Town Meeting: May 7, 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.

0:24 Good evening, everybody. Could you find your seat so that we could get started?

0:30 That’s what I, I totally agree with that.

1:09 Okay. We’ve just passed a quorum, which is great.

1:16 I gotta say, where did everybody go?

1:20 But thank you all for showing up so that we can finish the business of the town tonight.

1:32 We just had a last minute amendment that we had to work through.

1:39 So with a quorum present, I hereby convene the 2020 reconvene, the 2025 Marblehead annual town meeting. I yelled This, uh, let’s review some, some details before the meeting. Um, the presentation lectern down front here is for presentations and replies from town officials. The microphones in each aisle are for deliberation after a presentation. All comments and questions during the meeting are to be made through the moderator. Please state your name and address when you’re recognized. If you have an amendment to a main motion during the meeting, I may request it to be in writing, and you can come down here and we can fill it out.

2:24 I’ll do my best not to have a clock on presentations and deliberations, but there may be motions, which I will adhere to a strict two minute limit on speakers after a presentation is made. If you plan to speak, please be prepared. As a great deal of information can be shared in the allotted time tonight. I look forward to run an efficient meeting. To that end, I wanna walk through a few things, and this is, this is based upon the feedback that I’ve heard, um, over the past couple of days, you’ll hear main motions for indefinite postponement tonight. That decision of in invest indefinite postponement comes from the sponsor of the original article in the warrant, which is different from the amendments for indefinite postponement that you heard last night,

3:11 which were subsidiary motions heard before a main motion. So that means the, the sponsor has put it out there, and they’re all in favor of indefinite postponement.

3:25 Mr. Meisha ask for a better, better acoustics last night, and I hope I’m doing okay. We’ve done everything we can in the space, and I ask that each person speaking speaks clearly and smartly into the microphones. The assembly deserves order, and I will not tolerate cat calling or disruptions to the meeting according to our bylaws. Every voter speaking upon a subject shall confine their remarks to the question before the meeting. Avoid personalities and be seated when they’re finished. I may not always allow a, a call, a call to question, should I deem that the motion would restrict informed consideration of the meeting or comes before an appropriate discussion has taken place. This is a widely used town meeting practice.

4:11 On the other end, we will likely get to the point where I need to remind everyone of an old Marblehead town meeting saying it appears that everything has been said, but not everybody has had a chance to say it. I will do my best to balance the conveyance of information with our budget of time,

4:30 uh, electronic voting. When I call for a vote, there’ll be an allotment of time to vote. We are gonna try two test votes to adjust the time needed for each vote. And the first test vote will be three minutes. And I’m assuming we’re gonna be able to bring it down to two minutes once we, once we test it with the second question. If you hit the wrong button or change your mind, you must do so within that time. Please hold your clickers up within reason when voting, a final tally will be shown on the screen, and that tally will be available in the minutes after the meeting. I will also read the vote aloud. Here we go with night three, article two.

5:13 Never thought I’d say that.

5:16 Uh, article two reports of town officers and committees. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Uh, one thing that I started a couple years ago is that I, I think it’s important for, um, excuse me. Oh, test, test. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. Sorry.

5:41 Here we go. Yes. Don’t hit your clicker, um, until I say voting starts now.

5:54 So, first question from last night. Will the Celtics win game too tonight against New York? If you favor the article, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. Three minute voting starts now.

6:43 Jack. Oh, sorry. That was loud. Do you mind if we start with the Pledge of Allegiance? Yeah, We, we, yes we can. Thank You so Much. We usually, we usually do it at, at the beginning of the meeting, which started last night. But yes, we can do that.

7:05 Yeah, I think we’re gonna be able to tighten up the time quite a bit. So last year we were down to 20 seconds of vote.

7:14 I’m probably gonna keep it open for 30 seconds. Can we close the vote and we’ll go to question two?

7:23 Okay. Question two,

7:33 question two. Will we get through the meeting tonight? If you favor the article, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

8:16 Okay, close it.

8:31 Alright, good. This is great.

8:39 Okay, now article two reports of town officers and Committees. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Second. Oh, I’m sorry. Pledge of Allegiance. Um, Moses Greater, could you come up and help us with Pledge of Allegiance, please?

8:57 Two, locate Right up over here. Right over There. It’s the American flag.

9:04 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation, indivisible. It is all under God for all. Whoops. Oh, Marine. Thank you Moses. That’s okay. Okay. So what I was saying is a couple years ago I started the, the tradition of, of asking for updates from departments that have any outstanding capital outlays so that we can be kept abreast of anything that’s an outstanding capital outlay. Um, last night we talked quite a bit about the school roof, but I, I would like to, um, ask, uh, Mike Ling to come up

9:53 and give us just a brief, I, uh, update on the roof and what’s going to happen here on out. Thank you, Mike.

10:05 I’ll be very succinct. Thank you. Uh, good evening. Uh, so I think I’m talking about the 5.36 million that was approved a couple years ago at Tom meeting. And when we stand with that, the 5.36 million is part of the 14 million that we need to do. Add that with the 8.6 for the HVAC, get to the 14 million. Uh, as I mentioned last night, um, once we get through the ballot, uh, for the HVAC, we’ll do design, um, designs for the roof project, go out to estimation, go out to bid, uh, and we expect to start construction next June right after high school commencement and be done by next October. Thank you. Uh, Helene Ley, chair of the Board of Health

10:53 to talk about the transfer station.

10:57 Helene is not running for reelection and has given decades of service to our town, so I’d like to give her a round of applause, please.

11:15 Everybody seated.

11:23 H Wayne Haslet, 1212 Clifton Avenue with a little cold. Thank you, Mr. Moderator and the members of tonight’s town meeting. I really appreciate that. It’s very important to me that I’ve served this community and I’ve loved doing it. It’s been my honor to have served 28 years on the Board of Health. And prior to that nine years on the school committee, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the former board members with whom I served. Carl Goodman, David Becker, Todd Becker, Michelle Gottlieb, and Joanne Miller. I learned much from them, them as we work collaboratively as a team to maintain and improve the health of our community. I owe much appreciation to the health department’s former director Wayne Ridge, and our current director Andrew Petty, for their guidance and all the day-to-day work while managing a dedicated staff.

12:10 I look to my current fellow board members, Dr. Tom Zaro and Tom McMahon, and give my best wishes they, as they continue their commitment to our mission for all marble headers and again, town of Marblehead. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to serve you. Now on to the article to the of the Transfer station project. I wanna give you an update on the con on construction and upgrades to the transfer station. During the last year, we have been able to complete the replacement of the 12 yard heavy duty compactor, which included a new trash chute or Harper, as well as the new tipping floor and ladder and access to the compactor and loading dock. We have installed the new transaction hut in,

12:56 in the residential area, and the control hut for the compactor. The decision to use prefabricated units came after we completed a value engineering review, which gave us savings of at least a hundred thousand dollars. Just a few weeks ago, we switched over to the new traffic pole with residents and other permit holders entering from the Green Street, uh, entrance and exiting on Woodfin Terrace to Beacon Street license plate readers cameras, license plate greeters cameras are going to be installed and should be completed by the beginning of June. This will allow employees to verify the vehicles and it don’t hear it. Okay. Entering the facility, have a current facility permit. Looking ahead to fiscal year 26,

13:42 we are focused on building a new scale house and completing the site work, which includes moving the scale to its permanent location and in front of the compactor.

13:55 Thank you everybody. I like the, I like the help, uh, in the lower areas, but you didn’t like the job she did. Oh, sorry. Okay. Um, is, let’s see where we are. As long as the funding permits, we would like to complete the restoration of the compactor building, which includes new siding and roof, as well as adding a garage door to the front of it. This would also include repainting the interior metal structure. Looking past fiscal year 26, we will continue to evaluate the costs and construction of a new swap shop. As we know this is very important and needed, we will continue to discuss the construction and process at our Board of Health meetings, making sure

14:42 that the public is informed every step of the way. In closing, I would like to thank you for your continued support and partnership as the Board of Health builds for the future. Thank you very much for the time and for all your, your help.

15:00 Thank you Helene. Very much from a grateful Town. I’d like to invite, uh, Amy, Ew and Thatcher Keyser up to talk about the 2022 capital outlay.

15:25 Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Evening folks. Pleasure to be here. Uh, Thatcher Keer Town Administrator. I am gonna brief on two roofs and some windows. Um, we have roof project that was approved for the Mary Alley building. Uh, we had some conversation about that tied into the HVAC proposal. Uh, $480,000 of that, uh, has been allocated the community center roof, uh, 800,000 allocated. And what we’re doing is working through our, our building commissioner. We’re joining them together as a single project, two roofs for the, uh, architect design procurement, um, and bidding them out. So, uh, we’ll do those together to save money,

16:12 uh, on the process. Um, we are gonna be approving a contract, the Select Approving a contract, I think at their next meeting for the architect work that’ll take four to six weeks, um, to finish that. And then we’ll be able to put the projects out to bid the windows. Uh, Franklin Street Fire Station improvements. Uh, there was a previous, um, authorization to do work on the fire station. Um, there is an warrant article that’s gonna be, uh, indefinitely postponed, uh, because we have been able to get a legal determination that under the authority of, of the act of town meeting previously, uh, we are authorized to include Windows as part of the, uh, Franklin Street Fire Station improvements.

16:59 That concludes my report. Thank you.

17:04 Thank you, Patrick. Amy,

17:11 I need Pictures. That’s okay. Amy. Ew. DPW Director. I’ve been asked to present an update on the projects included in Article 11. Presented at town meeting 2022 that required bonding and were assigned to the DPWI will start with capital improvement projects to the buildings located on Tower Way. The municipal, the municipal offices and Garage Roof Rehabilitation project has been completed. The Salt Shed is slated for design and procurement and installation in FY 26. This project was moved from FY 24 to FY 26 due to the installation of the new fueling station, which is in close proximity to the salt ship.

18:00 The largest project contained in Article 11 was Road and Sidewalk Improvements. If you recall, town meeting approved an infrastructure budget that would maintain our roadway network rating and provide additional funding to gradually and deliberately improve sidewalks approximately 2.5 million annually. The DPW has worked diligently to create a five year capital improvement plan for this article. With the tools and workflows developed over the last two years, the DPW will be able to provide the town with updates on the ongoing improvement cycle and present to town meeting future five-year capital plans that maintain the overall roadway conditions and steadily make sidewalks and traffic improvements.

18:48 The first tool was the creation of a pavement management plan. Manufacturers must go into a pavement management plan. As we all know, Marblehead is an old town and is, and so too are the utilities that service the town. Some gas, water, sewer, electricity and stormwater grids were installed in the late 18 hundreds, early 19 hundreds, and many areas require upgrades to these utilities. Therefore, utility coordination is key to a successful plan. The DPW has worked with various utilities with the goal of scheduling upgrades to those utilities prior to a final paving project. Data collection, the condition of public roadways completed to date Pavement assessment,

19:33 sidewalk assessment including an A DA transition plan, collection of tree data integration, development of a bike plan, traffic and intersection improvement proposals, work of Complete Streets Committee, the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee, the MBTA, and the collection of thoughts and comments from you. The residents resulting in a pavement management plan, which is a living document and is expected to change as conditions and use of the public’s ways change. The DPW has created a holistic five year capital improvement plan. This plan for FY 23 to FY 27 includes a completion upgrades to utilities prior to ping curb, to curb

20:19 sidewalk upgrades when paving curb to curb progress on a DA transition plan by including sidewalk upgrades each year in an area outside of the road surfacing project locations. Also included is a coordination with the finance department to achieve the most cost effective way to utilize Article 11 funding. So to the review of the first five year capital plan, along with the accounting of the 12.495 million provided by the override vote in June, 2022. Year one, FY 23 included planning and strategy development for the current and future five year work cycle, creation of the five minute manage creation

21:04 of the pavement management plan and paving of Countryside Lane, Leo Thompson, Ida Road, Elizabeth Richard and Broon Road sections of Tedesco and Humphrey Street.

21:18 Year two FY 24. The first five year capital improvement plan was developed. Paving of Elm Place, story Terrace, Watson Street, Rockaway Street, Wyman Road, beacon Street, and a section of Ocean Ave, a paving and sidewalk improvements. 88 transition ramps at Commercial Elm and State Street. And for additional sidewalk improvements, a new sidewalk was installed on Lafayette Street from Salem line to Maple Street. A DA ramps on Village Street were also included. Capital improvement player year one and two total spent to date, $2,081,217 and 29 cents. Roads chosen for year one and two had poor road ratings

22:04 and no utility upgrades planned the map. Also, this map also provides a visual of the utility work that has been completed or is underway in FY 23 through FY 25 to support the pavement management and the capital improvement plans along with the maintenance work completed with Chapter 90 fund, designed to increase the lifecycle of roads and higher that have higher road ratings. Work chosen for paving in year three, had a low pavement assessment and utilities had completed upgrades by year two

22:46 each year beyond the current year is made up of proposed roads. Each road must have a poor road rating. That is a road that requires rehabilitation, not maintenance work. Utility upgrades completed must be completed capital year five. These roads currently in FY 25 have utility upgrades in progress. Sidewalks under review and design is pending.

23:16 DPW has been able to confirm that $2.5 million a year will continue to maintain the overall road rating and make steady progress on sidewalk improvements since year one and two Had an emphasis on planning, design and creation of the process. Cost for those years were below the anticipated 2.5 million. This results in funding availability for the first year of the next five year capital plan.

23:44 I’m happy to say that Marblehead now has the tools in place to report on and continue to provide fiscally responsible plans for future work. Thank you Amy

23:57 and Thatcher. Great presentation. Uh, other committee reports. Robert Peck Retirement board please,

24:10 counselor.

24:17 Thank you Mr. Moderator Robert Peck, 22 Tide Winds Terrace, chairman of the Retirement Board. Every year it’s our, uh, responsibility to come to before town meeting to inform the town of the date, time, and location when we will hold a cost of living adjustment hearing for our retirees. We do it every year, uh, this year it will be on June 12th, 2025 at four o’clock at the, uh, Mary Alley Building lower conference room. I’ll be one of the quickest speakers you’re gonna hear tonight. Thank you, Mr. Peck.

24:54 The next committee report is, uh, from Amy Drinker, the chair of the Charter committee.

25:07 Welcome Amy. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Amy Drinker, 30 Gregory Street, chair of the Marblehead Charter Town Committee. I’m here to provide a very brief update on the charter committee’s activities.

25:24 The charter committee was convened a year ago by the select board. Committee members are volunteer town residents who share a common goal. We care about our town and we’re working together to present a charter proposal to Marblehead voters for their approval. The committee is supported by town staff, the Select board, and the Collins Center for Public Management at UMass Boston.

25:49 Currently, marble Head does not have a charter. The purpose of a charter is to clearly define town government structure, organization, and essential functions. For instance, the committee’s draft language includes that marble head’s, legislative powers should remain as they are exercised by Marblehead voters at open town meeting. A charter describes key governance principles beyond bylaws and regulations. It creates a primary clear source of information to improve transparency and community understanding about how Marblehead operates. A charter does not resolve financial challenges impacting department budgets, town staffing needs of our services. A charter does not dictate everyday operational tasks

26:36 for town employees, boards, and committees.

26:44 Since June, 2024, the charter committee has met in open session 21 times. It has gathered input from department heads, town officials, boards and residents. Since January, the committee has been reviewing draft a language written by committee members Sean Casey with draft assistance from committee members Victor Wild and Jim Sen. The draft includes annotations and footnotes, which greatly inform both the charter committee and the public. The draft is posted online as a public document. At the end of this month, the committee will host three public forums to gather input for Marblehead residents. Over the next 10 months, the committee will continue to meet with town committees, officials, staff, and the public to further refine charter language.

27:29 The charter will also be reviewed by the Collins Center and Town Council. The final draft will be submitted to the Select board in March of next year for consideration and presentation to town meeting in May, 2026, if approved at that town meeting, the charter will be submitted for review and approval by the Commonwealth Legislature to be signed by the governor. The charter will then come back to Marblehead for town wide vote of approval only if approved by Marblehead voters will the charter become law.

28:05 Public outreach is a crucial component of developing Marble Head’s charter. At the end of this month, the charter committee will hold three forums in different venues to gather feedback. The first forum will be a hybrid evening meeting held at Abbott Hall. It will begin with a comprehensive charter overview followed by public comment. The second form will be in person at lunchtime at the Jacoby Community Center sponsored by the Council on Aging. The third form will be a morning online webinar this fall. There will be additional forms and ad hoc presentations as the charter committee continues to review draft language,

28:47 any document, the charter committee reviews, including draft charter language is posted on the committee’s webpage. Please note that the town website domain has changed marblehead ma.gov, but marblehead.org still works. All charter committee meetings are posted with an agenda and are open to the public. Thank you. Thank you, Amy.

29:13 Excellent, excellent work from the Charter committee. Um, so now we’re gonna get going. Um, Molly Teets is gonna end, uh, with our end Article two. The finance committee, uh, makes recommendations to town meeting. They work hard all year. They’ve been, uh, helping to propagate our new financial software, which is clear gov, which has helped our town, uh, and our financial departments in, in amazing ways to really to support the $120 million business that we run here. Um, so, uh, uh, so Molly’s going to give a report and then we start rolling into the other articles. Molly Tet Co. Molly Teets, co-chair of the Finance Committee. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Um, Molly Teets, 3 88 Ocean Vice-chair

29:58 of the, um, finance Committee. Our chair, a goolsby had planned to present to you, but unfortunately he is not able to be here now due to a prior unavoidable commitment. So my fellow FinCon members, and I’ll do our best to fill his shoes. I did wanna take this opportunity to recognize Alex’s contribution to this town. I am continually impressed with the amount of time and skill he volunteers, not just during budget season, but all year round. I know that all my fellow FinCon members would agree with me when I say that we are lucky to have his leadership. So I will be speaking on Article two tonight to introduce you to our finance committee to discuss some of the work and processes we have advised on over the past year to provide an update on the Town’s reserve fund,

30:45 we administer and to remind everyone of our role at town meeting, we currently have a full roster of nine members, all of whom have been on the committee for multiple years at this point. Our chair, Alec Goolsby, is supported by Vice-Chairs, pat Franklin and me, as well as FinCon members, Lindsay Duby, Michael Janko, Eric Knight, Mike O’Neil, Tara Samuels, and Tim Meyer. Our finance committee advises the town and town meeting on financial matters. Our main responsibilities include the review and recommendation of the balanced budget included in Article 22. This long and detailed process represents 80 to 90% of our time spent

31:32 and included the following steps this year, establishing the budget calendar, which was finalized last August. Reviewing and advising on all draft department level budgets submitted to us through a series of public liaison meetings between November and March, voting on each individual budget during those department level public hearings in March and April. Voting on a recommendation on the town wide balanced budget at the April warrant hearing. And finally presenting the balanced budget at town meeting more to come on budget details when we get to Article 22. In addition to our budget responsibilities, we also make a recommendation on all other warrant articles

32:18 with financial implications. These are recommendations. These recommendations were voted by our committee at the warrant hearing last month. We make no recommendations on articles without financial implications. All of our recommendations are included in the finance committee report, generally with comments where applicable. We encourage you to follow along in your FinCon books tonight and consider our recommendations as you vote. In addition to these annual recurring responsibilities, we also supported town leadership in a detailed three year operating budget forecast during the late summer and into the fall. This forecasting exercise was presented to the select board and the finance committee in separate public

33:05 meetings in early December. This preliminary forecast revealed increasing deficits over the three years, which were reviewed in depth. More to come on this exercise later on tonight as well. Lastly, we administered the Town Operating Budget Reserve Fund for the fiscal year 25 budget. This reserve account was funded at $144,000. As of tonight, we have approved one request this year, totaling $45,000, which leaves a balance of $99,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year ending June 30th. For the fiscal year 26 budget, the town has allocated $444,000 to this reserve account,

33:51 which will provide more flexibility throughout the year. Foren, sorry, unforeseen expenses across all departments. By increasing this reserve, the town is also being more transparent as this account requires both select for and finance committee approval in public meetings before being drawn upon. We make our recommendation to town meeting based on our independent review of financial information presented to us. While we hope that our insight is a benefit to town meeting, and while we further believe that our recommendations are both thoughtful and thorough, it is ultimately up to town meeting to review what proponents of the articles have presented to weigh the arguments for and against each article, and to vote the most beneficial course

34:37 of action for our town. There are many articles to review this year. Members of our committee will speak to some of these articles where we deem necessary. We appreciate the opportunity to serve the town and look forward to an engaging and productive town meeting. Thank you, Molly. Thank you very much. This meeting relies upon the work of the finance committee and their recommendations, so thank you for your work. Uh, article two, if you favor the article, use your green yes button if you oppose. Oh, hold on one sec.

35:24 Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Gretchen. Um, if you favor Article two, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

35:41 Oh, awesome.

36:11 Okay. Article two passes of a vote of 407 to 21. Article three, consent articles. The article is moved. Do I have a second? This is the way I’m gonna handle the consent articles. I’m gonna read through the subtitles and ask for holds. If you would like to hold any for further discussion, please yell, hold. Uh, a note is that there is no trust property or leases of town property this year. Uh, do you start with b?

36:46 A is assume liability. B is access, accept trust property C is lease count. Property D is contracts in excess of three years. E is financial assistance for conservation. We’ll go to the vote. If you favor the article, use your green yes button if you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

37:46 Article three passes of, of a vote of 4 0 2 to 22. Article four is unpaid accounts. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. This is gonna be a four-fifths vote, and I’d like to ask Alicia Benjamin, our finance director to tell us about unpaid accounts.

38:09 Good evening town meeting. Article four. Unpaid bills is required by Mass General Law since the money was from the prior year, and we’re asking for current near funds to pay the bills. Um, on the screen you can’t see it is, um, sewer has two bills, $279. Water Department has two bills for $2,268. Select board has one bill for 7,300 and finance. We have seven bills for 18,000 821 72 for a total of 28,000 668 72. Good news for you is we’re gonna implement a new financial system for fiscal year 26, where everything will be encumbered. So these should essentially be eliminated.

38:53 Thank you, Alicia.

38:58 Seeing no one’s getting up, um, article four will go to a vote. If you favor Article four, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

39:47 Okay. Article four, passes of a vote of 4 0 3 to 25. Article five, departmental revolving funds. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Alicia Benjamin, finance Director. Good evening. Article five. Departmental revolving funds under National law Chapter 44, 53 and a half have to be voted each year for their cap. This is not taxpayer dollars. This is all funded by revolving fund fees for their activities of each fund. The good news is the law has been updated that unless they increase it, I don’t have to keep bringing these up every year. So unless they’re going up, you won’t see as many in the future.

40:32 Thank you, Alicia. Uh, we’re gonna go to a vote on Article five. If you favor Article five, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red, no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

41:19 Article five is a vote, and the motion passes 408 to 21. Article six, purchase of equipment of several departments. This article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. That kezer? Yes. Thank you. Um, so the next three articles deal with, uh, capital purchases. The first one will be equipment, uh, the next articles, leases, and the, and the third is building improvements. Um, the list of items for this year in the finance committee report, they total $1 million of free cash to cover, um, all of these purchases, plus in addition, uh, 29,917 from the Waste Revolving

42:05 Fund to purchase a backhoe for the health waste department. Um, I just wanna briefly describe a bit about the process that we go through to determine the list. Uh, as anyone could guess, the, the needs for capital far exceed the funds that are available. Uh, so we do a, a process with the department heads as far as the needs. Uh, we break the categories of the, the equipment and vehicles and, and and such down to tiers one, two, and three. Basically the dollar value, uh, of the, of the capital needs, small being those under a hundred thousand, medium a hundred thousand to a million. And category three large, uh, items being a million or more.

42:51 And as you may or may not be aware, uh, the select board has reconstituted the Capital Planning Committee that is tasked with reviewing any of the capital projects that are a million dollars or more. So, uh, that has been stood up and, and reviewed, uh, the school project and the Mary Alley project that were presented last night. Additionally, as we gather the list of, of items, we prioritize them. Uh, high priority items would be those that are critical, uh, dealing with risk of health, safety, and environment and regulatory or mandated requirements. Median priority would be some degree of need, uh, based on the asset condition. In other words, if it’s a vehicle,

43:37 if the wheels are falling off, it probably needs to be replaced. So it’s based on the condition, uh, sustainability, um, efforts, uh, and the availability of funds. Um, and low priority are just minimal needs that can be deferred. And so we try to hit all the high priorities and as many of the medium pro priorities as we can. So again, the, the list of items are part of the Heim report.

44:09 Thank you. Did you just speak to the next couple articles as well? So I gave a general overview of how we do the process. Let’s Point through this one. Okay? Yeah. Thank You. This is the equipment one Article six, uh, purchase of equipment of several departments. We’ll go to the vote.

44:30 Excuse me, I Wanna hold It out. Uh, you could, you could come up to, up to the microphone. And the holding is only for the consent articles. Oh, I’m sorry, folks. Once the, once the main speaker, if you think you’re going to speak on an article tonight, um, even as the speaker is talking or the pre presenter is talking, you can step right up to the microphones and then I’ll see you. Okay. Um, or you can yell and I’ll tell you to come up to the microphone. So name and name and address, please. Albert Jordan, 64 Roosevelt Avenue. Um, waste Department, $70,000 in public building, 70,000 for a four door C cab pickup truck, uh, that we’ve never had before. And I’m, I’m just curious. I thought we were going green and I see a lot of these trucks. We already have a bunch of these trucks in Marblehead,

45:15 and there’s one person driving around in them 90% of the time. Um, and, uh, I, I’m, I’m just curious why the states buying Ford. Mavericks forward to our crew cabs that are about 35,000, and we’re buying two trucks for 140,000. And, um, these trucks were never, uh, uh, they had trucks in the past, but they were given from other departments and, and now they seem to be adding to the fleet. My main concern is, I was heading back to Marblehead tonight, and at three o’clock in the afternoon, I saw two vehicles from Marblehead with blue plates heading out of town at three o’clock in the afternoon with no decals on ‘em. And I’m just getting concerned that we’re supplying these vehicles for department heads going outta town.

46:00 And I don’t like paying for the gas and buying $70,000 electric. You know, the, the electric light. We have all these vehicles with no decals on them. Several departments in Marble Head. I could give you a list of them, but I don’t want to tie this up. But we need to have a policy on these vehicles, therefore town use. And they should not be used for personal use unless the department head lives in Marblehead. They shouldn’t be going outta town for personal use and they’re running their families around in em on the weekends. I’ve seen it. So, so I’m, I just don’t know why we’re buying these 75. Like I said, I thought we were going green. Are these electric trucks we’re buying, or gasoline, please? These are, go ahead. These are both electric vehicles. That’s why they’re at $70,000. Okay. Okay.

46:46 Uh, one’s a replacement. That’s currently there. One’s for our new building commissioner. Okay. Because we bought a new truck for him. We used to get a gas allowance. I really don’t understand. The Board of Health. Got a new car last year. On top of it, they added another vehicle, a Ford Escape with no decals on it. And I see that out of town all the time. I just like a, if they’re using it for town business, I don’t mind. But it seems like a lot of the town vehicles that have been replaced in the last few years, park and wreck, uh, border Health, uh, the pickup truck that they currently have that you replace, it doesn’t have any decals. I’m paying for that and I want decals on ‘em, like the other cities and towns do. Thank you. Thank You, Mr. Jordan. Okay, we’re gonna go to the vote on Article six.

47:32 If you favor Article six, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now. Thank you for holding them up.

48:13 Article six is a vote and the motion passes 3 49 to 84. Article seven lease purchase. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Uh, this is a two thirds vote. Uh, Dr. I have a Account administrator. I’ll just quickly mention that on this list. Uh, there’ll be, um, uh, vehicles on here that are first year lease purchase. And, uh, other vehicles are on here that are in successive years of their lease. Payments still need to go through the authorization process. Generally, these are a bit larger, more expensive vehicles where we try to match the, the, the payment cycle with the life cycle of the equipment, um, while also trying

48:59 to make sure we manage our fleets to have, have more funds to, to manage the various pieces of equipment we need to maintain, uh, through our fleet management program. Thank you, Mr. Keer. Mr. Jordan name and address, please? Albert Jordan, 64 Roosevelt Avenue. Uh, I, I discussed this with the police Chief Pryor. Um, I’m just curious why Marblehead? Most of the towns are painting their police cars, black and white. You can see the visibility of them. They’re all black and marblehead. I see ‘em parked with their lights off. Difficult to see. Um, it, you know, I thought they’re there for the visibility of the public and so the public can see ‘em when they’re parked. Uh, maybe go ask a question or something. It looks like the Gestapo or a hears at a funeral home.

49:45 So, so I’m just curious. I’m just curious why Salem’s recently gone to black and white. Danes has black and white. They’re much more visible. Swamps get, has dark blue. I, I don’t mind dark blue and white, but I’d like to have ‘em two-tone. And I’d like to see the marked vehicles. Um, a little more friendly environment. They, they’re all dressed in black with dark sunglasses. It’s not a friendly welcome to Marble Head. Um, it looks like the gestapos behind you. So let, can we get them painted black and white? That’s what my question is. Thank you, Mr. Jordan.

50:21 And Mr. Jordan, you started out the right way with that. You spoke to the police chief about it because it’s important to reach out to our leaders if you need to. Thank you, Mr. Jordan. I, I, I spoke to him, but he doesn’t seem to be interested, so I’m wondering if we could inc get how do the tax deals. Thank, thank you payers, Mr. Jordan. Thank you. Appreciate that. Okay. Article seven again. Is it? We have another speaker. Sorry. Yes, sir. Hi, Steve Silva. Uh, 19 Kenneth Road. I just am curious how are we gonna capture some of the things that Mr. Jordan just said and actually implement ‘em?

51:01 So town meeting, town meeting could give advice in, in something like this. So it’ll be documented on This advice given.

51:11 Thank You. Thank you. I I just have one question. Who do I speak to about getting this accomplished? I tried the department head and he’s not interested. I think it sounds like the taxpayers are interested. When I walk on the street, I’ve talked about this and a lot of people are happy that I’m saying something. I’m not the only one that feels this way. So I’m gonna go to the Selectman’s meeting next week and maybe they can form a committee to get this stuff done. I’ll inform them what’s going on because like I say, this should have been done a long time ago. Every other city in town, I know where these vehicles are. They’re marked. I had a skate vehicle and I had a seal on it when I took it home. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jordan. Article seven, lease purchase. We’re gonna go to the vote if you favor Article seven.

51:57 Use your green yes button if you oppose. Use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

52:39 Article seven passes. Yes. Vote is 360 7. No was 62.

52:48 Article eight, capital improvements for public buildings. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. That Keyser Town Administrator. Thank you. These are for public improve public building improvements. We have three projects in the schools and one for the police station. Um, these are the building requirements that have, uh, been prioritized. Prioritized for the funds that we have available.

53:14 Thank you. Mr. Keer.

53:18 Have somebody walking towards a mic? Nope. Walking by. Oh, yes. Yes sir. Yes. David Patton 25 Lease Tree. Could you read those? ‘cause I can’t read them from here. Could you read what they are, Please? Sure. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll read the buildings. And again, they’re in the Heim report also, uh, the Glover HVAC cafeteria for 70,000. The Glover School Playground for 60,000. Uh, reupholster the Performing Arts Center for 106,958 and police station flooring replacement for 15,000, a total of 251,958. Thank you. And folks, there are finance committee reports

54:05 in the back of the room if you’d like to grab one. Okay. Article eight.

54:12 Oh, we have a hand, excuse me, that’s,

54:21 Sorry it took me a minute to get up there. That’s the pack center,

54:28 that’s the seats in the auditorium at the Veteran School. Yes. Yes sir. Name and address. Mike McLaughlin. Five Stone Terrace. Just, uh, an overall, this is great to see the detail here, but a general question with regards to transparency online. Under the finance committee, um, section on the website, we now have a section that takes us to a breakdown of the budget. So whoever, a few years ago we got this clear gov in place, kudos to that. But there’s really no detail to drill down to be able to see this stuff before you get to a town meeting. Is it going to be the next level of detail?

55:21 Yeah, they, the details will be in our clear gov software. There’s links on the, on the, on the website. Uh, much like you can get the details of the operating budget. You can also find the details of the capital items with descriptions and, and further information. I, I beg to differ and I’ve also got comments from people in town. You can’t really drill down and see this deal of granularity, which is great at town meeting to see it, but we really should be able to see it beforehand. Will we be able to see that in future years? Yes. So that would be in the clear gov capital platform. It links into the clear gov budget. So when you go into the budget book, it really deals in deep, deep, deep detail.

56:06 That’s really where you wanna look for the most details is in the budget. I haven’t released that document yet, but yes, I will make it so it’s linked and the town can go look at all the capital in advance. I think that’s excellent. It’ll also help people be educated before they get to the town meeting. Thank you. Thank you for your question. Okay. Article eight, we’re gonna go to the vote. If you favor Article eight, use your green yes button if you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

57:08 Article eight passes 383 to 49. Article nine Walls and Fences. This is, this is the annual appropriation of $50,000 to the walls and fences, um, needs of our town. Obviously it doesn’t cover nearly as much as it as it should, but, um, unless we have any questions, we’re gonna go straight to the vote.

57:32 As many as favor article. I’m sorry, the article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. We’re gonna go to the vote. If you favor the article, use your, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

58:19 Okay. Article nine, walls and Fences passes. 392 to 36. Article 10 is storm water construction. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. Amy McHugh. You,

58:40 Amy McHugh, 38 Gingerbread Hill, uh, DPW Director. This is a standard article for construction maintenance and permit requirements for the storm water system. The appropriation is $400,000 and is funded by the tax. The stormwater department falls under the DPW and the article is sponsored by the select board.

59:01 Thank you Amy. We’re gonna move to the vote. Article 10, stormwater construction Question. Oh, sorry, I, I apologize. This is actually a question about the previous one, just a technicality. The, some of the, what was stated up there is not what’s In here. Can’t hear you. What was stated on the, on the slide up there is not the same as what’s in either the FinCon or neither the FinCon nor the, um, uh, town meeting agenda have this $50,000 amount. Just saying they’re not the same.

59:41 On the next page, report

59:56 That the town raised an appropriate $400,000 for the construction reconstruction, permitting and maintenance of storm sewers for surface drainage purposes, including engineering services in connection therewith, and for the general drain construction purposes, including the purchase or lease of equipment. And to authorize the appropriate town officers to acquire by purchase eminent domain or otherwise any land or easement necessary to be expended by the Department of Public Works. If you favor the, if you favor the article, use, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

1:01:07 Article 10, storm water construction passes of a vote of 400 to 33. Article 11. We have consent articles again with water and sewer. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. Um, Amy Chu’s gonna do an update and then I’m gonna explain the hold process. Amy Chu, Article 11 A is water department construction article. This is a standard article which authorizes the use of the water department, retained earnings for construction and maintenance of the water distribution system. The water and sewer commission follows a five year capital improvement plan. And construction estimates are included in the rate and review each year during the public hearing for the rate study. The sum of this article is 1,236,000.

1:01:55 The article is funded by water rates.

1:02:00 The sewer department construction Article B. This is a standard article which authorizes the use of the sewer department’s, retained earnings and construction and maintenance for the sewer collection system. The water and sewer commission follows a five year capital improvement plan. And the construction estimates are included in the rate and reviewed each year during the public hearing rate study. The article is funded by sewer rates and I didn’t write the amount and the amount is $1 million. 599,000 C is the water and Sewer commission claims article. This is the standard article that authors authorizes the water and sewer commission to act jointly with the select board on any claims or suits against the town during the construction of water and sewer systems.

1:02:47 This article is put forward by the Water and Sewer Commission and I am the water and sewer superintendent. Thank you, Amy. I’m gonna read through the subtitles and ask if you’d like to hold any of them. Um, and if you’d like to hold them, please just yell, hold a water department construction, b sewer department construction C, water and sewer claims. Okay, we’re gonna go to the vote on Article 11. If you favor Article 11, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red, no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

1:03:56 Article 11, consent articles for water and sewer passes. 407 votes to 30 votes. Article 12, proposed reclassification and pay schedule. Uh, administrative. This article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. Do I have someone from the select board that’s gonna speak on this?

1:04:21 I think we have a select board member that usually speaks on this.

1:04:33 Thank you. Alexa. Alexa, singer. Aye. Good evening. Alexa, singer Marblehead Select Board 20 Chi Avenue. I’m going to speak for Article 12, 13, and 14. Uh, in the interest of moving things along for you guys this evening, 12, 13, and 14 are standard articles. There are 2% cost of living increases. Uh, article 12 focuses on the administrative positions. Next, we have the traffic supervisors, which is our paid crossing guards. And the last Article 14 is focusing on our seasonal workers, uh, things such as camp counselors. Uh, these are our standard articles that we put up every year for the 2% cost of living. Thank you. Thank you. Article 12, uh, proposed reclassification and pay schedule.

1:05:21 Administrative. We’re gonna go to the vote. If you favor Article 12. Use your green yes button if you oppose. Use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

1:06:07 Article 12 passes 401 to 27. Article 13, proposed reclassification and pay schedule for traffic. Supervisors. This article has been moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. Seeing we have no speakers, um, we’re gonna go straight to the vote. If you favor the article, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

1:07:05 Article 13 is a vote and it passes 409 votes to 28 votes. Article 14, proposed reclassification and pay schedule for seasonal and temporary personnel. This article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. Um, seeing how I have no speakers, we’ll go straight to the vote. Uh, if as many as favor the article, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

1:08:08 Honor. Article 14 is a vote and the motion passes 413 to 24. Article 15, compensation of Town Officers. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you that your Keyser Town Administrator. Thank you. So this is for the elected town clerk position. So it’s an elected position, but it’s also a full-time, uh, employee position. Uh, it is proposed at 2% increase in line with the other administrative pay raises. Thank you Mr. Keer. Seeing how we have no other speakers, we’ll go straight to the vote. As many as favor the article, use your green yes button if you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

1:09:28 Article 15 is a vote and the motion passes 381 to 54. Article 16 ratification of salary bylaw. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. That keer? Yes. Thank you. So this is, uh, the compensation committee, which actually was created by town meeting in the 1950s and acts on behalf of town meeting. So the legislative body of any municipality, uh, has the authority to determine the, the classification and compensation schedule of all the employees. So the classification would be all the job titles that are authorized. And the compensation schedule is the, the, the salaries, uh,

1:10:16 given that this body meets once a year, and there are actions that need to be taken during the course of the year. Town meeting has delegated to the Compensation committee to take certain actions on its behalf. And the act here is to ratify those actions from the prior year. Uh, the members of the compensation committee, um, are the town administrator, the Chief financial officer, who then select another department head. Uh, Andrew Petty of the health department has been serving in that, that role. Uh, on the committee, uh, what’s presented here are the, the list of positions. And we’ve categorized them by those that have a grade change. So any position that we have, it’ll have a job description.

1:11:03 Uh, within the job description, it’ll list the responsibilities, supervisory requirements, education requirements, uh, those type of conditions. We use a process given to us by an HR consultant where we score each of the positions that when we add up the score, it determines what the pay grade is. The higher the pay grade, the higher the scale. Each grade will also have steps. One, typically one through eight. So an employee is hired into a grade six typically would start at step one, and then over the years go up in grade. What’s critical is what are the grades? So what’s presented here on grade changes, um, over the course of the year, are the positions in which

1:11:50 there was some type of change in the job description, um, that required us to rescore the positions and then put it into a different pay grade than what they were. Uh, a number of the positions you’ll see are in the area of the Department of Public Works. Um, Amy McCue, uh, has done a terrific job working with the Compensation Committee, the HR director to do a, a, a lot of reorganization of the positions within public works to, to take a pretty much flat organization, um, create a structure of supervisory levels, which allows employees to come in and have, uh, over the years, can work their way up the ladder as as they gain experience and responsibility.

1:12:35 So, uh, what has happened there is a lot of similar positions are given more responsibilities, um, more requirements, and then they’re scored higher. And that becomes sort of a, a hierarchical organization that is much more productive. Um, so that’s, uh, the reason for those that are listed. Uh, the new position grading. If, if there’s a new position being created, uh, again, a job description will be, will be drafted up that, that meets the need, and then that’ll go through the process of score and determine the appropriate grade. Um, so on this, the new positions assistant engineer in the public works, um, in that case there is, there has been a staff engineer.

1:13:23 Uh, we also have a town engineer. Our staff engineer got promoted to town engineer. Uh, the assistant engineering position was created to compliment the staff engineering. Only one of those two positions will be filled. If the engineer does not have a pe they will be in the assistant engineer grade, which would be slightly lower. If they have a pe it’ll be in the staff engineer position. Um, again, one, the person will be a one in the other. So we have a new hire of an engineer who does not have a pe. If and when she receives her pe she can then be promoted into the existing, um, um, staff engineer.

1:14:11 So again, it’s designed to allow, uh, professional growth of the staff. Um, next community development planning director position that was created last year by this town meeting when we created the department. And it specifically creates the position. So the action of the compensation committee is to create the job description and, and do the score and evaluate at what grade. So that was accomplished and subsequently hired our first director in that position. Uh, assistant director of waste. Again, that was a, a position proposed in the health, um, the Board of Health Health Department. Um, that’s, that I know was an issue. The, the, the job of the compensation committee is simply

1:14:58 to create, um, uh, evaluate the job description and determine the scoring. It’ll be up to the Board of Health to decide whether they’re actually gonna fund or not fund the position. But the position exists, uh, if approved here on the classification plan. And then finally, superintendent of Parks, parks and Rec. There’s some retirements, there’s some changes. Uh, created this position in order to create a step up position, um, to take on more responsibilities and recreation and parks as they sort of reorganize their staffing based in and changes of personnel due to retirements and, and other items. Finally, the last one is a title change. Again, the classification plan is the titles

1:15:45 that are authorized, uh, in the library. Uh, there was some, some changes in the job description, but it, it actually changes the name. So it’s included on the list and that’s the reason for the items that are before you. Thank you. Karen Earns Ernst? Yes. Hi, Carron Ernst 93 Lafayette Street. Just a point of clarification, um, the new position, grading d is actually the superintendent of Recreation, not parks. We already have one of those. Yep. Yep. Thank you. Of the Park and Rec commission. Yeah. Thank you Karen. Mr. Jordan. Albert. Albert, Jordan, 64 Roosevelt Avenue. Um, I got a question about the health department, waste department, whatever you’re calling, um,

1:16:31 $92,000 position that you’re creating. Um, I understand that you’re not gonna do it this year. Um, what My question is that the town has no money. We’re adding more employees. Um, we’re adding to the monopoly up there, the transfer station. Um, I want to keep these expenses down, not going up. Um, next year the trash contract comes up after 10 years. I see that you’re telling us it’s gonna be probably a 30%, 40% increase in the trash fee. So we can’t be adding more positions up at the Board of Health when we’re gonna be in a huge increase next year, all the money we’re spending. So I know you have this conservation, this new committee

1:17:18 that you said it’s been around towards the, since the fifties, but right now, the town has no money and people don’t want their taxes going up, creating new positions. So I just want to make sure that you’re creating this position. You’re not funding it this year before you appoint any more people to this town. Um, I think you should come to town meeting and have each new position, $92,000 appropriated by the, not the, not the, not the committees that want this personnel, but the taxpayers that are paying for all these positions. $92,000. I di I didn’t make $92,000. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jordan. Uh, let’s see.

1:18:03 Seeing no other speakers, um, we’ll move to the vote. Article 16, ratification of salary bylaw. If you vote in favor of the article, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red, no button. 32nd, voting starts now.

1:18:52 Article 16 is a vote and it passes three 70 to 78. Um, and I want to address something that somebody said earlier. What we’re voting on tonight is on the middle screen. The motions that we’re voting on tonight are on the middle screen. You might have a warrant in your hand. And that warrant was closed back in January. And a lot of things take place between an amendment. The, uh, an article that’s on the warrant and the, and the motion that you hear today, those motions are on the middle screen.

1:19:22 Article 17, one of my favorite articles, Essex Northshore Agricultural and Technical School District. The article has been moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. Mr. Strau. Tell us about all the good works that are going on at Essex Tech. It’s my Pleasure. Thank you.

1:19:45 Hi everybody. Mark Troub, 40 Maple Street. I’m the chairperson of the 20 Member School Committee for the Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School District. Each year I’d like to give you an update to our progress at the school, along with our budget figures. And I promise to be brief. Essex Tech currently serves 1,836 students and offers 27 career technical and agricultural programs on our 165 acre Danvers campus containing 17 buildings and close to 1 million square feet of shopping classroom space. This year we had over 1500 students apply for next fall, and we just accepted 500 students of the class of 2029. Tonight I am most pleased to announce that of the 29 vocational technical schools in the Commonwealth,

1:20:33 Essex Tech is the third most affordable. I am also pleased to report tonight that for the fifth straight year in our school’s history, that Marblehead will be assessed. The state minimum required contribution is calculated by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. I am also pleased to announce that our administration has this year secured over $10 million to date in competitive grants. This year, 32 of our Marblehead students took advantage of the following career and career and technical education programs, arborists, biotechnology, carpentry, construction, craft laborers, dental assisting early education and care engineering design and media communications, electrical, HVAC

1:21:21 and refrigeration information technology services, landscaping and turf management and veterinary sciences. I’d also like to remind you all of the services that you can avail yourselves of throughout the school year at our campus. You can make a reservation for lunch at our Student Run Bistro. You can visit our bakery. You can have your dogs groomed and or trained. You can make an appointment for an oil change, a tuneup, breaks, or a new muffler. You can have our cosmetology students give you a shampoo and a blowout or maybe just a relaxing manicure or you can have your animals professionally treated at our full service Angel Memorial Veterinary Clinic. And this past Saturday, we celebrated the grand opening

1:22:06 of our beautiful Catherine Larkin Event Center that any of you can rent for weddings, showers, private, or community events. I am very proud to announce that our event center was funded totally by private donations and built by our students in collaboration with our corporate and union partners. As I do every year, I’d like to thank the Marblehead businesses. Thank you,

1:22:35 as I do every year. I’d like to thank the Marblehead business owners who have employed our students in their co-op positions. And they are Atlantic Veterinary Clinic, smile Design and Family Dentistry, Marblehead Animal Hospital, Marblehead Gardens, Barland, Steadman Plumbing, Whitmore Brothers Construction, Gilbert and Cole Building Supply, Hurley Electric MRW Mechanical Eat Well Kitchen, mark h Driscoll Construction and Chuy’s Marketplace.

1:23:11 I’d also like to give a huge shout out to our carpentry, electrical, and plumbing students who this year continued their work on the renovation of the Raki House off of West Shore Drive. Our goal is to continue to be the finest career technical agricultural high school in the Commonwealth and to remain current to industry demands while meeting the high school demands of the college preparatory curriculum. Therefore, our Marblehead students and their families and the staff of Essex North Shore would greatly appreciate your support in this article. And we thank you for your continued support over the years. And as always, I thank you for listening to my report and for allowing me to be your Marblehead representative. Thank you.

1:24:02 And that’s why this is one of my favorite articles, Mr. Jordan Albert Jordan, 64 Roosevelt Avenue. I think the school committee or anyone meet running for it should get in touch with this person ‘cause year after year. Um, and I know personally a bunch of people that have gone to this fantastic jewel that the town has the resources to. We should increase who we’re sending there ‘cause we’re getting some very Italian people all over the North Shore to do work that needs to be done. But, but I think the school department should talk to this guy. He probably could save some money. Thank you. Thank You Mr. Jordan. Article 17. We’re gonna go to the vote as many as favor. Article 17, use your green yes button if you oppose,

1:24:49 use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

1:25:25 Article 17 is a vote and the motion passes 428 to 12.

1:25:34 Article 18 available funds appropriated to reduce the tax rate. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you Alicia. Uh, good evening town meeting tonight, we’re recommending $7 million from free cash to reduce the tax rate when we set the budget. And happily, we are getting our electric surplus increase from 330 to $360,000 this year for a total of 7,360,000 to offset the general fund budget. Thank you, Alicia?

1:26:09 Yes, ma’am.

1:26:11 Street of, so, um, I’m wondering why this money, Could I have your name and address please? I’m Sorry, Alexis. So front street. Thank You. I’m wondering why this money is not going into like savings, rainy day emergency funds.

1:26:27 There is a million dollar that is going into our stabilization rainy day fund. That’s an article further in, in the booklet.

1:26:36 Thank you. Right. But I mean, a million dollars is a drop in the bucket compared to what happens sometimes. And we know that things are not getting cheaper.

1:26:49 Correct. So the select board adopted a financial policy and their financial policy is to build 5% of the general fund in savings. So we’re working towards that right now. That was adopted not too long ago, but we’ve already started that process. And before that, they had started a stabilization fund that was funded twice at 250,000. So this will be over 1.5 million in the, uh, general reserve.

1:27:15 Thank you. Okay, when we go to the vote, my batteries are gonna get changed. So I wish the microphone batteries. Um, article 18, we’re gonna go to the vote as many as favor. Article 18, use your green yes button if you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

1:28:20 Article 18 is a vote yes and passes 406 to 28.

1:28:30 Thank you Frank. Frank Perez, ladies and gentlemen, has been amazing the past few days. I have a long list of heroes over the past few days and Frank’s, Frank’s close to the top of that list. Uh, article 19, collective bargaining police. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you.

1:28:55 Okay. Yes. Thank you. Molly Tets. Thank you Mr. Moderator. Molly Tets, 3 88 Ocean vice chair of the finance Committee. The finance committee recommendation for this article is that the sum of 140,000 be appropriated from free cash to fund the collective bargaining agreement for fiscal 26. Thank you. Molly. That’s Keyser. Thank. Thank you. Oh, there it is. Um, so in regard to this item, we, uh, were able to come to agreement on collective bargaining contract. Um, the, uh, the terms are we, we agreed to a one year agreement that covers the current fiscal year,

1:29:40 uh, which is at 2%, and that was funded in the current budget for the this year’s budget. It’s year one of a new three year agreement. Um, the cola on that is 2.5%, but in the police environment, uh, there, there’s the new police officer standards and training, uh, requirements. So as part of a change in working conditions, there is an additional 1%, uh, to so equal to a a 3.5. Um, when we built the budget, we built it based on a, an assumption of a 2% increase. So the, the funding value that’s in here is the difference between what we had put in the budget and what is additionally needed

1:30:26 to meet the contractual, uh, agreement. Uh, that includes the cola, but when you increase the, the, the salary, it affects the overtime rates and other factors. So this, uh, 140,000, um, is to cover the base salary and all the other, uh, increases in, in, in the police budget. And I just clarify that when COLA is mentioned, it’s a cost of living adjustment, uh, seeing no speakers. We’re gonna go to a vote. If you favor Article 19, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

1:31:43 Article 19 passes 387 to 45. Article 20, collective bargaining. Our local 1776. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. Patrick Keer or Molly, sorry. Molly Teets, vice Chair of Fin Income. Um, the finance committee recommendation for Article 20 is that the sum of $140,000 be appropriated from free cash to fund the collective bargaining agreement for fiscal year 26. Thank you, Molly, that Keer, town Administrator. Thank you. So this collective bargaining group, um, we refer to as MMEU, um, is primarily your, your town hall employees, public works,

1:32:31 water sewer folks. Um, so, so a lot of your general municipal employees. So, uh, it’s a three year agreement. Uh, again, we’ve been negotiating for over a year. So the current agreement settles fiscal 25, which is the current fiscal year. Uh, that agreement is at 2%. And again, we had funded that into the budget. Um, and then because through your agreement it has fiscal 26, which is the budget that’s gonna come up before you and fiscal 27. So for fiscal 26, it’s a 3% cre. Um, cola increase cost of living increases. And again, these agreements also have other, other adjustments. The kohler’s the main factor. Um, and so based on our estimates

1:33:18 of the increase in the base pay and the effect on overtime pay, there are some adjustments to some stipends and, and longevity and those things. Um, the 140,000 is the amount needed to, um, uh, fund it over and above the 2% we had originally assumed. That’s already built into the budget. Thank you Mr. Keer. Uh, seeing no other speakers, we’re gonna go to the vote for Article 20. If you favor the article, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

1:34:10 This

1:34:26 Article 20 is a vote and it passes 402 to 35. Article 21 collective bargaining fire. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Molly Teets,

1:34:41 The finance committee recommendation for Article 21 is that the sum of 150,000 be appropriated from free cash to fund the collective bargaining agreement for fiscal year 26. Thank you. Molly Thatcher Keer. Thank you. Um, unlike the other two bargaining units I just described where their contracts had expired last June, and so we have first year of, of retro pay in the current fiscal year. Firefighter contracts are not expiring until this June. So the negotiation, um, is actually timely in the sense that we, we’ve done a one year agreement for fire. Uh, we have just more, more things we want to talk about. So the agreement is to do a one year, uh,

1:35:28 agreement at 3% cost of living. Um, again, based on the change in base pay, it has an effect on overtime and some other, other stipend calculations. And based on the, just the number of employees, which is a little bit larger, um, than the police department, um, it comes out to $150,000 in order to fund the agreement over and above the 2% we had built into the budget as our original estimate. Thank you Mr. Keer. Seeing no other speakers, we’re gonna go to the vote on Article 21. If you favor the article, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

1:36:44 Article 21 is a vote and it passes 418 to 20. That’s three contracts settled and no small task on anybody’s part that was involved. So I think we deserve a round of applause for that article. 22. Okay, we’re at the budget folks. Um, article 22 is the expenses of several departments. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. We’re gonna have a report from the finance committee and then I’m going to ex go explain the hold process while I go through the entire budget. Those that have been here before will know how it goes, but I’ll explain it in detail. Molly tts, vice chair of the Finance Committee. Thank you, Mr. Moderator.

1:37:29 Molly TTS, 3 88 Ocean Vice chair of the Finance Committee. As noted when I spoke on article two, the process that leads up to the balanced budget presented in Article 22 captures 80 to 90% of our committee’s time and efforts annually. We already discussed the steps we went through to get here from a process perspective. Now I’d like to discuss some of the finer details surrounding this year’s budget and the overall financial condition of our town. The official budget cycle began when our finance director and town administrator presented the revenue forecast to both the select board and the finance committee in separate independent meetings. The revenue forecast for fiscal 26

1:38:17 is $5.6 million above the forecasted revenues included in last year’s balanced operating budget. That’s a 6% increase in available revenue to fund operating expenses year over year. Some key assumptions made in determining the available revenues include the following. First, the tax levy increased by approximately 3%, which includes the allowed 2.5 increase under proposition two and a half, plus an estimated 0.5% in new growth. Second forecasted local receipts have been increased by 25% compared to fiscal year 25, primarily driven by an increase in interest income

1:39:02 and an increase in the revenue generated from the hotels and meals tax established at last year’s town meeting. Third net state aid effectively remains flat. And fourth, the amount of free cash utilized to offset the operating budget has been increased by $1.5 million compared to last year. This is driven by an increase in certified free cash year over year, and the decision made by town leadership to increase the use of free cash to address the cost of collective bargaining agreements settled during the fiscal year once revenue projections were finalized. Town leadership worked closely with department heads to prepare and finalize individual budgets. The collectively roll up

1:39:48 to the balanced budget presented in Article 22. I wanted to note here that personnel expenses, which include salaries and wages, health insurance benefits and pension, typically account for 75 to 80% of our town wide budget. So keep that in mind as I walk through the following. Cost drivers, the main expense categories driving the overall operating budget increase of 6% for the fiscal year 26 include salaries and wages, which are growing at four to 4.5%, and reflect the impact of the multiple collective bargaining agreements settled during the fiscal year. Benefits including health insurance expenses, which are increasing by eight to 10% this year.

1:40:36 Pension assessment, which is increasing by eight to 9% utility costs, which are up four to 5%, and inflation in general, which has resulted in significant pressure on the operating budget over the last few years. All of these factors have led us to our balanced operating budget, included in Article 22 tonight of $119.5 million, which includes 96.9 million of general operating budget, 9.3 million of previously approved debt service, and 13.3 million of enterprise fund expenses, which are funded from fees rather than the tax taxation. So where do we go from here?

1:41:22 When Alex spoke last year at town meeting, he committed to you that our FinCon would support town leadership in the development of a strategy. This ongoing effort began soon after town meeting when we kicked off an in-depth three year forecasting exercise. In late July, our FinCon liaison teams worked with department heads through a series of public meetings to review and collect data on the primary cost drivers for the town over a three year period. The forecasting exercise featured a number of cost drivers, which will continue to put pressure on the operating budget. These main cost categories include salaries and wages, which are anticipated to grow by four and a half to five and a half percent per year based on the

1:42:09 recently signed collective bargaining agreements, which escalate over the contract terms insurance and benefits, which are estimated to increase 6% annually pension assessment, which will continue to grow eight to 9% per year utility costs, which are estimated to increase annually by 4% out of district tuition fees, which are estimated to increase annually by four to 5%. And finally, trash collection costs, which are expected to spike by 35 to 40% upon the expiration of our current favorable contract at the end of fiscal year 26. As noted in our report, town leadership mitigated the current year budget challenges

1:42:56 by increasing the utilization of free cash to help balance the operating budget. We do not anticipate this being an option in future years. Any reduction in the amount of free cash used to balance the budget will greatly limit our ability to fund increases in expenses. This is particularly concerning given the escalating expense growth that I just summarized. For those of you who have been listening to Alex speak here over the last few years, none of this should come as a surprise to you. The challenges I just summarized and the challenges that lie ahead have not changed. Our recurring expenses are estimated to outpace recurring revenue available under Proposition two and a half. That being said, I would like to take a moment

1:43:42 to mention some of the progress that has been made in recent years to address our challenges. First off, the town has looked closely at maximizing revenue sources outside of property taxes to address its increasing costs. An example of this is the hotels and meals tax implemented at last year’s town meeting. I’m happy to report that in its first year of existence, this source of revenue has resulted in approximately $575,000 year to date through March 31st. It is expected that this will increase further in the fourth quarter and even more so into the future as all restaurants and hotels should be complying. By now, town Finance has implemented a number of new cash management policies that along

1:44:31 with higher interest rates have driven increases in interest income and department heads have worked closely with our committee to dig into the use of their revolving funds to help support increasing costs where appropriate.

1:44:47 Additionally, town leadership has approved a new set of comprehensive financial policies, which include annual reserve and free cash target levels, debt management, cash investment policies, and many other critical policies to guide and govern our town finances. Finally, the town is in the middle of its overall budgeting and accounting software upgrade. To date, the town has effectively implemented the clear gov budgeting software, which has been a game changer for our annual budget process, and provides increased transparency to taxpayers in the next few months. Phase two of the town’s finance and accounting software upgrades are set to take place and will allow for more timely and better reporting of data, along with the ability

1:45:34 to integrate the books and records directly with Clear, with clear gov.

1:45:40 We, the finance committee, are committed to advising the continued development of a long-term plan in the year ahead. We would like to thank the members of our current finance committee for volunteering their time and efforts to another successful budget process. We’d also like to thank and commend the select board all department heads, municipal employees appointed and elected boards, and involved citizens for their collaboration. Thank you.

1:46:12 Thank you, Molly. And thank you to the finance committee. I will add that a little bit of a pro tip if you want to learn about the budget of the town of Marblehead, marblehead dot marblehead ma.gov, the town’s website, post the public meetings of the finance committee. And if you pay attention between January and this meeting, you’re gonna learn a lot and you’re actually gonna be able to be part of the conversation that takes place in their open meetings. Now I’m gonna explain the hold process and how I’m gonna process the budget of about $120 million worth of expenditures. I’m the, I’m gonna list the budget by departmental line item while doing so Anyone with a question can yell, hold.

1:46:58 Then I’m going to review any items held and we can have conversation on that. And then we’re gonna vote on the budget by silos as I list list them during the reading. This Is a lot of reading and it starts out with my favorite line moderator. A hundred dollars,

1:47:20 we don’t mean that, right? Thank you. Okay, uh, select board, $700,051 Finance Committee, six thousand six thousand three hundred and seventy five dollars Reserve Fund, $444,000 Finance Department, $1,688,913. Assessors $394,221

1:47:53 Town Council, $115,000. Was that a hold? Thank you.

1:48:07 Parking clerk, $8,400 Town Clerk $244,733. Election and registration Department $71,015.

1:48:24 Planning Board, $5,775

1:48:29 Public Buildings Department $286,826 Human Resources Department $294,927.

1:48:44 Community Development and Planning Department, $494,402

1:48:54 Total General Government, $4,754,738

1:49:02 Police Department, $4,984,687 Fire Department, $5,561,260. Building Inspection Department, $687,313. Sealer of weights and measures $2,100 Animal Inspector, $2,400. Total Public Safety, $11,237,760.

1:49:39 School Department, $49,120,287. And that’s Total Schools

1:49:52 Engineer Zero. Public Works Highway Tree and Drains $2,301,042.

1:50:05 Thank you. Snow Removal, 105,000

1:50:11 Waste Collection, $2,943,402

1:50:18 Cemetery Department, $495,043 Total Public Works and Facilities $5,844,487

1:50:33 Health Department, $326,041 Council on Aging, $423,460

1:50:45 Veterans Benefits, $148,525 for Total Human Services of $898,026.

1:50:57 Abbott Public Library, $1,493,292

1:51:03 Recreation and Park Department, $1,037,027

1:51:11 Memorial and Veterans Day, $7,550. Total Culture and Recreation, $2,537,869.

1:51:23 Maturing bonds and interests. Debt service, total debt service, $9,314,141.

1:51:33 Other general government, $22,499,072

1:51:43 Sewer Enterprise Fund, $5,532,269

1:51:52 Total Water Enterprise Fund, $6,463,957

1:52:01 Total Harbor Enterprise Fund, $1,276,874

1:52:11 I have a motion to pay for appropriations in the amount of $119,479,480 to be raised an appropriated transferred or otherwise provided as follows, raise an appropriate, you know what, I’m gonna hold on that and do that at the end.

1:52:30 That’s how the budget’s paid for. We’re gonna go back and address the holds.

1:52:45 Uh, we had hold on town Council, would you come up to the speaker please? Thank you. Yes. Hi Alexis. So Front Street, I’m just, uh, wondering if somebody could explain the difference between the $2,000 salary and the over a hundred thousand in expenses.

1:53:07 Yes. Thank you. So the 2000 salaries, um, we have a town council who basically handles our, um, parking ticket, um, appeals. Um, so that’s being paid to, to the attorney and as a salary, um, 113,000. So our legal services, uh, for our firm is through a contract. So it’s a contract for services. They’re not employees of the town. Um, they, they provide the services through a contractual agreement. So that’s the difference between those two items. Thank you. I Hope, Excuse me. So these, these don’t include, like, there’s been several

1:53:54 cases that have gone against the town, uh, the police officer and, uh, I forget the other one, but there’s been quite a bit of legal expense if that’s not included in any of this. So this is for the actual services of the firm providing legal services. If there are rulings against the town in which there’s a payment of some type, we have to find that in other, other available funds to, to meet whatever the, uh, whatever the, the amounts that we’re required to. So this is just for the legal services itself. Thank you. Moving on, community development and planning department, we have a hold

1:54:46 Emily DeJoy Riverside Drive, in lieu of my article 47, as originally planned and discussed with Mr. Keer, I would instead like to use that time to hear from our town administrator regarding recent staffing decisions. Specifically, I’d like an explanation as to why five individuals were hired under the umbrella of community development despite ongoing financial constraints and the fact that these responsibilities were previously managed by a single position. Additionally, I request a clear explanation of the differences between the roles of grant coordinator and sustainability coordinator as it appears that much of the sustainability coordinator’s efforts have focused primarily on grant related work. Thank you.

1:55:33 Thank you, Mr. Keer.

1:55:38 Yes. Uh, thank you. Thank you for the questions. And, and thank you for the conversation we had in my office. Uh, um, I, I, I enjoyed the dialogue. So as you know, um, was it last year or year before the, the way Marblehead was structured, we had a town planner that was assigned under the select board office, who was also, uh, chief procurement officer and was very much involved in, in a lot of the grant writing and tracking. Um, and she retired. Uh, so a, uh, single point of failure of one person retired, leaving a a gaping hole. If as an organization, having one person holding down multiple roles, the question

1:56:25 that automatically raises is what are we not doing, uh, for the community? And, uh, when I came in here, came into Marblehead, uh, with my experience, I recognize the fact that Marblehead is very proud of its community character. It’s very proud of its historic structures in the community. Um, it is also very densely, um, uh, settled in this community. Uh, and given those reasons, uh, my, my assessment was we needed a department of folks who are focused on protecting and enhancing the character, historic nature, and dealing with the challenges of,

1:57:11 of a dense population, um, on that. And so that’s, that’s more than one person to meet those challenges. Um, in, in forming the positions that we created, uh, looking at how we were gonna approach this, uh, the first challenge is, is funding, uh, this department, and I know I’ve described in detail all the moving parts, I’ll spare that unless someone needs it. But maintaining the existing bottom line of the, of the town budget, it was reallocating from positions that we no longer needed or we changed or assigned elsewhere. And using those salary amounts in order to put it into this department to have the positions to,

1:57:59 to meet the agenda of this department. So one example, uh, our town engineer, uh, retired. Um, and so the responsibilities of the town engineer were transferred to the public works department. I mentioned there was a whole reorg of the public works department. The town engineer primarily works with public works, so the responsibilities went to public works, but the salary of the town engineer is how we funded the, the department head salary in the new department. So again, if we create something new, the bottom line doesn’t change. We re reconfigure from somewhere else, this community and, and, and this body in, I forget which year 2019

1:58:46 or so, made it an agenda and a priority of, of, uh, net zero meeting, net zero goals, lower in carbon footprint, um, sustainability, sustainability objectives. Um, when I first rolled in the, the, um, there was a committee that created the net zero plan where the goal of this community that the goal of the state is to be at net zero in 2050. This community decided it wanted to set that goal. In 2040 out of that report, it said, in order for this community to achieve that plan or that goal, it needs a sustainability, coordinate somebody with the knowledge and expertise expertise to

1:59:35 navigate this community to the process to meet that goal. Um, as an example, to meet that goal and to achieve the funding resources that’ll come from the state to support that. One of the immediate requirements is to establish our baseline of our energy use and our carbon footprint in order to have measurable, measurable gains as we work towards the goal, you need somebody with the knowledge and expertise that can gather that information, report it, and guide us to the steps to achieve the goal. So out of that was the required to have a sustainability co coordinator to do that

2:00:21 and other, um, sustainable goals. And from my perspective, the, the one of the top priorities for that position as well as meeting the, the net zero goals is to achieve energy cost savings in the short term, uh, for this community. And so, for example, as we do these major capital projects for our buildings, as we upgrade and design our vehicle replacement plan and such, we have an individual with the knowledge, expertise, and focus to help us to achieve, uh, savings in our energy costs while meeting our sustainability goals. Um, we have a, obviously our,

2:01:09 our Becky Curran was our town planner. We need to have a town planner. So in that department, we have a, a new town planner. The town planner is highly focused on working with what we call our regulatory boards. That’s your planning board, your ZBA, your conservation commission, your design review committee, and your historic commission. Those boards have regulatory powers. They’re, you, the residents are coming forth with plans and projects to make changes to your properties. Your, your land use. That position is highly knowledgeable and focused on meeting those requirements and supporting the boards, the elected and appointed boards that represent all of you, um,

2:01:58 and how this community changes going forward. We also have, uh, in the grant coordinator position, and, and I’ve often heard, uh, the title being grant writer, and I always say every employee in this town is a grant writer. What we have is a grant coordinator who also helps write grants, but helps us to stay focused on one, identifying and seeking the grants to meet our objectives that we set goals and objectives. The easier part of a grant is to write it and apply. The really hard part is managing the grants compliance reporting, meeting the deadlines,

2:02:45 and making sure that the projects associated are properly documented, reported so that we don’t lose our eligibility for grants because we’re failing to report or not meeting the requirements. Um, and then we have, we have obviously the, the clerk or, or administrative support. So the new department is specifically created and designed, and we discussed this last year, uh, at town meeting to put expert focus on the character historic nature, um, uh, and preservation of this community meeting the challenges of 2025 and beyond of that communities face to be able

2:03:31 to develop and grow the right way, the smart way, um, to, to maintain control over the future of the community and not be sort of the victim of what comes our way. So for those reasons, uh, again, town meeting created this department last year, we funded it out of available resources that were reallocated in order to, um, have a team to meet these challenges. And I’m, I, I’ll, I’ll finish on this point, and I’ve said this to others. One of the things I’m most proud of, of my work in the last three years is that of building an outstanding team of staff to serve all of you.

2:04:16 Um, that is my, my proudest accomplishment. Whatever I do, uh, beyond this, uh, that’s number one. I hope that helps answer the question. Thank you. Mr. Kezer,

2:04:35 do you have a question for the community planning development and planning department? I’d like to make a comment. Okay. Eileen Haley, Mathew 44 Longview Drive. I’m also on the Green Marblehead Implementation Committee, and I’ve been on the Green Marblehead Committee since it was formed in 2019. So we were the committee that made the recommendation that we hire a sustainability coordinator and we’re very grateful. And Becky Kern and Thatcher were both very enthusiastic. But I did wanna comment that going in the last year and two months since Logan Casey joined the department, in fact he was the first person in the department. He’s been a pleasure to work with. Extremely helpful, uh, very wise.

2:05:20 And he brings together lots of different, um, issues. And the town, as you know, has very many hardworking departments, but sometimes getting people to coordinate and work together is a real challenge. And Logan is, works hard on that to their overview, things that just one department can’t do. And he’s been really amazing in his leadership. So I’d like to speak specifically to that part of this new community development department, I think’s very useful. Thank you. Thank You.

2:05:54 Name and address, please. Hi, Elaine Leahy, Ida Road. Um, I also just wanted to make a comment about the department. Um, so even though the sustainability coordinator Logan Casey has, um, I believe his salary’s about $73,000. And even though he’s brought in almost $700,000 in grants, which is what a 10 time, uh, return on investment, which is incredible, um, to the point of the first speaker. He not only has done the grants before, we have our wonderful new grant coordinator now who’s doing a, a fabulous job.

2:06:41 He’s also very much in charge of coordinating different departments, working on, um, hopefully becoming a green community this year. And he brings so much to the role. And I can say Logan’s doing just a fantastic job and working with that department has been great. And I just wanna close real quick with a recent letter to the editor that most, some of you here know Becky Ke Cutting, who recently retired, had said, my opinion is that a sustainability coordinator role is vital to the town’s progress and will ultimately result in cost savings.

2:07:27 And I think that shows, you know, just how I started that the position already is bringing in money and, and it’s been a really wise decision. So thank you for all the work you’re all doing. Thank you.

2:07:47 The next hold was for public works.

2:07:53 Thank you. Mr. Moderator. Uh, Jim Regis, one Lee Street, um, on public works, I assume line one 12 salaries is salaries and benefits. Is that correct?

2:08:07 One 12 is salaries. So benefits are Wages, stipends. Longevity is salaries. I see. And line one 13 expense. Um, what makes up the need for an additional $116 in Operating expenses of public works Being,

2:08:35 Did you get an, oh, I’m sorry. Okay. All these computers flying around here.

2:08:45 There go. Uh, so operating expenses of public works, uh, include all the operating expenses for four divisions. We have tree, storm, water, highway, and um, the mechanics. So we’ve seen an increase. We also have a large fleet in the, uh, the DPW. Um, so that also includes all the increases that we’ve seen in mechanical work, um, increases we’ve seen in just purchasing equipment. So, so it’s materials and supplies. Correct. Operating expenses, Yes. Okay. And the last question is for, uh, maintain street and sidewalks. Does the, uh, installation of stop signs, the spraying

2:09:31 of stop lines, the spraying of the letters STOP on the pavement, does that all fall under this category

2:09:40 That falls under, uh, the budgets 1, 1 3 and 1 1 6. Okay. Um, because my experience in the eight years that the stop sign corroded, deteriorated, it fell down in front of my house, is that I was always told there was no money to replace it. And that the template necessary to spray onto the asphalt, the letters STOP in front of the stop line that people blow through in front of my house every day, they could not afford to buy the templates to spray those letters on the asphalt. Is there any way we can ensure that those types of repairs are being done? So, uh, there is money in the budget for signage. It’s not large.

2:10:26 Well, I actually, in my situation, I put the stop sign up myself. Um, right. But I, so I can’t, so we follow M-U-T-D-C, I’m sorry, which require we follow the state guidelines for signage. I, I believe I did see your signs. They’re too small for the state. Well, I’m happy to have you to replace it because that particular stop sign people go through at 20 miles an hour every day. Hundreds of times a day because the letters STOP have worn off the asphalt, the line has worn off the asphalt. And the sign, which fell down eight years ago, was not replaced until I replaced it. Okay. So we do keep a running list of things that need to be done. Well, that list was, we got on the list. Absolutely. It was on the list eight years ago. And That’s right.

2:11:12 I was not in charge eight years ago, sir. I’m sorry. But, and the list, we have worked on a very large list since I’ve been there in the last two years. I’m really proud of the work the DBW has done. So how, um, as far as sign line painting, I do wanna discuss that. We do, uh, review line painting. We don’t just paint lines everywhere. Um, it is costly for us to do that. And it, it does get very confusing, but all also extra signs. So, Well, how do we, how do we prioritize public safety? Because when I step out of my house, which is on the street, I almost get mowed down by the cars, which are blowing by my house because they don’t know. It is in fact a stop.

2:11:53 So unfortunately, we’ll, we will, I will look into that piece of that line. Exactly. I went by it the other day. I did notice the stop lines, but it also is, uh, just public education. It would be nice if people did follow all the, all the signs that were up and knew the rules of the road and slowed down. I understand You’re in a small town. I understand list wrong. Could It’s also enforcement? I’m sorry. Could, could I have you connect with either Amy or Thatcher on, on this specific issue? Yes, actually, thank you. That’d be great. Thank you. I would appreciate that. Thank You. Absolutely. Okay. Uh, no further speakers. We’re gonna, uh, break down the motions now so that we can vote through the budget. Um, the first motion is I have a motion that the sum of $4,754,738 is

2:12:41 appropriated for general government. Do I have a second? As many as favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:13:27 Total general government passes by a vote of 3 96 to 38.

2:13:33 I have a motion that the sum of $11,237,760 is appropriated for public safety. If you favor the article, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:14:23 The motion for total Public Safety passes of a vote of 4 0 2 to 28. I have a motion that the sum of $49,120,287 is appropriated for the school department. Do I have a second? As many as favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 30 seconds. Voting starts now.

2:15:23 Total schools is approved. 373 to 52.

2:15:31 I have a motion that the sum of $5,844,487 is appropriated for Public works and facilities. Do I have a second? All those in favor of the motion. Use your green yes button if you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:16:22 The Motion for Public Works and facilities passes of a vote of 3 94 to 21. I have a motion that the sum of $898,026 is appropriated for human services. Do I have a second? If you favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:17:20 The Motion for Total Human Services passes of a vote of 3 93 to 23. I have a motion that the sum of $2,537,869 is appropriated for Culture and Recreation. Do I have a second? Thank you. If you favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:18:17 The motion for Total Culture and Recreation passes of a vote of 3 95 to 18. I have a motion that the sum of $9,314,141 is appropriated for debt service. Do I have a second? If you favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:19:14 The Motion for Total Debt Service passes the vote is 3 92 to 20.

2:19:21 I have a motion that the sum of $22,499,072 is appropriated for other general government. Do I have a second? If you favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:20:11 The motion for total other government, other general government passes of a vote of 3 91 to 26. I have a motion that the sum of $5,532,269 is appropriated for the Sewer Enterprise Fund. Do I have a second? If you favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:20:39 Oh,

2:20:45 nope. That’s the wrong vote. One. Yep. Sorry. We’re gonna do that again. Thank you.

2:20:53 We’re moving at such a fast clip, guys. You ready? One second. Okay, hold on.

2:21:14 Yes. Okay, I’m gonna do that again. I have a motion that the sum of $5,532,269 is appropriated for the Sewer Enterprise Fund. Do I have a second? If you favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:22:09 The Motion for Total Sewer Enterprise Fund passes of a vote of 3 98 to 14. I’m gonna give Gretchen a minute.

2:22:21 There we go. Uh, I have a motion that the sum of $6,463,957 is appropriated for the Water Enterprise Fund. Do I have a second? Thank you. If you favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:23:17 The vote for Total Water Enterprise Fund is approved of a vote of 3 88 to 13.

2:23:24 I have a motion. Yep. Thank you. I have a motion that the sum of $1,276,874 is appropriated for the Harbor Enterprise Fund. Can I have a second? Thank you. As many as favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:23:54 Yes.

2:24:19 The motion for Harbor Enterprise Fund passes of a vote of 3 76 to 23. Now we’re going to do the appropriations. I have a motion to pay for appropriations in the amount of $119,479,480 to be raised, appropriated, transferred, or otherwise provided as follows, raise an appropriate, appropriate $84,124,432 transfer $9,000 from the Conservation Commission Fund to supplement the general fund transfer from the Sewer Enterprise Fund. $119,818 to the General Fund for indirect costs transfer from the Water Enterprise Fund, $145,488

2:25:07 to the General Fund for indirect costs transfer from the Harbor Enterprise Fund, $172,420 to the General Fund for indirect costs. Sewer user fees, $5,532,269 to fund the sewer budget. Water user fees. $6,463,957 to fund the water budget transfer $200,000 from the Harbor retained earnings to the, to fund the Harbor Budget, Harbor user fees. $1,076,874 to fund the Harbor budget. Do I have a second? If you favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

2:26:25 The motion for appropriations passes of a vote of 372 to 19.

2:26:31 Thank you. We just did the budget.

2:26:39 So Article 24 has two amendments before it. Um, so the, the, the way the sequence goes, we have two amendments for the wording of Article 24. Um, Be, uh, the, uh, article, the a uh, before anything is heard on this a amendment, uh, any zoning change requires a public hearing of the planning board. I would like to invite Brendan Callahan up to give the report of that hearing or Alex,

2:27:19 just like we did yesterday with the minutes,

2:27:23 The

2:27:31 report. Yes.

2:27:35 Uh, good evening. Um, I’ll read the, uh, planning board report for Article 24. Uh, on March 11th, 2025, the planning board opened the public hearing and were presented with a brief presentation by town planner Alex Seidler. After the presentation, the planning board proceeded to open the hearing for public comment. After public comment, the planning board unanimously voted to close the public hearing and deliberated after deliberation, the planning board unanimously voted five zero to recommend Article 24 go before town meeting. Thank you. So we have a, uh, a motion to amend. I move that Article 24 of Marble Heads Town Warrant 2025. The amended by adding the following words, short term rentals as defined are allowed

2:28:21 for principal dwelling unit only if at least one owner of the residence in which the accessory dwelling unit is created shall reside in one of the dwelling units. Short-term rentals as defined are prohibited for accessory and principal dwelling unit for owners that do not reside in Marblehead and strike section B five in its entirety, I do want to notify the voters that there are questions about legality on this amendment, and I expect that there will be, that it will be under heavy scrutiny by the Attorney General. Um, the speaker has been the person that moved this amendment, um, is going to address both amendments in her remarks. And I’m asking that she please explain in clear terms how the amendments changed.

2:29:07 The main motion for the, for the assembly is yayel here

2:29:18 Of the motion.

2:29:38 Thank you.

2:29:47 Hi everybody. Good evening. Hopefully we’ll be able to finish this tonight. Right. Um, so Marblehead adopted

2:29:58 Name and address, please. Oh, Sorry. Yeah. El McGinn 1 6 5 West Shore Drive. Um, our current accessory dwelling unit, um, basically allowed only for residents, um, to build an accessory dwelling unit. An accessory dwelling unit is a unit that has a bathroom and a kitchen and a toilet. And the whole purpose is to have an additional family member live with you, such as an elder parent or an adult child. So that was the carrot, right? The carrot was anybody who is only a resident, an owner resident can build an accessory dwelling unit.

2:30:44 The stick was that short term rentals were prohibited for both the accessory dwelling and the primary dwelling. That makes sense. The state now changed the law. The state basically made as it’s staining a lot of zoning laws. It basically made accessory dwelling units as of right to everyone, which means that both residents that own a home here can build an accessory dwelling unit. And also a developer, a landlord that doesn’t live here can build an accessory dwelling unit.

2:31:23 However, as the Article 24 is written still short term rentals as defined are prohibited both for the accessory and principle dwelling units. So basically, what does this mean? Sorry, I’m a little shorter. What does this mean? It means that any non-resident, landlord or developer has the right to build an accessory dwelling unit while IE build their ho, um, increase their home

2:31:58 and they have the right to basically make profit over that property. So their profit increases by almost 50% and their inc in their acres in their home increases by almost 50%. What does this do to a resident? A resident also has the right to build an extra accessory dwelling unit. So they increase their homes and they have another home for a family member. But what they can’t do with fee according to this article, is they can rent out their primary residence, which is their regular home, as well as their accessory dwelling unit residence, which is the extra home. So what does that mean? That means that a person that wants

2:32:47 to have their elder parent live with them or an adult child live with them, needs to basically make the decision, am I going to build an accessory dwelling unit or am I going to be, or will I be able to make a profit and money out of my, out of my home? Now, many of us, some of us are again, short term rentals. This is not the debate. The debate is not whether short term rentals are good for marblehead or bad for marblehead. The debate is who profits from this article? And right now, the way that this article is written, the only people that profit are people

2:33:34 that are not residents because they will be able to increase their rent for long term rentals. And residents that will have an accessory dwell unit will not be able to rent their primaries residence or their accessory dwelling units. Now I provided two amendments. The First Amendment allows only for residents to, to allow for a short term rental for only their primary resident. That means that the only thing that they can rent for short term is their home. They cannot rent the accessory dwelling unit. My second amendment is to allow, again, only

2:34:23 for residents to rent their primary and accessory dwelling unit for short term units. Whatever you decide, that will be great. But these amendments, these amendments actually benefit the residents. These amendments will make sure that a resident that has an accessory dwelling unit has the right to rent out their home. If they wanna go on vacation and they’re leaving for a month, they will have the right to make money from their house. Because the way that it is written, again, any landlord that is not a resident will increase their home and increase the profit. Any resident with an accessory dwelling unit will

2:35:10 increase their home, but will not be able to make profit. And so I ask you to vote yes on one of the amendments. Which amendment are we putting first?

2:35:24 I can’t see. Is it the primary? I believe it is, yes. Is It the primary only The primary? Yes. The one, the one before the file name with the,

2:35:39 Okay. I think the first one is only the primary. You’ll be able to only rent the primary dwelling unit. Now I do just wanna say one thing about what Mr. Atra said, whether the this will pass muster. Um, the reasoning why you called me, I think yesterday or today about this amendment was because basically what the state did is it eliminated, um, it, it eliminated to discriminate between residents and non-residents that they will be able to bet an accessory dwelling unit. However, the law that talks about accessory dwelling units does not talk about residents or non-residents. It just talks about that everyone has as a right, a right to build an accessory dwelling unit. So I do not think that we will have any problems

2:36:27 with these amendments because even in the law it also states that any town or municipality has the right to determine short term rentals in accessory drilling units and their primary housing. So again, these amendments will benefit us. These amendments will ensure that the residents will be able to make money of, of their homes and will not be basically eliminated from the option of, of, of making money if they wanna have an elder parent or an adult child living with them. Thank you. Thank you. Aaron Nunan, chair of the select board. Um, good

2:37:14 Evening. Aaron Nunan, Beverly AVEs Select Board. Um, the voters tonight should vote no on the amendment. The planning board spent the better part of a year reviewing this plan. And, um, the sponsor had, uh, no less than I think three public forums and a three night public hearing for which to address this issue bef and bring it before the board. Now, in speaking to a planning board member earlier Today, um, uh, member Christensen reported that this exact issue was, uh, debated redlined. It came up several, several times, and the planning, your planning board decided against it. So, um, you know, uh, the policy around the state’s implementation of the ADUs was to, uh,

2:38:04 accelerate housing production, not to create investment properties. Um, that’s why it’s, and that was because it’s a mandate and the policy and the goal of it is to create housing. So again, the planning board, your five elected members went through this, uh, process. It was very public, and, um, uh, for those reasons, um, we, I ask you to vote No, Thank you.

2:38:30 We have a speaker in the middle, please. Michelle Brown for our Lindsey Street. Um, I find this very confusing and I don’t know if everybody else does too. Um, is this saying that if you own a home and you build a tiny home in your backyard, you cannot say Airbnb. ‘cause I know there’s lots of people in town that have Airbnb units and, and, and is this trying to say you can’t do that, I guess is my question. Yay, Al.

2:39:08 You could grab that. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. Sorry. That’s, well, if that’s the case, I suggest we all vote. No thank you. Let the, yes, basically this will not allow for anybody that has an accessory dwelling unit, the right to do an Airbnb Thank you. In the middle plea. I’m sorry, over here.

2:39:32 Jennifer Dolan, one 11 Elm Street. So actually, maybe you should come back up because I think there are a lot of questions. My question is this. I’m trying to understand. If I own a home, I choose to build an accessory dwelling for an elderly parent, and the elderly parent then subsequently passes away, I decide I wanna spend six months in another state.

2:40:03 Are you telling me that I can’t rent either one of them? I have to sell both properties or just pay two mortgages?

2:40:15 According to the way that Article 24 is written right now, yes, you will not be able to rent your primary home or your accessory dwelling unit in a short term rental. Something that, that’s, anybody else has the right to not the way the Motion is written, the way your amendment is written, correct? No, no. The way that the article is written, you will, if somebody builds an accessory dwelling unit, they will not be able to rent their primary dwelling and the accessory dwelling unit in a rental. The way that these amendment, these motions to amend are written that only a resident, again, only a resident, will allow to rent either only their primary home,

2:41:04 that’s amendment number one or amendment number two, their primary and accessory dwelling unit. Basically, this article eliminates a right that every property owner in this town hound. And again, it doesn’t matter if you like short term rentals or not, this is not about that.

2:41:25 Can we have somebody from the planning board to discuss Barton Height? Hi, Barton Height, Alden Road, um, Marblehead Planning Board. I didn’t anticipate in speaking at all, but this is 100% misinformation if you have a how the way the state did it, they actually took the whole, uh, the whole state by surprise. And this just showed up one day an accessory dwelling use, um, mandate. We had spent a year coming up with an accessory dwelling use plan, and we had to go back to the drawing board because of what the state did. The one thing we did, we made it more restrictive by giving us, um, um, which one, um, uh, review, um, design review.

2:42:11 So somebody couldn’t build an accessory dwelling use that looked just so totally outta character of the neighborhood. But as far as renting it, they mandated, and they’re looking for people to come in for housing. They’re not looking for short term housing. We do have somewhere we had a hearing one night, um, a listening session with people with, um, ADUs and vrbo. I think there’s somewhere around 250 if I’m correct. A uh, Airbnbs and VRBO is a Marblehead, so they’re already here. Now, when it comes to this, the state specifically said, this is for not for e Airbnb and VRBO, they define short term rental is anything

2:42:57 under 90 days. So if somebody wants to go to Florida for the winter, they certainly can rent their house. They can rent the A DU. You absolutely can do that. They just do not want people coming in for a weekend, for a week or two weeks. But if it’s over 90 days, you can rent it. That’s how they’re defining it. So they’re looking for renters of long-term to supply housing. So this amendment, first of all, we were informed when we formulated this, I don’t believe it’s legal, number one. And number two, it’s misinformation. It’s 100% misinformation. And again, I didn’t intend on speaking,

2:43:42 but we spent an awful lot of time designing this. And, uh, initially, and then the state came in, and again, we put a protection in for the town of marble heads. So something outrageous wouldn’t be built in a backyard where we have design review and it did pass muster. So, um, I urge everybody don’t even consider this. It’s borderline ridiculous and I hate to say it any other way. Thank you, Mr. Height. Um, if I may rebut, I may, I wanna rebut because I disagree with you. Um, one, it’s not ridiculous. Two, the acce, and I appreciate all the effort that you did for accessory drilling units. I know how long it took, and then the state came and mandated something else, and I appreciate that.

2:44:28 However, in the accessory dwelling unit statute that just came out with the state, they specifically said that municipalities have the right to govern short term rentals. They did not say that short term rentals are not allowed. They did not say that this law is going to prohibit short term rentals. It specifically said that any municipality has the right to limit short term rentals if they want. And this is what we’re doing. Because what’s gonna happen is if we allow this law, the only people that will benefit financially from any home that is an accessory dwelling unit will be

2:45:15 people that are not residents. Thank you. We, we, we all agree with that. That’s not the issue though. The issue is the law is the law. We can’t change it. And there are short-term rentals in Marblehead. So it’s not like short-term rentals being taken away. This is a whole different set of issues that the state has passed for adu. So I don’t want everybody to be confused. We do have short-term rentals in Marblehead. They’re not illegal and we’ve not stopped ‘em. You can’t stop ‘em. And we don’t have a law against short-term rentals. Thank you, Mr. There are quite a number of, um, Airbnb and Vbo here. That’s not the issue. This is just an issue. The state came out with the law on adu, that’s specifically for the adu.

2:46:01 There’s not short term rentals allowed with the adu. Thank you Mr. Hay. I’m sorry, but that is incorrect. I’m sorrys incorrect. I’m sorry. The conversation is going through me and we’ve just heard from our planning board. We’re gonna go to the middle speaker, please. David Patton, 25 Lee Street. So I don’t really understand how this, uh, works with the law that has been passed in the state. I mean, can the town council get up and explain if this is in contravention? And can someone also also explain what, whether ADUs have to be, have to conform to zoning laws and or just design review? Can someone explain that?

2:46:47 Sure. Yes. Uh, here please.

2:46:53 I’m gonna allow town council Adam Costa to speak.

2:47:10 Thank you, Mr. Moderator for the record. Adam Costa Town Counsel. I’ve got both a computer and a notebook, so bear with me for a moment here. Um, so the, uh, the legislature adopted what is referred to as the Affordable Homes Act, uh, late last year. Uh, multi-page legislation, a small portion of which addressed this concept of, I can’t, I’m sorry. Uh, so the, the multi-page legislation that was adopted late last year, known as the Affordable Homes Act, had a component that was specific to accessory dwelling units, which are referred to by this acronym, A DU. Uh, what followed approximately three months later were regulations that were issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And those regulations further defined

2:47:56 what accessory dwelling units are and how accessory dwelling units can and cannot be regulated by municipalities. Really, this was an effort by the legislature to, um, allow these, uh, more liberally in the communities that were restricting them, placing, uh, limitations on where they could be located, requiring them to be attached versus detached, limiting the occupancy, uh, to, uh, family members or blood relations. And the, the commonwealth determined, the legislature determined that that was not proper. So municipalities, uh, marblehead is not alone, have found themselves revisiting their local zoning bylaws and the ways they’ve been regulating accessory apartments or accessory dwelling units, whatever you might have called ‘em, uh, revisiting the way

2:48:42 that they’ve been regulated and regulating them in a way moving forward that is consistent with the new state law. Because truth be told, if you choose not to do that, the state law controls the state law preempts your local bylaw. And so it would only make sense that you modify your local bylaw to be consistent with what the state legislation requires. Addressing the question that was just asked, and specifically the amendment that’s currently on the floor, there is a provision within the proposed bylaw that says that short term rentals as defined are prohibited in both the accessory and principle dwelling units. As I understand it, and I don’t want to speak for the proponent of the amendment, but the amendment attempts to allow, and there are two amendments, but the one you see on the screen attempts to allow

2:49:27 for the use of one of these units as an accessory, uh, excuse me, as a short term rental. So long as there is a, uh, a, an owner of the property that is residing in either the principal dwelling unit or the accessory dwelling unit, um, you might have noticed that the moderator in introducing, uh, this amendment indicated that, um, caution had been provided. That caution came from my office. Uh, we provided caution because of language that is contained within the legislations, well, I should say within the, the regulations that follow the legislation, which says as follows, A municipality shall not subject the use of land or structures on a lot

2:50:13 for a protected use accessory dwelling unit to any of the following. And what follows is a list of restrictions that you cannot impose as a municipality. And the first one is entitled Owner Occupancy Requirements. And it says, and again, this is what’s prohibited a requirement that either the protected use accessory dwelling unit or the principal dwelling be owner occupied. And so that was the reason for the caution from my office when we reviewed this amendment and the amendment to follow. I don’t disagree that municipalities have the authority to restrict accessory dwelling units so as to prohibit short-term rentals. But as I view this amendment and the one to follow, what these are attempting to do is to allow the use of short-term rentals,

2:51:00 but contingent upon, uh, uh, the, the, the use of accessory dwelling units as short-term rentals, but contingent upon there being some owner occupancy within the property, whether it be in the A DU or in the principal structure. And we view that as being prohibited by the language of the regulations. So that’s the reason for the caution. I’m not telling you you can’t do it. I’m not telling you you can’t approve the amendment. I’m just warning you that if you choose to do it all bylaws, once they’re approved by town, meeting with whatever amendments might occur, go to the attorney general’s office, to the Municipal Law Unit, which is tasked with the reviewing bylaws to ensure their consistency with state laws, legislation, regulations. They’re gonna look at this and we have significant concern that they’re, they would determine that this amendment is, um,

2:51:45 in violation of the state regulations. Thank you. I think there was one more part of your question that asked if a additional structure would need to meet zoning bylaws, correct? Yes. That I did ask that question. And do we have, Yes. So there are multiple provisions within the proposal that’s before you, not the amendment, not the sub, the following amendment, but the motion itself and the proposal. I believe it’s printed within your warrant, or maybe it’s a handout, but there are all sorts of restrictions that apply zoning restrictions that apply, uh, to the accessory dwelling unit In existence today. Correct. As modified to a certain extent through you, Mr. Moderator, as modified to a certain extent by some of these red line revisions, these strikethroughs and these, the new bold texts that you see in the, in the printed bylaw.

2:52:31 Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Micho.

2:52:36 So can you give me yes or no? I am an elderly person. I am, uh, somebody that wants to downsize and, uh, so, oh, I forgot Jamie showed 25 Ocean Avenue. Thank you. I should know that this is my 50th time, uh, coming to town meeting. So I should, I should have never, I shouldn’t have, uh, forgotten that. But at any rate, yes or no if I vote for this and Susan wins the debate and we build a very modest, uh,

2:53:23 a DU out in my backyard, which I may or may not like, but at any rate, if we do that, just tell me, can we rent the house and live in this little cardboard box that she wants to live in? Uh, and that’s from an elderly guy.

2:53:49 Can we do that? Anybody? Yes, Sue. Thank you. How about that to the middle please? Hi. Thank you. Michael Castelli High Street. I’m just, uh, struggling to disentangle these, uh, amendments with Article 24 itself, with the A DU bylaws that we passed last year with the new regulations from the state. And I’m gonna make a couple statements ‘cause I think I’m getting closer, thanks to the what was just, uh, explained by the attorney. But I, I believe Article 24, which we haven’t heard from the sponsor of yet, because of the way the process works, is designed to address

2:54:34 and react to the new legislation from the state in an attempt to preserve as much as we can of the bylaws that we, uh, created last year for ADUs. Is that correct? That Article 24 is designed to get us close to what we passed last year while being in compliance with the new guidance and, and regulations from the state. Is that correct? So Article 24, the original proposal for this evening, not these Article 24. The purpose of this is so that we can preserve our existing a DU bylaws and make sure we update them to stay consistent with the state requirements and still retain control over the mechanisms and zoning restrictions we currently have in place without being in contradiction with the new state laws.

2:55:21 That’s the original intent of Article 24. Not, not these, this is, this is just for Article 24. Thank you. Thank you. That helps put these amendments in context. Thanks. Thank you. Over to this microphone please. Hi, Sue mc, my name is Susan McInnis. I’m at 39 Bayview Road. I wanted to comment, um, first of all that I would be for the amendment if it sounds like it’s aligning, um, residents to benefit as much as a developer or a landlord. Um, I did vote for the A DU, um, bylaw last year. It sounded like a good program for some people to get involved with and to use their property as they wished. Um, I’m concerned that, um, what is happening with the state regulations changing on us now.

2:56:07 We’re being, um, we’re forced to accept what the state is putting upon us. And I, I fear the same thing’s gonna happen with three A. So the fact that we voted in three A, the same kind of thing can happen in this case. Just wanna make that comment. Thank You. Thank you to the middle please. Aye? Yes. Uh, Tyler Haynes 29 Birch Street. Um, I think I understand where much of the confusion is coming from because according to five, as it’s written in the warrant, um, short term rentals are specifically prohibited if you have a principle and a an accessory dwelling unit, and that seems to be like town wide. There should be no short term rentals in these kinds of units. Is, uh, but you’re saying

2:56:53 that short term rentals are allowed. So where is that allowed? Is it not in this 24, uh, uh, article 24? Is it somewhere else? Um, because it seems that the amendment to the, the bylaw here is trying to add in permissions that may be elsewhere. So currently our existing A DU bylaws do not allow for short, short-term rentals, which are 90 days or less just for ADUs. Short-term rentals do exist in Marblehead. However, if the way this proposal, not these amendments, but the original proposal of Article 24 is presented is we, we, we retain that restriction for properties that have

2:57:42 a principal dwelling in an A DU. And in that specific scenario, short-term rentals of less than 90, which is defined as rentals of less than 90 days are prohibited. So short term rentals do exist in Marblehead, but specifically for ADUs, they are prohibited if they are 90 days or less. Okay. So thank that makes sense. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Name and address please. Hi, JJ. Stamp 23 Cypress Street. That was my question, so, Oh, great. Thank you. How about that? And Mr. Whipple, Mr. Moderator, Johnny Whipple, 1 0 6 Atlantic Avenue. Uh, I’ve been trying to find

2:58:30 the, uh, language in the, uh, article that refers to term rentals. And I believe I’ve finally found it. It’s a, uh, line that says, uh, number five under a number that are stricken. It’s, um, B five. It says, short term rentals as defined are prohibited in both the accessory and principled dwelling units. Now, that doesn’t say anything about long-term rentals, so, uh, Jay may show is safe, I believe. But, uh, what, uh, what seems to me is this

2:59:19 in no way allows out of town owners to have rentals that, uh, local owners can’t. This is a general thing, whether you’re, uh, an out of town landlord, whether you’re a developer, whether you’re a resident of marblehead, whoever you are, if you’ve got a short term rental, uh, I mean an A DU, you can’t have a short term rental, which to my mind makes it, uh,

2:59:54 un unintelligible that, uh, someone would try to say, well, I want to bring it in for, uh, uh, marble head residence. So they’re on an equal footing with, uh, the out towners and the landlords. So I I, to my mind, Mr. Moderator, this, these amendments are pointless. Thank you, Mr. Whipple. We’re getting close to a vote here, folks. Can we do one more over here, please? Sure. Um, Leon RAA Higgins Road. So my question is, we allow short term rentals for Airbnbs. There will be no short term rentals for ADUs.

3:00:42 I don’t believe you need to register in a DU as such. So how does the town determine what is an Airbnb or VRBO or other short term rental versus an A DU? How do you make the distinction? So the, you you’re asking basically, how do we make the distinction between what a VRBO is and, and a DU? Correct. So that’s a very good question. So currently the, we don’t have a catalog within Marblehead that details explicitly where we have vrbo, traditional, you know, short term rentals as an example and quote ADUs that are used. Um, currently we’re in the process in the town to make sure

3:01:29 that we can address that, to capture not only cataloging where this is by working with MAPC to catalog that information, but also to reinforce and build that catalog to have a better understanding within the fabric of Marblehead where those Virgo units are versus where I would say long-term rental units are. Right. So, and, and that’s imperative to the future of the town that we are actively working on as a department to ensure that we can make that distinction, because that is something we very much want to understand in better catalog. It’s a very new novel thing that has occurred throughout most of the United States, and particularly within Massachusetts. And we want to be sure that we make those distinctions and catalog them.

3:02:15 Right. So right now there is no mechanism for you to make that distinction, so fine, we’ll leave it at that. And what would be the mechanism that would be in place for any kind of enforcement of this by law, given the differences between these two rental types? So this particular bylaw is explicitly for the, the use of an A DU explicitly. So I think the, that they are two slightly separate situations here Sure. That we’re referring to. So this particular bylaw update that is being proposed is specifically for the use in how one can obtain the legal use of an A of a, of A A DU. Okay. Um, specific to your question, related

3:03:02 to short-term rental, is the mechanism for that, is it currently an ongoing discussion to make sure that we have the data, once we have the data, we can make informed decisions town wide about how best to approach it, that takes it into account economic development, but also housing needs for the community. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Yes. One more. It’s just a quick clarifying question. Can an investor even create an a DU Marblehead aren’t ADUs by definition having to be owner occupied properties where they’re creating an additional unit? Like it can’t just be someone buying a property as an investment, not living here and creating an A DU? Am I wrong on that or I’m just, I just need clarification. So you’re saying, is there any pro at the moment,

3:03:48 do we have laws that prohibit investors from coming in, buying a piece of property and using that as an investment tool? No, not as an investment, but to create an A DU. Like the whole purpose of the law was you were living at home, you created an A DU for a family dweller while you’re living there. Can an investor currently buy an asset and create an A DU without being an owner, occupant, or a resident? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay, we’re gonna go to the vote on the first subsidiary motion to amend Article 24. Um, as many as favor the article, which would be to add this wording into the main motion on Article 24.

3:04:34 Use your green yes button if you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

3:04:45 Correct.

3:05:19 The first subsidiary motion fails 324 to 55. We’re gonna go to the next subsidiary motion as you see on the screen. Um, the article is moved. Do I have a second? The, I’m sorry. The motion is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. Um, we’re gonna go to the vote. If you favor the motion, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now. Second? Yes, sir. I have no, No, it it, it was, it was presented in, in her, in her, um, description of the first motion.

3:06:05 She, she, she presented both motions. Thank you. A amendment. I’d be happy to read it. The second subsidiary motion. And so we’re gonna pause this, please

3:06:19 and we’ll go to a revote Article 24, the second subsidiary motion for amendment. I move that Article 24 of the Marblehead warrant 2025 be amended by adding the following words. Rentals as defined are allowed for accessory and principle dwelling units. If at least one owner of the residence in which the accessory dwelling unit is created shall reside in one of the dwelling units. Short-term rentals as defined are prohibited for the accessory and principal dwelling unit for owners that do not reside in Marblehead. And strike section B five in its entirety.

3:07:02 Yes, sir. Could you come to the microphone for me,

3:07:18 Robert Peck. 22, uh, tide winds Terra point of information, uh, just so I, ‘cause I think we’re all getting confused here from time to time on the, this, what we’re doing with regards to this amendment. Is this also opposed by the planning board?

3:07:36 Is it also opposed by the planning board? Is that your question? Yes.

3:07:45 The planning board is opposed to these amendments. Thank you. The planning board is opposed to these amendments. Thank you. Okay, the second subsidiary, motion to amend Article 24. Uh, we’re gonna go to the vote if you, if you favor the article to amend, use your green yes button if you oppose. I’m sorry. If, if you favor the motion to amend, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

3:08:59 The second subsidiary. Motion to amend Article 24 fails 3 22 to 59. Okay, we’re, we’re gonna go to our Article 24. I really want to thank you all for, for sticking around. I’m gonna keep going for as long as I can to try to work through the business. It’s been a long week and I’m gonna keep going. Thank you. Let’s get this done. Article 24, amend zoning bylaw, accessory dwelling units. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. Mr. Ler, would you like to tell us what we’re doing with Article 24? Uh, yes. Thank you. Uh, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name’s Alex Zeitler. I’m the town planner and Conservation agent. I’ll make this quick this evening. Um, I’m just gonna briefly go over, uh, article 24

3:09:47 and what is being proposed to the town.

3:09:50 So I’m just gonna briefly just start off with, you know, know what an A DU is an accessory dwelling unit. Um, this is a self-containing unit, um, that typically has a kitchen, you know, bathroom, um, and living facilities to basically serve as its own unique building. Um, that being said, it can be attached or detached from an existing primary dwelling unit. And just, you can see this visual here, just kind of details a couple of different variations of what an A DU could look like on a property.

3:10:21 So just to give some background, so, um, back in August of 2024, the governor signed into law, um, a specific section making it statewide, allowing ADUs to be permitted by right for single family zoned districts. That’s a pretty substantial portion within Marblehead. So this is a, this is a substantial impact for, um, single family, uh, municipalities. Marblehead is is one of those for sure. Um, within that, our existing A DU bylaws, we currently have a DU bylaws that were adopted back in 2023. Um, and these require, generally speaking, the ability for individuals to come forward to have an A DU, but they must go through a site plan approval process that goes before the planning board, which is a discretionary, um, permit for, um,

3:11:10 individuals to go through that process.

3:11:15 So why are we updating the A DU bylaw at the end of the day? So I think it’s really important. The reason we’re updating the A DU bylaw, like any other bylaw, is to make sure, similar to a software update, is to make sure that we have the most consistent regulations in place that are compliant with the state, but that also maintain control of the existing laws that we currently have. And that’s important because it impacts the character of Marblehead and it impacts how we are able to control development in a positive way to make sure that it’s it’s smart growth and that it’s smart development and it’s not organically happening in a way that we cannot have the ability to, to regulate. It’s important to update bylaws at the end of the day. Um, and it, and it’s also important to note that this is a state level regulation, meaning

3:12:02 that at the end of the day, any, any contradictions that we currently have at a local bylaw level not only causes confusion amongst regulatory boards about our, our bylaws actually reliable and accurate, but it also, um, is to make sure that we avoid any potential legal outcomes and, and consequences associated with misinterpreting the law. So we wanna make sure we have updated laws that are consistent with the state.

3:12:30 So there’s a couple of key, um, changes that, um, are taking place within this updated bylaw. I’ll just briefly run through them. These are the really important ones. The first one is, is that our existing A DU bylaws allow for ADUs to be up to a thousand square feet of gross floor area. This has now been changed to 900 square feet of gross floor area. Um, the second one is, uh, related to, um, basically the parking requirements. Currently we have an A DU parking requirement, a minimum of two parking spaces per A DU. However, the new state requirement mandates and requires that all municipalities for cannot require more than one parking space for any A DU that is outside, within a half a mile radius

3:13:18 of a public transit stop. Specifically in Marble Head’s case is gonna be the bus stop for any A DU built outside of that, um, half mile radius, we cannot require more than one parking space. And the last one is the A DU. As we discussed earlier, the ADUs before this introduction of this updated bylaw, we required it to be owner occupied. We are no longer bylaw allowed to require the eight, the principal dwelling unit or the primary dwelling unit to be owner occupied. Um, and of course, the last one that’s important to note here is that we wanna make sure we keep site plan review. This is something that we currently do have in our books, but we want to, we are allowed to maintain that and keep site plan review so that the planning board can have the ability to regulate

3:14:04 to a degree any new A DU that is built by Right. That being said, the planning board cannot expressly deny it, but can attach conditions to approval to make sure that they’re following, um, the best design practices, uh, to, to meet the characteristics of Marblehead.

3:14:23 So with that, I’ll conclude, uh, this presentation, I just, this is a brief kind of overview of what, what a yes vote is to adopt and update our bylaw for a DU under Article 24. Um, and the same for if we vote. No thank you. Thank you Mr. Ler.

3:14:44 Okay. We have a speaker, Alexis Sol Front Street. I have a question about the parking. Um, as I’m reading this, are all of the bus stops along along the way? Are they considered, is it within a half a mile of those or is it only the bus stop downtown? So it’s, it would be every MBTA bus stop within Marblehead. So that’s kind of the, anything within a half mile radius you’re not required to have any parking. Thank you. In the middle please. Don Hancock, a bound street street. Could you speak to the amendment deleting in b general requirements, what was number six? The accessory dwelling unit may not be sold

3:15:30 or transferred separate and apart from the principal dwelling unit, that seems like a huge change. Was that mandated by the State? Sorry, can you just repeat the question? General requirements. You have struck out language in what used to be number six. The accessory dwelling unit may not be sold or transferred separate and apart from the principal dwelling to which it’s an accessory use. So we are, Is that mandated by the state to be deleted so that you could conform to the state requirements? That’s correct, yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank You. This microphone over here, please name and address. Thank you. Jennifer Dolan, one 11 Elm Street. I’m trying to understand what I heard versus

3:16:17 what I’m seeing on, on paper. I just need clarification. There’s a lot of questions about what can be used as a short term rental and the answers I heard were that’s allowed now, um, in a principal dwelling unit or, you know, any other unit, but I’m, so I’m trying to understand the language here. Number five, short term rentals as defined are prohibited in both the accessory and the principal dwelling units. That, it just confused me based on from what you were saying, what we have now and the questions and the answers that we’ve heard during the amendment Discussion. Sure.

3:17:02 So our existing bylaws prohibit short-term rentals for ADUs. Currently this updated bylaw is no different. We still prohibit short-term rentals as defined as three months or less lease, or three months or less lease, um, for ADUs in both the principle and accessory dwelling unit. So that that maintains and it is the same as the existing bylaw we currently have. But you also said that we have short term rentals currently. Yes, that’s correct. But not for ADUs.

3:17:41 Uh, no, I see the, the words accessory dwelling unit, but the principle dwelling unit here, that’s what’s confusing me. The word principle dwelling unit. Are you saying that now they are not being allowed? So if, if you have an A DU on your property, this applies to you. If you do not have an a DU on your property, this does not apply to you. That was clear. Thank you. Nice To the middle please. Afternoon and Beverly Avenue. I think this presentation has been very helpful. I wish it had come at the start of the discussion about this article rather than 30 minutes into it. And with that, I move that we move the question.

3:18:33 Okay. In order to move the question, it’s gonna be a two thirds vote. We need to set up our voting. Hold on one second.

3:18:43 Can we just do one more?

3:18:48 So we need a two thirds vote of the assembly to move the question.

3:18:55 Um, all in favor of calling the question. If you favor calling the question, use your green yes button. There’s two. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

3:19:15 I know it’s one person,

3:19:22 but everyone has to vote.

3:19:41 Okay, folks, we’re going to the vote. The vote is 301. Yes. 61. No. Um, article 24, amend zoning bylaw accessory dwelling units. Um, as many as favor the article, use your green yes button if you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

3:20:35 Article 24 is a vote and the motion passes. 313 to 46. Article 25, amend general bylaw floodplain District. The article is moved. Do I have a second, folks? I need 300 people to keep doing business. So I hope I can keep you guys around for a little bit. The article is, I have a second. Thank you. Because any zoning change requires a public hearing of the planning board, I’d like to invite Alex LER up to give the report of that hearing. Thank you. Um, again, um, I’ll make this quick, but, uh, just give a brief overview of why we’re updating this bylaw, kind of the background for this. This is to confirm the planning board hearing First. Oh, I’m sorry. Sorry about that. Thank you. So on March 11th, 2025,

3:21:22 the planning board opened the public hearing for Article 25 and were presented with a brief presentation by town planner Alex Seidler. After the presentation, the planning board proceeded to open the hearing for public comment. After public comment, the planning board unanimously voted to close the public hearing and deliberated after deliberation. The planning board unanimously voted five zero to recommend that article 25 go before town meeting. That was great. Everybody should do that from now on tonight. Kidding. Uh, okay. Speaker, Mr. Ler, this, this vote is gonna be a two thirds vote, by the way, but, um, Alex Heitler, Tom Planner. Thank you. I’ll just, uh, go ahead and jump in then. So, um, brief background of what a floodplain district is, why we’re updating a floodplain district.

3:22:08 Um, so a floodplain district is, uh, designated by the federal government from fema, um, that basically details where there’s flood risk, um, in areas throughout the United States. Um, this has been an ongoing, uh, approach to public safety and to prevent and maintain and assure that those who are within floodplain districts and those are outside of those floodplain districts, are aware of the risks of potential flooding. Should there be a, a one one in a hundred year storm, for example.

3:22:39 So, just to give some historical background. So every once in a while fema, um, does their basic national survey of the entire country to ensure that updated floodplains are, um, basically being updated to the standard and to the new conditions, um, from weather patterns and sea level rise. Um, this happens every once in a while. The last time this was updated officially was back in 2014. Um, and again, we, uh, received from FEMA earlier last year, um, a request that is informing us that we need to update our flood plain bylaws to be consistent, uh, with the new standards. And that not only includes updating maps, but also updating terminology within our existing bylaws.

3:23:25 So why update a flood map? Um, I think it’s really important for a couple of reasons. The first one is public safety. We want to ensure that people are aware of where there’s flood risk and where there are areas that are prone to flooding, period. The second one is related to understanding the risk associated with this as this is typically used as a metric to determine insurance for homeowners as well as other items related to insurance. This is a mechanism to determine risk. Um, and the last one is public safety and to make sure that our emergency response, um, men and women are able to get to areas appropriately and understand the lay of the land with updated maps that give them the ability to navigate territory appropriately, effectively, and safely. And also the last one, i, I would say is also

3:24:12 to maintain our building code. So the reason we’re updating this is not only from a public safety perspective and accuracy to ensure that our maps are accurate and our terminology is up to date, but also that anything built within these floodplains are up to the standard building code that it changes from time to time.

3:24:32 So a couple of just kind of updates that are key that we currently do not have in our existing floodplain bylaw is that going forward we are required by law to have a floodplain work permit. So any work done in a floodplain needs to now have a permit issued to ensure that the building meets building code for areas that are prone to flooding. Uh, the second one is to formally designate the town engineer as the floodplain administrator. Um, and to ensure that that is actually within our bylaws as opposed to kind of it being said, but we would like to actually formalize that as that’s a requirement. And the last one is the updating, um, definition language to ensure that we meet the criteria. There are a couple of different sections that we needed to add in an updated terminology to make sure

3:25:19 that we are compliant with the state and to ensure state and federal government to ensure, um, that we are meeting those criteria to make sure Marblehead is eligible for FEMA flood insurance at the end of the day. So again, this just details is just a brief explanation of if you vote yes to update our FEMA flood maps and our floodplain district bylaw, but also if you vote no, what’s at risk? Um, I want to really emphasize that this impacts we need to update our floodplain bylaws to maintain FEMA flood insurance for the town. Collectively, every individual who has FEMA flood insurance must be compliant with the federal regulations from fema. And that includes updating our bylaws.

3:26:05 I just wanna make sure that’s that’s well understood and it’s our duty to make sure that people are aware of that risk should we not update our floodplain bylaws. Thank you. Thank you.

3:26:21 Bill. Name and address, please? Yes, please. Um, I just want to make one point Name and address. Oh, sorry. Bill Walsh Alki have, um, the benefit of having, um, FEMA flood insurance or federal flood insurance is that it’s highly subsidized so that you can buy flood insurance at a reasonable rate. And as Alex said, in order for that to happen, these regulations specifically need to be adopted by the time. Thank you. Bill. Yes, please. Name and address. Katie Rogers 1 6 8 Jersey Street. Um, I just have a question. Um, as the flood risk maps get updated over time

3:27:11 as the water levels rise, et cetera, um, does the town have a responsibility to update residents who whose home maybe wasn’t in the floodplain and now is? Mm-hmm. So we receive from the fema, uh, federal level any new addresses that could be affected within the newly drawn lines. Um, typically this is done and I would recommend coming into our office and we can basically detail every single address that we’ve received from the federal government that says, this is the new, you know, lines that have been drawn and therefore some properties may be at risk. That being said, I, it is important that citizens come in

3:27:56 and inquire about that should they feel that the maps have been redrawn. I can say from this update from Marblehead specifically, not much has actually changed in terms of the updated map panels. One of the six map panels has been updated, and that’s actually specifically for, um, inland flooding, um, and, and particularly near swamps. Good. And Salem. So I would encourage any and everybody who is curious if they are impacted in their property, may they feel at risk. Um, due to the newly drawn boundary lines, did absolutely come into seven Wooder Road into request speaking with the, uh, town planner. Thank You. Thank you. Okay, let’s go to the vote on Article 25.

3:28:41 As many as favor. Article 25 to amend the General Bylaw floodplain District, use your green yes button if you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

3:29:25 Article 25 passes 315 to 23. Thank you. Article 26, prudent investor. Do I, uh, the article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. Alicia Benjamin, finance Director. The purpose of adopting the prudent investor law is to provide the treasurer with additional flexibility to invest town trust funds in a broader range of investments and is currently allowable in the Massachusetts legal list. Uh, I’m gonna be very brief ‘cause I know you’re tired. For example, for technology sector, it lists Hewlett Packard. We couldn’t use Microsoft, we couldn’t invest in Apple. We can’t invest in any of the thanks. Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google. Um, these equities were chosen years ago. They’re not routinely updated.

3:30:11 The majority of changes to the list are a result of acquisitions and mergers and no current analysis of current equities that make the most sense for investing public monies. The choice limits diversification. It’s outdated and less than ideal for the town of Marblehead. This proposal adds investment flexibility without eliminating any fiduciary responsibility by accepting and following the investment guidelines found in Massachusetts General Law. Chapter 2 0 3 C. Yes, sir. David Patton, 25 Lee Street. I I’m in favor of this, but could you tell us who advises you on what to invest our excess funds in? Yes, the state. Oh, so it’s the state of, So the state, the state does, and it has a list of, uh, 22 equities that it does tell us

3:30:56 what companies that we can invest in. Okay. So we would not invest in anything other than what’s on that list Right now. Currently? Yes. If you didn’t adopt this And if we adopt this, then who would advise you as to what you would invest In? It’s still the state, it’s still under 2 0 3 C. So we still have the same fiduciary responsibilities, but we have flexibility into getting into better choices. Who, Okay. I’m, I you’re not answering the question. Who, if you choose flexibly to invest in something else, is that something you decide to do? Oh, that’s the treasurer. The treasurer controls the funds of the town. Does the treasurer get any kind of consultation? Yes. From any kind of outside organizations? Yes. As to what that would be? Can you name that organization please?

3:31:43 The treasurer has financial consultants. I would have to ask her specifically, but she does have financial consultants. So no one here has that answer Of the specific name of her financial consultants? Yes. I cannot give you that off the top of my head.

3:32:00 You could call the treasurer and ask. We can’t vote on Ask, So we don’t, she Has, she has funds. I can tell you she has funds in Bartholomew Trust. They do help advise her. We have in borrowings, we do through Hilltop, we use multiple financial advisors. Okay. But this sounds like a rather expansive capability that you’re asking us to approve. And I agree that we should be able to invest in other things that give us a good return. I’m just trying to understand, uh, who is advising us on those choices. Right. And that would come from the treasurer who could list their exact financial advisors for you.

3:32:45 And that person’s not here. No.

3:32:51 Thank you. Article 26. I what? What? Oh, I’m sorry. One more speaker. Alexis. So Front Street. So are there specific prohibitions like no Bitcoin, no CDOs, that kind of thing?

3:33:10 Could you say your question again? Yeah, could you hear me? I can hear you. Okay. I’m asking if there are specific pro prohibitions on what the town can invest. Like no Bitcoin, no collateralized debt obligations, no CDOs, that sort of thing. Correct. Other municipalities have gotten in trouble. Correct. That’s why she still has a far the same fiduciary responsibility. Thank you. Now we’re gonna go to the vote. Article 26, prudent investor. As many as favor the article, use your green yes button if you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

3:34:20 The motion on Article 26 passes 281 to 42. Article 27 General stabilization fund. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Second. Alicia Benjamin, finance Director. Uh, I spoke about this earlier. This is us taking $1 million and putting it into the restricted reserve for the stabilization fund to help build our savings in line with the Fincons financial policies. Thank you. Uh, we’re gonna go to the vote on Article 27. If you favor the article, use your green yes button. If you opposed, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

3:35:35 Article 27 passes 310 to nine. Article 28 is Home rule petition established, mean Tested Citizen Property tax exemption. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Second Speaker, Dan Fox from the Select Board. Good evening. Dan Fox. Oops, sorry. Six West College Select Board. Before I start, I just wanna let you know that we did receive a potential amendment tonight from, uh, Lawrence Lessard of 90 in August. He had asked about the potential of adding disabled people to this. Uh, I spent some time talking to him and while we are in favor of that, we would like to study it more. We don’t know the known impacts of that. So, uh, Mr. Lessard and I agreed that the select board as well as the finance committee will work on this in the next year.

3:36:22 So we can look at, uh, the real true financial impacts and make sure that we’re not making any brash decisions that have unknown consequences. So moving on to the article. This is a highly targeted tax relief for Marblehead seniors whose property taxes consume a disproportionate share of their total income. This municipal exemption does not kick in until we, uh, the, the senior has received full state benefits. So we’re gonna make sure that they maximize state benefits before they take, uh, get any kind of benefits from the town of Marblehead. The annual application process will affirm eligibility and the board of assessors will approve applicants. The cost of the program will be funded from the tax overlay. The select board will determine the total exemption

3:37:08 on an annual basis.

3:37:11 Can We put the slides up?

3:37:16 I’ll keep going. What does mean tested mean? So applicants have to hit certain criterion in order to be eligible. The first of those is that you have to be 65 years or older, or if your property is jointly owned, the co-owner must be at least 60 years old. The residency requirements you have to have lived in, in your home for at least 10 years as your domicile. So you can’t move into town and take advantage of this. This is for long-term residents. Your assessed home value has to be at or below marble as median or, uh, sorry, excuse me. Mean or average assess home value, which for fiscal year 25 was a little over $1.2 million. We’re also gonna have income limit limits, which will be set annually for the, uh, by the select board.

3:38:05 Other assets, you cannot have any excessive assets. We wanna make sure that people who might have a lower income, um, but that have assets outside of it in a trust or something like that secondary property, we will, we will walk, look at that as well. And applicants must file for the senior circuit. Sorry, I’m tired. I’m sorry. Um, this is way past my bedtime. Um, applicants must file for the senior circuit breaker income tax credit. So that is through the state. There’s one that exists through the state right now. We wanna make sure that any applicant first goes to the state again before they come to Marblehead. I have a great presentation by the way. I’m sorry you can’t see it. Um, adoption process.

3:38:50 So this is a home rule petition, which means if we approve it tonight, it then needs to go to the state legislator and then through the governor. So this is not gonna go into effect tomorrow. This could probably take about a year. So we still need it to get approved,

3:39:05 Determining the exemption. Um, the goal of this is that a senior who has, if you look at their assess their annual taxes plus 50% of their water and sewer bill. So we mirror this versus what the state does. We don’t want that total value or total expense of your, um, I’m really tired. Um, sorry of your, of your, of your taxes and 50% of your water and sewer bill to take up more than 10% of your income. So that’s what we’re trying to do. And the, the select board will set a maximum exemption per participant each year. Total cost the money, we will determine the dollar cap, as I said. And the first year is proposed that we set a maximum exemption per participant at $2,000 a

3:39:51 year, which we anticipate will be about $200,000. We’ve looked at at other towns. Um, and, and based on number of people that they use, based on the, on percentage of people that, that qualify for their exemptions. Based on the number of state circuit breakers that exist, we’ve looked at a bunch. If you’re interested, I have that data. My guess is that, that at this point, um, you’re not that interested, but happy to go through it. And again, the exemptions will be funded from the tax overlay. You’re gonna notice up here is some different language. Um, the actual motion is a little different than what is in your packet. As Jack had mentioned before, this was done a while ago and we’ve spent a lot of time. I wanna thank Molly Tets from the finance committee. Spent a lot of time really looking into this a little deeper.

3:40:36 So we have made a few changes in here. Really the goal of those changes is to tailor the exemption to Marble Head’s needs and demographics. Specifically we want to set the exempting calculations such that all state funded taxes, um, tax benefits are maximized. Again, we don’t want people to come to MAR right before they go to the state. And we also wanna be very careful that when we do give, um, exemptions that it doesn’t preclude them from getting the next year from the state. So we spend a lot of time looking at that again, where you’re gonna fund this for the tax overlay. And the final change, um, which is not in your packet, but up here, um, talks about the select board’s authority to set the limits as well as the total amount each year.

3:41:21 Wow, this is so much quieter than when I spoke last night. Site. Good. I’m done. Okay, Great to go. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Fox. Seeing how we have no speakers, um, we’re gonna go to a vote on article 28. Home Rule Petition. Established means tested citizen property tax exemptions. If you favor the article, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

3:42:25 Article 28 passes 297 to 23. Article 29 adjusted exemption amount. Clause 2 21. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Alicia Benjamin,

3:42:47 I’m gonna go over, uh, article 29, but just as a point of information, the treasurer is watching and she wanted you to know it’s Bartholomew and Company in Rockland. Um, article 29 adjusted exemption amount is for clause 22 I is to give an additional tax relief to our disabled veterans. For example, if your clause 22 recipient and you receive a $400 exemption and the community accepts this option and the CPI increases by 5%, the total exemption amount would increase to $420. So the Department of Revenue would tell us each year what the CPI percentage changes for this exemption.

3:43:33 Very similar to what you passed last year for seniors.

3:43:43 Are you good? Yes. All set. Thank you. Um, article 29, without seeing speakers, we’re gonna go to the vote. Uh, if you favor Article 29, please use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

3:44:34 Article 29

3:44:39 passes 298 to 11. Article 30 optional Additional Veterans Exemption Clause 22 J. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you. Alicia Benjamin. So article 30, optional additional veteran exemption clause 22 J works in conjunction with the one you just passed. For example, if Tom meaning accepted Article 29, which she just did, and an increase of 400 to four 20 by further accepting this exemption, it would increase the amount by a hundred percent from 420 to $840 for a disabled veteran. The expected annual cost of these are both, if both passed, was $60,000 in total, which will come out of the overlay. Thank you. Seeing no speakers, we’re gonna go to the vote.

3:45:26 As many as favor. Article 30, use your green yes button if you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

3:46:07 Article 30 is a vote and it passes 2 92 to 18. Article 31 Coffin School reuse. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Thank you Moses. Greater Select Board. Thank you Mr. Moderator. Uh, this, uh, article 31 is about the transfer of the coffin school property to the care custody management and control of the select board. Um, because the school committee determined that they no longer need the coffin school for school purposes, and they have voted to transfer it to the select board, the select board is voted to, uh, present it to you here today. Uh, the transfer must be approved by this, uh, by this town meeting by two thirds majority vote. And in addition to finding another potential municipal use

3:46:55 for the property, the town meeting may also authorize a select board to sell the property as it’s presented in the motion tonight. Now, the last time we did this was with the Gary School in, uh, 2019, uh, where we used a highly publicized reuse process to develop findings and recommendations for the disposition of the property. Now, as you may recall, this involved the formation of a reuse committee with the primary role of engaging public involvement to identify, use alternatives, develop criteria for evaluating, reuse scenarios, and help the disposition process. So the committee was, uh, selected, uh, from a, uh, a broad representation of key key town employees at large members, facilitation consultants

3:47:41 and other, uh, knowledgeable representatives in town. So if the select board were to decide to sell the land in buildings based on the reuse process, there are, uh, rigorous pro uh, procedures for chapter 30 B, real property dispositions that must be followed. And that includes, you know, declaring the property available, developing solicitation proposals, and, and broadly distribut, uh, distributing the solicitations publicly. So, um, yeah, just like the, the Gary School, this select board is acutely aware of how precious our public spaces are and that we must develop, uh, any property reuse in the most inclusive and, uh, deliberative, uh, process possible. Thank you, Mr. Greater. Pat.

3:48:28 Oh, Patricia Ats, uh, village Street. I was just, before we got into that big explanation, I was gonna suggest that maybe we hold off on this article until tomorrow, because we’re pretty close to not having a quorum here. And I think it’s a really important issue that more members of the town should be involved in the decision of this article. So I would suggest that we, we don’t, so, so talk about this tonight. We don’t vote on this tonight. The motion’s on the table. And, and the last numbers that I saw was over 300. I don’t know that I’m gonna get 300 tomorrow night. Um, so we’re gonna continue on with the article. I’m Thank you, pat,

3:49:06 this microphone over here, please. Yeah. Alexis Soul Front Street. Um, I have been really unhappy about getting rid of all of the old schools and, uh, it seems like, you know, we can’t walk to school anymore, but that’s, that that ship has sailed, as they say. Um, and I, but when I was a kid and shortly before the town had the will to build housing for the poor, the old, the infirm veterans and who else? The disabled, um, and town employees, the idea was that what is called affordable housing now is so much

3:49:53 beyond the means of many, many people. We really need more truly low income housing. ‘cause what the average income in Marblehead is 114,000, something like that. And so affordable housing is considered something like 60% of that at the income, and there’s a lot of people that make a lot less than that. So I truly, truly hope that the selectman and the town will consider building more housing for, I mean, the people that live here that need to be here. Thank you, Mrs. Flynn.

3:50:33 Um, Pam, Pam Flynn, uh, Turner Road. These are just some of my thoughts on the coffin school. Number one, the town should dismantle and remove all of the playground equipment on the grounds. It’s not maintained and it’s a liability to the town. And at this time, I don’t feel like the town can afford to lose any more money. Number two, with three a appearing to move forward. I fail to see how when housing is actually built, the town services won’t be impacted. Education, sanitation, police, fire, an ambulance. If I am wrong, I’ll be the first person to admit it.

3:51:19 But until the town feels the real effect of three a, I feel that the town should hold on to this land just in case it is needed in the future. Truthfully, I think it needs to be used as affordable elderly housing, so that way the people that have made this town can afford to stay in this town.

3:51:44 And lastly, when it is time to make a decision, I hope that a few smart people can put their heads together and use intelligence, common sense, transparency and fiscal responsibility to make the best decision for the town. Don’t have a study that will cost a million dollars and then sell it for a million dollars because the town deserves so much better than that. Thank You. Thank you, Pam.

3:52:20 Middle microphone, please. Susan Micho 25 Ocean Ave. I, I, I agree that we should just hold onto this piece of property. We’ve already voted for something that we don’t know what’s gonna happen. We might need another school. We seem to have to keep repairing schools, so let’s just hold onto it. I don’t care if you flatten the whole place down and just leave it as open land, but we don’t have much open land. Let’s just hold onto it somehow. Thank you, Mrs. Micho. Yes, sir. My name is Michael Cresol IWiN Atlantic Avenue. And my question is only relevant to this issue in that I’ve had a very long day.

3:53:06 I’m very tired, I’m hungry, and I want to go home. However, I will stay if my presence is necessary to keep the quorum. Thank you. Thank you. You are off topic, but greatly appreciated. So can I go home? Okay. Uh, uh. Okay. We’re gonna go to the vote on Article 31, um, coffin School Reuse. If you favor the article, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

3:54:13 Article 31 passes 2 29 to 86. Article 32, Gary School Playground. AKA Elm Street Park. The article is moved. Do I have a second? Second. Brendan Callahan. This article transfer is a Gary School playground, uh, from the select board to the Recreation and Parks Commission. Uh, this is the portion of the park or of the property that the, the town sold from the, when they stole the Gary School Building. Uh, currently you may have noticed construction and activity happening at the site. Uh, we are partnered with the park on Elm Community Group, who’s, uh, helped us move this park improvement project forward. They’ve been an amazing group to work with. Um, so, um, right now we’re just asking for you to approve,

3:55:00 approve the transfer from the select board to the park commission. Thank you, Mr. Callahan, with not seeing any other speakers. Um, we’re gonna bring Article 32 to a vote. If you favor the article, use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd voting starts now.

3:55:53 Article 32, passes of voted 2 99 to nine. Article 35, uh, appropriation of article 11, may 2, 2 20 2022. I have a motion for indefinite postponement. If you favor the article, please use your green yes button. If you oppose, use the red no button. 32nd. Voting starts now.

3:56:49 Article 35.

3:56:54 Oh,

3:57:05 Okay. So I’m calling this vote. We just had 314 votes, I think. And I was watching the door and 14 people didn’t leave. Just because we didn’t have that number of votes doesn’t mean that we don’t have that number of people in here. Um, and I’m going to call this vote on Article 35 as passing 2 59 to 22. And I’m going to take the quorum call and I’m gonna say that we’ve lost our quorum. Now. Um, I need you back tomorrow night, folks.

3:57:38 I, I, I request a motion to reconvene to tomorrow night, right here at 7:00 PM Comment to finish the business with the panel. Wait, we have a couple comments. I didn’t get the vote.

3:57:52 We, I’m sorry. You, you, I Don’t need to do that until I have a quorum call. And I did. I know that. I know that. I, I’m all set. Thanks. No, I’m sorry. I’m, I’m, no, I’m just saying that Article 35 wasn’t explained There. Article, article 35 has passed. No, no, I know it was not explained. It was just called for a vote and I think many people were still reading it to understand It. So the motion is to indefinitely postpone it. It, it was, it’s a main motion from the sponsor to indefinitely postpone it to, to postpone it. I, I’m just saying that It was withdrawn. The town administrator spoke on it earlier. The language that was there we thought we needed for the fire station windows we didn’t need. Right. Understood. But I don’t think that was explained.

3:58:39 Many people were reading it. That may be why you didn’t get the quorum. Just saying. Apologies. Okay. Um, motion to reconvene to tomorrow at 7:00 PM Second. All in favor? Raise your hands. Please Come back tomorrow and bring a couple of friends.