have that. But what I heard from you was for, if that’s not the focus, that it really was coming from a perspective of providing more of a streamlined source of, you know, of um, an organization as well. I mean, I’m assuming that would also in impact in regards to some of, you know, the work that we’re already doing in regards to goal setting and trying to come up with comprehensive planning. So then we’re looking at the financial out, you know,

38:32 and I think that’s something that we struggle with and see on a day-to-day basis, even with comprehensive planning, you know, you’re constantly dealing with the logistics of, you know, execution, um, that happen to, you know, all of us on a day-to-day. But, so I heard that efficiency. And then the last thing I, I had in my notes that you highlighted was, uh, just the ability to have public input, voice from the public, um, you know, to be a part of that. We are looking at what’s working, what’s not working, but a more, I would just say comprehensive process to engage the public, you know, in that conversation. Would that be what, you know, what you have seen with where other towns are coming from in their, you know, desire to take a look at something like this? Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it.

39:19 I appreciate your time and, and, uh, look forward to doing this. One of the important things is, uh, as you said that the town meeting ultimately has the, uh, yay or nay on this, um, on this, uh, process, which is great. One of the things you, you did mention was a, was a 10 year look back, uh, or 10 year renew or, uh, or, uh, just re-look at the, uh, charter once it’s approved. If it is approved, uh, could that be less? Because I think when we’ve been talking about it, we, we are saying like a three, a three to five year, uh, to look at it. So What I, what I’ve shared is, and I think I’ve seen is the first review was like five years after the initial charter.

40:05 I think that’s what Framingham has. And then 10 after That thereafter. ‘cause It’s, okay, my sense is you get the bugs out of the system after five years, you figure out some of the things that maybe need to be tweaked. Sure. But then from that point on, it’s, uh, you know, at least a 10 year review. Excellent. Thank you. Yeah, so that’s exactly right. And so given where you are, what year we are in now, and you know, the timeline here, you know, you could easily see your a draft charter text that that a com committee drafting saying, and every year ending in a zero. And by, and you know, if this pa if you put one together and it passes, you know, and it it gets enacted in two, two years or so, then you’re looking at your first review in four years, and then the next one every 10 after that. Gotcha. Thank you. All right. Listen, I, I

40:52 Saw, oh, no, I’m sorry, Brett. Sorry about that. That’s okay. I just wanted to follow up a little bit. No, uh, I guess one of the, the things I just wanna say is, you know, one of the things with Marblehead is right now we’re, we’re, we’ve had a lot of ad hoc changes that we’ve been, you know, proposing at our town meeting, for instance, last year. You know, we, uh, you know, we passed, you know, an article and it’s now going through the home, you know, rule petition to change the select board from one year terms, the three year staggered terms. Uh, this year on our warrant, you know, we have a recall provision, you know, for all elected, you know, persons. And one of the things that I liked about what you’re saying here, and again, you know, about your, your strategic look is it’s about us taking that look and using your advice. You know, what’s the best practices?

41:37 What are folks doing out there that we’re not doing? ‘cause right now we just seem to be doing a lot of, you know, one item here to one item there. So I think a really big comprehensive is sit down with folks like yourselves to understand a, what are the best practices? What are municipalities doing? What works, what didn’t work? Why have they been doing this for, you know, so many years? And, and as you said in one of your whys, you know, the goal too was to remain responsive to the culture and the history, you know, of that Mm-Hmm. That, of that community. Mm-Hmm. And, and so I think that was also very important. So I, I, I think, you know, I I I, I just wondering if from your perspective, when they go through that process, that was really what was getting that surprise question earlier is, you know, those type of things. Those are the challenges I think the towns are gonna have to face is, you know, they’ve been doing it this way for

42:22 so many years, but there’s better ways and more efficient ways to, to do it. So I I, I wonder if those surprises kind of sometimes rub with that culture and history in, in the town and, and again, including the, the public to make sure that they’re doing, you know, that they’re engaged and they understand the process.

42:40 Absolutely. And, and not even just the surprises, but even the things that aren’t surprising because not everyone is gonna be on the same page. And, and so we often see charter committees and, and charter commissions grappling with the question of what do we think is best and what do we think is feasible and where is the overlap? What do we think is best that we think the public is ready to accept? Uh, and, and, and trying to kind of find that middle ground, uh, because you know what, you know, a savvy committee is not going to put forward a document that thinks they think is perfect if they know that it has no chance, uh, of, of, of passing. ‘cause it’s not what the majority of the people want. So it’s really kind of walking that line between what’s the, you know, what are the best practices, uh, that make sense

43:26 for us at this point in time, uh, that we think are gonna make a, a difference and move things forward.

43:33 Thank You. And I just think to add, to Jim’s point, I think the most important thing is just to reiterate that this is a conversation and a process of researching holistically what might be working, what things might need improvement, and what are best practices. But then you can have best practices, but what makes you marblehead unique? Mm-Hmm. Does that particular best practice apply to us? And at the end of the day, you’re pushing it forward and saying, here’s a bunch of information. Now you’re then presenting it to town meeting to say, is this something we wanna push forward? But, you know, I think the idea of asking questions and getting information, there’s always a positive to having that information to then decide, and that goes to town meeting to make that decision. Yeah, I think that’s right. I just, you know, the only thing I’d like to, to add to

44:20 that is I was kinda struck by Anthony’s comment about the, about the trade off between streamlining and, and public input. I think one of the great traditions that we take a tremendous amount of pride in, in, in Marblehead is the standup volunteerism that we’re able to elicit for our, for our town. So, you know, for me, one, one, you know, beautiful thing about, uh, the potential benefit of a charter is finding ways to improve, uh, the capacity of volunteers to step forward and, uh, you know, and kind of be very mindful, uh, of that. So, uh, with that, if we have no more questions, um, I’d like to thank you very, very much for your presentation and, uh, I know Thatcher will be in touch and will give us an indication of what next steps are. Thank You, sir. Sounds good.

45:05 Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Appreciate it. Have a Good night. Good night. Thank you. Bye-Bye now. Bye. Alright, that was great. Uh, next on our agenda item is cultural council. I think that Ryan and, uh, I don’t know if Alexander McCarran is here. There you are. Here. Hi. You know, normally we ask you to step forward into the, into the hot seat, if you wouldn’t mind coming, step coming forward. Yeah, that’s fine. Yeah. One seats, either one, one of those seats. Either one. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, we’re, we’re, thank you. We’re we’re closer than we were in our prior configuration. So anyway, it’s a pleasure, uh, to meet you. Nice to meet you too. And, Uh, thank you for, for being here. We really appreciate your volunteering. And I think, you know, by way

45:52 of perhaps introducing yourself, could you tell us a little bit about why you want to, uh, serve, uh, you know, on the, on the council? Yeah, Absolutely. Um, so I’ve been a resident of Marblehead. I have to always do the math. Um, about 32 years. 30, 32 years. Write your Letter. Yeah. And, uh, I have a daughter who went through the school system here. She’s a grownup now and living elsewhere. Um, but my background is creative. I’m an ad agency, creative director, and an author. Um, I also worked for about 11 years as a film and television critic. So it’s an area that I feel very comfortable in terms of my ability to contribute. And I think it’s, well, I think I’ve given back a little bit to the town, but I’d like to give back some more. Outstanding. Outstanding. Thank you. Yeah.

46:39 Any other questions from No, I loved reading all about you. Very excited to have you. Very talented and really excited that you decided to step forward, so Thank you. Good. I’m looking forward to it. Alright, well, with that I’d like to entertain a motion, uh, to the board to appoint Alexandra McCarran to the Cultural Council with the term to expire in June, 2025. So second. All all in favor. Congratulations. Thank you. Unanimous. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. And you’ll have to check in with the, uh, with the clerk, uh, to, with Kyle? To, with, uh, well, with the clerk. With clerk, yeah. So Sir. Robin. Robin, Michelle to to s to to be sworn. Oh, to be Sworn in. Yeah. Okay. Is that alright? Great. Alright. The hot seat wasn’t that hot. No, that’s May on tonight we joke it might get hot.

47:25 Well, we joke about that. We joke. Well, thank you. It’s always, it’s always a challenge just to come step forward to begin with, so. Sure. We really appreciate you doing it. Thank you for volunteering. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Alright, next on our agenda is the Marblehead two 50 committee. Uh, Don and, uh, and Ed are here, I think, to explain to us and, uh, with any, you know, clarifications from Thatcher, I guess you guys have, have been in discussion about what you’d like to do. Thank you. Uh, Dawn Dahler, seven Westminster Road

47:59 Ed noon, 28 in August Avenue. Thank you. Thank you. We come before the board tonight. Uh, basically on a long journey, 350 year celebration. Judy Jacobi and I worked 33 events cost to the town, nothing. In fact, we came back and gave money to the town of Marblehead and they created the Marblehead Forever Committee and they’ve done an outstanding job recognizing the culture, the history, and the education of Marblehead. Continuing in that process, um, Libby Moore and I had the opportunity to set at a program called Headers in History.

48:45 We took the eighth grade class one day out of their classes to invade the town of Marblehead. And in that invasion, they began to learn something about Marblehead. I had the opportunity to run a town meeting different than Jack’s because we were repeating the town meeting of 1774, giving this town the right to form a militia and second of all, to produce a list of the enemies of the town. Well, it’s amazing, wow. When the kids met, they voted differently. They said, vote a militia, but do not make a list of the enemies. My interesting to see how the time changed.

49:32 After we did that, we had, uh, adults come to us and say, if you can do it for the eighth grade, why can’t you do it for every citizen in the town? So we did, we produced, uh, the Spirit Day, in which in the year 2018, we did the same thing for the entire town.

49:56 This would’ve continued had the pandemic not hit. Suddenly we couldn’t do that. So we sort of rested a bit. And then back last year, we were contacted by the Boston Tea Party and they decided to celebrate a marble header who took part in that tea party. And so on April 30th, on a rainy day, we met in Green Street Cemetery and recognized that individual city Boston took off on that. They said, why not celebrate the entire event, the Boston Tea Party. So in December they had a massive event, which brought

50:42 interest to the town of Boston, and they brought tourism to the town of Marblehead. Lauren McCormick, who is the executive director of the Marblehead Museum and Historical Society, decided to get a group of us together. They’re representing private individuals, uh, historical groups and some businesses. And so we come before you tonight, uh, to ask to be recognized as the 250 committee. To point this out, we went for 300 years to 250 years. We’re not running backwards, we’re running simply forward in terms of the development of direct democracy.

51:30 And so, um, our intention is to come together. Uh, we’ve already developed some themes and concepts and we are asking, first of all, to be recognized as that 250th committee. Second of all, we’re requesting that, uh, we have the ability for supporters to donate to the existing celebration, which would be known as the Town Celebration Fund. And finally, it’s significant that we sit here under the presence of that painting because we would like to celebrate 250 years. Marvel had two 50th, celebrating the spirit of 76.

52:16 Perfect opportunity for a tourism, perfect opportunity for education, perfect opportunity for culture. What questions can we answer for you? A hundred percent outstanding. Um, any questions from the, from the board at all? Great idea. Great idea. Convergence of a lot of themes, highlights, marblehead, the painting. And, uh, thank you for bringing your, your knowledge and expertise to this. It’s really invaluable. Seriously, it’s all volunteer and that’s the nice part, as you mentioned. It’s, it’s pretty amazing. Okay, well that’s, that’s clear. And uh, I’d like to entertain a motion if there are no, no additional questions. Alright. I’d like to entertain a motion

53:02 to establish an ad hoc committee. The Marble had 250 committee with the following members. Judy Anderson, Jack Ridge, Donald Doller, Larry Sands, Jim Murphy, Catherine Co. Pam Peterson, Edward Nelson, Lauren McCormick, Julia Ferrera, Lanning Levine, Nancy Schultz, and authorized the use of the existing Town Celebration Trust fund for supporters to donate to. So moved. Second. Second. All those in favor? Unanimous. Um, now there’s another motion too, Don, I don’t know if you wanna speak to the use of the logo, um, or that, that’s the one that was In order to, uh, actually focus on the

53:50 revolutionary events, we’re focusing first on one event, but we need that logo to promote that event. Perfect use of the spirit of 76. Yep. Yep. So with that, I’d like to entertain a motion to approve the request from Donald dor to use an image of the spirit of 76 on a logo design for the Marble Head two 50 Committee. Moved, moved. Second. All those in favor, Jinx. Unanimous. As Was that easier or higher than you thought? Thank Here for a few. I’ve been, I’m sure this is not your first rodeo. Uh, that is Not My first rodeo. Do you think you’ll come back with some more money for us this Time? We’ll see what happens. I know this gentleman, charter gentleman said no one

54:36 could, you know, track that 400 years. I was like, I bet these guys could come pretty close. Same. I’m like, I beg to differ, but there, There were a few people in the room I was going. Yeah, I bet, I bet we could come real close. I can’t. Thank You. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Thank you, Wade. And Thanks for coming. Thanks for the work, Dawn.

54:55 All right. Next on our agenda is the Abbott Hall Troop 79 Eagle Scout, um,

55:08 of Zoe Gas. And Katie, uh, yeah. Yeah. Adding two Eagle Scouts in the past year. So the motion is pretty explanatory. This is another Eagle Scout court. Excuse me. Excuse me. Um, and it’ll take place at Abbott Hall, and it’s basically a request to reserve the room. And it’s always a pleasure to, it’s great that we get notifications like this to, uh, to advance Eagle Scouts. I think the, uh, motion’s pretty explanatory. Uh, the motion, uh, made and seconded to approve the request from Andrew Barnett, troop 79 BSA, to use Abbott Hall on Sunday, March 16th, 2024 from 2:00 PM to 6:30 PM for an Eagle Scout Court of honor, subject to the rules,

55:57 usual rules and regulations, fees, and receipt of the required certificate of insurance, naming the town of, uh, Marblehead as an additionally insured, and to waive the rental fee for this event. So moved. Second. Second. All those in favor? Unanimous. All right. Next honor item before you move on. Yes, Mr. Chair, I’d just like to ask if we can make another motion to send a letter of accommodation to this, to the Eagle Scout. That’s a very good, uh, very good call. Yes. I’d like to make that motion at this time. Okay, go ahead. So, so, uh, so moved. So moved. And a second. All Those, all those in favor? You. Thank you. There’s two you that, uh, two To both of ‘em. Just a letter of just A letter of commendation. Both, I think we should do. I thought that was part of separate normal routine. That’s a good, that’s

56:43 A good call for the two, uh, Zoe and Katie. Yep. Okay. Uh, the next are the revolving funds. And we, we vote this, uh, every year. It’s basically those discretionary revolver funds that are funded by fees that get, and I think just the absolute amount. We vote on the absolute amount every year. So this, right. So this is the, the cap, the maximum amount from revolving funds to fund budget items. Um, these numbers have been checked to our fi chief financial officer to ensure that, uh, the funds are either already in the account or the, the revenues being collected are gonna cover these cap amounts. So that’s been validated. Uh, we, we intended to vote this at the last meeting, along

57:30 with other articles, but we, we scrubbed it to, went over, uh, uh, to make room for other agenda items. So, thank you, Thara. And you know, I usually ask this city every year, but is there, are there any changes or, or significant change material changes to any of these changes? No. Material changes on, okay. We, we did last year was when we scrubbed the numbers and made material changes. So this is a consistent with last Year. Okay. So, with that, I’m gonna have to, uh, read out all the, uh, accounts. So I’d like to entertain a motion to reauthorize the following revolving fund accounts for fiscal year 2025 in accordance to the Mass General Laws. Chapter 44, section 53 e and a half in the amount below, animal control department, 20,000 counsel on aging. 250, uh, $250,000 Board of Health commercial waste disposal,

58:19 1,000,060, uh, 2060 $9 Board of Health vaccines, 10,000 Highway Street opening fees, 150,000 sump pump improvement, 10,000 conservation fines, 75,000 historical commission gift shop, 25,000 recreation and parks, 1.5 million Marblehead public schools, special ed, 500,000 Marblehead public schools, transportation, 25,000 Hobbes Memorial Fund, $11,232. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Unanimous. Alright. Uh, approval of the minutes of January 24.

59:08 They’re in your package. Yep. Have a chance to read them. Have a second. Second. All those in favor? Okay. The minutes are approved. Uh, number seven is flag policy. Uh, Thatcher, could you, uh, yep. Give some background. We have a, we have a backgrounder in our package. Thank you. But perhaps you could Yep. Speak to it. So, So we’ve had a, uh, flag policy in place, um, that, that the town has been following, but as you probably aware, there was a, uh, uh, a lawsuit filed against the city of Boston for, for its policies and how, how it was handled. So there was a Supreme Court, a Master Supreme Court decision that came down on that matter. And based on that decision, uh, Lisa, me, our legal counsel,

59:54 um, uh, for us and all of her clients has, uh, provided an updated flag policy that brings our policy to be consistent with that court decision. So it, it, it puts us on the right side of that decision. And, and, and what it does is it, it in effect, clearly identifies that the, the, the flags raised on town property is to be designated as government speech, which is, uh, the, the presentation of the government of Marblehead. Uh, and that it’s not a, uh, public, I’m trying to find the words in, in the, but it’s not a public forum, uh, that any third parties

1:00:40 and others can, can impose, uh, on that. So it just, it clarifies that, um, consistent with the previous policy, uh, it’s, it, the, the decisions of what would be, uh, put on the, on the flagpoles or not is purview of the select board or the town administrator. Um, the way the policy previous PO policy ran. And, and what is suggested here in the motion is that the board delegate that to the town administrator. Uh, it’s the town administrator’s office that’ll get the, the queries that come in as to what’s on there. But, um, to, to be able to review and, and make decisions on this consistent with the policy.

1:01:26 Okay. Any, uh, any questions from the board on this? Nope. Alright. Now, yeah. And I think the, there, there’s no dis there’s no term of appointing the town administrator, right? It’s just A, yeah, because, and that it can be revoked any time by the board. Uh, so you’re, you delegate and you can un delegate. Um, okay. That authority at your Will. I think it’s pretty clear. Alright. So on. I’d like to enter a motion on recommendation from town council to update the town of Marblehead flag policy as presented and to designate the town administrator ass designee to ensure the proper execution of this policy. So moved. All those in favor? All, um, ARPA requests.

1:02:11 Um, we’ve got, uh, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 3, 3 request Yeah. Items in a summary. And you can go ahead and Yeah, sure. Fill us in on that Since, since you, that is your advisory Yes. Committee. So, um, as we’ve done in the past, um, bringing forth in this case, three recommendations for use of ARPA funds. As you’re well aware, um, this, the process is, there was, there’s a master list of all the requests that the, the town has solicited over the, since the, the program was put, the opera program was put in place. Uh, all the items are scored on a criteria and ranked. Um, and then we have, uh, basically an advisory task force

1:02:57 to the town administrator to review and make recommendations for projects to, to bring forth for, for upper funding. Um, so we have three items, uh, that we’re proposing to put forth. Uh, the first one is the, the Gary School Playground and Park Improvements. Um, as you are aware, uh, the former Gary School, uh, is being redeveloped into residential space, but parts of the property were left in the ownership of the town, the old playground, uh, and park. Um, the developers have, um, are donating $10,000 to the effort. Uh, we’ve met with the neighborhood group, uh,

1:03:44 that’s very interested in this, that they are initiating fundraising on their own. Uh, what we’re looking to do is supplement that with a hundred thousand dollars of ARPA funds. This will help, uh, we, with the existing funds that we have, we have a consultant that’s, that’s facilitating the process, the visioning process, and, and working with the neighborhood to define, uh, the best use of the park and the playground and the type of, uh, equipment and such. Um, there is more work, there’s more work to be done than what’s currently funded. So it would supplement that as well as, um, towards some of the con actual construction of, of the park, um, to bring this to fruition. So that’s the first item.

1:04:31 Um, the second item, uh, school professional development. Um, in this, uh, we have already used opera funds to, uh, fund, uh, phase one of the literacy program, wit and Wisdom, uh, for the school. This would fund, uh, year two of that, that program. And, um, so we’re recommending to bring that forward, which, um, provides, uh, literacy programs for grades, uh, grades K through six, uh, in the Marblehead, uh, public schools. Um, and the third item is the Hobbes House window replacement for 45,000. So the Hobbes House, as you know, uh, is owned by the town,

1:05:17 but we have a lease agreement with the, uh, uh, Marblehead Counseling Center. Um, this board approved the Marblehead Counseling Center funded and initiated project to reconfigure internally in the building to better utilize their office space to create privacy for their functions and such. Um, they had started to move on that project when, um, it had to be paused due to roofs leaking, causing damage, makes no sense to put in new walls and have water leak and destroy new walls. So we, we were able to identify some capital funds to do repairs on the roof. Um, this request

1:06:03 by the counseling center has long been on the ARPA list. It’s been ranked up above the line. And we figure this is as good of a time as any to move forward on, uh, allowing them to the, the project to replace all the windows. In fact, some of the leaks from the roofs have caused damage in and around the windows. So this would make for a more comprehensive project to the building, create some more energy efficiencies to lower costs. So, um, we’re proposing to move this project forward. Um, the total of these three projects is $208,100. If you approve these, we would have a remaining balance in the ARPA funds, uh, unallocated of 576,903.

1:06:52 I would, I would say at this point we are hoping to close out the commitments. Our, our, our internal goal is by June 30th to identify, because we actually have till December 31st to actually allocate. So we wanna be ahead of that schedule and not, not lose funding because we didn’t, um, allocate all the funds.

1:07:17 Alright. Any, any questions from the, from the board? I also mentioned, I put a updated report of all of the projects and funds and current balances, uh, in the Book. Yeah, it’s interesting to see what’s been funded. Funded in the past. And can that be updated online as well? ‘cause I know the other one was like December, or it was an older one Online, so it hasn’t changed. This is the first action since like, October. So, um, assuming this is, uh, a pass, these numbers are assuming a positive vote here, we will put those reports, updated reports up online, right? Yes. All right. If there are no questions, I’d like to take each in in order. Uh, the first is entertain a motion to approve the use of, uh, federal ARPA funds for the following purpose and amount. Gary School Playground Park improvements.

1:08:03 A hundred thousand dollars. So moved. Second. Those in favor, unanimous. The second motion to entertain is to approve the use of federal performance for the following purpose and amount. School professional development. $63,100. So moved. Second. All those in favor? And finally, motion, uh, to approve the use of federal ARPA funds for the following purpose and amount. Hobbs House window replacement. 45,000. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Alright. Thank you. That, Thanks. Yeah. Good work Thatcher. Alright. And now we’ve got a thumb Of boats. We have A special guest. We have a special guest as well to lead us in a long,

1:08:51 uh, contract, um, uh, approval process. Yes. So A virtual special virtual guest. Yes. Yes. And can we see that special virtual guest or is she gonna, Yeah. Hold on.

1:09:05 Becky. No, he’s hiding behind our screen. There it is. Wait minute. Here it is. Oh, no. Ah. Hey. No problem. Excuse. We prefer to see you though. It says My camera won’t work. Not start video. Be careful. Becky. We can fire you still.

1:09:24 Nice. Nice. No, It says cannot start video. Failed to start. Oh, wait a minute, my child is helping me.

1:09:35 No, take your time. I have the police chief here. He can run a laptop over to your house really fast.

1:09:45 Uh Oh. Well, it keeps flickering. You’re close. Yeah, but you’re, you’re not, not quite there. That video, you choose Avatar. Oh, no, no. Don’t. We’ve all seen that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, look, don’t get yourself into trouble. You know, We can hear you. We can hear you loud and clear. We can’t Okay. Darn. Well, if maybe you can, Oh, this is better. Go look at this. Go on your phone. Yeah. Yeah. Alright, Becky, it’s with, it’s with, uh, great sadness that we say this is your last meeting, but, you know, perhaps you can lead us in a flourish of, uh, of, of contract, uh, explanations here.

1:10:33 Uh, you know, as a reminder, as, as a reminder of your incredible body of work, over 36 years,

1:10:41 As you can tell, I am struggling to get everything done and put everything in place in the proper order before I go tomorrow. Being my last day. Exactly. Well, that’s why Thatcher told me there were, you know, eight different votes here to do. So, yes. You know. Thank you. Thank you for doing that. Thank you for doing that. So you’re Very welcome. Um, I don’t know what that says that I left it to the end or that’s a good or a bad thing, but, um, so the Woods Hole Group is, um, that’s one of the votes. And that is we, they’re one of the consultants we’re using in the Coastal Resiliency, um, program. Um, that’s happening down at Parker’s boatyard, uh, cliff Street Boatyard and that whole area, that whole Coastal Resiliency project.

1:11:26 Yeah. And one of the permits, so we’re, right now we’re in the permitting process, and one of the permits, um, was combined. So we have an $11,400, um, amount that we can deduct. So this is a amending a contract to decrease the cost, um, by that amount. Okay, great. ‘cause It’s just not, it’s not needed. Okay. Any questions? And, uh, we have other, um, we have other fund other things, uh, stormwater things that we can use that money for. It’s, it’s from a grant from the, um, CZM Coastal Zone Management. Got it. Got it. Awesome. Awesome. Uh, any questions from the, from the board? Okay. Uh, Becky, I’m gonna take these in order and I’m gonna start by, uh, entertaining motion to vote

1:12:11 to amend the contract between Woods Hole Group for Coastal Resilience Project by decreasing the contract by $11,400. And authorize the chair to sign the amendment on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Unanimous. Okay. The, the second one. The second one, Becky? Yep. So the second one is, um, there is a monument up at Old Burial Hill called the Lost at Sea Monument. And the Historic Commission voted graciously to use one of their funds called the Gordon King Memorial Fund, which has very specific, um, uses. And this, um, this met that they felt, um, to, it has to do with maritime. And, uh, and this will be a monument that is restored.

1:12:59 And, um, if, um, any of you have been up there, it’s a rather tall marble, um, monument that needs some work and will be spectacular when completed. Yeah, that’s awesome. We’ve, we’ve gotten a, we got a, a briefing on that already, I think, and that, that’s a great thing. Any questions for Yes. Any questions from the board? Okay. Without, I like a motion to vote to award the contract to Ivan Meyer, doing business as building and monument conservation of Arlington Mass for the restoration of the loss at Sea Monument in Old Burial Hill in the amount of $10,500. And authorized to share the chair to sign on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Unanimous. Uh, item number three, Becky. Um, number three is Rafael Construction Corporation.

1:13:46 So this is the, this is one of the last things that we didn’t, this was part of the Abbott Hall project, but we didn’t do it. Uh, we felt we’d get a better price if we did it separately, because it is the Brick Rentals, I don’t know if you’re familiar with them. They’re sort of the old drainage system that was, um, around it’s decorative that is around, but also functional around the, um, Abbott Hall. So we had put it out to bid, um, a while ago. Um, and we only got one bid and it was very high. So we kind of, um, decided to do it. Now. It’s a favorable bidding climate, um, at this time of year for this type of work. And we did, we got five bids. And, uh, so this is, um, this is to complete that work. And it also, um, we’ll put a new sign outside of Abbott Hall

1:14:36 that is more in keeping with the, the sign that says Abbott Hall. It’s more in keeping with the, um, Victorian, um, nature of the, of the building. It’ll be, uh, black, um, uh, metal railing. And then they we’re gonna match the color of the, uh, window sashes. And so it’s, um, it’s both functional and decorative the, uh, project. Awesome. Awesome. Any questions from the board? Comments? Okay. The, the, it’s the bottom one. It’s the bottom one. Oh, okay. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for pointing that out. Okay. No questions. If that’s the case, uh, I’d like to, uh, entertain a motion to vote toward the contract for the Abbott Hall Brick

1:15:23 Ronald’s project for Rafael Construction Corps of Swamp, Scott Mass for the base bid and add alternate, uh, one for a total of $79,382 and authorize the chair to, to, uh, sign the contract on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Okay. Unanimous. So, uh, I’m gonna proceed to the, she may not have a list. Oh, got it. Got it. Okay. Sure. That’s, that’s, yeah. Sorry about that. Becky. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll give you a little prompt. I mean, the next one is for the capital needs assessments for the municipal Yeah. To, to EBI consulting. You could, yes. And that is, um, so that is for a capital that’s $20,600 for, we had done a request for quotations

1:16:09 for, um, having a assessment done of each of the buildings that’s under the, um, select board, um, to look at, um, interior, exterior, um, the systems and give us a lifecycle for them, what needs to be done and when, Mm-Hmm. And, uh, so that is a detailed report on those six buildings That’s outstanding. All six. Wow. Okay. Yes. Good, good, good. And it’s particularly needed right now, um, without, you know, facilities director. So it, um, it’ll be very helpful to figure out what needs to be done for you guys. I can Hey, hey. Another gift from you, Becky. Thank you.

1:16:54 No, we, it’s, it’s really key. This is an important one. Any questions from the board? No. Okay. With that, I’d like to entertain a vote to award the contract for capital Needs assessment from municipal buildings to EBI consulting of Burlington, Massachusetts in the amount of $20,600 and authorized the share to sign the contract on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Unanimous. Okay. Becky, the next one I have here is the bike plan, uh, with tool design. Yep. Yep. So, tool design. Uh, so we issued an RFP for a bike plan. We have a lot of different, um, things in our, uh, complete Streets priority, and we thought it was best. And this also came out of a recommendation in the local rapid recovery plan

1:17:40 that we had done, um, to do a, uh, overall bike plan so that we’re not doing things piecemeal and, uh, we can have an overall plan that makes sense. And it, a lot of it is, uh, public engagement to find out from people in the community, uh, what they wanna see and don’t wanna see. Yep. Yep. I think that, you know, that makes sense. Uh, it makes sense to me. Hopefully we can get bike use up to what it used to be when we were growing up. Oh, yeah. In town, you know. Um, any questions, comments from the board? Nope. Okay. With that, I’d like to take a vote to award a contract for the development of a bike plan to tool design of Boston Mass in the amount of $79,763 and authorize the chair to sign, uh,

1:18:27 the contract on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Unanimous. Okay. The next one is Payroll services. Becky? Yes. So, yeah, so I think, um, I, as Chief Procurement Officer, I put that out to bid, but I think I’ll leave that to Thatcher ‘cause I don’t really know what that is. Okay. And that’s the great thing about being Chief Procurement Officer. You get a little involved in a lot of things. Yeah. Got it. So, so, um, we’re, we’re moving to a third party payroll service. Um, currently we’re relying on our outdated software and internal processes that have many points of critical failure. Uh, and getting payroll out the door on a weekly basis is something that cannot fail.

1:19:13 So, uh, we’re looking to jump to the third party Harpers. Um, uh, we did a whole procurement process and, and Hoppers was the, um, the choice based on the proposal to come back, um, at this price. So moving forward, when we moved to the Muni system, um, uh, we actually found that they, you know, they have also have the payroll modules and such. We’re gonna deduct from the Munis pricing their cost of the payroll and HR services, which are provided by Harpers. So, so the, the cost of Harpers is offset by the reduction in the amount that we’re gonna be paying Muni for the same service. Gotcha. Gotcha. But we’re gonna move quickly on the payroll

1:20:02 with this, while the Munis implementation will take much longer.

1:20:08 All right. Any questions from from the board? Alright. With that, I’d like to entertain a vote award, a three year contract for payroll services to Harper’s payroll services of Worcester Mass, uh, in the amount of $81,632 and 64 cents for fiscal year 25. And authorize the chair to, uh, sign the contract on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Alright. Uh, the next one, uh, Gary School, and I know you’ve been involved with that very heavily, Becky. Yep. Yep. So that’s, um, for the, uh, designer and facilitator to help us, um, get through, uh, the design development. We started it. Um, and, um, now that we have the funds to, um, continue, we,

1:20:55 we met with the neighborhood and all the department heads to begin with. And then, um, the designer will come up with three different options and then we’ll have some, well, you guys will have some public meetings about, um, about which direction to go. And then, uh, final design will be, uh, developed and costed out. And, um, so that’s what that brings it, this, uh, contract brings us to Okay. Help. I think it’s, uh, useful to note that 10,000 of this comes from private donations and the other 6,000 Yes. Yeah. Other, other 6,000. Yeah. The developer. Yep. The other 6,000 from arpa. Yep. Yep. Okay. Uh, any questions? No. Um, I entertain a vote to award the design, uh, development contract for Gary School Park

1:21:42 to Crowley Cuttrell of Boston Mass in the amount of 16,808 and $80 and, and 0 cents. And authorize the chair to sign on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Unanimous. And the final one, village Green. Yep. So the final one is up at Old Burial Hill. Um, Alex Finnegan and I were in a couple weeks ago, um, giving you an update. So we got a very generous donation from a citizen, um, in the amount of $10,000. And that allows us to do the next chunk of, um, priorities, which came in at $9,900. So, um, village Green Restoration, uh, will be doing that over in the nicer weather.

1:22:28 And, uh, those are the ones that, uh, we had shown the board that were the next priority. Okay. Any questions, comments? And also just a plug for the, um, April 2nd at the landing, the, uh, old Burial Hill committee is gonna be hosting a, um, fundraiser, um, to raise more money for the next phase. It’s an ongoing thing, so. Awesome. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Becky. Uh, any if no comments or questions from the board, then I’d like to entertain a vote to award a contract to Village Green Restoration Incorporated of the East Falmouth Mass for the restoration of gravestones in Old Burial Hill and the amount of 9,900, uh, dollars.

1:23:14 And authorize the chair to sign the contract on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Unanimous. Thank you, Becky. Becky, another, another stellar job. Yeah. Now I have tomorrow to get all these contracts out.

1:23:32 Well, we’re really gonna miss you. I can tell you that much. Well, I will miss moral head and everyone in it. Yeah. Well, we hope we can kind of entice you back in some, you know, some capacity so we can, uh, You never know. So we can enjoy your fine sense of humor, you know, the sparkle in your eye, Which you can’t say with a Wicked, the wicked humor I should say.

1:23:58 Yeah, no, it’s been, it’s been a wonderful career and, um, I, yeah, thank you all. I’ve worked with, uh, lots of select boards and, um, have enjoyed it. Okay, well, we’ll, I guess, we’ll, I know you don’t take accolades very well, but you’ve just been a pillar of the community and probably the, the primary figure of constancy for 36 years here, you know, involved in the planning, uh, of our future, quite frankly, in Marblehead. And, uh, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s really quite, uh, moving to see you, uh, you know, uh, you know, retire and, uh, yeah. I, I really mean it from the bottom of my heart. And I know the blackboard feels the same way that we’re gonna miss you, uh, deeply. So, uh, you are, you are a great marble header

1:24:45 and we really, really appreciate your service. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Becky. Yeah, and I think Becky, after, you know, you had to come on and, uh, make sure that you were, as they came, brought you on as a town planner, make sure that you, you know, pulled your weight. I think you definitely proved that over your career, so thank you so much. You’re welcome. So this is her final official act? Yes. Nice. Yes. So in, in a long line of grants, master plans, et cetera, et cetera. And I think what we should do is, uh, give Becky a, you know, standing ovation for her contribution to the staff.

1:25:32 Thank you. Thank you,

1:25:39 Becky. We, we wish we could see you, but you know, I, I hope, uh, you understand the depth of our respect and gratitude. I do. I do. And I thank you. And, uh, yeah, it’s been, it’s been my pleasure, really. Alright, thank you. And, and I’m sure, we’ll, I’m sure we’ll see you soon. Yeah, you’ll Alright, take care. Have a have a great night and finish that, finish that, uh, glass of wine. Yeah. And I’ll get to those contracts.

1:26:11 Oh God. Wonderful. Alright. Uh, so onto private drain connection. Um, so this is a standard connection, uh, agreement between a, a homeowner and, and the town to provide a, a sump pump connection. So they just want to hook up there rather than running the, the water out across the lawn or streets and, and all those issues to have it connect directly into our drainage system. So this would allow for that agreement to be put in place On Ocean Ave. Right? Yeah. Okay. Any questions? The board? Alright. I understand a motion to approve the license agreement for a private connection to town drainage system to the town drainage system between the town and David Assa 51 Ocean Avenue as presented unauthorized

1:26:58 and share to sign on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Unanimous,

1:27:06 uh, Marblehead Arts. We have a one day, uh, liquor license, and the motion is pretty self-explanatory, so I’ll go right into it. Uh, it’s to entertain a request from Jaji King, uh, Kendall for nine one day liquor license for the following dates from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM March 14th, 2024. April 18th, 2024, May 16th, 2024. June 20th, 2024, July 18th, 2024, August 15th, 2024, September 19th, 2024, October 17th, uh, 2000, uh, 2024, I should say. And November 14th, 2024 at King Hooper Mansion,

1:27:51 eight Hooper Street, subject to the following conditions, delivery of and receipt by the, uh, by the licensing authority of their required $50 fee delivery 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 alcohol beverages purchased. All in accordance with the requirement of general, general law Section 1 38. Alcohol will be purchased from cap’s importing and distri distribute distributing. Uh, do I have a, do I have a motion? So moved. So moved. Second. Second. It’s a opposed vote. Yeah. So, Ms. Singer in favor? Mr. Murray In favor? Mr. Aye. In favor, Mr. Graver? In favor. All right. Well, with the added, with the,

1:28:38 with the retirement of our chief procurement officer was also our town planner, Becky Kern, we, we do need a replacement. And, uh, Thatcher is, uh, I don’t think you volunteered. I just think you, I drew the short of straw. I drew the short straw. I’m like, I’m not, we’re not gonna discuss how that decision was. But anyway, I think you, you’re obviously the most, uh, you know, the most appropriate one at this point. Um, and I entertain a motion to appoint the town administrator as Chief Procurement officer for the town. So moved second. All in favor? Enthusiastically. A I’ve held the position before, so I know that’s a factor in it. I know As I look around the organization and the distribution of added responsibilities, it was my turn A hundred percent. So we thank you for, for taking on

1:29:24 that additional responsibility. We do, we do really appreciate it. Uh, alright, the next one on our, uh, agenda is, uh, the gift of the town, uh, police Harbor Master Chief, if you want to give us a little

1:29:42 very generous sketch background. Yeah, yeah, these are alright. I really didn’t want to follow Becky, so that Was good that you Put something in between, um, Thatcher and Collar are always thinking of the next moves. Um, well, good evening select board. Um, I’m just kinda thrilled to, to bring something really positive that a kind of fixture and head and a resident and a caring citizen, um, did on behalf of public safety for the town, um, in making a donation to the police department and the Harbor Depart Harbor Master Department,

1:30:29 and in essence the fire department as well, um, for a public safety drone and the cost to license, uh, for operators two in the police department to the Harbor Master Department. So, um, an unsolicited donation came in from, um, Biff Micho. Um, as indicated in my, my letter to the board, it comes to roughly $15,000, uh, which is extraordinary. Um, and I just wanted to take an opportunity to, to thank, um, Biff, who I’ve known for quite a few years, um, to present to the board this generous donation and just give you a little bit 15 seconds of what it’s gonna do. So, um, in modern first responder technology, um, the drone has taken on,

1:31:16 uh, the lead as the technological advance in response, um, equivalent to body cams equivalent to tasers and change of how, um, we did things in policing. And so, um, to have this opportunity to purchase this drone, um, is gonna enhance, um, public safety and response in emergency situations exponentially. And, um, it has the ability to, um, assist in search and rescue, whether that’s on the land or the water. And I can just let you imagine how that would affect our ability to respond on the water. Um, it’s gonna have thermal sensor to be able to use in daytime and nighttime, uh, optical zoom lens that can really, really pinpoint, um, need, um,

1:32:04 in the time of need. And, um, it’s just, you know, it’s just, it’s just an outstanding piece of technology. It assists the town. Um, and it’s very relevant now to talking about FEMA and MEMA funds around, uh, the coastal damage that was done. Um, oftentimes communities along the coast will take video of, um, their coastal areas before and after storms to document and capture those grant funds that sometimes are an excess excess of hundreds of thousands of dollars. And this will allow us to do that in addition to, um, the response that we have. So, um, I’m not lightly underestimating this donation. Uh, it is a technical, technological game changer for first responder and, and, um, and Biff

1:32:50 and, uh, the, the desire to improve, uh, response in the town of Marblehead is, uh, should be noted. So I’m glad that I was able to present this to you. It’s outstanding. Outstanding Chief. Thank you for that. Uh, any, uh, comments or thoughts from the board? Actually, if we could just amend that motion to send Bifa a note of Thanks. You beat me to the punch. I was about to bet. No, it’s all good. It’s all good. Um, okay. If no questions Chief i’d, I’d like to entertain a motion to accept as a gift of the town, a donation in the amount of $15,321 for the purchase of a public safety drone training and licensing, uh,

1:33:35 for the police department and Harbor Master. So moved second. It’s Just a point of information Real quick. All those, oh, sorry, go ahead. Um, so just, I was just curious for the train, like who does the training and licensing? So it’s, um, it’s the 1 0 7 4. So there’s a specific licensing for drones. This particular one is the highest level that public safety operators should be using at, so it’s not your casual user. Um, it’s a licensed, and the training is actually an online, uh, interactive training that’s recommended by the, um, the sellers and our other counterparts that have said this is a training that will prepare the officers and the Harbor Masters to be able to get their licensing. Um, and so that’s a big deal in terms of having just not the casual operator,

1:34:21 but a license. There’s a lot of Yeah. So they will do like the drone licensing is part of it. Yeah. Which is, which is something That’s fine. That’s awesome. Okay. If we’re, if we’re asking questions, I have to ask one too. Sorry, you’re like, Talking my language, I couldn’t help that. What kind of language, uh, what kind of technology on board? Is there flu or is there, uh, you know, any other Yep. So, So the thermal engine imaging, um, I, I suppose it, it is flur. Um, and it literally has the ability, um, to, in, in darkness identify heat images that is absolutely paramount to, um, finding people and times of need, especially where they wouldn’t normally be, right? So if you’re looking on the ocean

1:35:06 and you’re trying to canvas miles, you have the ability to pick out heat signatures like that. And this is, um, this is a drone that has, um, it’s kind of best in the business and it’s reasonably cost. Um, but, uh, it’s, it’s gonna really make a difference on that. Thermal heat, heat imaging. All in favor? Okay. Unanimous. I’d also like to entertain a motion, uh, for a letter of thanks and appreciation to Biff Michelle, on behalf of this light board. So moved. Second. Second. Those in favor, unanimous. Thank you. You’re welcome. Thank you very much. Chief. Hey, you can, these are Good things With Oh, they are good things. Yeah. Hundred percent. Alright.

1:35:52 Uh, okay. So we have the Marblehead School of Music. I guess it’s looking for the use of Abbott Hall. The motion is pretty self-explanatory. Uh, like a motion to approve a request from Jennifer Spungen, uh, Marblehead School of Music Hugs Abbott Hall on Saturday, June 8th, 2024 from 9:00 AM to, uh, to 8:00 PM for student recital. Uh, subject to the usual rules and regulations, fees and receipt of the required certificates of insurance. Naming the town of Marblehead, uh, as an additionally insured. So moved. Second. All in favor? All right. Unanimous, um, letter of interest. I’d like to enter a letter of interest, um, from Steven Wolf, uh, who would like to vol to be, uh,

1:36:40 volunteer, volunteer for the Harbor Implementation Harbor Plan Implementation Committee. Uh, Kyle, if we could put that letter into, into consideration. Much appreciated. And, uh, there’s a request, um, and I don’t you have a little background around this? Yeah. This is Thatcher. I, I rather than summarize the letter, which I would butcher if you Could. Yeah. So it’s, um, uh, there’s an event, uh, at the ACON Gallery School of Art located on State Street, um, that’s worked with, um, young students. Um, and they are proposing a

1:37:26 fundraiser event. Um, Mm-Hmm. I’m looking for the language in here, Kyle. The, Yeah, it’s the event is, it’s, uh, acorn Gallery School of Art Day. They’re a fundraiser and I think they’re just, They’re asking for a proclamation. They’re just asking for proclamation. Yeah. Right? Yes. Just to, just to help them, uh, just to acknowledge just to, yeah. How many years? Mm-Hmm. They’ve been in business and Yeah. Serve student kids. Yeah. Okay. Well, and that’s the case. I’d like to entertain a motion in honor of Acorn Gallery’s upcoming celebration to proclaim June 2nd, 2024. 2024. Excuse me, acorn Gallery School of Art Day in Marblehead.

1:38:12 So moved second. All those in favor? Unanimous. That’s great. Alright. I think that brings us to our public comment period. We have, uh, please step on up. Let’s see. We should, uh, there’s the microphone, right? Yeah. That’s probably, whatever. Well, whatever you prefer. Oh. Used to come to the board. Oh, please. And if you, no, if you wanna do that, come on. Do that make us feel welcome. A hundred Percent Okay. On, you know, you’re Welcome. Okay. Uh, number one is when we close town business down during a snowstorm, I think we need to relook that policy. This when, you know, because the taxpayers, you know, private people have to go to work and people are trying to get business done.

1:38:57 And it’s nice, you know, we should wait till the day the morning of like we used to. And then, you know, we can plan the night before saying if we’re gonna have a blizzard tomorrow. But if you go out in the snow, snow, most of the, you know, I worked for the town. I had to stay during a snowstorm. I worked for the state and I was stuck there 30, 40 hours at a time. So I think everyone’s gonna be on the same base. In fairness, I don’t, I don’t care what the state does. If you’re not essential, you normally don’t have to go to work. But I was a essential. So I just think whoever makes the decisions on that, we wanna rethink so it doesn’t happen again. ‘cause it costs a lot of money. We don’t have the money and we can’t get things done with the money we have now. We tell the taxpayers. Well, that’s noted. Okay. Thank you. Um, the other thing is the, um, the Boy Scouts,

1:39:44 when people used to make Eagle Eagle Scout, the board used to welcome them in. They would talk about their project. There’s, you know, a lot of negative things going on in this town. It would be nice, I don’t know why. Instead of just sending ‘em a letter, they volunteer a lot of time. It’s not like a quick thing. It’s quite an accomplishment to, for someone to make very small percentage of people make that rank. And, um, what I’m just saying, it would be a nice gesture to the town. You could invite the people. It’s a handful of people a year if, if it even happens every year. Um, and it would just acknowledge them. ‘cause a lot of times they do a lot of community service for the town to do a project that sometime people aren’t even aware of. So I just think it would make the kids really, um,

1:40:32 uh, feel that they’re getting acknowledged and whatever project they did, if it was for the town or a nonprofit, or they normally do something for people, um, that, uh, would really like to be, instead of them just getting a letter, you know, they just come in here for five minutes. That’s all I used to do. So, I mean, I don’t think there’s too much just to ask and people there would be, they would probably be happy to come in here and, uh, you know, you have a lot of people coming here complaining. I think this would be something that might, you know, we, we need to get some things to good things going on in Marblehead too. That’s instead of just the negative things we hear about every day, it’s a minor. So it’s just a thought. You do what you wanna do, but very well, very well known. It, it used to happen in this board. Very well noted. Okay.

1:41:18 Yep. Thank you. Thank you. Have a nice week. Yep, you too. Now, uh, anybody else in this room or, uh, online? I don’t see anyone online. Okay, Kyle, thank you. Well, the public, uh, comment period is closed. Uh, if we could have the town administrators update. Sure. Thank you. Uh, few items here. First in your book is the first quarterly report from the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee, uh, for your per perusal. Uh, I wanna commend, uh, chair Gary Hebert, who has been doing an outstanding job of running the meetings and producing this first report. So it’s very, very thorough. Great job. By by the chair. Um, so it’s available for review, um,

1:42:05 as the bylaw says there’ll be quarterly, so this meets that requirement. Yep. Uh, next item, um, to let the board know that a, the, uh, termination notice was delivered to Officer Christopher Gallo on Friday, February 23rd. Um, so that was his last day of employment, uh, with the town, which means that the police department currently has two vacancies. Uh, one will be filled through either a lateral transfer or through a new hire through the civil service process, depending on, on, on which, which avenue we, we get the opportunities.

1:42:50 Uh, the other position, uh, vacant position will remain vacant due to budget constraints through the, through the next year’s budget. So one of the, the cuts being proposed for next year’s budget is, um, keeping that position vacant. So it will have an impact on, on the department. Um, next item. Uh, I had, I had talked about a closing of the Mary Alley for, for water work, that that closing was delayed. We ended up not closing on, uh, on the Friday that we had announced. Um, and it was mainly due to vendor availability. Um, I, I, I keep you up to date on that. Uh, as earlier today, you, you voted, or tonight you voted on the request for funds for the building assessments.

1:43:37 Um, as we try to identify some of the serious capital needs of our, our, our facilities, uh, Mary Alley again, uh, the water system, we had that major flood. We’re trying to do some other work to prevent, uh, future floods. But it’s just raising the flags that we, we need to take a serious look at our facilities, which is what that, that contract will do. And develop, uh, a really serious, um, capital plan to address, uh, our building needs. It’s, it’s well beyond the point of ignoring. ‘cause uh, these things are starting to happen, that, that at least closed us down for one day already. So, um, work to be done.

1:44:23 Uh, and finally, uh, last Friday on the 23rd, um, Marblehead was visited by Melissa Hoffer, who is Massachusetts first ever climate chief. Um, this was arranged by Representative Ginny Armini, and it gave all of us an opportunity, uh, to present all the efforts, uh, um, that we’re working on Marblehead iss working on for sustainability, as well as present many of the challenges of Marblehead due to the rising sea level. So one of the things that we did, we, we did presentations, but we did a walking tour to look at the damages from the recent storms, but also brief on some of the, some of the efforts that we’re doing for resiliency, uh,

1:45:09 the Harbor resiliency efforts. Uh, the fact that our sustainability, uh, coordinator was there, um, uh, in, in the work that he’s starting on our Net zero plan. Um, so it was a excellent event. Uh, they spent over five hours. Uh, the chief was here for over five hours touring Marblehead, talking to people, getting, getting briefings. So a special thanks to Representative Armenia and her staff who helped put that all together. As well as to Becky, uh, Curran, our Harbor Master, mark Souza, uh, like director Joe Koal and several others who gave specific presentations, uh, in each of the areas to inform form The chief, who by all

1:45:56 all regards, seemed very impressed with Marblehead in the efforts that we’re doing. So it was a well worth effort. So with that, awesome. Concludes my report. Alright. Any, any thoughts, questions? All? Okay. Uh, any, um, announcements from the select board members?

1:46:19 Okay. If not, I have a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. All those in favor? All right. Thank you.

1:46:32 Productive meeting. Huh? Productive meeting. A lot. Done. We’re a Lot of votes. Not bad, right? Yeah.