Select Board: April 24, 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 24, 7 o’clock. So, Okay. Are we good? Yes, we’re good. Sorry. Okay. So we’ll call this meeting to order and it is being recorded via Zoom. Our first, uh, agenda item is, uh, interview for the Disabilities Commission, uh, with Ms. Gail Mack. And Gail, if you would just come to the table and join us. Thank you so much for your letter of interest, and, uh, either way. You Too. Welcome. I think so. Thank you. Yeah. Um, so do you, I don’t know if you, I mean, we have your letter of interest,

0:45 but if you just wanted to, um, you know, give us a, some few words about your interest in the commission. Oh, Okay. Um, well, I just have been, you know, my kids are older. I’ve been looking, um, for other ways to be involved in the community and, um, this seemed like a good, um, choice, um, as I, I actually, um, hearing impaired. So I have experienced, you know, some difficulties in, in, in meetings and things like that. And I thought that having that experience and in my work at school with accessibility and trying to create accessibility, um, wherever possible for students, it would be a nice, um, thing to be also be able to do that for, um,

1:31 the community at large in some way. Great. Does anybody have any questions for Gail or comments? No. Thank you for volunteering. Yes, thank you. Yeah, Gail is like a, a phenomenal, um, stu uh, teacher in at the middle school and works with all kinds of different areas or kids with different array of learning disabilities for years. So, um, okay. So we’ll just, I’ll just ask for a motion to appoint, um, Gail Mack, the Disabilities Commission with a term to expire in June, 2026. So, moved. Second. All in favor. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you. No, thank you. Really great. And has to swear in. Oh, yeah. Um, so when you have time to stop

2:17 by the clerk’s office to swear in, and I’m not sure, I’m sure they, when they, the disability commission meets, but, um, look on the website and just before Kyle can get you in touch. Okay, Great. Yeah. And is that just like on a weekday, like a working Weekend During Clarks office hours? Just this morning makes you official. Okay, great. Pop over and Yeah. It’s a short process. Alright, great. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you for coming in. Good luck. Thank you. Okay, next, um, we have, uh, a request to use Abbott Hall for, uh, the Eagle Scout ceremony. Um, boy Scout Troop 79 Mark Babin. That’s awesome. Um, so, uh, ask for a motion to approve

3:02 this request from Andrew Barnett of Troop 79, uh, boy Scouts Association to use Abbott Hall on Tuesday, June 4th, 2024 for Eagle Scout ceremony, subject to the usual rules, regulations, and fees and to waive the rental fee. So move second. Okay. All in favor? Can, can we invite him in like we do to everybody? I don’t know if they, most of the people have been not coming in. If I could. One chair. Yeah, of course. The last two, uh, Eagle Scouts, I did send them letters to invite them in. Okay. They’re both away in college. One in California and one in Florida. And they thanked very much for the invitation, but said their schedules didn’t permit it. Yeah. Okay. And Madam Chair, I’d also like to make a motion that we send a letter of accommodation, uh, to this individual as well.

3:50 Chair. So moved. So move in a second. Okay. All In favor. Thanks. Um, we have the Board of Health Revolving Fund account, uh, request from Andrew Petty. Uh, it’s, um, maybe, uh, do you have some update on Yeah, So this is Andrew. This is what it’s doing is increasing the amount of the transfer from their revolving funds by 300,000. So you had voted earlier at a certain amount, uh, 1 million, I think it was 1,000,060 2069. Um, they need another 300,000 to, to balance things out. It’s accounted for in the, in the budget In fin com. Mm-Hmm. This is just the formality of updating the number,

4:38 if you remember all the revolving accounts that you, you, you vote on. So this is just an update to that amount. Okay. From their account by 300,000. Okay. Um, so we need a motion to approve the request from Andrew Petty, director of Public Health to approve the board of health FY 25 revolving fund account in the amount of $1,262,069. So moved. Second. All in favor? Three. No. Is it the wrong amount? It’s a typo. So it should be 1 million lot of money. 360 2. Yeah. Oh, it’s up here. Paragraph Nine on the, yeah, it’s up in there. But the motion? Yeah. Three. Okay. So one. Yeah. So amending the motion in the amount of $1,362,069. Yes.

5:27 So moved. And second. All in favor.

5:33 And this is, oh, um, our reserve fund transfer. Um, uh, this is a request from the, uh, chair of the board of assessors. John,

5:47 this is John Kelly, our, the chair of the Board of Assessors. Welcome Evening. Welcome, John. Hi. Thank you, Moses. Okay. We have two requests. Yes. And the first is for Patriot Properties. And the bottom line is we received 334 abatement applications. And there was no way that the boy could ever get out in the field and look at 334 apostles, uh, with the time constraints that we were under. Uh, Patriot Property is a vendor that’s done a lot of business for the assessors for years and years. And one of the three principles I’ve known for Mark Carroll I’ve known for over 40 years. And, uh, so I called Mark the middle of March and I said, we are in a jam.

6:34 We’ve got a month. ‘cause we’ve told people middle of April, we’re gonna get these answers out to you. Can you do it? And he said, yes, we will, we’ll help you out. And actually, they went in the mail April the 18th. So, um, they did a very good job. So their bill is $15,000. And the other is for our, we reached the point where we thought we really should have an outside consultant look at the, at the assessment job that was done for valuations. And that bill is $5,000. And he is meeting, this is Jim Dougherty. He’s, um, in the process of retiring as the assessor in,

7:21 um, out in, uh, Burlington. Burlington. Thank you. I kept thinking Linfield, but I know it’s not Linfield Burlington. Um, he also has a consulting business. He’s, uh, been an extra pair of eyes for boards of assessors for years. The most recent, I believe, was, um, Lynn was doing a, uh, having an outside firm, do an update on their, um, uh, industrial and commercial property. And he served as just an extra pair of eyes for the board of assessors. So he was familiar with the Patriot, uh, system, and, uh, obviously a very good assessor. So he is doing that for us. He’s meeting with the board tomorrow to sort of give an informal overview of what he’s discovered.

8:06 But, uh, his final results will be given to us either Friday or Monday. Oh, okay. We’ll go on from there. Okay. And obviously share the results. Thank you, John. Yeah. Well, so this request, it’s coming from, it’s going to request us to, from the reserve fund. Mm-Hmm. And transfer to cover these, these amounts. Mm-Hmm. You want the bad news? There’s bad news. The amount of abatements we gave out. Yeah. Oh yeah. 541,000. That was my next question. So then, I mean, how do you balance that out? Right. Well, we have the overlay and we have overlay surplus from the

8:53 previous two fiscal years. So it’s coming out of that A surplus. Okay. But it could have gone to much better things. Mm-Hmm. But that’s the bottom line. Okay. Thanks for the information. You’re very Welcome. Great. Was that, uh, sorry. No, through the chair. Um, was that number, um, I know that it’s typically like 334, is that something you haven’t seen for a while? Like, what would be the last time you’ve seen a number such as that? The last time there was a number, like that was probably the real estate crash, 2007, 2008, and they were 450. But since valuations are always catching up,

9:39 you’re looking to the past. Right. Um, the number crashed, but the valuation was before it crashed Still. Right. So it was Relatively easy. It wasn’t, it didn’t cost like this, it was just time consuming. Got it. Yeah. Okay. This good, but this, yeah, this, this is number two. Okay. Got it. Thank you. Okay. So, um, do we have to do the motion separately or just can we, I guess, yeah, they’re for different things. So request two different purposes. Okay. Um, I need a motion to approve, uh, or to authorize the chair of the board of assessors to appear before the finance committee to request the transfer of the sum of $5,000 from the Reserve fund in accordance with chapter 40, section C of Mass General Laws. So move second. Any discussion

10:27 Just through the chair? One more question for the consultant. Um, I have this in my notes, uh, for the outside consultant. I think you said that you guys are getting the results back pretty quickly. Another What, for the consultant, I think you said you guys are getting the results back pretty soon, correct? Yes. And were they looking at the whole process holistically? Um, anything particular Patriots properties and the process or just what, what did you guys, they Were looking at their contract, looking at the whole process and not at individual parcels. So would be the whole process. And actually, um, the price is very reasonable because they could piggyback off of what Patriot had done looking at all these abatement applications

11:12 as opposed to if they came in cold, you know, they’d be digging out a lot of this information. So were they just using the data from Patriot’s property to assess the, to make the assessment? Well, it be because Patriot uses our data, right. Which they store Maintain. They just then pull from There. So yes. Okay. Okay. Got it. Okay. Thank you. You are welcome. Okay. Um, May I say one thing? Of course. And I would like go, like to go back to the state of the town. Okay. That evening, that infamous evening that you folks enjoyed and it that, uh, the state of the town was started by Tony Sassel, and at the time it started, um, the board

11:59 of assessors made the decision. We had a professional assessor, and he created the values and he created our budget, and we approved the budget. So it was decided that the professional assessor would attend that event and represent the board of assessors. And her professional assessor was there. And for some reason, she decided not to speak. And I don’t know why, and I know you folks got a lot of heat that night, but I just wanted to sort of apologize. Let’s say I extend my sympathy.

12:38 Well, I think it was a lot, it was an education for a lot of folks, honestly, myself included, really, like, you know, um, when it bubbled up. So, you know, take the positives from it and Yeah, I think the steps are taken here to show that you’re not taking this line down and that you want to get to the bottom of it and make it right. So thank you. Be a busy summer getting everything organized again. And thanks for your service, John. Yeah. Yes. No, you’re very welcome. It’s a pleasure. Over 40 years. 41. Who’s counting? But then I was on the historic districts eight years before that, so. Oh, A lifer volunteer. Yeah. A lifer. Yes. Okay. Well, let’s get you the $5,000. All in favor?

13:27 Unanim. Okay. Unanim. I must vote for that. And then, um, I want, need a motion to authorize the chair of the board of assessors to appear before the finance committee to request the transfer of the sum of $15,000 from the Reserve Fund in accordance with chapter 40, section six of Mass General Laws. So Moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Okay. Thank you, judge. Thank you. Thanks, John. Appreciate coming in. Um, Moving on to, uh, agenda number five, private Dream connection at Orchard Street. Just our routine drain connection, correct? Yep. Yep. Standard connection, uh, into our public drain system.

14:12 Okay. We just need a motion to approve the license agreement for private connection to town drain system between the town and Dennis and Maria thi 73 East Orchard Street as presented and authorized the chair to sign on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. All in favor? Great. Okay. And next onto the approval of 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 Minutes, which we’ve all had in our inboxes that Kyle sent out. Um, just to ask for a motion to approve these minutes of March 19th. March 27th, March 29th. April 1st, April 8th at 2:00 PM meeting, and the April 8th, 7:00 PM meeting. So moved of 2024. Second Session. All in favor? Okay, great.

15:04 A liquor license here from Marblehead Museum. It’s in our packets. And, um, it’s pretty straightforward. It’s the Marblehead Museum. Um, let’s see there. Uh, oh, for the league garden mansion garden or fundraiser? Yeah. At the garden. Uh, I need a motion to approve the request for Marblehead Museum for one day liquor license for Saturday, June 22nd, 2020 four, a hundred sixty one Washington Street from two to 6:00 PM subject to the following conditions, delivery of and receipt by the licensing authority of the required $50 fee, delivery of and receipt by the licensing authority of proof that the alcohol will be purchased from an authorized source. Proof that the applicant can receive proper delivery prop, provide proper storage and disposal of all alcoholic beverages purchased in accordance with the requirements of general law Chapter 1 38.

15:51 And that alcohol will be purchased from cap’s importing. So moved. Second. All in favor? Oh, Right, Mr. Nye. In favor, Mr. Grader? In favor, Mr. Murray? In favor, Ms. Singer? In favor, Ms. In favor. Um, another, um, one day liquor license, a request from Karen Zef. And, um, we need a motion to approve Karen Z’s request for this one day liquor license on Thursday, May 2nd for the Marble Head Arts Association from six to 9:00 PM subject to the following conditions, delivery of and receipt by the licensing authority of the required fee delivery of and receipt by the licensing authority of proof that the alcohol will be purchased from an authorized source. Proof that the applicant can receive proper delivery,

16:37 provide the proper storage and disposal of the alcohol beverages in accordance with the law. Alcohol will be purchased from cap’s importing Vote. And second, Mr. Grader. In favor, Mr. Murray? In favor, Ms. Singer? In favor, Mr. Nye In favor, Ms. Moon in Favor. Now we have a series of, uh, um, requests from the police department. Well, there’s a number of contracts, first ones from the police department. Oh, oh, Just con They’re all various, try to clump all the contract work together. Yep. Um, so first we’ll take ‘em in order for mobile surveillance camera system from the police department. Uh, do you have any So Comment on it? Yeah. So this is a deployable system. So if you have like a large, large events, lots of people,

17:25 you, you can deploy the system in a, in an area that, um, kind of gives the police some eye, you know, eyes on large events and such. So you see ‘em in other places. You, you see ‘em at malls and everywhere, parking lots where you want to add some, some security. So it’s wireless, it’s mobile, you can set up and, and put anywhere you need it for special events and such. Great. Does anybody have any questions? Nope. Okay. Um, so we will need a motion to approve the conversation between the town and the wireless CCTV for mobile surveillance camera system in the amount of $42,887 33 cents. And authorize the chair to sign on behalf of the board. So

18:10 Moved. Second. All in favor? And I forgot to mention this is all from a grant. I would, yeah. Yeah. Right. Another successful grant In the case. Um, um, the Collins, uh, center, um, uh, is our, it’s a, we need a motion to approve the contract between the town and Edwards j Collins Junior Center for Public Management for professional services related to the town’s charter committee and the amount of $20,000, and authorize the chair to sign on behalf of the board. So moved second. And discussion. Okay. All in favor? Great. Um, revise LLC Web design.

18:55 This is a request or, so we would need a motion to approve the contract between the town and revise L-L-L-C-A-K-A, revise software systems in the amount of $19,750 and authorize the chair to sign on behalf of the board. So, oh, I’m sorry. Come. Shall move A second. Gotcha. So this was, uh, I made note of this at the previous meeting that we’re migrating to a new web website. Great system. It’ll be about a six month migration. But again, um, uh, Alicia and her team did a good job of reviewing a number of different vendors. Um, the, the, as a result of this, uh, we’re gonna get more capabilities for the website and it’s gonna cost us less money. I don’t know how you get it better than that.

19:41 Great. Yeah. So this is, yeah. So it’s a, yeah. Savings at some level, It’s a savings and, uh, improvement in Major improvement Yeah. In, yeah. In, in the system. So That’s great. I remember we talked about, you know, that being like a, a goal on the list of Yep. Many things to, It’s been an issue To improve on. Um, okay. So all in favor. Great. Unanimous and, um, a software subscriptions for Tyler Technologies, although I don’t have an amount here. Um, oh, so, so Tyler Technologies is the muni system we’re migrating to. It consists of a whole number of modules. We are actually reducing the modules. So, so we’re reducing the contract amount by $110,200.

20:31 Okay. Okay. Okay. Can I have a motion to amend the contract between the town and Tyler Technologies for a software subscription reduction in the amount of $110,200, and to adjust payments to run on a fiscal year and authorize the chair to sign on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. Anything? Okay. All in favor?

20:54 Um, Corolla contracting. The DPW. Yep. And oh, and the police station roof. Oh, this is the roof? Yeah, it’s mostly The police station roof. Oh, and I see it like, yeah. Yeah. We have the background information. Yeah. So it’s change orders. Um, so change order number one, um, increase of 5,000, let’s see, $408 and 50 cents. Um, it’s just some added work that discovered needed to be done. Um, I think it was some electrical, moving some electrical equipment and, and a device on the roof. So added a cost. And also to ex extend the contract time

21:40 by 52 days, in part, just weather conditions such delay. Also, there are certain, um, um, glues or applications that they need to use on the roof to seal the roof. And that’s very weather dependent, so they have to wait for the right weather conditions and temperatures to, to deploy. So we’re extending the, uh, timeframe to complete the contract. Okay. Anybody have any questions? No, It’s good that, that’s getting done. Yeah. CN uh, so, um, I just need a motion to amend the contract between Corolla Contracting Inc. And in the town for the DPW and police station roof replacement and approve change order number one in the amount not to exceed $5,408 and 50 cents.

22:28 And order number two, to increase the contract time by 52 days, and to authorize the chair to sign the change orders on behalf of the board. All moved Second. All in favor? Oh, did you have a question? Oh, okay. It was just a, oh yeah, it was, it was kind of like a, a lazy, sorry. Yeah. Um, okay.

22:50 And that brings us moving down to the Inspector of Animals is an appointment. I’ll turn it over to you, that chair. Sure. So this is, uh, a reappointment, uh, for the Inspector of Animals. This is, this is not animal control officer. Uh, it’s, uh, somebody who inspects barns and, and those kinds of conditions. So it, it’s just a state process for, um, reappointment for Inspector of Animals. Um, Okay. So who are we appointing? It is, oh, it’s on the second page. Daniel? Yeah. Daniel Pro. Daniel Pro, yeah. Oh, okay. Yep. Oh, there we go. Yes. Oh, yeah. Daniel. Daniel Pool. Okay. Alright.

23:38 So we need a motion to appoint Daniel Pool as the, um, to Inspector of Animals. Oh, yeah. And as a term to expire. April 30th, 2025. It’s on the Perfect. Thank you. Bottom of The first, very bottom. Oh, yeah, there we go. It just snuck snuck. Great term to expire. April 30th, 2025. So moved. Second. Second. All in favor?

24:05 Uh, and I think this Thatcher, if you could, I mean, we’ve had in our packet and we’ve reviewed it, but, um, probably best for have you kind of walk us through. So, um, as you know, we’re doing, uh, a huge harbor resiliency project. It’s got many components to it. Um, and, uh, so we work with, uh, the Harbor Committee, um, and other groups to, to come up with an overall plan for the harbor. And then for implementation, it’s sort of piecemeal or, or, or moving forward on components of the project at a time, um, to seek funding and, and, and get the projects done. So we have the plan now.

24:51 We have to, um, seek funding to implement, implement, implement, implement components of the plan. Thank you. Um, so we’re looking at Park Parker’s Boat Yard as our first in first initiative. Um, and it’s seawall work and some other other improvements in that area to basically, um, protect it from, from rising seas. We’re putting in a request. Um, it’s for $2 million and it’s, um, the, the, the US Senate has their budget process in which you put in your request for projects. The house has their request, and then we’re putting, we’re submitting, um, uh, request into both the House and the Senate.

25:39 And so it suggested, uh, Logan Casey, our sustainability coordinator, has been doing a lot of work to help support us through this effort. Um, so this is a letter of support, and it was recommended that we could just do a joint letter to both US senators and our congressman, um, requesting their support to, um, get us the, the money to, to do this work out of the federal budget. Okay, great. Awesome. Okay. Um, so we need a motion to send a letter of support for the town’s FY 25 congressionally designated spending application for the reconstruction of Parker’s boatyard, and authorize the chair to sign on behalf of. So moved. Second. All in favor.

26:27 And that brings us to an ARPA funding request.

26:32 So, um, this is, uh, uh, another request. So we, um, we’re getting, we’re, we’re, we’re getting down to the end of the list, which is really good. We are on a deadline to get these funds out, out the door. Um, the, uh, as you remember, in the last meeting, we did a a hundred thousand to the former Gary School Playground Project. Um, and so, so this request had been, been, been in, in, in the queue also to support the Piper Field Turf Project, which is, as you all know, replacing the general field. Um, to be frank, we’ve been sort of declining it because under the, the, the r uh, criteria,

27:21 though, it’s a, it’s a good project. It’s just a general municipal project. But in, in, in talking with, uh, um, the folks involved in that is they defined a specific component of the project that involves, um, improving, um, accessibility and safety, uh, components of the project. So, so what we’re looking to fund is improvements to the gate entrances that are being widened, uh, for public safety vehicles, but also provides accommodations for accessibility, as well as supporting the effort of additional padding under the turf, which is a safety feature. Uh, the original project 10 years ago did not have padding

28:07 under the turf as part of the new project, they’re adding it. So it met our criteria of enhancements for the safety, uh, of that. So with that, um, agreed to 50,000, uh, towards that project. Again, supporting public safety, accessibility and user safety, um, components of that project.

28:35 Mm-Hmm. Good use, good use discussion. Yeah. Yeah. So is the request, has the school committee taken a position on it? No. Uh, well, I’ve been in communication with the superintendent who was Right. Part part of the committee. Um, so what’s interesting about this request, uh, this request has been submitted by the, the, the boosters, boosters doing the fundraising. So they’ve been, been leading the fundraising. The challenge we have with the ARPA funding, it is, it, it doesn’t work for us to contribute to a, a, a nonprofit fundraising effort to then donate to the school for the project. So as part of their effort, what we agreed

29:22 to is we will make the funds available to the school as part of, part of the effort. So it’s, it’s not part of their directly part of their fundraise as a result of their efforts, but it’s not directly flowing through them. We’re just allocating 50,000 that’s available. So when the schools move forward to expend to do these improvements, they’ll have the 50,000 available to draw from. Okay. Yeah. I mean, they’ve already green lit the project, so I would presume that they’d be Yes, yes. Grateful for the extra. If they don’t want it, we’ll find 50,000 for something else. But, uh, you know, we’ve just kind of, there’s been a lot of conversations Yeah. At least at the administrative level, uh, on this effort.

30:11 Yeah. But it would, and it will be an advantage, it will be a benefit to the schools. Yes. Um, okay. Does anybody have any comments or questions? Um, and so this leaves us with $447,000, a hundred forty forty seven, $140 remaining remaining, um, after we vote, assuming which We will want to commit by the end of this calendar year. Yeah. Do you have any, like, I mean, do you have a, like a timeline for that? Or do you have like, We, we have projects allocated. So the remaining funds are allocated, uh, towards a, a number of the rail trail projects. So they’re components of that. So we just haven’t moved it forward, forward waiting for,

30:57 you know, those particular aspects to mature. Got it. Get a, a good price on it. Um, okay. But the goal is to is to finish this, these commitments. Okay. Uh, so we, um, we need a motion to approve $50,000 from the ARPA funds to Piper Field Gates and turf improvements. So, second. All in favor.

31:30 Temporary ban parking ban for Sweet Street Sweeping.

31:36 I think Amy was on. Oh, yep. Oh yeah. Annual street sweeping. Amy, did you wanna, are you on to weigh in on this? Uh, sure. I’m on for anything you guys had a question about, but, um, I just saw you up there.

31:56 This is weird. Hey, now she’s too quiet. Now she’s, There we go. Um, street sweeping used to be completed during the time period where we had off street parking in the winter. Uh oh. Right. So it worked very well when you took off street parking away. We now actually have to have a parking ban in the tighter sections of town. So that’s, um, we’ve done it, uh, since you’ve, uh, removed the parking off street winter parking ban. So this’ll be, I believe the third year or maybe the fourth year we’ve had to request it. Okay, great. And, um,

32:33 so we need a motion to approve the request from Amy McHugh, DPW director for a temporary overnight parking ban on the following days to allow the DPW to facilitate the annual street sweeping in the areas of downtown Old Town and Shipwreck shipyard districts. Wednesday, May 15th, Thursday May 16th, and Friday May 17th, 2024. During the hours of 12:01 AM until 7:00 AM consistent with the Snow Emergency ban, residents will be notified via temporary signs, targeted flyering website updates, code red notifications, and updates on the Marblehead Police Facebook page. So, moved. Second. Uh, all in favor. Great.

33:12 And we have a request from our fire chief here just to, um, we need a, just for around painting. So it’s to restrict vehicle parking in around Old townhouse, old townhouse for painting purposes. So we need a motion to approve the temporary parking restrictions, five spaces around the old townhouse, April 29th to May 30th, 2024, as needed to facilitate painting of the old townhouse. So moved second. All in favor? We, uh, if they go to May, can we, uh, just amend that or add to it to surround, uh, Memorial Day to, um, Oh, do we usually To make we start Mark the space for the parade? Yeah. That’s where they all formed down there. Oh, is ‘cause is that Memorial Day weekend?

33:59 Uh, is the 26th, 27th? Yeah. I don’t think there, that probably won’t be there. I think it’s just when they come during the day to Okay. So on, on holiday. Make sure about that. Okay. All right. We’ll just, yeah, don’t have to do it. Um, we’ll have, we have, we definitely have meetings before then if Chief wants to request that, I think too. Um, okay. So, uh, did we have a second? I forget. We had, yeah. Okay. I just talk to me All in favor.

34:32 And that brings us to our, um, the select board articles that we’re sponsor on the warrant.

34:44 We went through all these with. Yeah. So this, this is the, the formal vote to support for town meeting those articles that are sponsored by this board. So, um,

35:00 Do we need, we don’t need to read through them, I Don’t think. Not definitely not the tax. ‘cause you already gone through that. We, what you’re, Has the amounts been published? What’s That? The amounts? Yeah. Yeah. So that, these are the numbers we confirmed them, uh, that are, that are in the Warren article motions for each of these. Um, I think as far as a motion, it would just be the, the, the bolded title at the top. Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. I suggested adding the additional text to have context to, so it’s not just the title. Um, just to make sure, as a matter of record, it’s in there. But it would be just, um, the motion to accept like Article 3D

35:46 contracts in excessive three years. I can read the headaches And just the headache. That’s all you need. Yeah. People’s interest. Um, Yeah, of course. Just a quick question. Uh, article 20 and 21, those are still being announced. Should we exempt them? ‘cause we don’t have any information on ‘em. So, yeah. So, um, so it’s sponsoring, it’s sponsoring the, the, the articles Negotiate. We’re still in a negotiations. Um, so if there is agreements, this is the police union contract, MMEU contract, uh, that will be filled in. Yeah. Um, if we can’t come to agreement, then Be postponed. Yeah. It’ll just be postponed. Gotcha.

36:27 Okay. Okay. Okay. So I’ll ask for motion to support the following article in the 2024 Annual Town Warrant. Article 3D is contracts in excess of three years. Article four, unpaid funds in the amount of $23,633 and 49 cents. Article five, departmental revolving funds in the amount of $3,983,301. Article six purchase of equipment of several departments in the amount of $176,784. Article seven lease purchase in the amount of $447,354. Article eight, capital improvements for public buildings in the amount of $401,941. Article nine walls and fences in the amount of 50,000.

37:12 Article 10 storm sewer construction in the amount of 400,000. Article 11, a water department construction in the amount of 2.6 million. Article 11 B sewer department construction in the amount of 2,850,000. Article 12 proposed reclassification and space and pay schedule, um, at 2%. So it’s the administrative schedule. Administrative schedule, yeah. That’s the non-Union administrative schedule. Yep. And Article 13 is the proposed reclassification and pay schedule for traffic SUP supervisors at 2%. Article 14 is a proposed reclassification and pay schedule for seasonal and temporary, uh, employees at 2%. Article 15, compensation of the town clerk at 2%. Article 17, Essex North Shore Agriculture

37:58 and Technical in the amount of $468,057. Article 20 collected, excuse ma’am. Chair. Yeah. Sorry to drop that. Can we, yeah, that’s good. Can we, uh, postpone article 20, article 21? ‘cause I’m gonna have to recuse myself from those two. And then you come back to those afterwards. We’re not even voting in a amount. Right? Right. So this is just putting them on Okay. Sponsoring them on the agenda. So I, I’m not sure how, yeah, I just, because they involve unions, I can’t participate, so I’ll Okay. So if you include them, I’ll recuse myself from the entire vote. Or if you wanna put them, if you remove them, I’ll recap. Okay. You want like, should we, okay. Hold, I’ll skip ‘em and then we’ll come back. Just come back to those two separate. Okay. We’ll come back to them. Yeah. Article 34, community Development and planning department, uh, Period. Yep. Article 35,

38:45 assessing department under Chief Financial Officer Article 38, the, um, approve, uh, mass General Law 41 B, change the assessors from elected to appointed positions. Article 39, amend Bylaw, capital Planning committee and membership. That’s It. And that’s it. So Moved. Second. Anybody have any comments? Okay. All in favor? Did you wanna vote? Alexa? Oh, sorry, I just was checking language. You were so fast. We Gotta get her that clicker. We gotta get her that New clicker. It’s now meeting. No, I couldn’t read that quickly. Um, okay. And then, um, uh, so 2021 articles. 2021, um, uh,

39:32 we need, so we, it’s the motion to approve. Motion to approve, um, to support the following articles on the 24 annual warrant would be Article 20, collective bargaining for the police in a, um, yet undetermined amount. Article 21, collective bargaining for the I-U-E-C-W-A, um, local 1776 in, uh, an amount TBD. So moved. Second. All in favor? I refused. Okay. Now we’re onto our charter committee, uh, membership discussion.

40:07 Okay. I know Thatcher put a lot of math into this. It was easy Math 10 minus one. You sure you didn’t tap into Alicia for the math? It’s pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. My secret little Excel formula. Yep. Um, Do you want me to kind of just for public purpose, explain the methodology? Yeah. Let’s Talk about, yeah. Yes. So, so we had 20 applicants. And so At the last meeting, right, there was 20 applicants, far too many to, to do the whole interview process. So the board decided that each member of the board was given a packet with all the materials of each candidate for the charter commission, uh, and a and a worksheet where they were, the board was asked to rank

40:55 their, uh, choices one through nine. The idea being going for nine, nine members on the board, your first choice being number one, second choice number two, and so on. I, uh, Kyle collected them. I, I had them. And all I did is I created a little spreadsheet that converted your number one rank to equal nine points number two to eight points. Yeah. So, went down, so I have it at the bottom. Number one equals nine points. Your ninth choice is one point. Um, and just let, let the spreadsheet calculate the totals for each of the candidates, and then put ‘em in rank order based on the, the, the total score of votes by, by the members collectively.

41:41 And so you’re looking at the results of that. I, let me just make one comment. As far as in the tie numbers, it then goes alphabetical. So, so for those that had zero or two, whatever, there’s no, there’s no ranking amongst that score. It’s just alphabetical. So I don’t wanna Right. Feel bad if they’re at the bottom of whatever category. It’s just Like, right. Like Bill, bill Conley and Thomas Massaro tied. And So if they’re had the same score, it’s last name alphabetical. Okay. So it’s actually kind of a, I thought it was a really good process because Yeah, I, I Echo that. Yeah. I think, I think, um, there was a lot of like minds as you look at it, I noticed that.

42:29 So there’s, there’s, um, very strong, um, preferences up at the top and then still strong here. And then I know we had ranked nine, but I’m looking at 10 and 11, who also clearly there was an interest in the board, um, for, for f for, uh, those candidates, you know, and just really close to really the ninth candidate. I’m wondering, you know, um,

43:00 you know, how people wanna proceed it. I mean, we, it was, we recommended to start with nine and, uh, you know, just to kind of start small, you can always add and see how this process shook out. Um, seems to me there was like, you know, that people felt that those two candidates would have a lot of, a lot of value to the committee. And I guess we could, it is a possibility if the board wants to consider making it 11,

43:34 That through the chair, that was one of the, when and then when we had this discussion, they, they laid out a couple different options. So, I mean, if we collectively are saying based on this list, the qualifications jumped out at, at 11 solidly Yeah. Versus the number nine. There was no recommendation that I remember from the charter study saying, Yeah. So the, so the call center talks about you, you know, you could set your committee at nine, 11 or 13 is probably the typical if you, if you start going larger than that, it becomes unwieldy. Right? Right. So, so there is a, a balance of efficiency to inclusion. And I think, you know, what the chair’s pointing out, which was interesting in the results. Uh, for one, you know, the number of candidates

44:22 that was scored by everybody, there were some candidates who were only scored by a few, but high highly. And then there were some candidates that were scored down in the lower half of their rankings, but everybody scored and put ‘em in. So it was, it was a very interesting diversity in how, how all the scoring played out. But I think to the point that the first 11 candidates received significant amount of points after the 11th, then it, it drops down to, to nominal votes. So the question is, we were starting for nine, but there are actually 11 candidates that had significant scores Mm-Hmm. Before it, it kind of dropped off to just nominal votes for the, the, the ballots. So whether 11

45:08 Makes sense, I mean, I think it allows for a little, one of the things that we discussed was looking at the diversification of the group. Who’s bringing, what, who’s bringing maybe institutional knowledge? Who’s bringing a fresh view, the things that you’re hoping to pull together when you’re making this type of analysis. So I, you know, I don’t see, to me, I hear what everyone else say, but I don’t see a downside to rolling to 11 versus nine when you have a very Yeah. Like diverse, talented group of volunteers that are looking to participate in this process. Yeah. Um, Yeah, I would madam chair for May. I, I, I would just echo your sentiment. That is a really, a really good process. Um, I think it, you know, reflects the, you know, the,

45:54 the collective, you know, I think, I think knowing certain individuals, uh, helps a lot. And there’s definitely consensus around some, and there’s, there’s a couple of outliers. I think increasing it to 11 would probably be inclusive of those outliers a little bit. Yeah. You know, and, uh, yeah, I’d, I’d, I’d, I’d support that. I guess, you know, it doesn’t make much difference between nine and 11 really in terms of the, you know, the functional, you know, the function function of the, of the committee. So, And that’s still within the scope of the recommendation. Yep. Yeah. Professionally. Yes. Yep. Yep. Okay. I think that’s, that’s a good, a good thought manager chair. So I, I, I guess I’m wondering, you know,

46:41 do just, do we want to just go ahead and, and start and make and appoint them at this point? Do we need to deliberate a little bit on kind of how we’re envisioning the whole, you know, the whole committee? Um, I say That non-residents or, Yeah. Well, to, to the extent that we want to include ex ex officio on the one hand. Right. And then maybe additional volunteers from the, from the professional staff of the town or fin com or something like that. I dunno. That we’ve Explored. Yeah. Yeah. They’ll, so this would, these would be, yeah. The, um, resident members of the Only, um, Yeah. Maybe we handle that first and then, and then talk about, you know, if we want to expand the committee to include the whole

47:28 committee. Yeah. The whole committee On duty. Right. So there are no hard and fast rules that you have to point everybody and ex offic or everybody tonight. Right. Or at any point in the process that, again, it’s your process, the end product of the work that’ll be done is a report back to this board with a recommendation of a charter. Right. And, you know, other information to support sort of the, you know, where they, how they came to the recommendations that they have done. And so, um, I would suggest that even later on, on the path that there’s some subject matter expert

48:14 that would be helpful to this process. You can always add. Yeah. So, yeah. So yeah. And I am, I know you had set up a call for, for me with, um, Mike from the call in center. Yeah. Um, we could have another person. It’s tomorrow at one. We, I think you were on, you were on that. Uh, or we could, we can, we don’t have more than one. Um, and then we could just report back an update from that conference. Yeah. Um, Not more than two. Right? Yeah. Um, so it’s an informational call with the call and center in regard to this process. Yeah. Um, yeah. I couldn’t be here also when they, um, when he first, uh, spoke to the board.

49:02 So, um, well, do you guys wanna go ahead and appoint the non-residents and then like, discuss the makeup? Should we appoint, talk to the Collins Center, bring that back, and then discuss the, make the broader makeup? I Would think if we vote the citizens first and then after your call tomorrow, you’ll be, you’ll have more information. Okay. Yeah. I think it’s take this, The makeup as of the others. Okay. I think that’s right with These. All right. Great. So we’re, yeah. So we’ll, we’ll, um, like a motion to appoint the following, uh, residents to the charter study commission. Amy Drinker, Sanna Ante, Jim Zin, Ron Grier,

49:48 bill Conley, Thomas Massaro, Seamus Han, Sean Casey, Amy Danforth, Caleb Miller, and Victor Wild. So moved second. All in favor? Great. Yep. Good group. So we’re starting and we’ll, yep. Keep going. Awesome. So one of the other decisions, this just to the board is, and this is again in conversations with the call center, is the board selects the chair. ‘cause you want to somebody who has the bandwidth, the capacity, all you know Yep. All those things that are willing to take on that lead, that task. That doesn’t have to happen tonight. And we want to have some conversations, but that would, you know, I think under the purview

50:36 of the board, or I I should say, based on my conversations, that is typically what they’ve, what boards have done, uh, as part of this process. So Well, and presumably certain of these members would prefer that role and others might not. Right. So we’ll see how that shakes out when they get together. Yep. Or whenever we update them, And maybe they can, maybe they can put forward a nominating process or something like that to the board so that we could, you know, take the, the initial committee’s, uh, Yeah. Maybe when Kyle reaches out to let them know That they’re on and confirms that they still wanna serve, then she can ask it, this is the role they wanna serve. And then back To this Board. It, well, we could just say, ask for a volunteer

51:21 and see who does not step backwards by one step voluntold. Yeah. It’s, Uh, Okay. Well, great. So, um, Kyle, will you reach out to those selected members and Okay. A letter? Yeah, we’ll write a formal Letter. That’s great. I think that’s, this is a really good group. Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. Okay. And oh, we have, um, I just heard about this yesterday, uh, a letter from, um, Bob Peck, and he’s resigning from the Marblehead Community Access and Media Board of Directors. I just wanna acknowledge this letter. And, um, he’s been on the board for the past 10 years,

52:09 he says, but as I approached my 84th birthday, it’s time to step aside. So, so Ed, it’s for LL Ed Bell. Ed be Yeah. Ed Bell. Yeah. Yes. That’s all right. And I knew that I just said Bob’s name. I was like, He’s A CC Ed’s the, I knew that. I just missed the names. Yeah. Um, well, he will be missed for sure. Can I make a motion to accept this with regret and send him a, uh, a note of Thanks. So moved for as many years of service. I’ll second that. Okay. All in favor. Great. He’s just a great guy. Yeah. Really is totally

52:49 Great. Uh, radio voice too. Voice. Okay. Oh, so, so then I’m, I, I had just asked the, I put Article 36, um, discussion on here and, um, because There’s been a lot of, um, coverage both within, just within the town in the news media and people, you know, letters and positions on it, and also, um, across the Commonwealth and in the globe and other sources. And, um, I just, you know, I think that I, I wonder as the chief executive board that, um, if it might behoove us to weigh in on the article.

53:36 Uh, it’s given that it’s kind of receive some controversial cov you know, coverage. And I know that, um, the chair of the planning board expects this to, you know, be a dis well discussed. People have very strong opinions about it, uh, at town meeting. And, um, it does have serious, you know, significant financial, uh, um, potentially, uh, repercussions if we do not, the town of Marblehead is, does not comply by its date. So I know the finance committee, they voted to support it, or is it supported, or what was the actual vote?

54:22 ‘cause they said approved. Approved, approved it. Yeah. Um, because it would have negative financial impact on the town Yep. If it does not pass. Right. And, um, I just wanted us to be, have the opportunity to speak to it. I am personally, I’m have concerns. I think that a lot of people that are going to show up at town meeting, despite every best effort and numerous forums and the planning board and Becky Curran’s, um, job with the consultants in, in, in really trying to get the information out there, forums and everything. I do still feel like there’s a lot of people having just in the street conversations with folks that, uh, you know, maybe know a headline about it and, um, know, like just a little

55:10 to be scared about it or have concerns about it that, you know, are readily, um, addressed, you know, in conversation. But, uh, I just thought, you know, we should maybe kind of think about supporting the planning board, uh, article and, um, kind of sending that, that message of support if we do, if there is a, if there is a consensus around it at the board, of course. So I just, or just have an opportunity for people to speak to it here.

55:43 Okay. Madam Chair. Yeah. So, um, uh, I don’t recall a time where the board selectman was weighed in on, on an article that wasn’t sponsored by us before town meeting. That being said, um, a lot of information out there. Uh, the planning board has done an, uh, a very good job on of identifying acreages acreage and marblehead, um, um, that would satisfy the state mandate. States really put towns and cities in a difficult position on this. Um, ‘cause on the one hand, they don’t identify what funding they’re gonna gonna withhold for non-compliance. Um, you know, we’ve gone back many years

56:30 and, you know, I don’t know if any of the funding would’ve, um, been withheld that we got in the past. Um, that’s unclear going forward. The state has not identified the funding. We’re sitting on approximately $12 million in seawall enhancements. Um, another million something in, in, uh, village Street and the State. I mean, who knows what they’re gonna do. They could withhold Allstate funding. Yeah. Um, so it’s, it’s really a gamble that the state has really put, um, put Marblehead and many other cities and towns in a difficult position. Um, on the one hand, you know, you have, you know, what,

57:16 what the heck does the state have to do with town of Marblehead? Could be a lot. It could really be a lot. It would be ideal if our town meeting was in the fall. Um, because at that point you’ll, you could see the fallout of, um, of Milton, uh, Marshfield. Um, and then there was just another town that act that Acton. Okay. And ‘cause the state, you know, so, so, so you have, those towns are gonna have an expense litigating this against the state. Um, they may come out that it’s unconstitutional, and then it all falls apart for everybody, which is great. Um, but it’s really unfair for the state to be putting towns, um, in this position. And so, um, it’s gonna be a lively debate.

58:02 It’s fortunate that, that just a few people aren’t making this decision. The whole town is gonna make this decision, um, at town meeting, which is the way that it should be. Um, ‘cause it’s gonna impact everybody. Um, I would just advise everybody to get as much information as they can. Um, uh, you know, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Um, talk to your planning board members. I know Becky, uh, cutting before she left had a tremendous amount of work on this, uh, Thatcher and Alicia. Um, and from my understanding is even though this is a, a mandate, um, for, uh, denser zoning, it still has to fall under our zoning loss. Correct. Um, so we still have control. And this is just a zoning mandate.

58:48 It’s not a building mandate. Again, the distrust of government, you know, this is one step and then all of a sudden they’re gonna mandate the building of it. You know, you already have it in place. I understand those concerns. Um, I have those concerns also. It’s, but it’s a, uh, you know, I feel like saying shame on the state for forcing this on, on towns. ‘cause we should be able to, to handle what, what we do with our town lands. So that was just my little rant. So Medicare. Anybody else? Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Uh, thank you for bringing this up. I think it’s important, uh, you know, uh, to talk about it. I do agree with Jim that I think that if we speak up for individually on the board, that’s probably a better Great. You know, we don’t wanna necessarily break precedent. There’s a good reason for the precedent for not, you know,

59:35 for not, you know, pon, you know, speaking up and voting collectively as a board for these types of things. But, you know, I just echo Jim’s point that I think there’s a little bit of, you know, concern about that. It’s a mandate and there’s probably an unlimited scope to the, to the potential punishment or, or, or fines that we get. So I think that’s sticking in people’s cr a little bit. But, you know, having seen the, the planning process that the planning board went through, you know, Becky’s very thorough job to kind of manage the impact. You know, I’m definitely, um, you know, I’m definitely comforted by that. But again, not, not terribly psyched that we’re, you know, that we’re, that we’re facing, uh, a mandate that’s potentially expandable. So, thank you. Yes.

1:00:23 You go first. No, go ahead. Yeah, Madam Chair. Um, I, I think Becky, you know, cutting, put it best when she was doing her presentations when she said, nobody likes a mandate. Mm-Hmm. And, uh, and, and again, as we’ve, we’ve talked, this is one of those possible versus probable, is it possible 900 units could be built? Yes. Is it probable? No. Um, you know, and, and again, I, I understand, I agree with Mr. Nine. I agree with, you know, uh, Mr. Greater with the intrusion, you know, on our process here that, you know, we know marble as community, but again, we’re in the same boat with 177 other institutions, and do we really want to put ourselves out there for the lawsuit and expend that, you know, fee. Um, I’m happy to move forward with a boat vote on this

1:01:09 because this board has had precedent in the past. We did take a vote back when I was on the board, the first go around on the CPA, which was a non-sponsored article by the board, and we did take a vote. So I’d be fine with taking a vote on this, uh, matter just given its importance and, and, and given, um, just everything out there, just so the public knows where we as individuals and as a board stand.

1:01:34 I’m chair if I could Sure. Add, uh, I do, I do remember the CPA vote really being around governance because it was an, it was not so much the tax, but it was about the potential incursion of, um, you know, that CPA committee on the operating on the operations of the board. So I think it was a little bit situated. I remember that very well, because I was right in the middle of that As, yeah. It was a citizen’s article Chair. Yeah. The chair. It was a citizens’ article, but it related to the board, you know, to the board’s, uh, governance. Okay. Where this article doesn’t relate specifically to the board’s governance, but I just Yeah. Thought I’d lay that out there. But that is, that is the, I think the only time, right. That we voted for another, uh, I, I may, I don’t recall, but I just remember, I, I mean,

1:02:20 I was on the, made the motion on that. So that’s why I just wanted bring that up. That we have, we have in the past made, and, and I think it just impacts the town. Not, I, I, I don’t disagree that it’s a little attenuated, but it’s, it’s still Yep. Affects the town. And I think it’s important that we as individuals and the board for that side. Okay. I think, uh, appreciate hearing everyone. And I think, you know, Jim opened with, one of my biggest concerns as I look at this is, you know, and especially knowing our current financial situation and what are the potential financial implications that we would face. Uh, and secondly, what is the cost that we would incur second secondhand, you know, secondhand cost of, you know, now if you’re in a situation

1:03:06 that you’re litigating something, that’s also a big concern. And there is that element of the unknown, as in what actually will be affected. And the second point, you know, I think that you made Jim, that was very, uh, I important, is that there is always the concern of, okay, well here’s this, what’s next? And that’s, I think one of the things that I saw Becky try to work really hard to clarify the difference between zoning and building, because a lot of that misinformation is circulated around building versus zoning. And also the nuance of that sometimes gets lost.

1:03:53 So I think that’s, uh, something that we have to still work to clarify, because that can be pretty confusing. And that also there is that in-between layer of the what’s mandated by the state, and then what our own zoning is, and how in an area such as Marblehead, where there’s not a lot of acreage, you know, that we are not in a same situation as other towns where maybe there is a lot of open acreage. Like it’s a very, uh, more controlled environment that we are in. But I think for us being in charge and looking at, and monitoring and pulling through all of the financial implications that affect short term and long term, this is something

1:04:39 that could have a pretty good impact on the things that we are in charge of making sure they happen and take care of. So, um, yeah, how, what mechanism we use to express that, you know, I think that’s part of what we’re discussing here, but I think that that’s the important part of expressing what the implications of that are holistically. Um, thanks. And I, yeah, I, I think Jim, you summarized like perfectly, uh, I think the, the main, like the mainstream kind of fe feeling about it, uh, a lot of my thoughts about it as well. Um, I think when it first came down, it felt to me like very much like a one size fits all, uh,

1:05:27 situation for a coastal, like in Islandish Pen Peninsula Town that is very built out. Uh, but again, just to echo everyone’s, I mean, you know, there, the process was really thorough in the planning board. And our town planner did an excellent job of taking advantage of areas that were already ripe for redevelopment, where redevelopment will be frankly, a, a a real improvement to existing, um, situations. And, and, you know, even on Broon Road, I just an update that, um, Kathy Hogue, the Housing Authority, um, housing authority director, uh, put out and the Housing Authority received a, um, they put out an RFP and they’ve received, uh, like a, a bid for that

1:06:14 for Broon Road to what are the opportunities to improve, uh, upon what’s there and provide more, um, both state and federal and, uh, affordable housing. So, um, and then the areas are kind of the, there’s the three main zones that are kind of really spread throughout the town. Again, in areas that are, it’s sensible to offer that type of zoning and it already exists. Um, you know, I think the emphasis that it is not a mandate to build has been made. You know, it’s really no different than Chapter 40 B, which many of us know is, you know, a developer can come in as of right and put up a development project with the, you know, if there’s 25% of the project, they are gonna deem a affordable,

1:07:00 that’s been the loss since 19 68, 69. You know, marble Head’s probably seen a handful of those projects. I think Oliver Pond was one. Um, you know, there’s a project on Green Street. There’s others maybe, I don’t know of them, but it certainly hasn’t changed the character of the town of Marblehead. And, um, it exists, you know, and again, like zoning, like you said, it’s very different than, you know, just, it’s just zoning is different than building. These still require a maximum of three stories. There’s two parking spaces per unit that’s still required. Um, and I think we passed the ADUs, and technically as of right, every home over a homeowner can convert to an A DU.

1:07:45 And I think we’ve had like two applications. So, um, you know, just to kind of, you know, um, put things in perspective when people speak of 900 units and, you know, um, it’s important to keep that in mind. And, you know, to Jim’s point, they haven’t said what they’re going to withhold, but I did find some language that from, um, December interview, uh, with, uh, what is it? Um, uh, governor Healy had was interviewed on radio Boston in December. ‘cause the, the towns were starting to wonder, you know, what, like, she was kinda getting some pressure around this. And, um, she, uh, she stated in the interview,

1:08:31 if you don’t comply with the act, then you’re going to see us withholding as a state money for any number of programs that you’re used to receiving money for. Haley said, that includes for schools, it includes for roads and bridges, it includes for a whole host of things that are important to communities. And she also, yeah. So she also noted, um, that they’ve already more than doubled the initial list of, uh, what the state considered products. Yeah. So any, any discretionary state grant and, um, it is at stake. And they’ve already shown with the, um, I think it was within a week after Milton rejected, uh, compliance. They were pulled, they, they pulled a, a sea wall

1:09:16 for the Deponte River funding right away. So, you know, we can’t afford, in my opinion, to not comply with the law. If others wanna challenge it, so be it and let them be the face of that challenge is how I feel. You know, if things change, if the legal landscape of it change, if the state, um, you know, amends the stat, the, the act, we can always, the, the town can always revisit it, repeal it, be for everybody, right? Yeah. So, you know, there’s really no harm. I can’t, I’m hard pressed to think of a, a harm that comes from complying with it. It’s the law. We should comply with the law. Um, and there are real financial consequences that the town

1:10:04 of Marblehead cannot afford to, you know, um,

1:10:10 to, to, to forego. So, I mean, we’ve got the bridge project, a ma a Water Maine on Atlantic Gav that’s out for approval for 3 million, Mimi said, Yeah, the, the Water Maine replacement on Atlantic Gav, that’s a $3 million project. And then we have for the Village Street Bridge, which is already a restricted bridge weight purposes and such, um, that’s $11 million. We have it on, uh, submitted for the Transportation improvement program. So, um, for that project, we’d be responsible for the design, which we’re using chapter 90 funds, I believe is what we’re using on that. But the state would pick up the cost

1:10:56 of the actual bridge project. If we were no longer eligible for the funding was withheld, and that bridge became fully compromised, we would either have to cut off Village Street, uh, the whole, you know, throughway, which is from a public safety perspective, is, is untenable. But then Marblehead would have to foot the bill, the $11 million or plus to actually replace that bridge. So we, we do depend on a lot of state funding. Um, I, I’ve heard folks, you know, ask questions about what, what have we gotten in the past and we’re trying to compile accurate information. Um, that’s in the past, you know, part

1:11:43 of the effort that you all know, uh, for example, the Warren article to, to create the community development planning department. One of the main functions of that department is to go after far more grant funding than we’ve been able to go after in the past. In fact, there seems to be even more grant money available between stimulus funds from the federal government flowing through the state and the state. Um, and we are trying to position ourselves to be much more aggressive going after that type of funding to get things done. And so the concern would be if, if, if we were, you know, prohibited from whatever, whatever grants

1:12:30 that would basically cut our legs off out from under us of taking advantage of, of those type of programs. So, um, you know, that’s the concern on our end. But I, I, I, I also want to echo the effort. It’s been set already working with Becky, cutting in the planning board. They did an excellent job, outstanding job of crafting the zones and, and all the public forums and public input and various ways to really craft something that absolutely works for Marblehead to be compliant, but to have a zoning overlay that’s very much in line with Marblehead. And so I have to give credit to those folks, their professionalism and, and,

1:13:15 and the decisions that they made were, I, I think excellent. Put us in a good place. Well said if I could. Yeah. Well said. You know, I think another thing that hasn’t been well articulated is from the state side that I’m wondering if you can help us with this. I mean, what are we really contributing to? You know, is the law expected to increase the amount of, you know, available dwellings by X amount? And what does that ultimately mean? Is there an affordability component to it? I think people are very, you know, I, I know that if we, you know, if we, we can, we can build any number of houses in Marblehead, and it’s not gonna make much difference to affordability, right? Right. That demand will get sucked up immediately. But having said that, maybe we are contributing to the available dwelling units that ultimately

1:14:02 that will contribute to, you know, the benefits for other towns or, or across the commonwealth. But you, you, you don’t hear that story. You just hear kind Of the hammer side of it, but not the purpose side of the law. So, yeah. You know, from my readings and talking to folks, the issue from the state perspective is Massachusetts has a housing crisis. Yeah. And it has a profound impact on our economy. Mm-Hmm. Or it will. And so the concern is that we’re gonna start losing big industries, especially high tech, pharmaceutical, you know, all that stuff that’s been driving Massachusetts for decades. And the challenge those industries have as such is finding housing for their employees. And so there is, uh,

1:14:49 and I saw some article, you know, an outmigration from Massachusetts, and, and what we don’t want is a brain drain. ‘cause those are the industries that we rely on. So from the state perspective, it is a crisis that they are trying to address, and that’s the need for more housing, more supply. Um, and I think one of you said it, you know, the issue of a one size fits all, it’s both an advantage and a disadvantage from my opinion. The state created the criteria, you know, uh, uh, mathematical formulas that dictated the size and the density that is required for zoning, um, from, and so that’s how the numbers are driven,

1:15:36 or how many housing units it needs to be calculated for with no intent that that many units would be built. It’s, it’s in order to create some definition as to how many acres into what density levels you need to have in your zoning to meet the requirements. So it was, it was more of a mathematical exercise than anything else. The advantage for Marblehead over a lot of other communities is the current density, right? That there is not a lot of buildable properties, and that the areas that we’re zoned already have multifamily units in them. And a lot of these, these homes, these 19th century mansions are multiple family homes of high density.

1:16:23 You know, they already meet and exceed what the states require. The communities that would be more concerned with this one size fit all approach are the ones that do have lots of open space farmland and such, because however they zone they will be, you know, high potential for housing development. And so, so again, in crafting what Marblehead did, but just the nature of Marblehead already being a highly dense, densely built out, um, we can be compliant with the state requirements without it being an actual threat of large development coming in. Other communities can’t say that, but Marblehead can.

1:17:09 And so again, the state stepping in and, and using force, because it’s trying to meet a crisis, it sees at that level. And we’re dealing with the impact of that. But again, I think marble head’s in a better position to deal with it than, than some other communities. And I think, you know, the fact that it was something initiated by Republican Governor, Charlie Baker and carried on by, um, Democrat Ma Healy’s, uh, init, you know, uh, agenda is, you know, nice to speak to the, you know, that it’s, it’s really, this is not a partisan. This is, this is like really a crisis. And, um, those leaders can agree around that, and they’re seeing it in the state and the implications it’ll have across the state.

1:17:53 Um, yeah, and I mean, I mean, to to, to Moses your point, like it’s, we, we know from our housing, um, production plan that Marblehead has in fact the highest inventory of single family homes in Essex County, even among its Essex County peers. Um, and I don’t know why that is, but I remember, I mean, Jim, Jim and I had a conversation once, and he was saying that years ago there were many more rental units, and there’s no rental units. Now, it seems really difficult if you, you know, people are desperate to find, like, you know, a rental place in town. And I think the idea is that there’s a need in Marblehead for more diverse inventory

1:18:39 of housing stock options. You know, people that wanna downsize from a four bedroom home to a one bedroom, two bedroom condo, they can’t, they, there’s just no place for that. Um, or it’s very difficult to get into something like that. Or, you know, somebody to return to town and rent for a year. And, um, just, you know, the, we have an overwhelmingly majority single family home, uh, housing inventory is, um, you know, we could improve upon that, and it would really benefit both young people wanting to return, as well as all of our seniors who would very much like to unload, uh, you know, a half an acre of landscaping in an empty four bedroom house and move to someplace to downsize, but they wanna remain in their community.

1:19:26 And then, um, you know, so again, positives to come from the zoning change. I think in reality, both sides overstate the actual impact it will have, just because it’s, like I said, it’s just a zoning change, like we’ve all talked about. It’s not a mandate to build anything. Um, okay. So, um, you know, I’ll just, I think we can just, you know, I’ll just say that I’m personally support this article 36, and I really encourage people at town meeting to vote in support of it because of all of the reasons that all of us have shared, uh, tonight. Anybody else?

1:20:11 Yeah, I would say that, you know, the similar thing, Madam Chair, that, you know, I’d support the, the passage of this, even though it, it, you know, it has some, you know, we understand the purpose behind it, but it has some palpably, overbearing, uh, you know, requirements. But again, it’s, uh, you know, it is just a zoning change, uh, and we’ll just keep a close eye to make sure the mandate doesn’t, doesn’t expand.

1:20:37 So I’m in support of it as well. I, as well, I’m happy to speak to this, but I think, uh, I’ll Reiterate Thatcher’s statement that, you know, I think we have the opportunity to be compliant with the law without the, you know, the threat of big development. I think that’s important. And also with being very mindful of the financial implications and considerations that are very real for this community right now. Yeah. And, and I reluctantly support this as well. It’s just, I mean, again, like Becky said, nobody likes a mandate. Um, but I think I’d rather fight from within, continue to get our state, you know, grants keep this town going, and then if it changed, I would be the first person to make the motion that we, uh, change our laws back.

1:21:23 Right. Okay. I think that seems to exhaust our discussion on Article 36, um, public Comment. You’re online and you have public comment. Just to raise your hand. And Kyle let me know. Yes. I have a, um, uh, well, it says iPhone. Okay. Somebody with iPhone wanna identify yourself and make comment. Yep. Yep. This is Claudette Mason, eight Susan Road again. Um, so I wanted to ask a question real quick. Oh, sorry. Can you please just state your name and address? Yep, I did. It’s Claudette Mason eight Susan Road. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Claudette. So I was, yep, you are welcome.

1:22:10 I was on the last call, um, that you guys had, and I was mentioning the 897 homes that was on your PowerPoint. And a gentleman, I, I don’t recall who it was, had said that that’s not the number. Where did I get that number? And it would only be a fraction of that number of homes that were going to be developed or, um, built. And my statement to you is, um, because I try to ask, or I try to answer that question myself, when I was, um, told I couldn’t speak anymore, that number you told, you said is the maximum amount of homes, and it would be a fraction of that number on the actual mass government mandate.

1:22:56 It says from Marblehead it’s 897 as a minimum. So I, I think that, you know, explaining to the people of the town the right amount is, is very helpful because I’m being told by you that it’s not the amount that I’m incorrect, that the PowerPoint was just there as a, as a maximum. So that’s my first thing that I think that you need to let people know. Uh, secondly, the um, financial board that you mentioned that voted all in favor is the same financial board that was telling you as a board that they do not know how many grants, um, that you received since inception of 2018, nor were they able to tell you how many

1:23:43 that we did not receive, and the amount of money that we received. Um, and so I find it really concerning that this board has voted on the amount of money that you keep saying that we’re going to lose when you financial board or, um, committee couldn’t even tell you guys that on the last meeting. Um, then lastly, why not ask the town about doing a municipal bond to bring money?

1:24:15 Say That again? Pardon me? We, We missed that. What was the end? The last thing is, is that there’s other ways to bring in money for the town that you think that you are going to be missing. Municipal bonds is a way, I mean, honestly, I mean, fundraising, there’s other ways to substitute the money that you think you’re going to be losing. If you ask the town for other options. I mean, you guys have municipal bonds, why not do another municipal bond for the construction of the bridge or, uh, for the seawall? I mean, there are other options than relying on being blackmailed by the state.

1:24:54 Um, thanks Ms. Mason. I don’t, I’m not sure very good points. I can, I just Sure. Go, go ahead. Um, and those are all great. Those were all the decided by town, meaning what we, I think what we’re all saying is that it’s uncertain what the state would on hold, uh, withhold if we don’t comply. Um, and I don’t think anybody can answer that. We don’t know, uh, what can be withheld. And it really doesn’t matter, you know, the last three to five years, what grants we may not have gotten, if we, if this was, um, you know, three to five years ago, which ones we would’ve missed out on. ‘cause going forward, they, the state can change the rules at any time. Um, so that’s the uncertainty.

1:25:39 And yeah, I think you’ve heard all of us, uh, talk about it and, and, um, you know, it’s a, it’s a difficult position for towns all across Massachusetts to be in. So, thanks, Jim. The, the other thing I might add is that, you know, the, the debt exclusion overrides are definitely a, a source of funding, no doubt. But it, you know, it imposes a debt burden on the, on the town that we otherwise wouldn’t get from the, you know, from the state grants. So, you know, if we can get the state grants, that’s generally a more, you know, preferable, preferable route. Yeah. Right. But is it not, isn’t there an understanding that also that either, even if you’re building or you’re doing the construction on the existing ton road and all that, what is that cost going to come to the town?

1:26:25 Like, you know what I’m saying? Like, you guys have to let people know. It’s like, okay, yes, there’s debt with the municipal bond offering, but there’s also gonna be debt for the town, for the building of the new buildings or construction on the existing buildings. No, that the, the, the bro road project would be a dev outside developer. It wouldn’t, there wouldn’t be, there wouldn’t be a, It must being done by the housing authority. That’s, that’s a state housing authority that owns that, that land that I mentioned. But, um, that’s a, that’s an outside developer that would come in and, and, and incur those costs. So I think, I think the big difference, so I mean, those are all funding mechanisms, borrowing money or getting grant money. The difference is one of them is Marblehead money. You have to pay it back with interest.

1:27:10 Or is it state and federal money? And the municipalities that are in the best financial shape, your goal is to maximize outside dollars to the extent that you can, you use some of your own money to prime the projects, to get ‘em put forward, and then get the state and federal funding to, to do the projects. And, you know, the communities that are in a very healthy financial shape are really good at doing that. And we wanna make sure we we’re better at it than, than we have, and that we continue to have the opportunity to, to go after those. Like we have school construction. Yeah. Yeah. So Thanks for your Okay, that’s Fine. But nope, sorry, but we didn’t address the 897 homes.

1:27:57 So I just wanna, again, clarify because we have people who are asking that question. And I was told that it was not, the maximum was going to be 897, but in, on the actual Commonwealth of Massachusetts executive office and housing committee committee, um, statement, it says a minimum of of 897. So, So If I Thank you. Yeah. For the board’s benefit, again, like I mentioned, it, it’s, it was more of a mathematical exercise, right? In that what the state did is that’s a percentage of the existing housing stock. Is it 1% of we’re 8,000 some odd Yep. Housing units. So that, that was the basis of how many units that they want to use for Marblehead, um,

1:28:44 to do the calculations with a minimum of 15 units per acre. And so you, you, you dump those numbers into their formula that dictated how many, what the minimum acres we needed to zone and with a minimum 15 units per acre requirement. And, and so all those numbers do is just set the parameters and then when you actually, when the board and, and, and, and Becky kind of went through the process. So it’s an indicative number Yes. That was used to kind of estimate, to drive the process. Right. Okay. And so, so what Marblehead had to do, all the communities had to do was to find zoning that with the density levels times the amount of acres,

1:29:32 can you hit that number, the percentage of your existing stock, and at a minimum as a minimum, right? So you could have more density, you could have more acres. And actually the, the, the way the process worked out, um, you can’t hit the minimums on both density and the houses stock. You had to, you had to fool one way or the other. You either had to add acres or increase density to hit the right, the right calculations. And that’s, again, given credit to the planning board and, and Becky cutting. And what they did was manage that process to, to make it fit that state, the state calculation requirements, but also to make the zones fit in the areas of Marblehead

1:30:20 that work best for Marblehead. And the example, Broon Road is an excellent example in that it is an area that is already moving forward on housing development through the housing authority and such. So let’s include that in the zone check, right? We’re meeting the requirements, it’s happening already, right? We’re meeting, and then the other two zones, you know, had their criteria that that worked to meet all the premise. So, you know, try not to get too hung up on, you know, is the total number, this number or that number, it’s a percentage of existing stock, whatever that number is. Um, and that drove the process. And the end result is based on the number

1:31:07 of acres in the density set, it comes a little more than what that minimum number is in order to make the whole process work, if that makes sense. So it’s around the minimum number. Yeah. It’s around at least we hit those thresholds. We had to add a few acres here. So it was, it was a trade off. The plane board went through this. We could have had less acreage 23, but they were, but he had to increase the density. Mm-Hmm. And the planning, what I remember said, let’s back off on the density and then we’re gonna add in more acreage it, and again, it’s just, it’s a math calculation to get to the requirements. And also those are units, those aren’t houses, right? Right. ‘cause as Becky showed, you know, again, some of these

1:31:52 18 hundreds mansions, they’re like six units. Yeah. There’s six units on a less than a quarter of an acre. And that multiplies to 25 units or whatever it is, an acre calculation. They already exist here in Marblehead. Yeah. And they’re revered here in Marblehead. Um, so Yeah, I think, just to be clear, you, you’ll feel Claudette, um, we took the roundup to 900 and then we backed in to meeting that 900 by doing all this. But I think what Claudette just wants to know is why couldn’t it be 1500? I think maybe what she might, because she’s saying at a minimum, and I think that’s what’s tricking her up. But what, I just wanna be clear that we’re saying the 900 back it in to all these different areas. And that’s essentially what, that’s what

1:32:39 Our what, sorry, what I’m saying is, on that last call, excuse me, on that last call, when I asked about 897 units, you all asked me where I got that number because it was going to be a fraction of that number. And I said, I got it from your PowerPoint, and you said it was gonna be, the maximum is 897 units, which you’re now telling me is not true. You’re saying it’s gonna be more than the 897. So people who are on the call the last time or hearing it’s a maximum of 897, and now you’re saying something different. So I think that there’s a huge disconnect with everybody because you all keep changing the narrative world. Same Thing. Yeah. We’re Saying the same, we’re saying the same exact thing. I think there’s Confusion. How, how are you

1:33:24 saying the same thing? If people Keep saying homes, it’s not homes. No, it’s units. I didn’t Say homes. I said, I said units, but 870, It did say Holmes, But at 8, 8 97 or whatever the number was, it’s, it’s a, it’s a calculation done by the state. I I think we’ve been pretty consistent on that. So I don’t know where we’re now going over that. Because the difference is saying is if you guys recorded the last meeting, you don’t understand what I’m saying. 897 units is the minimum requirement according to the executive, uh, order from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. When I mentioned that in the last call, you guys said, no, it’s a maximum of 897 units, and that that number would not even become

1:34:10 close, is what you said. It would be a fraction. And now you’re saying it’s gonna be more. So again, it’s confusing people because you’re seeing different things on each call. That’s all I’m saying. So I, I think the, I don’t think we’ve ever said more than 8 97. Yeah. Yeah. Brett rounded up to 900. So excuse the three units, but I don’t think we’ve ever said no. You’re saying it was less. That’s what I’m saying. No, no, but You’re saying, you’re saying we said it. You are, you are saying, we are saying it’s more, I don’t think we’ve ever said It. No, I’m saying, I’m saying, I’m saying that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts paper that you can download says that it’s 897 is the minimum amount according to the state of Massachusetts.

1:34:56 That’s the number that I was seeing. And I came to an average of 3000 people, and you told me it would not be 3000 people coming in my average at 2.7, uh, people per unit. Right. And you said, no, that’s not correct. We as a town of Marblehead will have the maximum would be 897 units, and it would be a fraction of that number. So it would be less than, So can, can I just Ms. Mason? Um, I think that I, I’m, I’m not cl I don’t have any recollection of this conversation and, but I maybe have missed a, I did miss a meeting. Um, I think that if your question, if your concern is, or, you know, when you’re talking about numbers and math, 3000 new residents coming into town and,

1:35:42 and doesn’t like, you know, that the response to that is from the planning board’s perspective that I’ve heard, and, and what I know about it is that there is no real way that’s, it’s, that’s not saying that there’s gonna be 3000 people is not, that’s just not necessarily true because it’s just a zoning change. And you’d have to make a ton of assumptions to get out to that being anywhere in the realm of reality. It’s because you’re assuming every single per, every single parcel of land in this, you know, would be built out to the max. Right. Which is a really kind of just based on historical data and all the zoning that does that exists now.

1:36:29 We just, it’s just not been past precedent that, you know, because it’s available every single, you know, zoning is taken advantage of by every single unit and, and, and property. So I think that’s the, again, the heart of it is the difference between this is a zoning requirement, not a building requirement. So I think the, the reference to the fraction is, and I think Bri Yeah, Ari said it well, it’s the probability you’re not, you know, the, the probability is very few of the 800 some odd units are actually gonna be built. This is a zoning requirement mandate, not a building mandate. And that, yeah, The probability is that it’ll be a fraction of that amount

1:37:15 that we’ve, that we have promulgated or that the planning board is, if it even happens. If it happens. I, I think that’s probably the confusion. Yeah. Right there. So that’s a good point. So, yeah. And I think, yeah, so the 897 as a minimum is like a theoretical number that the state used basically to count to compel. Well, That’s what the planning used To get to our, to get to compliance. Yep. It doesn’t in any way mean that we have a, to meet a minimum of 897 new units by any any means the Planning board has planned for around that number. Right. So that’s, that’s what our plan dictates. And, and the plan is what drives the whole process. Yeah. I think the confusion is around, look, realistically because it’s a zoning mandate, uh, the, the, the actual development will be a fraction of that total, total unit.

1:38:01 So if it happens, if it happens, if it happens, right. But, but you know, I mean, if you were to assume the maximum, then it would be, you know, rather than 900 units. I think we, we should, I think we should move on because getting, and we still have some other things on the agenda. Um, well, are there, are there others? Are there, oh yeah. And are there My, yeah, it’s a good discussion. Uh, John,

1:38:25 there’s a John online With his hand. Um, John, would you like to make public comment? If so, please, um, if you could just state your name and, and your, the, your, your street.

1:38:43 Okay. Anybody else?

1:38:47 Yeah, I think, you know, we’ve already invested hundreds of hours having town people

1:38:55 Looking at this for a number of months, if not years. I don’t know how long it’s been going on. They gave your opinion on what they’re trying to comply with it. Uh, we got a new town administrator here that wants to get more grant money that we’ve missed the boat for years compared to other communities on the North Shore. And, uh, we got a governor telling the public on these places that aren’t gonna comply with it, that they’re gonna take substantial cuts. So it doesn’t make sense to me that this guy’s over here telling you he wants to go after more money and, and you’re tying his hands. Um, what we’re gonna hire people to go get money that we’re not even gonna be entitled to. Um, and the people at town meeting, they don’t have the education, uh, to make a decision on this.

1:39:41 Um, they’re going by rumors around town. They’re not looking at the whole picture. And these department heads, or Becky Keran or the planning board people that have been involved in this from day one, we should go by what they think is best for, ‘cause Becky Keran was dedicated to this town. So I would take, um, you know, we don’t want to be mandated by the state to do anything, but I’m not interested to have any more bonds in Marblehead to make my taxes go up. So I don’t know where Susan Road is from Roosevelt Ave, but I’m trying to keep my taxes to stay here. I’m not turning any money away from the state. So, um, if these people, maybe we should put on the tax bill, if more people want to donate extra money to the town, um, if they have

1:40:27 that much to give instead of bonding things. Um, but, but I really think that, um, it would be good for this board. You got five people on this board. You should take a vote on this. Okay, you brought it up tonight. There’s five people here. Someone should second it. You’ve had your discussion. Vote on it, vote it up or down, whatever way you want to do what you feel. Because I like the individual people. Um, it looks very professional when people go to town meeting, if you think this is gonna hurt this town. And I guarantee you Maura Healy already told these communities, they’re gonna pay a lot of money with litigation. And I don’t know what’s gonna happen on the litigation, but it’s gonna cost them a lot of money.

1:41:13 And I’m sure there’s gonna be repercussions in other ways. So, so I, I just think we should stay on the good side of the state. ‘cause there’s a lot of things that this town needs money for. Uh, and we don’t want to get them irritated. And we’re very fortunate on this because of the MBTA that we comply with a very little portion of this whole development. We’re not like Milton that’s mandated to do a lot more than Marble Head. Um, because we don’t have the subway, we only have the bus coming into Marble Head. So it’s much more substantial to other communities than Marble Head. So we’re, we’re getting off pretty easy. So I, I, I, but I really think you should take a vote one way or the other. You brought it up tonight and let the public know how you feel

1:41:59 because, uh, thi this is gonna affect the taxpayers one way or the other. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, Jack Ridge online. Um, sure. Or Jack?

1:42:13 Jack, did you wanna make a comment? Oh, There, you’re, there is. They’re supposed to be

1:42:21 Jack. Good evening. Here you are. Um, I just, I, I wanted to probably lighten it up a little bit here and just recognize Jim Nye tonight, um, uh, nomination papers were due back in, and, and Jim decided not to run this year and really think that he deserves a, uh, and I’m sure accolades will be coming, but after 19 years of service on the board, um, board, I, I think it’s worth acknowledgement that, uh, that Jim’s not gonna be running this year. And, and we thank him for his service. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you, judge.

1:43:03 He’s, this is for your years of service. Not, not Ryan. More accolades coming, more coming. Is John back on John online? John, Um, John, He went off and now there’s, he’s on now With his hand up. He’s on muted also.

1:43:35 Okay. Sorry, John. We, we don’t seem to be able to, she Just went off again. Okay. Oh, no, there is John. John, are you unmuted?

1:43:48 It says he’s unmuted, but he, I can’t See anything

1:43:57 asking. He probably can’t hear me. Hey, John, if I, you have your hand up, John, I have you. Well, no, he doesn’t have a hand, but he doesn’t have muted. Okay. Well, we can keep an eye out for him. We can keep, move on. May I make one comment? Oh, sure. Sorry, I didn’t wanna interrupt. Um, I want to thank your, your honorable board for bringing this up tonight. Um, I wanted to let you know that finance has been working and looking into this, right? Yeah. Deeply and trying to gather that information. As you know, with our accounting systems, it is not an easy feat. In addition to that, there’s different agencies within the state that we have to reach out to, to talk to, to get some of this information. It’s not just all housed in one place, which makes it a little bit more challenging, but we are working when we’ll have that ready

1:44:43 into the town administrator shortly. Okay. Um, in addition, we’ve done a lot of research into what is happening in Milton. So I have got a question posed directly at the funding that is specified in the law. What happened to Milton was not only were they affected by that, which we are not, but there is non, they can take any grant they want through discretionary spending and say, we’re not giving this to Marblehead. So that is also what happened to Milton. They were like, okay, in addition to what we stated that you’re not gonna get, we have discretion as the state and all of our agencies have discretion to say no when you wanna go for these grants. So that also made it a little bit more challenging. ‘cause now we had to reach out to those different agencies Mm-Hmm.

1:45:29 And see how that would affect Marblehead. But we will have the data Great, great. A available. And I just wanted to make that comment that you’re not flying blind. We are aware of some of the money, which are large. So I did make that point. And, um, I thank you. We appreciate it. We know it’s difficult. Yeah. Thank you. Um, rule seven. Okay. Okay. So, um, yeah, I mean, I’m not, um,

1:46:07 okay. So we can move on to town administrator updates. Sure. Um, I’ll be, I’ll be brief one, I I just wanna start with, uh, sort of recognizing, thanking the, the department heads and the staff that got us to this point of putting together a balanced budget. Um, a budget that accomplishes a number of goals. It, it, we’re not standing still despite the overall constraints. Um, some of the things that we’re doing within the budget, uh, that the department heads are putting together and the work they’re putting in has been outstanding. Uh, and got us, you know, coming into town, meeting with a balanced budget, no request for an override.

1:46:53 Um, when you tally up the towns, the, the entirety of the town side of the budget, um, the bottom line increase was one half percent.

1:47:08 Despite that very strict bottom line. You know, creating a new, a new department, creating some positions, uh, you know, changing positions that are badly needed, like, uh, an IT support person in house, all those things. Um, within public works of updating job descriptions and defining a better hierarchy within the process for more productivity. We we’re getting a lot of things done within the constraint of that bottom line. So I, I just want to give recognition to, there’s a lot of folks who you don’t see here. They’re, they’re, you know, working during the day to make this possible. So they, everybody’s done an outstanding job

1:47:55 getting us to here. So before we go into the actual, uh, motions of town meeting, uh, there’s a lot of work and it’s still going, uh, to get us at town meeting. So, so I want to get that, uh, one other thing sort of, again, another recognition, um, something that doesn’t happen often, but you try to prepare for. So, um, recently, April 17th, um, there was a, a, a vendor, an outside vendor that was doing, um, chemical spraying for, for, for insects and such, in which their storage tank of the chemical basically imploded, fell apart

1:48:44 in creating a large, uh, chemical spill. Um, mostly it’s petroleum, so it wasn’t anything Is it a truck or a What’s that? Is it a truck? Yeah, it’s a truck with a tank. Okay, gotcha. Um, doing, um, pest control spray, um, spilled in which the town had to respond for emergency spill, where most of the, most of the spill went into the catch basins in the, in the, um, the drainage system, Beck, uh, uh, Amy in that. But, uh, within 20 minutes, uh, the source of the chemical was located. The chemical was identified, the release was stopped and contained. The following departments were contacted and responded to the scene, the fire department,

1:49:29 the harbormaster, the board of health, the water and sewer, and the chemical spill response trailer provided to the town by mass DEP immediate response. Um, the contractor was instructed to, on the cleanup requirements supplied with map and manholes that should be cleaned, uh, mass, DEP ‘cause they’ll roll in on these incidences, was contacted and arrived on scene and approved the actions taken, approved the cleanup plan, and deemed the spill was under the reportable amounts. So, um, which is good. Um, the spill cleanup company hired by the contractor arrived on scene. So they came in into cleanup, um, paid for

1:50:15 by the contractor later that day with assistance of the DPW and the police, and vacuumed the chemical out of the storm sewer system. Uh, the emergency response was successfully completed by 9:30 PM So this all in, in a, in one day’s time. Um, all of the no overtime costs or the town’s overtime costs will be invoiced, uh, and paid for by, you know, buy the vendor responsible for the spill. The, the takeaway is you don’t want these things to happen, but the fact that when it did, uh, just an outstanding response and collaboration and cooperation of all the town departments to really respond, work together and,

1:51:01 and really limit any, any potential damage. And then to work with DEP work with the vendor, uh, to ensure that, you know, minimal costs on the town for this incident. So I think it was a, a story of, you know, a great response by the folks that are out there working, uh, for the town, uh, every day they, they got it done and they did it well. So I wanna make sure the board and the public knew that these things, um, that marblehead, you know, town employees were on the job and performed outstandingly. So. Great. Thank you. Thatcher. Yep. Yeah. Good. Um,

1:51:46 Oh, one more thing. Yeah, it’s open. It’s open. One more thing. Oh, I just wanna share, oh, these, these are the clickers. They look like Apple shuffles. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I get them from Steve Jobs before he, he pass, we only have four. I’ve seen them one’s floating out there. I won’t say who has it in it. Um, so these are the electronic click clickers that will be used at town meeting for voting. Um, so when folks get to town meeting the vendor, Meridia will be there. They’re helping us set it up. They’re gonna train us and, and run it through the, through the process at First Town meeting.

1:52:32 Um, we’re gonna do some fun voting at the beginning. So everybody, one gets used to pressing the right buttons, knowing how to use it. Yeah. And, and the device will give you feedback that you have voted and it counted. Um, Jack Ridge, you know, a bunch of us have been meeting and he asked the question. Um, you know, um, Lisa, me, our Town council, who represents a lot of other towns, so she does a lot of town meetings, is very familiar with the system. So the question today was, how long should we, you know, should the moderator give people the vote? He’s asking 30 seconds. And her response was, no, 15 seconds. It’ll be done in the first year.

1:53:17 Next year it’ll probably be 10 seconds. Everybody will get it. They’ll get into a rhythm and you will be able to vote and get immediate res vote results up on a screen, up on a screen for everyone to see. Um, and then, and then the other thing we’re gonna harp on is at the end of every night, we need these devices back, put ‘em in a box. And just so you know, if any devices go missing, somebody sticks it in their pocket and forgets they have it, we, we will be taking an inventory the next morning and we’ll be able to shut off any missing devices. So, so to take it home to use later will not help anybody, uh, right. Because those devices be turned off. So we hope

1:54:02 and expect through this methodology to be much more efficient on the voting, uh, really move through, move through the process, and have very accurate instant results on, on every matter. So we’re looking forward to, to using the new technology. Excellent. Yeah. But this is, this is the real goal. That’s pretty cool. All right. Yeah, it’s good stuff. Yeah. Do the chair, can I ask a question? Yep. Um, so the buttons like, you know, the below, like it has the A, B, C, D, do those get deactivated? So like, I’m just thinking if I’m like, you know, like being lazy and I’m hitting the wrong one, or just I don’t see it correctly, or Yeah, they’re smaller than I thought they were gonna be.

1:54:48 Yeah. So they’re, I mean, they’re designed multi-use. Right. And then the labels that we requested, the only buttons that are gonna work, even though there’s more buttons hidden under the label, are the yes no button. And the, the way they work, they just simply, uh, each unit has an ID number. When, when folks show up at town meeting, they’re just gonna be handed a device. There’s, there’s no correlation between the serial number of the device and who has them. Right. So, so people can vote confidently that, you know, it’s anonymous for them, but the device is, is, you know, registered in the system when you vote yes or no. So if it’s a 15 second window that the vote’s open,

1:55:35 the s say, okay, the, you know, voting is open or whatever terminology, you can keep pressing all different buttons, whatever the last button you’ve pushed, when the vote closes, 15 seconds later, that’ll be a vote. And you will actually get a light indicator that your vote has been registered. So you’ll know now. Yes. You’ll have to make sure you’re hitting the right button, uh, between the two. And that’s why there’ll be the, the sort of the fun practice votes at the beginning to get people to be comfortable with the devices. Um, so, so they will feed back, and then on the screen, we’ll, we’ll have the main screen with all the presentations and the motions and a separate screen that, um, will show the number

1:56:22 of votes being tallied. It won’t show what the, the vote count is. It just, you’ll see the number of votes happening, and then when the vote closes, then the results will post how many yeses, how many nos, you know, fairly instantly in the process. So there is an option, like if I accidentally hit Yes, as long as it’s in the window, I can, oh my gosh. You can change it. Yes. Yeah. Oh my gosh, I, yeah. And you, you’ve got a little screen that’ll tell you. So if you, in the setting we’re in now, ‘cause it’s not up, if you hit one, it, it is button A and the other is button B. So you’ll have the feedback. Yeah. You’ll have feedback to, to know that you’re, and We own these. We purchased them. Right. We, we purchased these, um, we looked at renting for a year. Ultimately it came down is if you rent them

1:57:08 for two years, you’ve paid for them. Got it. And after we saw the devices and, and met with the vendors, we were very confident like, yeah, this works. So we purchased It. Do we have any feedback from other communities who have used these in regards to getting them back? They’re way tinier than I thought. Yeah. And I just mean like, how do Yeah. I just, that’s my only concern is since we’ve purchased them to, I mean, obviously we talk to people, ask people, but like I said, they’re tiny people. It’s late, people get tired. So, so we’re, we’re talking of a plan, a recovery plan of having boxes. Much like when you go to the movie theater with 3D glasses, we’re gonna have boxes and maybe people with the boxes that when the meeting’s done

1:57:54 and you’re getting up from your chair, and I’m sure the moderator’s gonna remind people, drop your, drop ‘em in the box. Um, okay. Maybe We could have some volunteers to keep an eye on the doors and remind People. Yeah. And Right. So, you know, the doors and then, and they’ll all be collected and then, and the next morning we will go and we will do an inventory of all the devices. And if there are any devices missing and they have numbers on ‘em, they get de-registered from the system. So they can’t be used for voting at least until they’re recovered and reissued. So we, we have, Can I follow up with that? Yep. Um, but if we do recover it, like somebody, you know, it’s like, oh my gosh, I stuck it in my coat pocket. I wanna bring it down to you, you know, at Abbott Hall, we can then Yep. And then we’ve got it back. We can re-register.

1:58:39 Oh, perfect. Put it back in. Awesome. Yep. Okay. And, and I’m sure there’ll be some attrition. Um, the device itself is a fairly simple, cheap device. Yeah. So, um, we’ve, we, we purchased 1,500 of them, so we’ll have spares, um, if town meeting for whatever reason has a tremendous, we expect a, a huge turnout. Uh, we’ve already talked to some other surrounding communities that have the same system we can use, we can borrow their devices added to our registry. In fact, the numbering scheme, we’re starting in the 2000 number. Most communities just have 0 0 1 through 1500. We, by design, added a a thousand digit

1:59:28 and upped it so that we could jump on somebody else’s system if they’re using ours or vice versa without having duplicate serial numbers. That’s nice. That’s cool. That’s the point. Mr. Moderator. Yep. Ah, Mr. Moderator. Yeah, he, I guess he, he just, he Doesn’t have any questions. It seems like a natural, like benefit, I guess would be also people feeling that they can vote their, their, their con their true conscious. I, we all experience, you know, there’s always, you know, those votes where everyone’s looking around to see, like, you know, that pressure will be removed. So, um, you know, that’ll be interesting. Yeah.

2:00:14 Great. Um, I, I, I, I’ll jump in real quick if I may. Um, I, I, I think it’s gonna be a great benefit to the, to the town on, um, on the ability to increase the comfort level for more participation in town meeting. Um, absolutely for, uh, for, for a, a pure vote. Um, and the, the impetus behind this really started, uh, when I first became moderator, and something was, something was in my cr, um, that I saw a year or two before, I think it was town meeting of 2020 when I turned around behind, uh, we were behind the star of the seat community center. And I turned around during a vote and I saw somebody taking a picture, uh,

2:01:02 of how people were voting. And that really took away the, the, the, you know, the gathering the legislative body and, and the, the character of it a little bit to me. And I’ll tell you that I’ve, I’ve spoken with a lot of other moderators about this. Um, several other communities have been, have been using this for decades. I I shouldn’t say decades, for over a decade. Um, and every community that, that has adopted electronic voting, and every moderator that has been, uh, in charge of a town meeting has, has embraced it with open arms. We’re probably gonna have a little bit of a learning curve, but, um, uh, uh, rest assured it’s gonna help us move the process along and, and just be an overall benefit. So thank you and thanks to Thatcher for all the work.

2:01:49 Thanks, Jack. Thanks Jack. I think it’s a great initiative. Um, okay. Um, so I think we’re on to select board announcements, correct? Yep. Okay. Um, so Kyle has informed me that we have three applicants for the cable advisory committee and, um, it’s com the committee’s made up of five members. We have three applicants to date. And, um, you know, we should put some, we should, um, put something on the calendar at this point. Uh, so we have, um, and then I also kind of wanted to clar go over our schedule for May in June meetings that, um,

2:02:36 maybe we should do that first before we, so May 6th and May 7th is the town meeting. Um, and also May 9th or May 10th, we, um, Kyle’s hoping we can schedule a morning meeting for approval of, um, bonds. Uh, do people, are people, is there a preference for May 9th or May 10th if we did a quick morning meeting? I have a preference for May 9th meeting. Which, which day do you prefer? May 9th. May 9th. Okay. May 9th. Are people available for a short morning meeting? I think so, yeah. Yeah. Does work right now?

2:03:22 Right now? Yeah. Sorry, I may, um, yeah, I mean, I, I can do anything before 11. I have something at 11 on May 9th. I can email to back too. Okay. Yep. Um, okay. And then we just wanna confirm, I know this has gone out. We just wanna confirm it. We went, it went out in emails and people respond, but May 15th as, um, a regular meeting.

2:03:54 Yeah. That works for everybody. Seven o’clock. Yeah. Seven o’clock. Yeah, I think that’s what, what it’s scheduled for. Yeah. Okay. That works. Perfect. And then, um, May 22nd as a possible if needed second meeting,

2:04:09 um, which I already have in here.

2:04:14 Yes. And everyone’s Okay. All right. Yeah. At, at, at regular meetings. Seven o’clock, right? Yeah. Okay. Um, and then the regular board meetings in June or the 12th and the 26th. 12th, if anybody’s, um, just, you know, keep that in mind and then, okay. So, uh, uh, maybe so May 15th sounds like would be maybe, um, if we have the three applicants to set the deadline before that date and in maybe an, an interview on that date for the cable. Makes sense. Advisory committee. You Wanna make the deadline the 10th,

2:04:53 Friday, Friday the 10th. It gives people a week and a half. Yeah, That’s fine. That’s enough. A Weeks. Yep. How many openings are there. That’s, So it it’s five members. It’s just been one because you haven’t been negotiating now for a year. So, so there’s three, four openings. Oh. So we’re loading on three, Two more applicants Potentially. Um, two Of them are the members who are on there already before. Yep. Okay. Yep. Okay. Yeah. So, um, deadline of May 10th to, uh, submit your letter of interest for the cable advisory committee and interviews to be held on May 15th.

2:05:34 That’s all up that I have for announcements, anybody? Yep. Yep. Um, the town, uh, lost, uh, truly one of its, uh, outstanding citizens. Um, two weeks ago, Todd Norman, um, a classmate of mine, uh, volunteered for many years, not only coaching, but also maintaining fields. And he was on the park and rec. Um, and it was really, uh, a sudden tragic loss for the town of Marblehead and all of our, uh, student athletes. So I’d like to, uh, propose a motion to, uh, write a letter of, um, of our sadness and deeps condolences to, uh, to his wife Jen. So, move.

2:06:19 I’ll second. Okay. All in favor?

2:06:24 Anybody else? Okay. So I just need a motion to adjourn. Motion. No adjourn. Second. All in favor? Great. Adjourned.