Select Board: December 4, 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.

0:02 Okay, So, um, I’m gonna call this meeting to order. It is six o’clock. Uh, this meeting is being recorded. We are in webinar mode. Uh, it is Wednesday, December 4th, 2024. Um, and first on our agenda is public comment. So if you’d like to make a public comment, just please come to the microphone and state your name and street. And then also if you raise your hand online, uh, Kyle can let me know Albert Jordan Roosevelt Avenue. Um, I want to thank, I think Alicia might have had something to do with it. The library, when you go by now, the lights don’t seem to be on 24 7 anymore, so, so it took a year, but it was worth, you know, I went to several department heads, the electric light, um,

0:49 all kinds of people, and nothing got done. Um, the last person I visit was the Alicia, and it seems that maybe she was the one, but I just wanna thank whoever took care of it. PBD just received award for, from the state, a grant of over $200,000 for making their public buildings, uh, e efficient. So, Marblehead should read that article in the item today and maybe be able to get a quarter of a million dollars he to ‘cause the town’s got a lot of waste going on. The second thing is the teachers strike. Um, you know, you had the teachers in here at the last meeting. Um, I mean, I was appalled on what was going on here. Uh, few of the board members were supporting the teachers without even knowing what it’s gonna cost the town before the contract was settled.

1:34 I’m appalled. Um, I think we should put in language, if any of these other unions, which is illegal in Massachusetts to go on strike that there should be a clause that they lose their pay. The teachers will lose no pay because they don’t work, uh, year round like the rest of the town employees. So they’re not gonna miss a penny besides the fines. And, um, I’m really appalled that they went over to swamp it during the powder puff game, and they protested over there with the kids trying not being able to go to school for 11 days. And the teachers were over there pro they, for the good, or the teachers are supporting the kids, and they threatened the kids that they couldn’t play sports without the teachers being there. And parents had to go, uh, I believe to Lawrence Court.

2:20 And I think something was done before, it might have got finalized at Lauren Court, but the teacher should not be controlling the town of Marblehead. And, uh, this is gonna stop. The taxpayers are the ones that make decisions, and everyone in town should be able to get some type of raise. But I, I don’t know where you’re gonna get the money for this, because there’s, there’s no, I don’t think you have a pile of money someplace. So I don’t even how you can negotiate in good faith, uh, spending money that you don’t have. And, um, I think that needs to be looked into. But I do not think the teachers should be running this town. And I’m appalled at what the kids missed for 11 days after Covid. And, um, I hope in the future, like I say,

3:05 if there’s any more of these public employees that want to go on strike, the pay should be forfeited on day one and they should not be able to make it up. The teachers should be working for free the 11 days that they have to work extra because they took it out on the kids of Marblehead and the taxpayers. And I hope when I go to town meeting that the teachers aren’t protesting at the front door because some of these public, uh, taxpayers are intimidated by the teachers being in front of, within a hundred feet of the building. So if they want to protest, they can protest all they want. But stay away from the doors at town meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Anybody online?

3:52 I don’t see any hands. Okay. Um, so that brings us to, um, a request for a conditional offer of employment from Chief King. So Would you like they, They were expected a seven o’clock start, so they were on their way. Okay. We can take it outta order. Yeah. Move on to, yep. All right. So then why don’t we go forward with the, um, uh, presentation from the assessors.

4:30 I have to hit those buttons. Welcome, Jen. Good evening. Thank you. Oh, you know what, you might just, if you could just turn on your microphones there. Yeah. Press that button right there and they can hear us at home. Okay. Uh, good evening everybody. Um, think I’ll take this opportunity just to introduce myself. I’m Todd Laramie. I’m the new hire in the assessor’s office. Um, I’m with John Kelly and, uh, I guess this year per Alicia and her guidance. And John, we’re gonna try to Recording stop recording in progress. We’re just gonna try to offer folks, uh, a little more in depth information on, uh, the process of how we arrive, uh, here at the classification hearing. And, um, Alicia’s prepared this to sort of follow along

5:17 with, I’ve got my own notes here. So, um, I’m just gonna kind of read off of these. Uh, the purpose of the classification hearing is for the select board to determine the allocation of the local property tax to be born by the four classes, real property and class five personal property for fiscal year 25. In deciding the allocation, the select board must adopt a residential factor. The residential factors used to determine the percentage of the tax levy that that is applied to each class in real of real and personal property. And the board of assessors applies these percentages to the individual property classes per mass general law. Chapter 40, section 56. Are we gonna have the presentation up so that, that people can follow Along? I can do that. Thanks. So the first one here on the presentation is

6:04 the, uh, is the residential factor. I think I want to kind of skip and leave that one last as that’s sort of the most important one. Uh, if we could just skip to the residential exemption question. Um, this exemption would allow a reduction in valuation of each qualifying residential parcel of up to, it says 20% here, but, uh, the, that was prior to the municipal, uh, modernization Act. So it should be up to 35% of the average residential valuation because the adoption of such a factor is to be born within the residential class. The net effect of the residential exemption is to lower tax bills for all residential property valued less than the mean valuation, and increase tax bills

6:49 for all residential property value greater than the mean valuation. Such an exemption places an unjustified additional tax burden to the other residences by slightly decreasing the value of those properties under the median assessed value that are owner occupied and shifting the burden of to all properties over the median assessed value, whether they are owner occupied or not. Um, basically rental properties, vacation homes, um, as almost all residential parcels are owner occupied, uh, here in town. There is little to no benefit for adopting a residential exemption. Therefore, the Board of assessors does not recommend this exemption. Commercial exemption. Uh, similar to the residential exemption, um,

7:35 it shifts the burden within the commercial class from small businesses to larger ones. It works by allowing an exemption of up to 10% of the value of Class three commercial properties that are occupied by businesses with an average employment of no more than 10 people at all locations during the previous calendar year. And valuations of less than a million dollars. Since most businesses here in Marblehead are small, we would see little to no relief in taxes. Therefore, the Board of assessors does not recommend this exemption open space discount. Uh, this establishes, uh, the establishment of this class of property is the responsibility of the assessors. It includes land maintained in an open or natural condition that contributes to the benefit enjoyment of the public open space does not include land taxable under permanent

8:22 conservation restriction or used to produce income. The board of assessors has determined there are no vacant land parcels in Marblehead meeting these criteria and would therefore provide no tax relief. The board of assessors does not recommend this discount. And last is the selection of a residential factor. Um, adoption of a residential factor by the select board is required for the purpose of determining the percentage of the tax burden to be born by each class of property adoption of a factor of one results in a singular uniform tax rate for all classes of property, while adoption of any other factor will result in both a lower residential rate and higher commercial rate than would be realized under the uniform tax rate approach. Dual tax rate structures are typically found in municipalities with significant percentage

9:08 of commercial industrial personal property valuations such as Lynn Salem and Beverly. However, only roughly 4% of the total taxable valuation of Marble is comprised of these commercial, industrial, and personal property. For this reason, the board of assessors recommends that the select board maintain a single tax rate by voting for a residential factor of one. Um, Alicia and I throughout the rest of this packet have just sort of put together some information, um, on values here in town from, uh, the last couple years, mainly from this year to last year. You can kind of thumb through anyone has any questions. Um, you know, the pie chart here is showing up the 9.3 billion in value. Um, 95% of that is from residential value.

9:55 Um, again, in comparison from, uh, fiscal 24 to 25 on the different classes, how they’re broken out and the percentage of valuation that they contribute. Uh, there’s a new growth chart here, uh, that kind shows the last few years. Um, 25 looks like it’s dropped off some. Um, I know from what I’ve seen from the last whatever, four weeks I’ve been here, there’s a lot of new construction that we’re kind of catching up on. So maybe we’ll see that next year in our growth. Um, single, single home values tax rate is in there. And then now there’s some information on the tax bill at the end here, if anyone has any questions. So I think that’s about all I have to say on that.

10:42 Okay. Alright. Madam Chair, can I ask question? Yeah, of course. Okay. Can you, Can you explain the, the big percentage change in apartments? Was there, was that just not being assessed? I think so, and I, it’s a huge number. Yeah. And since, you know, uh, what we had just gone through through this past calendar year, um, with Patriot Properties doing our adjustments, I think probably rent costs these days I think probably had a significant say in that. And that’s why those values bumped up. I was kind of, I looked at that too and I looked into it ‘cause I was a little curious and, uh, it was valid. It was legit are the values. And, you know, other than, um, making adjustments within our cost tables, I think that that’s all it really was.

11:35 Do you wanna speak to the tax rate? I feel like the public often, um, finds that difficult to How it’s arrived at. Yes. Yeah. So everything, uh, every property in town, every parcel is, uh, reassessed every year. And, uh, that’s what we’re going through right now, making adjustments. It’s based on, for fiscal 25, it’s based on calendar year 23 sales. Um, they look at different styles of houses. It’s a, it’s mass appraisal, so sales of capes and ranches determined values for our cost adjustments for, uh, fiscal 25. And, uh, once all those values are determined, we send ‘em into the state, they become certified,

12:21 and, uh, they look at our methodology and make sure that we’re doing the assessing appropriately according to their guidelines. And then, uh, once the town budget is voted on and determined that budget is divided by the total valuation of property here in town for fiscal 25 and the net result is the tax rate

12:43 Total. On a follow up to that, it looks like our tax rate’s been decreasing and then it went up this year. Is that any explanation or is that just, I guess I’m trying to understand. I can see why it’s decreasing because values have gone up more than two and half percent a year versus the tax levy. Yep. I mean, I guess, But it’s, I mean it’s, it’s tiny. But was that, would that have anything to do with what happened with Patriot Properties last year or am I mean, it’s only tests. It’s only 10 cents. So I can, I can put some perspective on numbers. Okay. So the tax rate is a ratio between, and, and the change in the tax rate is a ratio of the change in the tax levy. How much we’re we’re spending in a budget and the change in the property values. Sure. So for this year, um, this, for the budget

13:32 that was set this past year, it increased by $2.2 million on $115 million budget. So, so if the, the equation is the numerator increased by 2.2 million. The total values changed by 153 million out of, um, 84. It went from $82 billion to $84 billion in total property values in the community. So it changed by 153 million. So what it appears mathematically is that the change in values has slowed down relative to the change in the budget. The budget, you can, you can change it fairly consistently ‘cause it’s based on two and a half. Gotcha. Thank

14:17 You. Yeah, that makes sense. So I think that, that the change in the rate, the way it’s going is the, the ratios are, the denominator is slowing down significantly compared to the numerators. Gotcha. That makes sense. And if there’s any math teachers watching, I hope they’re impressed. Now you also have the factor that last fiscally the assessment sale ratio was 0.98. This fiscal year is 0.95. So I got, again, You don’t have quite the increase there. Okay, Got it. Okay. And Why is like the town of Marblehead tax rate lower than a lot of other communities? ‘cause the values are so high. Okay. And the levy is right low,

15:05 low compared to others Because we haven’t necessarily had overrides for. Right. But I think if you look at the tax burden, you have to take the median property value times the tax rate, then you look at that burden versus other communities and you see we’re not Way down yet the average tax bill versus Right. Makes sense.

15:28 Okay. You know, we’ve had a lot of questions about this recently over, Over the last three weeks. Do you wanna put up the average tax bill change? I feel like that might be, that last slide is good. So percent change is single family 2.24%,

15:48 two point ones for condos, two families, eight, 8%, 10%. Okay. Alright. Okay. Any questions?

16:06 No, I think the, the recommendations make sense. Uh, great. Thank you To me.

16:15 I you both three your work on this. Sure. It’s good to,

16:20 So now you have both, can we

16:29 Yep.

16:32 Should Be for the residential exemption,

16:38 basically shift the tax burden and the residential class To we adopt the rate as a factor of one Right. A factor of one. Right. So no, he’s saying that first you have to do get rid, not do the residential Right. Exemption to shift the tax. Before we get to that, you have to do those first three things that we talked about, I think, right? In theory, yes, both.

17:02 Can I, in the past, I’m assuming Marblehead historically has, has never given any of the exemption. It’s always had a, a factor of one. Right. Okay. Okay. We have the motions. That’s what we’re trying to, trying to find. Okay. Is the motion Okay. Gotcha. So Think if Todd wants to walk them through the motion in Here. Yep. So I think, I think the assessors provided the, the motions previously. That’s so Oh, so you’re gonna have to walk through each vote. Okay. So, um, the first vote would be for the resident residential exemption, which, uh, the board of assessors, um,

17:45 does not recommend.

17:49 What we don’t recommend the residential No. A, a change. So the residential, yeah. That just shifts the burden from the lower value properties to the higher property. Oh, okay. We don’t wanna do, so do it in Nantucket and month. Okay. We have a lot of, I guess that constitution. So it’d be a motion not to adopt. Correct. Is that right? Okay. Okay. I have, if I may suggest motion. So the first motion would be to not adopt the residential exemption. So, so moved Second. All in favor? So the second motion would be to adopt a minimum residential factor of one. All parcels should be levied at 100%.

18:35 So that maintains a single rate right factor. Um, so the tax rate would be the same for a business, residential, commercial, industrial, and personal profit. So moved Second. All in favor? Okay. And the third motion would be to not adopt the small commercial exemption. So moved. Second. All in favor? And the final motion to not adopt the open space discount. So moved. Second. All in favor? Okay. Thank you Alicia. Thank you, uh, for Todd. Thanks the presentation. Thank you both. You very much. Appreci. Yeah, you’re welcome. Great. If I might say something, he jumped in so fast. Good. I wanted to introduce our new professional assess

19:22 like he, but you didn’t have time because he was working so Good. I’ve been through it in a couple different communities. It’s part of the job, so, right. You know, it has been kind of a thrash here at the end of the year, but I think, uh, I’ve got great surrounding coworkers and, uh, good guidance from our board. So I think we’re good. Outstanding time. Yeah. And I think Todd arrived at the right time. Patriot was still working on the values. You do help finish Them. Right. That was helpful to kind of stick my nose in there before things were finalized. Yeah. Good. And we did have, as we described it, a mini reval where we had hard copies of the valuations and also online. And, um, the reaction was, I have to say positive. Yeah. Once people understand kind of the process of things, that’s all you want.

20:08 You just want information on the process and how you get there. And once they understand that a little more, then they understand, you know, the bottom line is here’s your value. Think you can get this value for your house in, in the market. And once you kind of put it in perspective that way, then they understand that, you know, hopefully we’re doing the job correctly going forward here. Right. And do you feel like any of the glitches with the bills are under control or Yeah, I mean, I guess they, they’re on the radar now, so at least Fair enough. You can, you know, look at ‘em. Yeah. I kinda understand what happened there. It’s, it’s just a, a weird disconnect between, and it should be a little cleaner, but when you extract the file from your database with your value patriot to get ‘em onto your tax bill file

20:54 gets a little glitchy it seems. And for some reason, you know, I guess one day we’ll get there. It sounds like we got a new software package coming in that should help that. Okay. And, uh, hopefully we’ll be good. There’s A whole bunch of upgrades. So there are upgrades on our side, the main server network, getting everything upgraded, and then we’ve gotta get the upgrades on the assessor side to match so that the software talks to each other properly. Right. And so what’s happening is it’s requiring some manual processing in between and that opens up for, for errors. So we are working through these and, and upgrading as we speak. So Todd, I wanted to ask you, are you familiar with working with, uh, you know, the finance departments to do this? Uh, That’s how I’ve always, every other community I’ve been in,

21:39 I’ve always been under the finance umbrella. So, um, this is, you know, old hat I guess so to speak. Oh good. He good. He got a good start. He started in Amesbury. Oh, right. That’s, I heard that’s an incredibly, with that it’s an incredibly well run city. Yeah, it was a great commute. Commute. There’s, there’s no bias There. Can I ask You a question about the new growth since you’re here? Yep. So, um, how does the communication work now between the building commissioner’s office and the assessors, you know, in terms of capturing new growth and permitting and all that? Yeah, the way it’s been structured prior to this is, uh, that it’s been contracted out by Patriot and they go out and do all that stuff. So I’m accustomed to going out and doing it on my own. And that’s what I had a conversation with the building department.

22:26 So, um, that’s how I’m gonna do it. I, there’s, uh, the staff in the office, I’m gonna try to train them to get out and look at the properties ourselves, capture the growth ourselves. It’s so much easier to, for one, just to be out in the town all the time. Mm-Hmm. You kind of, I mean, I, I grew up here. I know the town, but, um, I’ve been to communities when I didn’t and it’s hard and that’s why it’s good for me to get out. But, um, good, we, you know, we will follow along the, with the building permits that they provide us and we’re gonna go out and look at ‘em ourselves and make the determination of what’s there. And when you do that, you’re also picking up random little things that weren’t on there. You know, a small deck here, a patio there, they add up and that’s growth if it hasn’t been previously taxed. So, um, that’s kind of what we can offer to the town,

23:14 to the, you know, the tax levy there with picking things up like that and the growth. So that’s our plan. Um, you know, it’s, I didn’t realize how busy the office is. I know it’s, uh, there’s three of us in there, but it’s kind of nonstop. So we’re gonna work to see, you know, how it shakes out with getting out in the field and looking at these properties, looking at the town, looking at what we need to look at. So hopefully we can get that accomplished. Todd, just, uh, Todd, how, how do you feel the coverage is, you know, for identifying that new growth and, and are there kind of improvements between the, uh, you know, permitting process and then kind of getting on top of the Yeah. And coordinating that with the Assessor? Yeah, definitely. Um, you know, the billing department, now that there’s a full-time billing inspector there, it’s gonna be easier for us to get on the same page with

24:01 what we need to look at and Right. You know, what we need to figure out and what’s out there. There’s a lot going on. Yeah. It’s impossible for us to not be in touch with them, to figure out what’s out there. So yeah. It’s gonna be very beneficial. And that was kind of one of the first conversations I had when I started was to, hey, I want to be kinda in your hip pocket when you go and look at properties for final inspections. Just what I’ve done in other communities, I just kind of blend in, like I’m one of the building inspectors and don’t let ‘em really know who I am and just gives me an idea of, uh, ‘cause nobody, you know, nobody wants you in there. Um, but at least gives you an idea of what’s there and the quality of construction and get, you know, get, get values accurate. Yep. Awesome. Get things accurate, and then the rest of it should just fall into place. Okay. Sounds great. Cool. Awesome. Sounds great. Thanks guys.

24:47 Glad to have you on board. Thank You. Appreciate it. Happy to be here. It’s great. I’ve had a very positive experience from day one, so hopefully continue. We hope. Hope so. Yeah, exactly. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Pleasure to meet everybody. Thank you. Okay.

25:07 Um, I see Chief King’s here. Is he, Do you wanna go after My candidate is Okay, that’s fine. We can wait. If we can go to Amy. Um, yeah, let’s go, um, to our DPW director.

25:30 I Joined the chair. This one. Are you, um, I need to let you in the room. Are you in the,

25:41 Let’s see, Do you wanna just email me? We don’t have the wires Hooked up yet, do we?

25:51 I know just if we Had a earlier in the day, we would’ve worked this out, but we Absolutely. And um, can you see if there’s a Frank something m on? Okay. Lemme do one thing here. All right. He’s actually the consultant and So, so if Frank can raise his hand, I can find him.

26:15 What’s his last name? M It’s my email.

26:21 I was gonna say, but now I’m thinking about the engineer for the Village bridge. So they have his name,

26:31 So Thank You Frank. So if you want to email me the presentation. Alright.

26:53 And we need to get some three in one oil

27:00 or grease. Yeah.

27:21 Are you okay? You’re gonna log in and share yourself? No, I’m still sending It to you. Trying to get it.

27:39 So you do that or log into the meeting and I’ll put you in the room.

27:49 Now this thing’s off. I think all our laptops have hit their lifespan too.

27:55 Cancel, cancel. Save, save

28:06 my bed.

28:10 Wow. Nothing’s working on this.

28:20 Okay. Sorry about this. It’s Okay. No worries. Didn’t just need Come keep the,

28:36 And we just hope it’s not so big that it’s gonna crash our system, you Know, it is. No, it was cut dramatically.

28:47 It’s always great As usual, I can say a lot. So it’s always great. I, I took it way down. Recording and Progress. Now I’m gonna have to find it. Alright, so you’re coming in the room, right? Is that what you’re doing? You see me Raise your hand. Where this hand online.

29:09 Literally Touch your toes. Okay. You need to mute and mute your laptop. Oh, it’s getting really tricky. Really? Yeah. Turn off your microphone on your laptop.

29:25 Turn off my speaker. Okay, It’s off.

29:40 Okay. You’re coming in as a panelist. All right, You’re in now. You should be able To share and I’m muted. Yep. Okay. That step is done.

29:58 All right. Fine. Where my presentation went. Went Frank now. Oh, Frank. Yes. What’s him? Good. I’m actually gonna have you start with Frank if we can, because this is our sidewalk master plan. Okay. Out stand Infrastructure. And I wanna make sure he has the most time that I can shorten mine up.

30:27 Take all the time you need any, No Worries. Frank, can you hear us? Ask Frank to accept joining. Oh, Frank, can you accept? Yep. He’s in. Okay. Or he’s joining. Excuse me. Sorry. Yep. Okay. Oh, was smooth. Hi, can you hear me? Yes.

30:50 Yes.

30:57 And now we can see. Oh, Great. Hi. Hi. Sorry about that. I’m just trying to get the camera to work.

31:09 Okay. Okay. Um, I’m Frank, me the, um, Marblehead Sidewalk Assessment and Improvement plan. Um, I’m gonna try to share my screen. One second.

31:26 Oh, I’m glad I’m not the only one I wasn’t instantly sharing. I’m ready to go now too, for Real.

31:36 Okay.

31:49 Okay. Can you see the PowerPoint? Yes. Yep.

31:55 All great. So, um, back in, um, October, we finalized the, the sidewalk and Curb ramp plan. Um, the point of the project was to collect data to see where the sidewalks and curb ramps were in town. Um, and so that the town and DPW could make informed decisions based on, um, real data and understanding what assets you have. Um, and with the data to do that, you can really enhance and support high quality walking system, um, for not only the residents, but, but visitors too. Um, so a project approach, um, we collect the data, organize that data in a way that, that makes sense so that, um,

32:43 we’re comparing apples to apples, um, that way we can run analyses on it, um, that give different insights on what the, um, what the assets you have are. And then that will ultimately help to do capital planning and action planning so that you make sure that you’re spending your money where it needs to go.

33:04 Um, so there’s a lot of information on this slide, but, um, basically it just kind of gives the, the four different things that we looked at here. So we looked at sidewalks, pedestrian curb ramps, um, proposed sidewalks, so areas that don’t currently have sidewalks. We wanted to see, um, where there were gaps in the sidewalk network, and then sidewalk maintenance points. So these are the things on, um, existing sidewalks that are not necessarily, um, structural issues like, uh, a raised panel, but also just maintenance issues. Maybe a tree limb is in the way or there’s a telephone pole or something in the way that’s obstructing the sidewalk. So we took a lot of, um, aspects from each one. So for sidewalks, we had the general condition of the sidewalk, what material is it?

33:49 Asphalt concrete, the average width, uh, whether it was curb or not, um, uh, presence of a grass strip and obviously the length. Um, that’ll give us all the metrics that we need to do. You know, engineering estimates, planning level estimates, um, and just figuring out what’s out there. Um, similar for curb ramps. Uh, the type of material, whether it’s concrete, asphalt, what type of ramp, there’s a few different types of pedestrian curb ramps, whether they’re on a corner or on the midblock detect detectable warning panel, uh, which is the raised domes. Um, and then, um, some ramp slopes to, to see if they were compliant with a DA.

34:33 So throughout the whole, um, town, this is the existing sidewalks here. So about nine.

34:47 Oh, Frank, we lost Frank, I think we lost you. 92% of them were asphalt. They were about five. Maybe can rewind to take for 20 seconds. Hey Frank, we lost you there for like, I don’t know, 20 seconds. Can you hear me now? 20 seconds. Yeah. Can you just back to this slide sidewalk inventory condition, the yellow mm-Hmm. And the red, orange, yellow. Yep. Um, oh, fair. You can see that. Yeah. I just had trouble seeing. Fair. Okay. Right. It’s my eyes, not you. Yeah, sorry. So all of this data and information is in, uh, A PDF report that was submitted to the town. So this is, I’m just gonna go over the summary here, but all of the, the information and explanations are in the actual report. Um, so all this, uh, and I can share these slides also, um, with the select board

35:33 and, and the town so that you have a PD of a PDF of them too. Great. Um, so 92% of the sidewalks were asphalt, 4% were concrete. And then you had a few that had mixed materials or, or brick sidewalks. So this shows that, you know, about 25% of the sidewalks were in poor or needed to be replaced. Um, and then, uh, the restroom were either in fair or good condition. So fair might mean, um, there’s just some, um, obstructions or things that you could address that would make the sidewalk, uh, into good condition.

36:14 Um, for curb ramps, there’s total of 560 curb ramps throughout town. Um, and we identified about 550 potential curb ramps. So on existing sidewalks where there’s a, a crosswalk already but doesn’t have a curb ramp, um, would be like a potential location to add a curb. Um, so out of the curb ramps, 43% are concrete, 57 are asphalt. So kind of almost half and half there. Um, it’s general practice to have curb ramps to be made out of concrete so that you can get the proper slopes for a DA. Um, the conditions of the existing ones, um, a large majority were in good or fair condition, and only 15% were in poor conditions out

37:00 of the existing 560, um, curb ramps.

37:05 Uh, so we created this dashboard for the town that has all the information together. Um, so not only do we have the, the sidewalk and the curb ramp assets, we have the proposed sidewalks, which are the, um, blue lines here, um, and some metrics for the town and DPW so that you can look at your data in different ways. Um, and we can help do that too, um, to see different metrics to figure out how are we gonna plan, um, to make repairs and construct new sidewalks to make a better sidewalk network in the future. So now you have all the information. Um, we also had done as part of a separate project, the pavement for the town. So we have that data in this, um, environment too, so that you can see all your assets together

37:50 and how they interconnect. So when we’re looking at repaving roads, we can also pull up the sidewalk and curb ramp data to see if that should be done at the same time or are the different projects that can interact with each other.

38:05 Um, so this just kind of explains the sidewalk maintenance points. So out of the, um, the existing sidewalks that are out there now, uh, we found 115 structural points like trip hazards, things like that that could be addressed 171 obstruction points. So, um, might be a tree blocking the whole sidewalk, a utility pole, fire hydrant, um, something that would just prevent somebody from walking on the sidewalk. Um, and 138 maintenance points that could be, um, a tree limb hanging down or, um, a sign or something that was bent over. Um, and so those locations are not necessarily a full sidewalk repair,

38:51 but smaller points that would increase the, um, the condition of the sidewalk to make it better.

38:59 Um, so now that we had all the information about where all the sidewalks were and what the conditions were, um, we did a pedestrian usage analysis. So we took all of the major points of interest for the town, um, like schools, historic district, business districts, um, the trail system parks, um, and the high density areas, and created a heat map so that we could tie the pedestrian usage to the sidewalks that are, that are actually there. Yeah. Um, so that just gives the town a little bit more information on which sidewalks are potentially more used than others, um, so that we could factor that into how we prioritize what repairs should happen first.

39:45 Um, so I know that’s a lot of data, everything, um, kind of all put together. We took, I mean, talking with the town we made up, we came up with this, um, scoring system where we looked at the condition of the sidewalks, um, of the existing sidewalks, the pedestrian usage score. So how likely is an improvement to that sidewalk going to, um, help the town as a whole and the function classification of the roadway. So, um, roads that are, that are busier, have more traffic on them, um, tend to connect things, um, more than a rural residential road. Um, so we took all this data, analyzed it together, and came up with a prioritized list of all the sidewalks in town.

40:32 Um, so the next steps, the, um, DPW and the town have that data to make informed decisions now. Um, so like I said, the, the whole report has all of the sidewalks and all the data, um, along with that dashboard that’s in a map environment that you can zoom and look at each segment in each sidewalk individually. Um, and we created this asset management workflow, um, to see how all of the, the town’s assets are interconnected to each other, how the roads interplay with the sidewalks and the curb ramps. And, um, you can make updates to this now that you have this workflow as improvements are made. Um, so this year we worked with the town to, um,

41:18 put together the road paving project, um, which included some sidewalk repairs and, um, are already making improvements to the sidewalk network.

41:28 So that’s it for a general overview and and summary of the, the sidewalk and curb ramp, um, project that we did. And if you have any questions, be happy to answer and can kind of go back to a slide if we need to. Okay. Thanks. Um, questions from the board? So right there, Frank, if you wanna close your screen, we could, we could see you. Oh, sure. Yeah. I just have a general comment that it’s absolutely brilliant. This is the kind, this is the kind of data that we really need. And I can see from this report that Amy just handed to us is extremely granular. So, you know, we’re looking at actionable items that are prioritized based on other projects that are going on in town. It’s really, really good stuff. And I, and I think it gives us a lot of answers

42:14 that marble headers have about, you know, why we’re, you know, not moving, uh, we ha it’s been difficult to move, let’s just say on, on a lot of comprehensive sidewalk repair and this, and this is really the answer. So it’s tremendous. And The GIS map is the, is a really good tool that we have been able to use. Um, you know, and then we’re incorporating our own layers onto it. So we now know, know the age of water underneath the street or, um, if it has a sidewalk where the sidewalk is, what condition it’s in, we can put it to where this road is rated. Um, and then also try to look for, because Marblehead being so congested when we start doing all this construction, you know, we’re trying not to block every entrance

43:00 to get somewhere. Mm-Hmm. Unfortunately, as you know, gas company starts working and water starts working and paving starts coming in and we all can’t be in the same place. You know, it’s, it’s quite a trip to try to figure out how to get everyone in that spot. Well, it takes a, a, a probably longer upfront investment, but you’re doing it in a way that’s a lot more in, you know, capital, uh, durable. Right, right. In a sense. So once it gets fixed, it’s gonna be good for a long time. Was part of the scope of this project to look at where we need sidewalks, like where sidewalks don’t exist other than just an inventory? So they did a full inventory. Okay. And then they did, um, proposed sidewalks. Okay. Um, they did a lot by the heat map,

43:47 which then we use schools, we use parks we used. Uh, So you would heat map, you would take that based on, on that heat map and say, if we need a si if it sidewalk doesn’t exist, this is where we should do it first. Is that There Right. Concept could decide if that Yeah. How would that would work? Um, whether the repair or the new sidewalk is the more important thing. But again, if you ask most people in Marblehead, if you wanted to go for a walk and you wanted a a certain distance, they’re gonna walk the neck, the neck on a heat map. You know, there wasn’t a lot out there, so not a lot of sidewalks. Yeah. So we had a lot of conversations with, you know, everybody walks on the neck, have you been out to the neck yet? But as you start trying to pull, you know, factors in it, it just doesn’t fall out like that is how it would work.

44:33 So, um, it was pretty interesting. Of course, now you have, you know, we’re trying to incorporate this holistic, uh, view of everything. So if we’re gonna go down and pave, we’re gonna do the sidewalks at that point. Marblehead being difficult as it is in space, you know, I’m really hoping that we get one a DA sidewalk and maybe the other one’s not, but you know, it’s upgraded, but it might not be. So if you went on commercial street, one side is definitely gonna hit all the ADA a points. The other side has a couple huge trees that, you know, you’re gonna have pinch points and ramp that aren’t Right. You know, ‘cause as we are finding out really dramatically is to put in a sidewalk in Marblehead, you’re gonna lose what someone thinks is their front lawn. Mm-Hmm. You’re gonna lose cobbles

45:19 that people have put into the public way, which shouldn’t have been put in the first place. So we have those arguments. You’re gonna lose a tree or a parking space. And I tell you those four things are very near and dear to every marble place. Mm-Hmm. You know, all of a sudden the sidewalk’s not as important when you’re losing those things, this parking especially. Right. It’s, it’s hard. So, um, then, you know, we learned on State Street some my, some things we learned on Commercial Street, some things. And, uh, we learned some totally different things on Lafayette. So yeah, it’ll be, it’ll be some interesting times. So it is a living document, like, so when you fix a sidewalk comes off, people can, you could, you can update it. When something needs to get on the list, it’s not on the list.

46:05 Right, right. Okay. Yep. And then what’s the difference between like cement, like going forward? Are we picking one cement or asphalt, or does it just depend? So for most of the time we’re looking at asphalt still. Okay. It’s, it’s easier for us to maintain. It does better with, um, the trees. Even though you have to maintain it more frequently, it’s not as expensive to maintain. Okay. Um, for the business district, Marblehead has used concrete in most of it. Yeah. So we’re looking at concrete or they’ve used brick. Brick is just really hard to maintain. We don’t have masons that do it. It, it’s tripping hazards, you know, and it, so hopefully we can, you know, and that’s something we all would need to review and decide what we do. But you know, whether it’s just a straight concrete sidewalk

46:51 or the concrete with the brick edge, which they picked in a lot of places. I mean, it’s definitely good to make it uniform. The brick edge is not hard for us to maintain, but, um, and I will have costs. I don’t have the cost for what the concrete sidewalk was down on State Street, but we’ll now have that cost for when you put a concrete, I mean, that’s 20 years, I believe, right Around 20 years. So we’ll have how long the longevity is, what that cost was, and you know, was it better than the asphalt sidewalk that we had to repair, you know? Mm-Hmm. Or replace three or four times in that time period. Yeah. Amy, so you don’t think brick has any innate advantages in terms of repairability, right? Because you, you’d think you could, you know, I can understand that it’s all about the base and, and, and,

47:37 and how the brick sits. Right. Um, but it would seem that you could have, you know, a more, a invest in a more solid base and then have brick, uh, it’s just much, much more easy to repair and you can repair it in different Parts. Right. But it’s also easier for a tree root to push one brick up. No, that’s right. Right. So it takes a lot longer for it to push. It does push the pavement up. I’m saying It does. No, no, no. I Agree. Yeah. But it takes it a lot longer. Well, I think. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Then you also have the whole freeze saw in Massachusetts. So all of a sudden you have, you know, the ground shifting and the bricks just, you know, the base doesn’t last as long. I just wanted to hear. So, and we have, I just wanted to hear the argument. Yeah. So plowing does a lot better with asphalt or That’s right. Concrete too. So, um, but I agree brick is prettier, but it’s, But it doesn’t have any practical

48:23 Cu stones are, I mean, you know, cobblestone like in Nantucket are pretty here too. But I’m glad we don’t have any of those streets here. And I mean, I know it does the hierarchy, but it doesn’t have cost estimates. It just says what’s poor, what’s fair or does it have the cost estimates Do the repair? It has Some large, because again, we haven’t seen this until just now and I can’t read that little fine point without reading. No. But at the top of each one of those where they break it down, is it cost estimate? There Is a cost estimate That’s good. Tens of millions of Dollars. And then in terms of trees, ‘cause obviously a lot of the older trees here, were not designed for sidewalks when we take ‘em down. Is there a plan, according with the tree department, either to either put trees in immediately or at least leave a space a tree could be planted. So we’re having that conversation every day. Taking a tree down is not in my tree warden’s vocabulary.

49:10 Thank you. So, yep. He’s doing exactly what his job is, so it’s good that we have it. ‘cause you’d have other people would just be taking it down as fast as you could. Um, and we really don’t have that answer yet. Right. Because even putting the tree up our sidewalks, some of them barely make the, uh, requirement for width. So we’re looking at, um, we did two years ago, the last year at, uh, last town meeting, town meeting, last town meeting, put in an article that we could plant a town tree behind the sidewalk in someone’s property. So it would give the public shade, it would still be a town tree. We’d maintain it, they’d give us an easement. Um, but that way they also would not be growing through the sidewalks. ‘cause every tree root is reaching for water

49:57 and dirt so it doesn’t head to the pavement. ‘cause there’s no water coming down there. So it heads back across into somebody’s yard and then it grows immensely. And that’s why we have our sidewalks have huge roots, but if it’s behind the sidewalk, you know, in theory it’s just gonna head towards their yard. So, um, you know, we do hope we haven’t had anybody come and, uh, talk to us about that option, but we are really hoping that that option will be how we get the sidewalks in. Mm-Hmm. We’ll be, yeah, Lafayette Street might try to get a few in, in the public way that’s behind it. But If I could just ask another question is, is this all part of a software package that can get updated as the projects move forward and, and, and, and come off?

50:42 I, I, I, I, yeah. Just impressed with that, Frank. I don’t know if you can answer that. Is that something that comes with your, with the Apex, uh, project? Yeah, so there’s, um, um, we use ArcGIS, which is an Esri product, which is kind of like the industry standard. Um, we try to use that so that, um, yeah, the licensing and, and things like that are, are standard and you’re not buying like a proprietary system from us. So the town owns the data. Um, the town can maintain it. Um, you know, part of the package, we created that dashboard that has those widgets that give you a little bit more insight into, you know, what percentages, the pie chart and things like that so that, um, you can look at your data a few different ways. Um, so that, um,

51:29 you can make the best decision based on the summary of data. It’s not just, here’s all the numbers, you figure it out. Um, so we have some tools that are built like that, um, especially with the trees. Like this is a planning level document.

51:44 Mm-Hmm. Um, so it’s, it’s meant to show where are there, um, deficiencies. How much sidewalk do you have in the first place? I think it was like 72 miles of sidewalk. Um, which is, you know, very surprising that you even have that much. Um, so just knowing what you have is kind of the first step and then you can look to see like how to maintain it. Um, and then, um, like I mentioned, part of it is the proposed sidewalk. So where there are sidewalk network gaps, um, it’s a, it’s a planning document. So then once you figure out, yes, we’re gonna put a sidewalk on Lafayette Street, um, we made some engineering judgments to, um, design that project so that we wouldn’t impact trees. Um, so there’s some certain steps that we took to, um, you know, main train the existing trees there and how can we build the sidewalk

52:30 and still kind of use this competing space that’s competing for people walking, competing for, um, you know, people driving. And also the trees there too. So, um, we give some planning level cost estimates throughout the, um, the appendices there, um, to kind of show you and give you kind of a, a starting point. So this is a planning level estimate of how much it could cost, you know, depending on what you uncover when you get to the design phase. Um, could change the cost a little bit, but it at least gives you, you know, a starting point. Great. Thank you. Thank you Frank. Thanks.

53:11 Cool. Ready for the next exciting part? Yes. Okay. Ready?

53:27 Oops, I can’t share

53:31 To stop. You need just stop sharing for and share. There you go.

53:45 Share Again.

53:49 It’s right thing up. Yeah, it’s working. Cool. Yeah, we can see your screen right now.

54:01 Wow. That was pretty, you’re so, you’re so impressed for that, aren’t you? The movement. That’s it for the movement I think, much more before special effects.

54:15 So I really wanna thank you for allowing us to have what I’ve been calling a DPW day. It came a lot faster than I thought, but, uh, I’m glad it’s here and hopefully I hit the right points that you guys want. We, um, we discuss a lot of different things to talk about and I would suggest everybody go to the Town report for a lot of the things we should talk about. ‘cause I don’t think people understand the volume of, um, items that the DBW deals with every day. And when you start looking at those numbers in the charts that we’re putting in the town report, it really shows how much this this group really does. Um, so, uh, I have been a DPW director for about two and a half years, and I’m happy to report that Marblehead has an outstanding crew in the DPW.

55:01 They’ve been supportive and forward thinking since the day I started as director. After, um, reviewing the existing process and getting to know the employees and the demands on the DPW. We, at the DPW have continued to work collaboratively on modifying the structure of the DPW to create a more efficient department that can meet the town’s ever increasing needs. So the transition Actually began in 2021, um, prior to me when they merged, uh, four departments into the DPW, uh, thought processes that you can start sharing things. Um, they did a great job sharing equipment, uh, but the employee structure really stayed the same. So, um, when I got there, there were, um,

55:51 logs, long logs of projects that were, uh, pretty daunting. Um, but the crew was, you know, really diligent and very committed. So they got a lot done, but you could see that it was really frustrating for everybody to try to get things done. Um, so over the last two years we’ve, we’ve really seen it almost happened more naturally, right? By allowing the, uh, directors and your, all your workers to kind of have a, a say in what they were doing. You could see things starting to form and, and that this structure was not what was really out there. Um, we had a lot of lead hs, so, um, HEO being heavy equipment operator. Sorry about that. So, and lead being like, not quite a foreman,

56:36 but you know, above everybody. I don’t know, we had a lot, a lot of chiefs basically. So, um, FY 25 while remaining in our salary budget, which was approved to town meeting, we had looked at, uh, new ways to set up this organization. Um, we had a lot of input from the town administrator, my administrative staff, and the employees. Um, town administrator is a great one for saying, you know, you should share, everything’s gonna be much better if you all use it. So, um, we had those conversations at first and then you could really see how, um, tree could use certain things when Highway was doing Swar water was, uh, you know,

57:22 needed to reach out to other people. So it was, it was pretty exciting. And believe it or not, this org chart came out of clear gov, so I, I couldn’t make it much bigger, but, um, it was, it really just fell right into place. It wasn’t like we had to force anything to go anywhere.

57:42 Um, so when I came up, we actually added a, uh, assistant director. So we now have two directors. One is in charge of basically like highway and tree issues. The other one does storm sewer, the mechanics, and is our utility coordinator. The thought for that was, um, that as we entered FY 23 and 22, we really understood that the town had voted Article 11, which gave five years worth of funding to try to get the pavement management going. Mm-Hmm. But with that pavement management going, we now, I mean, I was committed to not paving a street that had old infrastructure under it. Yeah. Um, and then we started to what about sidewalks?

58:27 What about bikes? You know, let’s try to think forward before we paved something and then three years have to come back. Um, ‘cause there’s nothing I can stand more when a consultant comes in and tells you something you did two years ago was not right. So we really wanna make sure we’re not doing that. Um, we also, uh, for administration have our tree warden is up there, so he, um, is really on the outside creating all these work programs that we’re gonna do. You know, he’s created the, um, trimming program. He has, he has great ideas of how to manage things. Um, and he works directly with the assistant director and then that all funnels down. Uh, we now working with Thatcher, which was, uh, very helpful.

59:13 And knowing that, um, this also kind of fell into place, uh, the town engineer’s position was actually remodeled. So we saw Charlie Quigley, our past town engineer, working with the DPW much more than the prior engineer did. Right. So he was in a lot of projects. You saw a lot more projects being done in-house. Um, he had a lot of the expertise that we needed to be able to, um, complete something in-house and also to overlook our, um, all of the contracts that were coming in. So we have large contracts coming in too. You had buying and village, um, you had the village bridge. You had big things that you needed somebody who had expertise in it too. The problem was he was also the conservation agent and more, you know, a whole bunch of other hats. So his time was really limited.

1:00:00 Um, the prior DPW director knew that he needed an engineer and so he actually, uh, took a stormwater position and kind of altered it and brought in a professional engineer for the DPW. Um, so that was extremely helpful. Uh, but that engineer was, um, not, you know, we could get a lot more bang for our buck if the town engineer was actually remodeled a little bit. The professional engineer that they brought in as a staff engineer was changed. So we now have an entry level engineer and we have the town engineer under the DPW. Um, so that was actually a, a real big change at the administration. But we’ve seen, uh, a lot of progress

1:00:45 by having the town engineer write in house. And then we have a senior clerk who has, uh, been with town for, um, quite a while. And I don’t think DVW would run without her. You’re gonna have a cheerful voice on the phone and somehow she can understand what everyone wants, get them the right answer and get us to the right place. So, um, you know, the administration is really, I’m really happy with the way that it’s worked.

1:01:15 There’s really no change in the mechanical division, so that’s the fleet mechanics. Um, but they do, uh, they actually are fleet mechanics for over 135 pieces of equipment. Um, there’s one mechanic supervisor and two mechanics.

1:01:35 Mm-Hmm. The tree division did see a change. So in 2022, I believe they lost a, uh, heavy equipment operator position. So we had a working foreman and two tree cl tree climbers, they were called in this new, um, in this shift that we did, you now have the lead heavy equipment operator. The job description has been expanded so that it can be a lead for any of the divisions that we have. So it, you, you have tree, uh, um, expertise, or you have construction expertise, so you have maintenance expertise. So, um, it kind of covers them all and that allows us to get to cross train them also. Mm-Hmm. So your lead, HEO for tree could also, you know, go and help it, a construction, um, project.

1:02:22 And then we have a specialized HEO, which is now our new, uh, position up at the DPW, the specialized HEO We have run into what many municipalities are running into is a commercial driver’s license problem and a heavy equipment operator’s license problem. So it’s, um, it’s not easy, but it’s easier to get your heavy equipment operator’s license. So we have lots of people with that. The CDL in the last few years has changed dramatically in how you get it. So it’s about $5,000 per person to try to get through the training system. Um, and we’ll talk about that in a little while. But, um, we had no way to keep a heavy equipment operator

1:03:09 and a CD who had a CDL license. We had so many heavy equipment operators, but we couldn’t move them into those positions because it required a CDL. And so we were, you would be losing heavy equipment operators or you would have a whole bunch of people who didn’t fill all the requirements for the job. So, um, we actually created the specialized HEO, which is A CDL and an HEO. And then we were able to keep the heavy equipment operator at the same grade. So, um, a big benefit for all the employees, A big benefit for the town so that we can keep people, because of course you’re competing with everyone else. And also once you go get your CDL, you know, hopefully you’re gonna stay because now you can see that there is, uh, there’s movement upwards. It’s not just say you got your CDL.

1:03:55 So, um, so the tree division did see a change. It is three people, but now it’s a working foreman, a lead heavy equipment operator, and a specialized heavy equipment operator. They have quite a bit of equipment that requires a CDL.

1:04:09 And then the stormwater division actually ended up taking, um, over the capital improvement project. So they would be leaders of when we’re doing a major, um, paving project or if we’re installing stormwater systems anywhere. So that stormwater was actually only two people. And as I said, the person before got rid of one of those people in stormwater and created, uh, the staff engineer. So you actually only had one person, and then you had all these other DDPW divisions, which we moved them up there because yes, this is great. Now you can start drawing from the DPW to do it. But they didn’t really have a leader. There was, um, you know, it was difficult to pull everyone away from all of their daily things

1:04:54 ‘cause they weren’t used to being Mm-Hmm. Doing the storm water since they had just gotten it the year before. Um, so we actually started to look at a construction, uh, like a construction division in the highway. So we have a construction working foreman now that’s a new, um, a new position. The lead heavy equipment operator and a specialized heavy equipment operator, equipment operator will be kind of in this construction highway division. They’ll be doing all these storm water and all of the major capital improvement projects or any kind of big projects that require a lot of equipment, uh, and some specialized work. Can I clarify one thing? When we say new positions, what we’ve done is reclassified existing positions. Right. Be organized. Right. So it’s not adding new bodies. Yeah, right.

1:05:42 It’s reclassifying positions that we’ve had into the new job descriptions and titles.

1:05:50 Yep. It’s a big deal. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah. And when, and when you think about it, these are doing, I mean, very, very rarely do you have a project that three people are gonna be able to do. But all of these things are just three people. And the the bottom shows you how you can, you are, have the ability to do that.

1:06:12 So then the, uh, the next piece was the maintenance. And your maintenance is gonna do your street sweeping, your, um, signage, your line painting, uh, roadside gardening, et cetera. Every and every other strange thing that the DPW does that also has a working foreman, a lead h uh, lead heavy equipment operator. And that one only has a heavy equipment operator. This one actually doesn’t have as many CDL trucks that it, it would be required to use. So this is where we were able to, um, really dedicate just an HEO not a specialized,

1:06:51 And here’s how we hope it’s all gonna really work. So it’s really your staff that’s gonna be supporting all of your divisions. So instead of having that staff engineer who was at a, um, at a higher grade, you now have the tent town engineer, and you’re gonna have an entry level engineer who can come in. Now this is a person who’s gonna be out in the field doing the layout work and, and will actually be, you know, an assistant with la a laborer, running equipment also. Um, we have heavy equipment operator, one heavy equipment operator, one assistant engineer, and then two laborers. So that, and, uh, that runs out the 23, which is 23 we had before 23 we have now. Um, we also have added a part-time clerk.

1:07:37 Uh, if you’ve ever come into the DPW, you can see how busy it is. So, and again, adding technology adds another step, even though, you know, you could just file things. But now we’re scanning and filing and naming and using, you know, trying to help people with our GIS and so definitely needs extra work. Um, if I missed anybody on this part Okay.

1:08:05 Dashboard. Okay. So that was really, uh, I just really wanted to explain that there have been a lot of changes. We did stay within the budget. We do have probably the same amount of people. Um, but we’ve given a really tried to make the workforce more sustainable. Right now you have a route to move up. So you have a reason to stay. You gain more responsibility as you move up. And we also are pairing people together. So we have knowledge being passed down, right? So you have a working foreman in construction who’s gonna be paired with a lead heavy equipment operator. And then you have your maintenance who’s paired with him. And hopefully before they retire, they’re gonna start, um, you know, really explaining all the small nuances that happen and how it is.

1:08:51 So on top of all that regular stuff, Marvel Head has its own, uh, snow program I wanted to call it. I’m not quite sure what to call it, but we have, uh, did I even write this one down? Or I’m gonna have to go from top of head. Yeah. Yep. Okay. Um, we depend on multiple departments and, uh, multiple department equipment. Highway has over 35 pieces of equipment dedicated to snowplowing and removal. Water and sewer has eight pieces of equipment. Cemetery brings three vehicles. Board of Health brings four pieces of equipment, and Park and Rec brings six vehicles. Um, we are dependent on every single one of those vehicles or piece of equipment that comes. So when Park and Rec is looking for a new truck, um, DPW is always ready

1:09:38 for them to say, park and Rec should get a new truck, because that piece is probably gonna move in to be part of our snow equipment. Uh, we don’t depend on any outside contractors during snow. So it really is, um, it’s critical that everybody maintains their equipment and that we are able to get new equipment. Um, school in 2022 opted to do the snowplowing and the snow removal for their facilities, uh, in-house. Um, they then said that they could no longer provide us with vehicles or employees for the towns program. So it works out fine because the town’s not doing any of the school, uh, parking lots. You know, we’ll assist if there’s a problem. We’re in snow removal, we go in, or, you know, they call it the end of the night, but it’s basically they really are hands on in their schools

1:10:23 and doing the sidewalks around the schools. So it, it has worked for the last three years and hopefully it will continue to work. Um, there are over four 40 employees from all the departments who participate in any one snow event, including snow or removal. Uh, we have, uh, now that we have no off street parking, we have, uh, met the challenge of every snow storm that comes. Uh, me being chicken little. We have not had that long snow storm with snow storm after snow storm where you can’t get rid of snow. So, you know, with cars parked against the curb, we can’t push back. So you now have frozen snow. By the time you go to snow removal, you’ll have ice it doesn’t remove. So you’re gonna have just sloppy sides of the streets all the time. Then people park further and further out.

1:11:09 Roads get smaller and smaller. Um, but they have been able to maintain it. And so I, you know, I hope I’m being more dramatic than I need to be. ‘cause I’m one to go back to off street parking. So, um, but, uh, you know, I really can’t say enough for, uh, Bob Titus, he runs the Snow Program. He’s, uh, he’s my weatherman. He hasn’t been wrong since I’ve been there. So I’m, uh, extremely happy with the Snow program that happens. And so then we move into the pavement management. Um, we really have made some big progress in the pavement management. This is the five years of funding, which was, uh, the $12 million in Article 11. Um, the beginning is slow

1:11:56 because we’ve spent it in gathering all this data and then setting, uh, forth a program that we’re gonna be able to maintain and we can logically move through town. Um, we are doing preventative maintenance that is, uh, part of the program that came out, crack sealing. Uh, apparently people in Marblehead don’t like crack sealing either. So a lot of the preventative maintenance is not, um, a favorite thing for marble headers, but it really does seal that. Um, if you have that crack, that water gets down, then you go through that free stall and you lose your street a lot faster. So it actually does work. It does look like a kid went down the street with a crayon. But it, Is there any way to match the colors At all? No, no. We haven’t found it anyway.

1:12:42 It’s actually a really, a different material. And, um, you know, you can go on to Microsurfacing, microsurfacing comes with a whole bunch of other issues. We are not gonna go down the road chip ceiling. We realize that does not work in a boating community. But, um, you know, micro sealing does work, but it’s expensive. It’s, it doesn’t give, it gives you a prettier surface. I mean, it might give a little more time, but our, our streets have definitely seen a lot of wear and tear already. So, uh, we will continue with crack ceiling. Um, this came out of the, uh, uh, from, well, environmental Partners who’s now Apex, this was out of their program, um, their pavement management program that they gave us. And that 18,000,756 kind of that’s two years ago, kind

1:13:27 of keeps us status quo. It’s not getting you any newer roads, but it’s keeping, it’s bringing everything so that it becomes a fair, um, and town then decided there were three scenarios to get to all your roads to be maintained and upgraded. They went with the one in the middle, of course, and that’s that 2.2 million a year. And that’s what that override was for five years. That doesn’t mean to say we’re gonna be done in five years. That means you’re gonna be 2.2 million for the end of time. ‘cause you know, once you hit that 20 year mark, that road now needs work again. So you’re just in this endless cycle.

1:14:07 And here’s where, um, I really feel like we have made strides. Uh, I’ve been here for, since 2010. Very rarely were any of, uh,

1:14:22 by the road’s a mess. We’re just gonna pave it. We found that out in Atlantic Ave. Right? We paved Atlantic Ave. The, uh, national Grid had not upgraded. And when you start to pave, you have old cast iron that kind of jiggles the cast iron pipes and they end up with leaks. So, Atlantic Gav had a patch, I don’t know, every 50, 150 feet. It was, it was pretty eye-opening. Um, so we also, you know, it doesn’t mean you’re never gonna have a gas leak if you do that. It’s just, we’re, we’re hoping to avoid as many as we can. Um, so we meet with National Grid regularly, now we meet with municipal light, uh, regularly. Now you we’re actually talking about those telephone poles that shouldn’t be in the middle of the sidewalk. Mm-Hmm. Um, water and sewer is actually adapting their capital improvement

1:15:07 plan to try to, uh, assist with the paving plan. Um, unfortunately, if your street is in rough shape or have a low rating, um, the first thing we do is look at the utilities and eight times outta 10, there’s a utility that needs to be done. So as you saw on West Street and all the utilities can’t work together, there’s not enough space. It just doesn’t, there’s just constraints on all the construction that doesn’t happen. So West Street, you’re gonna see, you saw National Grid come down one year, you saw water go down the next year. Paving hopefully will come down the next year, uh, which will be next year. But now we have to look at the sidewalk too. So the sidewalk might delay this whole thing also. ‘cause we’re gonna have to do a sidewalk design and get the sidewalk in. And so, um, but every street is, you will see those things.

1:15:56 We do have pockets where there is no utility work, but there’s sidewalk and those are things that are slotted for the next two years. So that’s in the, um, like the Crestwood area, um, pine Cliff, that’s one area we’re looking at. Some of the presidential streets are okay, some are not. So we’re trying to group as much as we can together. But again, we’ll have to have that conversation of, if you’re in a neighborhood that doesn’t have a sidewalk on either side of the street, do you pick a side? Do you put two sidewalks in? Do you put no sidewalks in? How do we decide such a thing? Um, you know, a lot will have to do with dead ends. And how, what the, I dunno, I find it hard to say. You can go by what the demographics of that neighborhood are because they’re, they’re bound to change. So, you know, if you have no kids in the neighborhood 10

1:16:43 years from now, you could have a lot and then everybody’s gonna wanna sidewalk. So, um, those are things that we’re all looking at.

1:16:53 And these are just updates on all of the consultants that we have working all over to give us every piece of the puzzle. So, uh, the bike plan continues. They, um, have come up with a, a basic map right now, which just incorporates all of the public comments. Bike plan is not, uh, slotted to be finished for another eight months, I believe. So, um, this, you know, right now they’re just gathering data and starting to give us information. Um, red’s pond, so the DPW did go down with, uh, park and Rec and try to remediate as best we could. The Reds pond walkway. Um, we still have an issue with the wall. We have brought in power engineering and they have looked at, uh, the wall

1:17:40 and started to give us a design. We now will be reviewing that again. Um, there’s one design that kind of gives you a 20 year fix. So that’s, uh, I believe around the $300,000 range is, um, the other option is to give you a full depth ball, uh, replacement. And that’s like the million dollar fix. So we’ll go further to that to find out what it is. And we’re also looking at water quality. See if we can do anything with the water quality at the pond while we’re there. So that is moving. Uh, the rail trail design. So we now have, um, put the rail trail out in a whole bunch of different sections. We have about 80% of it is, uh, gonna be designed by tool. Um, so the Swans Scott Branch and the Salem branch.

1:18:26 We have a couple pieces like Tab Beum Street that aren’t done yet, but we do have on December 9th a, uh, listening session. So we’d love for people to go. ‘cause the rail trail does back into a lot of, um, community places and neighborhoods. And it is going to affect, um, you know, just a whole bunch of things. It, it’s not gonna change dramatically, but areas we have to add drainage or, um, if they have, it’s really the drainage that will change a lot of it. So, uh, we would like people, and we’d also like to hear how people wanna use the rail trail. You know, the rail trail was used as the spine for the bike plan, but you know, now as we’re looking at this other bike plan, it looks like people wanna be more on some of the larger roads than, you know, forced to the rail trail.

1:19:12 And then we have a lot of people who walk on the rail trail who are, you know, don’t want the bikes. And now we have electric bikes. So that adds a whole other dimension to, uh, how you’re gonna use it. But that is moving along. And then the DPW facility. So, uh, back with Article 11, uh, we had a whole bunch of things get passed and, uh, with our funding, we were able to complete the new fueling facility that got done. Uh, the roof replacement was done in conjunction with the, uh, police department. So our roof has been, uh, completed. We have a DBW storage yard that’s just about completed. So it’s a locked storage yard up on the left hand side as you come down. Tower Way. Um, that has, we’re gonna be working

1:19:58 with the fire department to, they’re gonna have a training area which comes in front, and then we’re gonna be working with animal control so that they have a better dog run up in the front. Um, so everybody kind of benefited from that project. Uh, the mechanic’s garage, the exhaust fans have been put in. However, they have not been wired because we have found that there is such an electrical demand, uh, increase. And that building that we have to do electrical upgrades. So that has been designed and that will go out to bid. Um, and we do have funding from past articles, uh, that has been set aside to be able to do this stuff. So this is not something we’ll be coming to town meeting for. Um, we still have not completed structural upgrades to, so we have a floor in one of the garages

1:20:43 that needs to be replaced. The design is done, it went out to bid. We had no bidders. Um, and, uh, basically because they thought it was gonna be so much more expensive than everybody just kind of walked away from it. So we’re gonna incorporate it in with our electrical upgrades and other, other facility upgrades so that we can put it out to bid as a larger project and get some bigger, um, construction, uh, companies involved.

1:21:10 And my last update is the Salt Shed, which also came back in Article 11, 20 21. Our salt shed’s still standing. Hopefully it stays up for the winter. We do have salt in it again, it unfortunately is in the middle of every other project there is. So it kind of just took the backseat for that. So we’re looking at modular designs. We’re looking at a Quonset hut. Uh, my dream is to have an equipment wash or a truck wash that is, uh, incorporated into it. Um, we do have that $900,000. I don’t know how far it will go. Uh, it was for really a building, not a modular building or a quo hut. So hopefully by going to those, some of those other options, we’ll be able to get, um, a truck wash in there. So truck wash is kind of important

1:21:56 because, uh, as far as our MS four permit goes, you’re not allowed to wash trucks outside and put them into the storm water. They’re actually supposed to go into the sanitary sewer system. So, um, you really need to put your truck inside Yeah. To be able to wash it. And we also have some of that larger equipment. So, you know, I’m, I’m looking for this type of wash down, but also a mezzanine that goes up above. So you can, you’re not on a ladder, you’re not standing in a bucket trying to wash a huge piece of equipment. So something to look forward to get it. So we still have many challenges ahead. Uh, really funding of the Pavement management program in the Sidewalk Improvement Program. Yes, we do have a lot of funding. Yes, we’re very, uh, appreciative of the funding that Marblehead gave, but it’s gonna get us, you know, a,

1:22:44 a very small percentage done. So I just always wanna keep that up in people’s minds that, you know, we really do have to steep still keep investing in that. And then, uh, to try to get our CDL program, we’re actually looking at building a CDL driving program, getting accredited with the Federal Highway Association. Um, we’ve built it into all of the new job descriptions so that we have, uh, people who are trainers and we’ll have lead people on it. And so I think, you know, that’s gonna be helpful. Um, ‘cause we definitely, we’ve got probably 10 or 15 people that we need to push into the cd, you know, to get CDLs. So That’s,

1:23:27 It’s outstanding, Amy. Yeah. So those are all our big projects. I didn’t go into the small everyday things someday

1:23:36 You wanted to. Those are a lot, but really I, thanks. I mean, I just No, that was great. It was really helpful. Especially, I mean, people really care about this in, in town and they’re just always curious. It’s like, I feel like as a board member, it’s constantly just people asking about what’s going on with this project. A lot of DPW projects people are interested in. Right. And there are a lot. And then there are, you know, so many of those maintenance things. So we just did receive a small bucket truck, which we’re gonna share with other departments. They just have bucket truck training, but that’s really to get those signs up. So, uh, that person who tells you every day, wouldn’t it be nice to have a speed limit sign right next to that speed rate, our flashing thing or right on top of it. Um, now with this bucket truck, he’s gonna be able to go out

1:24:22 and raise the, uh, the, um, solar panels higher so that we can get the sign on there. So, you know, there’s a lot of small things that happen when you get a truck, but again, it’s something that’s gonna be shared. Trees gonna use it. Park and rec came and, um, got trained on it. And also the building inspectors, the electrical inspector so that they can go out and do all the flashing lights with it. And so it’s, it’s gonna be a really nice piece of equipment, so. Great. Anybody open up to the board for questions or comments? Sure. You yield the floor. I’ll go after you. Thanks. Um, amazing. I’m sort of, my head’s spinning a little bit following all that. So you mentioned Article 11 a few times, um, multiple times. ‘cause obviously it’s a big one. So where do we go from here? You’ve got this plan and as far as like paving,

1:25:09 do you have a, a sort of, or, or you still have to digest this plan that you have for the sidewalk and paving is there, and obviously coordinating with the utilities, I get a lot of questions about our streets. Mm-Hmm. Not as many as you, I’m sure. So is there a way to keep the public updated on that plan other than a document like this? Like, do you, first of all, do you have a plan, right, um, taken this, and then is there a way to show like, here’s our plan. We haven’t reached this so that people can sort of see, because I think town finances have become sort of forefront, especially in the last few weeks, um, discussing it and, and the question of how we’re using our money and, and the progress with that. Right. So, um, we, we have a plan that changes dramatically every time someone walks in the

1:25:56 room and thinks it’s something else. So, um, but as you can see, uh, we have, um, right now, like West Street Mm-Hmm. All the utilities have done. That will be the next one that gets paved. West was, okay. El Street was rated our worst street. Okay. That, uh, we had the gas company come and finish that. So we have gotten that complete. That has sidewalks that’s been paved. Uh, west Street I think was the next one right there. One section of Ocean was, um, was rated very low. So we actually did pave Ocean because it had all the utilities were done, but that did not get any addressed with sidewalks. So, but again, we walk that line of we wanna pave, we wanna make sure your utilities are done,

1:26:41 but if your utilities are aren’t gonna be done, or your sidewalk’s aren’t gonna be done for 15 years till we ignore the street Sure. Which we don’t wanna do. Um, my thought with that is that we really wanna start to work into a, a trench maintenance program or a, an in-house maintenance program. Um, I have, uh, I’m hoping, well, I was hoping to use our, um, revolving fund to be able to, uh, support that program, but that’s more work than the DPW does. Now, that’s different pieces of equipment, that’s different training. So yes, we could use that revolving fund, but you know, this year we used the revolving fund to supplement, uh, a whole section of our budget. So I, you know, we have some good, um, programs

1:27:27 that come from Chapter 90 from the state. So we have wrap or we have some assistance. And with those where ways I was gonna fund buying that new equipment so that it wasn’t taking from our budget. Um, so that would be a way we could address a street that wasn’t gonna be up, wasn’t gonna be paid. Right. Right. We could do a six foot patch down the, because usually it’s a, it’s an old utility trench that’s making the street. Yeah. I guess I’m sort of thinking like, you guys get phone calls every time you speaking about how amazing your, your partner is with that. Is there a way to keep the public updated? Yep. So like, for instance, like on chapter 11, correct me if I’m wrong, I think you’ve used about 3 million of that, or sorry, article 11 article, so 11 of that 12, yeah. Three in that range, whatever. I don’t, yeah. So like to almost show like,

1:28:13 because we have to be able to show that how we’re using the money, especially if we’re gonna be going for an override. Um, so I’m sort of rambling here, but is there a way to show like, this is our plan on, on where to use it? Or is it not that simple? No. Well, it’s almost that simple. Okay. Yeah, if our GIS uh, area is, you know, we’ve invested money in it, now we’re at that stumbling block of, we have a lot of old information and a lot of consultant information that we have to bring together. But that map that you saw earlier for the sidewalk thing, you know, my, my hope is to be able to get that out on the webpage and that’s gonna have, you know, what the condition of the road is, where it is in the slot, you know, and that Would show them based on the heat map, this is where our focus is. Yeah. If that’s how Yep. If that’s how we go.

1:28:59 I mean, we basically, were are thinking of looking at the schools, which they got a higher rating and then kind of sping out with sidewalks, um, pavement. We go to the plan first and then we go to the utilities. And that’s actually how that’s driven. So you’re gonna see Prospect Street was a, Roland Street was a, a low, um, on the pavement management plan. You saw gas go down there, water’s planning and going down there next. Um, we really wanna address Pleasant Street, but we’re waiting because we have that designer looking at the, the road diet for Pleasant Street. So we wanna incorporate the road diet, the sidewalk, the, uh, bike, the, uh, I have a water project that that will hopefully come this summer. Um, and then we gotta make, see where gas is. We have a lot of storm water issues on that area. Pleasant Street too. So there’ll be a lot of construction

1:29:46 before you see that Come. I think part of the answer to this question is above and beyond DBW is one, we’re upgrading the website, make it more functional to, um, as we develop using, uh, clear gov more and more, it has the capital, um, planning function. Right now we’re focused on the operational budgeting piece of it. We build out the capital that has built in the mechanisms of, of being able to publish and track capital projects Gotcha. And, and tap in and look at all the financials behind it, but also, you know, provide sort of project updates. Um, one thing many other communities have gone to Marblehead has not yet

1:30:32 and could use, is actually creating a communications function for the town. Right. In that it is obviously more and more important. There’s a lot of good work being done. Yeah. It is getting more and more, more important to communicate that. But not having a dedicated person who is proficient at managing that, organizing that and maintaining that, it’s relying on those of us who are already swamped doing our regular job to, oh yeah. Let me see if I can put something out. Yeah. And so one of the things we need to look at, um, for the sake of the community is can we build into our budget to create a communications

1:31:19 director, coordinator, whatever, whose job it is, is to work with all the departments and get that information out. Mm-Hmm.

1:31:29 Others? Amy, I just wanna say I want to commend your leadership on this because you make it sound like it was, you know, relatively organic and, uh, but I, I know for a fact that it takes a lot of work to get people to, you know, to to, to reorganize into different roles. And it was really interesting going through the DPW, you know, divisional organization, right. And we’re really getting a sense that there’s a, you know, kind of a cross-functional coordination that’s emerging. And that’s super important. And it takes a lot of energetic leadership to actually, you know, to actually do that, envision that and, and do that. So I just wanna, you know, say that, uh, to you it’s a mark, it’s a mark of, uh, you know, of great leadership that it, that it does evolve kind of organically and people are psyched to go, you know, to be part of a newer organization. It’s a big deal. It really is.

1:32:14 I, I think, you know, having to do that myself over, over, you know, many times I think the utility coordination has always been my pet peeve. And I’m really happy, I’m really happy that you’re, you know, that you’re addressing that. Um, you know, we’ve had the pavement plan, now we’ve got the sidewalk plan that those are master documents that we can all refer to. I think the money comes from good management and people need to see that. And I think we’ll see it. It comes from good data, it comes from clear priorities, well articulated and, and, you know, marble headers are happy to fund things that make sense and they understand and, and, and have confidence in. So I think, you know, you, you’re moving in that direction

1:33:00 and, uh, you know, you’ve really established a real, a really great foundation for our, you know, for for, for the DPW. So I think it’s fantastic.

1:33:11 Great. Here, here. It’s amazing. Yeah. Great job. Yeah. Yeah. I have one quick question of the rail trail project. I’m just trying to get my head around the timeframe. I know it’s not, it’s not as like methodical as the street repair, but, um, well, like there’s drains that you have to put in, right? So there’s the crossings. So every time we have a street, there’s a new crossing that has to happen. Our crossings aren’t great for pedestrians. Mm-Hmm. Going right across. So, um, we have a lot of different crossings that we’re looking at. So we’re looking at Maverick Street, I believe that already went out to bid. Yep. And then we’re looking at kind of doing it in section. So we’ll have the design for all of it. Yeah. We’re gonna have a gray prototype between Smith Street and Pleasant Street. Okay. Which hopefully is gonna show us that the,

1:33:59 all the materials that we picked are gonna be the right material for those areas. Mm-Hmm. For the rail trail. Yep. Um, we have incorporated into the, oh, I’ve forgot, talk about the Village Street Bridge. Incorporate it into the Village Street bridge. We now have added, um, an a DA accessible path to get down from Village Street Right. To the rail trail. Okay. ‘cause that is really just, yeah. I mean, the Boy Scouts did a great job, but it needs to be a larger path for everyone to use. And that really is a great point to access. Mm-Hmm. The rail trail. Yeah. Right. Rather than sending people all the way to Beesam Street. Right. So, um, you know, we do have that all coming. We have, uh, uh, we’re looking at purchasing things right now. So we do have ARPA funding that was set aside,

1:34:45 which we all know we have to have all under contract and everything. So we did do a couple accelerated sections so that we could get the construction out. Um, and that’s on the swamp Scott Branch. We still have a culvert crossing on the Salem branch that is gonna be expensive and needs to go through com con and be designed. So that’ll be slower. So I think what you’ll see is sections will emerge. Okay. You know, but, and eventually we’ll be looking for money to complete more sections too, but we’re also looking into equipment that we can maintain it. So everything that we do here, we, we now have put another stress on the DPW to figure out how to maintain it. You know, everything from bike lanes to the rail trail,

1:35:30 the rail trail, especially, especially just with the mowing. So what’s the surface that you settled on for the rail trail? Uh, they’re trying, uh, I hope I say this right, a deconstructed granite. Okay. So it’s, it won’t be pavement. Um, you know, we’re really like crush granite or something. Yeah. But it, it, it’s pretty solid. I have a feeling it’s gonna be very similar to pavement. Mm-Hmm. So, okay. Yeah. So I mean, right now we’ll continue with the stone dust and we’ll try this in this section and see how it works. Um, and hopefully how it is to maintain and how it is to repair. So, you know, the rail trail also has the big force main that, that all the sewage goes through a big section of that. And that that is something that, um, we’re looking at. ‘cause that is gonna have to be replaced one of these days. So that, that also might impair, you know, whether we do

1:36:19 that piece of the rail trail knowing that we’re gonna have to dig it up Mm-Hmm. Or whether we wait and dig it up and put it in part of that contract. Yeah. So, okay. Thank you so much. Yeah. That was amazing. Really great. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Um, do you want that report back? Oh, yes. Oh, if anybody wants to keep it, I have plenty copies. It’s only 132 pages. We’ll get it online. Let’s, yeah. And you can’t read half the, you really need the electronic brochure. It’s, yeah, that’s right. Yeah, it’s okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I think we’ll go back to agenda item number two and, um, ask, uh, chief King

1:37:06 and Brandon, um, Aire. I hope I said it right. Aire, say it again. Aire. I confirmed That before In the meeting outside how to pronounce it. Welcome, welcome Academy. Yeah. Thanks for being here. Good evening. It’s exciting. Yeah. Alright. You want me to go? Sure, Go ahead. Course yours. Um, thank you for the select board, uh, to have, uh, myself and and Brandon here. Um, for arguably one of the best, uh, things in my position is to, um, recommend an offer of conditional employment to the select board on candidates that, um, you know, are gonna be our future police officers.

1:37:53 Um, and so I’ll just, uh, say a little bit about, um, Brandon Heat grew up in, um, the North Shore, went to Peabody High, um, graduated from Westfield State University. He currently works as a dispatcher, um, in Beverly. It’s a new kind of, uh, venture for the, um, Beverly, the city of Beverly. They went from, uh, police to civilian dispatch. Um, so he’s, he’s taken that, um, and, um, you know, has had some jobs that I think speak a lot to his character and point towards, uh, civic mindedness and helping people. So he worked, um, in the Salem schools as, um, as a paraprofessional, uh, for people with serious, uh, with, for students with, uh, serious cognitive, um, issues.

1:38:39 And he also worked at NFI, um, which is a juvenile locker facility that, uh, really has faces, challenges about, uh, on handling the most at risk use, at risk youth with care. Um, and, you know, as, as young as he is, and he is not very young, um, I, I think those, those are really notable things. So I look at that as follow the education route, follow the civic path route, likes to help people. And, um, you know, it, it made it, um, you know, very easy for the interview board, um, that, that do the background checks and then the interview board, uh, to make this recommendation. And so, um, you know, that’s, I’m, I’m sure that you want to hear from Brandon A. Little bit, but, um,

1:39:25 that’s my take on who I’m, um, I’m recommending for a next candidate as I put in the, um, in the letter to the select board, we are, um, hustling, uh, for a January Academy. Right. Um, that will be a long shot. And it could, uh, very much be an academy that starts March 3rd, um, which is almost two months later. Not quite, um, for us, uh, two months does matter, but I’m gonna tell you that, um, we’ll be fine. And, um, and, uh, it, it gives us a little bit of a, of, as I explained to Brandon earlier, a little bit of opportunity not to, to to just go in. Perhaps he can, you know, uh, move in a little bit quicker, but we have a chance. Um, in terms of getting to this January 6th Academy.

1:40:11 I’ll know a lot more next week. Um, but that’s what I have a solid recommendation, um, for a solid, um, young man that I think will be a valued, um, member of the department. Great. Awesome. Thanks. Hi, Brandon. How you doing? Good. Good. Um, you wanna just tell us like about your interest in pursuing this career? Yes. Um, so like Chief said, um, with West Hills State with, uh, bachelor’s in Criminal Justice, that’s kind of been my goal ever since graduating, was to get involved in law enforcement. Uh, the time I graduated was on peak covid. Um, it was a little difficult getting into different, um, tests and so, and somewhat so that’s when I started working at NFI, uh, really enjoyed working with, you know, the youth that were,

1:40:58 you know, walked up for the first time tough mm-Hmm. You know, lifestyles or living in various different backgrounds. I liked being like a positive role model for them. Um, and then eventually I wanted to pursue more of a path that would transition better into law enforcement, which was now dispatch. And I’ve, um, enjoyed helping people. Learning Beverly was a new thing for me. Like it would be from rubble head. It’s something that I like to challenge and something I feel like I adapted to pretty well and pretty for the opportunity. Great. Thanks. Any Questions from the board or? No. Okay. That’s the background. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s, that’s, that’s great to bring that here as opposed to just going straight to law enforcement. Good luck getting into that January. I know. Thank you. Yeah, we got a Hail Mary out. There’s good.

1:41:46 Well, um, well, I’ll like to have a motion to make a conditional offer of employment to Brandon Guttier. Er, er, yes. As a permanent full-time police officer for the town of Marblehead, conditioned upon his successful completion of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts physical abilities test a completed physical examination and psychological examination to be conducted by the town’s physician and psychiatrist, uh, psychologist of the town’s choosing with an effective date of January 6th, 2025, or the first available date of the eligible Police Academy. So moved second. Okay. All in favor? Great. All Right. Welcome. Thank you. Congratulations. Yeah, absolutely. Appreciate it. Look forward to seeing her on Marco. Thank you very much. Thank you. This was the easy part. Thank you, chief. He’s gotta go through a few. Yeah.

1:42:33 We don’t wanna bootcamp him right now.

1:42:37 Thanks for coming tonight. Yeah, thanks Chief. Hi.

1:42:43 Um, we’re now going to, uh, um, the overnight parking ban, uh, number five on our agenda. Um, our annual, since we voted at town meeting, I can’t remember what year recently. Um, we need a motion to suspend Town of Marblehead Article five, section eight, known as the current all night parking ban. And to implement in its place a snow emergency response to snow events on an as needed basis declared snow emergencies will prohibit on street parking starting at midnight the day of the anticipated snow storm on street parking will be allowed the following morning, starting at 7:00 AM during a declared snow emergency, the duration of any snow emergency is more than a day on street parking will be prohibited on each day of the snow emergency from midnight to 7:00 AM Any vehicles that violate the supervisions of this motion are subject

1:43:30 to the issuance of parking tickets and towing notification of declared snow emergency shall be done through the town website code red, automated call system, town management, social media accounts, MHTV, and any other outlets. The town is available. This vote is rev, uh, rev revocable, um, upon the determination of the police chief, fire, chief town administrator, department of Public Works, or their designees, that it is negatively impacting public health and safety. So, motion, I’ll second For discussion. Is, can we actually look at putting this on the warrant to make it official? ‘cause we’re we do this every year to do the ban or is this gonna be addressed in the um, oh my gosh. You know, and, uh, For the town Meeting? Yeah. I mean, can we, I mean, we can, can we discuss that?

1:44:16 See if that’s something that we wanna sponsor so that way it’s permanent and that we don’t have vote for this every year. You know, You control the warrant and so, yes. So I’d like to, so anyway, I, so I just wanna make sure Kyle puts that on a future gender process. Becausecause, he just would codify this motion. Exactly. So we change the article to this versus Okay. Always having to vote on this every year. Well, I think the reason that’s, I mean, it’s a good question. The reason we did is ‘cause we wanted to kind of test run it for while done and have, and have the flexibility. Yeah. And we’ve done that for, what, eight years now or so is it that longer? I don’t think three or four. Right? It’s been been like four maybe, but Five or six. It’s been a while, but Yeah, we haven’t had, I don’t think we’ve had any problems with it. We, we can, we Haven’t had much snow either. That’s true. That’s a good point We have. Yeah, we can, we can certainly talk, yeah.

1:45:02 The way it’s worded during the warrant discussion, we have issues With sweeping in the summer. We have issues with snow removal, we have issues with You don’t when, So we should just, we should discuss the right wording. Can’t start until midnight. Okay. We At four. Yeah, Of course. Got it. So there are some, some operational issues, issues that Okay. I think we wanna address.

1:45:26 Okay. Um, so did I I, okay. So all the second. Yeah, I’m done. All in favor.

1:45:38 Okay. And, um, next is the, um, annual, uh, tree burning at Riverhead Beach, which is scheduled for Monday, January 6th, 2025. The Christmas tree pile will be set a light at 6:00 PM and as always, residents are invited to attend this community event. Trees will be picked up at the curbside from Thursday, December 26th through Friday, January 3rd, and be placed at Riverhead Beach for the bonfire on the sixth. Christmas. Trees will continue to be picked up curbside along after January 3rd until January 10th. After the 10th. Residents should bring their trees to the towns transfer station for proper disposal. All trees left curbside for pickup before December 26th until January 10th.

1:46:25 Must have all lights, ornaments, and stands removed and not be in plastic bags. Any tree not meeting these requirements will not be picked up. Um, and, uh, we will, they will not be picking up roping and garing and hol holiday wreaths.

1:46:42 Okay. And that brings us to our, um, consent agenda items. Um, and we have the Chamber of Commerce use of the old townhouse on Saturday, December 7th, 2024. We have the Marblehead Historical Commission using the old townhouse on Thursday, December 12th, and the holiday hours at Abbott Hall and Mary Alley as they’re presented. I think we post these on the website, don’t we? Yeah. Okay. So, um, can I have a motion to approve the following consent agenda items? So moved. Have a second. All in favor? Great. Okay, now we have some contracts. Is there anything, um, Thatcher from the this, that, you know, you wanted to speak to before I go through it?

1:47:28 No, I, well, I think they’re pretty self-explanatory. Uh, I’ll just mention, um, in regard to some of these are being funded through arpa. Um, we are down to the deadline for committing the ARPA funds. Our intent is for the December 11th meeting to have a more, a comprehensive sort of presentation on where we are with the opera and to get an approval for a whole number of projects. ‘cause they have to be committed by December 31st. So some of these items, um, are making a commitment to use the opera funds that are remaining. But the urgency of getting these contracts in place tonight, rather than waiting another week was, was paramount.

1:48:15 So I just wanna explain that yes, we are committing opera funds for some of these. Yep. But we’ll have a more comprehensive presentation next week on the balance of the whole opera program. Okay, good. Okay, great. Um, okay, so, um, I need a well, um, a motion to approve the following consent agenda items, unless anyone wants to put any on hold. Hansen, Maureen Engineering Incorporated contract for Kohler 50 kilowatt three phase generator for $35,937 50 cents. Carlton Electrical Construction Corporation, Marblehead mass contract for electrical work for installation of two backup generators at the Council on Aging and, uh, Marblehead Police Department and the amount of $67,750.

1:49:01 Bright Brighter Horizons Environmental Corporation a or mass contract for removal of underground fuel tanks in the amount of 26,000. Rafael Construction Incorporated. Swamp Scott Mass contract for Ocean Ave Outfall Repairs. Um, 76 thou 300,000, $76,300. Rafael Construction Incorporated. Swans got mass contract for Rail Trail prototype construction, $143,395. Collins Engineers Incorporated contract for regulatory permit coordination and closeout support for the Marblehead Shipyards Resilience Project, um, in, uh, two different amounts, nine thousand nine hundred and nineteen thousand five hundred dollars. And municipal local cybersecurity grant program, which is a grant for migration from.org to.gov.

1:49:50 So moved Second. All in favor? Great. I will mention one thing on the Collins Engineering. Yes. That’s coming out of the state’s allocation of opera funds given to Marblehead. I saw that honor. So it’s not from the Marblehead allocation of opera, it’s from, uh, for, you know, the state’s allocation for the Harbor project. So it’s a different bucket. Yeah.

1:50:16 Okay. And, Um, now we have a request from our sustainability coordinator, Logan Casey, to put, um, place signs You vote On that last. Did we vote? I thought we voted. Yeah. Vote yes. Yeah, I’m losing my mind. Um, you voted Against, You can vote again if you want. No, that’s okay. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry about that Madam Chair. No, Of course. So the long signs. Um, so, uh, would you like to speak to this? Yeah, come on. Yeah. Sorry, I just remembered that you were here. He’s here. I Have a, I have a couple slides as well too. Oh, excellent. Yeah. Great. I could also just thank you. Are you on your, I just have to log in real Quick. He’ll be quick.

1:51:01 We’re gonna implement a new rule about already being logged in.

1:51:06 Are you in the, are you in the meeting? Yeah, I just joined. Okay, raise your hand.

1:51:26 Okay. You’re in. Thank you.

1:51:42 Her up. Can you see it? Yeah. Great. I don’t know what all those blocks are. Just needs to load. Okay. Yep. So you should be able to see my screen now. Alright. Hi everyone. Hi. Hey Logan. Thank you for having me. Uh, tonight’s coming for you and, uh, make this request. So, um, as uh, Amy had kind of mentioned earlier, we are working on a, a rail trail design project right now in coordination with tool design. Um, and we are, uh, designing, um, two sections on the swamp stop portion and then on our Salem portion as well too. Um, we, uh, through our public engagement process,

1:52:29 we are looking to engage the public as well as our environmental justice communities that we have in Marblehead. Um, and part of that process is, uh, looking to put some lawn signs up to advertise that we are doing this, um, process. Um, there will also be public meetings, which we are having one next Monday night in this room. Um, encourage people to join. Uh, there’s a webpage now available. Uh, and there’ll be interviews with stakeholder groups as well too. Um, these signs are also, and I have one tonight just to show, um, these signs will also be posted in the city of Salem as well too. And they have their own copies, um, as, uh, they have their own environmental justice communities, uh, that they’re looking to engage. Um, Marblehead has two environmental justice census tracks. Um, these are both income census tracks, um, which means

1:53:18 that at least 25%, so those households, uh, have a median income that’s 65% or less than the state medium income. Um, and, uh, I’ll show you the list that is included in the, the memo, uh, before you tonight as well. And I’ll put it on the screen in a second. Um, but there’s about 20 signs that we have that we’d like to put up. Um, 40 of these, 40% of these signs, eight of these signs would be located within our environmental justice communities. Um, big part of the signage is to engage the environmental justice communities. Um, so these are the proposed locations. Um, I’ll quickly just flash them and I won’t read them all out. Um, but these are all public locations around ti around town. Um, ideally readily visible. Um, they’re all public property as well too.

1:54:05 So, um, with your ideal approval tonight, we would work with, uh, the various departments at these various locations to get their approval as well too, to put up these signs, um, for a duration. Um, so, uh, with that, the requested motion is, uh, for you, um, as well too. And I’m happy to take any questions. Um, so thank you. So The key is this is a requirement of the grant program. Mm-Hmm. To do this outreach effort. Yeah, I think it’s, we’re doing this. We should do more. Yeah, I was gonna say, we’ve never done this before and it’s, they look great. They look so when we eventually get into the permitting process for this portion of the rail trail, they will be asking how we did this engagement and putting up this signage. Like this is very common in a lot of communities. So yeah. How many signs do you anticipate having out there?

1:54:52 We have a 20 total signs. Total signs. Yep. Great. That’s great. Awesome. You look pretty Good too. A lot of response I like, hopefully. Yeah. Okay. Um, can we have a motion to approve the request from Logan Casey, sustainability coordinator to place signs regarding the rail trail improvement project on town property and to coordinate with department heads on properties that fall under their jurisdiction. So moved. Second. All in favor. Great. Thanks Logan. Thank you Logan. All very much. I think we should do it more.

1:55:27 Um, okay. And now, oh, um, water and sewer. We have a vacancy on the water and sewer. Yes. Um, since the passing of Tom Carroll. So we do need to, um, post and, and appoint, make an, you know, do our right our appointment process. So under the law, the board that that has the vacancy has 30 days to notify the select board and then the select board has seven days to act on that. So we’ve been notified by the water sewer commission of the vacancy. And therefore, um, given that we have a meeting next week that would make us compliant of doing this part

1:56:12 of a joint meeting for an appointment, um, within seven days of being notified, We have to appoint within seven days. Somebody Yes. Even if nobody applies it. Well, if nobody applies, I guess you can’t apply, but yeah, we have to act within. Okay. That’s tight within seven Days? Yes. Okay. In the past the notification took, reached out the 30 days and then the board acted within the time. So they, water sew board acted very quickly. Okay. So it sounds like they have a couple of qualified applicants as well. Yeah. And the intent is to, we would continue the advertisement of the vacancy with a proposed deadline of,

1:56:58 um, what? Friday? Tuesday. Thinking It’s already Wednesday. Oh, Tuesday. You’re right. Yeah. So proposed deadline of Tuesday before the Wednesday of the meeting. Yeah. Given the short window is is, is to maximize So water and so have already done some outreach and then we would, uh, add to that. Great. Okay. So will our meeting on the 11th involve a joint meeting? Yes. Then, right? Yes. Okay. Yeah. An already packed meeting? Yes. Uh, Yes. Okay. Madam Chair, if I interject at this point, I, I would like to suggest we send a letter of appreciation to, uh, Tom’s spouse and family for his long service on the commission. Um, Sure. We can go ahead and do that. Okay. Yeah.

1:57:46 And our condolences and condolences, yes. Okay. Okay. And that concludes our, do we need a motion? Yeah. Do You want the motion we, yeah, yeah. So the motion, like, motion to, uh, send a letter of appreciation and condolences to, to Tom’s spouse and family for the long, for his long service, uh, to the, to the commission, water and City Commission. Sorry. Oh, do you need to make it? Yeah. I also have finish that one. Right? I think we were talking about the motion on the, oh, you talked about The motion. You gotta do a motion for the vacancy to Fill the vacancy. To fill the Letter too. You can do the letter too. Okay. Sorry. Madam Chair.

1:58:31 Sorry. I was like, I don’t think we need a motion to do a letter, do we? I, I don’t think so. Yes. Okay. It’s an act of the board. It’s An act of the board. Okay. Okay. Not Madam Chair. I Apologize. Okay. So, um,

1:58:47 I, I’ve Been, okay, so I, I need a motion to accept letters of interest to fill the vacancy on the water and sewer commission. And, um, the letters of interest should be sent to both the select board and Water and Sewer Commission at here at Abbott Hall, 180 8 Washington Street, Wiley, K-W-I-L-E-Y k@marblehead.org and the Water and Sewer Commission at Tower Way office building just water@marblehead.org. Deadline to submit letters of interest is, like we said, Tuesday the 10th at 4:00 PM All applicants will be interviewed in joint session with the Select Board and Water and Sewer Commission on December 11th, uh, at 7:00 PM here at AB Hall. So, motion second. All in favor? Okay. And then we’ll do the letter. So we need a motion

1:59:32 to send a letter to, to, um, Tom Carroll spouse expressing our, uh, gratitude and appreciation for all of his years of dedication to the commission and deepest condolences. Okay. All day. Ready?

1:59:51 Okay. Now we have, um, select board announcements. Are there any announcements?

1:59:59 Um, we have, I’d just like to congratulate the Marblehead football team for Capstone. Just an outstanding, the, the game was really exciting, great performance, couldn’t come at a better time, uh, coincided with our celebration of Thanksgiving and the celebration that we, you know, came to terms with our, with our, uh, you know, wonderful teachers in town. So, Anybody else Head? Oh, right, that’s right. That’s what it was. Yeah, go ahead. I could do it. No, that was your idea. You can do it. I talked too much. You, uh, the chair and I attended, um, the MHDB annual meeting last night, and actually, uh, Mr. Keer did as well. And, uh, they actually dedicated

2:00:44 the theater, not the theater, but the studio studio to Ed Bell. So New York has the Ed Sullivan Theater, but we have the Ed Bell Studio here. So, uh, it was, it was well attended. It was just wonderful seeing a lot of the people who were part of MHCB when it first came about. And it was just interesting just hearing a lot more about, you know, ed Bell. I’ve always respected him. He’s been great, you know, for the up for discussions. I always enjoyed watching that when he hosted that. Uh, but it was absolutely fantastic, you know, evening. So, um, so congratulations to Elliot Ed Bell on a well deserved retirement, even though he probably gave more back in retirement than he did when he was, you know, working at the, at the various, you know, news organizations. News organizations, yeah. And, um, so, right. Um, and I just, I wanna acknowledge all the time

2:01:29 and effort that you put into resolving the collective bargaining agreement for the school department. Um, I, I observed like the hours and hours and late nights. You already work, late nights and, um, weekends. And, uh, I know it was really, really, really challenging time. And, um, and I know that the school committee members very much appreciated having you there. I hear that a lot from them. And, um, I just wanted to thank you for ta like taking that on. Yeah, you’re welcome. Sort of a big, it was a be careful. Yeah. Job well done though, Patrick. Thanks. Okay. Um, and then I guess I’ll just need a motion to adjourn. So moved second. All in favor? Okay. Adjourned.