Select Board: July 10, 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.

0:03 Kyle, are you all set? Yes. If you all just want everybody unmuted. Okay.

0:13 Um, right. Good evening. Uh, it is, um, Wednesday, July 10th, seven o’clock. And I’ll call this meeting to order. This meeting is being recorded, uh, via Zoom and, um, we have, uh, our first item on the agenda is, uh, a donation, um, request from, uh, Sally Sands. And I’ll have, uh, ask Ms. Sands to come to the table. Oh, and Mr. Sands too. He’s coming too, because he’s stronger. You brought The, my grandfather was a rather portly gentleman.

0:57 You brought the muscle. That’s me. Yes, this is, so, this is Henry Pittman. This is my Great-grandfather, Henry Florence Pittman. Um, he was born in 1808 and died in 1885 and did a lot of things for Marblehead during his lifetime. You can find his name written on the Abbott Fund plaque outside the Selectman’s office. He was a trustee of the Abbott Fund and a member of the building committee. Um, his oldest daughter he was at, he lived in the White House with the columns across from the Old Bank of America. Yes. Oh yeah. So that was his house, um, between Hooper who owned it first, and then, uh, dot Miles, who many of you may have known as a high school teacher. She wrote a book about the house that features a chapter,

1:43 um, about Henry Pittman. He was known as one of the fifth wealthiest men in in town at that time. Um, he also donated a grand piano to the hall upstairs. I don’t know what became of that, but it was here for a while. And, um, his oldest daughter married the Crown and Shield family, and his youngest daughter married into the Brown family. So he was, um, quite the landowner with all of the combined families. They owned, um, all of the private ex part of Fort Swell. They owned, um, properties on Nagas Head and they owned all of the property, including Devereux Beach from Devereux Beach all up between the ocean and, um, ocean Avenue all the way to the Swamps got Line and the Glover Farm. So, um, he, uh, we thought that

2:31 where his name is on the plaque on the wall, he deserved a spot at Abbot Hall. Judy Jacoby, uh, who select Judy Jacoby. And I had started to arrange for this gift, um, in time for the conclusion of the Abbot Hall Restoration Project. And then of course Judy died. And I don’t know, it was just too, I was too sentimental to, to do anything but put him back in the, in the back bedroom. But, um, we’re happy to have him assume his rightful place at Abbott Hall. That’s great. Well, thank you to, um, even your family. Would anybody like any comments from the board or, Yeah, thank you for The backstory. It’s amazing. And I love, it’s a great picture too. I know it’s actually done in chalk, which I never knew until I wiped a few generations of, uh, dust off it.

3:19 It’s beautiful. I took it down off the wall at my great grandparents’ house. It doesn’t look very happy, I dunno. No, it’s very serious. I don’t think they were allowed to then. Yeah, I think that was, you had To be stoic game face. Yeah, It’s a great frame. Don’t know who the artist is. Um, it’s, and it’s an original frame and, uh, hopefully Abbott Hall can find a spot for him. Yeah, I think Historical Commission will definitely appreciate the donation as well, so that’s great. Um, thank you Guys. Thank you. Thank you. You I, so where would you like him? It seems so weird. I know, I know, right. Just back here. So, um, can I have a motion to accept this gift, so, uh, to the town on behalf of, um, uh, on behalf of the town

4:07 and we’ll, we’ll place it in the care and custody of the Historical Commission. So moved. Second. All in favor? Great. Thank you So much. Thank you to you and your family. Okay. Um, and our second item, we have a request for, uh, the use of the right side of Foster Street for a celebration of life. Um, this is a request from a resident there, uh, I just need a motion to approve the request from Elizabeth Lynn Toto for temporary parking restrictions on the right side of Foster Street to Harbor Ave on Sunday, July 14th, 2024 from one to 4:00 PM subject to approval from police and fire and police detail as needed for the celebration of life. So moved second.

4:54 All in favor? Great.

4:58 Um, yep. And then next, a couple road races in our packet we need to, um, review and approve. The first is, um, from U Can Sports. It’s actually a half marathon on next April. And, um, The, a portion of the proceeds from this, uh, half marathon will be donated to the Friends of Marblehead Public Schools and the Marblehead Counseling on Aging. And they say they’re gonna look forward to working with the police department to hire the necessary police detail. Can’t remember the last time we had a half marathon, but, um, so I just need a motion to approve the request from Richard Morrell. You can run to hold a half Marathon Road race on Sunday, April 13th, 2025 at 9:00 AM Subject to receipt of the required certificate of insurance. Naming the town is additionally insured and approval from the Marblehead Police, fire Rec Park

5:45 and school departments and police details as determined by Marblehead Police. No permanent markings, um, will be allowed on the streets and all temporary markings will be removed at the conclusion of the event. Um, it will start and end at Marblehead High School, and portions of the event, as I said, will benefit Marblehead Public Schools in the Council on Aging.

6:04 Can I have a motion? Sunday? Did they say the time? Uh, yeah. Nine to 12. The map is on the following page. Yes. Got it. So moved. Second. Okay. Any questions? All in favor? Okay. Motion carries unanimously. And next we have a 5K request from Lauren Calabrese on behalf of Marblehead Youth Hockey. And, um, they’re looking to held a benefit road race for the Hockey Association Youth Hockey on September 22nd at 8:00 AM So can I have a motion to approve this request from Lauren Cross Calabrese to hold a 5K Road Race to Benefit Marble Youth Hockey Association on Sunday, September 22nd, 2024 at 8:00 AM Subject to receipt

6:51 of the required certificate of insurance, naming the town as additionally insured and approval from the Marblehead Police, fire Rec and Park School Department and police details as determined by the Marble Police. No permanent markings allowed on the street and all marked temporary markings will be removed at the conclusion of the event. The event will start and end at Devereux Beach. So move. Have a second, second, second. All in favor? Okay, great. And, uh, next we, um, have a contract and I’ll turn it over to our town administrator, that Keer, um, for some background on this. Sure. Um, and then I’m gonna turn it over to Chief by Great more detail, but it’s, um, it’s a software system for the fire department that’s a pretty comp comprehensive software, uh,

7:37 to streamline all their workflows and information that the fire department needs. I went on the website for the software and they actually have little YouTube video that absolutely impressive, comprehensive. But I’ll let the chief provide any other details

7:54 Please.

7:57 So the reason for the request went town meeting for the appropriation is for, since the early nineties, police and fire were using a, a records management, uh, software called IMC, uh, still very robust for the police department, not so much for the fire department. They’re backing away from it, which leaves us in the lurch. So we had to go searching for another records management software program. Uh, we looked at a lot of ‘em, we found out that a, a program called FIRST DO is probably the best one. Most fighter departments are using it and it’s gonna work very well for us. So it’s gonna handle our fire reporting, our training, um, our patient care reports that we do when we do EMS calls, our training records, um, pre-planning, and there’s something called, uh, community Connect,

8:45 which once we get that going should be really good. So, but that’s the reason why. Awesome. What’s the Community Connect? Oh, sorry. Through The chair. So Community Connect allows us almost like, sort of like a Facebook, but more streamlined allows us to reach out to the community and vice versa. So, um, if we got somebody it’s, um, um, got a medical issue and they wanna share that with us, that will go into our records, we’ll go into dispatch and we’ll have more information on that. It just gives a a place where people can reach us with their problems and we can help them out with it. Good. Awesome. It should be really good. I was impressed with the pre-planning module that the facilities that you can identify all the critical components of the facility, the access points, everything you

9:32 Did do your homework. I Did. And That it’s very robust. Yeah. And it ties into GIS.

9:41 So if you have a, be it, the schools be at our public facilities, but other critical facilities, they go and they can map out in the system while the entry points, uh, the, the gathering points for, for, for evacuees, the water sources, everything, They’re tired of the meeting. But just to add on that, so there are other communities that do have first due. So any other community has first due, um, if they’re coming into Marblehead for Mutual Aid, they’ll know where our hired are. They’ll be able to see our pre-plans and we’ll be able to do the same thing. So I’m glad you said that. Oh, that’s awesome. So thank you very much. Great. Is there an ongoing subscription cost for this as well? There is. There is just like any software program and we have to build that into the budget. Okay.

10:25 Um, okay. And then so the funding source for the initial, um, I guess the initial contract is, um, through Article six from last May’s town meeting this Yep. Um, which we approved and, uh, up to 33,000. Yep. Roughly. So, um, is there, is there any more questions for around the contract? So, um, can I have a motion to award, uh, a, the contract between the Town and Car Carahsoft Technology Corporation of 11 4 9 3 Sunset Hill Road, suite 100, Reston, Virginia for cloud-based records management and response software for firefighting functions

11:12 and emergency medical response management, and the amount of $27,525 and 45 cents. And to authorize the chair to sign on behalf of the board. So motion second. All in favor? Great.

11:30 And, um, next, I, uh, this is, um, an item on behalf on, um, around our veterans agents vacancy. And I’ll let, um, our town minister speak to the, uh, search process and why we’re being asked to vote. Yeah. So thank you. So, as we all know, Dave Rogers, our beloved Veteran Services agent, has retired as of June 30th. Um, we are in the process of hiring a new veteran agent. We actually have interviews scheduled for next week, um, uh, and a strong list of candidates. So I think we’re gonna be in good shape. I originally intended to, um, work with the City of Salem to, to just have an inter municipal agreement so that they could cover us.

12:16 Um, come to find out, we, for Veteran services, you can’t do an inter municipal agreement. You actually have to create a Veterans District for the few weeks that we need this purpose. That, that was just far too complex, uh, to do so in the interim request that, um, I’d be appointed as the interim veteran services agent. I am a veteran, so I’m, I am qualified to hold that function. Uh, I’ve been involved in, in veteran affairs issues over many years. So, um, I’m a stopgap, uh, but I’ve also connected with the Veteran Services office in Salem, and they are very cooperative and willing to assist in any way that I need. And, and what we’ve done, we’ve, um, the emails that would

13:05 go to Dave are coming into my email box. Uh, so things are being referred to me, and so I’m already handling, uh, situations for, for veterans here in Marblehead. That’s great. Um, and I know, uh, you’ve already been forwarded a number of correspondence relative to the, to the work, so, um, it’s definitely time to time to appoint an interim. Yeah. Um, so the position is posted on, I know our website, but has it been kind of publicized in any other way? Yeah, it’s advertised. I mean, our HR director, uh, Tom Howard manages this app. Um, we, we put it out. So like I said, we have, we have local candidates, we have some, you know, candidates from the larger region.

13:50 And like I said, we have a actually, uh, a good list of qualified candidates to choose from. Oh, great. Okay. Okay. So, um, can I have a motion to appoint, uh, town administrator Thatcher Keer as the, our Interim Veterans agent? So motion second. All in favor?

14:13 Okay. And, uh, I think if we, you remember we had, um, voted to, uh, submit a letter on behalf of, um, the town to, uh, the Coastal Resiliency Specialist Executive Office of the Envi Energy Environmental Affairs. Um, and this would be, this is the proposed letter for me as chair to sign in your packets. Um, it’s basically, uh, just, uh, putting them on notice that, uh, the, the town and the Select board voted to send this letter, uh, to, in support of Marble Head’s next coast of Resiliency Grant priority, the Harbor Center Project. It, this is to, uh, encompass the properties owned

15:00 by the town at State Street Landing in Tucker’s Wharf. And this is, uh, would be to continue the previous work, um, and recommendations. And I don’t know if, um, Thatcher if you wanted to speak to kind of where we are with that funding stream and process. Yeah, so we, we’ve just completed a, a bunch of work at, uh, Parker’s boatyard area, the Commercial Street, uh, and that, that area, so those contracts expired June 30th, that, that amount of work, this is seeking funding for another component of the larger Harbor Resiliency effort, uh, as was mentioned up by the Harbor Master’s office in that area. Um, the purpose of this letter and any of these type of applications for funding, uh, they do request that you solicit letters of support from

15:49 key players, obviously the, the select board, our local legislators and others as part of the package to, um, as we compete with other communities, uh, for, for these type of grants. Great. Thanks. I’ll just, I think I’ll just take a minute and just for the, for the, um, public, just to read a little bit from the letter that this proposed work would continue previous work by further evaluating a aada adaption concepts and recommendations that were produced as part of Marblehead FY 2020 Coastal Resilience Grant. The June, 2020 Harbor Structures Visual Assessment Report produced as part of the FY 2020 grant ranked Tucker’s Wharf is graded as an intermediate slash highest priority to address the potential risks of infrastructure damage and or damage to nearby high density residential dwellings.

16:37 Additionally, state Street Landing has seen an increase in significant storm damage in recent years leading to sinkhole and significant damage to attach piers. A detailed examination of the site specific coastal processes, site conditions, and associated risks for the present and future will be ultimately lead to more informed design of options. The select board will continue to be a key partner in advancing Marble its Harbor Improvement and Resilience efforts, and we encourage the Office of Coastal Zone Management to support the application by the town of Marblehead and Partners. Um, so can I have a motion, uh, to, to send this letter of support as drafted regarding the FY 25 Coastal Resilience, um, application and, and authorize the chair of sign on behalf of the board. So moved. Second. All in favor?

17:24 Great. Um, that brings us to, um, uh, we received an open meeting law complaint form, um, around, we, we had, um, it’s pointing out, uh, discovered a clerical, really a clerical error, um, in our last agenda, uh, where, um, under open meeting law we needed to include all of the names of the, as they, all of the names of the individuals that we were reappointing as part of the agenda. And, um, just our proactively our response will be revolting, um, having done that in this meeting, revolting those names later on in the meeting. And so, uh,

18:10 but I’m asking for a motion now to delegate town council, um, to respond to the open meeting law complaint filed by Patrick Higgins and Associates, um, on June 28th, 2024.

18:26 Second. All in favor? Great.

18:33 And now we have a request from, um, noble Grand of the Kirs Sarge Large, Tim Meyer, um, who I know is here. Tim, would you like, did you wanna, um, present anything or we have your letter. I’m just here in case you have any questions. Okay. Um, so yeah, I think we’ve all had a chance to review the letter. He, uh, he has requested use of Abbott Hall for a benefit concert. And, um, yeah. Did I, I mean, did anybody have any questions for Mr. Meyer while he is here? Okay. So I’ll ask for a motion to approve the request from Tim Meyer Noble Grand of the Care, Sarge Lodge Swan Scott, to use Abbott Hall Auditorium on, um, we have the date, November 9th. November 9th, 2024, uh,

19:23 for, for benefit concert, subject to the usual rules, regulations, fees, and required certificate of insurance naming the town of Marblehead as additionally insured. I have a motion. So moved. Second And a second. Okay. Uh, all in favor.

19:37 Thanks. Next we need a, um, we’ve, uh, um, had, uh, Kyle has sent us all the minutes from June 5th and June 12th. So we need a motion to approve those minutes.

19:55 I move As they appear. Now a second. Second. All in favor chair. I just think I Oh, sure. Yeah. I probably can’t vote on the June 5th ones since I wasn’t here, correct. Or the, she Do you wanna do two different votes In, um, Let you can just to put I can sustain. That’s fine. Sure. Whatever you want. Okay. Okay. Um, so we have, so one abstention all in favor. Three in favor, Mr. Fox. Abstaining. Motion carries.

20:30 Uh, next we have a one day liquor license. Um, you Vote the other one. Oh, I did, I just voted both of them at the same time. Oh, it’s same from both. Um, Sorry. It’s okay. So, okay. So we have a, um, one day liquor license request from Father Andrew of Egypt House for, um, let’s see, to serve alcohol, um, at the Egypt house. Can I have a motion to approve the request of his for a one day liquor license for Thursday, August 15th, 2024 from noon? Sorry, the timing I have the time in here is from 12 noon to 12:00 PM Does that make sense?

21:18 Okay. Should be, is that what it really, It’s 12:00 PM to 12:00 AM right? Technically, your Honor, yeah. Okay. Okay. From 12, from noon, from 12:00 PM to 12:00 AM Can do it for like one second. Subject to the following conditions. Delivery of and receipt by the licensing authority of the required fee of $50 delivery of and received by the licensing authority of proof. The alcohol will be purchased from an authorized source, proof the applicant can receive proper delivery, provide proper storage and disposal of all alcoholic beverages purchased. All in accordance with the requirements of general laws. Chapter 1 38 alcohol is to be purchased from Marblehead Brewing Company and Shehan and Seaboard. So I need a motion and a, A motion And a second.

22:01 Can I have a second? Can I, yeah. Oh. Oh, Wait. And then we can discuss, we can have a second. Can I Have a second for discussion? Yeah, sure. Um, I guess my concern is, is the 12:00 AM I mean, what, what is the typical, what do we do for the re is it midnight? 11 From noon to midnight? Right. But what do we do for the other establishments in town? Is it midnights? I mean, subject to regular noise, ordinances and all that. Right. I mean, different establishments may have different hours, but they, they all say midnight. They all say midnight. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I just, yeah, She handles all the licenses, so she, she knows. Okay. I just wanna be, Yeah. Yep, Yep. Anybody else for discussion? And then we can, we can proceed to a poll vote. Okay. Mr. Fox in favor? Ms. Singer? In favor, Mr. Murray?

22:51 In favor, Ms. Moon In favor, that brings us to reapp Annual Reappointments. Oh, sorry. Um, we had an amended, um, discussion, our discussion on, um, we had the Harbors and Waters board and zoning boards. We had some, uh, organizational in or interest in discussing some of the organizational, um, pieces of, of those boards. Um, and I think Mr. Murray, I’ll just take, I’ll just lead off. Mr. Murray had recommended that we seek input from, um, harbors and Waters Board chair and others, uh, around

23:35 moving the, we have two alternates. They have, there’s three alternates. And it’s our understanding that they’re not really called upon. They’ve been, been alternates for a long time. You know, should we open up the board to more voting members so that there’s more participation? Uh, and I did speak with, um, Gary Gregory, the chair, and I know that, um, Moses as well had a conversation with him. And I, he’s, you know, very favorable to that, uh, you know, to, I think I suggested that a seven member board was what we had talked about and adding two additional members, um, to the Harbors and Waters board. And, uh, he thought that, that he,

24:22 he was very amenable to that. He thought that that would be just fine. And, um, I know, um, Moses in here, he had, um, family in town for a couple days, but I know he had a conversation as well. And, uh, he was received, um, received well, the idea. So does any, we wanna just wanna open up to discussion around numbers on the board, if we wanna add it is something that was within our purview too. It’s not something that’s like set up by statute. Uh, although they do run an enterprise fund, which is well dictated by statute. The actual composition of the Harbors and Waters board itself is, uh, up to the discretion of the select board.

25:08 How do people feel? Do people still feel the same way that they wanna add a couple members? I, I like the concept of expanding that board. I think you could use it’s more input. Would, would the proposal be to, to have no alternates? So extend, expand it to second members with no alternates? Yes. I think with, with seven members. ‘cause Yeah, I mean, another thing, you know, he, you know, another option there was kind of, you know, you could, as we, as we talked, you could make the two alternates voting members, but if you didn’t wanna run into like a quorum issue, yeah, you can keep the quorum at three. Uh, but I mean, that is an option. My inclination is to just make a, make it a seven member board straight up. I don’t think the quorum would be that much of an issue.

25:55 And I did look around after, you know, um, Brett had mentioned other boards being varying different sizes, and, uh, they are running a fund. Um, Cohasset I, I noticed has 11 members on their Harbor advisory board. So Yeah, I mean, they’re all, I mean, just to go back to what we said, or I, I raised at the last meeting, um, was it range anywhere from zero that the Harbor Master report directly to the town manager, the, you know, the mayor, whoever it might be to anywhere from five to 11. But I didn’t see anybody else with alternates. Yeah. You know, that I could see. Yeah. I, and I, and I think, um, and, and I think Gary Gregory had said, you know, it confirmed that that really hasn’t served a function or need a purpose.

26:41 So, um, yeah. And the Other question I think we just need to ask is, is it gonna be a one year term or do we wanna do staggered three year terms? No, that’s a good question. I mean, I personally, I’m, I’m partial to a three year term. I think that is a healthy, um, I think it just provides for consistency across the boards, you know? Um, I Agree. Yes. We moved to a three year term. I thank you for bringing that up. Actually. I, for, I, um, forgotten about that aspect. It is right now a one year term, which we appoint every single year we do the reappointment. Um, how do people feel about, well, first, let’s say, like, does anybody have strong feelings one way or the other around moving from seven, five to seven?

27:29 Everyone’s, it makes sense. Yeah. And I think that the, you know, I mean the alternates themselves, I mean, they’ve put in 8, 9, 10 years plus of, you know, experience and work. And, um, and I think having them be, they’re extremely well participated in qualified board, you know, these, these, this, this board has been there a long time. So I think having seven members, and from looking at other organizations, it seems to fall in line. Uh, yes. I would also just ask if there’s anything that you would like to bring forward from our last meeting that maybe, you know, has come to light in regards to other towns, organizations or anything. I mean, I know from a statutory just it’s our decision,

28:15 but anything else that you would like to shed light on? Just that we should think about? Oh, I, I have read a study somewhere that seven is the optimum number of a committee. Yeah. Um, so that being as it may, I mean, I think what looking for, and I know from several conversations, um, you know, it’s a critical board. They have a significant amount of responsibility, and they, they manage the, the, um, enterprise fund, uh, for those functions. And what would be helpful for, for that board is to ensure some good continuity as well as bringing in a mix of expertise right. To the board. So there, there are folks who, I mean, most

29:00 of ‘em all very adverse on the harbor and waters, but there’s a business aspect to the, to the function they perform, right? So it’d be worthwhile looking at the makeup of the membership and making sure that you, you know, you have sort of different balance, different, uh, skill sets and expertise that, that fill it out. And then if, if the suggestions look at three year terms, that allows you to stagger over time so that there’s always continuity as some members move on and new members come on. Right. How would you propose staggering It? Yeah. The, well, typically what happens when, when you change is that, um, uh, with a seven member board,

29:46 you probably have, uh, a 3, 2, 2 cycle is my math. Correct? Yeah. And that in the first instance, you would make, we both say three members for three years, two members for two years, two members for one year. Mm-Hmm. But then when the one year comes up, free appointments, three, it would three. And that would start the staggered rotation. Sure. Yeah. No, I think that’s a very good point, Mr. You know, Keer, because I think that’s the big thing is you want people from a diverse background because the fact that’s not just the boats in the water, it’s the properties, it’s the resiliency. There’s a lot going on. I mean, we even have the, you know, the Harbor Plan Implementation Committee, which I think should remain separate for now. It’s not to say at some point maybe some people potentially, you know, merging the two,

30:32 but I think right now, I think they should stay separate. But I think especially with the whole community, you know, development director, you know, with the AKA Becky, you know, cutting former role, I, I think this board would leverage that to take advantage more of what are we not doing here in towns in terms of getting people on the water and access to those areas. And, and just think in, into different ways to use ‘em to try to bring people into town and also to raise revenues for the, for the town. So I think people applying for this shouldn’t just say, well, I don’t have a boat. I shouldn’t be on it. They should take a look at this from a more holistic standpoint and say, you know what? I have a business. I’m an entrepreneur. I have some ideas. And I think having that diverse, you know, background’s gonna be very helpful for this, this board. Um, and I, and I, I did in my conversation with, uh, Gary today,

31:17 uh, there is a need. You know, I, I did relate too that, you know, for myself, there’s some, um, I look at the board, I just wanna make sure that there’s a lot of senior, senior members on that, on that board, and that we have some succession planning and, you know, that we’re, we’re not, that we’re kind of seeing that coming down the road. And he, you know, said that that would be what he would be really great is we could find somebody to onboard that has some financial, like he said, ideal candidate would be a former Becky Curran, um, like planner type, somebody who’s familiar with municipal grants and municipal finance. Uh, that would be ideal.

32:04 They’ve been, him and John have kind of been filling that role. And, uh, he did say, you know, at some point he’d like to that, that, that, that, that they, they are, they do also are, you know, concerned. We just wanna be mindful that we’re, that they are, have the time to mentor that person and, and, and we’re kind of creating a nice succession plan for that piece of what they do. And to that end, I haven’t done it for tonight, but I would like to, when we come back maybe next for next meeting, I noticed that, um, the charge and their mission currently, I think really needs some, I think we need to, to maybe update that. I think it’s a little dated and it doesn’t quite represent all that the board actually is doing. So it doesn’t mention an enterprise fund.

32:51 So, um, I can maybe work with Gary Mm-Hmm. And, uh, Thatcher and draft some type of, uh, proposed updated, like mission in charge that better represents what the Harbors and Waters Board does for our next, um, next meeting. And, uh, I think they, I, you know, I didn’t mention the three year terms, but I think that I, I, I think that they would be favorable to that. I don’t see why there would be any objection to that. Maybe part of that mission statement is, is who we’d like to see a compromise of as far as going different Positions. Yeah. Like these are the ideal backgrounds. Yeah. Yeah. And as, yeah, Thatcher had said, and I had heard the same message that we get a lot of,

33:38 there’s a lot of people on the board that have, you know, know the harbor, understand the harbor, but, uh, there’s a big financial piece that, um, would be helpful to have looking forward as we put people on. So, um, okay. Yeah, Go ahead. Just logistics. Um, if we were going to make this, like, you know, this transition, I know we have a hold, I know we’ve been soliciting applications. Would that be something that would be done in parts at one time? What would be, So what I was thinking is that tonight we would, I think we’re, we’re prepared to vote on the makeup in terms of size of the board and updating or, or changing the terms.

34:23 And at next meeting we’d have to make a decision or maybe two meetings from now, how we’re going to do those reappointments because we’re gonna have to pick who’s doing what, staggered terms and possibly, right. Possibly, you know, receiving also letters of interest. So kind of the actual right makeup of the members of the board we can address down at a later meeting perhaps. I forget what we had said we had put out, I know we put solicited letters of interest if we, have we gotten any, I mean, have we had any new ones come in? Do we need more time to publicize that? I think we would probably need to. Yeah, we have some put Out. I haven’t put it as vacancies on the website. Okay. So let’s, yeah. So we wanna make sure we have time for people to see

35:09 that we’re soliciting interest Particularly. So there are already some that have been filed. Right. But it hasn’t been advertised as Okay For anything. We can Do that. Could we interview some of those at next meeting and then if there’s more Or do you want That be too tight? I mean, I think like it’s the summer. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I mean, Yeah, you wanna give us some time? You wanna give it some time to, for people to see Oh, talking about The people who are already in And apply and who’ve Already done it. But you do it all once Yeah. Is the process. Okay. Um, yeah, let’s, so that’s kind of what I was thinking. I was thinking like, like taking things in order. Like if we could first vote on, Well we Could the makeup and then vote on the terms

35:56 and set a date for, or, you know, and, um, solicit interest, set a date and see what comes in. And then when we set the, we’ll have to, at some point when we do the interview, we’ll have to vote this board basically what terms to who to what person, what. So re reform the board, right? For tonight. Mm-Hmm. Yes. Yep. Based on what was discussed with A further effective date though, right. It would have to be a different effective date For the seven. Well, so all members continue as is, right? Yeah. So you’re just restructuring and then set a date for any solicitations and then what meeting you want to, and then you can decide between then and now how, how you actually process it.

36:42 But a date that you’re gonna, But the effective date of the new board has to be after we vote people on, I think is what you’re saying Of a new composition. Of The new composition, right. Because we couldn’t have a seven member board. I guess you could do a seven member board and leave two seats vacant as of now. Well, Yeah. You can make it future. You’ve eight people right now with, you’ve got five people with three alternates. So if you’re just taking out the alternates and Mm-Hmm. Then we haven’t, So is I would suggest part of the motion to be effective upon the appointment of, right. Exactly. I wasn’t thinking we would take up actual reappointments right now. Right. That’s What I was just wanna say that we’re just clear about that we’re voting this, but the Not gonna it’s effective date of a seven member board takes effect upon the appointment of Yes. The members

37:28 of the board. The New board. Yes. The board. Perfect. Exactly. That was my concern. Okay. That we just like word it correctly that it’s Yep. Clear to everyone. Yep. Including me. So It stays the way it’s, especially me, everything stays the way it is until you finalize the action of the reappointments. Okay. Yes. Okay. Okay. So, Sorry. Um, I think I can, I can make it into one motion or two. Um, I think I’ll do, first I’ll, I’ll just, I

38:06 ask for a motion to amend the harbors and Waters board from a five member to a seven member voting board. Five. Uh, I would suggest from currently five. Five members and three alternates. And three Alternates to, to a seven member voting board. Seven member board. Yes. Yes. Okay. With you gonna separate the, the staggered terms Or I didn’t, I, okay. I can do ‘em separately, I guess. But, but effective. Effective, as Effective Upon the reappointment Of, upon the reappointment of the Membership of The board. The new board. Yeah. Correct. For 2025. So moved second.

38:52 Okay. All in favor. Okay. And then I’ll ask for a motion to, Uh, Amend to change the terms of the members of the Harbors and Waters board. Board from one year terms, two, three year staggered terms

39:17 With the first, first one being three people at three years. Two people at two and Two at one. With the first being three people at three years. Three years. Three people at two years. And two people at two years. At One year. And one year

39:33 Se so at appointment of the seven member board At appointment of seven member board. ‘cause we have to Effective upon reappointment of thank of the member.

39:44 So new board. Yeah. Alright. Yes, we got it here. Okay. I wrote it down. I’m recording. So moved second. All in favor. Okay. So we have a seven member Harpers and Waters board with three year staggered terms moving forward.

40:01 Okay. And now seven date do and Yes, let’s do that. Sorry, we’re not done. So Do you wanna do it maybe at the August 14th meeting? Do you think that’s too far out or? I think that’s, so it’s already the ninth July. Um, so let’s put out for

40:26 in interests in, um, you know, anyone interested in this. Yeah. I’m wondering if we should, in our, you know, solicitation, if we should go ahead and, and specify specific, you know, particularly, you know, with, with a preference for, um, those with backgrounds in fi, municipal finance, finance or grants. Grants planning. I mean, I think we can, I mean that really is what, ‘cause Fish we’ll get along. We need commercial. Yeah. Commercial. Commercial. Okay.

41:03 Do we wanna spec be specific about particular backgrounds or just put it out there? Generally? I, I would suggest just make it general information and not tie your hands. Right. Yeah. Okay. So we will, um, ask seek letters of interest through, let’s see, July 9th, um, July 9th, I mean August 9th. And then our, um, we’ll have an August meeting on the 13th. 14th. 14th, 14th.

41:36 Oh, I, I, I went, I’m a year ahead. I was gonna say for another reason. Yeah. Is that the seventh? 1, 2, 3. August 14th. So through the ninth. Okay. Second. Wait, I’m in second. Oh, it’s 2024. Sorry, I’m a year ahead in my calendar. Second. So, okay, so our ne we have a meeting on the 24th and we have a meeting on August 14th. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. So do we wanna take this up on the four, like interviews on the 14th, solicit letters of interest through August 9th, you say? Yes. I’m fine with that. That’s a full month. How soon can we get it posted? Uh, tomorrow. Oh God. Yeah. That’s a full month. Okay. Yeah.

42:26 Hmm. Hopefully the papers will pick it up. Well, So, um, okay. So that’s, so, okay, so letters of interest through the August 9th and three appointments and interviews and appointments. We’ll, we’ll take it up the composition of the board on the 14th. Okay. Interviews on the 14th.

42:51 Okay. So I, as we said earlier, we’re going to go through the reappointments. Oh, Sir. Can I, you mentioned the ZBA as well. We also Put on, oh, I’m sorry. Sorry. I Yep. We do have a discussion on the ZBA. Um, member Fox had kind of requested. We look into the, I think there’s four alternates on that. There’s four Alternates currently. Okay. And I know you had a chance to talk to the chair. Do you wanna I did update everybody. Yeah. I talked to Bill Moriarty, um, at length. He, he actually likes the four, the four alternates because by statute, um, even though they only need a, a quorum, you do need four people to vote for a special permit or variance. So he, he, he was happy with continuing the way They’re, okay. Good.

43:37 That was good. Um,

43:41 Let’s see. And so, um, okay, so I, that answers that for me. I think if, if there’s a need, the chair’s expressed a need to keep the fourth alternate, see no reason to upset that. And it seems like it’s useful and, um, yeah, I think we just wanted to, we wanted to run that down. Thanks for reminding me on that. Thank you. Okay. May I go backwards for one second? Just on the August 14th. I’m just thinking, ‘cause it’s the summer, is it, um, are we gonna allow if someone needs to like to come in, if they need to come in through Zoom or something like that, is that an option? I’m just thinking if there’s a qualified candidate, but it’s just the summer people are traveling. I don’t wanna discourage people if they’re like, oh,

44:27 well I’m gone that week, but it would be a really qualified candidate. Mm-Hmm. Okay. Is that feasible? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we have that capability, so. Okay. Just in case anybody’s watching too. Like, just don’t want anyone be discouraged if they’re out of town. Um, Yeah, good point. So, right. I think that resolves that, those items on the agenda and I think we’re ready to move on to, uh, retting the reappointments. So I, um, will ask, we can, I will go through like we did last time, asking for motion to accept all the appointments for all the terms ending in the June, 2025.

45:15 Accept those placed on hold. Um, okay. I know

45:22 That, Um, We’ll Vote those that I know Mr. Or that, um, I know you’ll go ahead and mm-Hmm. Put those on hold that, uh, you would like to abstain. Okay. So I need motion to accept the following appointments all for terms expiring in June 25th. Unless noted and accepted those placed on hold in accordance with the town bylaws. Uh, these are all one year terms. Okay. So, um, town Administrator, Thatcher, Keer, hold, Americans, Uh, disability Act Coordinator, Mr. Keer, building Commissioner and Inspectors, uh, building Commissioner Steven Cummings,

46:08 local Inspector Ben Liebowitz, local inspector Roger Enis, plumbing Inspector Brad Smith, wiring Inspector Eric Chisholm, canine control Clerk Robin Michoud, town clerk, assistant dog officers for the parks. Peter James, Brad Dele, Greg Snow, Sam Andrews, John Vicki, John d. Town Council at 2000 per year. Jeff Shridman, assistant Town Counsel. Brody Hardon, Perkinson Ton. Leonard Keston. Patrick Costello, Mead Erman a Costa, LLC, Francis Mayo, Deutsch Williams, counsel and aging Director Lisa Hooper, emergency Management Coordinator. Chief Jason Gilland. Charles Sru as the Assistant finance Director. Alicia Nunley. Benjamin Forrest. Ward. Ward. Ward. Did somebody say hold? Yeah. Oh, On the, on which one? Forrest Ward. Okay.

46:57 Um, chief Jason ar Gillan Fire Department Harbor Master and Assistant Mark Souza, Harbor Master. Craig Smith, deputy Harbor Master Assistant Harbor Masters. Um, Rick Don Andrew Ette. Matthew Thompson, Steve Leland, jar Russo, Elmer Hurley, Mike Kbi, Andrew Nro. Chris Ned Dixon. Beon and alternates. Felix Amsler, Jeff Flynn and Jack Loveday. Keeper of the lockup Licensing authority. Duly designated agents. Police Chief Dennis, hold on. Okay. Measure of, uh, on all of the licensing authority. Yes. Okay. Measure of leather term one year. Brian Ruco, Amy

47:44 Town designee, mass Water Resource Authority F Carlton Siegel with alternate Amy McCue WA of the Water and Sewer Commission. Parking Clerk and hearing clerk. Jeff Shridman, chief Procurement Officer Thatcher Keesler, public Works Director Amy McHugh, record access Officer Kyle Wiley, um, for the town and Chief Dennis King for the police department. Right to know coordinator as Jason Gilland for the fire department. Special auxiliary police Patrolman. James Donovan, superintendent of Public Buildings. That Keer, chief King, chief Gillen, Andrew Petty, the Public health director. And Amy mcq, our DPW Director, tax Collector and Treasurer Kamie. I, I Relli. Town Engineer Charles Quigley, Workers’ Comp agent, mass Interlocal Insurance Association, town Accountant

48:30 as Chris Hoek, affordable Housing Trust Fund as the Select Board. Plus Kurt James and Dirk iBrand. Armed Forces Liaison. Harry Christensen, the Board of Abbott Library, second Century Fund. Peter Jalbert and Judith Eisner Cable Television Advisory Committee. Robert Peck, caretaker of the Fort Beach. Dave Rogers, chaplain of Marblehead Police Department. J James Bixby Conservation Commission. This is a three year staggered terms reappointing. Dave Van Hoen and Carol McCauley for terms ending in 2027. Constables for the purpose of serving civil process. Doug per Doug Perry, mark Izi, Chris Kimmo, Jared Walsh, Julio Lio, Cindy Diaz and Gabrielle Mongiello. Constables, um, for shellfish.

49:19 Uh, Jack Ridge for a three year term ending in 2027 as the chief constable. The following one year terms. Raymond Bates Jr. Dave Donahue, Jeff Flynn, Harry Christiansen Jr. Rick Ner. Uh, Craig, Craig Smith, Doug Aikman, f Webb Russell and Eric Hawley. Counsel on Aging for a three year term. Thomas Garry’s, emergency Medical Services Council. Uh, Jason Gillen, Marblehead Fire Department Fair Housing Committee. Um, these are three year staggered terms. Deb Larkin and Bob Noose, uh, with terms ending in 2027. Finance committee. Pat Franklin, Molly Teets, Mike O’Neal, Linda Gifford as the clerk.

50:04 Those were also three year terms. Fireworks committee. Alex fa, Fort Sewell Oversight committee is, um, Larry Sands, uh, the town planner. Peter James is the rec and park department. Seamus Daley for Glover’s Regiment. Judy Anderson at large. Christine Ncio is another at large member. And I think we we’re gonna, we’ve already discussed the Harbors and Waters board. Hazard Mitigation Plan, implementation and Monitoring Team. Jason Gilland, fire Chief em, emergency Management Director Charles Quigley, the town engineer. Amy Ew. Superintendent Water and Sewer Mission. Madam Chair. Yeah. Um, for Harbors and Water. Do even if we’re gonna hold those, do we need to read those names and do a hold? I think it

50:50 Just goes into a holdover. We’re not reappointing. Right? Right. So we’re not voting to reappoint, But we don’t need to read those names from last. We’re not acquainting them for a year. Okay. So you’re not taking action tonight on it. You they It’s okay. Yeah. Histor, um, town Planner. Bill Connolly, the historical commission historian Don dor. Historical Commission. David Cwell. That’s a three year term. Marblehead Cultural Council. These are three year terms. Jim Murphy, Aaron Leber, Lisa Seltzer, Marblehead Disabilities Commission. These are, it’s also a three year term for Samantha Marino. Marblehead Fireworks Committee. Karen Lang, Meredith Rearden, Linda dli, Kerry O’Shaughnessy, Kyle Wiley, uh, mass Ethics Commission.

51:35 Municipal Liaison. Jeff Shridman, mass Port Authority Advisory Committee. Charles Gesner, metropolitan Area Planning Council for a three year term. Steve Varone and Town Planner as our alternate olden historic Districts Commission. Bob Bragdon, Gary Arick, Charles Hibbard, Mariana Vida, Paul Pruitt

52:00 and alternates. Doug Duncan, facie Old Burial Hill Oversight Committee for a one year term is Judy Gates. Stanley Goodwin, Andrew Gallucci, Pam Peterson as the cemetery rep. Alex Finnegan as Town and Town Planner.

52:20 Um, sister City liaison for Grassy France. Uh, Miriam Zuber Task force against discrimination. Helene Haslett, deacon Whipple, John Whip. John Whipple. Christopher Brule. Reese Stalberg, Eugenia Ferry Chief Dennis King is Exofficio. Diana Gora. Nico Vaughn King as the student Student rep. Um, taxation aid committee. Pam Foy. Lisa Hooper. Bonnie Granier, canny. Um, I as treasurer, ex-officio. John Kelly as the chairman of the board of Assessors. Also ex-Officio Traffic Safety Advisory Committee for this. These are three year terms.

53:05 Rick Rich Meyers is up town, physician quadrant, health strategies. Tree Warden, Jonathan t Zoning Board of Appeals. These are five year, uh, staggered terms. Bill Moriarty and the alternates, um, are for one year terms. Chris Casey, Bruce kras, William Rudolph and Mark Lieman. Okay, that’s all. That’s the end of my list for Reappointments. Okay. So, um, Can I have that motion for those that are not on hold? So Moved second. Uh, all in favor? Okay. All in favor. Unanimous vote. And um, now we’ll go through, um, the one those placed on hold.

53:50 Can I have a mo motion to approve Reappointments of the town administrator that Keer

54:02 Forest warden Jason, chief Jason Gilland, keeper of the lockup Chief. Dennis King, licensing authority, duly designated agents. Um, chief Dennis King and then Matthew Freeman, Jonathan L. Michael Everett, Dave Sitz, Jason Conrad, and Sergeant Sean Brady, Brendan Finnegan, Eric O Satin, and Tim Morley.

54:27 That’s it.

54:35 I think I got them all. Okay. So motion. I have a second. It’s okay. Um, those in favor? Three in favor? Yep. Recused Opposed. And One Of recusal. So, Okay, Now I then a motion to Take no action on the Harbors and Waters board. Do we need that Ellen? Good? Yeah, I think we’re, yeah, I don’t think we need to vote on that ‘cause um, just you’ve already, they just hold over by because Your early motions actually set a date specific Yeah. That you are gonna take action. Okay. One thing I just, um, I don’t know if it’s premature, but some of, I had, this has been one

55:21 of those things that we do every year and I always say, you know, some of these, like the old HDC, um, we, I think we need to consider, I don’t know if we need to do it tonight, but these one year terms, again as we just explained, like consistency, you know, board turnover, um, you know, I’m not sure if there’s a merit to having any of these boards one year term versus your traditional standard three year terms. Um, something just to consider, I dunno, do we wanna take any action on that or put that in the, to be discussed?

56:06 Well, to put it on Yeah. Through the chair. Is there any regulatory, um, concerns with OGC? That’s a question I have, so I would Yeah. Wanna kind of be able to take a look to see if there’s, some of these are formed under state statute and they may have I Yeah. Specified terms, I’m not sure. Like, I mean, old Burial Hill, that’s something formed in-House. Yeah. Um, that’s a one year term. And then task force against discrimination, one year term taxation aid committee, one year term. We can consider whether or not, um, I can put it on an agenda coming up if we wanna, um, consider moving those over Text that Was and feedback from those boards. I think what, um, just looking at any, anything

56:53 that was created through an article AAL meeting, then that would dictate the preference there. But, um, like task force against discrimination, that wouldn’t be applicable. And what was the other one you just described? Old Burial Hill. Yeah. Old Burial Hill wouldn’t be applicable. So Yeah, I think there’s a couple of them if it was formed on an article. I think that other than that, yeah. Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off. Yeah, no, you’re fine. I think that sometimes they’re, you know, in talking to people posted as a one year because people get well, will we have enough, you know, people feel like they might wanna volunteer just for one year. Would they come? Is, does three years seem like too big of a commitment for whatever it, you know, is there a reason that they set up the task force

57:38 as a one year term versus three year term? I think I’m looking at the list and you know, I don’t think a three year term would, I think most of those people end up staying three years anyway. So Yeah. I think the only, I don’t it, I don’t think it a one years presents a chilling effect or anything in terms of people being willing to say they go for three years or solicit interest in terms of three years versus one year. Yeah. Madam Chair. Um, I remember last year if, if you recall, um, Ms. Wiley I think sent out a little bit of a survey. Yeah. I don’t think, I don’t think Dan Fox has a copy of that. If he hasn’t, maybe we can get ‘em a copy and it looked at a lot of that, like three years different things. Maybe what we should do is maybe take a look at that Yeah. And, and then circle back with the chairs. Yeah. And say maybe it’s time for you to, to re just like you’re gonna do with the Harbors

58:25 and Waters board to reassess their mission. Yeah. And, and then we could also look at staggered three year terms if it doesn’t conflict with Mm-Hmm. You know, statutory guidelines. Okay. So if there’s interest, I can put that on an upcoming agenda. We can take that up. Okay. That sounds Great. Um, okay, moving on to, um, our next item is the fishing shanties, and these are renewals. Um, so we’ll need a motion to renew the following. Request to use premises owned by the town of Marblehead on Front Street at Little Harbor, commonly known as Turner Land, subject to the receipt of the proper application, current fishing license, and all taxes paid to the town. Steve by shanty number two, Jeff Flynn, shanty number three, John Burns, shanty number four.

59:12 Doug Percy, shanty number six. William Brown ii, shanty number eight. And Dave Rogers shanty number nine. So moved is Second. Any discussion? Lemme just check one thing. So on the motion to change current fishing license to current lobster license, Commercial License commercial lobster.

59:40 So one of the changes we had to make this year, oh, we, we went back to the original deed that transferred the land as to, um, who qualifies to hold these licenses. So for a long time it’s been saying efficient, but it’s specific to commercial lobster. So we’ve updated the application to specify that you have to have the commercial lobster license, which is what, when it was originally deed over to the town for this purpose. That was the restriction they put on it. So we, we just didn’t update that motion from the past. And so, but do all, so then all of these Yes. Have lobster licenses. Yes. Okay. Yeah. We went through that process and updated that.

1:00:25 Yep. Okay. Um, do you want me, should I, do you want me to redo the motion? Sure. Um, motion to renew the following, request to use premises owned by the town of Marblehead on Front Street at Little Har Little Harbor, commonly known as Turner Land, subject to the receipt of the proper application, current lobster license, and all tax paid at the town. Steve, by shanty number two, Jeff Flynn, number three, John Burns, shanty number four. Doug Percy, number six. William Brown, number eight. Dave Rogers number nine. So moved second. All in favor. Okay. Um, and then this, um, just came in, um, it’s not on our agenda, but it’s kind of under new,

1:01:10 but it’s under it’s new business. And it was not really anticipated within, um, you know, the last 48 hours. And I think that it, it, there’s been an, um, a request for a dangerous dog hearing. So, um, and I was just gonna ask for a motion to appoint our town administrator as a hearing officer for a dangerous dog hearing. Um, and to, um, and also to report his findings back to the board. This is just in the, um, interest of timeliness for the matter. So moved second. All in favor.

1:01:51 Okay. And, um, that brings us to public comment section of the agenda. If there’s anybody, um, in the room that would like to make comment, just your name and your street and if you’re online, you can just raise your hand. Um, Ms. Wiley can let me know. Um, well, we’ll start with, um, Albert Jordan Roosevelt to have, um, on Dave Rogers position. Um, my father was the command commander of the VFW at one time, probably 50 years ago. So I’ve known the last three veterans agents personally. They’ve all lived in Marblehead. It’s not a nine to five job. Uh, they do a lot of things on weekends. They do a lot of, they do more things after hours

1:02:39 besides paperwork that people need assistance. Um, I’ve dealt with elderly people in Marblehead for years and I’ve gone up to Dave Rogers, um, to see if he could assist them with some benefits that they were entitled to after they died. Um, so I hope, I know we’re gonna have a nationwide search. I hope the board really considers, um, we don’t always wanna look at the qualifications. We want to look if, if, if we can get someone that’s in this town locally, um, that the people know. Because my father used to go by these people’s houses on weekends and at night. Um, so I really hoped the board, uh, nationwide search is great and you might have someone real smart, but it’s not Monday through Friday unless they want to give me this cell phone number, um, because I may have questions, not,

1:03:26 not the town working hours, okay. On that. Okay. Um, number two, I hope next year when we have the fireworks, if we ever have ‘em again, um, that when we bring a barge in from another community, that we have the fire department go out and look to make sure the place is secured. Um, I don’t know what happened out there, but I seen pictures and it looked like there was a lot of debris left over from where they just came from. That could have been a real dangerous situation, thank God. It was at one 30 in the morning. There’s a lot of people that sleep out on boats. I used to do it. Bart Snow had a big sailboat. I was over by Hillary Rockets all the time. Uh, I’m just glad that that thing went at one 30 in the morning and I hope the fire department didn’t go near it. But we know we had permits on everything else that we do inspections before we open a public building.

1:04:14 So not to put anyone down, but there’s millions of dollars worth of people’s property out there. And some it’s really, really good that, that they just burnt up. And that’s all I’ll say about that. But I think next year we have all these permits that we supply. We should do it as a courtesy or charge them when they’re bringing that boat in. If they’re gonna bring it in the night before, we should inspect it and make sure that we want Marblehead because this could happen again. We’re lucky the wind wasn’t blowing that night, so who knows what could have been on that boat at one 30 in the morning. The last thing is the tax bills in Marblehead. Um, you know, I just got a bill and then I heard, I’ve already made out the checks and now they tell you not to pay the bills. We went through all that expense of mailing these things,

1:05:02 sending the bills out. I don’t know how many trees we took down. Um, I used to bring the bills from the water department down to be mailed. So I don’t know how they do it now, but I, I, I think it’s ludicrous that, um, we need a, an assessor up there. We, we need to either get rid of the other one or we need to hire a new one because this stuff is continuing to go on and the taxpayers are paying thousands of dollars, like leaves falling. I don’t wanna hear any more excuses about it. It’s a glitch in this and a glitch in that. The glitch never should have happened. We have all these professional people at Marblehead and I don’t want to hear what I’m taking a walk that they’re seeing their tax. I, I just don’t even know why we had to have, um, the assessors hire a person

1:05:48 to come in to tell you there’s a problem. ‘cause I knew right off the bat, walking around town and looking at people’s bills. One lady went up $4,000 in one year. She got an abatement, but I didn’t need someone to tell me that something was wrong, a professional. Um, so I hope that we look, um, you know, into the whole systems and prevent this. ‘cause I got another letter from the assessors because I had a separate lot of land and they told me that was sent out by mistake, asking me all these questions. I, oh, that was just a mistake. Fill out this big thing. And I go, I’ve had this piece of property for years, why haven’t I get, oh, you shouldn’t have got that. But, you know, it’s more postage. I had to take the time to go up there to find out what was going on. Um, I know another older person that got it

1:06:34 and I had to do the same thing. They got all flabbergasted by the situation. So, um, you know, we have all these town employees and everything, you know, and they sent out the tax bills and they come on Friday. So you can’t get in touch with anyone because by, I don’t get the mail till four o’clock in the afternoon and you know, the place is closed. But, um, really the assessor’s office, the other thing it said in the paper, I don’t know if it’s true or not, the Marblehead paper. Um, it’s really, really sad because I knew people that thought that their taxes went up, but they didn’t bother to file for an abatement because they said you can’t fight city Hall. Well, so a a lot of people miss the boat and they, and it, it said John or Letterman, uh, said in the paper, there’s nothing you can do now.

1:07:19 Well, I think it’s a disgrace. I think if there’s a mistake in that, we should start at square one and find out the real issue here. Um, you know, because people shouldn’t be taken an advantage of. And I know a lot of older people in town, um, that don’t want to complain about it, but their spouses died. They don’t have a lot of money and they need to be paying their fair share and they live alone. So they shouldn’t be any extra supporting all these people getting all these other services. So they should make, uh, and the other thing about the assessor’s office, it should be online and on public. We should see what’s going on at those meetings. ‘cause I went up there and they don’t even really have any extra chairs at a meeting. They need to meet down, be downstairs in the Mary Alley building on the camera,

1:08:08 so the public that working during the day to pay these high taxes and all these things you want to do in Marblehead, can see what’s going on at night, review these things. They shouldn’t be having these backdoor meetings that we read about the paper after surprising. Okay. Well have a nice night. Thank you. Thank You. Mr. Jordan. Anybody online? No. One online. Madam Chair. Okay. That brings us to Town Administrator updates. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so I, I I do wanna touch on some of the, uh, 4th of July events. Um, as we all know, we’re disappointed with the fireworks. Um, and the fact that, uh, there was the barge fire that, that prevented that, uh, I, I will just add one comment that there were no fireworks on the

1:08:53 barge when it caught on fire. Um, it was the launching tubes and related equipment. So there were no fireworks that were, were brought on board to the barge. Um, so we avoided, uh, that, um, the plan is, uh, you know, folks have, have, uh, contributed funds and such, uh, to look forward to next year’s 4th of July. It is also, uh, kicking off the 250th of the Revolution events. So our intent is to, um, you know, we have a deposit that we’re vast to carry over for next year to make next year’s fireworks, bigger and better, um, than what the norm has been, uh, in celebration of two 50. So, you know, we’re gonna take the contributions

1:09:41 and apply ‘em to next year’s program and then, um, continue the effort to, to fundraise to make it bigger than, than, uh, what we’ve had in the recent past. Um, despite the, the loss of the fireworks, there were other terrific events that went off and Marblehead went very well, um, to mention a few, the Fest Festival of Arts activity here, um, Abbott Hall was hopping, uh, it was a great event, uh, outstanding event this year. So credit to the organizers of that and the Horribles Parade, uh, went off very well. Great event. And sounds like everyone had a, had a, had a great time. Um, the, the police chief

1:10:26 and I heard all how wonderful it went over the police radios ‘cause we were stuck at the police station dealing with the, the barge fire incident with the fire chief and the rest of us. But I heard, um, the radio calls from the police, how, how excellent the, uh, the parade was going during the event. So again, credit to, there was a lot of volunteer organizers, uh, regular citizens out there who make these things happen from Marblehead. So, um, credit goes to, to all, all those folks out there. Um, next, I I just wanna point out, um, well, I wanna point out Logan Casey, ‘cause I don’t know if he’s had a formal introduction here with the select board, but he’s sitting back there, our sustainability coordinator.

1:11:12 And earlier we had Annel Lopez, who is our, um, uh, grant coordinator who was here earlier. So I just wanted to point them out. Uh, there’s the faces and the work that they’re doing is incredible, so Thank you. Yes. Um, and finally, just some updates on, on position. So we’ve, we’ve, we’ve been doing interviews for town planners. Um, we’ve seen some outstanding members and we hope to be making a job offer very soon and get the planner position filled, uh, as soon as possible. And as I already mentioned, uh, next week we are interviewing, um, veteran agents. And again, the, the pool that we have

1:11:59 that we’re interviewing looks very strong, so optimistic to have a full-time veteran service, uh, agent in place, um, in a matter of weeks. So that concludes my update. What’s this

1:12:18 Weeks, Uh, refresh me

1:12:22 30 minute meeting. Okay. Where, so the bike plan meeting. So this is part of, um, the inputs for, we have a consultant doing the bike plan. Um, Logan was gonna, oh, is that why Logan’s? I can give A quick summary. Come on in. I Logan, I I I love when somebody bails me out. Yeah, No worries. Hi everyone. Good evening. My name’s Logan. I’m a sustainability coordinator as Thatcher mentioned. Um, I just wanted to give a quick update on the, the bike plan because we’ve actually gotten under underway with some of the community engagement, um, at the Festival of Arts on Friday, um, in Abbott Hall and, uh, down on Washington Street with Sustainable Marblehead. Um, we were doing some tabling, uh, Anelli and I with Tool Design, who’s the project consultant for it.

1:13:10 Um, so if you know, just to, as a reminder, you know, the bicycle plan is comprehensive. We’re looking to, uh, collect a lot of community feedback to make short and long-term recommendations on improvements, the, uh, you know, town’s bicycle network, um, and create some more dedicated, um, you know, bicycle paths potentially. Um, so we’re doing a bunch of different engagement. We started with the, the Festival of the Arts. Um, we’ll be at, uh, the, uh, the farmer’s market, um, at the middle school on July 20th. Um, and then we are also, uh, doing a large public workshop here at Abbott Hall on July 30th as well too, um, from seven to eight 30. And I do have some flyers to hand out if you’re, uh, interested.

1:13:57 Um, so, uh, we’re hosting some, you know, in-person engagement events. Um, but we also have been, uh, publicizing a survey as well too, which, uh, has been our main way that we’re collecting the public engagement and feedback. Um, so if you’re interested in filling out the survey as well, that would be very helpful. Um, we were passing out these, you know, posters, uh, on Friday at the Arts Festival, um, you know, tool between the four of us that were kind of doing the engagement. We estimate, we engaged about 150 people. Um, and we’re handing out, you know, a lot of posters. So, um, we’re hoping to get a lot of input because, uh, this process is really reliant on good, you know, solid community input. Um, but, you know, tool has been helping us out

1:14:42 and, uh, we’re looking to, you know, ideally put this together, um, by next March, um, will be a final documents. Um, but yeah. That’s great. Any way we can help like promote as it as, as it becomes timely Mm-Hmm. You know, if you wanna come present to the Yeah. To the board, your final presentation, you know, we’re happy to, to do that. Can we put this on the town social media pages? It actually just got up on the website this afternoon. It’s On the website, but we can also activate that, put it on the, like Instagram and Facebook. Is that an easy thing to do? Great. Yeah, We can definitely do that. Excuse me, map Here. And just to be captain obvious here, is this at the, uh, Marblehead cycle shop? That would be a great location To, I actually engaged with the owner on Friday.

1:15:30 Um, I’m gonna, he took a, a poster then, but I’m actually gonna, this is an updated one that we just printed out today, so I’m gonna run that down to him probably tomorrow. So, great. Yeah. So I’ll just mention Logan isn’t just facilitating bike plans here. Marblehead, explain your commute to,

1:15:53 Well, I do drive sometimes. I did drive today ‘cause it’s long electric vehicle. I, I did, uh, I did get a e-bike as, you know, part of getting this new job as I live in Somerville. So, um, you know, I I, I get to, I am really actually fortunate that, you know, my entire commute is on an off, off street like shared use path to the commuter rail and then I take the commuter rail up to Salem and bike down through the rail trail here. So, um, yeah, I really enjoy that community asset. I’m really, you know, besides the bike plan, there’s also a lot of, um, work going on in the rail trail in general. Um, I think was announced, we were just recently awarded a mass trails grant to do a first construction project of, um, kind of our rail trail vision that was developed in 2020. Um, you know, we’re finishing up the design

1:16:39 on the West Shore Drive portion. We just got the Swamp Scott portion, um, under contract as well. So thank you for approving that. Um, so yeah, just a lot of exciting stuff, you know, having to do with biking and the rail trail in general. But, um, yeah, uh, it’d be great if you guys could help with engagement and we’ll definitely engage you through Thatcher, um, to kind of get this information publicized, um, for this big meeting. So. Great. Thank you so much. Yeah. You’ve done great work in the short time you’ve been here. I’ve heard from many people who are already enamored with the work you’ve done and Oh, and, you know, excited to have you here. Very flattering. Well, thank you very much. I hope to continue doing good work, so thank you for having you again. No, I know why you were sticking around for, so Trying to help you.

1:17:25 Uh, I think Amy was Yeah, of course. And Jay, I think Amy had her hand up Yeah. Electronically. Oh, Amy, did you wanna, um, give an update on anything? Amy? Thank you. She’s Coming. I actually just wanted to add that the bike survey link is online and we pushed it out through the news and it will be on the planning page coming up, but Great. Thank you. Logan also mentioned it, so that’s why I put my hand down. Okay. We do have crack ceiling in town. That’s preventative maintenance also. So you’re gonna see that truck going around and that does paint the little squiggly lines. Um, and the idea of that is to keep the water from penetrating our pavement so that it doesn’t freeze and then thaw and then freeze

1:18:10 and end up with more potholes and deteriorating the streets at a faster pace. Oh, thank you for explaining why we do that. Yeah. Never knew that I Felt badly for those guy. I drove by him coming down Atlantic and they had the torches going and I’m just like, you need the torches on weather like today. And they’re, yeah, That’s What they do. Hard work. They’re melting it into the cracks. Yep. Um, okay. So, um, I don’t wanna put you on the spot, but I just, uh, in terms of updates, I know we did have the, I know a notice squad about the, the property tax bills. Um, just if, I don’t know if there’s anything further you wanna add at the, I think we, we’ve had a meeting since, since then. Yes. I know it’s been in the paper and I think maybe are we

1:18:57 pushing out a deadline for those? So the new tax bills went out yesterday, so, um, so the updated corrected ones are out, so I don’t know how quickly they landed in, in the mailboxes. So, um, yeah, so we worked with the vendor, uh, the software vendor, um, identified the issues and then got ‘em corrected, got the, got the numbers right and reissued the tax bills. So, And is there, is there, um, the same, um, Yeah, I think we, and one of the reasons of the very quick turnaround is to maintain the same, the same schedule. Same Schedule. Okay. I just wanna be clear. Yeah. Um, And let people know if they don’t pay it on time, they get charged. I think it’s $30.

1:19:44 So, so they still have to have it in, you have 30 days to pay it. It’s my understanding they’re supposed to be mailed before 30 days, but they’re not gonna be if they’re due August 1st. Yeah. And all, all that’s dictated by state law. I mean a penalty, the whole, the whole process, There’s a penalty and the town made, somebody made, made a mistake. Yeah. Um, okay, so then, um, is that everything? Yep. Okay. Everything I have, uh, any select board announcements?

1:20:14 Yes. Uh, I, I’d like to make a motion, uh, to Sally Sands, uh, to send her a letter of appreciation for the gift of her Great-Great grandfather’s, uh, great painting. Okay, great. Um, I’ll second that. All in favor. Okay. And, um, oh, I, uh, wanted to see, I checked individually around dates with folks if, um, in terms of, uh, a retreat, something similar to we had done last year, and I think unless I, I think maybe, um, Friday, August 26th was a date that 2020 Third. 23rd. Well, 23rd again, I must have been on the wrong.

1:21:01 Yes, it was the 23rd. Yes. A Friday. Um, and so, uh, that’s, I can, I just wanted to kind of confirm that that’s something that the board wants to do again and, um, that, that date would work. And I was thinking a morning time would be good. We could start at, we could start as early as eight. We could start at eight 30 and I’m thinking like a couple hours. Great. Just discuss like the next, you know, goals for the year and, um, big picture stuff or we don’t sometimes don’t have the opportunity to, to do that, just to pause and be able to do that before we get too far into the term. Okay. I think that’s great. I’m available on the 23rd. Would love it. Okay. And I know you, you, we, I set a couple dates

1:21:48 and I’m just, I you 20 third’s good. Yeah. You and, and, um, and Alicia. Alicia are good for the 23rd. Good. And I’ll, and Moses is good, he told me, and I can Coordinate with Joe if that be great. The same Yeah. Location. ‘cause that Worked really, I haven’t done that yet. That Worked really well last year. Yeah, That was great. Yeah. Okay. Um, okay. Yeah, that was, that was what I wanted to just ou or to take up under announcements and, um, yeah. Thank you to the fireworks committee. Um, difficult decisions to be made and, uh, you know, um, hopefully next year we’ll have, um, a big celebration. And I guess that brings us to, um, an adjournment.

1:22:35 I just wanted Matt, oh yeah, of course. I just wanted to just remind everybody. The reenactment is this weekend for, um, Oh, that’s Right. S was here so, uh, for the, so they do a, I love that. Amazing job. And fingers crossed the weather holds, but wanna remind folks about that. Okay. Motion to appear. Is that moved? Second. All in favor.