Select Board: January 14, 2026

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.

0:01 All right, we’re calling the meeting, uh, January 14th, 2026 at 7:00 PM to order. Now that this meeting is being recorded, we’ll open the meeting with public comment. Anybody have public comment? Anybody online? Don’t see any council. Okay. We will move on to 10 Administrator update, Patrick. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, couple things. One, um, our continue effort in Yes, we legal technology modernization. Um, so we have now implemented, uh, the open up platform for our procurement. As you know, we, you know, have a, a, a chief procurement officer full time, uh, helping us manage all.

0:48 And we’ve implemented, uh, a software platform so that all of our procurement bidding, uh, will be done online. So when we go out to bid for items, all the responses would be done through, uh, Marblehead opened up portal allows us to better track, uh, record keeping compliance, all all those things that we need to. So again, it’s add, it’s adding technology to take the workload off of staff, as well as having better information, um, maintained. But I also noted in here that we currently use OpenGov software for all our permitting software. And again, it’s designed that, um, residents applying

1:35 for permits to include the inspection department. Everything’s online. Uh, it gives us the ability to better track, uh, um, the permits, the open items, the actions that need to be done. And what we also use that for is we now give access to that information to the assessing office. And Steve C**s and, and the staff are, are sort of categorizing, um, um, permits in a way that there are those that have potential for new growth revenues versus those that are just, I’ll call it run of the mill. Um, and then that information is available to the assessor’s office so we can better track, uh, those permits that give us potential

2:21 for capturing new growth revenue. So, uh, anyways, we’re excited to have another platform. Um, the, uh, uh, Allison Jenkins, our Chief Procurement Officer Shores, most of the department heads, they don’t need to learn any new software. She runs it, you know, people applying, but we’ll able to try data on. So pleased to have that on board. Patrick, these are, these are all modular, right? As I remember, and with part of a bigger contract and, and can find negotiation. Yeah. So OpenGov, it, it’s a subscription service Yeah. Of software. Yeah. Uh, available. So it’s all run through web pages And, but it bumped out the subscription. Yeah. Right. So we had open gove for permitting. We added Yep.

3:08 Open Gove for procure. Right. So, yes. Um, next item, uh, as we proceed on the, what I call the long conveyor belt for the Village Street Bridge, which is really the Harold b Breer Bridge, that’s the official name, what he calls it, the Village Street Bridge. So we, um, we’ve gone through the design process of 25%. We have now moved forward on the tip where we’re applying for construction funding for the project. Right now, the estimated cost is 5.25 million. Um, and again, the construction costs, uh, would be carried by the transportation improvement plan, which is state federal money that flows down.

3:54 Um, as I’ve described before, the whole tip process is a very long slow conveyor belt, but we’ve reached the next level of the process, um, uh, if, um, it’s included. So this project, if it gets finally approved, uh, would be in basically construction in the 20, 30, 31 timeframe. So it would be, it’s a number of years down the road. The key to TIP projects, and this is probably just a, a heads up for other projects that we have, um, is to, to always have projects going into the pipeline so that, um, you always have a project somewhere,

4:41 hopefully coming out on the other end being done, uh, a project that’s in, in the design, getting funding for construction, and then new projects coming in, um, on that. So, we’ll, we’ll obviously have some updates for projects that we’re looking to put into the pipeline. But anyway, so the Village Street branch is, is moved to the next level Through the check they asked, which it’s bounced around. What design is this? Is this with, with a culvert now and fact, or? Yeah, I think, uh, If, if, if think so, that’s, that’s why you had a lower number. But then, uh, it is, um, there had to be some dimensional changes Yeah. For various technical reasons. So, um, yes.

5:26 And then this includes access to the trail, a DA compliant access. So it’s not just the bridge. It’s, um, encompasses some improvements in around the Village Street Bridge. Oh, go ahead. For, um, connection to the rail trails for other, um, you know, pedestrian bicyclists. So there are other enhancements to that area of Religion. I think they called it a BARM last time. What’s that? Wasn’t a barm was I think the technical Yeah. I’ll to the engineers that as you wide go in different categories. Yeah. Um, to Ger Patrick, uh, any visibility right now in kind of the state, state versus federal funding outlays, or how, how do these projects typically fallen? So, um, well, this is mostly funded through the gas tax

6:16 flow from the feds down to the state, and then the state. Well, so when a project is approved at the tab they have, within the MPO, which is the organization that manages these projects, they have a number of different buckets of money, and it’ll be buckets of federal money. And in order to a project to be eligible for that certain bucket has to meet certain criteria. And then there are buckets that are state money. And so projects like this, more often than not, the funding, the total funding is made up of several different buckets. Some of it fed some of the state mm-hmm. Where at the beginning of the process to secure the funding so that for the construction.

7:02 So the NPO folks will analyze the project and say, okay, you’re eligible for this bucket of federal and this bucket of state and that. So It’s concurrent process there too. Okay. Yeah. Um, next, uh, picket house, exterior improvements. Again, Steve Cummins, our, our superintendent of buildings and, uh, building commissioner and, and many other things, I guess I, I, I’m gonna ask him to do the state of the town for me. He’s been so successful in his projects. Um, Second, be careful.

7:42 You know, what’s important about this is we have a number of these historic buildings, and if we don’t maintain the conditions, especially of the exterior, they, they’ll degrade. And so the picket house, um, uh, the siding, uh, on three sides of the building, um, new gutters, it basically, uh, protecting the envelope of the building. Uh, so that work, um, is ongoing new windows. Um, so, so that work has, has progressed well, Franklin Street Fire Station building envelope. So again, we’re, we’re, uh, replacing rotted trim, uh, siding. Uh, so, so those things are, are either completed or near complete, pretty much completed.

8:29 We, we, we are just ordering windows, but all siding and TRE is complete on the exterior. Yeah. And then within the fire station, uh, replacing the 30-year-old oiler system. And, um, we’re trying something new here, Marblehead, and it’s not always very common in municipal government. We’re trying to replace this infrastructure at the end of its lifecycle, not when it fails in the middle of the winter. And we have a crisis and we have to pay top dollar to do it. So we’re trying to have a real systematic approach. So as we’re working at the fire station, and, um, because of the, um, the great work Steve’s done as far as getting good bids and, and really working, you know, making the dollars available

9:15 to, to do things like replace the, uh, the boiler systems before it fails, rather than waiting till it fails. So, great work there. And then finally, uh, you may have noticed coming in to Avid Hall, at least from the driveway side, uh, there’s a door missing. It’s called plywood. Yeah. Uh, we’re actually doing, uh, those are very historic doors. I, I think they’re original to the building, or they’ve been on there for a hundred years, whatever. Um, they need full res restoration. So we’ve taken the doors off one side of the entrance. Those doors are shipped off, can be fully restored. Uh, they’re at the point where there’s no door inside the door to hold the locking mechanisms in place.

10:03 And that’s how they’ve just been, things have been repaired and in place for so many years. So they’re gonna do a full restoration, one set of doors. When those doors return, we’ll pull the other side, send it off, and have those doors come back. So again, um, really doing some work to maintain, uh, these historic buildings.

10:26 Great. Thank you. But updating more questions. All right. Thank you. That we will move on to item number three on our agenda. Public shade tree hearing. Open the hearing removal of the public shade tree. This hearing has been legally advertised. Applicant is Ren Sui and Kristen Morgan at two Thomas Circle. If you are present, call you up. Please come on up. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for calling. Thank you for having us. If you’d like to present your request, any information you’d like me to give us would be great. Um, I have some photographs. I’d like to, well, in case you haven’t seen three in question, um, this is

11:14 here.

11:39 This, this actually photograph is, um, on the

11:46 roadside, and you can see where, um, vans have hit it, and, well, not a van probably hit that the snow plow hits it, which is one problem because the snowplow, you know, it has to make an, a wide arc around that tree if it’s not comfortable, whatever you feel comfortable doing, um, around that tree. Sure. Um, but there are a number of issues why we would like to have this tree removed. Um, in that first photograph, the tree is, um, you can see there’s, it’s probably about six 80 years old. It was put in when Thomas Circle was developed.

12:35 Um, so you can see 80 years later the condition of the tree. Um, one issue, uh, very important issue is liability. Um, we’ve had a number of storms, um, in Marblehead on our street specifically. And, um, they have

13:04 fallen other linden trees. This is a linden tree we’re talking about. That’s one. When was that? A little older. This was, um, 1985. And this one was, uh,

13:23 this is 2019. This is right across the street.

13:35 It’s just the one that’s been uprooted. I just a winds to Sure. So these were all linden trees. Um, and these trees were, you know, straight up. They weren’t crooked like this. I, Bob, my husband and I, Bob, um, have lived on Thomas Circle for 45 years. And, um, excuse me, I was very close to the neighbors who lives at, at two Thomas Circle. My daughter currently lives there, Christian, horrid. Um, and so I sort of, I’ve been there for 45 years, and I know the history of, um, the tree. Um, although I don’t know when exactly it started taking that, you know, veering position into the street.

14:23 But, um, beside it being a liability, um, issue, um, with the storm coming and having to go over into our neighbors right across the street, our new neighbors driveway, they have two young children and they keep their cars in the driveway all the time. It certainly would damage that. Um, and as I mentioned, the snowplow has to make a wide arc around us leaving quite a bit of snow on either side and in front of the driveway. And then of course, that turns to ice, um, and has done quite a bit of damage to the pavement. Uh, the driveway pavement. Um, it’s uprooted it. And, um, so it’s unsightly looking.

15:13 It’s a hazard for walking. Um, their car actually, um, one of them has a hard time, um, entering the driveway because it actually will scrape it, the, the very front of the car. Um, the tree roots, excuse me, the tree roots are, um, you can see the tree roots and, uh, cars that come and park in front of the house, they have to park either up a little ways or they can’t park in front of that tree because they’re sticking out too much and they can hit their, their mirror. Um, and also there’s, uh, they’re quite a nuisance.

15:59 The, I don’t know if anybody else has some linen trees in their yard, but, um, the aphids, um, secrete a sticky substance. And, um, it gets all over the car. This is my daughter’s car, and this is just a day or two. It’s constant. So, um, you know, it’s, it’s just a mess. It, it, if you touch it, it, it’s sticky and it’s tar like, so, um, and as I mentioned, vans have come and they’ve, they’ve scraped it. Um, and, um, you know, at some point I think my daughter would like to,

16:46 because of the damage, now it’s all uprooted, um, at the, um, base of the driveway that, um, she’d like to repave it at some point. But there’s no sense in doing that if the tree roots are just gonna lift it up again, you know? Sure.

17:07 Is there anything else you’d like to provide with us as far as information, You guys, anything to say? Sure. Do you have Anything we’re gonna get? We’re gonna ask for the public, we’ll ask for the public after. Okay. So the process will be to ask, have you present, and then we’ll have the freeboard and, and then we can open it up to the public. Oh, okay. Yeah. Um, it’s a process we have to follow. Um, I don’t know if you had a chance to look at the letter that was forth where you do, because I copy for everybody If you’re Yep. Very well written. Okay. Details. We appreciate that. Okay, good. Absolutely. Um, it maybe make sense you sleep with pictures for now. Sure. And then we can call the tree will up. Okay. Right after that. Thank you. Yep. Thank you for the details there. You welcome.

17:53 I’ll just kind Yeah, you can start, lay them up there. So we need to walk further. Okay. We have enough detail there. Um, next, do we have the tree board?

18:05 Uh, John Bald? Yeah. Tree room town. Michael, ISA certified master. John, Do you mind just coming up here just because pick you up for online. Thank you. Uh, John Fulbert, uh, Mar Tree Warden, ISA certified arb, mass qualified tree warden. Um, got the application and presented it to a town for, uh, discussion of a, the removal of a 22 and a half inch Cal curve, uh, Tillium, Americana basswood. Um, the tree does have a lean to it, but uh, if you look at the tape of the tree, and it’s something called reactionary wood, where it’ll put more strength into the side that’s leaning, but it’s also photo growing towards the light.

18:50 So it’s corrected its growth. Uh, I’ve looked at pictures of this tree, um, on Google Earth going back to 2007. That sand lien has been there. It hasn’t moved. Um, I know it’s in a awkward spot, uh, in relation to the driveway and the rest of the house. Um, we have a lot of trees in town that have problems with sidewalk issues, uh, hardscape issues. But, uh, in our bylaws, it’s quite clear that we don’t remove trees for those reasons. Um, again, the aphid issue is a very common issue with the, with the lindens and the basswood. It does, uh, and it’s a very common problem. I do get a lot of phone calls on it, um, afraid if it, we open up this can of worms. Everybody’s gonna take down a large linden tree

19:36 of their house, front of their house, which is, uh, I get many calls on that to remove trees. Uh, and I tell them in the process. Um, I guess the other piece is that, uh, you know, compensation for this tree, it does, uh, get approved to be removed. I just wanna make sure everyone understands that. Um, it’s based on per inch caliper. So for every two inches of, uh, caliper tree, you owe the town $500. So the compensation for this, uh, tree, which is 25.2, uh, diameter of breast height would be, uh, $6,250, uh, paid to the town. Or the option is to plant 12 trees in, um, locations designated by, by the tree warden

20:21 of two in cattle per, but those trees need to be maintained for two years. And if any of them die within those two years, they’re responsible for replacing the trees, uh, that they’re responsible for the removal of the tree for the cost and the, uh, grinding of the stump. And to, uh, make the area, uh, back to where it’s acceptable by a licensed contractor that has certificate insurance with the town, uh, on file. Okay. Um, I think this is more of a sidewalk issue when you, as we all know, we town, we have plenty of trees with sidewalk issues. Um, just nervous. We set precedent, uh, on this one. It’s gonna start, um, a whole nother can of worms as far as people pulling trees down because of sidewalk issues.

21:08 But they are protected trees by, uh, Massachusetts General, uh, chapter 87, so by the state. So. Great. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you, judge. No, I do Any Questions now during Discussion? Uh, super discussion. I think you’re right. Thank you. Thanks, honor. Uh, if anyone want to speak opposed to this application, we do have a letter. Yeah. Um, so we do have a letter that was submitted from, uh, Palmer Pickford, the chair of Sustainable Marblehead Re, and Urban Foresty Working Group opposing this, um, happy to make it public. Um, like some big points here is that these trees do provide key habitat point 30 species of cavity nesting birds. Um, and that, from their opinion and looking at it, the tree is healthy and well maintained.

21:56 And the trunk, as John said, while leaning towards the street is strong and the upper limbs are straight. Um, it doesn’t appear to be overhang a building nor impeded the roadway.

22:06 Anyone that would like to speak in favor of removing and come on else, I think, do we have, we don’t have a microphone. Think not great. Yeah. If You wanna have a seat in the table There, The box away runs husband. Okay. Just wanna say, uh, regarding, uh, being a sidewalk issue, there is no sidewalk there. It’s a, a road issue. My friend talked about the, uh, plow and delivery trucks. You go down the street at night, it’s, it’s dark. There’s no, there’s no street lights down there. They’re very easy to run in that tree. And just picking the kids up. My daughter has three children go down to pick them up, take from school. I mean, you just have to be really aware of the, the tree.

22:55 Um, not really a side line.

23:02 Any other public comment prior. With that, I will close the hearing. We will review it as a board. Anybody have any comments, questions on it? Um, I, I did write down both the three as well as the three trees down, which you wrote today.

23:22 And, um, I, I guess my general way of looking at things, I, I believe three board’s recommendation is to leave it be. And I, I generally, um, go with, unless there’s an egregious disconnect, go with what the town professional says, uh, is. I look at it, it, it is in the neck, like a lot of trees. And I have a Linda in my backyard and big, all my backyard that I drop over Aaron. Yeah. Uh, well, I, I sympathized completely with the Linda tree because we have one in the, I had one in my front yard and I, in the old house that I was at, but it was on our property and we took it down simply because it’s a little mess. It’s pretty messy tree and from, from my point of view.

24:09 Um, but I have to say that, uh, you know, the free warden, you know, on the basis of the bylaws, and, you know, and, and I think the, um, you know, that it’s a protecting tree makes, it, makes it kind of difficult to, you know, kind of go against that. It looks like, um, it’s not endangering any, any, uh, any, any building. And that it’s a, it’s a pretty solid tree. So I, you know, again, uh, similar to my colleague, I’d probably, you know, defer to the, uh, judgment of the warden. We have lots of trees throughout town that kind of are in spots. We can thank, I think a World War II veteran, uh, for coming back. I can’t remember his name off hand,

24:55 but he planted trees all over town, kinda like the jungle fire. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Yeah. Mr. Clark planted trees all over the place. He loves trees. Wonderful. Yeah, I mean, it was wonderful because Marblehead actually did not have an added of trees. Uh, but he was responsible for that. But the result is we had ongoing issues, sidewalks and even roads of the trees. And, and, uh, you know, I think the, the, the, the philosophy we’ve taken is to let those trees, you know, uh, go their full natural, you know, life. Um, and this tree looks like it’s pretty, pretty healthy and is correcting, uh, you know, the, the, the way we would hope it would work. Any other comments or any other comments? Um,

25:41 Yeah, I mean, I, I know, um, the spot, I know, I know the tree and I’ve seen it, and it’s, yeah, it’s, I mean, I, you never would put that there, um, today and I completely appreciate, um, you know, the nuisance of it. And, you know, it’s, it’s just, it is an, an often spot. I, I feel, um, we’re pretty, uh, bound to a couple of, like the, you know, basically bound to being, finding, we have to make a finding that would like a liability or, um, diseased. And I know it’s 80 years old, but it’s, I guess my, my research shows that the trees can go to couple hundred years old, one 50

26:29 to 200 years old. Um, I’m taking into a consideration that it is a small cul-de-sac, but not like a busy road. I know on Jersey Street we’ve had a tree that on a very busy road that was, um, there for a long time that was anything worse, worse pronation than that. Um, and, you know, I think, you know, the snowplow is the, you know, can, would just have to move around. It. It, it’s, it’s the fact that it’s a, it’s really cul-de-sac to me that the viability he’s absent of professional explaining that it’s disease has a, and has a, any indication it would be more susceptible in a storm than any other tree. Um, I find, I find myself constricted to,

27:16 um, the bylaw. And, um, I’m, I, I, yeah, I’m, I, uh, I think that we have to defer to the Arbor Tists expert here on this. So, May I just say something I don’t think I’m public hearing is, um, unfortunately Yes. Has been closed at the time for that. Has, has done think for bound by that. Correct.

27:47 Repeat the question. I’ll let you say something. Go for it. Um, well, just, the, the fact that, you know, the, the driveway isn’t even fair. You have the roots up and fracking on. Mm-hmm. So you think that’s, you know, the homeowner should either not put in new driveways or they do, you know, waste all that money and they’re gonna have triggers. Yeah. I think we sym, I, I hear you. I’ve got a similar situation. My house. I, but the property, the problem is, I think that we are, that’s not actually on the, so this in front of it Correct. Property, what is it? Six feet off from the property? Looks like this is the driveway that existing cement,

28:35 Which would be part of the so sidewalk that If this, this is the start of the driveway, right? Like if you, I’m sorry, One up Right here. Right? Yes. So I guess the, the roots are here. Well, am I not seeing something over here? Yeah, you’re not seeing up here. It’s, it’s all cracked. I Should have taken a picture of that. How Far is that up? How far is the tree off from the, from the, How far up is the driveway cracking? Yeah. Um, I would say probably Halfway in. Yeah. Halfway up. Yeah. I can see that least. And, and that I, I don’t know if the street wouldn’t, it, it seems, I, I mean, I know Linda’s send their boots a long way,

29:20 but it, it seemed like a long way to get there. And I did notice the Libra also had the large degree. Yes. Yes. And that, to me, appeared more likely to move the pul there. I’m not sure. I mean, pre roots when they see asphalt tend to go in different directions. ‘cause it’s not possibly, but it is about halfway up heading towards the foundation towards, Towards the back of the house. Yes. I, yeah, over to the right. It just, It is going across, it has made half of its way across. Okay. To the fence. I, I, I, I’m no expert, but I just thought that neighbor tree might be, because that just off the street.

30:06 Yeah. So how do we solve the, the issue of street level to driveway level Right now? The car go out without dragging on the street. It’s only, uh, back maybe what four feet that these roots are dry, but underneath the driveway. So how do we, how do we solve that? We gonna raise the street.

30:36 That’s for, I dunno, that seems like might be a grading issue. I, I don’t see a good picture of that here. Yeah. Unfortunately this is here. Right. It seems like it might be a grading issue.

30:53 Doesn’t, I think it’s probably Be on our purview. Correct. You can kind of see it here, but yeah, it’s probably, I think that’s beyond our purview of, of this. But The property line, the property line goes in front you of the driveway. This is the property right here. This is the cart entering the Driveway. But this is your driveway out here. But that’s technically your property probably starts here. No actual, like, I, I understand this is your driveway, but this is public land, I would assume, right? Mm-hmm. From here to about here to your driveway. So you’re saying, I’m, I’m, I’m trying to Walkway assume Inside without seeing that, that you’re probably like, this is on public, obviously, and that this is prob like your, her land probably starts about here. Does that make sense? Yeah. You know better than I do. Um, so you’re saying

31:39 that this grade here is what we’re talking about, Right? Yeah. I think it’s probably a question. Yeah. I, I think that that’s probably something outside of our purview, to be honest with you. Yeah. And it strikes me, the impediment really is all about the public property, you know, to the extent that it’s impinging on a, on a public, a grove. And, uh, you know, I think we’ve got, I don’t know, it, it looks like it’s a manageable grade, um, but we don’t have a great picture Of what the, you’re saying you bottom ‘em out when you pop here. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And here, but that’s just not even being touched by the roots either. Right? So you’re, you’re trying to correct this is why you’re redoing the driveway. Well, She’d like to put a new driveway in eventually. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. But the roots would’ve to come out first.

32:25 Yep. I understand. Okay.

32:31 You can see the roots on this side, the driveway’s here. I mean, they just,

32:39 I don’t Know. Yeah. Yeah. That, that these, that’s the tree across the street, directly across the Street. This is right here. I gotcha. Yeah. Okay.

32:49 Yeah, We don’t have waste. Okay. You know what the solutions are then, you know, professional, um, hard states. Part of the issue will be trying to figure out on the public side of the land, right? Mm-hmm. Which would’ve to be talking. No, but that’s my point. That the, the grade from where the street is to where the top of the driveway is going up, down to the driveway, that’s an established, you know, point. It’s a very finite, uh, distance. I don’t know how you’re gonna grade that unless you raise, raise. Agreed. Yeah. Again, that’s probably, I, I think we can, can, so I think we’re bound by our, our, by our bylaws. So Request, have You spoken anybody? Have you spoken to anyone? D that would probably be your appropriate place to go.

33:36 They would have ideas or, you know, when they’re planning to address it or how they, they do find out on Sidewalk Outside, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, On There is no sidewalk. Yeah. There’s, so we understand. But there is the Right, but It’s a public, There’s a Right, it’s, there’s Not a, there’s a driveway. It’s public, right? Yeah. Yeah. The asalt between the street and where the property last starts. City driveway public. So that would be, yeah. Something that, um, the highway department would, um, would take a look at upon request. Okay. So I think we do where we sympathize with you, I think our decision is about our, our bylaws, what we have in the recommendation of the tree board. And I would recommend talking to going down to DPW

34:22 and talk to them about if there is a correction here. I’m, I can’t tell you there is, or it probably feels like we’re passing a buck and I apologize for that. Um, from what I’m hearing, did I touch something? No. Okay. Um, is there a motion to deny the request for Suey and Kristen Horgan’s, removal of a public chase three at two Thomas Circle to deny? Yep. I have a motion to deny.

34:52 So move, And I’ll second, Um, may I just make one more Thought? I, sorry. At this, we’re gonna vote after you vote. Okay. Yep. Yeah. So let’s vote and then I’m, I’m happy with that. You go ahead one more time. Quick one paper That the town wants to remove three, um, Pine trees. Yeah, I’m sorry. So that’s not, that’s not applicable. This you’re welcome to, we’re gonna sit here and listen to that. I would recommend that if you wanna stand and listen. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Uh, all in favor of denying the application. Yeah. Looks like it’s unanimous. Aye. Thank you. We will move on to the next one. Our agenda, which is exactly as you said, the public shade. Three hearing of seven, which are rooms. Second letter third, Mary, This Mr. Maryanne. Okay. Yes. So I would, would like to open

35:38 the public hearing from Ville Public Shade. Three. I had seven Whicher Road. This hearing has been legally advertised. Applicant is town of Marblehead Building Commission. Steve Cummings. Steve, if you look some up

35:56 packets, would you like these back? Those are mine. Oh, those ares. Oh, sorry. Okay. Pictures usual. Steve, same. Thanks. Okay. Thank you.

36:22 Good, good evening. Good evening. Steve Cummings. Hey, Steve, the building department at the Town of Marblehead. So, um, the reason why I’m here is, uh, is obvious to, um, remove the three trees close to the Mary Allen building. And I’ll give you a little brief, um, of what they, what I feel they are and why I feel they should be removed. Um, the first, as you know, we put a new roof on the building. Um, these trees are approximately, two of them are approximately 12 feet off the building, and they stand 50 to 60 feet tall.

37:07 Um, if you flip through the pictures, a lot of the debris that has come off of, um, the trees, that was about three days after the roof was laid, um, between the pine cones, the pine needles, and the tree sap. What the roof, the current roof that we installed is an EPDM rubber roof versus the old tower and gravel that was a lot more resistant to things. So one of my concerns is obviously branches puncturing it. The other concern is the tree sap on the EPDM heated up by the sun dries out the EPDM roof and drastically reduces the life

37:52 and tends to crack the rubber roofs. Um, so with that being said, again, two of the trees, they’re 12 feet off the building. They’re 50 feet tall, no tree, 50, 60 feet tall. Should be 12 feet around away from any building regardless of the roof. Uh, we spent about $450,000 on this roof. The third tree that’s a little further away, however, it is also, uh, white pine, which is on the last page. I have some literature that these trees are soft and their branches are very brittle, and they do tend to break a lot.

38:38 The tree themselves are pretty strong, but the branches are not, as you know, we put a new fiber loop in town. Mary Alley is the main hub of the fiber loop. The fiber loop costs about $500,000, and the fiber loop comes off the Mary Alley, right through the canopy of the trees out through the town. So fiber is very tough to patch. Um, if the fiber goes out, we lose it in the whole town because we are the main hub for the whole fiber loop. So between the investment in the roof and the investment in the fiber, the trees, the condition of the trees, um, I do believe

39:24 that in the interest of the town and protecting the work that we’re putting into the town, they should be removed. The last thing I’d like to add to this is that we are doing an extensive renovation at Mary Alley, right where those trees sit is going to be a main entrance to a new conference room. Um, and we would like to do, uh, a nice enhancement to the outside of the building, which would include landscaping and planting the proper trees in the proper locations. Maybe some at the Mary Alley around the Mary Alley, other places in town that we would be willing to work with. The tree wouldn’t, but these trees, uh,

40:10 definitely don’t belong where they are.

40:15 And I’d be happy to answer any other questions. Can you tell me where there’s a fiber optic run? The fiber optic run runs.

40:25 So these two trees that you see in the picture, those are the 12 foot off the building. If you look between the tree to the right in the building, the fiber optic runs off the far corner of the building and it runs through the canopy of the third tree. That’s actually just slightly to the, out of that picture. So like over here, actually John’s got a better picture. So one, two, the five fiber loop runs through the canopy of that third tree. These two are 12 feet off the building. And this one, to be honest with you, I could live with that tree if the fiber wasn’t running through it because you’re saying it’s not overhanging the roof and they, well, the other two are overhanging the roof saying the third one, the third one is not,

41:11 it’s more in protection of the fiber loop. The trees have been limbed up pretty high. There’s not a whole heck of a lot left to them. I think we could do better with better trees in better locations. I’m not sure that those trees may or may not have been there on purpose. Um, I don’t think they were meant to get that tall next to a building or they were thought of getting that tall, that close to a building.

41:43 Other question. Proceed. All right. Um, John, if you wanna, that Makes sense. You don’t mind coming up and giving your opinion? Sure. Uh, John, what was you rewarded? Um, yeah, uh, I got the request and, uh, initially we tried to prune the tree, uh, the two trees, the red, well, one of them, there’s two white pines. Let’s have some clarification. There’s two white pines and then there’s a red pine. That’s, uh, the other tree that’s right in front of the building. This one here is a red pine nickel species. Yeah, a little bit hardier than a white pine as far as branch attachment. And, um, it’s more fibrous. So if a branch does come down, it, it tends to hang onto the tree, not snap off. White pines are susceptible to when there’s storm damage,

42:31 um, and the branches do snap off. And they do, they do go, they do travel. Um, we try to compensate enough on the, on the white pine closest to the building. I believe that that’s like 11 to 12 feet. The other white pine is 23 feet off the side of the building. Um, I know there was a fiber optic line that we, we looked at, uh, that I’ve looked at that’s there. Um, I’m not sure if we can remediate it and, uh, prune it back so that it’s, there’s nothing under the line of the, of the fiber optic that would’ve to go further inspection. Like to see if there is enough room to prune it back. And there’s enough room for the fiber optic. Um, I understand the concern because it is a hard line to splice back in.

43:16 Um, it’s tough. I mean, these are fully mature trees. Um, overall health is good. Um, the Red Pine does have a small boar issue with it, which it’s, it’s present, but it’s not threatening over the overall health of the tree. Um, and that one, I mean, aesthetically not that pleasing. Um, I had no idea about the potential to, uh, do some site work there going down the road. If we do do site work, the these trees will heavily impacted. So, um, there’s a plan in place. Um, you know, it, they remove these trees because of the roots alone would be, uh, you know, recommended. Um, I’d like to save, try and save the one on the far side, uh,

44:02 where the fiber optic is. Um, and the red pine structurally is pretty tough. Uh, the white pine next to the building, I think that would be a good candidate for removal, um, in this space. So you, if I understand, so you’re saying that this one with a fiber optic lens you would like to sustain, If we can prune it enough that we can get enough clearance. So if a branch does snap off, it’s not gonna hit the line. And, and then and these two, this is the I’m horrible. No, that’s fine. No, no, This is red and this is right Here. Right? That’s a red pine again, that one’s the Red Pine has some bo issue with it, but it’s not affecting the overall health of the tree. Aesthetically, it’s not a gray tree, but, um, but the potential for anything to blow onto the roof is definitely there too.

44:49 So, um, you, like you said, pine cones and, uh, Could you Yeah, that makes, I mean, I see the pine cones. Can you help me understand where I’m struggling is understand where, where does this fall within our bylaws based on what we just talked about before. So if that makes sense. So what, what would be the argument? I’ve taken these down. So other than The obvious, like I see Yeah. Proximity. Yeah, proximity to the, to the, to the building and the new roof. Okay. Um, so fall more of a liability question or? Yeah, I mean, as far as, I mean, certain trees get are, um, certain trees can handle like a larger size. And I mean, these ponds will be another 30,

45:36 40 feet in 20 years. I mean, they’ll keep growing. That’s part of the issue too. Um, I think it can safely take away the middle one and, um, it wouldn’t have a huge effect on the other tree. I mean, they do kind of grow together. Um, but I would like the opportunity to prune, prune back for the fiber optic line and leave that one if possible. I, I, again, I did go by there today. I, I feel taken all three down is, is pretty heavy handed. Uh, I tend to agree with you. Um, they haven’t thrown back so they don’t directly overhang the building. I know wind can blow stuff on there. Uh, the red pine out front, uh, is not gonna affect the fiber optic issue.

46:24 The two on the side, I, I would tend to agree with, again, I think three is just really heavy handed. Maybe that middle one, um, is the biggest issue. I, I did, did see you pruning back where the Yeah, we tried to, again, roof length, but it, it still projects over the roof. I mean Yeah. Well so that’s the one that’s I’m concerned with. The, the, Yeah, this probably intriguing right here. This one right in the middle, The, the, the, the middle one and the, the fire one closest to the medical, the fiber optic runs through the middle of those, but it’s pretty well thrown back. And that’s a loop around the town, right? No, no. Uh, That’s what I was always under the assumption. I was under the assumption if it breaks at one end, um, it goes the other way. It’s No, no, no. Not, not a loop, but it runs significantly around the town

47:11 Is loop runs, right? Correction. So for instance, when I looked at that, when that line, I think it’s the right one crosses Bridger Road, right? On the other side there’s a deciduous tree that overhangs I like a dead branch milk. My point is there’s a lot of risk around the town and I, I didn’t think this was the largest risk. Oh, uh, yeah, I, I mean, my thought is maybe take, we’ll get some more. We can, let’s have that discussion out. Let’s just ask specific questions for that, I guess is, is the Red Pine kind of an offender in terms of the roof? Uh, I’m definitely concerned with the, the sap getting on the roof. Like I said, it will significantly, we put a 30 year roof on that and we want to keep it a 30 year roof. Yeah. The SAP tends to heat up in the sun.

47:57 It dries out the rubber, the EPDM, um, you know, and I Know, and it doesn’t look like it’s overhang. It’s been a lot of pruning on, on the roof side. The the is not overhang. They, none of them in my opinion, don’t directly technically o overhang. I, I understand blowing on stuff with, okay. Okay. Yeah. I’m just trying to get a sense which, which tree is the, is the bigger offender, you know, if we were to kind of, I Mean, they all have a, a little different risks for their own reasons. Correct. You know, we want to, you know, I would love it if the fiber loop didn’t run through that tree and the tree’s far enough from the building. Then we left it alone, to be honest with you. Um, right. This isn’t, uh, you know, personally, uh,

48:43 affecting me in any way. I’m just here to try to look out for the assets of the town that we’re spending money on.

48:51 Can I ask a clarifying question for John? Of course. Because there was some reference to it. So, uh, right there, this is to the, I think the red line. Mm-hmm. Right. So right there where there’s, right now the single door into the existing conference room, and again the, the project as Steve referred to is, uh, we’re gonna do a renovation in that whole area to turn that into a public meeting place, much larger conference room and enhancing that whole entrance right there, making it sort of from the parking lot into that part of the building. Um, you know, one EDA compliant and all that. So there was some reference as far as any work in that area on the root system. What would be the concerns for us to be able

49:38 to enhance the entrance area? Well, that, that’s, you know, I think I need to see some definitive plans of like how far down deep, how, how far away from the tree, how deep we go. You know, if if it’s not, um, if it’s gonna affect the overall health of the tree, then yeah, that’s something we really have to consider. So, Can I ask a question? Just a question. Um, so, but these, the, the limbs are all ped off the root, right? ‘cause it sets That on the very top. There are some that still project over the roof. Okay. I mean, there’s, and we did raise the tree up, you know, probably 20, 30 feet off the roof, but there’s still branches that project out over the roof.

50:25 And we’re not really concerned about if with, if the, if the third tree can be pruned. See for me, like the fiber loop stood out to me as like a reason. If that was in jeopardy, that’s like a public safety issue because of its purpose and it also qualifies as a utility in. Mm-hmm. So that would be something that you could, we could at least kind of a to a, a rationale that’s in our, in, in, in the state state law and a, and our bylaws. But I’m hearing this as but not, we don’t know if that could even be premature. You could, um, uh, escape around it even more. Well, it’s something I’d really, I’d have to go back out. Yeah. We don’t know. Just to make sure, I mean, I did cite it the other day and there might be an opportunity

51:13 to safely prune it back enough that we’re not gonna damage the tree to the point where it’s gonna jeopardize the health. But we can also get it far enough from the fiber optic that for branch does drop, it’s not gonna hit it. And if these branches drop, they, they say they don’t travel far. And on the Red Pine not as much. I mean, they’re more of a What about this one? That’s the white pine. That’s, that’s the one that’s rated the worst out. That’s the worst out of the three that,

51:41 That causes the Most of a storm. Well, in the White Pine, yeah. I mean the Red Pine has, uh, a more fibrous branch. So when they break, it’s like the difference between a locust tree and a maple tree. Like a, the no maple, all the branches snap constantly. And you’ll look at like a, a locust tree and they’ll snap it. They’ll hang. Yeah. ‘cause they have a more fibrous, uh, stem.

52:08 Okay. All right. Well, let’s, uh, I think we’re looking for public comment. And at this point, just to continue to Thank you gentlemen. Um, there anyone who would like to speak in the public opposed,

52:23 you’re welcome to stand out.

52:31 You’re welcome to talk. Well, I just wanted to make a comment that, um, you know, basically you decided on my case. So I, so I’m gonna stop you there. If you could talk about this case only, I do hear what you’re saying. Okay. The public comments, if you could keep it directed towards our c what we’re talking about right now, just Tree ward, um, that the trees are healthy and they can be proved. So that’s Okay. Thank you. Thank you. We two have, yep. Mr. Jordan, you in favor? That Okay, I, hold on. We’re gonna finish up with the post. I’ll go a favor. Yep, absolutely. Thank you. So we do have a couple of letters as well from, uh, as well from sustainable Marblehead, um, asking

53:17 that the trees are healthy and well maintained by the tree department, that they’re not significantly close building according to ‘em, and that they’re removal result and additional heat during the summer and thus require additional energy. They believe it is not wide to the use of the tree department staff or electrical HVHC. We also do have a letter from, um, John Morgan, time King Woman Road, who had asked that we actually delay this, but they do believe that the trees are an assets town, um, including the consumption of pollution and pro production of oxygen. Um, and he strongly adjust by both new and that even though the roof may be involved at issue, um, and wants out along with the previous roof flos. Did, um, anyone who wants to speak in favor,

54:04 Mr. Jordan? I think you’re ready. Yeah, I just wanna say I worked in The, say your name and Albert. Thanks. Roosevelt Avenue. I, I worked in that building years ago. Mm-hmm. And there was always a, I was up on that roof, uh, especially during the summer. I had a big air conditioning unit for the operating room and there was debris on that roof a lot. And every time you have the debris blow on it, it can do damage to the roof and cause leaks. We’re spending substantial amount of money on the heating system up there. We just spent substantial money on the roof up there. These trees never should have been that close to the roof. And they’re, they’re on public property. They’re, they’re not on the, I don’t think they’re on the road. They, as far as I know, they’re, they’re, we cut the grass and stuff. They’re not coming out of a hot tub. They’re on the grass.

54:52 So, so it’s a, it, it just makes sense that they’re so tall, they’re gonna get taller. They could fall over that. That’s the main, uh, public building in the town. I don’t know if you, you have a building inspector telling you that it, it’s not a hazard until it falls. And when trees get extremely tall and the wind blows, sometimes they share just the top tree, uh, the top part of the tree shares down, and if it falls on the building and all that s staff contaminating the roof safe, it’s not so, so I, I totally think it’s a different, I don’t want to keep paying money. And then you get someone coming in here saying, let’s upgrade. That’s just telling me, upgrade all this stuff. And then you can see you hazard a hazard, uh, a few feet away from a building. Um, and you get a tree that’s 40, 50 feet tall and, and,

55:39 and then it can grow another 20 feet tall. It just doesn’t make any sense to leave those trees there. So, so I really think you should consider the money that we put into that building. We can plant some appropriate trees in that area because if you go look at the trees, they took a lot of the lower branches you have to look up to see the green part of the tree. Well, all the lower stuff, they, they got the grass down there on the walkway and everything like that. And I just think, uh, safety has it, having those trees there. Um, there, it’s up on a be too. There’s, um, there’s a lot of ledge up around him and stuff. So I, I just really hope all the money that we invested into that, that these aren’t out in the road. So I I, I would think that, um, you know,

56:24 it’s like a tree in someone’s yard as far as I’m concerned. And, and I hope that all the money that you, we just put into that building and we’re going to continue to put to that building. If a tree comes on that and you close it down, you don’t know where you’re gonna put all the people. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jordan. Uh, anyone else wants to speak from public? Yes, sir. Uh, my name’s Don Warren. I live at 19 one Grove. Um, I’m here because, uh,

56:49 I think trees need an advocate and I haven’t heard one. Um, I believe I, I do appreciate what the building director does from the town. I also appreciate what the, which, John, I think John made a statement that I would love to argue with you that it isn’t a great three, haven’t met a three in a great three. They’re all doing something for us. They’re pumping oxygen out there and they’re taking the crap out of the air we’re putting in. So I don’t know how you’re gonna come down on this, but I just think we need to keep in mind that there’s a trade off between, oh, we’ve got a fiber optic line and we’ve got a roof and all that, but we’ve also got air to take care of too. And I’d like to make sure that that’s a part of the discussion. You can decide what to do with the Screens. Great. Thanks for that input. Okay.

57:34 Anybody else on the line? Okay, I’m gonna close the public discuss and what people, This is harder for me than I thought it was gonna be because I, I did, in my mind, overstate, I guess now having heard it overstate the, um, utility and the fiber loop, um, fret, um, I thought that that was more of a clear line, um, thing. And I, so that is a little, that’s like a lot more, um, compelling to me, you know, and it’s admissible in our shade policy regulations and the bylaw and, um, you know, uh, I guess I’m hearing that the trees are relatively, like, are relatively healthy. Uh, it’s very, and,

58:20 but you know, it’s, it’s obviously I think our building, um, commissioners, uh, right to, uh, you know, advocate for the building and the roof that we just, the taxpayers have just invested in. Um, I’m not sure that, for me, I feel like it’s maybe a little premature for me and to remove them, um, just hearing that there could be more pruning to be had, um, hear, you know, uh, hearing that, you know, they’re not really more prone to a storm than in any other tree. We don’t like where they are. Obviously, we don’t like where a lot of the trees are, um, in town. We wish we could relocate them into a different spot. Um, I think that it could be, you know, incumbent upon

59:08 the town to go up after storms and clear the roof. Um, you know, maybe on a more conscientious, uh, schedule than had been in the past. Um, you know, this, uh, SAP is sap and we just had a resident speak to SAP on her car. Um, you know, I I I see it as the same. It’s different. It’s a public building. So I, I’m mindful of that, but I’m, yeah, it’s really, it’s a, it’s hard. Um, and I think I, I’m not as convinced as I thought I, as I thought the situation was with the fiber loop. Um, that’s just where I’m at right now. But I’m, I’m, I’m open to hearing. Yeah, I mean, I, I concur. The trees are great and there’s rarely a agree that is it worth reserving?

59:54 Although I have to say in another 20 feet, those white pines become dangerous. I mean, we’ve had, we’ve had trees in our, near our backyard. It’s pretty scary experience and they’re extremely heavy. But, but that’s, that’s sometime in the future. And, you know, I’d like to err on the side of preservation in the spirit of the, of the bylaws. Um, but what I think, you know, I’m wondering if we can, you know, look at this again when we look at the access plans to the building and take more of a comprehensive view about, you know, ‘cause I think there’s a, there’s a, a desire to know, you know, which ones are the key offenders, what can we solve with ate, you know, and kind of come to a con a more informed conclusion because, you know, there, there will be additional, you know, we’re investing a lot of money in this building

1:00:39 and it includes the entranceway where the, where the red line is. So I am, uh, in favor perhaps of, of, of taking a look at this, uh, you know, public hearing process again, uh, once we get more. And I’m looking to you actually, ‘cause I, I, I think you did mention that there was, uh, you know, plans to, you know, to redesign the, the front part of that. So the access point of that building. Can I share my thought on this? Yes. So it is easier in working with Steve and, and listening to all of this, the most offensive tree that we’re concerned by, I think is the white behind the one in the middle. Middle that the fiber aligned with the fiber tree. I think we can work with John as far as

1:01:27 see if we can mitigate the risk. May not eliminate a hundred percent, but mitigates to the extent. And then as far as the Red Pine, that as we advance on that other project with the entranceway, that we look at sort of what we intend to do and the landscaping and then that we kind of kicked that one down the road on that tree that if if, If that’s gonna be the most impact. Yeah. If, if, if it looks like what we wanna do. The tree needs to go, we’ll come back if it looks like we can manage it some other way, be it as it is. But my sense is, um, it’s put details, but it’s that one white pine is probably the biggest concern with the new roof, uh, and protect the unit.

1:02:15 Uh, I I’m assuming that all, everything has fallen for this year. Is that true, John? Sorry? Will the, the pine cones and staff continue to fall throughout the winter, or have they fallen in the fall? They fall, right. So at this point In some seed years bigger than other seed years. Okay. So some, some years it’ll be a lot more pine cones. Okay. For other years comply. But, um, they, it is, production is different every year. I’m assuming that To me, I’ve tried to, yeah. And so my 2 cents is I’ve tried to compensate by proving that tree. They don’t feel like there’s enough to, you know, approximity of the building. It is 11 feet off the side of the building that mm-hmm. The middle white pine. So Jim, you have any Yeah, I, I would just use the same,

1:03:03 uh, decision making process I used on the last case in that I would, um, default, um, to the tree warden and my own observations today. So, uh, certainly taken three trees out as as much too heavy medicine. And in my opinion, um, I’d like to see some more pruning. I, I don’t think, based on what I just heard, we have to necessarily vote to take the middle one out tonight. Either. I’d maybe think there’s a Line of my question, Like to see the tree award and the building commissioner meet again and maybe combat, uh, um, with another recommendation. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I, again, I, I, I, there was significant work done down there and I understand all the issues associated with all the,

1:03:50 the money we’re putting in, uh, to it. But I think, um, I, I could vote for taking the three to three down. I and I, so there’s no way. Yeah. I mean, I, I think I feel similar to, to things you’ve all said tonight. I could concur with you, Aaron, that I clearly, we want to protect our fiber optics and, and the roof. Um, Mike, where I am having a problem is I want to apply the same rationale to both what we’ve done tonight. And I don’t feel like I actually have enough knowledge. I’m be kind of honest, I don’t have enough knowledge about our, our policy. Um, so I would like to spend some more time understanding that, so then I can vote. So I would personally like to see us continue this. Um, I don’t know how everyone else feels to, to get a little, do a little more pruning and visit it back at a different days.

1:04:37 And I would, and shame on me. I would like to have a little more knowledge about our, our policy That that’s important. Yeah. And as board. And may I add one other thing? Yeah, of course. I happen to, uh, bump into our fire inspector when I was doing my inspection down there, and he brought up to me that the, uh, stairway coming out of the second floor is being undermined by some of the routes as well. Uh, but if I cracked on it, which is part of the renovation. Yeah. And I would just look at those while you’re down to this three or four huge, I think, upright views that are right next to that, that, that may be of interest too. If you gonna be replacing that sta away while, while you are at it. I mean, if this was a private building, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

1:05:23 It’s on public land because we own it. Yeah. So I just want to, I need to understand a little more between the, that’s actually very good. Where, where the differentiation is. Like, we’re not on the, what I consider public land as far as I, and access versus this. Why, why do they need this permission? So I would, I, again, I I should have done this research before. Um, but it’s more from learning tonight. Uh, so I’m personally favorite continuing as well. I, I, yeah. I, okay. I’ve always kinda liked the monetary. Okay. Personally. So besides a threat to them, should we continue for, so we are, maybe what we could do is if, John, you could look into this more pruning on the third tree that affects the, the fiber optic. Um, and then we can continue this

1:06:10 for want to a couple months. When’s that? I’m sorry. So we have February. When’s a good time? When don’t we continue to start our March meeting? I mean, I think what Moses was saying too about the plans is important. Yeah. Because if, if it is part of a, if it’s part of a improvement project and an overall landscape change, we can, we can look at that. Sure. Like, um, under the regulations, you know, they, we do recognize, um, you know, landscaping, enhances, marketability and use of commercial areas. I assume they would be public as well. Um, so if, if it’s taken into consideration with, you know, a general like, change here and we’re re redoing some landscaping, that’s one thing, um,

1:06:59 you know, we, that we could revisit. So if that is something that, you know, might come to us in the next five months or so, I wasn’t sure what the timeline is. Is this more of an object? Why don’t we, why don’t we continue till March? And if we want to, we’d always continue it from, from there, and at least we could because it’s, we could get more information. So maybe the march, if you’re okay with ‘em soon. So the 11th through the 25th, let’s do the 25th. So do you need a motion to Continue? That sounds good. Yeah. If I could have, have a motion to Continue. March 11th, fifth March. I’m sorry. Make, um, I move that we continue the, this public hearing shade hearing until, until March 25th. So moved. Do second, Second one.

1:07:46 All in favor? All right. Thank you guys for your input.

1:07:53 All right, let’s moving on.

1:08:00 Uh, next up we have, um, an application interview for public appointment for a peer unexpired term for the finance committee, uh, for Ramon Garcia. Ramon, if you’d like to come up, good evening. Evening, evening, evening. Thank you. Good to see you. For those of you don’t welcome Ram Ramon. Yeah. So for those of you don’t know, Ramon is also, um, on our board housing. That Is Correct, yes. As well. And has been a valuable member of that. Uh, Ramon, you just wanna tell us a little bit about yourself and why you applied for this and also your background and why you think you’d be a, a good candidate for this. Absolutely. So my name is Ramon Garcia. I’m part of the housing committee here in, um, in town. Um, I moved into town three years ago.

1:08:47 Um, I’m originally from the Dominican Republic, and prior to that, I, I grew up in Lynn and went to Alin, uh, public schools and whatnot, and then went to college and graduated, um, from Stino State. Uh, with my, my degree itself is, is, it’s a bachelor’s degree in, um, business, but I have major, uh, I have capital of concentrations. I have a concentration in accounting, concentration in information man management systems in, uh, concentration in business analytics. And the reason why I did that was because those are part, part of the requirement to sit down to become, um, A CPA. You need 150 credits, which I’m actually working towards becoming A CPA. And during my tenure year, my, the course of my career,

1:09:35 I started up working, my first, uh, job professional job was with, uh, ERNs and Young. I did an internship there. At the time, I didn’t have the 150 credits where I couldn’t actually join. Um, so I graduated. Fast forward to that. Um, I was still in the process of graduating. I got a job at CH in Warnock, which is a local firm out of Beverly. They in the hospitality industry, and they do consulting for, uh, basically, um, a special group interest that owns, um, interesting hotels. So I worked there for three years. The pandemic happened and the hotel industry was down. And I, before anything happened, I decided to get a, a job at Link Community Health Center.

1:10:21 I was a senior accountant there for about a year, a year and seven month. And the reason that that happened was, uh, while I was there, I, I got in touch with my, my sense of duty because we was actually dealing with the public itself. So it kind of gave me my moral compass in the sense of, uh, aligned with my, uh, belief that I feel like, uh, having the blessing and the responsibility to, Uh, Have the opportunity to, to, to be a biproduct or the great equalizer of education, I feel like it’s, is, is great to actually align what you receive with the public and actually kind of pay forward.

1:11:06 And they actually, dealing with the general public, I, I kind of, uh, sense that. But however, I was approached by PricewaterhouseCoopers for PWC, colloquially known, um, because I was actually 10% of my class from, and they approached me and it was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass, um, and decided to join for the, for the purpose of actually getting the recognition and the head start to be in the path that I’m on right now. And essentially, I was there for roughly a year, in three months. And my, the industry that I was working, uh, was actually biotech, which actually helped me to transition into the next role that I am right now. I work for, uh, Catalent, uh, LLC, which is a,

1:11:54 which is a corporation solely owned by Noble Holdings, which make Wegovy and, um, all the, all the, all the big drugs in the market. And all in all, I have about seven to eight years of experience in different multiple industries and everything been interesting, but working in my local little community health actually felt good to me. And I knew the deep down I always wanted to, when I transitioned out of public and decided to do what was the best thing for the rest of my career, that eventually I wanted to get me to a point, which I wanted to make enough money so I could actually live. But however, enough that I could actually say, okay,

1:12:41 eventually I wanted to find a way into working with the public, serving the public, and doing something meaningful with the education that I receive. And hence why I decided that at first I wanted to learn the ropes. Hence, I, I, I saw an opportunity, uh, with the housing committee, and then I decided to started out that way so I could learn everything about public administration and I can contribute and spend my career in, hence why I’m actually in front of you guys today. Great. Thank you. That’s, yes, sir. Excellent background. Uh, appreciate, appreciate being here and giving your comment. Thank you. Thank you. Have the similar thoughts, which is why we’re sitting here. Um, Aaron, we’re just gonna ask you a few questions. Go from there. Aaron, You wanna start?

1:13:28 Sure. Okay. Um, I think I just wanted to know, uh, currently, like what, how much of an un an understanding of the town’s operational budget. Um, do you have, have you been to any, uh, have you been to town meeting or FinCon meeting, listened to any fin income meetings? Are you, have you, do you have any, um, kind of just informal understanding of the, of the town’s budget? Not formal, I don’t know the new synchronis and all the fine details. However, I have forged relationship with, uh, the finance departments here. I, I, I do have, I have conversations in the past with Alicia and only, and even I even interviewed for, um, the assistant, uh,

1:14:15 town accountant, uh, position. Um, but other than that, I, I, I don’t have much. And other than what I read and just like the normal citizens, and hence why I am actually trying to get it into, I can actually learn and contribute. Yeah. Well, I think you’ll find that the, you know, that, that the, the accounting is pretty straightforward, all the particularities. Yes, sir. You know, that we go around that, but I’m, I’m kind of wondering whether you have a sense or if, you know, we can even have a conversation about the role of Thin and Con, let’s say it’s kind of a unique committee, uh, in the town, and I’m just wondering if you have a, a sense of, of kind of how it fits in that budgetary lane, if you will. Yeah. So, uh, to my understanding was basically

1:15:02 the position encompassing, you guys can correct me if I’m wrong. It’s basically reviewing the finances of the town and actually kind of just making decisions that align with what’s best for marble headers. And that’s kind of like why I, I kind of wanted to actually join when I was one in doing my first job at CH Warnick. Um, it was, it was a nice thing because the guys that I worked for, they gave me a set of books that I was responsible for managing it. They also own multiple business on top of the job that I mentioned that they did for the consulting for hotels. And they gave me a, a small book in which I was able to actually do the budget for the year for, it was a rental company that they own and all that stuff. And I always find it fascinating just to dealing

1:15:49 with budgets contributing and, and all of that. And like, actually, like learning in, in actually applying those principles and in, in knowledge that I picked along the way to make changes to the place that I live. And, you know, it, it’s, it’s actually aligns with my moral compass and hence what I want. Well, I think, you know, having that granular experience is very, very useful, especially if you, you know, kind of enjoy doing that. Yes. I think the FinCon can, you know, can, can, uh, really benefit from that. But yeah, I mean, fin Comm is really unique and it’s one of these entities that has its own statutory prerogatives, and they advise and approve the budgets independently from us. And, uh, they’re really a representative of the people, uh,

1:16:35 of, of town meetings. So it’s a very, uh, you know, special group. And we actually have a very special group, you know, as, uh, you know, as a member, you know, as members. So, uh, but thank you for your interest. Yes, yes, sir. Um, classical English attack.

1:16:54 Okay. But, sorry, only one question. No, it’s only important. It’s the closest to Brothers De I love Brothers De he grew up. Um, the other thing, are you aware that our town administrator and, uh, CFO went to Salem State? No, actually. Wow. Are You aware our town administrator is a trustee of Salem State. Okay. We have three questions. Okay. Oh, rhetorical question. Yeah. You’ve got a lot of The things going. Uh, I, I, and so I did hear you, uh, spoke to Alicia, which is good. Have you had a chance to speak to any of the, um, members of the fcon at All? No, I have not had the pleasure. Okay. It’s a good group. But anyway, It’s great. Um, so sometimes the finance committee has

1:17:41 to make some tough decisions and articulate that, and this year is probably gonna be very true given our financial constraints. Um, are you prepared to articulate that is one and the, can you give us an example of maybe when you’ve had, find yourself in a physician where you had to articulate a tough decision or a tough choice to you to make that wasn’t popular? Uh, yes, sir. Um, I believe, um, essentially the key to having difficult conversations, it’s understanding the why and the reason behind it. Um, essentially it was just like, I can attest to a last housing meeting how I, I, I saw yourself and, you know, I saw Brenda actually trying to express what was it intended, uh, purpose of the committee and the things that we actually do.

1:18:28 And kind of like it, it is, it is about finding the fine balance between providing the information to the person and actually separating, um, feelings and, and, and just stick to the facts and, and, and remain polite in, in, in reminding that, uh, in the end, it might seem like we all, uh, kind of fighting to or debating to, to, to find the, the best solutions. But we all then together and we, it’s, it’s one time. And, and the purpose is everybody’s actually trying to debate because we’re trying to find what’s best for the town. And that’s the goal. Yeah. Some good, healthy conversations is what this town needs, for sure. Um, any other comments or questions? No. All right. Um, with that, if I could have a motion

1:19:13 to point Ramon Garcia to the finance committee with the time to expire and June 20, 28. So move. Second. Second. All in favor. Welcome you. Congratulations. Thank you. Very honor. Thank You so much. To remind you, I appreciate all you’re doing. Uh, just remind you at some point you need, Steve will be calling you for Appreciate it. Thank you. Oh, that’s right. So Ram, similar to how you did with Mar housing, you be Morning at some point with, uh, with our town clerk. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Have a good night. Appreciate you. All right. Next up for Cultural Council, uh, Susan Woods. Come on up. Come on down.

1:19:57 Good evening. So much about Good evening, about trees and Yeah, me too. I didn’t know. Yeah. Well thank you for waiting. Sorry to make you wait. That’s okay. Hopefully it was worth your time on your Thank For Seeing me on your pre education. Yes, It was very helpful. Great. So yourself, us a little bit by yourself while you’re applying your background. Sure. It’d be great. Um, I’m an artist and, um, an active member of the Marblehead Arts Association and, uh, have been, um, participating in and volunteering for the Arts Festival, um, just about every year for the 25 years that I’ve lived in Marblehead. So when I was looking for volunteer opportunities, it, with the goal of getting more involved in the, uh, community, um, I discovered that the, uh,

1:20:43 cultural council had some open board positions, um, which I was excited about. I, I’ve always been a, um, uh, interested to see who they’re funding every year. I just saw the list for 2026. Uh, it was, it was terrific as, as always. Um, and I thought I would really like to be a part of the, the work that they do. Great. Great. Do you have any questions? I mean, I’m, I’m looking at your resume and it seems like you are, uh, very qualified for this. A little bit of your history. It might Chapters Yeah, I know. I was gonna say, you might be able to apply for some other things. I Know a lot of different chapters in my life, but, uh, so I will speak to the, actually, to the science. Yeah. I’m not a scientist,

1:21:28 but I did work at alongside Scientist for 10 years in the biotech and, and pharma industry. That was chapter three in my career. Um, and so I’m fully supportive of, of spending, um, grant money on, on science related activities, especially if students are involved.

1:21:49 I mean, I personally feel like you’re super qualified for this. I won’t, unless anybody has questions. I don’t see any reason to ask any perfect questions unless Jim, you Yeah. Yeah. You want, you wanna ask about her, what she had for lunch.

1:22:08 I mean, I’m interested, um, with that. So thank you for applying. Thank you. Thank you for waiting. Thank you for Yeah. Yeah. Thank You for the education. Yeah, absolutely. So if we get a motion to point Susan Woods the, oops, this says that’s the wrong thing to the cultural council, with the firm to expire in June of 2028. So moved. All in favor. Thank you. Yeah. Congratulations. Just needs to go and get, uh, SWO with our town clerk at some point from during the day. Okay, thank You very much. It was great to meet The festival. S will be mostly for a water hell, A free pine. Yeah. Hopefully too. Uh, next up we have a, um, a, a night we have a donation from Yes. From Marblehead ballot Questioning committee.

1:22:54 Uh, there we would like to make a donation of $5,809 and 4 cents. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund, um, is coming from who is the president, treasurer. Um, and so we really do appreciate that and definitely able to use that. So if I could have a motion to accept donation from Yes. For Marvel ballot question committee, the amount of $5,809 and 4 cents in deposit and the, the donation and the Affordable Housing trust fund. So move second. All in favor. Thank you. Then Get a Motion. Yeah, please do. Um, Letter of, um, gratitude to, uh, the, the committee, uh, when you close out the funds, you can choose any type of, um, nonprofit to donate to. And, and it’s a sizeable, generous donation.

1:23:41 So I’d like us to acknowledge acknowledges. So moved. Second In favor. Thank you. All right. Next we have some consent agenda items. If we could, if I could have a motion be made, accept to accept the following and consent agenda items. Accept those put on hold the minutes of December 2nd 10th and of 2025. And January 7th, 2026 miles for Mary. 5K Ron walk this Board of Brain Cancer research on Saturday October 17th, 2026, subject to approval in Rapid and park receipt of the prior certific of liability. And please, details as needed. No permanent markings are allowed in the public way and all temporary markings must be removed. The conclusion event, Abbott Hall Community Center Charter Public School, June 17th, 26, subject

1:24:26 to usual rules, regulations, fees, and receipt of the C of O Abbott Hall, marble Little Theater. September 19th, 26, subject to the same Abbott Hall, marble Hill Festival of Arts, February 6th, subject to the same as above. BNS Fitness, black Cat, 10 or 20 mile Sunday, March 29th, 2026, subject to approval from Rock and Park. Proceed of a prior of liability and police details. No permanent markings are allowed in public way and all temporary ones must be removed at the conclusion of the event. And a bell ringing on Washington’s birthday that the bells of Abbott Hall and all the church and marble will be wrong on Washington’s birthday someday. But fe February 22nd, 26th at the usual holiday hours from 7:30 AM to 8:00 AM noon to 1230, 6:00 PM to six 30 as in custom in the past.

1:25:14 So moved. Second. All in favor? All right. I think next up we have the 2025 Annual Compensation Committee report. Uh, pastor, if you give us a report. Yeah. Um, so according to the model head bylaws, chapter 43, uh, that’s the personnel bylaws. Uh, the Compensation Committee is responsible for, uh, reviewing and acting all matters relative to the position classification, uh, descriptions. So that is a, an authority of the legislative branch, how Powerheads case to establish the classification plan, which is what are all the authorized positions and what are the grades of those positions, as well as the salary schedule, um, for, for all those positions.

1:26:01 Um, because Tom meeting only meets once a year, they have created the compensation committee, which consists of the town, the Chief financial officer, and the two of them select a third department head to serve. Uh, so it’s myself and Alicia Benjamin. And, um, Andrew Petty has been serving in that as that third person. Roland has been an absolute and valuable resource. He, he, he’s the most senior person of, of the three of us on this community. And then we’re supported Tom Howard, our human resource director, supports us. Um, so we do the work of Tom, me during the year as far as any changes in job descriptions, any regrading of positions, setting, uh, grades, also under the bylaw,

1:26:49 if we are hiring an employee and in order to secure the individual we desire, and we are gonna, uh, put ‘em above a grade one compensation committee has to appeal with it. So over the course of the year, we, we have taken a total of 38 actions, which is a lot. Mm-hmm. We’ve been doing a lot of work of, yeah. Uh, going through a lot of job descriptions and, and aligning positions with the responsibilities and set up. So out of that, we had 10, we made, uh, 10 job description changes with grade changes, meaning that the changes in responsibilities or the scope of supervision or something changed, warranted, uh, increase in the, in the pay grade of the position. Uh, there were 12 job description changes

1:27:35 that did not result in a grade change. So you were updating, uh, the job descriptions. Uh, there were three, uh, the creation of three new positions, but I’ll emphasize, um, the three positions created, and we placed existing positions. So what we look at is, um, uh, eliminating basically obsolete positions, uh, in order to create positions of newer needs. So even though we, we call ‘em new positions, um, they, they, they superseded existing positions, um, 13 hiring of new staff above grade one. And we’ve talked about this, the marketplace that we’re in. Um, in order to secure people’s employment, we, we have

1:28:21 to move them up the, the, the scale to, to get them to come to Marblehead. So with that, a total of 30 late attaches taken, that’s a summary. And then I provide in the report an itemized list of all the actions by meeting throughout the course of the year. So this report meets the obligation of the bylaw. I don’t think there’s any action on the part of the board other than receiving the report. And the, there will be a presentation at town meeting to include supplemental of any actions taken between January and the actual time meeting, in which time meeting will then vote to, um, uh, accept all of the, all Of the changes. That is kind of a preliminary view on, uh, whether

1:29:10 influences the budget at all, or is there an additional So Compensation component. Yeah. So as far as all, any of the actions we take during the year with the changes, grades or hire people, it’s all within the budgets that exist. Okay. So department heads are the ones who will bring forth, I just wanted to make sure. Yeah, they, yeah. I, I’ll say this, um, I don’t know what the actual ratio, but um, somewhere around half of the requests are denied or kick back more information. I mean, we Vet, We take serious the responsibility that to me has given us, So that you mentioned being competitive in the market, that you, and, and looking at this, you we failing for how competitive we are Versus, yeah, we’re not, We’re not.

1:29:56 Okay. So we, I assume we’ll do further work on that to evaluate where we fit. I know that there, we have discussed the select board fitting in a certain range and a mark, a mark To market. Yeah. So, so we’re working with the consultant, which, which this bylaw requires us to do, uh, every three years. Um, so we’re working with the consultant where what we’ve done so far is like the, the consultant we’ve taken our competitors and our comparable communities, uh, and the, the consultants have done an analysis to compare basically what’s the marketplace salary ranges for all of the grades and positions, and then compared to Marblehead. And so we’re, the analysis is comparing where our pay grades are relative to the marketplace. And we are, we are behind, uh, are we are

1:30:44 In the mean at all, or, or kind of, So the, looking at the anecdotal list, I mean there’s, and there’s a lot, right? Or is there some, uh, uh, you know, a subset of comps that are Right. So, so we, so let’s just say I take a grade five position of marblehead compared to the grade five and the comps we’re low in the, we’re within the range predominantly, but we’re in the lower end, the range when the five should be, say in the middle of range. So, uh, there should be an adjustment there. Secondly, the, the, the select board years ago made a policy decision that within these comps that we were gonna stay in the 50 percentile rank compared to the others. Right. And that’s where that puts us behind,

1:31:32 because given, uh, model head’s, geographic location and, and, and factors, we actually need a little bit more competitive rate, uh, rank salaries than others to cost to get ‘em to, to do this file. So the analysis that’s being done is what would be the cost shift just to match the 50%, 55, 60, 65. And then based on those numbers, I’m coming back to this board to say, where should we sit as a percentile of the range? Right? Sure. And over time, maybe not day one stagger it, but look at how we get there so that we can’t stay competitive, I’m assuming. Yes. Okay. Depends on what the numbers are, so, sure. So you’re still working. Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Okay.

1:32:18 I think that’s a, a good analysis that, yeah, so our, our employees deserve to be fair. And I just wanna add, uh, you know, a couple of years ago we established a long overdue human resources department, and it think this is, you know, an example of some of the growth that, um, needed to be done. It was probably not to be non. So that’s proceed. Yeah. Tom’s a great resource for, Well, oh, has it been two years? Maybe? Yeah. Well, we’ve had a little over a year, Right? Little over a year. I, I respect total track. Yeah. Yeah. You Having so much fun. That’s called, That’s called, that’s called h I’m with you. It’s fine. It’s called by h. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Almost there. Okay, great. Alright, well, thank you. Any other question? Move on.

1:33:03 We do have a couple of one day liquor licenses. Um, if we could get a motion, uh, we have one further mar vessel of art and actually two. So if we get a motion to prove the request for following one day liquor licenses from Marble Festival Arts Abbot Hall, February 6th, 2026, 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM beer and wine only. Marble Arts Association, eight Hooper Street from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM on the following dates, all in 26th, February 19th, March 19th, April 11th, April 23rd, May 21st, June 25th, July 16th. August 20th, September 17th, October 15th, November 19th, as well as the New England Yankees at Abbott Hall, February 14th, 2026, bearing wine only seven to 10:00 PM subject to the following conditions, delivery of

1:33:50 and receipt by the licensing authority and the required fee of $50 each delivery of and receipt by licensing authority of proof that the alcohol will be purchased and authorized source proof that the applicant can receive proper delivery, provide proper storage and disposal of all alcohol beverages purchased. All in accordance generally, and with a requirement that general law chapter 1 38, liquor liability insurance, no alcohol is allowed to be stored on premises overnight and alcohol will be purchased from Kathy’s importing and distribution in company and martinis. So moved a second. This will be a poll vote. Mr. Is this in favor, Mr. Greater in favor, Ms. Newton? In favor, Mr. Fox In favor. And then final on our list here. Unfortunately we are losing, uh, Jerry Tucker from the Cemetery Commission.

1:34:36 He has moved out of town and he has resigned. So that does create a vacancy again, um, unfortunately in our cemetery. So I think what we’d like to do, we will meet with the remaining board members as we’ve done with other ones, and have a vote to appoint someone new. If we could maybe advertise that, leave it open until, um, I wrote this to maybe February 6th, and we can have interviews on, uh, February 11th. I’ll con just confer the cemetery that’s ever available, those dates. But if we at least Have they formally notified Us? They have. We got it. Yeah. Yep. Well, this is Jerry notified Yeah. Through well, so it is interesting. It can’t, so they Notified the i we that Yeah.

1:35:21 I just want to follow protocol because Yeah, Yeah, yeah. We need to be consistent, but that’s both. Yeah, that’s all. Um, it’s just, it, it is interesting that we, this is now like our third appointment to this board of three commissioners in as many years. But you’ve been on the, you’ve been serving longer. I is is it something that he still, Well, I think we’ve just seen in the more recent, uh, turnover, I think it’s, it was actually a pretty stable, uh, yeah. Commission for a long time in, does he say I believe it. Yeah. He moved out of town, so that’s, That’s why Jerry, That’s why Jerry, it wasn’t Dave Rogers, you know, through, you know, right. He, he, you know. Yeah. I mean, there were two, there are two new guys. Right. But it does seem that this is something that we are doing in the past and yeah, continue. But it is what it is. So what’s the date?

1:36:08 Uh, we’re gonna inter do the interviews, assuming that the guys in the cemetery, the gentleman on cemetery can do it with us on the 11th. And we’ll keep applications open until, or for letters of interest on the sixth, which is just the Friday before. All right. Any select board announcements?

1:36:26 I just wanted to, um, acknowledge our, um, building commissioner for being so like, proactive. And I though, you know, I wasn’t able to give like, to give what your and, um, your request, but I definitely admire your, um, uh, proactive, uh, care for, um, the building. And, um, you’ve just been such a great, in addition to the addition to the, um, to the staff here. And I, if you just stand out, um, since you’ve been here to me. So I just wanted to acknowledge that and thank you for bringing us the there. We appreciate it, Steve. So Keeping it, putting it on our radar. Yep. Please. Uh, thank you. Very proactive and, you know, working on a, a, a project

1:37:12 to give us our, um, sort of an overall assessment of our capital needs moving forward on these buildings. So thank you. Appreciate that. All right. With that, do we have a motion to adjourn? So Moved second. All right. All favor. All right. I don’t know.