Select Board: February 12, 2025

Transcript captured from MHTV’s Vimeo auto-captioning. No speaker labels; proper names and dollar figures occasionally misheard. Click any timecode to jump to that moment in the source video.

0:00 Seven. Um, this meeting is being recorded, like all of our meetings on hybrid. And our first item on the agenda is public comment. If there’s anybody here who’d like to make public comment, um, please feel free to go to the microphone or raise your hand online.

0:18 I don’t see any hands. Okay. All great. So then we’ll go, um, next to our town administrator update from Patrick Keer. Alright, as soon as I find it,

0:30 I will Recommend, uh, moving on and let me find, Okay, sure. No problem. Yeah, we can. Okay. Let’s then proceed to, um, the Corinthian Yacht Club’s request for their change of officers and direct directors. And is Carl Renie here? Yes, I am. Okay. Hi, Carl. Would you just come to the table and Yeah, it Would be My buddy. Kind of welcome. Carl, is that your application? Thank you. You can turn, just turn on that microphone for me. Thank you. Just push the button. There we go. That’s great. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you for having me here tonight. My name’s Carl Renny. I am the Commodore of the Corinthian Yacht Club. Before we get started to the agenda item, let me thank the select board for your well crafted acknowledgement of David Titus. Uh, he was our general manager for the last five or six years, but had worked at the Corinthian Yacht Club

1:15 for 30 years. And, uh, Moses presented Hi, that letter very, very well at his retirement party. And, uh, it just, uh, shows that somebody not only works for our club, but also is greatly involved in the town. And provided, uh, you know, a great resource for the town is well received and received that acknowledgement from you means a lot to our club. Thank You. Oh, great. I’m glad it was a nice party too. Oh, It was awesome. Should have been there, Melissa. It really was. It Was. So, uh, so I, I’m here today because every couple of years the leadership of the Corinthian Yacht Club, as well as many other clubs in town changes. And, uh, we filed paperwork in order to change the officers of the Corinthian Yacht Club.

2:01 And, uh, we’re asking for the board’s approval of that application as submitted. And if there are any questions, I’m more than happy to answer any of those at this time. Looks pretty Straightforward. That’s just straightforward. Change director. So, um, anybody have any comments or questions? No, I think Wonderful. So Ill just ask, ask for a motion to approve. The application from the Corinthian Yacht Club is presented to change the officers and director subject to receipt of the required forms, fees, and approval for the, from the Alpha Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. So Moved. Second. Okay, Mr. Fox? In favor? Mr. Greater in favor, Ms. Nunan? In favor. Thanks, Carl. Thank You very much. Thanks, Mr. Have a Have a next night. Okay. And, um,

2:47 is Jean record here or online? Um, we, I don’t see. Okay. I Think he might have Been, yeah, there was a little, we might not have connected with him on the, the scheduling. I will continue on. It was just an, an interview, um, on his application, but, um, we might have not connected, nailed down the scheduling yet. Um, okay. And oh, Larry Sands, we have an update on the Fort Sewell Oversight Committee. Committee. Welcome. Thanks. Thanks so much. No worries. For filling Larry Sands 28 Franklin Street chair of the Fort Sewell Oversight Committee. And I try to get back to you guys periodically just to let you know what’s going on at the fort. Yes. Um, it was a good year, um, 2024.

3:37 And I think the thing that I’m am most excited about sharing is one of the items when we did the renovations, uh, to the fort was, uh, to start a Fort Ranger program. Yes. And the purpose of the Fort Ranger program was, I mean, the one thing we’ve heard consistently through the years from folks, um, is I’ve never been inside before. You know, I’ve lived in town 10 mm-hmm. 20, 50 years and I’ve never been in, uh, and so now from this year, early June through the first weekend in November, uh, we had Fort Rangers on duty from Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to four each day.

4:24 And I had them counting how many people came through. And we had over 18,000 visitors. Oh my goodness. You’re kidding me. No, good God. Looking at these. That’s with no publicity. Um, we had a sign at the fort, uh, and it was astounding. Wow. And people from all over the world. Um, I think we benefited actually from Salem by getting a lot of folks, uh, September and October that got tired of everything there and decided they needed something a little quieter and came to the fort. So we have some plans for this year to do a little more outreach and hopefully, uh, get school groups to come and camp groups to come through the fort. Um, we did some work, uh, in preparation

5:12 for this furnishing the inside of the fort. We had some grant money, uh, and Glover’s Regiment provided some manual labor to build furniture for inside the fort. Uh, and we did some painting and I think that helped tremendously. So we have plans for this summer to do a little more of that. Um, I think it’s helpful to have something to interpret when folks are taking, taking you through the inside of the fort. There are a number of other things besides the Fort Ranger program. So our plan is to continue. Um, we had raised a hundred thousand dollars as part of the project to fund the Fort Ranger program. And our thought was that would be 10 years worth. And that’s about, it cost us about $10,000 this year for,

5:59 you know, some work inside the fort and, uh, and the cost of hiring the Rangers. Mm-hmm. Uh, and we will continue that. I’m not sure who the right person to talk to is in town to figure out, uh, there’s no mechanism. Now, if somebody wants to make a donation when they go through a tour, there’s no charge. We wouldn’t mandate anything. But maybe there’s a way we could allow people an opportunity to do that. Short of having the Rangers have to handle cash and do things, if we could come up with a QR code. Right. We do have the Ford Fort, so donation fund. So there is already set up. Um, so I’m not sure who to talk to, whether it’s Thatcher or whether it’s the finance folks in town. Thatcher and Alicia. Okay. That’s right. Yeah.

6:46 So we will, we will work on that, uh, as we go forward. Yeah, that’d be Great. A simple QR code. Everybody can Yeah. Apple Pay too Now. Well, you bet. It’s easy. Yeah. So that’s, that’s the hope. Um, we also, uh, set aside, um, about $200,000 for ongoing maintenance at the fort. So we’re slowly working our way through that, depending on projects. And there are a number of things in the queue for this year, uh, such as replacing a couple of plaques. We had some money left that the, um, contractor, uh, left with us because they buried a couple of our plaques in the asphalt. So we’re gonna replace those. Uh, we plan, um, some signage

7:32 for the Constitution bpr and for the Spanish cannon that are up there. Uh, we have some tree replacements to do. Uh, the, the five trees we planted didn’t do so well. And some other landscaping things, plantings and such. What kind of trees are, are they, or, or will you use? Uh, I’m not sure we’re working, uh, with the towns folks to try to pick what will do well up there. They, there were, uh, swamp white oaks and black Tupelo or something where the two trees that we planted and I, we, the bad news was it was a bad year when we planted them, it was really dry. Yeah. And we didn’t do a very good job at making sure they were watered. So we’ll do better this time around.

8:19 Uh, but we, we will definitely, uh, we have money set aside to do those. Um, I think, you know, there’s some other things, you know, a bike rack, dog waste bags, binoculars, I mean, all things that are gonna improve the experience of folks coming. Okay. That’s great. Uh, but, uh, yeah, I wanted to share some of the numbers with you. Um, like I said, I won’t go through it, but it’s, you know, the weekends are especially busy, uh, up there, which is great. And, uh, it’s pretty low key. You know, we’re not mandating people go through on tours sometimes. They just wanna walk through and ask a few questions and That’s great. So I think anything that gets folks inside is a good thing. That’s great. Thank You. That’s great. That’s it. Any questions I can answer for you? That’s great. Anybody have any questions? That’s great.

9:05 Anything we can do to better support you? No, I don’t think so. Um, yeah, I’m, I’m just starting to talk with the folks at Ace Hardware to try to figure out better flags. The flags that we put up there, go, we go through them very quickly. They get blown out fast. Um, so we will keep working on that. Uh, maybe we’ll do some sort of fundraiser. I’ve always envisioned, gee, we should sell flags, run ‘em up the flagpole there and then sell them as having flown over the fort. It would be a, you know, something to commemorate a an occasion for folks. And maybe that’s the way to raise money to keep us in flags. But they’re, it’s pricey, you know, it costs us probably a thousand dollars a year for flags up there. This is great data collection.

9:51 I would never have assumed this many people. No, me either. I was rather astounded As went through. This is so exciting. So I had a third grade teacher email me who went through with her own family in Marblehead and, um, Lindsey Willard, she teaches third grade at Brown School. And I had her, she had my son and she was raving about it. ‘cause she just went on her own. Yeah. And she wants to take absolutely her class. And so what would you say, like, how should the schools or teachers approach setting up, um, a field trip? Yeah. Have him contact me. Okay. And then if I can arrange for a fort Ranger, I’m, I’m assuming that the three we had wanna come back. Yeah. Uh, I’ll, I was gonna say, and then when are, when are they coming back? I’ll confirm. Yeah.

10:38 Is it, it probably won’t be until May. Okay. Unless we do weekends. But I, I can schedule something anytime and I’m in town, so I’m happy to take people through. Okay. All spend time up there myself. Okay. That’s a nice, uh, and I love that vest you have there logo. Great logo. Let’s say you could sell those. Yeah. My daughter did the logo for us. I like That logo. Yeah. Yeah. We could do that. You know, there again, the only challenge with doing things with sizes is it’s a nuisance. You gotta stock all sorts of ‘em. Mm-hmm. Of course. But we’ll figure it out. The, uh, sport shop mm-hmm. Is pretty nice. You know, they’re, they’re willing to have to make them individually for folks and then give us a percentage so maybe we don’t have

11:23 to inventory so much. So, we’ll, we’ll keep it explor things. It’s a good exploring things. It’s good idea. It’s, it’s very nice. Yeah. It’s great. We have the Rangers, they also have Fort Sewell hats that say 1644 on them, and I think the highest offer was $75. Somebody wanted to pay for one of ‘em. Oh my gosh. I’m like, sell it. Everything has a price. You bet. Awesome. Well, that’s great. Thank You so much, Larry. That’s, and Larry, thank you Larry. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it. See you all. Okay. And oh, this is exciting. Um, next on our agenda, we have, um, Brendan Callahan, the community development and planning Director. Welcome. Welcome, Brendan. Thank you, Moses. Thank you. Yeah. So how’s it been going? When did you start? Just last week. Monday this week? Yes. Started

12:10 Monday. It was a little bit of a whirlwind for the first two days, and they had me booked, uh, with somebody every hour on the hour. Perfect. Perfect. So I think I finally got through it yesterday, about two o’clock. Um, so I finally actually got to sit down with the staff today. Uh, we had a nice staff meeting and we, you know, kind of went over what everybody was working on and, and just me getting, you know, accustomed to the position and then, you know, so it was, uh, it was exciting. The groups, the, the staff is great. It’s fantastic. Um, I was saying, you know, I’ve been paying more attention, I guess, to the articles in the paper over the last several months. And you know what I’ve read of the staff, like, I’ve always been really impressed with what they’re saying. Um, and they’re, they’re a good, they’re a good, it’s a good team. Yeah. It’s a solid team. They’re, they’re really eager

12:56 and they’re, they’re really excited. So it’s been nice. Great. That’s great to hear. That’s great. Great. Yeah, we’ve been looking forward to you starting and getting settled and everything. Um, and you’re from town, so Yeah. It’s nice that you don’t have that learning curve, right? So much. I don’t know my street names very well, but, um, uh, yeah, I’ve been, uh, in Marblehead since oh four. Yeah. So it’s been a while. Uh, so, uh, say I think three different houses in Marblehead. So I’m excited. I mean, it’s nice to be here. I’m really excited to be like, working in town. Oh, you Bet. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Even some of the, like I just anecdotally heard from like, some of the business, um, owners in town are excited for the position and to fill it and Yeah.

13:41 Um, we should set up some type of like a meet and greet at some point when you get settled in. Yeah. The, I mean, it was The local businesses. I, I, it was funny. I wasn’t planning to rifle through so many different, uh, planning board members and commissioners and staff members the way I did. I, you know, in my mind I was gonna set up all, set that up and do it on my own, but, you know, it was so, I was nice to meet everybody very quickly. But yeah, there’s still a lot more for me to get out and meet with people and, uh, learn more about the committees. I’ll be working with, uh, lots of committees. Mm-hmm. Lots of committees. Yes. Well, we’re, we’re super excited too, uh, to try out this new role, you know? Yeah. It’s, it’s a significant part of our, you know, kind of the organizational concept that we’ve come up with. And, uh, it’s, it’s, it’s really important for the town. So

14:28 Yes. I’m delighted To have you in, in, in the saddle for sure. Yeah. I’m excited. Yeah. And you come from, Peabody’s was your last place you were working and Peabody was the last place I was working. I’ve been there for a long time. Mm-hmm. I think I was there for 19 years. Um, so it was, uh, you know, when I saw this opportunity, uh, come up, I figured great. I figured I’d go for it and, yeah.

14:52 Um, okay. So we’re just gonna formally appoint you like we do every year. Um, we’ll do it again in June, we’ll make a reappointment. But, um, I just need a motion to appoint Brendan Calla Callahan Community Development and Planning director with a term to expire in June, 2025. So moved. Second. All in favor. Welcome. Thank you. Welcome, welcome. Thanks, official. Thank you. Um, okay. I, I’ll call, um, Alexander Lewis to the table if he’s here. Oh, hi. How are you? Good. How’s it going at, um, shin Dynasty? First off, thank you for having me. Yes. Well, welcome. Hi. Welcome, welcome back. Welcome. And we do have your email, so, But, um, so, uh, I asked my landlord

15:39 to give you guys an update. So she wrote a letter, if you don’t mind me reading it for you, that’d Be great. Okay. Um, it says, to whom May, to whom it may concern, Mr. Alex Lewis through his LLC has been a tenant nearly five years at one Atlantic Avenue. Unfortunately for Mr. Lewis, the COVID-19 pandemic struck within a month of his buying the previous tenant’s business and signing a lease with my brother and me, owners of the building at One Atlantic Avenue. For Mr. Lewis’s business, lip petite comtois and interior redesign was necessary as well as new fixtures, furniture appliances. Much of this was held up for extended periods of time due to COVID-19 restrictions on international shipping, on long haul trucking, and on lack of workers. Unfortunately, this unforeseen and exceptionally long delay, which had nothing to do with Mr. Lewis or his desire to get his business up

16:25 and running, made it impossible for him to open within the expected two to three years of leasing our property. In all that time, Mr. Lewis has been nothing but an upstanding tenant. He was finally seeing a light at the end of the long tunnel when Marblehead building inspector informed him of the state’s new regulation regarding a firewall and a DA entrance to our building and shut down his ability to finish the interior construction. From the moment on October 29th. When I was apprised of these new requirements, my brother and I have been diligent in locating a well-qualified reputable architect to take over the project of addressing these requirements. We hired Mr. Bob Elli on November 3rd. Mr. Elli is the architect of record for this project. He has been working tirelessly to meet all of Marblehead

17:11 and the state of Massachusetts WRI requirements. A variance request was submitted, looked over and returned with a few additional requirements. Since those necessitated a CAD generated architectural drawing with a great money specifics, my brother and I hired a second architect to work with Mr. Israeli on the graphical representation required by Massachusetts that is now in the hands of the state awaiting further instructions or outright approval until final approval. No construction of any kind is permitted. Once approved, all of the required construction as well as Mr. Lewis’s final interior construction can begin or resume. We all look forward to that moment when Marblehead will once again have a delightful shop at on Atlantic Avenue. As an aside, the property has been in my family for over 65 years.

17:58 First at Abbey May’s, where my father made all the ice cream on premises, my mother roasted gourmet nuts and made candies in a candied kitchen farther up on Atlantic Avenue. And our entire family worked most sincerely, Debra a Kotter. Thank you. Um, and so that’s pretty current that Yes. That she sent Today has transpired since the letter? No. Um, all I know is that, um, they hired that second architect and the drawings have been sent to the state of Massachusetts. I do not have a date on when they’re gonna see that. Um, I know they met with them, uh, the middle of last month. Mm-hmm. Um, and asked that they have a, um, a more detailed drawing of the, um,

18:45 of, of the, of the place. So we’re just really just waiting for that approval and hopefully we can just go on from there. How much work do you have to do in Tariff? Um, so as far as our work is concerned, it’s, um, walls, floors, and appliances. Alright. Look, so my, my contractor thinks maybe two more weeks of work on his end, but he can’t do anything until the firewall’s put in place Sure. And all the whatever work the, uh, the TERs would like to do. Um mm-hmm. And you’re fully capitalized to do that and and committed Yes, sir. To do that. Yes, sir. Construction. Okay. What type of, um, like cuisine is it that you’re planning? So it’s gonna be like top of style with, um, a very cheese forward, uh, menu. Oh, great. Okay. Well, I know it’s super, very difficult

19:33 to be a small business owner and it comes with a lot of risks and headaches like this, so, um, we’re really pulling for you to get it. Appreciate that. Yeah. Yep. And we look really hoping to see you open as soon as you can. Me too. I mean, I, I thought we’d be opening, you know, Thanksgiving time beginning of December. Yeah. And then I’m sure. And then building inspector was like, wait a second. There’s no firewall between these two businesses, So. Yeah. Yep. Um, anyway, we wish you the best of luck, I think. Um, thank you for coming and giving us an update. Absolutely. Thank you for everything. Um, I think the renewal is, we have like, it doesn’t even come down until May. So, um, would be like when we would renew the license or, so this is on six months.

20:19 Six months right. From notice. I, I forget what, but I think it’s sometime in May. So it’s, but thank you for being in good communication with us and, and, and, um, I’ll Keep you Guys updated and we are definitely hoping for, uh, quick resolution to the, a aada issue and Thank you the firewall. So best of luck. Yeah, please feel free to reach out to Kyle and uh, and schedule updates. Sure, Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Can I leave this with you? It has the Cauter. Yes, that’d be great. Put it in the file. Yeah. Great. Thank you. Has her Contact information or anything? So in case needed to ask her anything she said Please do. Okay. Thanks Alex. Alright. Good luck. Thank you, Alex. Good luck. Thank you. Okay. Um, so next on our agenda is to discussion of the hours that,

21:07 um, around the, uh, snow emergency parking vans. And, um, chief Gill, would you, do you wanna come and present? I didn’t mean to put you on the spot, but we’re on for discussion. So I mean, Amy, if you want join, I can Yeah. Help The chief out. He looks like he’s looking around for some help. No, Who else? I had heard it wasn’t kidding. You know, it was be a little difficult since we, we did that, uh, transit piloted the Yes, thanks. So this is, this is the team, this is the, that hub Marblehead emergency response team. This Is the team that huddles and then obviously the superintendent would have a Right, Of course. A play in snow emergencies too. So, Yeah. So just for background, we used to forever

21:54 and have a seasonal parking ban. And then it was proposed and voted on at town meeting 2019 or 2020. We were under the 10 that was, was 2020. And the town voted to try out to have, um, to not have a, a blanket all winter fall to spring parking ban, but to move to an as needed emergency off street parking ban. So, overnight. Overnight, yes. And so we had just kind of continued on the usual hours, which were midnight to 7:00 AM as they were seasonally. But you know, mother nature does not abide necessarily

22:45 by those hours that are frankly arbitrary. So let’s see if we can improve the situation for the DP DWS purposes and clearing the streets and whatnot. So, um, I just wanna give the background for people why we’re here. So the last three years, nature’s been pretty good to us. Yes. We haven’t had issues model Into effect. It really hasn’t had a chance to test it out to a full extent. We haven’t got a lot of snow. Um, still a little more snow this year. We’re starting to learn from it. Um, what we’re realizing, obviously, I don’t want to speak for everybody, but what I’m realizing is, um, we’re not getting a chance to push the snow back like we should when we’re looking at a set time from 12:00 AM to 7:00 AM In my mind, the snow emergency is declare

23:33 it’s given DPW, which I consider part of the public safety and to the time to get the snow cleaned up. And once they say we’re done, we lift the band. And hopefully going into next year with capital, we’ll look at a blue light system. But, uh, I’ll let you guys comment if you want. So, um, if you remember when you voted this year, uh, there was a quick discussion of, you know, why don’t we keep these hours in place all the time? And I actually did stand up and say that, you know, this is too early. I keep these hours in. There are a lot of considerations that I don’t think the board has heard. Um, that’s right. Right. So this storm that we just recently had dropped more snow or almost as much snow as we got all year last year, all throughout the whole year. Mm-hmm. So, you know, I’ve been really lucky as DPW directed

24:21 to really not see any snow. So it’s been great. And I was hoping I was gonna just be that, that charm that I kept going. But it looks like that might be wearing off this year. We’re in an extremely, uh, heavy weather pattern and it looks like it’s gonna continue. Um, and I’ve had a lot of discussions with Bob Titus, the assistant director who has been dealing with snow and marblehead for more than 20, 30 years.

24:48 He has been better than any weatherman that, uh, I have. I always come in with my little sheets and he says, this is what it’s gonna be. And he is been right each time. So, um, he definitely has the background in what it takes. But you know, we were discussing like an eight inch storm takes 14 hours to clear and 12, you know, it doesn’t mean from 12 to seven you can just stop clearing and go home and come back. So you have people who have been up for a long period of time, they’re moving heavy equipment, they are moving lots of snow. Uh, marblehead, everybody knows they’re small streets. Every time it snows that we can’t push back, that just, uh, decreases the, the lane of travel. You still are parking, you know, so now you’re even less decreased. You have, uh, even less room. And then we have people who are now walking, you know,

25:35 not on the parking area further out and further out. So, you know, it is a concern. It is a big safety concern and a big, um, public health concern that I am worried about. And we do have people who are very skilled at snowplow, um, remo and, and snow removal, but they still are up a long time. And remember they are our, um, employees, right. So we’re not hiring a contractor who is rotating through people and through equipment, you know, we are doing it all in-house. So, um, we definitely have looked at it. Uh, and again, it doesn’t snow between midnight and seven every time, so Right. It also creates having to have two bands. Right. You know, we’re not sure. So now we have

26:20 to do midnight seven for two days, you know, hoping that the storm we’re gonna be able to come back and clean up. But you still are out there. Yeah. But in the interim, you could park during the day, but you’d wanna, but if it’s snowing, we still have to push back. And then if you look, you tend, people tend not to move something and then you have a, a car that’s parked in and and suddenly you can’t. Yeah. And then it compounds. Like, I know tonight we’re Not, not getting what we thought originally we might have gotten, but it does compound on top of each other throughout the winter if you don’t keep it back. And we’re not looking to expand the, uh, you know, how many days we do it. You can look at very few days have been called Right. In the past. It’d be very similar to the amount. It’s not like more days be called because of This. Yeah. And my understanding is that other communities do it on a, it should be storm specific, it should be a storm specific

27:08 issue, and not necessarily tethered to Totally makes sense. Yeah. That’s the whole idea of, of sort of breaking away from midnight and seven time hacks that in the proposed language, collectively the four of us huddle and there’s others in the huddle, huddle and determine what the time hacks are. And I think just to add on to Amy and having to be in this, this kind of role in multiple communities over the years, um, one and understanding that for a snow operation, it’s not just plowing. Mm-hmm. So there’s all the prep that goes, goes in the sanding and salting in advance. Um, then it is you, you plow to, to maintain the streets to keep ‘em open.

27:56 But then you’ve gotta move snow around because during a snow operation, you’re just trying to clear the roads and you’re piling in areas that are roadway, like at intersections and corners. You wanna get in, you want to get those cleared out so you have clear sight lines for drivers, even when the, the snow stops falling. Get the clear sight lines. And then the other factor that really hampers is what’s the weather condition following up? Because you get a nice wet snow and you get a freeze that comes in behind it, it turns to cement. Mm-hmm. And you know, depending on your fleet, your, your trucks with plows are not gonna move it. And now you have your limited bucket loaders having to cover the entirety of the town to get snow out.

28:43 So the whole idea is to have more flexibility and time to fully address all the conditions pre, during, and after to be more effective of clearing the streets and making them safe. Yeah. I mean, I think it makes, uh, makes complete sense. I guess my question is around the communication. How does that change and do people get caught out parking, you know, and getting a ticket and, and so forth. But I think that, you know, based on our collective knowledge, um, we’re asking to have flexibility with the ban to trust that we’ll minimize the impact on the community. Yep. So making when the ban is needed and then lifting it when it can be lifted. And we’re asking for that collective. For me policing, it’s very, it’s about being very consistent

29:31 and the management of it is for us is that when it’s called you get off the street. ‘cause if you don’t get off the street, you’re gonna be ticketed and towed. Yep. And that is the last thing. And we, we go to measures to try to reduce that from notices to little messaging before they go out. The officers are trying to get everybody off at 26 or 27 to is the last storm. We’re trying to minimize that impact as much as possible. Um, and so the notice system, uh, matters. And, um, we, we have been working on it as a team now for a few years. So we, we’ve gotten some of the stuff that we need to work out and then we would all be big advocates of the blue light system for the town to support that purchase, what we’ve already talked about.

30:17 Um, and then it is literally about, um, knowing that when we’re asking if you are on it, there literally is no excuse. And perhaps, you know, that’s, that is an unfortunate messaging that goes along with the snow parking. Yeah. And then many of us have talked about this before. It’s a much better scenario five to 10 days a year rather than your entire winter snowman. Mm-hmm. I also just wanna say that the code red has been, you know, we’ve been using it for a few years now. Yeah. It’s very effective. We have multiple people who know how to use it. We are seeing bigger numbers. And then the email notification has, uh, We’re seeing huge numbers with emails. I mean, five years ago we were hitting 400 people with emails. We hit over 3,600 right now, this last storm. Wow. Okay.

31:04 So it’s going out. It’s going out. Voice, text, email. Yep. And on social media I’ve seen it, we can post on social media and always on the town website. Um, and if residents are not getting the code, red notices, they can go to the town website and sign up right on the front. They can. And I think we talked about that as they got ahead to, uh, post that more prominently out there so people understand it. Yep. So if through A drive Yeah. Try to get more People to sign up. It’s part of being in New England, if you know where storm is coming Right. And you don’t have access to any of the means, ask your neighbor. I mean it’s, you know, unfortunately we are trying to gain access to everybody that we can and there’s always an ability to, you know, go the extra.

31:52 Um, but it’s about calling it And getting the, Allowing operations, these experts to get their stuff done and then minimizing impact on everybody. Yeah. And everybody wins when the roads are clear. So, so, So there’s one more ask that’s needed for this, and this is actually an ask to the public, to the residents, is that as we’re in fall going into winter,

32:16 before we hit the storms, make a plan for a place to take your car. Right. Right. Whether it’s on your property, lawn, uh, arrangements with others. That is probably the most impactful thing that could be done to, to have a positive effect, is that the residents to proactively have a strategy as to where to move the vehicles for when, uh, the, the alert is called. Uh, rather than waiting to the middle of the blizzard to say, I, I need to find a place. Mm-hmm. So it really is for the residents to, to do their part, to allow us to be more effective at doing our part. Yep. Great.

33:02 And it is beneficial if people think about getting their car off the street. Even if, even if an event like tonight, right. It’s maybe an inch then rain, but we are most likely gonna be out salting and, you know, the spreader spread salt. So it is really not great for your car to be on the street as we’re throwing salt all over the place too. Yep. So, And can I just give a shout out to the sidewalk plow, which is, I it’s been amazing. I I it’s been, when did we get that? We purchased that Just recent. Not a couple. So we have a few different ones. We have a, uh, angle plow that was purchased, uh, by the DVW. Mm-hmm. Um, that one has been out, but also, um, school has a tractor that has a small snow thrower. Yeah. Yeah. We have a big snow thrower on our

33:48 sidewalk tractor, which sends it really far. So it’s, it his has worked out a lot better. Five blocks between like from this year to years in the past, it’s been, it’s just nice to see that, especially all around the schools and Yeah. No, The school depart Has been very helpful. Dry. I know village is tough. It’s tough with the roots, so you can’t get everywhere but where you can, I see it’s, there’s a huge stretch down West Shore Drive, which is great ‘cause I see kids all the time walking. My kids used to walk. So, um, all right. So I think we just need a motion, um, here that has been prepared for us, uh, regarding the issue. I’ll need a motion to suspend town of Marblehead traffic regulation Article five, section eight, known as the current all night parking ban. And to imp implement in its place, a snow emergency response

34:37 to snow events on an as needed basis as follows. The DPW director, fire Chief and Police chief in coordination with the town administrator shall establish the start and end times of declared snow emergency based on the forecast, weather conditions or live weather conditions as required to keep streets maintained and safe for vehicles and pedestrians. Any vehicles that violate the provisions of this motion are subject 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 manage social media accounts, MHTV, and any other outlets the town has available. So moved. Second. All in favor. Great. Thank you. Thank all. I hope this helps

35:22 Make Your lives a little easier on snow nights. I snow dance as well. What does that look like? Those work. Well, those work.

35:34 Okay. Next, on our agenda, we have a letter as you see in your packet from Tenesco Country Club, who has awarded their annual complimentary golf outing to, uh, Marblehead Counseling Center. It’s a great, um, that’ll be great. So we just need a motion to award the Community Golf Day on October 27th, 2025 to Marblehead Counseling Center and to notify the task of Country Club of this reward award. So moved. Second. All in favor? Okay.

36:08 Um, and a request from Judy Anderson of our Marblehead two 50 Committee, um, around bell ringing. Can I have a motion to approve this request, um, from Marblehead two 50 Committee to have the bells of Abbott Hall rung for three minutes at 11:00 AM on Sunday, February 23rd, 2025 as part as of Marble Head’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Relu Revolution. So Moved. I can. All in favor? Great. Okay. Um, and now we have our consent agenda items. Um, and I’ll need a motion to accept the follow consent agenda items unless, um, anyone would like to hold them. Just call hold if you wish.

36:55 Minutes of January 22nd, 2025, the YMCA head to the Hills. 10 K May 18th, 2025, uh, subject to the approval of the Marblehead Police and Recs and Park receipt of the required certification of insurance naming the town of Marblehead as insured and police details. Miles for Mary. 5K Walk runs Saturday, October 18th, 2025, subject to the approval of the Marblehead Police and Rec Park. Receipt of the required certificate of insurance naming the town of Marblehead as additionally insured and police details. Abbott Hall for the Marblehead Community Charter Public School graduation and rehearsals on Monday, June 18th, 2025. License for private drain connection between the town and Barry and Beum Edelman two

37:41 through six Washington Street as presented.

37:46 Um, so moved or is actually Yep. Yep. Still moved. Yep. Second. Second. All in favor. Okay. And now we just have to take a poll vote to correct a clerical correction. Um, I need a motion to approve the application from the Eastern Yacht Club as presented to change officers and directors on the seasonal club license number 0 6 5 6 0 0 0 5 2 at 42 through 44 Foster Street. So moved. Second, Mr. Grader. In favor, Mr. Fox? In favor, Ms. Newton In favor. Okay. And then we have our annual, um, reauthorization of all of our revolving accounts. Um, they’re in our, uh, here in our, um,

38:34 in our packet with details and letters from department heads as you see. So, um, I’ll ask for a motion to authorize the following revolving of fund accounts for fiscal year 2026 in accordance with the Mass General Laws. Chapter 44, section 53 E and E one two in the amounts below. Animal Control Department, 20,000 Council on Aging, 250,000 Board of Health commercial Waste Disposal, 2,008,495 Board of Health vaccines, 10,000 Highway Street opening fees, 100,000 sump pump improvement, 10,300 conservation fines, 75,000 Historical commission gift shop, 25,000 rec and park, 2 million Hobbs Memorial Fund,

39:22 $11,232. So moved second. All in favor? Great.

39:29 Okay. And then, um, we just need to formally certify, um, the article around the Board of Health moving from the three members to consisting of five members that was adopted at last town meeting. I need a motion to, for the board to submit Article 37 of the May 6th, 2024 annual town meeting to the general court. So moved. Second. All in favor?

39:55 Um, and we have a new policy here, um, for the town’s purchasing around recycled products. We are trying to be more mindful and reuse, reduce and recycle everywhere within every department. And so, um, there’s a new policy here presented that we are asked to adopt. So I I I’ll say it’s not a new policy, but for the, for the health department to apply for certain grants, they expect re-certification each year of the policy. Okay. So what it does is then, um, um, Andrew Petty will include the action of the select board in the applicant grant applications. Okay. That you have reaffirmed the policy, this policy

40:42 for the town and, and we remain eligible for that particular grant program. Okay. Great. So can I have a motion to adopt the recycled products purchasing policy for 2025 as presented? So second. All in favor. Okay. Um, now we, uh, that brings us to a sealer of weights and measurement appointment. And, um, we’re, yeah. So I’ll, I’ll explain this. So, um, up until Mr. Dave Rogers retired as our Veteran services officer, he was also our sealer of weights and measures. And so, um, with the transition and,

41:28 and then with Steve Cummings coming in as our full-time, um, building commissioner, he worked out the arrangements we’re required to have a seal of weights and measures. Uh, so what we are doing is moving that role into the inspections department, so it’ll be managed under them. And he is, uh, basically a contract service to provide the required, um, measurements. So all your gas stations, all your stores, it’s a, it’s a consumer protection role to go and test and validate that all the particular vendors, that the, the numbers are proper, the weights are proper. Um, and, and that’s the role of that.

42:15 And, and it’s being moved under inspection service. And he is a, the new person that’s providing that service for the town. And so it’s one of the positions that are appointed by the Yeah. Select boy. Okay. Perfect. Great. Um, so I’ll ask for a motion to appoint Leonard Rose Steeler of wait for measures for the term to expire June, 2025. So moved second. All in favor? Okay. I, and now we have consent items, uh, agenda for the contracts. Is there anything, um, Thatcher here that you, you wanted to speak to or, um, draw to our attention? Um, nothing jumps out to me that’s above

43:01 and beyond, uh, what’s in, in the, the package there. I think there’s some additional information behind that first sheet in regard to, um, at the community center, the bocce courts. Mm-hmm. I thought they were That’s pretty cool. Green hockey rinks, but I was mistaken, um, hallucinating on that. Yeah. Um, anyways, uh, just additional information as to the project that they are very excited about moving forward. So that’s one of the contracts that would be approved. Yeah. And the funding from that is from the Shaddock Fund and the Council on Aging. Contributing also. I know that, um, that’s a very beloved, uh, activity over there. So

43:46 In addition to the contract for the cleaning services Over at Yes. The community center Custodial at, That’s been a, that’s been a challenge ‘cause they’ve been having to do it in-house. Mm-hmm. So we’ve been able to get the resources, figure that out, and then it, it was a bit of a challenge to get a vendor, um, To do one building to Right to, to do that. I mean, we had vendors bidding from like Worcester to do that. Um, that just wasn’t gonna be practical. So we’re very pleased to, to secure the vendor we have. Oh, that’s great. That’s great. Yep. So that’s like 36,000 through June from now through June.

44:34 Um, okay, Great. And, um, The bocce courts look look really great. Okay. So, um, we’ll go through, I’ll have ask for motion to approve the following consent agenda items, contracts for the town of Marblehead un, except those put on hold and authorize the chair to sign on behalf of the board, we have First Price Landscaping Construction for the development of the Marblehead Council on Aging Recreation Bocce Facility Project in the amount of $207,300 and no cents. Um, second, amend a contract between the town and Tool Design group LLC for 24 20 24, um, bicycle plan by extending the date of the contract performance to June 30th, 2025, resulting in no change to the total contract.

45:21 Amount. Three, amend a contract between the town and Greenman Peterson Incorporated for bridge replacement at Village Street Over Rail Trail by increasing the dollar amount by $8,948, uh, and 76 cents, and extending the date of the contract performance to September 30th, 2025. Um, for, we are asked to reject all the bids received November 19th, 2025 on the Maverick Maverick Street Crossing Project, um, as all of bids exceeded the available funding, uh, on and five, uh, the custodial Sinclair cleaning for the cleaning services of the Judy and Jean Jacoby Community Center. And the amount of $36,400 valid through June 30th, 2027. Um, I think that’s, yeah, that’s it. That’s it.

46:07 So, so second, all In favor.

46:12 And That brings us To, Oh, just, um, when I acknowledge that we have some, a letter, uh, of, in on, of interest in the Disability Commission and a resignation on the Disability Commission that are in our packets as well. And, um, I’ll turn it over to Patrick Keer for our Town Administrator updates. Yes, I found my files. Um, thank you. Um, oh yeah. Okay. We’ll go back. Do you wanna take care of that? The other Yeah, before we start Yeah, I just, um, jumped ahead. Thank you, Moses. Um, we want to, um, uh, Cheryl Aland is stepping down from the Disabilities Commission and so, uh, we, uh, if we could just have a motion to send a letter of appreciation to her

46:58 for her service on the Disability commission. So, moved second. All in favor? Okay, great. Do we need to set a deadline for the day for disability commission? I saw it online packet, but thank you.

47:15 Oh, okay. So we have two letters of interest for, um, Joanne Clifford, Nancy Horgan for the Disabilities Commission, and then one for the Task Force against Discrimination. Um, yeah. So we wanna look at the dis, um, that’s two for Disabilities Commission. And we have one stepping down. We can go ahead and schedule something like, um, we have a, Yeah, let’s see. I don’t have my calendar on me Tonight.

47:46 This is our next meeting, what, Next week or next meeting? So next meeting is what? 26th? 26th? Yeah. I’m not gonna be here, Madam Chair. Okay. But just for, So then what about, um, we have like a February vacation week and there, so like what’s our meet like in March? We have the fifth, no, 12th, sorry, the 12th. The 12th and the 26th and the 26th. 12th. I said a deadline for the seventh. Deadline for the seventh. Sounds good. Okay. Three seven. And then we can interview on three 12 for disabilities. Mm-hmm. And should we just go ahead with the same? Yeah, Yeah. We Knock, knock those two Out and we’ll do three seven, um, and three 12 for deadline and interviews for task force against discrimination as well. Perfect. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Okay.

48:35 So, um, two, two focus areas, one and police department. Um, I always like to tell the good news. Um, so, um,

48:46 the title is dispatch dashboard application. Save saves money in my memo that will, will, will go out later. But the, um, the, the Marblehead 9 1 1 dispatch center is receiving another, um, I don’t think I’d call it a grant, but, uh, free licensing from esri, which is a, um, it’s a multinational company that does GIS software, geographical information system software. Um, and so we have some very talented members in our dispatch center who have developed an a, an application using, uh, using the GIS to enhance our capabilities in emergency situations for dispatchers and for first responders, uh,

49:33 and others out in the field. So it’s an application. I’ve seen the, the demo where, um, we have like major storm damage everywhere. Folks go out in the field and with their, with their cell phones, take a picture, go in the app, take a picture of the tree down, tap in some, some information, hit enter, and all this information is being updated to our dispatchers and, and other emergency management folks who are getting a holistic picture of what’s going on out in the street. So it, it allows for faster response, more accurate response because of this work that our dispatchers have been doing. Um, so one Esri that’s saving us $50,000 on licensing

50:18 for, for, for those folks, but they’re, they’re in 2023, and I think we’ve already announced this when they were developing this, they received the People’s Choice Award at the National Alliance for Public Safety, GIS Foundation, innovation Summit for Preparedness and Resilience. They must have a big poster board to put that conference name on there, but, um, so they’ve been working on this for a number of years. They’ve been getting recognition, but once again, uh, Esri in recognition of the innovation and the usefulness of the application is giving us, uh, basically $50,000 worth of licensing for that purpose. I will point out there are other licenses that we have

51:04 with Esri that we’re not getting a discount on, uh, for, for other broad applications. So this is specific to the application for the dispatchers and the first responders. So, um, great work by the, you know, coming out of the, our dispatchers and, and creating an application. It’s not just useful for us, but Esri is recognized as useful for all first responders. So, um, terrific work. It’s outstanding. Um, we have, uh, two police academy recruit updates. You’ve, you’ve met the candidates. So Taylor Nolasco is actually graduating on February, let’s see, um, yeah, February 28th she graduated and she’s, wait a minute, what month are we in?

51:50 February. So she graduates February 28th. Uh, and she’ll start her field training on March 3rd. So she’ll be, uh, back with us and out on the street in the field training process. And that same day, um, March 3rd, our newest recruit that came before you at Brandon Aire. Am I saying that right? Chief’s gone, uh, he starts the police academy on that day. Okay. Um, so one coming outta the academy, one going in the academy, uh, really help, um, with the staffing, again, they have to go through field training so that there’s, it takes about almost a year between the academies and field training before they’re a independent patrol person on the street,

52:36 but you gotta get through this to, to, to get to that point. Uh, finally, um, and there’ll be a formal letter coming to the board in March, but, um, there, the police department has finished up preparation for the, uh, reaccredited reaccreditation assessment, which will be in May. So this is a program where the, the police department gets inspected by evaluators, goes through their policies, procedures, um, you know, just kind of goes through A to z all of the operations and policies and everything of the department and certifies it as an accredited department. So this would be the, I think this is the second re-accreditation, uh, for that. So a ton of work by the folks in the department

53:24 to meet that compliance. Um, but it’s, uh, a certification that you have a police department that is squared away, and that’s what is important to the community. Um, the other part of the update, um, and again, just better in writing, but I’ll, I’ll run through here. This is from our public works. We’re, we’re trying to make sure that we push out information as to what are the work activities out on the street that are gonna impact the neighborhoods. So, so as the heads up, so we have sewer projects, um, Glendale, Pickwick, Brooks Trager, uh, Roger Shetland area, the Shetland area Lining Sewer Mains.

54:10 This is Amy’s short notes, Sergeant Street Sewer main replacement. Um, we’re mixing streets with the activity, that’s what I’m catching. All right. Nashville Grid would be on Maverick Street for our gas main replacement rail trail prototype rehabilitation of the rail trail from Pleasant Street to Smith Street. Um, we’re all looking forward to that. That’ll complete, um, part of Complete Streets and a DA transition plans. So a lot of these, like the Rail Trail projects and others are coming from plans that we have to do this, um, uh, neighborhood construction Zoom meeting to be scheduled for next week. So on the, the Pleasant Street, the Smith Street Trail, village Street Bridge, boring work is completed. Wow. Um, and that’s boring as in drilling.

54:55 Drilling, uh, I, I, it made noise. It wasn’t, it wasn’t boring for some of the neighbors, but it was boring. Uh, so the design works ongoing. Um, and the state accepted the culvert for the bridge replacement, which I think I’m talking about. We had to initially apply as a bridge project, um, and then mass dot goes through the process and they certifies, okay, we can do it as a Culver project. And that brought the price tag from somewhere around 11 million, down to two to $3 million. Uh, so great work by, by everyone to, yeah. Yeah. Uh, Charlie Quigley gets credit, even though he’s, he’s retired and moved on, but he was, that’s great. He, he was, um, pushing that,

55:41 but we had to wait for mass.to go through their process to say, yeah, okay, we can do the cul. So that’s great. Um, great strategy. And if you remember, uh, Tom meeting and, and some negotiations that went on with 2 97 Ocean Ave, the, the stormwater pipe. So that is 95% complete new head wall pipes, great work by the contractor to do that. Great coordination by Amy, uh, working with the, the property owner to work through all of the concerns and issues. So very happy about that. Um, and what else? Do you have the, um,

56:22 Yeah. All right. I’ll just leave it at that. So what we’re gonna try to do is, is publish sort of these Progeny Street projects and the impacts, get ‘em out, um, so that folks in the neighborhoods know what’s coming. Um, and then like for the rail trail and those kind of projects have, have some kind of public form so folks can get the information, ask questions, and be fully informed. So, um, great work from Amy and the whole team, uh, out there, uh, fixing our infrastructure for Marblehead. So with that, okay. Concludes my update. Thanks. Any, any comments or No. Um, and then our final thing on our agenda is any select board announcements.

57:09 Does anybody have any announcements tonight? Not for me, Madam Chair. Not either. Okay. Okay. So I’ll just, uh, meet a motion, uh, to adjourn. So moved second. All in favor? Okay. I’ll adjourn us at eight o’clock, one hour.