E_U7Y075ZV8


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[7:10] Beautiful.
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[9:23] Hey,
[9:25] hey, hey.
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[12:44] Good evening. Welcome to tonight's
[12:46] select board meeting. It is June 30th,
[12:49] 2026.
[12:50] also the last day of fiscal year 2026.
[12:55] Congratulations, we made it.
[12:57] Yes.
[12:57] Uh and our
[13:00] and our first item of business will be a
[13:02] question of entering into executive
[13:04] session for the purpose stated in items
[13:07] two and three and to then reconvene in
[13:10] open session. Uh so I move that we go
[13:13] into executive session pursuant to Mass
[13:16] General Laws chapter 30A section 21A3
[13:19] purpose three for the purpose of
[13:21] discussing strategy related to
[13:23] collective bargaining with the town's
[13:25] union personnel specifically the public
[13:28] employee committee.
[13:31] All right.
[13:32] Yes.
[13:33] Michael,
[13:34] are you going to read number three also?
[13:36] Oh, I'm sorry. and and also for the
[13:38] purpose of approving the executive
[13:40] session minutes of April 7th, 2026 and
[13:43] May 19th, 2026.
[13:46] Bernard, your vote?
[13:47] Yes.
[13:47] Michael,
[13:48] yes.
[13:48] Amanda,
[13:49] yes.
[13:50] Anthony,
[13:50] yes.
[13:51] And I also vote yes. All right.
[13:58] Recording stopped.
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[16:20] Hey,
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[32:09] Heat. Heat.
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[33:05] Hey. Heat. Heat.
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[33:42] I wanted
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[1:07:21] Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey.
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[1:09:48] Heat. Heat.
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[1:22:19] heat.
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[1:23:26] Heat. [music]
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[1:24:23] corner.
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[1:30:27] Welcome back. We have now returned from
[1:30:30] our executive session and our first item
[1:30:33] of business back in open session will be
[1:30:35] announcements and updates. Do any select
[1:30:38] board members want to announce any
[1:30:40] recent or upcoming events?
[1:30:43] I'd like
[1:30:44] Go ahead, Bernard. I just want to
[1:30:46] mention that a few of us went out to
[1:30:48] fire station 4 to see how it's come
[1:30:51] along and I can say that it's money well
[1:30:53] spent that the money we spent has been
[1:30:56] well spent in terms of issues of gender
[1:30:58] gender equity safety um just the the the
[1:31:03] type of uh setup they have that
[1:31:06] encourages camaradership
[1:31:08] um so I think that uh you know good job
[1:31:13] I would certainly I certainly agree with
[1:31:15] you there. I was there. I saw Amanda
[1:31:17] there as well. Chief Sullivan uh gave
[1:31:20] the town administrator and I and Amanda
[1:31:22] and a few others in the community a very
[1:31:25] comprehensive tour, explained everything
[1:31:27] in punctilious detail. I'm not sure I
[1:31:30] was able to follow it all, but I'm sure
[1:31:32] it was all quite important. It was uh
[1:31:35] extremely impressive the work that's
[1:31:36] been done there. Uh it's already in
[1:31:39] operation. It's been so for about a
[1:31:41] week, I believe Chief Sullivan said. uh
[1:31:44] and the fire station renovations. Uh
[1:31:47] we're of course renovating or rebuilding
[1:31:50] all of our stations and so station four
[1:31:53] is the first one to have been completed
[1:31:56] and it really looks great.
[1:32:00] Any other announcements, updates?
[1:32:01] Amanda?
[1:32:02] Uh a couple of them um last week.
[1:32:05] I'm so sorry. Just for for both of you,
[1:32:07] for all of us though, we just need to
[1:32:09] speak into our microphone. So Oh,
[1:32:11] thank you. Sorry.
[1:32:12] That's right. Um, so last week a couple
[1:32:14] of us were able to attend a soldout
[1:32:16] Brooklyn night organized by the Charles
[1:32:18] River Chamber of Commerce. Uh, a number
[1:32:21] of local retailers, nonprofits, and
[1:32:22] individuals were recognized for their
[1:32:24] contributions to the community. And just
[1:32:26] for me personally, it was great to see
[1:32:28] such a large crowd supporting our local
[1:32:30] businesses. So, shout out to all the
[1:32:33] organization that took place to make
[1:32:34] that happen. Um, the second announcement
[1:32:37] I wanted to make, um, is upcoming
[1:32:39] events. Uh for for those who don't know,
[1:32:42] Brookline Wreck actually organizes
[1:32:44] outdoor concerts every Wednesday from uh
[1:32:47] tomorrow through August 6 from 6:00 to
[1:32:50] 7:30 p.m. Concerts alternate between
[1:32:52] Emerson Park and Fischer Hill uh with
[1:32:54] tomorrow's concert featuring the outside
[1:32:56] toys at Emerson Park. So you should
[1:32:58] check it out this summer.
[1:33:01] Michael.
[1:33:01] Um, for those of for those of you who uh
[1:33:05] have networks, um, to pass this along,
[1:33:09] um, and I'm sorry I don't have the
[1:33:11] announcement in front of me, but between
[1:33:13] starting today going through August
[1:33:16] 15th, um, in l in lie of school lunches
[1:33:20] and school breakfast, there is a program
[1:33:23] um, being offered
[1:33:27] uh, in order to provide meals
[1:33:30] uh both breakfasts and lunches um this
[1:33:33] year not only for kids but for members
[1:33:35] of their families um and I will get the
[1:33:38] details and get them posted in the
[1:33:40] announcement section because I don't
[1:33:42] have them at the moment.
[1:33:45] Anyone else?
[1:33:47] I do just want to flag um that starting
[1:33:50] we have declared a heat that uh
[1:33:52] commissioner of public health has
[1:33:53] declared a heat emergency in Brooklyn.
[1:33:55] Uh as you all know um the um weather is
[1:33:59] going to be quite hot um going through
[1:34:01] the 4th of July. Um so um on Wednesday
[1:34:05] and Thursday there's standard operation
[1:34:07] for um town um uh facilities. The public
[1:34:11] library locations will be open. The
[1:34:12] senior center will be open. The pool
[1:34:14] will be open. Um and um so we just
[1:34:18] encourage people to take advantage of
[1:34:19] those spaces. Um on if people need a
[1:34:23] place to go that isn't the library, the
[1:34:25] um public safety building here across
[1:34:27] from town hall, the public uh safety
[1:34:30] building uh community room is open uh
[1:34:32] and available for people if they need a
[1:34:34] space to cool down. Um on Friday and
[1:34:37] Saturday, please check the uh
[1:34:39] brookclinma.gov website and the news
[1:34:41] announcements there. But just to flag
[1:34:43] for people, um we are having the there
[1:34:45] will be cooling centers open um in the
[1:34:48] north center and south of town. Um on uh
[1:34:52] Friday and Saturday, the senior center
[1:34:53] in Florida Ruff and Ridley School will
[1:34:55] be open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
[1:34:57] Potterham Library community room will be
[1:34:59] open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The
[1:35:01] pool will be open on Saturday from 12:00
[1:35:04] p.m. to 400 p.m. for the dive well and
[1:35:06] the shallow pool only. And there will be
[1:35:08] free admission for all Brookline
[1:35:09] residents. The pool will be closed on
[1:35:11] the 4th of July, however. But yes, on
[1:35:13] the 4th of July, we will have cooling
[1:35:15] centers open um in all both
[1:35:17] [clears throat] North, Central, and
[1:35:18] South Brookline. Um and we just strongly
[1:35:21] encourage people to stay safe. Um uh
[1:35:24] take advantage of the splash pads that
[1:35:25] are out there. The list of pads that are
[1:35:27] open uh and working as well as those are
[1:35:29] out of service are all online as part of
[1:35:31] this announcement. Uh please take the
[1:35:33] heat seriously. It's going to be very
[1:35:35] hot and crucially, it is not going to
[1:35:38] cool down at night. Um that's really the
[1:35:41] big issue here. A lot of people think
[1:35:42] that when the night comes in doesn't
[1:35:46] turns the it goes uh the temperature
[1:35:49] goes down. That's not going to be the
[1:35:51] case. So we strongly encourage you to
[1:35:53] please u uh take care of yourselves.
[1:35:58] Any other announcements?
[1:36:00] All right. Seeing none, we will move to
[1:36:03] public comments. Public comments a
[1:36:05] period for those who request to speak to
[1:36:07] the board regarding town issues. Persons
[1:36:09] wishing to speak may sign up in advance
[1:36:11] beginning on the Friday preceding the
[1:36:12] meeting or may sign up in person at the
[1:36:15] meeting. Speakers will be taken up in
[1:36:17] the order they sign up. Advanced
[1:36:19] registration is available by calling the
[1:36:21] selects board's office at 617-73022
[1:36:26] or by email at km mcgilly at
[1:36:29] brooklinem.gov.
[1:36:30] The full policy on public comment is
[1:36:33] available at brooklinmma.gov
[1:36:36] selectboard. So, do we have anyone who
[1:36:38] has signed up for public comment today?
[1:36:41] We do. Do you want me to go through my
[1:36:44] timing and Okay. [laughter]
[1:36:46] Thank you for joining us for public
[1:36:48] comment. This is an opportunity for us
[1:36:50] to hear your perspective on the issues
[1:36:51] in Brooklyn that matter to you. Each
[1:36:54] person speaking tonight is limited to
[1:36:55] three minutes. You don't need to use the
[1:36:58] entire time, but you may if you like.
[1:37:00] Once 15 minutes has been met, there's an
[1:37:02] opportunity at the conclusion of the
[1:37:03] select board's business for additional
[1:37:05] comments. Members of the public
[1:37:07] sometimes raise questions during public
[1:37:09] comment. We may be able to provide a
[1:37:11] quick answer to a question, but are more
[1:37:12] likely to work with staff to get a more
[1:37:14] thorough answer and respond over email.
[1:37:17] The onscreen timer will flash orange
[1:37:19] when you have 60 seconds remaining and
[1:37:20] red when your time is nearly up. Please
[1:37:23] conclude your remarks at that time. If
[1:37:25] you have more to say, you are welcome to
[1:37:27] send an email to board members
[1:37:28] expressing your thoughts in greater
[1:37:30] detail. Any person wishing to speak must
[1:37:32] begin their comment by identifying
[1:37:34] themselves with their full name, either
[1:37:36] their Brooklyn precinct number or street
[1:37:38] address and the specific topic on which
[1:37:40] they wish to speak. The board encourages
[1:37:42] but does not require that remote users
[1:37:44] turn their video on when commenting. And
[1:37:47] we have Carrie Tenant has signed up for
[1:37:49] public comment.
[1:37:51] All right. Hello.
[1:37:57] Oh, welcome.
[1:37:58] Thank you.
[1:38:01] Um, so nice to meet everyone. My name is
[1:38:06] Carrie Tenant. Um, I'm a resident of
[1:38:08] precinct 16. I live on Grove Street. Uh,
[1:38:13] and the topic that I was hoping to
[1:38:14] discuss tonight is actually the the
[1:38:16] Rotary that's just sort of right outside
[1:38:19] my home across from the shops at
[1:38:22] Peterham, if you all are familiar with
[1:38:24] that, like where Cherylyn's Bakery is.
[1:38:27] Um, so I moved into my home in October
[1:38:32] of 2024 with my husband and our then
[1:38:35] fourmonth old baby. She's two now. Um,
[1:38:38] and in the time that we've lived there,
[1:38:41] we've experienced a lot of issues with
[1:38:44] just like safety in that rotary. So, we
[1:38:49] probably see at least one to two car
[1:38:51] accidents in that rotary every week. Um,
[1:38:54] and neither of us works from home. So,
[1:38:56] that's just like in the time that we're
[1:38:58] home. I I suspect that there are
[1:39:00] probably more car accidents than that.
[1:39:02] Unfortunately, I myself was involved in
[1:39:04] a hit-and-run car accident in that
[1:39:06] Rotary in January of 2025.
[1:39:10] Um, where the person who hit me drove
[1:39:12] away. Uh thankfully my daughter was not
[1:39:14] in the car with me and you know the
[1:39:16] damage was all to the car but um and
[1:39:19] then similarly during a lot of the
[1:39:22] recent um more severe winter weather
[1:39:26] in the two winters that we've lived in
[1:39:28] the home winter of 2025 and winter of
[1:39:30] this 2026.
[1:39:32] Our fence which abuts the rotary um has
[1:39:36] been knocked down by the snow plow and
[1:39:39] it's not actually um hitting it because
[1:39:43] there's a sidewalk and a guardrail, but
[1:39:45] the plow is going so fast and then the
[1:39:47] snow is hitting the fence and like
[1:39:50] knocking the fence over. Um, so
[1:39:52] obviously I know I have three minutes
[1:39:54] and you know it's not going to be solved
[1:39:57] today, but I've tried reaching out, you
[1:40:00] know, to numerous different
[1:40:03] avenues in the town and just really
[1:40:05] haven't gotten a response. Um, so I'm
[1:40:08] just not sure who the appropriate party
[1:40:11] contact is about just like an overall
[1:40:13] solution. Not looking for any like
[1:40:16] assessing any liability or anything
[1:40:18] about past events. I just want to make
[1:40:21] sure that it's, you know, a safe place
[1:40:23] to drive and walk around and that, you
[1:40:25] know, we don't have our friends knocked
[1:40:28] over every winter. So, I'm just not sure
[1:40:32] who the Yeah, I tried. I can tell you
[1:40:34] who I tried if that's helpful.
[1:40:36] Would you leave us your email address,
[1:40:38] please, and we'll follow up with you
[1:40:39] this week?
[1:40:39] Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much.
[1:40:44] You can just I we have a pen and paper
[1:40:45] here. You can just leave leave it with
[1:40:46] Melanie and that would be great. Thank
[1:40:48] you.
[1:40:48] Anyone else?
[1:40:49] Thank you.
[1:40:52] I see Janice Khan has her hand raised.
[1:41:09] Okay. Yes, I can unmute and Okay. And
[1:41:13] now I can So, thank you very much for
[1:41:15] just I I just have a follow-up comment
[1:41:17] to um to something that our town
[1:41:20] administrator said that has been a
[1:41:23] concern of mine for a long time that we
[1:41:25] have cooling centers but they close by
[1:41:28] 6:00. And um as was pointed out, it
[1:41:32] stays hot at night. And I just want
[1:41:33] clarification for the community that my
[1:41:36] understanding is that the um that that
[1:41:41] at the um combined police and fire
[1:41:43] station that that is a 24-hour area that
[1:41:46] stays open and could you just clarify if
[1:41:49] that's so?
[1:41:50] Yes, thank you for clarif thank you for
[1:41:52] that question. Yes. Um, so when the
[1:41:54] cooling centers close at the end of the
[1:41:56] day, um, the while while those cooling
[1:41:58] centers close at the end of the day, the
[1:42:00] the public safety building at 350
[1:42:03] Washington here is open 247. Um, and
[1:42:06] that is a space where if someone loses
[1:42:08] power, if there's a that there's a need
[1:42:10] um for cooling or ice or water or
[1:42:13] anything, um, they can go to that uh,
[1:42:15] community room um, here in um, right
[1:42:18] here across from town hall.
[1:42:23] Thank you.
[1:42:25] Would anyone else like to be heard in
[1:42:27] public comments?
[1:42:32] All right. Seeing none, we will then
[1:42:34] move on to miscellaneous.
[1:42:38] [clears throat]
[1:42:38] Now, there have been some requests to
[1:42:42] take 6H
[1:42:45] and 6V
[1:42:47] out of the consent agenda to be voted on
[1:42:51] separately. Are there any other items
[1:42:54] that members
[1:42:55] 6 and six what?
[1:42:56] V.
[1:42:56] Oh, V. I'm sorry.
[1:42:58] Wait. 6 A or H?
[1:42:59] H. 6H and 6V.
[1:43:05] 6H is question of appointing the town
[1:43:07] administrator as hearing officer
[1:43:09] pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 31
[1:43:11] section 41 for individual hearings on
[1:43:14] whether four members of the fire
[1:43:16] department should be discharged on
[1:43:18] grounds of medical incapacity
[1:43:21] and 6V
[1:43:23] is the question of affirming the audit
[1:43:25] committee's recommendation of a
[1:43:26] certified public accounting firm to
[1:43:29] audit the town. So, regarding six H, I I
[1:43:34] would just like to ask for a little more
[1:43:36] background on the uh appointment process
[1:43:40] and whether other communities similarly
[1:43:43] have town administrators or their
[1:43:45] equivalent serve as hearing officers. If
[1:43:47] you could tell us a little more about
[1:43:48] this item.
[1:43:49] Sure. Thank you. Um so yes um the
[1:43:53] process so under the civil service law
[1:43:55] which is what this law is which is what
[1:43:57] would be cited here um employees with
[1:44:00] those protections um are entitled to a
[1:44:02] hearing before their appointed author
[1:44:04] their appointing authority or their
[1:44:05] design if there is something
[1:44:07] contemplated that is in excess of a
[1:44:09] 5-day suspension. Um and in this case,
[1:44:12] you the select board are the appointing
[1:44:14] authority for firefighters um and police
[1:44:17] officers under the civil service and uh
[1:44:20] or you know even not under civil
[1:44:22] service, you are still the appointing
[1:44:23] authority for the police as police
[1:44:25] commissioners uh and fire commissioners.
[1:44:27] And so historically what you have done
[1:44:29] is you have appointed either a member of
[1:44:31] town council's office to hear these
[1:44:33] matters whether they are disciplinary or
[1:44:35] medical or whatever in nature. Um or in
[1:44:38] an in the event such as here where um
[1:44:41] our labor council recently um uh took a
[1:44:45] different job in government and we wish
[1:44:46] her all the best. [clears throat] Um um
[1:44:48] where there hasn't been the capacity
[1:44:50] either because someone is were down a
[1:44:52] member of town council's office or
[1:44:54] there's some sort of conflict. um I've
[1:44:55] stepped in um to serve. Most recently, I
[1:44:58] served in um late 2025. There was a
[1:45:02] disciplinary hearing. So, under the same
[1:45:04] authority, you appointed me that as
[1:45:05] hearing officer. Ultimately, a
[1:45:07] resolution was reached before uh the
[1:45:10] hearing was held. Uh and there was no
[1:45:12] need to hold the hearing, but in that
[1:45:14] case, you did appoint me and I did um
[1:45:16] serve as hearing officer doing all of
[1:45:18] that work. So, there's nothing out of
[1:45:20] the ordinary here. period is your
[1:45:21] standard practice to appoint somebody uh
[1:45:24] rather than conduct the hearings
[1:45:25] yourself. Um and that's just um that is
[1:45:28] standard practice for many towns and
[1:45:31] communities in Massachusetts.
[1:45:33] Anthony,
[1:45:33] can I have insight [clears throat] into
[1:45:36] whom the the the details about these
[1:45:39] four members and why they are up for
[1:45:42] possible discharge? So I can't talk
[1:45:45] about the medical uh you know it's it's
[1:45:47] it's medical. So I'm I'm not allowed to
[1:45:50] disclose under you know privacy laws
[1:45:52] what those conditions are. I not at a
[1:45:54] public meeting. Okay. Um but you know I
[1:45:56] can certainly discuss you in general the
[1:45:59] contour the rules are. If someone is has
[1:46:02] a condition and they are not able to do
[1:46:05] the job and are not likely able to do
[1:46:07] the job for the foreseeable future um
[1:46:11] then the employer does have the ability
[1:46:13] to separate someone on the grounds of
[1:46:15] incapacity.
[1:46:16] Um and that's a last step. Um we only
[1:46:19] take that step if we think that there is
[1:46:21] no opportunity elsewhere. Um for
[1:46:24] example, if there's a reasonable
[1:46:25] accommodation to be made, if there is
[1:46:27] something that can be done. Um that
[1:46:29] really is the last step in the process.
[1:46:31] And these recommendations came from
[1:46:33] originally the chief.
[1:46:34] The chief. Yes.
[1:46:35] Okay. And then the chief went to medical
[1:46:38] advice and then made the
[1:46:40] recommendations.
[1:46:41] So this is right. This is this is the
[1:46:42] end of a long process where we've we've
[1:46:45] gone through medical evaluations. We've
[1:46:46] gone through this and again this is not
[1:46:49] it's not a foregone conclusion, right?
[1:46:50] at the end point of a hearing is that
[1:46:52] they have the opportunity to present to
[1:46:53] me a new set of eyes, a new a new face
[1:46:56] in this who's not the department head
[1:46:58] the opportunity to say no this is not
[1:47:00] right or there is something else there's
[1:47:01] something missing here they have the
[1:47:03] opportunity to do that I'll take that
[1:47:04] into consideration and then I'll make a
[1:47:06] decision based on the evidence they
[1:47:07] present
[1:47:08] so this is not the first that these
[1:47:10] people are hearing about
[1:47:11] no this has been going on in in most of
[1:47:13] these cases for more than a year
[1:47:14] got it thank you
[1:47:16] and each of these four members have
[1:47:17] distinct cases so in theory the decision
[1:47:20] could be different as to each one.
[1:47:21] Yes, I plan on, you know, there's
[1:47:23] there's no I'm not we're not holding
[1:47:25] mass hearings. Each one of these
[1:47:26] individuals is entitled to an individual
[1:47:28] hearing. They will present their own
[1:47:30] evidence and they will receive their own
[1:47:31] decision based on the evidence they
[1:47:33] present.
[1:47:33] Gotcha. Thank you.
[1:47:35] Anyone else on 6H?
[1:47:39] All right.
[1:47:44] Questions on other items though.
[1:47:46] Go ahead. Um,
[1:47:49] first off on the the minutes, I
[1:47:52] submitted some comments, but they didn't
[1:47:53] make it into the packet. So, I might ask
[1:47:56] that
[1:47:57] we can hold them.
[1:47:57] We can hold them.
[1:47:58] Yes.
[1:47:58] Um,
[1:48:00] second one, 6B, the Aging Friendly
[1:48:04] Communities Committee report. Is that
[1:48:05] report going to wind up somewhere more
[1:48:07] public facing permanently? Because I
[1:48:09] think there's a lot of valuable
[1:48:10] information in that that I only learned
[1:48:12] from reading it. Yes, in fact, we are uh
[1:48:15] we're probably going to post it on the
[1:48:17] select board's page in terms of policies
[1:48:18] and procedures, but I think it's you
[1:48:20] know, I just had a conversation with
[1:48:22] members of Brooklyn can this afternoon
[1:48:23] about making that more visible. So, yes.
[1:48:26] Awesome. Um and then 6 through 6P, we
[1:48:32] have a number of
[1:48:35] uh change orders essentially. Yes. Um
[1:48:38] where vendors uh end up needing more
[1:48:40] funding for one reason or another. Um,
[1:48:44] and then we're also choosing
[1:48:47] particular companies to do uh certain
[1:48:50] tasks. And so I'm wondering if we track
[1:48:54] uh how good various contractors are at
[1:48:57] sticking to budget when deciding whether
[1:48:59] to award them or if we usually just go
[1:49:01] with the lowest bidder.
[1:49:03] So we are allowed to under the
[1:49:05] procurement rules, right? And again, it
[1:49:06] depends on what kind this is
[1:49:08] complicated. It depends on what type of
[1:49:09] procurement it is. you know, is it
[1:49:11] really the lowest responsive bidder? Is
[1:49:13] it a more um uh qualitative analysis?
[1:49:17] So, it but for things like what you're
[1:49:19] seeing in the miscellaneous, it is the
[1:49:20] kind of lowest response, you know,
[1:49:22] lowest responsive and responsible
[1:49:23] bidder. Um so, yes, they we do have
[1:49:26] grounds and we have um we do keep track
[1:49:28] of how well contractors do. Um and we
[1:49:31] have bypassed contractors. I mean, as
[1:49:33] recently as a couple months ago for um
[1:49:37] even though they were the lowest bidder,
[1:49:38] we didn't believe they were capable of
[1:49:39] doing the work. So, we we bypass them.
[1:49:42] So, yes, we do keep track of all that.
[1:49:43] That's good.
[1:49:45] And to that point, which I think is a
[1:49:46] very important one, Amanda, by not being
[1:49:48] capable of doing the work, do you mean
[1:49:50] by sticking to a budget or the actual
[1:49:54] skill set?
[1:49:54] It it can depend. It can be both. Um, it
[1:49:57] can be, you know, we look at the budget
[1:49:58] and we don't believe it's a realistic
[1:50:00] budget under the because of the what we
[1:50:02] know about the project or we don't
[1:50:04] believe that the based on our past
[1:50:05] experience with the contractor that
[1:50:07] they're going to be able to do the work
[1:50:08] as outlined in the bid.
[1:50:11] Okay.
[1:50:13] That that's always important even in my
[1:50:15] like professional work. Sometimes the
[1:50:16] lowest bidder uh cost you more in the
[1:50:18] long run.
[1:50:19] That's exactly right. And I think you
[1:50:21] know certainly from our teams you know
[1:50:23] public buildings and capital projects
[1:50:24] again as I I I come back to this and I
[1:50:27] pound the table on it. That's why having
[1:50:29] good in-house management of this is so
[1:50:30] important because it saves us so much
[1:50:32] money in the long run. We have good
[1:50:34] institutional knowledge about what
[1:50:35] contractors we work with work, what
[1:50:38] contractors we have had bad experiences
[1:50:40] with. Um and we keep a we keep a tight
[1:50:43] tight uh grip on our projects. And I
[1:50:47] think that actually results in that's
[1:50:49] the reason why Brookline has such a good
[1:50:51] reputation for having its capital
[1:50:52] projects come in on time and on the
[1:50:54] budget.
[1:50:55] But also typically in capital projects
[1:50:57] there will be a contingencies budget
[1:50:59] line. So it's not as though we have to
[1:51:02] dip into free cash or go back to the
[1:51:04] voters. That did happen on one occasion,
[1:51:06] but overall we have not had to do that.
[1:51:08] Yes. One one one occasion one project
[1:51:10] out of a half billion dollars worth of
[1:51:12] projects I think is a pretty good track
[1:51:14] record for Brooklyn. Uh so
[1:51:17] and then I have one more question. Um
[1:51:19] and I had asked uh
[1:51:24] Chaz this in advance but I I wanted to
[1:51:26] highlight here because I am personally
[1:51:29] interested in this and I don't know how
[1:51:30] many um but for six you we were talking
[1:51:33] about mobile food vendors and they're
[1:51:35] basically all ice cream trucks which
[1:51:37] like for my kids yay. Um, but I
[1:51:39] personally would love to see the
[1:51:42] opportunity for more food trucks to be
[1:51:43] able to operate in town. Um, and I'm
[1:51:46] wondering if there's been any demand um
[1:51:50] for for food truck vendors that maybe
[1:51:52] might want to park out at one of our
[1:51:54] parks um and serve lunch for instance.
[1:51:57] Yeah, there has not been historically
[1:51:59] there aren't too many of them that
[1:52:00] operate in town. Usually three or four
[1:52:02] come in over the course of a year. Um
[1:52:04] the licensing requirement is not
[1:52:06] ownorous. We ask them to tell us tell us
[1:52:08] what your route is. We ask them to make
[1:52:09] sure that they're not blocking spaces
[1:52:11] for a long period of time or distra or
[1:52:13] disturbing people's experience. But um
[1:52:16] that's one of the many licenses that can
[1:52:18] historically come before the licensing
[1:52:20] panel which meets once a month on
[1:52:21] Wednesdays uh which you will be the new
[1:52:23] life board leaison to. Congratulations.
[1:52:25] Um and um but yes, we can certainly talk
[1:52:29] about um emphasizing our desire to have
[1:52:32] more um uh food trucks and open air
[1:52:35] vendor licenses out there. Um we can put
[1:52:38] out a call for applications. Um
[1:52:41] be very cool.
[1:52:43] Anyone else?
[1:52:46] Okay, we're going to pull out
[1:52:48] six was it?
[1:52:50] 6H and 6VA separately. Yes. I want to
[1:52:54] make a few comments though
[1:52:56] about the process.
[1:52:57] Okay. Go ahead.
[1:52:59] You're holding you're holding the
[1:53:00] minutes. So 6A
[1:53:02] holding the minutes.
[1:53:03] Okay. So uh regarding 6V which is the
[1:53:06] selection of an auditor. Uh the audit
[1:53:08] committee met last week uh to select the
[1:53:12] firm that was selected and we appointed
[1:53:14] a new chair uh Steve Herskville
[1:53:17] Hersvichi.
[1:53:19] Um, our prior chair, Paul Healey, moved
[1:53:22] out of town. Uh, both Paul and I have
[1:53:26] agreed to work with Steve to make sure
[1:53:29] that some of the problems that we've had
[1:53:30] with our audit um are addressed, and
[1:53:33] we're behind uh our fiscal year 2025
[1:53:37] audit, which should have been uh ready
[1:53:39] by u fall of 2025, had to be filed with
[1:53:43] uh a with the what's called Emma um
[1:53:48] electronic municipal market um I forgot
[1:53:51] what the A stands for. Um filing system
[1:53:55] was not filed at least the audited
[1:53:58] financials were not filed. We filed an
[1:54:00] unodudited uh set of financials which is
[1:54:02] okay but not something that we want to
[1:54:04] do. So, you know, both Paul and I and I
[1:54:07] was a audit committee chair for many
[1:54:09] years, uh, you know, um,
[1:54:13] back back in the old days. Um we we've
[1:54:16] you know agreed to work with uh Steve to
[1:54:18] make sure that you know the schedule of
[1:54:21] getting the audit done as well started
[1:54:24] as well as completed as well as all the
[1:54:26] filings that need to be made uh it's
[1:54:28] done in a u in in a way that doesn't uh
[1:54:33] get us behind like we are now. It's no
[1:54:36] real big issue with respect to being
[1:54:39] behind the fiscal year 2025 audit. It's
[1:54:42] just not something we want to be doing.
[1:54:44] It's embarrassing. Um, and the firm that
[1:54:48] we selected that's committed to getting
[1:54:50] the fiscal year 2025 audit uh done by
[1:54:54] the end of August. This is a very
[1:54:56] aggressive schedule, but they convinced
[1:54:58] us that they can do it uh based on uh
[1:55:01] taking advant or making use of the uh
[1:55:04] old firms which is CBiz's uh audit book
[1:55:08] which is a book of materials that talk
[1:55:12] about, you know, what was uh what was
[1:55:14] looked at over a period of time um and
[1:55:17] could be the basis for doing an audit,
[1:55:20] you know, uh quick I'm a little confused
[1:55:23] there, but doing doing the audit uh by
[1:55:26] August 31st, they convinced us that
[1:55:29] that's possible and we expect that that
[1:55:31] will be able to happen because a lot of
[1:55:33] the work has already been done. Um and
[1:55:36] going forward fiscal year 2026 uh you
[1:55:39] know
[1:55:40] they'll start uh as soon as we file the
[1:55:44] uh or or complete the uh contract and uh
[1:55:47] we should be back on track. We have a
[1:55:50] controller which we didn't have for a
[1:55:52] number of uh uh not a number of years
[1:55:55] but for a while which created problems
[1:55:57] and we had uh issues with our prior
[1:56:00] auditor. So those things uh have been
[1:56:04] addressed and I think we're in good
[1:56:06] shape now going forward. So
[1:56:08] Anthony
[1:56:09] Barard, one one point on that. Does this
[1:56:11] relate [clears throat] at all to our new
[1:56:12] policy of switching auditors every few
[1:56:14] years?
[1:56:15] Uh
[1:56:17] it's okay. I'm not sure how to answer
[1:56:20] that because [laughter]
[1:56:21] was my question policy but the reason
[1:56:23] why we switched auditors have have to do
[1:56:25] with other things.
[1:56:26] Okay. Got it. Understood.
[1:56:27] Yeah. Okay. I mean the long and yeah the
[1:56:29] long and the short of it is yes and it's
[1:56:30] it's good that we're doing this but it
[1:56:31] was not you know it was our our prior
[1:56:34] audit firm was bought twice um and it
[1:56:37] resulted in becoming CBiz um and then we
[1:56:41] worked with them for a year for
[1:56:42] [clears throat] the reasons Bernard
[1:56:43] described we've moved on from that
[1:56:45] relationship uh we have a new auditor
[1:56:47] here we will begin working through that
[1:56:49] process and uh again the hope too is
[1:56:52] because on our end right um Chelsea
[1:56:54] Stevens the comproller is going to be
[1:56:55] directly managing this process My hope
[1:56:58] is that this goes smoothly and quickly
[1:57:00] and we get an FY25 audit in short order.
[1:57:02] Cool. Thanks.
[1:57:04] All right. Any further questions
[1:57:06] regarding any items?
[1:57:10] [clears throat and cough]
[1:57:11] Okay, seeing none, I move uh we're
[1:57:14] holding 6A the minutes. So I move
[1:57:17] approval of
[1:57:18] 6B
[1:57:21] the audit. So we'll separately. Okay.
[1:57:24] Yeah.
[1:57:25] So, [clears throat] I move approval of
[1:57:27] 6B through 6 W except for 6V.
[1:57:34] Bernard,
[1:57:35] yes.
[1:57:36] Michael,
[1:57:36] yes.
[1:57:37] Amanda,
[1:57:38] yes.
[1:57:38] Anthony,
[1:57:39] yes.
[1:57:39] And I also vote yes. And now for item
[1:57:43] 6V,
[1:57:45] I move that we approve item 6V. Michael,
[1:57:48] yes.
[1:57:49] Amanda,
[1:57:50] yes.
[1:57:51] Anthony,
[1:57:52] yes. Bernard
[1:57:53] abstain and I vote yes.
[1:57:57] All right. So now we'll move on to our
[1:57:59] next agenda item. [clears throat]
[1:58:03] Boards and commissions interviews
[1:58:05] conservation commission. We have Matthew
[1:58:07] Eddie with us.
[1:58:08] Yes, he's online.
[1:58:13] Good evening. Thank you very much for
[1:58:14] your time.
[1:58:18] All right. You can begin whenever you're
[1:58:20] ready.
[1:58:21] Uh, thank you. My name is Matthew Eddie.
[1:58:23] I'm a 10-year resident of Brooklyn. I
[1:58:26] live and vote in precinct 3. I happen
[1:58:28] to, uh, live on Brook Street. Uh, and
[1:58:32] it's given the name Brook Street because
[1:58:33] the, uh, Tannery Brook runs underneath
[1:58:36] it, which gives me a particular interest
[1:58:37] in water management and storm water
[1:58:39] management in the town of Brookline. Um,
[1:58:43] I have had a long-term interest and
[1:58:45] commitment to conservation work. If you
[1:58:47] uh had a chance to read the paragraph of
[1:58:49] my uh application for the conservation
[1:58:51] commission, uh I have a master's degree
[1:58:54] in natural resource management. Uh I uh
[1:58:57] served for the uh muddy river
[1:59:00] restoration project maintenance and
[1:59:01] management oversight committee for five
[1:59:03] years and I'm currently engaged in a
[1:59:06] certification program uh working with
[1:59:08] the Massachusetts Association of
[1:59:10] Conservation Commissions uh trying to
[1:59:13] get a a conservation uh commission
[1:59:15] certificate through them. Uh I'm very
[1:59:18] excited about the work particularly in
[1:59:19] the town of Brooklyn. Uh my hope is to
[1:59:21] simultaneously focus on environmental
[1:59:24] protection and resiliency planning and
[1:59:26] also to support the good work of town
[1:59:28] employees uh with whom or to in whom I
[1:59:32] hold high esteem who worked as part of
[1:59:34] the muddy river restoration project. Uh
[1:59:36] they are in departments like
[1:59:37] sustainability, parks and open space
[1:59:40] engineering and public works and I very
[1:59:41] much admire the work that uh that the
[1:59:43] town has done and continues to do. Uh I
[1:59:47] believe I can assist in the work of the
[1:59:49] conservation commission in five main
[1:59:51] ways. Uh the first would be in
[1:59:53] evaluating deeds and plans. Uh I know
[1:59:56] that that is largely the breadandbut
[1:59:58] work of the the conservation commission
[2:00:00] and the work that I did uh as the
[2:00:02] administrator for the uh the MOC uh gave
[2:00:06] me the opportunity to develop some
[2:00:07] expertise in reading notices of intent
[2:00:10] uh and project notification forms etc.
[2:00:13] So I feel like I have that experience
[2:00:14] that I can bring to uh to the
[2:00:16] commission.
[2:00:17] Another way that I feel like I can help
[2:00:19] is by is through education. Uh one of my
[2:00:22] other major careers in my life was as a
[2:00:23] a high school science teacher. Uh so the
[2:00:27] ability to translate uh technical
[2:00:30] material for a public audience is
[2:00:32] something that I hold in high esteem. Uh
[2:00:34] so I feel like I could do that well
[2:00:36] through uh the any work that the
[2:00:38] conservation commission might send my
[2:00:40] way in terms of tours and uh the the
[2:00:43] authoring of articles.
[2:00:45] Uh I feel qualified to support the town
[2:00:48] in uh managing and hopefully expanding
[2:00:51] townowned lands of conservation
[2:00:53] interest. Uh and that was some of the
[2:00:55] the major focus of the work that I did
[2:00:57] in in my graduate program. uh and I have
[2:01:00] some experience as a volunteer manager
[2:01:03] uh specifically working with Habitat for
[2:01:04] Humanity, but also with other
[2:01:06] organizations uh in terms of helping
[2:01:09] leverage public interest uh in the work
[2:01:12] uh that is that the town is engaged in
[2:01:15] with respect to its uh conservation
[2:01:16] lands. And finally, I'm happy to pick up
[2:01:18] a shovel. Uh I've done uh plenty of work
[2:01:21] uh particularly through the Student
[2:01:22] Conservation Association to make sure
[2:01:24] that I'm contributing uh my muscle and
[2:01:28] heart and arm to uh to the work of uh of
[2:01:31] conservation.
[2:01:33] Uh so those five ways, evaluating deeds
[2:01:36] and plans, education the public,
[2:01:38] managing uh open space that's owned by
[2:01:40] the town, volunteer management, and
[2:01:42] fieldwork are the things that I feel I
[2:01:44] could contribute to the conservation
[2:01:46] commission. and I hope that you'll
[2:01:47] consider my uh my candidacy. Can I
[2:01:50] answer any questions?
[2:01:51] Yes. So, a question I have, I see that
[2:01:53] you recently served as a sustainability
[2:01:56] consultant for Riverstone Sustainability
[2:01:59] in Newbury Port. Uh
[2:02:00] that's correct. [clears throat]
[2:02:01] I wonder if you can tell us a little bit
[2:02:02] more about the work you did there and uh
[2:02:06] how it might inform your thinking if you
[2:02:09] uh join the conservation commission.
[2:02:12] Yeah. So, uh the uh Riverstone
[2:02:14] Sustainability is a very small shop.
[2:02:17] There's just one proprietor. Uh and we
[2:02:20] uh she hired me as a a secondary person
[2:02:23] for a period of time. Um the bread and
[2:02:26] butter of that particular consultancy
[2:02:28] focused on uh lead certification, LEED
[2:02:32] certification, uh largely for uh
[2:02:35] universities uh and colleges. And so the
[2:02:38] one that was closest to the work that I
[2:02:40] uh to this area was working for Boston
[2:02:42] College uh which is putting up putting
[2:02:44] together a new archive. So I was doing
[2:02:47] work uh there uh evaluating the lead uh
[2:02:51] suitability particularly associated with
[2:02:54] um water storm water management with
[2:02:56] respect to that building. Uh so working
[2:03:01] in support of our community members uh
[2:03:04] whether they be in business or in
[2:03:07] nonprofit or in the government I think
[2:03:10] is something that I feel like I am
[2:03:12] comfortable working with all those
[2:03:14] different constituencies keeping the
[2:03:16] public interest in mind.
[2:03:18] Any other questions?
[2:03:21] Michael.
[2:03:23] Uh first of all thank you very much for
[2:03:25] your application. Um
[2:03:28] Have you had an opportunity to uh
[2:03:31] observe a a uh a meeting of the
[2:03:34] commission of the council?
[2:03:35] Yes, I have.
[2:03:36] And did you have any uh p thoughts on uh
[2:03:41] the governance within that commission,
[2:03:43] things that worked well, processes or
[2:03:45] processes that could be improved?
[2:03:48] That's a good question. Mostly I was
[2:03:50] there just to to listen as and to be in
[2:03:53] support of uh of Alex Cassie in
[2:03:55] particular because I feel like he does
[2:03:56] terrific work on the part of the town.
[2:03:58] Um
[2:04:00] uh I will not say that I have enough
[2:04:02] experience with the dynamics of the
[2:04:04] committee to be able to say that they
[2:04:06] could do their work more effectively. I
[2:04:07] think as as someone who is coming into
[2:04:09] the committee for the first time, my job
[2:04:11] at least at the start would be to to
[2:04:12] listen and understand the structure of
[2:04:14] all of of that. Um, I think what
[2:04:18] impressed me uh was the uh the energy
[2:04:22] particularly around doing site visits. I
[2:04:24] know they all went out to to Putterham
[2:04:26] uh golf course to look at a major
[2:04:28] project and the enthusiasm that the
[2:04:30] other members of the committee had shown
[2:04:31] for getting out in the field and
[2:04:33] observing those projects firsthand was
[2:04:35] something that uh that it inspired me
[2:04:37] that a committee made of volunteers were
[2:04:40] uh showing that level of motivation.
[2:04:42] Thank you.
[2:04:44] Anyone else?
[2:04:48] All right. Well, thank you very much for
[2:04:49] interviewing with us. Uh, and you will
[2:04:52] hear back at some point soon.
[2:04:54] Thank you. I appreciate your time.
[2:04:56] All right. Next up, we have Ernest Cook.
[2:05:04] Excuse me. Before you before you
[2:05:07] proceed, could we get a summary of the
[2:05:10] number of positions that have open
[2:05:12] one?
[2:05:14] I'm I'm sorry. Could we get a summary of
[2:05:16] the number of positions that are open?
[2:05:17] Sure. That we're interviewing for.
[2:05:19] There's one. It's on the um website for
[2:05:21] commission.
[2:05:22] Okay.
[2:05:23] Thank you.
[2:05:24] There's one current vacancy, right?
[2:05:26] Yeah.
[2:05:28] And one potential future one.
[2:05:32] Hello. My name uh can you hear me? All
[2:05:34] right. Is Ernest Cook. Um thank you for
[2:05:37] considering my application to serve on
[2:05:39] the Conservation Commission. I've been a
[2:05:42] member of or a resident of Brooklyn for
[2:05:46] I think about 30 years. Um I have been
[2:05:50] active in town politics. I was uh served
[2:05:54] on town meeting for six years. I am vice
[2:05:58] president uh currently at the Brookline
[2:06:00] Greenspace Alliance and uh we um
[2:06:04] advocate as I'm sure you know for uh the
[2:06:08] the conser park and conservation uh
[2:06:11] spending and programs um within the
[2:06:14] town. Um, I'm also on the board of
[2:06:17] advisors of um the Charles River
[2:06:21] Watershed Association, which cares
[2:06:23] deeply about water quality in the
[2:06:26] Charles River and its tributaries,
[2:06:28] including the Muddy River. And as I'm
[2:06:31] sure you know, Brookline is the
[2:06:33] principal watershed for the Muddy River
[2:06:36] and um contributes considerably to uh
[2:06:40] water quality problems um in the Muddy
[2:06:43] River. Um my professional career um for
[2:06:48] oh nearly over 45 years has been
[2:06:52] principally focused on parks and land
[2:06:55] conservation. I I worked for the trust
[2:06:58] for public land for 37 years um and rose
[2:07:02] to become senior vice president and
[2:07:06] director of national programs for that
[2:07:08] organization. Um I've also had um
[2:07:14] a consultant um business landwater
[2:07:18] associates and uh where I've retained
[2:07:21] several people with expertise and
[2:07:24] wetlands and planning and public finance
[2:07:29] to create plans
[2:07:31] and implement plans for um parks and
[2:07:35] land conservation. uh I was the for
[2:07:38] example print uh well recently I've been
[2:07:41] u moving toward retirement and uh
[2:07:44] cutting down on the work of Landwater
[2:07:46] Associates. So it's pretty much me now.
[2:07:49] I I don't uh usually employ other people
[2:07:52] at this point. Um but just uh one
[2:07:55] example of my work. I was the principal
[2:07:57] author of the land protection plan for
[2:08:01] the US Fish and Wildlife Service to
[2:08:03] expand the Iranis National Wildlife
[2:08:06] Refuge in Texas with the goal of
[2:08:09] protecting habitat for the recovering
[2:08:13] population of the endangered whooping
[2:08:15] crane. Um that was all about wetlands.
[2:08:19] Um so in addition to the planning I'm
[2:08:22] now involved in implementation of that
[2:08:24] plan uh including uh applications for
[2:08:27] funding from a variety of state and
[2:08:31] federal sources as well as negotiations
[2:08:33] with land owners to uh actually acquire
[2:08:37] that land and move it into public
[2:08:40] ownership and management.
[2:08:43] Um, at that point I uh I could just open
[2:08:47] for questions on my background and and
[2:08:50] interests
[2:08:52] questions.
[2:08:54] [clears throat]
[2:08:56] So a question I have if you could expand
[2:08:58] a little bit about your experience as uh
[2:09:02] the primary author of open space plans.
[2:09:05] You referenced the Aransis
[2:09:08] uh National [clears throat] Wildlife
[2:09:09] Refuge in Texas. You also mentioned in
[2:09:12] your resume something similar in
[2:09:15] Georgia. U [clears throat] can you talk
[2:09:17] a little bit about how you would utilize
[2:09:19] that experience on the conservation
[2:09:21] commission?
[2:09:23] Yeah, I was just in in Georgia, I have
[2:09:25] been um principally responsible for
[2:09:29] creating uh two different partnerships
[2:09:33] that have been pursuing land protection
[2:09:36] to um avoid uh listing of various
[2:09:41] species as endangered in the state. One
[2:09:43] of them was the gopher tortoise. And uh
[2:09:46] more recently this uh I've been leading
[2:09:49] a partnership that is trying to um
[2:09:54] avoid any further uh listing of
[2:09:58] endangered species in four uh
[2:10:01] significant watersheds in north um north
[2:10:04] northwest Georgia. Um the uh I don't
[2:10:09] have a great deal of much experience in
[2:10:13] uh
[2:10:14] regulatory approaches. Uh I have done uh
[2:10:19] work on in California to prepare um
[2:10:23] environmental quality uh reports under
[2:10:26] the um California Environmental Quality
[2:10:30] Act. Um but most of my work has been
[2:10:33] kind of in the non-regulatory approach
[2:10:36] to um uh meeting environmental goals
[2:10:40] through incentives uh for for land
[2:10:44] owners principally land protection uh
[2:10:47] conservation easements um I have uh
[2:10:51] written many conservation easements and
[2:10:53] negotiated those with land owners um so
[2:10:58] uh it's that experience I think working
[2:11:00] a lot with the the the private sector
[2:11:02] and understanding incentives that I
[2:11:04] could bring that perspective to the
[2:11:06] conservation commission.
[2:11:08] From the materials you provided though,
[2:11:10] it looks like you also had some
[2:11:11] experience with promoting federal
[2:11:14] legislation uh in relation to the
[2:11:16] Connecticut River Conservancy.
[2:11:18] Uh yes. Um I was for oh probably 10
[2:11:23] years at the Trust for Public Land in
[2:11:26] charge of um all government relations.
[2:11:29] Uh and that included um a significant
[2:11:34] group of uh uh uh federal affairs
[2:11:40] experts working out of an office in
[2:11:42] Washington DC. And uh I brought that uh
[2:11:47] experience
[2:11:48] later to my work as a as a consultant
[2:11:51] with Landwater Associates. And um had a
[2:11:56] couple of um uh consulting uh uh
[2:12:01] projects related to um large watershed
[2:12:06] uh protection efforts. One of them being
[2:12:08] the Connecticut River. And uh there I
[2:12:12] helped to design legislation that was
[2:12:14] ultimately pretty much in the form I
[2:12:17] developed it adopted um to uh expand
[2:12:24] um federal uh ambition shall we say to
[2:12:29] to protect that watershed.
[2:12:32] Thank you Michael.
[2:12:35] Uh thank you. Um,
[2:12:37] have I'm wondering if you've had the
[2:12:39] opportunity to sit in on a meeting of
[2:12:41] the Conservation Commission.
[2:12:43] I have not actually.
[2:12:44] Okay. Um, are there any particular um,
[2:12:50] charges of the Conservation Commission
[2:12:52] or activities um, that you've gleaned
[2:12:55] from its agendas um, or its work that
[2:12:58] you are particularly interested in
[2:13:00] diving in on?
[2:13:03] Um
[2:13:05] I'm very interested in um sustainability
[2:13:10] in uh promoting green infrastructure.
[2:13:14] Um and uh I have done a fair amount of
[2:13:19] work in that arena. Um, I'm in charge of
[2:13:23] a uh sustainability
[2:13:26] um uh committee and plan for um uh for
[2:13:32] my boat club, Riverside Boat Club in
[2:13:34] Cambridge. Um so sustainability issues
[2:13:37] have always keenly interested me.
[2:13:41] Thank you.
[2:13:43] Anyone else?
[2:13:45] All right. Well, thank you very much for
[2:13:46] the interview and you'll hear back from
[2:13:48] us. Thank you, [clears throat]
[2:13:50] David.
[2:13:51] Yes,
[2:13:51] had a scheduling issue, so he won't be
[2:13:53] joining us until July 14th.
[2:13:55] Okay,
[2:13:57] so with that, then we will move on to 8B
[2:14:02] interviews for Brookline Commission for
[2:14:04] the Arts. And we might as well review
[2:14:06] how many open positions are there?
[2:14:08] Three.
[2:14:09] Three positions currently. And how many
[2:14:10] applicants total?
[2:14:12] Um, three tonight. I think we have two
[2:14:14] others that we have previously
[2:14:15] interviewed.
[2:14:16] Okay. [clears throat]
[2:14:17] So, first up we have Arav Patel.
[2:14:24] Um, hello. I'm Arav Patel. I attend
[2:14:27] Brooklyn High School. Um, I'm a junior
[2:14:31] in the fall. I live in district 10. Um,
[2:14:37] I want to be on the committee cuz I've
[2:14:39] seen how public art can change like the
[2:14:41] space and bring community together. I've
[2:14:44] also um started the impact walls which
[2:14:48] Jason Kakone started which like brings
[2:14:51] like all the murals around Brooklyn they
[2:14:53] bring a sense of community and um
[2:14:58] bring like the community together and
[2:15:00] lots of students from Driscoll an
[2:15:02] elementary school that I went to um have
[2:15:05] worked on the murals near Driscoll like
[2:15:07] the one next to Stokes and the club that
[2:15:11] I started um has and trying to help um
[2:15:16] do this and clean up the neighborhood
[2:15:18] like all the graffiti.
[2:15:21] Um I've also had experience in one of
[2:15:25] their meetings. I've attended a few of
[2:15:27] their meetings cuz I was invited and got
[2:15:30] to see firsthand how everything was. um
[2:15:35] I faced or I have um seen that and I
[2:15:39] just want to like change the community
[2:15:41] and change like how art can be
[2:15:44] accessible to everyone and not and make
[2:15:47] it just more accessible.
[2:15:52] All right, thank you. Any questions?
[2:15:56] Amanda,
[2:15:57] um I I always like when our high school
[2:16:00] students uh throw their hat in the rink
[2:16:02] to apply for various commissions. Um and
[2:16:05] so I'm wondering for you what uh in
[2:16:09] inspired, for lack of a better word, uh
[2:16:11] you to apply to this commission uh and
[2:16:15] really any commission in the high
[2:16:17] school? Well, um Jason, uh the founder
[2:16:21] of uh Impact Walls, he said it would be
[2:16:24] a great idea because he was on this
[2:16:27] commission and it helped him um learn
[2:16:30] more about how learn more about
[2:16:33] community and a sense of community and
[2:16:35] also learn more about how art can like
[2:16:39] bring the community together.
[2:16:41] But I also wanted to join because um
[2:16:44] I've seen many of like the showcases of
[2:16:47] what the Brooklyn Arts Committee
[2:16:49] Committee has done like the um ability
[2:16:54] um performance that was held like a
[2:16:57] month ago. Um
[2:17:00] um and I just wanted to join because it
[2:17:06] would help like me and I think I could
[2:17:10] bring um skills to the committee.
[2:17:16] Thank you.
[2:17:17] Could could you talk a little bit more
[2:17:19] about your work in founding Impact
[2:17:22] Walls? How many people participate in
[2:17:24] it? uh which mural initiatives you've
[2:17:27] been involved in there.
[2:17:30] Um at our club we have about 20 people
[2:17:34] who um have been helping. We have done
[2:17:38] bake sales and trying to raise money so
[2:17:40] we can clean some of the graffiti like
[2:17:42] at Gregs. Um I have been involved in two
[2:17:46] murals. Um the one next to Stokes with
[2:17:50] like the dragon um and
[2:17:54] the pizza and that and then one with
[2:17:58] this one was taken down because of the
[2:18:01] reconstruction of Driscoll but is the I
[2:18:04] think it's still in the school though.
[2:18:06] Um it's the mural of
[2:18:11] Mr. Um,
[2:18:13] I'm blanking on his name, but he um was
[2:18:18] with Martin Luther King Jr. and it's
[2:18:20] just a mural of him.
[2:18:26] [clears throat]
[2:18:26] Bernard, do you have
[2:18:28] I think Amanda for ask question I was
[2:18:31] thinking about, but give give me a sense
[2:18:33] of um how how [clears throat] excuse me,
[2:18:37] my voice. Um, give me a sense of how you
[2:18:40] would uh bring the sort of energy of
[2:18:43] high school students and and other youth
[2:18:46] uh to uh the arts commission and the
[2:18:49] types of programs you think that they're
[2:18:51] missing out on or not doing that uh
[2:18:54] would appeal to youth.
[2:18:58] Um, I think that many people don't
[2:19:02] appreciate like the art and things that
[2:19:06] the committee has done before cuz they
[2:19:09] don't know about it. So, I would want to
[2:19:11] bring like awareness to it. And I also
[2:19:14] don't think it's very interactive. Like
[2:19:18] much of the art that the committee has
[2:19:20] done isn't very interactive with the
[2:19:21] people. It's either just a showcase or
[2:19:24] it's just like them painting a wall and
[2:19:26] not saying anything about it. Cuz the
[2:19:28] new mural that they put up next to
[2:19:30] Autos, I personally had no clue that
[2:19:32] they were doing it until I joined one of
[2:19:34] their meetings and they started talking
[2:19:36] about it. I also never knew about it
[2:19:40] until I like walked over and looked at
[2:19:43] it. But there's no awareness. So, I'd
[2:19:45] want to bring awareness to all the art
[2:19:48] and then I think that would be helpful
[2:19:50] for everybody in Brooklyn High or just
[2:19:53] in high schools and the youth to see if
[2:19:55] there was more awareness.
[2:20:00] Anyone else?
[2:20:02] All right. Thank you very much. Uh,
[2:20:04] you'll hear from us eventually.
[2:20:08] Uh, [clears throat] next up we have
[2:20:09] Kelly Pope.
[2:20:17] Hello everyone. Thank you for having me
[2:20:19] tonight. My name is Kelly Pope. I've
[2:20:22] been a resident of Brooklyn for over 20
[2:20:24] years. I am a new resident at Marian
[2:20:27] Street, which we just cut the ribbon on
[2:20:30] my building not too long ago, and I'm
[2:20:33] very excited to be here. I currently sit
[2:20:35] on the board council on Aging. I
[2:20:38] formally sat on the board age friendly
[2:20:41] cities committee and tonight I am
[2:20:43] applying for commission for the arts. I
[2:20:46] have a 40-year career in the music
[2:20:48] business where I started my career with
[2:20:51] Dolly Parton out of the University of
[2:20:53] North Carolina where I sat on the on the
[2:20:57] concert committee where I was studying
[2:20:59] stage production and lighting. I
[2:21:01] therefore went out on tour with her and
[2:21:04] ended up in Los Angeles where my career
[2:21:08] really took off. Um, I had a 10-year
[2:21:11] career at Westlake Studios. And if
[2:21:12] you've seen the Michael Jackson
[2:21:14] documentary recently, then you would
[2:21:16] have seen our studios because we
[2:21:19] recorded every single record that
[2:21:21] Michael did there. I therefore went on
[2:21:24] to manage bands, having them signed to
[2:21:26] Epic Records, touring with those bands.
[2:21:29] Um, I then went on to produce my own
[2:21:32] benefit concert that aided the LA
[2:21:35] homeless.
[2:21:36] And I'm applying for the Commission of
[2:21:39] the Arts because I know that I can bring
[2:21:40] a wealth of talent and experience in the
[2:21:45] field of music, which is the arts, that
[2:21:48] I feel that we are lacking a little bit
[2:21:50] in the community of Brooklyn. and I have
[2:21:53] been invited to sit into one of their
[2:21:56] meetings which happened to be just a few
[2:21:59] hours after I applied for this um
[2:22:01] position but was unable to attend and um
[2:22:05] talked subsequently to Jillian and I
[2:22:08] look very forward to meeting everyone
[2:22:10] because it is an A-list
[2:22:13] talent of people on this committee and
[2:22:16] I'm very excited about meeting everybody
[2:22:18] there and if you have any questions for
[2:22:21] me I'd be happy to answered them.
[2:22:24] All right. Any questions for Miss Pope?
[2:22:28] Michael.
[2:22:29] Um, thank you. [clears throat] Um,
[2:22:34] in ter in terms of of all of the skills
[2:22:37] that you've you've developed um in your
[2:22:40] long music career. Um, are there are
[2:22:43] there sort of particular ways that you
[2:22:47] think those skills can be applied to the
[2:22:50] work of the commission or the projects
[2:22:53] that the commission might sponsor or
[2:22:56] evaluate?
[2:22:57] Um, yes, I am I I really wanted to try
[2:23:01] to meet and have a meeting with them
[2:23:03] before I I did my interview, but that
[2:23:05] did not work out. But I I have seen
[2:23:11] some of the music projects that were
[2:23:13] granted um grants this past year and I
[2:23:16] feel that we can open those genres a
[2:23:19] little bit further to include other
[2:23:22] forms of music and not just like
[2:23:25] woodwind and more classical things that
[2:23:27] they have been granting these grants to.
[2:23:31] I also would like to see us
[2:23:35] step our toes into maybe combining more
[2:23:37] arts and music with Brooklyn Day and
[2:23:40] maybe co-producing
[2:23:42] some things with the rooms um at Koolage
[2:23:45] Corner Theater that they built to host
[2:23:48] arts and crafts and different production
[2:23:52] values of people coming in and the art
[2:23:55] world and also we were losing our
[2:23:58] galleries here and that is a big
[2:24:01] strangle hold on us. We need to really
[2:24:04] find a place to showcase the people that
[2:24:06] live within the Brooklyn community, not
[2:24:09] only in physical and meet different
[2:24:12] medias of arts, but also music,
[2:24:15] performance, and those areas as well.
[2:24:18] And I would just like a chance to sit
[2:24:19] down with a member of the committees and
[2:24:23] really hash out some future plans of how
[2:24:26] we can start branching out a little bit
[2:24:28] further.
[2:24:30] Thank you.
[2:24:32] [clears throat]
[2:24:33] I I have a similar question. So I notice
[2:24:35] and again you spoke to this about your
[2:24:37] extensive experience with uh major music
[2:24:40] bands and uh I I appreciate that it
[2:24:44] sounds like your uh bent within Brooklyn
[2:24:48] Commission for the Arts would be uh
[2:24:50] auditory and performance-based not just
[2:24:53] visual. Do you have experience doing uh
[2:24:57] something similar with other communities
[2:24:59] [clears throat]
[2:25:00] in terms of arranging sort of municipal
[2:25:04] arts?
[2:25:06] Um I do do you remember Mr. Cutler's
[2:25:09] outside the box? He has passed now but
[2:25:12] he did this wonderful festival on the
[2:25:14] Boston Commons
[2:25:16] um before he passed away called Outside
[2:25:20] the Box. and you know and I stepped up
[2:25:22] and I volunteered for that and basically
[2:25:25] the first place they threw me was
[2:25:27] backstage to deal with all the talent.
[2:25:31] So I have a plethora of experience with
[2:25:35] PR production.
[2:25:38] Um, there's so much that goes into it.
[2:25:41] It's It's really, as you know, it's a
[2:25:44] lot to to put to to put on a show and I
[2:25:48] feel that I can bring those elements to
[2:25:51] the Commission of the Arts because I
[2:25:52] think we are lacking and those
[2:25:54] production values. Um, and I would still
[2:25:58] like to try to do things with Brookline
[2:26:00] Wreck, like co-produce some things
[2:26:03] because I know that Cadence is carrying
[2:26:06] on the live shows at the parks and I
[2:26:09] feel that we could do a lot more than
[2:26:11] what we're doing. So, I I welcome the
[2:26:15] challenge.
[2:26:16] Thank you, Bernard.
[2:26:18] So, so we could do a lot more than what
[2:26:20] we're doing. What What do you think is
[2:26:22] preventing us from doing a lot more? I
[2:26:24] mean, for example, uh spaces for
[2:26:28] performances may be limited here in
[2:26:30] Brooklyn. Yeah. There may not be an
[2:26:33] appreciation of different genres of
[2:26:35] music, for example, um in in Brooklyn
[2:26:38] that which could be an educational
[2:26:40] issue. You know, what what what other
[2:26:42] things do you think um you know, sort of
[2:26:44] impede that uh effort?
[2:26:48] Um that is a great question, Bernard.
[2:26:51] Um,
[2:26:53] you know, music is vast and it and
[2:26:56] expands every generation
[2:27:00] and what might be for you may not be for
[2:27:04] me and what might be for me music-wise
[2:27:06] may not be for other people, but but we
[2:27:09] do have a stage on Brooklyn Day and I
[2:27:12] think that we can grace that stage with
[2:27:16] a plethora of different genres from the
[2:27:19] voices of the people that live in
[2:27:22] Brooklyn
[2:27:24] um that are musically talented. And I
[2:27:26] think that we need to do that. And I
[2:27:28] think it would be great to make
[2:27:30] Brookline Day more of a
[2:27:34] more to add more festival
[2:27:37] bands, performances,
[2:27:40] arts.
[2:27:41] Um, and also setting up giving the
[2:27:46] artists a chance to get booths to
[2:27:49] display their works as well, Bernard. I
[2:27:51] think that's really really important.
[2:27:53] And also bands to display their CDs or,
[2:27:57] you know, their download details or, you
[2:28:00] know, I just did, you know, it's funny.
[2:28:02] I still run
[2:28:05] the platforms for creation records and I
[2:28:08] lived in London, England for a very long
[2:28:10] time. after I left um LA. And I have
[2:28:15] given those bands that used to be on
[2:28:17] Creation a second breath of life because
[2:28:20] we're all in our 50s. I'm in my 60s. And
[2:28:26] it's amazing how just the power of these
[2:28:30] social media platforms get the word out.
[2:28:33] And I think that we can utilize that a
[2:28:35] lot better in Brooklyn as well on our
[2:28:38] social media sites and getting the word
[2:28:40] out. So, I'm up for the challenge. I
[2:28:43] would really really like to to sit down
[2:28:45] and speak with the present committee
[2:28:47] members and the new members that you all
[2:28:49] decide to take on. And
[2:28:54] I'm just up for the challenge. I have a
[2:28:56] vision of really trying to help in the
[2:28:59] music department wherever I can and and
[2:29:02] listen and and work with people to
[2:29:08] we have a lot of talent in Brooklyn.
[2:29:09] It's just not being utilized.
[2:29:14] Anyone else?
[2:29:17] All right. Well, thank you very much for
[2:29:18] the interview.
[2:29:19] Thank you. Nice to see everyone. And
[2:29:22] next up we have Saiaka Minagishi.
[2:29:28] Yeah, this is Saiaka.
[2:29:30] Hello. Um, my name is Saka Migishi. You
[2:29:34] can call me Sai. Um, I am a resident of
[2:29:37] Brooklyn for eight years and I live on
[2:29:40] Brown Street which is in North Brooklyn.
[2:29:43] Um, if I'm selected to serve on the
[2:29:45] Brooklyn Commission for the Arts, I
[2:29:47] would love to bring um I would love to
[2:29:50] contribute to the ongoing efforts to um
[2:29:56] strengthen public spaces such as um
[2:29:58] through the rapid recovery plan. And I
[2:30:01] believe that art has the power to make
[2:30:03] neighborhoods more vibrant, inviting.
[2:30:05] And I would like to um encourage more in
[2:30:09] installation of murals and galleries to
[2:30:14] um to all people of all background
[2:30:18] regardless of their arts background back
[2:30:22] art backgrounds. Um
[2:30:25] and I am very grateful for my upcoming
[2:30:28] exhibition at the Pam branch. um which
[2:30:31] is from July to August. But I am also
[2:30:35] keen to um encourage um more
[2:30:38] collaborative work, not just displaying
[2:30:41] work. So I'd love to um encourage
[2:30:44] projects that are created with it with
[2:30:48] the community members um from all ages
[2:30:51] and all backgrounds. Um, and I think
[2:30:55] that murals and um public artworks
[2:30:59] otherwise
[2:31:01] like um like p pictures or
[2:31:06] famed artworks or sculptures there. I
[2:31:08] think they're all um great ways to
[2:31:10] foster creativity. Um and I want to give
[2:31:13] all residents like a sense of ownership
[2:31:16] over Brookline's public spaces.
[2:31:19] And I would like to bring a
[2:31:21] collaborative mind mindset and um a
[2:31:24] willing a willingness to listen. And I
[2:31:28] am very um excited to make Brook Lines
[2:31:32] uh to help make Brook Lines community
[2:31:35] more accessible and
[2:31:38] um and somewhat comfortable for all.
[2:31:45] Yeah. Thank you.
[2:31:47] All right. Thank you. Any questions?
[2:31:48] Amanda?
[2:31:50] Yeah. Uh, so you spoke really nicely
[2:31:52] just now as well as in your written
[2:31:54] response about the need to increase
[2:31:57] accessibility of art to a much wider
[2:32:00] swath of the public, including those
[2:32:02] with disabilities. I would love for you
[2:32:04] to expand a little bit on that because I
[2:32:06] I think that's a really good goal and
[2:32:08] I'm curious as to how you might actually
[2:32:10] be able to accomplish that.
[2:32:12] Yeah. So like we we have um a place
[2:32:17] called Gateway Arts. I don't know
[2:32:19] whether everyone knows it but it's um
[2:32:22] it's an organization where people with
[2:32:25] disabled backgrounds can participate and
[2:32:29] create art and sell online. Um and they
[2:32:32] have galleries online as well where
[2:32:34] people can see their artworks. And I
[2:32:36] believe that if you extend that to the
[2:32:40] wider community u for example like doing
[2:32:43] that kind of event regularly um outside
[2:32:46] of get outside of that program that can
[2:32:49] really make um art more inviting and can
[2:32:54] really help to make art accessible to
[2:32:57] all.
[2:32:59] Thank you
[2:33:01] Michael. Um, [clears throat] thank you
[2:33:04] very much for your application. Um, I'm
[2:33:06] wondering if you can talk at all about
[2:33:10] how you think about
[2:33:13] motivating the the broader public to be
[2:33:17] engaged in the kinds of art uh,
[2:33:20] installations or murals or other uh,
[2:33:24] ways of engaging it in art within
[2:33:27] Brooklyn.
[2:33:30] Yeah. So I think that we shouldn't make
[2:33:32] art projects like um only for artists.
[2:33:38] So I think we should make for examp like
[2:33:41] we should make you know um pop-up stores
[2:33:44] that are like that can that where people
[2:33:49] can easily stop by and create some kind
[2:33:51] of art like contribute to the sign or
[2:33:54] like um something very small that people
[2:33:58] don't have pressure to be good at.
[2:34:02] I think that's like a great way to um
[2:34:04] encourage people to be more involved in
[2:34:06] art. And if if people are interested,
[2:34:09] they can, you know, go further to um to
[2:34:14] interact more with the Brooklyn art
[2:34:16] community.
[2:34:18] Thank you.
[2:34:20] You speak in your materials about art
[2:34:23] [clears throat] as a form of emotional
[2:34:26] expression, not just uh something that
[2:34:29] many people would find beautiful that's
[2:34:30] been made by a professional. And so
[2:34:33] somewhat similar to what Michael's
[2:34:35] asking, do you have any uh experience
[2:34:39] with arranging certain types of art
[2:34:42] activities or events that are designed
[2:34:44] to encourage
[2:34:47] uh sort of the lay people or those like
[2:34:49] myself who can maybe draw a stick figure
[2:34:52] into uh artistic [clears throat]
[2:34:54] expression?
[2:34:56] Yeah. Um so I've been involved in um
[2:35:01] organizing art activities for a temple
[2:35:04] that I go to that I went to um back in
[2:35:06] Australia. I came from Australia um
[2:35:09] before I came from Japan and um I helped
[2:35:15] make like origami sessions um where
[2:35:19] people can just fold origamis um and
[2:35:23] that kind I think that encouraged people
[2:35:26] from all backgrounds to participate even
[2:35:28] lay people um because origami you don't
[2:35:31] have to like think much and you can just
[2:35:33] follow the instructions and fold papers
[2:35:35] um and what you can make is really
[2:35:38] interesting. So that I think that was um
[2:35:43] a helpful project
[2:35:45] and
[2:35:48] yeah
[2:35:50] and then you also
[2:35:51] and also yeah
[2:35:52] you reference that you I see in your
[2:35:54] materials you lived in Australia, you
[2:35:56] studied there. Is there something that
[2:35:58] Australia is doing that we're not that
[2:36:01] you would want to bring here?
[2:36:03] Um no I mean I would like to so each
[2:36:08] country has it good and bads but um from
[2:36:11] Australia I would like to actually bring
[2:36:14] um I would like to bring like the
[2:36:16] culture of accepting everyone. Um I
[2:36:21] don't have anything that I don't want to
[2:36:22] bring but I do want to bring the culture
[2:36:26] of accepting everyone regardless of
[2:36:28] their accent or you know backgrounds. Um
[2:36:32] because I believe that art, you can
[2:36:35] speak through art. Um art can art can
[2:36:38] access act access as a voice. So I
[2:36:42] really want um people more people in
[2:36:44] Brooklyn to be able to speak their
[2:36:46] emotions um through engaging in art
[2:36:50] activities.
[2:36:54] All right. Thank you. Any other
[2:36:56] questions?
[2:36:58] All right. Seeing none, thank you for
[2:37:00] interviewing and we will get back to
[2:37:01] you.
[2:37:02] Thank you.
[2:37:04] I I just want to say as a broad
[2:37:05] statement, I am really impressed with
[2:37:08] the interviews that we have had. I mean,
[2:37:10] we have some really talented people in
[2:37:13] this community and uh we're going to
[2:37:14] have some difficult decisions before us
[2:37:17] because I'm really impressed. I mean,
[2:37:19] some of these applications you'd think
[2:37:20] that they could be applying at state and
[2:37:22] federal level even. Wow. All right. So
[2:37:26] with that we will move to annual
[2:37:29] appointments. Question of making annual
[2:37:31] appointments as recommended by the the
[2:37:33] [clears throat] town administrator of
[2:37:35] department heads, administrators and
[2:37:36] other officials and employees and of
[2:37:38] setting the benefits, salaries and wages
[2:37:40] of all non-UN employees effective July
[2:37:43] 1st, 2026.
[2:37:44] Yes, thank you. Um first off, I want to
[2:37:47] thank the entire town administrator team
[2:37:49] and the whole staff for bringing this
[2:37:51] together. You can see Charlie Young um
[2:37:53] is the author of this memo. Technically,
[2:37:55] it's supposed to come from me. So, this
[2:37:57] is me officially endorsing Charlie's
[2:37:59] work on this. Um um but I really want to
[2:38:02] thank the whole team um for bringing
[2:38:05] this together. This is a big production
[2:38:06] every year. Um every year um some
[2:38:11] positions uh that you uh appoint are
[2:38:14] required to be reappointed by either
[2:38:16] local law or state statute. So, you
[2:38:18] reappoint those. You also have a number
[2:38:20] of the ancient positions listed. the
[2:38:22] keeper of wooden bark, the keeper of the
[2:38:25] gaol, um spelled that way. Um you know,
[2:38:29] measurer of coal, etc. Um all of those
[2:38:32] you are required by ancient
[2:38:33] Massachusetts statute to do. Um you are
[2:38:36] also technically required, for the
[2:38:37] record, to walk the boundary of
[2:38:40] Brookline and measure the meats and
[2:38:42] bounds of it. Uh we don't make you do
[2:38:43] that anymore. Um but it's technically
[2:38:45] the law. Um
[2:38:46] be fine. just so you know, uh, you got
[2:38:49] to go find all the little stones where
[2:38:51] where the boundaries of Boston are. Um,
[2:38:53] so no, we don't make you do that
[2:38:54] anymore. Um, but we do, um, ask that you
[2:38:58] reappoint, as a matter of course, uh,
[2:39:00] those employees. Obviously, um, under
[2:39:02] the new, you know, under the current,
[2:39:05] uh, system with department heads, um,
[2:39:07] it's a little different than how it used
[2:39:08] to be, but as a matter of statute, we
[2:39:10] have to reconfirm some appointments. So,
[2:39:12] we just ask you to do that. Um, for the
[2:39:14] non-UN employees, uh, the cost of living
[2:39:17] adjustment this year is 1.5%. We
[2:39:19] acknowledge that that is below the rate
[2:39:21] of inflation. We acknowledge that that
[2:39:23] is a tough, uh, adjustment to make. Um,
[2:39:27] but at the same time, that was the
[2:39:28] adjustment that was put in place knowing
[2:39:31] that there this would be an override
[2:39:33] year, knowing that we would have these
[2:39:34] conversations about um, things going
[2:39:36] forward. Um and we just want to
[2:39:39] acknowledge everyone's service and
[2:39:41] appreciate that while we are grateful to
[2:39:44] be able to give some cost of living
[2:39:45] adjustments and this is uh many people
[2:39:48] will receive stamp adjustments as well.
[2:39:50] So for those folks there um they are
[2:39:52] seeing an increase above 1.5%. Um but we
[2:39:56] acknowledge that that cost of living
[2:39:57] adjustment is a tough one. Um and yet we
[2:39:59] will continue to do our best to provide
[2:40:02] parody to our employees with our
[2:40:04] comparable communities and ensure that
[2:40:06] everyone is compensated fairly and
[2:40:08] competitively for the work that they do.
[2:40:11] Um the last couple years have featured
[2:40:14] some adjustments to the department head
[2:40:16] pay plan as part of the mid and the
[2:40:18] mid-level technical pay plan. Um this
[2:40:20] was part of the prior override. uh you
[2:40:23] allotted $500,000 in the prior override
[2:40:26] to conduct a study that had been uh
[2:40:29] basically on hold for more than a decade
[2:40:31] uh of whether or not we were
[2:40:33] compensating our non-union employees
[2:40:35] fairly. Um that resulted in significant
[2:40:37] raises most notably to our social
[2:40:39] workers which was a huge benefit um but
[2:40:41] also to folks that had not seen um
[2:40:43] reevaluation in quite some time. That
[2:40:45] process is now largely shaken out. There
[2:40:47] is one final change in here for the
[2:40:50] director of water and sewer. Uh so you
[2:40:52] can look at all the different movements
[2:40:54] in here. Um it's just you know uh a
[2:40:57] correction due to the um you know the
[2:41:00] intricacies of changing people's grades.
[2:41:02] Sometimes their pay actually went up
[2:41:04] less than it would have if they had
[2:41:06] stayed in the same grade. And so this is
[2:41:08] just a correction to that um for Jay
[2:41:10] Hersy's position uh to ensure that he's
[2:41:13] uh at the right level of compensation.
[2:41:16] Um and so uh but other than that uh
[2:41:18] there's nothing out of the ordinary for
[2:41:20] the um uh the positions listed on your u
[2:41:25] the department head pay plan. All that
[2:41:27] information is set um and that will be
[2:41:30] um when if you vote this that will all
[2:41:33] be set for the current fiscal year and
[2:41:34] we'll have be in good shape to proceed
[2:41:38] into FY27.
[2:41:40] Anthony
[2:41:41] I have a question on the 0.1. What does
[2:41:43] that last sentence mean when it says,
[2:41:44] "Please note that positions such as town
[2:41:46] administrator, chief of police, fire
[2:41:47] chief, and town council have a different
[2:41:49] status due to provisions of other laws."
[2:41:51] What does that mean?
[2:41:53] Um, so
[2:41:56] we so some of those positions, so for
[2:41:58] like the those three positions, my
[2:42:01] position, the chief of police, and fire.
[2:42:05] So town council is slightly different
[2:42:06] than those, but the um we are the chief
[2:42:09] the the chiefs and I are contractual
[2:42:11] employees. So we are appointed based on
[2:42:13] your authority directly and we uh we
[2:42:16] work on contract rather than as part of
[2:42:18] the department head pay plan. Um with
[2:42:21] that said all of our salaries are
[2:42:23] incorporated into our contracts but this
[2:42:26] contract and not the pay plan is the
[2:42:27] source of our uh uh payment. town
[2:42:31] council is reappointed uh is is a
[2:42:33] reappointed position and so that's
[2:42:36] statutory or local statutory I believe
[2:42:38] and not um so that's just slight it's
[2:42:41] just a slightly different method of
[2:42:42] appointment um whereas the rest of the
[2:42:45] department heads under the town
[2:42:46] administrator act I recommend them for
[2:42:49] appointment to you and you make those
[2:42:50] appointments um but there's no special
[2:42:52] statute governing that so they serve for
[2:42:56] um they they serve at at will they're at
[2:42:59] will employees but they serve for a
[2:43:00] dedicated term the same way that I do,
[2:43:03] the chiefs do in town council does.
[2:43:06] Those terms being set by your contract?
[2:43:08] Yes. In our case, yes, in town council's
[2:43:10] case, it's renewed every year. Um, but
[2:43:12] yes, for the police chiefs, the police
[2:43:13] chief, the fire chief, and I, we all
[2:43:15] operate on three-year contracts.
[2:43:17] Got it. Okay. So, I don't understand. I
[2:43:19] guess it doesn't make sense to me. I
[2:43:20] guess it doesn't matter. Like town
[2:43:21] council is still for one year, but it's
[2:43:24] a contract.
[2:43:25] So, town council is not a contractual.
[2:43:26] Yeah, this is Yeah, this is right. Town
[2:43:28] Council is the and some you can see the
[2:43:30] couple other positions that are listed
[2:43:32] there. Um you're they're um they're not
[2:43:36] contractual employees. They are still
[2:43:37] department heads, but because there is a
[2:43:39] local law that says they must be
[2:43:41] reappointed by the select board every
[2:43:43] year, we reappoint them, but we treat
[2:43:45] them no differently than other
[2:43:46] department heads. It's just that we have
[2:43:48] to honor the terms of the local law when
[2:43:50] we reappoint them.
[2:43:51] Okay,
[2:43:53] Michael. Um so you you mentioned the
[2:43:56] director of water and sewer was a
[2:43:58] correction. Yes. And I was and I was
[2:44:00] going to ask the question of why um that
[2:44:03] particular
[2:44:05] um position went up two steps as opposed
[2:44:09] to others which went up either zero or
[2:44:11] one. Correct. And I'm assuming that that
[2:44:13] is the reason. Yes. Um so the question I
[2:44:16] have um and this I guess particularly
[2:44:19] applies to not the department heads but
[2:44:22] potentially division heads um or other
[2:44:26] sort of second tier management
[2:44:28] positions. Um was there any um
[2:44:33] basically competitive analysis done for
[2:44:36] similar positions in other communities
[2:44:38] and potentially the need for adjustments
[2:44:41] in those?
[2:44:42] Yes. just so that um we don't find
[2:44:45] ourselves in the position of
[2:44:47] undercompensating relative to other
[2:44:50] opportunities that our excellent town
[2:44:52] staff may be able to afford themselves
[2:44:55] of.
[2:44:55] Yes. So in both of those cases um all
[2:44:58] non-UN positions were evaluated as part
[2:45:00] of that uh process that was undertaken
[2:45:02] during the last override cycle. So, not
[2:45:04] just the department heads, but the
[2:45:06] division heads, the um folks who are
[2:45:09] part of that what we call the T plan,
[2:45:11] which is the technical and mid
[2:45:12] management staff. So, that ranges all
[2:45:14] the way up to a T17, which is the
[2:45:17] director of public buildings, all the
[2:45:18] way down to, um, you know, technical
[2:45:21] employees down at the, you know, T4 or
[2:45:24] five level, um, who are line employees
[2:45:27] with technical expert, specific
[2:45:28] technical expertise. So all of those
[2:45:30] individuals were evaluated. Um and our
[2:45:34] target point for this was if we were
[2:45:37] greater than if we were out of alignment
[2:45:39] more than 5% with our basket of
[2:45:41] comparable communities that we would
[2:45:43] bring those positions into alignment so
[2:45:45] that they were less than that they were
[2:45:47] at par um or within 5% based on our pay
[2:45:50] plan. So we didn't want to blow up the
[2:45:52] pay plan but we did bring people into
[2:45:54] alignment. And when you say parody with
[2:45:56] our peer communities, are you talking
[2:45:59] about the the average pay of those or
[2:46:03] the 75th percentile or what's the parody
[2:46:06] point at which being considered?
[2:46:09] It was the average. It was the it was
[2:46:10] the a um it was the average of a diff
[2:46:13] but each position had a different basket
[2:46:15] of communities because some communities
[2:46:17] just don't have positions. Some
[2:46:19] communities have different. So it really
[2:46:21] is it is an art as much of a science to
[2:46:23] try and figure out you know and people's
[2:46:25] responsibilities are different. Um you
[2:46:27] know for example in our our space you
[2:46:30] know Lincoln's job is both treasurer
[2:46:33] collector and finance director. In other
[2:46:35] communities those are two separate jobs.
[2:46:37] Um so you know thinking about how these
[2:46:41] all fit together and what their roles
[2:46:43] and responsibilities are results in
[2:46:45] differing baskets of comparable
[2:46:47] communities for each position.
[2:46:49] Yeah. Um,
[2:46:52] one of the reasons I asked is because
[2:46:54] there is some risk. If you are looking
[2:46:57] at the average, then that means that
[2:47:00] half of the communities in your basket
[2:47:02] are actually typically paying better
[2:47:05] than you. Yes. And that is a very large
[2:47:07] pool of opportunity. Yes. That we have
[2:47:10] to respond to. And in our case, we we we
[2:47:14] took the average as kind of the
[2:47:16] guidestone, but we didn't adhere to that
[2:47:18] at a oneto one. You know, for example,
[2:47:20] if we saw that there was a wide
[2:47:21] variance, if there was a significant
[2:47:23] standard deviation, then we looked at
[2:47:25] whether or not a movement upwards was
[2:47:27] appropriate in those circumstances. So,
[2:47:29] it wasn't always targeting just the
[2:47:31] average. That was where we were trying
[2:47:32] to wind up. But we for example in some
[2:47:36] situations did see that there was
[2:47:37] significant variance and we wanted to be
[2:47:39] competitive and you know one of the
[2:47:42] analyses that was done for the
[2:47:44] department of public works does target
[2:47:46] that 70% um it was a separate study that
[2:47:50] was done so we are looking at that more
[2:47:52] at the 70th percentile rather than at
[2:47:54] the average.
[2:47:56] Thank you. I have a question sort of
[2:47:59] along those lines of we did this
[2:48:00] essentially internal audit of of pay
[2:48:02] structure. Five years from now are we
[2:48:04] going to have to do a similar audit or
[2:48:07] did part part of that work look at
[2:48:09] scaling over time?
[2:48:10] Part of that work looked at scaling over
[2:48:12] time. Um you know how to and it is I I
[2:48:15] will be frank our our pay plan has
[2:48:18] evolved over the years. I think our next
[2:48:21] step, you know, not in the immediate
[2:48:23] term, but probably over the next five,
[2:48:24] ten years is is rebuilding the pay plan.
[2:48:28] Um, we now are where we want to be with
[2:48:31] a lot of these non-union positions in
[2:48:32] terms of compensation. What's out of
[2:48:34] whack sometimes is the pay bands and
[2:48:36] where the overlap is. It is very
[2:48:39] difficult to create new positions and
[2:48:41] move people around and create a
[2:48:44] situation that's equitable. um you wind
[2:48:46] up because our steps and and grades are
[2:48:52] the way they are. Um
[2:48:55] you're never going to make everyone
[2:48:56] happy. Um you're always going to have a
[2:48:58] situation where someone is going to say,
[2:49:00] "Hey, wait a minute. That person is
[2:49:01] being paid X for this job, but I do more
[2:49:03] than that person does. Why am I being
[2:49:05] paid less?" You know, why am I in a
[2:49:07] different pay plan? I get that a lot. Um
[2:49:10] it's and I understand why. It's it's
[2:49:12] we've asked this system which has been
[2:49:14] around for many years to do a lot. Um
[2:49:17] it's time in the near future for us to
[2:49:20] rebuild this pay plan, but that is going
[2:49:22] to take a significant investment. So
[2:49:24] we're it it works now. Um and I think
[2:49:28] the compensation is correct and is
[2:49:30] likely to sustain us in that next five
[2:49:33] year window, 5 to 10 year window. But
[2:49:36] eventually we're going to want to look
[2:49:37] at are the steps right? Are the grades
[2:49:39] right? um are the gaps between grades,
[2:49:42] right? How can we make this cleaner um
[2:49:44] going forward?
[2:49:46] Thanks.
[2:49:47] Under miscellaneous positions, there's
[2:49:50] measures of wooden bark, but there's
[2:49:51] some others that I'm wondering if they
[2:49:52] have more application. So, for example,
[2:49:55] fence viewer.
[2:49:56] Yes,
[2:49:57] I I I would imagine that's something
[2:49:59] that town council would probably
[2:50:02] actually handle. But does uh Aaron truly
[2:50:06] deal with border disputes between
[2:50:07] neighbors?
[2:50:08] Yes. Um if we need to inspect someone's
[2:50:11] fence. Um right if and again yes these
[2:50:15] these are historic positions um and
[2:50:19] ultimately the responsibilities are
[2:50:20] diffuse among department heads but we
[2:50:23] you know there are times for example
[2:50:24] when we have to go back to right who was
[2:50:26] the who who is the appropriate surveyor
[2:50:29] for this and you know where's that
[2:50:30] authority coming from. So yeah it's not
[2:50:33] it's not all it's not all just
[2:50:34] historical oddities but in many cases
[2:50:37] the reality is this responsibility is
[2:50:39] diffuse among multiple people in town.
[2:50:40] We just need to name someone under by by
[2:50:44] state law saying yeah this person does
[2:50:46] this job.
[2:50:46] And can you describe in a bit more
[2:50:48] detail agent for management of real
[2:50:50] estate? That sounds very broad.
[2:50:52] You know what I have not looked up what
[2:50:55] the agent for management of real estate
[2:50:57] does. Um but I will get that information
[2:50:59] to you. Um it is it is a very broad
[2:51:02] that's your tax collector. That's your
[2:51:04] tax collector essentially.
[2:51:05] Thank you Melissa. I knew someone knew.
[2:51:06] Uh,
[2:51:11] all right.
[2:51:12] And and we have the uh measure of wooden
[2:51:15] barks.
[2:51:16] Yes.
[2:51:16] Taking on the oligarchy.
[2:51:17] Two two measures. Pardon me.
[2:51:19] I said taking on the oligarchy.
[2:51:21] Right. That's right. And we have four
[2:51:22] inspectors of animals.
[2:51:23] Wow.
[2:51:24] Um, how much coal did we weigh last
[2:51:26] year? And how can we get that number to
[2:51:28] zero as part of climate action?
[2:51:29] It's part of net zero. It's part of
[2:51:30] fossil fuel freedom. Sorry, let me
[2:51:32] correct that. Um, we will be fossil fuel
[2:51:34] free. There will be no weighing of coal.
[2:51:36] Um if we need to weigh coal, we have we
[2:51:39] have the ability.
[2:51:39] Well, the town will be but residents,
[2:51:42] right?
[2:51:42] And and this is for measuring uh the
[2:51:46] amount of coal people get when they buy
[2:51:49] it, right?
[2:51:50] Yeah. And I mean this is, you know, to
[2:51:51] your I think you did a great job,
[2:51:52] Anthony, in your speech at town meeting
[2:51:54] talking about, you know, where these
[2:51:55] positions come from, why they're
[2:51:56] important. Um and it's very similar to
[2:51:58] measure or wooden bark, right? It's and
[2:52:00] now that function is contained really
[2:52:01] within the health department, this idea
[2:52:03] of, you know, weights and measures. um
[2:52:05] ensuring that people aren't getting
[2:52:07] scammed by a scale somewhere. Um that
[2:52:10] used to be much more discreet tasks and
[2:52:12] now that's professionalized in our
[2:52:13] departments.
[2:52:15] All right. So I move approval of the
[2:52:18] question of making annual appointments
[2:52:20] as recommended by the town administrator
[2:52:22] of department heads, administrators and
[2:52:24] other officials and employees and
[2:52:25] upsetting the benefits, salaries and
[2:52:27] wages of all non-un employees effective
[2:52:30] July 1st, 2026.
[2:52:32] Yes.
[2:52:33] Michael. Yes,
[2:52:34] Amanda.
[2:52:35] Yes,
[2:52:36] Anthony.
[2:52:36] Yes.
[2:52:36] And I also vote yes. With that, we will
[2:52:40] move to agenda item number 10. Select
[2:52:43] energy solar panels. And the question of
[2:52:47] executing the bill of sale and solar
[2:52:48] panel storage agreements. Let's select
[2:52:51] for Pierce Brookline High School, H
[2:52:53] School, Brooklyn Village Library, and
[2:52:55] Fire Station One. But first, we'll have
[2:52:57] a bit of a presentation.
[2:53:02] Sorry, don't mind me. Good evening
[2:53:03] everyone. Alexandra Veio. My keys were
[2:53:05] tangled within my dress so I was just
[2:53:07] trying to detach myself. Um all righty.
[2:53:11] I will pull up our slide presentation
[2:53:13] here. Um so this evening, um we're here
[2:53:15] to talk about our strategic uh solar
[2:53:17] initiative. Um this is what I'm going to
[2:53:20] refer to as part one of that initiative.
[2:53:22] Um and you've heard about this in kind
[2:53:24] of a few different forms. um either when
[2:53:26] we were talking about our climate action
[2:53:28] and resiliency plan that was recently
[2:53:29] adopted um at town meeting um when we
[2:53:33] were talking about our CIP
[2:53:34] authorizations
[2:53:36] um and uh to some degree when we were
[2:53:38] reviewing um the uh contract for
[2:53:43] Driscoll Solar. So you've seen this in a
[2:53:46] few different iterations. Um but uh this
[2:53:49] evening um I am here to talk about uh
[2:53:53] five projects that we are looking to
[2:53:54] advance in compliance with the
[2:53:56] investment tax credit. Uh before I jump
[2:53:59] into what that means and why that's
[2:54:01] important, um I want to acknowledge um
[2:54:02] our deputy director of sustainability,
[2:54:04] Shelley Dean, who's here with me this
[2:54:05] evening. Uh she's worked uh very hard uh
[2:54:08] to get us to this point. Um there has
[2:54:10] been a lot of uh complicated factors um
[2:54:14] and uh it takes a great deal of tenacity
[2:54:16] to get us to where we are. So I
[2:54:18] appreciate that. Um and also want to
[2:54:20] acknowledge Jonathan Simpson who um has
[2:54:22] been very helpful um in advising us as
[2:54:24] we've been working through a lot of
[2:54:25] different contractual agreements.
[2:54:29] So just a quick uh reminder for I think
[2:54:31] most of you know this but where we stand
[2:54:33] on our municipal solar projects. Um,
[2:54:37] currently the town has uh two townowned
[2:54:40] systems. Those are relatively small um
[2:54:42] at Putterham Library and on top of the
[2:54:44] health department building. We have one
[2:54:47] town-owned system that's currently under
[2:54:48] construction, very near conclusion, and
[2:54:51] that is at Driscoll School. And then we
[2:54:53] have five other PV arrays that have been
[2:54:55] developed as power purchase agreements.
[2:54:58] Um, which means that those are not
[2:54:59] town-owned facilities, but instead
[2:55:01] basically we're leasing out our rooftop.
[2:55:03] Um and we're receiving a reduction on
[2:55:05] our overall utility bills and those are
[2:55:07] at Brookline High School, Bronl School,
[2:55:09] Ridley, uh the swimming pool as well as
[2:55:13] uh the municipal service center. So that
[2:55:15] is our existing uh solar portfolio. Um,
[2:55:19] and the question that was brought
[2:55:21] forward throughout the climate action
[2:55:23] resilience planning process as we were
[2:55:24] looking to become a designated climate
[2:55:26] leader community as we think about our
[2:55:28] net zero goal, but also as we take we as
[2:55:30] we look at our financial um uh forecasts
[2:55:34] for utilities and bills in the future
[2:55:36] was how do we um find a way forward that
[2:55:39] is both sustainable um and financially
[2:55:41] feasible. And um the federal government
[2:55:45] um under the Biden administration
[2:55:47] developed the federal investment tax
[2:55:48] credit. Um I'll refer to it as ITC. Um
[2:55:52] if you were here on the board when we
[2:55:54] talked about the Driscoll School
[2:55:55] project, then you've heard about this
[2:55:56] before. Um there have been a lot of
[2:55:59] unknowns on when this was expiring um
[2:56:01] and a lot of stress um from that. Um but
[2:56:06] uh we now have some clarity, no less
[2:56:09] stress but clarity um that uh we have to
[2:56:12] either commence construction on or
[2:56:14] before July 4th, 2026. Um and then we
[2:56:18] have four years to place that system
[2:56:19] into service or we can start
[2:56:22] construction um after July 4th, but then
[2:56:24] the service it has to be placed into
[2:56:26] service by December 31st of 2027. Um, so
[2:56:30] still an opportunity, but a much smaller
[2:56:32] window and in the world of construction,
[2:56:34] one that makes my heart um speed a
[2:56:37] little bit faster. So we um have uh set
[2:56:40] our targets, our sites on that July 4th
[2:56:42] date um which is why we're here this
[2:56:44] evening. Um there are some other rules
[2:56:46] and regulations around um the materials
[2:56:48] that can be used um and essentially
[2:56:51] where they can come from. Um and so
[2:56:52] we've also ensured that we have
[2:56:54] compliance with all of those in the
[2:56:55] projects that are before you this
[2:56:57] evening.
[2:56:59] This work um really stemmed um in part
[2:57:02] from the solar financial working group
[2:57:04] uh which included members of um the zero
[2:57:07] missions advisory board, the
[2:57:08] expenditures and revenues committee um
[2:57:10] the commissioner of public works Aaron
[2:57:11] Chute and myself um as well as a select
[2:57:14] board member uh Michael Rubenstein. And
[2:57:16] so the charge there was to really
[2:57:18] identify opportunities to reduce energy
[2:57:20] costs, manage financial risk, and
[2:57:22] advance Brooklyn's climate goals. And so
[2:57:25] um what you're seeing this evening is um
[2:57:27] the first phase of what um the working
[2:57:29] group suggested which is this dual track
[2:57:31] implementation strategy. So the first
[2:57:34] phase allowing the town to meet that
[2:57:35] deadline for the um expiring uh tax
[2:57:38] credit the ITC and the other looking at
[2:57:41] um more opportunities for solar on roofs
[2:57:44] possibly over parking lots ground
[2:57:46] mounted but it's going to require a
[2:57:47] little bit more financial analysis um a
[2:57:49] little bit more technical assessment um
[2:57:52] and it's going to take a little bit more
[2:57:53] time. So uh we split the work into what
[2:57:56] we call track one and track two. Um so
[2:57:58] track one are those near-term
[2:57:59] installations. This was done in
[2:58:01] coordination with our department of
[2:58:03] public buildings as well. Um looking at
[2:58:06] which areas that we have just recently
[2:58:07] completed or are about to complete a
[2:58:10] roof renovation on um and felt that this
[2:58:12] would be a sound investment um since
[2:58:14] we're looking at 20 plus years with this
[2:58:17] um PV array installed. Uh and then also
[2:58:20] looking at um projects that were
[2:58:23] feasible um for us to construct again
[2:58:25] within the the time constraints that we
[2:58:27] have. Track two projects are future
[2:58:30] installations. So you'll be hearing way
[2:58:31] more about those. Um but right now I'll
[2:58:33] just say that we do have an RFQ out um
[2:58:35] advertising uh these other 19 potential
[2:58:38] sites and um we'll be selecting a vendor
[2:58:41] to essentially um conduct site
[2:58:44] feasibility and financial analysis for
[2:58:45] us and determine um the prioritization
[2:58:48] of construction there. But for this
[2:58:50] evening we're talking about site one or
[2:58:52] excuse me track one which as I said
[2:58:55] includes Brookline High School. Um you
[2:58:57] heard that at the beginning as well. So
[2:58:58] this would be an additional um PV arrays
[2:59:02] on top of the high school. So we're
[2:59:03] calling phase two um the Brooklyn
[2:59:05] Village Library, Fire Station 1, Haze
[2:59:07] School, and Pier School. I will just
[2:59:09] note that Pier School um we are moving
[2:59:12] kind of with this package. However, the
[2:59:14] um CIP uh FY27 uh CIP allocation is not
[2:59:19] being used towards the Pier school
[2:59:21] purchase. That will be the pier school
[2:59:22] budget. So um it is coming from a
[2:59:24] different funding source but still
[2:59:26] moving along with that July 4th deadline
[2:59:28] in mind.
[2:59:31] This gives you an overview of um the
[2:59:33] different projects. Uh so um both the
[2:59:37] including the size, the preliminary
[2:59:38] construction cost, what we expect to
[2:59:40] receive from the tax credit, um the
[2:59:44] first year production uh that's
[2:59:46] anticipated, um what percentage of the
[2:59:49] electricity this would absorb based off
[2:59:51] of our fiscal year 25 usage at those
[2:59:54] buildings. uh the savings that we'll see
[2:59:56] over 20 years which is um really the
[2:59:59] minimum lifespan I would say of a of a
[3:00:01] system and then the payback. Yeah.
[3:00:06] Could you send out the full spreadsheet
[3:00:07] of how that table was calculated?
[3:00:09] Uh yes. And also I have it in here. So
[3:00:12] yes.
[3:00:14] Um so as you can see Pierce School um is
[3:00:18] probably what you would say is one of
[3:00:19] our most advantageous projects. Um it
[3:00:21] essentially um we're getting a payback
[3:00:23] on that project immediately um in less
[3:00:27] than a year. Um for the fire station um
[3:00:30] has a much longer return on that
[3:00:32] investment. It is a much smaller system.
[3:00:34] I will also note that the fire station
[3:00:37] um those numbers are really based off of
[3:00:40] the electric usage that we have now.
[3:00:42] That fire station, as you all know, is
[3:00:44] um scheduled to go under renovation soon
[3:00:46] and will become an all electric
[3:00:48] building. Um so it will have um a very
[3:00:51] different cost breakdown for electricity
[3:00:53] in the future. Um and we will also
[3:00:56] expect an increased rate on electricity.
[3:00:58] Um so the numbers that are presented
[3:01:01] here are based off of the current data,
[3:01:03] but we anticipate that will shift
[3:01:06] significantly.
[3:01:07] Um and then the main library, we're
[3:01:10] looking at a payback in about nine and a
[3:01:13] half years. Hayes school just over six
[3:01:15] and the high school just under six
[3:01:17] years. For point of reference, Driscoll
[3:01:20] School, we were looking at a payback of
[3:01:22] somewhere between six and seven years
[3:01:24] for that project.
[3:01:27] Yep. Um so the total cost of 1.9 million
[3:01:33] with an with an 871,000
[3:01:37] credit. So, does that mean that those
[3:01:40] four projects are basically going to
[3:01:42] cost us 1.1
[3:01:45] or around 1.1 million in total?
[3:01:49] Yes. Um so it's the payback um because
[3:01:52] the tax credit um for Pierce is included
[3:01:56] in that next column. Okay.
[3:01:57] Um that includes the 293 from Pierce as
[3:02:01] well. So it's actually a little bit less
[3:02:03] than that. Um so it's 871US 293. The
[3:02:06] reason the reason I bring up those
[3:02:08] numbers is because the CIP item is $3.2
[3:02:11] million.
[3:02:12] It is.
[3:02:12] So, will you be speaking to what the
[3:02:15] rest of that money will be used for?
[3:02:17] Yes. So, great question. Um, thank you.
[3:02:20] Uh, so the uh 3.2 2 million is uh was uh
[3:02:24] set to both get us started with these
[3:02:27] projects. Um ensure that we had enough
[3:02:29] for all of the down payments that are
[3:02:31] necessary until we get the um tax credit
[3:02:34] and return back. I'm sure I don't have
[3:02:37] to tell you all. It's not instantaneous.
[3:02:38] So we don't get to say we've signed the
[3:02:40] contract. Please give me $300,000
[3:02:43] federal government. They're like of
[3:02:44] course. Um so uh there's a bit of a gap
[3:02:47] there. So, we wanted to ensure we had
[3:02:48] time to um cover that gap, but also the
[3:02:52] remaining 3.2 million is going towards
[3:02:54] uh the track 2 projects as well. Um so,
[3:02:56] for us to get started on um installation
[3:03:00] uh assessments, construction of of those
[3:03:02] additional properties. So, it will all
[3:03:04] continue to go towards the strategic
[3:03:05] solar initiative.
[3:03:07] Thank you.
[3:03:09] So, that 3.2 is is currently sitting in
[3:03:13] the sustainability department budget,
[3:03:14] not yet deployed. Correct. It's in the
[3:03:17] CIP, but yes.
[3:03:18] Okay. Um, and then town administrator,
[3:03:20] where where is that money earning
[3:03:23] interest somewhere or where is that
[3:03:25] money sitting at the moment?
[3:03:27] Melissa, I think it's it's in a cash
[3:03:28] account, so I'm not sure.
[3:03:29] It's free cash. If that answers that.
[3:03:31] Yeah.
[3:03:33] So, the the CIP the the cash related
[3:03:36] projects are segregated into a separate
[3:03:38] account um that the department then has
[3:03:41] access to until until it's exhausted.
[3:03:44] Okay. Okay.
[3:03:45] It's it's it's earning whatever interest
[3:03:47] it can in a liquid account.
[3:03:49] Okay. But it's in a full liquid account.
[3:03:50] Yes.
[3:03:51] So that it can be spent.
[3:03:52] Okay.
[3:03:55] Great.
[3:03:56] Thanks. Sorry.
[3:03:56] Yeah. It's okay. It's a good question.
[3:03:58] Um so I have a quick breakdown on each
[3:04:00] of the projects. Um and um this was
[3:04:04] highlighted in the table that you saw,
[3:04:05] but just as a little bit of a a visual
[3:04:07] understanding of what we're talking
[3:04:09] about. Um, Pier School, we have a 329
[3:04:13] uh uh kilowatt system with a preliminary
[3:04:16] cost of 1.15 million looking at um
[3:04:19] 46877,000
[3:04:22] for our first year of production and
[3:04:24] that payback timeline of less than a
[3:04:26] year. Um, SMARTT uh I apologize is one
[3:04:29] of the state incentive programs. So,
[3:04:31] addition to the federal tax credit,
[3:04:33] there's also incentives through
[3:04:34] Massachusetts that we are um taking
[3:04:37] advantage of for these projects as well.
[3:04:40] Um so, this project though because um
[3:04:43] obviously Pierce is under construction
[3:04:45] right now. Um this project has a
[3:04:48] preliminary design where over the
[3:04:50] mechanical equipment they're essentially
[3:04:53] um
[3:04:55] decking Thank you, Shelley. um decking
[3:04:58] [laughter]
[3:04:59] um for uh solar panels um to go on top
[3:05:01] of there to take advantage of that space
[3:05:03] so we don't lose that rooftop space. Um
[3:05:05] that does make it a slightly more
[3:05:06] complicated design um and has taken um a
[3:05:09] bit of of back and forth with uh select
[3:05:12] energy um to figure out what the pathway
[3:05:14] forward is. think we have that pathway.
[3:05:16] Um but as we are chasing that July 4th
[3:05:18] deadline um as is every other
[3:05:20] municipality and customer in
[3:05:22] Massachusetts and so they said can we uh
[3:05:24] finalize this for certain after um July
[3:05:28] 4th and we said yes because all the
[3:05:30] designs that you're seeing right now are
[3:05:31] preliminary still have to go through a
[3:05:33] structural analysis and things like
[3:05:34] that. Um so we're hopeful but we have
[3:05:36] carried some extra contingencies just in
[3:05:38] case. So, I'm hopeful that the project
[3:05:41] cost overall for peers may actually
[3:05:43] decrease from what we're seeing here.
[3:05:47] This breaks every rule about
[3:05:48] presentation 101. Um, and
[3:05:52] but [laughter] I think this is what you
[3:05:53] were looking for, Anthony. Um, so I'm
[3:05:56] happy I have this for each of the
[3:05:57] projects. I'm happy to go through it.
[3:05:59] Um, but uh also um can share it with you
[3:06:02] all immediately afterwards so that you
[3:06:03] can see. But essentially um you're
[3:06:05] seeing this is calculated over 20 years
[3:06:08] looking at the estimated solar
[3:06:09] production for each year what our
[3:06:11] savings are either from electricity bill
[3:06:14] savings the state incentive revenue
[3:06:16] that's the smart program that I
[3:06:17] referenced um and then our overall um
[3:06:21] revenue and savings that are generated.
[3:06:23] Then we carry in operations and
[3:06:24] maintenance cost. Um so the first year
[3:06:27] that's included after the first year of
[3:06:29] construction and then after that it
[3:06:31] would be a new contract likely with the
[3:06:33] installer um to continue that operations
[3:06:35] and maintenance. Um if there is debt
[3:06:38] service in the case of Pierce we're
[3:06:40] carrying that as well and then we end up
[3:06:42] with our um total costs overall net cash
[3:06:46] flow and what the cumulative budget is.
[3:06:48] Um and this is all all of these cash
[3:06:50] flow projections are taken into account
[3:06:52] after the ITC. Um so this is assuming
[3:06:54] that 30% return. Um in the case of PICE
[3:06:57] it's actually 25% but the other projects
[3:07:00] 30% return
[3:07:03] for fire station one. This is a smaller
[3:07:06] system 21 uh kilowatts uh with a
[3:07:08] preliminary cost of 123,000 and um a
[3:07:12] first year production of uh 23,810
[3:07:16] uh kilowatt hours. And um Fire Station,
[3:07:18] as I mentioned, uh Fire Station 1's
[3:07:21] electricity usage and costs are really
[3:07:22] expected to increase with the building
[3:07:24] electrification. And so the payback
[3:07:26] projections um are based off of what's
[3:07:29] on our current electricity rates. Um and
[3:07:32] so because there are um some additional
[3:07:35] engineering that needs to be done um for
[3:07:37] this uh particular site and because it
[3:07:39] hasn't undergone construction yet for us
[3:07:42] to have all the information that we
[3:07:43] normally would before we would be
[3:07:45] installing solar um we are carrying a
[3:07:47] higher contingency. Um so similar to
[3:07:49] Pierce uh we are basically buffering
[3:07:51] oursel um to make sure that we are
[3:07:53] income compliant with the ITC have
[3:07:55] enough money in place to move these
[3:07:57] projects forward. Um but uh we will be
[3:07:59] back before you with a final purchase
[3:08:01] and installation agreement and with that
[3:08:03] um final numbers for the actual project
[3:08:05] costs for each.
[3:08:08] Same thing here you see the cost
[3:08:10] breakdown um for the fire station and um
[3:08:14] the uh overall costs um both net cash
[3:08:18] flow and the cumulative cost impacts.
[3:08:23] Brookline Village Library. Um this is a
[3:08:26] a 60 kilowatt um uh system with a
[3:08:29] preliminary cost of 278,000. Uh the
[3:08:32] first year production um is 69,000 and
[3:08:35] 11 kilwatt hours and the payback
[3:08:38] timeline is um uh just over 7 years. The
[3:08:42] uh cost estimate for this project and
[3:08:44] all of the others includes a 5%
[3:08:46] contingency. So likely not a lot of
[3:08:48] movement in the numbers on these.
[3:08:52] And again, I realize this is a lot of
[3:08:54] numbers, but just wanted to include it
[3:08:55] so that you had it for reference um as
[3:08:57] we move forward. Yeah.
[3:08:58] Can we calculate the the electricity
[3:09:00] savings?
[3:09:02] It's um Go ahead.
[3:09:05] So, so the electricity savings is the
[3:09:08] amount of electricity that gets
[3:09:09] generated times the current rate that
[3:09:12] we're paying for electricity at that
[3:09:14] site. So, if that building um I I don't
[3:09:18] know off the top of my head what
[3:09:20] Brookline Village's electricity rate is,
[3:09:22] but if it's 18 cents a kilowatt hour,
[3:09:25] you know, then it's times 18 cents a
[3:09:26] kilowatt hour. And for the second year,
[3:09:29] the there's a a small escalation in
[3:09:32] that. So the assump, you know, there's
[3:09:33] an assumption that over time the amount
[3:09:36] of electricity that gets generated
[3:09:38] decreases slightly each year as the
[3:09:40] solar panels become slightly less
[3:09:42] efficient and but the cost per kilowatt
[3:09:45] hour goes up slightly each year as well.
[3:09:49] Perfect. Thanks.
[3:09:52] And Shelley, can you tell me for year
[3:09:54] one, were these based off of current
[3:09:56] Eversource electricity rates or the new
[3:09:58] proposed ones um that are
[3:10:00] it was based actually on it was based on
[3:10:03] fiscal year uh 25 because that was the
[3:10:05] only year we had the full year's worth
[3:10:07] of information.
[3:10:08] Thank you.
[3:10:09] Most recent full year's worth of
[3:10:11] information.
[3:10:11] Awesome.
[3:10:14] So for high school um a larger system
[3:10:16] 205
[3:10:18] um kilowatts uh a preliminary cost of
[3:10:21] 684,000
[3:10:22] with a projected first year of 240,799
[3:10:27] uh kilowatt hours with a payback
[3:10:29] timeline of just over 6 years. And this
[3:10:32] also carries that same 5% contingency.
[3:10:37] Again, you're seeing the same uh table
[3:10:39] that you've seen before. But the only
[3:10:40] thing I will point out here is you're
[3:10:41] seeing um in that column that's um
[3:10:43] excess generation revenue that's
[3:10:44] actually stemming from this is a school
[3:10:46] building. Um and so assuming some
[3:10:49] downtick in uh operations and usage over
[3:10:52] the summer months um and uh that we may
[3:10:56] be generating more than we're actually
[3:10:57] needing to use in that building. Yeah.
[3:10:59] Sorry, I feel bad. I keep ruining your
[3:11:01] flow here. But if we generate more than
[3:11:02] we're actually using, who's giving us
[3:11:04] that money? Is that coming from
[3:11:05] Eversource because we're adding to the
[3:11:07] grid?
[3:11:07] Yes, correct. Yeah. and they're charging
[3:11:09] and they're charging back uh what
[3:11:12] percent of what they charge to you. We
[3:11:14] don't know, but that's just what we
[3:11:15] would get.
[3:11:16] Yeah.
[3:11:16] Okay, that's fine.
[3:11:17] I I don't know the exact percentage, but
[3:11:19] um it's it's close to but not
[3:11:23] not what we pay for electricity.
[3:11:25] Yeah, I understand. Perfect. Thanks.
[3:11:29] We don't actually have um many projects.
[3:11:32] We have one right now, our solar panels
[3:11:34] at the municipal service center, but for
[3:11:35] the most part, we don't generate more
[3:11:38] than we use at any of the places that we
[3:11:39] have PV arrays. So, um this would be an
[3:11:42] exciting advancement for us.
[3:11:46] Um and then, uh Brookline High School,
[3:11:48] um we already have solar that you can
[3:11:50] see reflected, um in the uh gray
[3:11:53] portion, if you will, of the of the
[3:11:56] building, um in the upper right hand
[3:11:58] corner. Um, and then we're adding um
[3:12:00] additional panels there um with uh an
[3:12:03] additional 248
[3:12:05] um kilowatts um at a cost of 839,000
[3:12:10] um and a first year production of
[3:12:12] 308,000 kilowatt hours with a payback
[3:12:14] timeline of just under 6 years and also
[3:12:17] carrying that 5% contingency.
[3:12:23] And same thing here um the same
[3:12:25] breakdown that you were seeing before um
[3:12:27] with uh revenues savings um anticipated
[3:12:30] costs and our overall uh budget all
[3:12:33] after the ITC is applied.
[3:12:37] So for uh this evening, we are
[3:12:38] requesting um a vote from the select
[3:12:40] board to authorize the purchase of these
[3:12:42] solar PV arrays um from select energy
[3:12:45] and then execution of bills of sale and
[3:12:48] the solar panel storage agreements. Uh
[3:12:50] essentially saying that select will hold
[3:12:52] these panels for up us um for a period
[3:12:55] of of 12 months. It can be extended
[3:12:57] after that if we need to. Um and that
[3:13:00] would ensure that once those contracts
[3:13:02] are in place and an initial down payment
[3:13:04] is made. Um then we have uh complied
[3:13:08] with the necessary uh regulations for
[3:13:10] the investment tax credit. Um and then
[3:13:12] we would be returning to the board um
[3:13:15] likely in July or early August um with
[3:13:17] the full purchase and installation
[3:13:19] agreements um after we've had a chance
[3:13:21] to finalize those with town council um
[3:13:24] our staff and the building department.
[3:13:26] Um but we we'll still lock us in for
[3:13:28] that July 4th deadline and happy to take
[3:13:31] any questions.
[3:13:33] Yes.
[3:13:33] Hang on one more. If you go back one
[3:13:35] slide. Um this is also the the for a
[3:13:38] school project. Um why do we not think
[3:13:41] we're going to get excess generation
[3:13:42] revenue from this one? [clears throat]
[3:13:46] So um so Brook first of all we um
[3:13:49] Brookline High School as you know is a
[3:13:51] very large building. Um, so we're not
[3:13:53] even with covering virtually the entire
[3:13:55] roof, we're not
[3:13:57] covering uh nearly 100% of the
[3:14:00] electricity that's being used at the
[3:14:03] school.
[3:14:03] Um, and also there are some programs and
[3:14:06] stuff at the school. So that so that
[3:14:07] over the summer, so there's higher usage
[3:14:10] over the summer or anticipated higher
[3:14:13] usage over the summer at Brooklyn High
[3:14:14] School than at Haze proportionately.
[3:14:17] Got it. Thank you. When we looked at all
[3:14:20] these projects, we looked at the um
[3:14:22] historic electricity usage um from all
[3:14:24] the data sets that we have from
[3:14:25] Eversource bills. So taken into account.
[3:14:27] Awesome.
[3:14:29] Other questions?
[3:14:31] Michael, um I was just doing some rough
[3:14:36] math um in terms of the projects with
[3:14:40] taking the cost and dividing it by the
[3:14:42] kilowatt hours and dividing it by the
[3:14:44] payback time. Um, and it seems like the
[3:14:47] average cost for electricity over the
[3:14:50] course of 20 years is about 45 or 46
[3:14:54] cents a kilowatt hour on average through
[3:14:56] that time. Is is that comport with your
[3:15:00] numbers is my first question. Um and the
[3:15:03] second question is um
[3:15:08] how
[3:15:09] what was the basis you used to estimate
[3:15:11] inflation the inflation costs of
[3:15:14] electricity over the 20 years?
[3:15:18] Um I have to say I haven't done the math
[3:15:20] quite the same way that you have. So I
[3:15:22] don't I I I feel like I can't really
[3:15:24] speak to the 45 cents per kilowatt hour.
[3:15:26] Okay.
[3:15:27] Um you know the numbers start out pretty
[3:15:30] small. You know, the numbers start out,
[3:15:33] you know, like
[3:15:36] 18 19 cents per kilowatt hour, right?
[3:15:38] You know, over over 20 years, the
[3:15:40] expectation is that um electricity has
[3:15:43] historically increased somewhere around
[3:15:45] two to two and a half% um the cost of
[3:15:49] electricity per year. Um and I know that
[3:15:53] that um that that was added into the
[3:15:56] into the um es you know into the cost
[3:16:00] escalations but I haven't done it in my
[3:16:02] head to say so in year you know 20 how
[3:16:06] how much you know what is the cost of
[3:16:08] electricity I I should have done that
[3:16:09] but I haven't done that. Okay. Thank
[3:16:11] you.
[3:16:13] Else
[3:16:15] [clears throat]
[3:16:16] go ahead.
[3:16:17] I guess the one thing that I would say
[3:16:18] is we do know for example that right now
[3:16:22] FY26's
[3:16:24] electricity costs are higher than FY25s
[3:16:27] by more than 2 and a half%. And we've
[3:16:30] signed um an electricity supply contract
[3:16:33] as well that includes an increase that
[3:16:36] will go into effect next year which will
[3:16:38] be more which will raise things even
[3:16:40] more just because the price of
[3:16:42] electricity is getting more expensive.
[3:16:47] I would say generally the projections
[3:16:48] that we have um air on the side of
[3:16:50] caution so that you all will be
[3:16:52] pleasantly surprised um when we save
[3:16:54] more money than I told you we would.
[3:16:58] Any further questions,
[3:17:00] discussion?
[3:17:03] All right. Well, I then move that we uh
[3:17:07] support executing the bill of sale and
[3:17:10] solar panel storage agreements with
[3:17:12] select energy for Pierce School,
[3:17:14] Brooklyn High School, Hayes School,
[3:17:15] Brookline Village Library, and Fire
[3:17:18] Station One.
[3:17:19] Bernard,
[3:17:20] yes.
[3:17:20] Michael,
[3:17:21] yes.
[3:17:22] Amanda,
[3:17:22] yes.
[3:17:23] Anthony,
[3:17:24] yes.
[3:17:24] And I also vote yes.
[3:17:26] Thank you.
[3:17:26] Great. Thank you so much. appreciate
[3:17:27] your support. If I may, um, I have hard
[3:17:30] copies. Um, we very on a very tight
[3:17:33] timeline and I was hoping that at the
[3:17:34] end of the meeting I could get you to
[3:17:35] sign the hard copies that I have which
[3:17:37] have already been co-signed by Select
[3:17:39] Solar as opposed to the ones in your
[3:17:40] packet that they have not signed. Is
[3:17:42] that possible that I could get your
[3:17:44] signatures this evening?
[3:17:45] Sure.
[3:17:45] Okay. Thank you so much.
[3:17:47] In fact, while we're discussing this
[3:17:48] next item, why don't you, if you have
[3:17:49] the hard copies, you can send them.
[3:17:51] We'll pass them around. round robin.
[3:17:52] Also, thank you guys for figuring out
[3:17:54] all of the administrative hoopla in
[3:17:56] order to make this happen.
[3:17:58] Awesome stuff.
[3:18:01] All right, so our next item
[3:18:04] is public outreach and communication,
[3:18:07] discussion of select board outreach and
[3:18:09] communication strategy with the broader
[3:18:10] community, including but not limited to
[3:18:14] education on warrant articles, email
[3:18:16] response policies, and office hours.
[3:18:23] So, um this is a follow on from your
[3:18:27] discussion at the u uh your work
[3:18:29] session. Um and uh at that time Bernard
[3:18:32] pointed out and I think it was a good
[3:18:34] point that we didn't have the um prior
[3:18:36] communication policy in front of you and
[3:18:38] also it was getting a little late in the
[3:18:39] day. Um so we thought we would um defer
[3:18:42] it uh to this point uh and have this
[3:18:45] discussion with you all here. So now we
[3:18:47] have the 2024 communication policy which
[3:18:50] I think um you know is a was a an
[3:18:54] attempt an early attempt at trying to
[3:18:56] you know set outreach and and uh uh
[3:19:00] communication guidelines appropriately.
[3:19:02] Um and then you have also in there a
[3:19:04] number of items about um warrant
[3:19:06] articles. You have a 2017 draft uh you
[3:19:10] know how to write a warrant article
[3:19:11] document. you have um you have Michael's
[3:19:15] document in there and then you have um
[3:19:17] additional guidance I believe 2023
[3:19:21] although I'll double check. Um, so
[3:19:23] you've you've got a number of different
[3:19:24] attempts at um helping town meeting
[3:19:26] members write uh effective warrant
[3:19:29] articles or you know and I I and I think
[3:19:32] you know too the core issue at least as
[3:19:34] I see it is right how do you how do you
[3:19:38] help town meeting members and members of
[3:19:39] the community solve issues that they've
[3:19:42] identified or take on initiatives that
[3:19:44] they've identified? Um because sometimes
[3:19:48] oftentimes the way to do that is not by
[3:19:50] submitting a warrant article. It's by
[3:19:52] petitioning the select board,
[3:19:53] petitioning a department, you know,
[3:19:55] figuring out a way to change policy or
[3:19:57] change practice in such a way that um
[3:20:00] achieves the aim that you want. Um it it
[3:20:03] tends to be, you know, there are some
[3:20:05] things that do require local legislation
[3:20:07] and we should obviously be supportive of
[3:20:09] that when that comes up. Um, but the
[3:20:12] benefit to things being able to be done
[3:20:14] with policies is that policies can be
[3:20:17] flexible and change and develop in
[3:20:20] accordance with how we actually see the
[3:20:22] flow. Whereas laws are good for being
[3:20:25] for broad statements uh and and general
[3:20:28] application. Um, but when you make a
[3:20:31] bylaw too prescriptive, you wind up
[3:20:33] locking yourself in and that can often
[3:20:36] lead to issues that the community later
[3:20:38] then has to deal with by amending the
[3:20:40] bylaw. Um, so there's a balance to be
[3:20:43] struck there. So I think the goal, you
[3:20:45] know, the as you discuss these,
[3:20:47] especially when it comes to warrant
[3:20:48] articles, I think the question, the
[3:20:50] underlying question is what are you
[3:20:52] trying to help people do? um if it's
[3:20:54] trying to help people get um the policy
[3:20:58] outcome or the or the process outcome
[3:21:01] that they want um I just want us to be I
[3:21:04] want us to be as helpful as poss on
[3:21:06] staff to be as helpful as possible to
[3:21:09] you all in supporting that initiative.
[3:21:11] So I guess Michael this was your request
[3:21:14] to put on and I want I don't know if you
[3:21:16] Sure. Um so so let me let me start by
[3:21:21] saying that um
[3:21:24] I I took this on really specifically
[3:21:28] um in response to a roadmap
[3:21:31] um
[3:21:32] strategy and a roadmap action that we
[3:21:35] established when we uh passed the road
[3:21:39] map the 2030 road map. Um and my sense
[3:21:43] of just reading those, this is um action
[3:21:47] 2E1 for those people who are looking at
[3:21:50] the roadmap details. Um which is to
[3:21:53] confirm that warrant articles have been
[3:21:55] properly vetted with staff in advance of
[3:21:57] filing and ensure that they are in line
[3:22:00] with previous stated priorities and work
[3:22:01] plans. If a warrant article causes the
[3:22:04] select board to rep prioritize, identify
[3:22:06] the impact on redirecting staff time.
[3:22:09] Um, and this is also sort of the need
[3:22:12] for this was somewhat confirmed by the
[3:22:14] several warrant articles that came up in
[3:22:18] the last um in the last town meeting.
[3:22:23] Um, often in the form of resolutions,
[3:22:26] but not always. um where the substance
[3:22:29] of the warrant articles ended up
[3:22:31] changing dramatically from the point of
[3:22:33] filing to the point of what was actually
[3:22:37] passed by or or considered by town
[3:22:40] meeting most of the time passed. Um and
[3:22:44] so um so it's
[3:22:49] um upon reflection if those warrant
[3:22:52] articles had come either to staff or if
[3:22:56] staff had directed them to committees or
[3:22:59] if the select board had taken them up
[3:23:01] sooner before filing. Um, I think a lot
[3:23:06] of the challenges that were ultimately
[3:23:10] worked out either in conversations with
[3:23:12] the advisory committee um or
[3:23:14] conversations with the select board and
[3:23:17] significant changes in the scope of
[3:23:20] those warrant articles would have been
[3:23:23] better handled before the actual filing.
[3:23:26] Um, so,
[3:23:28] so
[3:23:29] the letter that I constructed was really
[3:23:33] designed to invite people who are
[3:23:37] considering warrant articles, and I've
[3:23:39] heard bits and pieces of various warrant
[3:23:41] articles that are in consideration for
[3:23:43] the fall to engage with town staff. Now,
[3:23:47] one of the concerns that I that I I just
[3:23:50] want to be really clear about and I
[3:23:51] discussed um with the town administrator
[3:23:53] earlier is to ensure that town staff
[3:23:57] actually has the time uh to engage at
[3:24:03] the at the level that would be
[3:24:04] worthwhile. Um, and the reason that I
[3:24:08] constructed this letter was actually to
[3:24:10] sort of force that question because
[3:24:13] [clears throat]
[3:24:13] um, in making sure that this letter gets
[3:24:16] reviewed by the town administrator and
[3:24:19] department heads, I didn't want to put
[3:24:21] us in the posi position of inviting um
[3:24:25] engagement with the with town staff that
[3:24:28] town staff doesn't have time to to do.
[3:24:32] So I am making the assumption based on
[3:24:36] the the feedback that I've gotten that
[3:24:37] that that concern has been substantially
[3:24:41] addressed. Um now to the point that um
[3:24:46] that the town administrator has raised
[3:24:48] about the previous efforts um the one
[3:24:50] that I would add to the to the items
[3:24:52] that are part of 11A um is also the
[3:24:56] significant number of pages within the
[3:24:58] town meeting handbook which goes through
[3:25:00] the warrant article process um from a
[3:25:03] legislative perspective um and discusses
[3:25:06] you know the issues of scope and the
[3:25:08] issues of filing deadlines etc. Um, and
[3:25:11] it's not either my intention nor do I
[3:25:15] believe it is the select board's
[3:25:16] intention when we establish this item on
[3:25:19] the road map to uh to replace those
[3:25:23] legislative processes to impede those
[3:25:26] legislative processes um but instead was
[3:25:30] to facilitate better warrant article
[3:25:33] creation um through engagement with town
[3:25:36] staff. So I really viewed this as
[3:25:38] supplementary. Um now I recognize that
[3:25:43] you know the letters from 2017 the
[3:25:46] guidelines that we produced in 2020 um
[3:25:49] were in some ways uh had similar similar
[3:25:53] goals to improve the process of writing.
[3:25:56] Um but it is now 2026. Um and my
[3:25:59] suspicion is that um though there are a
[3:26:02] number of people who have engaged with
[3:26:05] this in the past that it is worthy of a
[3:26:08] uh of a refresh and a reinvitation
[3:26:12] um to uh both members of town meeting uh
[3:26:17] as well as uh citizens more in the town
[3:26:20] more broadly who might bring citizen
[3:26:23] petition articles um to to town meeting.
[3:26:28] Um, I did make one amendment to this
[3:26:31] which I sent to the town administrator
[3:26:35] and town staff, which was basically to
[3:26:38] insert a paragraph um, uh, that was a
[3:26:42] oneline reference to the town meeting
[3:26:45] handbook um, simply to acknowledge um,
[3:26:48] the primacy of that document and to make
[3:26:51] some nonsubstantive
[3:26:53] um, corrections to the to the third
[3:26:57] paragraph. about engagement. Um but
[3:27:00] other than that, I view this really as
[3:27:03] our um meeting the goal that we have set
[3:27:06] for ourselves. Um and to be set
[3:27:09] completed in year one. Um so I will
[3:27:13] leave it at that and um appreciate your
[3:27:17] consideration and discussion. Amanda.
[3:27:20] So, um I I just want to say I think
[3:27:26] uh when this was framed initially like
[3:27:28] the first document in the docket is on
[3:27:31] communication and I think that's
[3:27:32] somewhat of a separate issue than what
[3:27:34] we're talking about here. And so that
[3:27:36] should probably be a separate
[3:27:37] discussion. But for what we're talking
[3:27:39] about here, I think it is really
[3:27:40] important to recognize that um as
[3:27:44] someone who has brought citizen
[3:27:46] petitions before, there can be
[3:27:48] gatekeeping when we say you must go to
[3:27:51] town staff and then town staff don't
[3:27:53] have time. Um and then we say, well, why
[3:27:56] didn't you talk to town staff about
[3:27:58] this? Um, so I want to make sure that if
[3:28:00] we are setting forth this goal, um, that
[3:28:05] there is a way to engage
[3:28:09] and still be respectful of staff time,
[3:28:12] right? To be able to get, um, staff time
[3:28:14] as consultant as opposed to having to
[3:28:17] give hours and hours uh, to a warrant
[3:28:19] article to improve it. um but that it's
[3:28:22] not used to gatekeep which warrant
[3:28:25] articles we work to make better and
[3:28:27] which ones we look to sweep under the
[3:28:29] rug.
[3:28:29] Well, I think that's that's a great
[3:28:31] point and I think that's that's one
[3:28:33] that's a that's a that's a conversation
[3:28:35] that I think is helpful to have here
[3:28:37] which is
[3:28:39] is there an expectation that staff give
[3:28:42] time to every warrant article because I
[3:28:44] don't think that's feasible. And then
[3:28:46] you know what what's helpful to us then
[3:28:48] is what are you asking us to prioritize
[3:28:52] and the road map helps us with that we
[3:28:54] can say we will look in the road map we
[3:28:56] will see does is this in the furtherance
[3:28:58] of one of your priorities and if the
[3:29:00] answer is no then I think maybe the
[3:29:04] answer to the petition is we appreciate
[3:29:06] this but we don't think this is a
[3:29:08] priority for the town at this time. Um,
[3:29:11] and that's not gatekeeping. That's the
[3:29:14] reality of the situation. Now, it's not
[3:29:16] it doesn't mean that the person can't
[3:29:17] file the warrant article. It doesn't
[3:29:19] take much. They can file it. They can
[3:29:20] bring it forward and we can discuss why
[3:29:23] things are aren't a priority. We can
[3:29:25] still work to try and make it the best
[3:29:27] possible article it can be within those
[3:29:29] constraints. But if you tell us it's not
[3:29:32] a priority, then we will treat it. we
[3:29:35] will we will focus on the things that
[3:29:37] you were asking us to prioritize as
[3:29:38] opposed to the things you're asking us
[3:29:40] not to. So I think maybe that's the way
[3:29:42] to frame it. I I think it's tough to
[3:29:44] think about it as gatekeeping when
[3:29:47] really it what it is is there are only
[3:29:49] so many hours in the day. Um, and
[3:29:51] there's a lot that people ask us to work
[3:29:53] on, including, you know, resolutions,
[3:29:56] um, things that don't have legally
[3:29:59] binding uh, requirements, but that you
[3:30:02] you take seriously and you ask us to
[3:30:04] take seriously. And I don't think that's
[3:30:06] a bad thing inherently, but I think it
[3:30:08] is something that you want to consider
[3:30:10] when you think about prioritization of
[3:30:12] our of our time. is there, you know, and
[3:30:15] so maybe this is an opportunity to do
[3:30:18] that in inviting people to submit things
[3:30:21] significantly earlier before the opening
[3:30:24] of the warrant. Um, it allows you to
[3:30:27] give guidance to us on where you see
[3:30:30] your priorities and how we can then work
[3:30:33] through that. And it allows the
[3:30:35] community to understand, too, so that
[3:30:36] there isn't a sense of, oh, I submitted
[3:30:38] this and I didn't hear anything, or oh,
[3:30:39] I submitted this and staff said they
[3:30:41] don't want to do it. Um, it makes it
[3:30:45] I I think it allows them to be heard and
[3:30:47] and and understand better if that
[3:30:50] process begins at the select board
[3:30:52] level. Um, but you know, again, do you
[3:30:56] do you want to do
[3:30:58] do you want to invite that level of
[3:31:00] discussion over the summer or do you
[3:31:02] want us to
[3:31:05] do you want us to look at your roadmap
[3:31:08] and the other priorities that you've
[3:31:09] outlined and try and, you know, build
[3:31:13] build out uh prioritization that way?
[3:31:15] Um, I think is my question. I I would
[3:31:17] also just add that I [clears throat]
[3:31:19] gatekeeping sometimes often has a
[3:31:21] negative connotation, but I interpret
[3:31:24] this more as a way to help the
[3:31:26] petitioner be more successful because as
[3:31:28] we often see in the run-up to town
[3:31:31] meeting, there are some petitioners,
[3:31:33] well, I don't think there are any
[3:31:34] petitioners necessarily who are not
[3:31:35] well-intentioned, but there are
[3:31:37] petitioners who have a certain uh
[3:31:39] objective they want to achieve, but they
[3:31:41] may not quite understand how to get
[3:31:43] there. They might phrase things in such
[3:31:45] a way that if they approach town staff a
[3:31:49] bit too late in the process, the
[3:31:51] moderator might deem it out of scope and
[3:31:53] then there's a delay for that reason.
[3:31:56] But had they come to staff earlier, that
[3:31:59] uh barrier would have been identified
[3:32:01] and rectified in timely fashion. So I
[3:32:04] see it as an opportunity to make warrant
[3:32:05] articles more successful by uh adopting
[3:32:09] these recommendations. I'll also note
[3:32:12] that the second paragraph of uh the
[3:32:15] warrant article vetting invitation
[3:32:18] explicitly states note that this
[3:32:20] engagement is not intended to replace
[3:32:23] the town's legislative processes in any
[3:32:26] way. Engaging with town staff is not a
[3:32:29] requirement to file a warrant article,
[3:32:31] nor is collecting the necessary
[3:32:32] signatures for a petition necessary to
[3:32:35] engage with town staff. However, the
[3:32:37] select board believes that engaging with
[3:32:39] town staff will facilitate the town's
[3:32:41] legislative processes and allow issues
[3:32:44] that necessitate a change in scope to be
[3:32:46] considered before filing a warrant
[3:32:48] article. So, I think that's the main
[3:32:49] advantage, but I do hear what you're
[3:32:51] saying that sometimes a petitioner might
[3:32:54] not get a timely response from staff and
[3:32:57] as we're hearing from the town
[3:32:58] administrator,
[3:33:00] um there there are legitimate bandwidth
[3:33:02] issues, but that does sort of encourage
[3:33:04] petitioners to maybe get out front a bit
[3:33:07] earlier than they normally would and
[3:33:09] then hopefully there'll be enough time
[3:33:11] that everybody gets a substantive
[3:33:13] response. Well, and could you like as as
[3:33:16] Michael wrote in this I don't even know
[3:33:20] what [laughter] piece that we're we're
[3:33:22] all looking at um would town staff feel
[3:33:25] comfortable saying I got 15 warrant
[3:33:29] articles sent to the town
[3:33:32] administrator's office. Um these five of
[3:33:35] them are directly applicable to your
[3:33:38] road map. So, we're going to encourage
[3:33:41] town staff to talk to those five
[3:33:43] petitioners and the other 15 will send a
[3:33:46] message saying this is outside the the
[3:33:48] scope of the priorities. You're welcome
[3:33:50] to pursue it, but we don't have the
[3:33:52] bandwidth.
[3:33:55] I I guess the the the
[3:33:59] there's there's a there's a couple of
[3:34:00] criteria here that we're that we're
[3:34:02] talking about that that I think we have
[3:34:04] to sort of tease apart. one is in any
[3:34:08] particular warrant article, how much
[3:34:11] time how much time is it going to take
[3:34:13] for town staff to engage with this
[3:34:16] warrant article. Um, and you know that
[3:34:19] may require sort of a fixed level of
[3:34:21] evaluation before we can make before the
[3:34:25] select board can provide feedback or
[3:34:28] direction. So, so there so there's the
[3:34:31] question of time. There's the question
[3:34:33] of does this warrant article align with
[3:34:37] the roadmap in which we might which
[3:34:39] might also impact the select board's
[3:34:42] guidance. Um, and and then there's the
[3:34:46] the question of of
[3:34:49] and this is sort of related to the time
[3:34:51] question, but there's the question of
[3:34:53] does the staff actually think that a
[3:34:56] warrant article is the most effective
[3:34:58] way to
[3:35:00] to achieve the results that the the
[3:35:03] petitioners are actually seeking. Um and
[3:35:08] we sort of have I believe we sort of
[3:35:10] have to allocate some fixed amount of
[3:35:13] time upfront as part of the of the uh
[3:35:20] analysis process to give the information
[3:35:23] to the select board before the select
[3:35:26] board can provide that feedback.
[3:35:28] Yeah. Um, and and I don't know, I'm not
[3:35:30] exactly sure how to work that into the
[3:35:32] schedule because warrant articles are
[3:35:34] not necessarily going to all come on,
[3:35:37] you know, July 10th so that we have six
[3:35:41] weeks of or whatever before the filing
[3:35:44] deadline. So, it's going to be a rolling
[3:35:46] process.
[3:35:48] But I think, you know, and this this is
[3:35:50] where I think you've got to um
[3:35:53] that that third thing is what I think
[3:35:55] might be missing from this current draft
[3:35:57] is this is the sense of, you know, right
[3:35:59] now it seems to presuppose, you know,
[3:36:01] that a warrant article is is is the way
[3:36:04] forward, right? you if you want to file,
[3:36:06] but I think there's kind of a step zero
[3:36:07] here, which is uh have you identified
[3:36:10] something that the town isn't doing that
[3:36:11] it should be doing or that it is
[3:36:13] currently doing that it should stop
[3:36:14] doing or you know um something something
[3:36:17] along those lines, you know, have you
[3:36:19] identified an issue that you think local
[3:36:20] government should be engaged to solve?
[3:36:22] Um if so, what is that? And do you think
[3:36:25] a local law is necessary to do it? If
[3:36:27] so, you know, this is your opportunity.
[3:36:30] Please, you know, submit that. you know,
[3:36:32] if you think it should be in the form of
[3:36:34] a bylaw, please give us that information
[3:36:36] because that I think that sort of step
[3:36:38] zero
[3:36:40] allows for um
[3:36:44] reframes the conversation in a certain
[3:36:46] way. is doesn't presuppose that a bylaw
[3:36:49] is the is the right way to do things,
[3:36:51] but it it allows still the opport
[3:36:54] another opportunity for people to
[3:36:56] formally talk to the select board and
[3:36:58] say, "Hey, there's something that's not
[3:37:00] happening that I would like to happen or
[3:37:01] something that is happening that needs
[3:37:02] to stop happening." So, so in the in the
[3:37:07] third paragraph of the body after the
[3:37:10] the sort of whereas clauses at the top
[3:37:13] where it talks about send drafts and
[3:37:15] explanations for your proposed warrant
[3:37:17] articles to [clears throat] what I
[3:37:19] believe you're talking about is they may
[3:37:22] not be drafts and explanations for
[3:37:23] proposed warrant articles but but
[3:37:26] something that is more step zero which
[3:37:29] is a description of the problem that
[3:37:31] needs to be solved.
[3:37:32] Yeah. I mean, the reason that I was
[3:37:33] asking for it in terms of drafts and
[3:37:35] explanations for warrant articles is
[3:37:37] because I think at least that forces the
[3:37:41] petitioners to do some level of work to
[3:37:46] um
[3:37:48] to structure uh what they're providing.
[3:37:52] And I guess the question is, is it worth
[3:37:54] having somebody go through that exercise
[3:37:57] for the town staff to turn around and
[3:37:59] say, "Well, actually, you know, if we
[3:38:01] amended this policy, then it would
[3:38:03] achieve your the goals as you stated in
[3:38:06] the explanation, and you won't wouldn't
[3:38:07] need the warrant article."
[3:38:08] Yeah. And I I think that's a tough it's
[3:38:10] a tough balance to strike because you
[3:38:12] right, you don't want just I think there
[3:38:14] should be better dog licenses, you know.
[3:38:16] Um Right.
[3:38:17] That's not helpful. Um, but you do you
[3:38:20] also right to your point. You don't want
[3:38:22] someone to spend a lot of time building
[3:38:24] something out only to be told, well, you
[3:38:26] know, we could do this. We we are or you
[3:38:28] know, we are already doing this or
[3:38:30] there's a way to do this more easily.
[3:38:31] But
[3:38:32] maybe that is just the the the level of
[3:38:35] process that needs to be engaged with.
[3:38:37] So, you know, maybe there's language
[3:38:39] that could be drafted that says, you
[3:38:41] know, whether you whether this takes
[3:38:43] whether your proposal takes the form of
[3:38:45] a Warren article or something else, you
[3:38:48] know, it should be
[3:38:52] trying to think of a way to wordsmith
[3:38:53] it, you know, um a way to
[3:38:57] um ensure that proposals are substantive
[3:39:01] um but not necessarily presupposed that
[3:39:03] they are destined to be legislation.
[3:39:09] trying to think of ways ways to get
[3:39:10] helpful helpful input. Um
[3:39:13] I mean it's it's sort of by by draft,
[3:39:15] right? Like if you're accepting a draft,
[3:39:17] you're not expecting a final. Um and
[3:39:21] just to say like the explanation can be
[3:39:24] a paragraph and the draft can be you
[3:39:27] know like start with the resolution and
[3:39:30] then you come
[3:39:32] still the process is missing but you
[3:39:34] come before some someone talk to someone
[3:39:36] and they're like actually this is a
[3:39:37] bylaw change like that would be a much
[3:39:39] more straightforward path. Um I think
[3:39:43] draft is fine. It's just I I still don't
[3:39:45] understand who is doing what evaluation
[3:39:48] [laughter]
[3:39:49] in the leadup to the closing of the
[3:39:51] warrant.
[3:39:52] So I think I think the as I understand
[3:39:54] it and sorry I'm I'm trying to
[3:39:55] synthesize what you've been saying.
[3:39:57] There's two kind of work streams.
[3:39:58] There's the workstream on staff's side
[3:40:00] which is we get something in there's a
[3:40:03] and I would suggest you put a you know
[3:40:06] what they call in admissions the soft
[3:40:08] cap you know you know priority
[3:40:10] consideration by this date um so that
[3:40:13] you get you encourage a firm deadline
[3:40:16] for people to get their information in
[3:40:18] and then you say that once that date
[3:40:20] passes staff will evaluate what we've
[3:40:22] got and we will evaluate
[3:40:24] how complex a task is how much you know
[3:40:26] whether whether there are alternatives
[3:40:28] that could be used to address this,
[3:40:30] whether we think they align with any of
[3:40:32] the goals that you've outlined for us
[3:40:34] and um
[3:40:36] right the the the whether there's an
[3:40:38] alternative that could achieve the same
[3:40:40] ends. Um and then we take that to you
[3:40:43] and you have that conversation amongst
[3:40:46] yourselves about in public obviously
[3:40:48] about what your whether or not you agree
[3:40:51] that this is where staff should be
[3:40:52] prioritizing their time. I I think there
[3:40:55] I think I I think there should be a
[3:40:57] little bit more of a political process
[3:40:58] here. And what that what I'm saying to
[3:41:00] that is like I feel like the fi first
[3:41:02] filter should be a select board member
[3:41:04] to be honest with you. I feel like a
[3:41:06] select board member should hear a public
[3:41:08] idea, a public complaint or, you know,
[3:41:10] public something and then we say, you
[3:41:11] know what, you're kind of right and then
[3:41:13] we take it to staff rather than it being
[3:41:15] staff first because I feel like that I
[3:41:17] feel like that could open the floodgates
[3:41:18] a lot to a lot of work for the
[3:41:21] My one concern with that is then it
[3:41:24] looks like we're sort of taking over the
[3:41:26] legislative process where we're the
[3:41:28] executive. I understand it's
[3:41:29] well-intentioned. It's well meaning.
[3:41:31] Yeah. Um, but I'm not sure that the
[3:41:34] legislative branch wants their efforts
[3:41:36] filtered
[3:41:38] through the executive branch in that
[3:41:40] manner.
[3:41:41] That makes sense. But I don't also don't
[3:41:42] know if this is talking about
[3:41:43] legislative efforts because I think the
[3:41:45] whole idea is saying what are you trying
[3:41:47] to do legislatively that we could
[3:41:49] actually do executively, you know, and
[3:41:51] then if we can't do it executively, then
[3:41:53] you have to go through the legislative
[3:41:54] process. But, you know, here I I think
[3:41:56] it's reasonable to say, you know, here's
[3:41:58] what I want. Here's what I would like my
[3:41:59] executive to do. And then if one of us
[3:42:01] says, you know, I think that's actually
[3:42:02] a good idea, we could take it to staff
[3:42:04] and go forward. Um, but, you know,
[3:42:06] that's that's my take.
[3:42:09] Yeah, I I think I'm more aligned with
[3:42:12] with David. I
[3:42:16] I I am very I am very sensitive to what
[3:42:20] Amanda brought up very early in terms of
[3:42:23] us being too strong a gatekeeper. I'm
[3:42:26] I'm I I would be
[3:42:29] I I I think the intention of the of the
[3:42:32] road of the roadmap goal was to
[3:42:36] facilitate the cre the creation of the
[3:42:38] warrant articles. And so, you know, if
[3:42:42] there is an alternative that is a better
[3:42:44] way forward for a particular warrant,
[3:42:46] for a particular issue, um
[3:42:53] I I I think that we can identify that or
[3:42:57] staff can identify that through through
[3:43:00] their evaluation, but but I don't I
[3:43:04] think that the premise coming into this
[3:43:06] process is that somebody is is trying to
[3:43:10] move something through the legislature
[3:43:12] because if because if if we're if we're
[3:43:14] if we're talking about this qu the the
[3:43:17] broader question of like
[3:43:20] of of
[3:43:22] anything that somebody thinks the town
[3:43:25] could do to do things better. That's
[3:43:28] that's really a much broader question
[3:43:32] and and I don't think that in terms of
[3:43:36] the particular goal within the road map
[3:43:39] um I don't think that was the aim of the
[3:43:41] goal. I think the aim of the goal was to
[3:43:44] take the warrant articles that people
[3:43:46] are trying to move the legislative
[3:43:47] process and ensure that both the
[3:43:51] legislative process is the optimal form
[3:43:53] for that goal and that the way that they
[3:43:57] had structured their warrant articles
[3:44:00] was [snorts]
[3:44:02] to whatever extent that staff can help
[3:44:04] optimize that before filing that they
[3:44:07] would have the opportunity to do so. So
[3:44:10] I think I think I think the goal of this
[3:44:13] the goal here is actually more limited
[3:44:15] than you've described.
[3:44:17] Not it's it's it's actually not that
[3:44:22] step zero of of um you know here's
[3:44:26] something that we should improve.
[3:44:29] Um, it's actually I'm trying to move
[3:44:31] something through the legislative
[3:44:33] process, but by giving the town staff an
[3:44:37] opportunity to review it before filing,
[3:44:40] they may be able to make substantive
[3:44:43] improvements either in in any one of
[3:44:46] those three ways that would
[3:44:49] and these improvements are
[3:44:50] recommendations.
[3:44:51] Yeah. All of these improvements are
[3:44:53] recommendations
[3:44:54] because ultimately staff is going to
[3:44:56] weigh in on every warrant just about
[3:44:58] every warrant article anyway when we
[3:45:01] have our warrant article discussion. So
[3:45:03] I think the goal here is to try to make
[3:45:05] the Warren article uh more likely to
[3:45:09] succeed from sort of a bureaucratic
[3:45:12] perspective in terms of understanding
[3:45:14] the process, knowing what's already out
[3:45:16] there and maybe the staff feedback might
[3:45:19] just be a macro level you're on the
[3:45:23] right track or actually you probably
[3:45:25] want to change XYZ without actually
[3:45:27] doing it for the petitioner
[3:45:29] or or it might be a recommendation to
[3:45:32] the select board that this is this is
[3:45:35] maybe an interesting topic, but we're
[3:45:37] actually going to take this up in a
[3:45:38] future time or this should be referred
[3:45:40] to a committee for further study and
[3:45:42] it's not really ready to go to to the
[3:45:46] legislature, you know, any it could be
[3:45:49] it could go into any of those directions
[3:45:51] as well.
[3:45:52] Yeah. I mean, let me take a concrete
[3:45:54] example. Um,
[3:45:56] let's talk about dark skies, dark sky
[3:45:59] policy. Um that was a town meeting
[3:46:02] landing issue. Town meeting members
[3:46:04] obviously have a lot of interest in
[3:46:06] this. There is community support for
[3:46:08] dark sky bylaw of some kind regulations
[3:46:13] was to and we what I think was missing
[3:46:16] from that process was guidance from the
[3:46:18] select board. Is this something we
[3:46:19] should be spending our time on or not?
[3:46:21] Um because if you and if you want us to
[3:46:23] do this, what should we not be doing? um
[3:46:26] because there were things that we were
[3:46:27] working on that were you know germanine
[3:46:30] to this work in in different ways. You
[3:46:33] know what what that kind of sprung out
[3:46:35] of was the fact that we didn't have good
[3:46:38] regulations. We didn't have good bylaws
[3:46:41] about light regulation. Light pollution
[3:46:43] is a problem. Um and because of the way
[3:46:45] that our bylaws are written, it's hard
[3:46:48] for us to enforce light pollution rules.
[3:46:51] So we tried to come up with a solution
[3:46:52] to that problem. And then the community
[3:46:54] said this is great as an opportunity to
[3:46:55] talk about dark skies. And all of a
[3:46:57] sudden it became about something much
[3:46:58] bigger. Which again is not a not a
[3:47:00] problem. But we were kind of stuck in
[3:47:01] this moment where we said what what
[3:47:03] should we be doing? Should we try and
[3:47:06] say to town meeting we appreciate this
[3:47:07] but we're trying to solve the problem
[3:47:09] that was identified which is we struggle
[3:47:11] to regulate light pollution or do we
[3:47:13] want to take this whole you know this
[3:47:16] broader question of you know light
[3:47:19] pollution at large and its impact on the
[3:47:21] environment and its impact on um the
[3:47:24] community and try and you know adapt a
[3:47:28] model dark sky law for this community
[3:47:30] and I think we kind of got stuck. It was
[3:47:32] sort of a situation where it was like
[3:47:35] yes and um or you know let's let's let's
[3:47:38] work on both. Um, and I don't think
[3:47:41] anyone ever actually said that, but
[3:47:43] there was no, the board didn't
[3:47:45] ultimately say to us, listen, continue
[3:47:49] your work on light pollution and tell
[3:47:51] the town meeting members, we will do
[3:47:53] this in stages or no, pull this back and
[3:47:58] and work exclusively on the broader dark
[3:48:02] skies. It wasn't really until we got to
[3:48:03] town meeting that I felt like we had
[3:48:05] concrete guidance which was kind of
[3:48:08] driven by the discussion on the floor of
[3:48:10] town meeting which was the will of the
[3:48:12] voters seemed to be we want dark skies
[3:48:14] and we don't want to deal with this
[3:48:15] light pollution stuff in the absence of
[3:48:17] a broader dark skies policy and so it
[3:48:20] was pulled and that's where we wound up.
[3:48:22] I think had we started at the beginning
[3:48:25] with a convers had someone come to us at
[3:48:28] the beginning and said we want to do
[3:48:29] dark skies I think our response to you
[3:48:32] using this framework that you've
[3:48:34] identified is this will take a lot of
[3:48:35] work this would be this will be a
[3:48:37] largecale project and we have not heard
[3:48:40] you the select board to date say that
[3:48:42] this is a priority um
[3:48:45] our priority if we were to spend time on
[3:48:48] this would be on the narrow question of
[3:48:50] light pollution because that is a clear
[3:48:52] problem that we struggle to enforce. Um
[3:48:55] and then you would in under this
[3:48:58] circumstance you would have the
[3:48:59] opportunity to tell us no we you know it
[3:49:02] makes sense to us to try and do this do
[3:49:04] dark skies work focus on that. Um
[3:49:07] well gi given the guidance from staff
[3:49:11] that this is a large body of work um it
[3:49:16] it would seem to me that a reasonable a
[3:49:19] reasonable response from the select
[3:49:21] board is given that this is a large body
[3:49:24] of work if we can break it up into
[3:49:26] multiple steps then let's deal with the
[3:49:31] sort of setting up the regulations first
[3:49:33] and then and and that would be our
[3:49:35] recommendation.
[3:49:36] But it would really not be our
[3:49:37] recommendation to staff. It would be our
[3:49:39] recommendation based on the staff's
[3:49:42] feedback to the petitioners because
[3:49:44] ultimately the petitioners are going to
[3:49:46] have to decide what they want to file.
[3:49:49] But I think this dark skies uh
[3:49:52] [clears throat]
[3:49:53] versus light pollution question is
[3:49:55] germanine for what Michael was talking
[3:49:58] about at the outset in that I think the
[3:50:01] way the conversation evolved was
[3:50:03] actually initially there were people who
[3:50:05] were just interested in the light
[3:50:08] pollution portion but then we had that
[3:50:10] whole discussion with town council about
[3:50:12] well is it going to be zoning or is it
[3:50:14] going to be bylaw and if it's zoning
[3:50:18] then prior
[3:50:19] alleged violators are grandfathered in.
[3:50:22] So, it could only be prospective, right?
[3:50:24] And if you want it to apply to
[3:50:26] everybody, both forward and backward, it
[3:50:28] needs to be by bylaw. But so far, the
[3:50:31] signage portion is in our zoning. And
[3:50:33] so, it got more complicated. But that is
[3:50:36] all the more reason why having these
[3:50:38] early conversations would be helpful.
[3:50:40] Yep. Because I'm not sure that everyone
[3:50:42] understood those nuances. And I think
[3:50:45] that's why the conversation
[3:50:47] evolved because sort of became the way
[3:50:50] to get around this via uh a bylaw change
[3:50:55] that would require some other language
[3:50:57] coming out and that's why we have a
[3:50:59] moderators committee that's working on
[3:51:01] it. Uh but that type of guidance from
[3:51:03] staff I think is extremely beneficial
[3:51:06] and that's what we are ultimately
[3:51:08] looking for.
[3:51:09] And I would I think I will say just on
[3:51:11] that one too and this is I see this most
[3:51:13] often with town council. Um and so I
[3:51:16] just want to stick up for that office.
[3:51:18] We are the most educated community per
[3:51:21] capita in the United States. We have the
[3:51:23] most advanced degrees. There are a lot
[3:51:26] of lawyers in this community and they
[3:51:28] are all very smart people and they do a
[3:51:30] lot of good work.
[3:51:31] I see town council's opinion get second
[3:51:33] guessed a lot. Um and
[3:51:37] I I would just as we go through this I
[3:51:41] would strongly encourage the board you
[3:51:44] know to question obviously those those
[3:51:47] opinions and that judgment in private
[3:51:49] and speak to town council. Town council
[3:51:51] and his team are always open about this
[3:51:53] and willing to have those conversations.
[3:51:55] But it gets really tough when other
[3:51:57] lawyers get up on the floor of town
[3:51:59] meeting and basically say town council
[3:52:00] doesn't know what he's talking about. Um
[3:52:02] Joe has been working in municipal
[3:52:03] government for like 40 years. Joe knows
[3:52:05] what he's talking about. Um, and it's
[3:52:08] and it's I I say it happens most often
[3:52:12] with town council, but I see it with
[3:52:13] other department heads, too, where there
[3:52:15] are people out there who have a lot of
[3:52:17] expertise in these fields and speak very
[3:52:20] authoritatively and come up and say, I I
[3:52:24] have an opinion on this subject and I do
[3:52:26] think it would be beneficial for staff
[3:52:28] to have the select board in that
[3:52:30] instance be able to come up and say,
[3:52:32] yes, we respect your opinion. We respect
[3:52:34] your judgment, but the people who we
[3:52:38] hire and the people who we spend and and
[3:52:41] work to do this are telling us that your
[3:52:44] opinion while is is, you know, it's your
[3:52:48] opinion and we respect it, is not the
[3:52:50] opinion that we're going to follow here.
[3:52:52] Um because I think leaving department
[3:52:54] heads out in in those situations is
[3:52:58] tough. Um so I would just want to make
[3:53:01] sure that we figure out a way to
[3:53:04] ens ensure that everyone is on the same
[3:53:05] page. Um and that we're not leaving the
[3:53:07] department heads out on the floor of
[3:53:08] town meeting.
[3:53:09] Um
[3:53:12] you you you have really uh accurately
[3:53:16] and well defined a significant challenge
[3:53:19] that we have as select board members. Um
[3:53:22] however I would also say within the
[3:53:24] context of the legislative process you
[3:53:27] know we also are presenting
[3:53:31] whether it is based on the expertise of
[3:53:35] our town staff or our own opinions um a
[3:53:38] position of the select board to the
[3:53:40] legislative body and it is therefore
[3:53:43] then the legislative body's role and
[3:53:46] privilege to consider our position
[3:53:49] relative to all of those other very
[3:53:52] intelligent positions that are being
[3:53:54] presented on the floor of town meeting
[3:53:56] or in advance as part of the legislative
[3:53:59] process. So, you know, we also have
[3:54:02] political considerations
[3:54:04] um to consider in terms of,
[3:54:08] you know, how we present the executive
[3:54:12] branch's position on these issues
[3:54:15] towards the to the legislative branch.
[3:54:20] I I would just maybe thread that needle
[3:54:22] a little bit in that the po the the
[3:54:24] place to to rely heavily on staff is not
[3:54:28] at town meeting. It's in the hearings
[3:54:30] leading up to town meeting when we are
[3:54:32] hearing a certain war article. Um,
[3:54:34] that's where I I look to get guidance
[3:54:37] from town staff and their read on things
[3:54:39] because they are the experts that we
[3:54:41] rely on as a select board um in addition
[3:54:45] to our own opinions, but like to to
[3:54:47] better inform our opinions and what
[3:54:48] we're we're coming out with
[3:54:51] um to then uh have a
[3:54:56] endorsement or rejection of a Warren
[3:54:58] article that then we present to town
[3:55:00] meeting. And so I think the place where
[3:55:03] maybe it is most useful is in this sort
[3:55:06] of like prehering stage where we are
[3:55:09] trying to figure out um if some sort of
[3:55:14] process can actually improve warrant
[3:55:16] articles that are going to come before
[3:55:17] town meeting. Um because I do think and
[3:55:21] and just to to give maybe not a specific
[3:55:24] example um
[3:55:27] temperatures rise at town meeting
[3:55:29] especially when people get very animated
[3:55:31] with whatever they believe in right um
[3:55:33] but if we can sort of turn down the
[3:55:36] temperatures and start talking nuance in
[3:55:38] a way that's not like an up and down
[3:55:40] vote but a how do we improve what is
[3:55:43] coming before us I think that will
[3:55:44] benefit everyone.
[3:55:49] And just to be clear with my remarks,
[3:55:51] I'm not I was by no means trying to
[3:55:54] suggest that [clears throat]
[3:55:56] department heads were not competently
[3:56:00] expressing their opinions. My point was
[3:56:01] just that having that feedback early on
[3:56:05] is helpful in shaping the trajectory of
[3:56:07] a warrant article so that it can be
[3:56:10] timely and likelier to succeed and
[3:56:13] reflect the will of town meetings. So,
[3:56:16] had the drafters of that warrant
[3:56:18] [clears throat] article had an
[3:56:20] opportunity such as uh laid out from our
[3:56:24] roadmap to present their idea early on
[3:56:28] and town council had responded, "Well,
[3:56:30] here's the issue about zoning versus
[3:56:32] bylaw." I'm not questioning his opinion.
[3:56:35] I'm just saying having that information
[3:56:37] up front would have helped the drafting
[3:56:39] of the War.
[3:56:40] No, I and I agree with that. And that's
[3:56:41] I think that's the other thing to
[3:56:42] Michael's point. And this is something I
[3:56:44] say to department heads all the time,
[3:56:45] right? You you are directly accountable
[3:56:48] to the pe to the voters, right? You face
[3:56:50] election every three years. You are you
[3:56:53] are the direct political leaders of this
[3:56:56] town. Um you're the executive and you
[3:56:59] have political considerations that you
[3:57:02] by virtue of your position insulate
[3:57:04] staff from. You know, it's our job to
[3:57:07] implement your policies. Um but you all
[3:57:10] take the heat um when those policies are
[3:57:13] implemented and you are bound by
[3:57:16] political considerations that we are not
[3:57:18] bound by. And so if you make if you as a
[3:57:21] select board make a decision I think it
[3:57:23] makes you know we we want to do X for
[3:57:25] these reasons. Um it can be any reasons
[3:57:28] it can be no reasons right you know our
[3:57:30] job is to respect that and to implement
[3:57:32] that. So we can offer our opinions and
[3:57:34] our advice and you know based on our our
[3:57:37] our expertise what we know um but you
[3:57:41] all have a broader universe to consider
[3:57:43] that is not always just you know does
[3:57:46] staff think it's a good idea and I
[3:57:48] really don't want us to be in that
[3:57:50] situation where oh well staff says it's
[3:57:52] a good idea so we should do it. I
[3:57:53] actually think we should be challenged
[3:57:55] and and and encouraged to think about
[3:57:58] the broader position, not just, you
[3:58:01] know, in our own boxes, you know, the
[3:58:03] day-to-day operation of the town. There
[3:58:05] are broader political considerations.
[3:58:07] And so, just to play that dark skies
[3:58:09] hypothetical out, I we come to you and
[3:58:12] we say, "Hey, there's a dark proposed
[3:58:14] dark skies bylaw. It would take a lot of
[3:58:15] time. We've never heard you say anything
[3:58:17] about it." Our recommendation would be
[3:58:20] don't you know focus on light pollution
[3:58:22] and your response could well be well
[3:58:25] wait a minute the community is telling
[3:58:27] us something and maybe we should refocus
[3:58:29] our attention on that. Um and okay so we
[3:58:32] are going to tell staff in this instance
[3:58:34] nope it makes sense for you to refocus
[3:58:36] your energy on this and we'll say great
[3:58:38] that's that's the that's the answer to
[3:58:40] the question. Um
[3:58:41] or or the answer may be to go to the
[3:58:44] petitioner and say, "Given the staff
[3:58:45] recommendation, would you consider X?"
[3:58:48] Right. Right. But I'm saying what I'm
[3:58:49] saying is I I don't want there to be a
[3:58:51] situation where we we um
[3:58:56] I I don't I don't want it to be a
[3:58:57] situation where staff just says, "Oh, we
[3:58:59] don't like it." And everyone says,
[3:59:00] "Okay, we accept that as gospel." Um
[3:59:02] there are political considerations and
[3:59:04] things and policy considerations that
[3:59:07] you all have to make. And so we're not
[3:59:10] we're not the be all and the end all
[3:59:11] here. You guys are. Um and so that's I I
[3:59:14] want to be very clear on what our
[3:59:16] responsibility is. It's to inform and
[3:59:18] provide as much information as possible
[3:59:20] for you to make informed decisions about
[3:59:22] what the priorities are.
[3:59:25] And I think that I think that the the
[3:59:27] the
[3:59:29] priority question that we're actually
[3:59:31] wrestling with right now is given this
[3:59:35] roadmap directive that we've
[3:59:38] established. Um and you know we we could
[3:59:42] through the course of this conversation
[3:59:44] realize that we made a mistake and like
[3:59:46] maybe we shouldn't be this is not a good
[3:59:49] use of staff time but I don't think we
[3:59:51] are there. Um
[3:59:54] and to and to say sort of and to
[3:59:58] establish what the process is and how
[4:00:00] much time we want to um commit of town
[4:00:05] staff towards this preliminary part of
[4:00:09] of the warrant article development
[4:00:12] process because as David said, you know,
[4:00:17] once the warrant article gets filed, you
[4:00:20] know, it's going to come before the
[4:00:22] select board, we're going to have a
[4:00:23] hearing. We're going to get feedback
[4:00:24] from staff anyway. So, so it's not
[4:00:28] really I mean that part of the process
[4:00:32] is is at least from my perspective not
[4:00:36] necessarily
[4:00:37] gerain to this goal. The purpose of this
[4:00:40] goal is to optimize
[4:00:44] our sort of the downstream processes as
[4:00:47] much as we can um with some fixed and
[4:00:51] potent and hopefully limited amount of
[4:00:53] effort on staff's part.
[4:00:56] So would uh in order to move this
[4:00:58] forward, could we take sort of what what
[4:01:01] Michael wrote and have a deadline
[4:01:05] six weeks ahead ahead of the closing of
[4:01:08] the warrant? I don't know what the how
[4:01:09] much ahead time to say if you would like
[4:01:12] to get staff input into
[4:01:15] uh a proposed warrant article submit it
[4:01:17] to whoever by this date. Um and then we
[4:01:21] set up a process by which staff will do
[4:01:24] some sort of highlevel analysis not a
[4:01:26] ton of staff time to inform a discussion
[4:01:29] of the select board as to how to handle
[4:01:31] them.
[4:01:31] Right. Yeah. I mean, we right we track
[4:01:33] warrant articles informally now, right?
[4:01:35] When when around the time that the
[4:01:37] warrant starts to open, we start we you
[4:01:39] know, every department head meeting, I
[4:01:41] come out and say, "All right, who's got
[4:01:42] something? You know, who's who's who's
[4:01:44] shown up? Who's who's who's going to
[4:01:45] who's talking about submitting a warrant
[4:01:47] article? What do you what do you hear?"
[4:01:49] Um, and we talk through it that way. I
[4:01:52] think formalizing that, you know, Frank,
[4:01:54] frankly, I can put together, you know, a
[4:01:56] shared spreadsheet that basically says,
[4:01:58] "All right, here's a, you know, we're
[4:02:01] going to keep this running tally and at
[4:02:03] a certain date, we're going to this will
[4:02:04] be the soft cutoff after which if things
[4:02:07] come in, we will continue to review and
[4:02:09] we will continue to list them, but we
[4:02:11] may not devote we may not have enough
[4:02:13] time to devote serious effort to it."
[4:02:15] And then we'll bring them to the select
[4:02:16] board. We'll say, "Here's what we've
[4:02:17] heard. Here's what we think the level of
[4:02:20] effort would be." Um, here's whether we
[4:02:22] think it could be accomplished via other
[4:02:24] means. Uh, and here's where and here's
[4:02:26] where we think it sits within your your
[4:02:28] stated priorities.
[4:02:29] That's perfect.
[4:02:29] Right.
[4:02:31] That's perfect.
[4:02:31] We can do that.
[4:02:32] I will just say this. Um, and then this
[4:02:34] is the last point I have on this
[4:02:35] conversation, but uh I I submitted a
[4:02:37] warn article one time and I was able to
[4:02:39] talk to Lincoln Heinman and town council
[4:02:41] about everything. You know what I mean?
[4:02:42] um that that that channel was open but I
[4:02:44] think it was only because I reached for
[4:02:46] it and I think it's not clear that you
[4:02:49] can reach for it which I think this
[4:02:50] would help solve.
[4:02:52] Yeah. I and you know this is a classic
[4:02:54] right you can you can lead a horse to
[4:02:56] water problem. Um there will be folks
[4:02:58] who just won't do it and that's fine
[4:03:00] that's life. Um, but I think opening the
[4:03:02] door and emphased
[4:03:09] and, you know, either they get a better
[4:03:11] warrant article out of it or they
[4:03:13] realize, oh, there's a better way of
[4:03:14] doing this. Um, or, you know, they hear
[4:03:17] from you that it's not a priority and
[4:03:19] they say, "Okay." Um, you know, those
[4:03:21] are all good outcomes. Um, so having
[4:03:24] that can help. Um,
[4:03:28] okay. So, as a matter of moving this
[4:03:32] forward, shall you and I work together,
[4:03:34] produce a new draft, and bring it to the
[4:03:37] group.
[4:03:37] Sounds great. Perfect.
[4:03:38] Um, I just have one question. Are we
[4:03:41] going to talk about the communication
[4:03:43] policy that was initially part of
[4:03:47] Would you like to um
[4:03:48] Why don't we Why don't [clears throat]
[4:03:49] we go ahead and do that now?
[4:03:51] So,
[4:03:52] I understand why it wasn't implemented.
[4:03:55] [laughter]
[4:03:56] Um,
[4:03:57] and why is that?
[4:03:59] Because
[4:03:59] I mean I have my ideas, but [laughter]
[4:04:02] it depends on what we think
[4:04:04] communication policy is. I was pulling
[4:04:06] up the list of things even in the last
[4:04:09] month that have come before us. Um, I'll
[4:04:14] just list a few of them. Um,
[4:04:17] one asking about municipal broadband,
[4:04:20] one re-evaluating the garden use of Lars
[4:04:22] Anderson, one discussing potential
[4:04:24] greater budget for Department of Public
[4:04:26] Health for food equity, another on
[4:04:29] pedestrian safety. A lot of the the
[4:04:31] emails and messages and calls we get are
[4:04:34] not requests for information. They are
[4:04:37] policy requests or trying to push the
[4:04:40] select board to do something in their
[4:04:42] favor. Um, and so if you set up a
[4:04:45] process by which
[4:04:47] whoever it gets filtered to one select
[4:04:50] board member, the best you can do is say
[4:04:53] interesting information. We're hearing
[4:04:55] this at this time or maybe go to this
[4:04:57] planning board hearing, but it's not
[4:04:59] like we can give a satisfying answer.
[4:05:02] Our role is to hear the concerns and
[4:05:04] then decide what to do about it. Um, I
[4:05:08] think requests for information are
[4:05:10] probably the one area that the select
[4:05:13] board could have a better policy on. Uh,
[4:05:15] going back to Anony's point that people
[4:05:18] don't always know uh how to get
[4:05:20] information. Um, and so if they are
[4:05:23] looking for information, that is one
[4:05:25] area where uh one of us and it probably
[4:05:28] could be as simple as a rotation could
[4:05:30] figure out the right staff person and
[4:05:32] connect them. Um, but in the the
[4:05:34] weighing in on policy, I don't really
[4:05:36] know what we're hoping to accomplish.
[4:05:38] Um, and therefore that's a lot of work
[4:05:41] that you can't really fulfill the
[4:05:43] answers that they're looking for.
[4:05:44] Are we really talk [clears throat]
[4:05:46] talking about situations where people
[4:05:48] ask us to weigh in on policy? Or are we
[4:05:52] talking about the typical question we
[4:05:54] get about, you know, why is my road not
[4:05:57] uh um paved or or whatever?
[4:05:59] Why is my fence getting knocked over in
[4:06:01] the winter?
[4:06:01] Right.
[4:06:03] [laughter] Right. And and those are
[4:06:05] things I mean we get a lot of those
[4:06:06] questions and and the problem that we're
[4:06:08] that you know we were concerned with
[4:06:10] when this first came up was many of
[4:06:12] those questions were just not being
[4:06:14] answered and people were
[4:06:17] they didn't like the fact that we
[4:06:18] weren't answering them. It was so easy
[4:06:20] to you set up a procedure whereby those
[4:06:24] questions are answered. People are given
[4:06:26] direction as to who to talk to
[4:06:28] [clears throat] um you what we what
[4:06:29] we're doing etc. I I think something
[4:06:31] else Amanda has I identified is that
[4:06:33] there is such a broad array of subjects
[4:06:37] with which people reach out to us. It
[4:06:39] [clears throat] doesn't really fall
[4:06:41] neatly into categories of who is a
[4:06:42] liaison on what or who is heading what
[4:06:46] subcommittee. The examples you gave. I
[4:06:49] mean I suppose the public health one I'm
[4:06:51] the public health liaison but it's not
[4:06:53] super clear and so we probably do need a
[4:06:56] different method for ensuring that
[4:06:57] everyone receives a response. Um, this
[4:06:59] is
[4:07:01] I don't know how popular this is going
[4:07:02] to be, but this is like if we were to
[4:07:04] have like a better communication
[4:07:05] strategy and we're trying to funnel the
[4:07:07] right questions to the right people as
[4:07:08] fast as possible. That's like the
[4:07:11] perfect use of an AI chatbot that
[4:07:13] immediately directs your question, reads
[4:07:16] the policies of who's the liaison to
[4:07:18] what, what departments handle what,
[4:07:20] reads those things, knows what they do,
[4:07:22] and then when a question comes in,
[4:07:24] immediately directs you to the person
[4:07:26] that leads that. That's like the perfect
[4:07:27] example of a chatbot and I think we
[4:07:29] should explore that.
[4:07:32] I will say there are a number of vendors
[4:07:34] out there who have approached us about
[4:07:36] putting a chatbot on the website. We
[4:07:38] have seen other municipalities do it. Um
[4:07:41] I you know this is great. Charlie Young
[4:07:43] is our AI advocate and I'm the AI
[4:07:45] skeptic in the office. So we just it's
[4:07:46] two two guys named Charles. [laughter]
[4:07:50] Um and so um I'm I I'm I'm I've been
[4:07:55] sufficiently convinced that that is
[4:07:56] something we can explore further.
[4:07:58] I would love to see the cost on that.
[4:08:00] Yeah. So we can definitely take a look
[4:08:01] at that if that's something the board is
[4:08:02] interested in
[4:08:03] for communities that have been uh
[4:08:05] adopters of this. I know it's very early
[4:08:07] but what's the initial feedback?
[4:08:09] Seems to be positive so far. Um we're
[4:08:11] reaching out. We're doing a little more
[4:08:12] research. Um I you know again I think
[4:08:14] Fun and her team have been really great
[4:08:15] on this. they they're really interested
[4:08:17] in the technology, but they're going
[4:08:18] about it in a very deliberate and and
[4:08:21] careful way. So,
[4:08:22] um it's kind of the best of all worlds.
[4:08:24] Um so, we will get more information for
[4:08:27] you on that and and and come back to
[4:08:29] you.
[4:08:30] And I'll also say just from a
[4:08:31] professional perspective, I implemented
[4:08:33] one of these at a company. It works. It
[4:08:35] works awesome. It works really well.
[4:08:38] Yeah. It's funny. I I uh you know I'm
[4:08:41] dating myself but I I that narrow band
[4:08:44] of people that know what six sigma is.
[4:08:46] Do you know what six sigma is?
[4:08:47] No. Yeah. See Michael does. You
[4:08:49] I don't. [laughter]
[4:08:51] Um it was it's now a very disfavored
[4:08:54] process. Um but it used to be this idea
[4:08:57] that you really want to build your
[4:08:59] processes out to six standard deviations
[4:09:01] as opposed to three or two or whatever
[4:09:04] because the margin of you know you want
[4:09:06] to you want to set a high standard with
[4:09:08] low margin of error and the example I
[4:09:10] gave to Charlie was I don't want the
[4:09:13] what happened to Chipotle which is their
[4:09:14] chatbot was used to write to weaponize
[4:09:16] and write malicious code. So, you know,
[4:09:20] the the potential for harm with AI is so
[4:09:23] high and the potential for
[4:09:25] um right error causing serious harm can
[4:09:29] be high. And so, I really want us to be
[4:09:31] I don't want us to be six sigma because
[4:09:33] I think that leads to um unnecessary
[4:09:35] caution and uh poor results. But I want
[4:09:38] us to be um four sigma. [laughter]
[4:09:42] The other thing is people really want to
[4:09:44] talk to a person.
[4:09:45] Yeah.
[4:09:45] Yes. That too.
[4:09:46] And and especially when that person on
[4:09:48] the select board.
[4:09:49] Totally. And the chatbot, the way that
[4:09:51] I'm thinking about it, just off the top
[4:09:52] of my head, is very much like a like a
[4:09:54] funnel, not going to answer your
[4:09:56] questions, but more of a this is the
[4:09:57] person we're sending your message to
[4:09:59] who's going to answer your question as
[4:10:00] soon as possible.
[4:10:01] Right? Our goal is to have a a no wrong
[4:10:03] door policy, right? This idea that
[4:10:05] someone gets shuttled around from
[4:10:06] department to department. They are going
[4:10:08] up and down the stairs and town hall.
[4:10:09] They get more and more frustrated. Our
[4:10:11] goal is really when someone walks in the
[4:10:13] door of this office, you know, Melanie
[4:10:14] and Michelle and Nicole and the whole
[4:10:16] team here really do a good job. and Kate
[4:10:18] and everybody of saying, you know, what
[4:10:20] do you what do you how can we help you?
[4:10:22] Not, you know, you you really need to go
[4:10:24] to the fourth floor. Sometimes you do,
[4:10:25] but you know, wherever we can, we could
[4:10:27] be helpful to them.
[4:10:29] Well, I I guess what you're describing,
[4:10:33] Anthony, is is consistent with my own
[4:10:36] thinking is that the category of
[4:10:40] questions that can be that can be
[4:10:42] addressed this way, which is a subset of
[4:10:44] of what you laid out at the beginning,
[4:10:47] Amanda. Um, you know, it shouldn't
[4:10:51] actually I'm not sure it should actually
[4:10:52] be a select board role because those
[4:10:57] question That set of questions sort of
[4:10:59] by definition should be attributable or
[4:11:03] directable to some staff function that
[4:11:08] we have plans and processes for handling
[4:11:11] them. Whether it's, you know, dealing
[4:11:14] with your fence that's been hitting my
[4:11:16] snow plows, which I think would be a DPW
[4:11:19] issue or, you know, putting in a request
[4:11:22] for traffic calming or, you know,
[4:11:27] how do how do we get how do we fun to
[4:11:30] the extent that your question or your
[4:11:32] interest can be funneled into a town
[4:11:34] process that we have, then we should be
[4:11:37] able to
[4:11:40] apolitically
[4:11:42] funnel into that process. But to the
[4:11:44] extent that people are doing advocacy,
[4:11:46] you know, none of this is going to be
[4:11:49] helpful.
[4:11:49] I will also just add to based on
[4:11:51] Bernard's Bernard's point, sometimes
[4:11:53] they email you because they have gotten
[4:11:55] a response from town staff and they
[4:11:56] don't like it. Um, and sometimes they
[4:11:58] pretend that they haven't gotten a
[4:11:59] response and they email you in the hopes
[4:12:01] that they will be getting a different
[4:12:02] response. It's like going to dad when
[4:12:03] you don't like mom's answer. Um,
[4:12:05] yes.
[4:12:06] So that and that that does happen. Um,
[4:12:09] it happens a lot. Um, and when and when
[4:12:11] that happens, you know, what they're
[4:12:13] looking for from you is not please talk
[4:12:15] to this person. They already have talked
[4:12:17] to that person. They're looking for you
[4:12:18] to tell that person, hey, I'm the select
[4:12:20] board and you have to do what I say. Um,
[4:12:22] and we don't do that here. And that can
[4:12:24] be frustrating to them. So, I think
[4:12:26] setting that expectation is an important
[4:12:28] thing, too, of being like, if you've
[4:12:30] talked to staff and staff have explained
[4:12:33] why we're doing this, then going to the
[4:12:36] select board and asking for the rules to
[4:12:38] change
[4:12:40] It's not often the right way to go about
[4:12:42] it.
[4:12:44] My typical response when I've
[4:12:45] experienced that kind of thing is
[4:12:49] actually you're not asking for your
[4:12:50] problem to be solved. You're asking for
[4:12:52] a policy change and then you've just
[4:12:55] moved into, you know, that set of right
[4:12:58] of buckets,
[4:12:59] right?
[4:13:00] Yeah.
[4:13:03] I like uh last thing is I I liked
[4:13:05] Amanda's idea of of like saying six
[4:13:08] weeks before deadline of warrant,
[4:13:14] but we'll we'll work that out.
[4:13:16] Yeah. Yeah. to your to your point though
[4:13:17] Amanda of you know this this policy um
[4:13:21] is there can we can we work are you
[4:13:24] willing to kind of take a crack at at
[4:13:26] something different something you know
[4:13:27] we can look at the chatbot idea because
[4:13:30] I think that is but for that subset of
[4:13:32] things that is not
[4:13:33] routing totally not the apolitical sort
[4:13:35] of you know find the right door um
[4:13:38] right I mean that I I would be happy to
[4:13:40] work with it but it's unclear that
[4:13:42] there's even a consensus on like some of
[4:13:45] a lot of it is advocacy Right. Or like
[4:13:47] one of the emails was on traffic
[4:13:49] enforcement and that I've gotten in
[4:13:51] person a number of times too, right?
[4:13:53] Like that is not something that
[4:13:54] immediately an individual select board
[4:13:57] member can fix.
[4:13:59] We could discuss policy changes. And so
[4:14:01] I'm like not sure
[4:14:04] what the board's ideal situation is for
[4:14:08] essentially public comment or email that
[4:14:11] is advocating for something.
[4:14:17] Well, if it's advocacy related are and
[4:14:20] it's coming to all five of us, I suppose
[4:14:24] we can each give our own answer as long
[4:14:26] as we're not copying everybody else on
[4:14:28] it. Uh because you're right, a lot of
[4:14:30] these advocacy questions don't neatly
[4:14:33] fall into a particular bucket. And even
[4:14:34] if it does, we each have our opinions.
[4:14:37] And sometimes a subset of us might be
[4:14:41] emailed, not necessarily all of us.
[4:14:44] Lately, I'm getting a lot of uh emails
[4:14:46] regarding
[4:14:48] uh [clears throat]
[4:14:49] political speech on public property.
[4:14:51] Quite a few. I'm not sure why I'm
[4:14:53] getting those, but I'm I'm being
[4:14:55] responsive to it.
[4:14:57] So, advocacy then the policy is
[4:15:00] essentially that individual members can
[4:15:03] respond as they see fit. Um
[4:15:07] and that basically encompasses
[4:15:12] everything that is not here is a
[4:15:14] specific issue I'm having. Maybe we do a
[4:15:17] chatbot. Maybe we have something in the
[4:15:19] interim
[4:15:20] that says um
[4:15:24] it seems like outside of your home there
[4:15:28] might be a need for traffic coming. This
[4:15:30] is the polic this is who you need to
[4:15:32] talk to to make this happen.
[4:15:33] Um and I don't know if we think that is
[4:15:36] the job of the select board and
[4:15:37] therefore we want a policy that does
[4:15:39] that. Um, or do we think that is more
[4:15:44] I don't know who else that would be
[4:15:46] because we're going to be the ones
[4:15:47] getting the contact.
[4:15:49] It may not be the the job of the select
[4:15:51] board, but the job that the people want
[4:15:52] us to to to do
[4:15:54] and and we have to respect that. And
[4:15:56] even when someone's trying to lobby us,
[4:15:58] we can just say, well, you know, you're
[4:16:00] trying to lobby me, you know, here's how
[4:16:03] you get, you know, get what you want. is
[4:16:06] not by getting me to
[4:16:08] be lobbyed and then lobby the uh the
[4:16:11] staff. I I guess I don't see what you
[4:16:14] know the problem is that that uh you
[4:16:16] have with the way it's set up.
[4:16:18] So
[4:16:19] what would be your ideal workflow of
[4:16:23] emails that go to the select board at
[4:16:26] large
[4:16:28] workflow?
[4:16:29] because right now this
[4:16:30] go through Melanie who I mean under this
[4:16:33] policy Melanie would send out an email
[4:16:36] saying you know we received your um your
[4:16:39] question and you tell them what the
[4:16:43] process is for getting an answer and and
[4:16:46] then assign it to a select board member
[4:16:48] who could either answer the question or
[4:16:50] tell the person that this is an
[4:16:52] inappropriate uh attempt to you know
[4:16:55] lobby us to do something that uh we we
[4:16:57] shouldn't be
[4:16:59] for example.
[4:17:01] So then we're essentially rounding
[4:17:03] because most of them don't fall neatly
[4:17:04] in like you head up the vision zero now
[4:17:08] defunct committee, right? Um a lot of
[4:17:12] them don't fall into an individual
[4:17:15] bucket and so then are we putting on
[4:17:17] Melanie shoulders to just randomly
[4:17:21] assign a Slack board member?
[4:17:23] But how often does that really happen?
[4:17:24] It seems that people either write to all
[4:17:27] five of us to begin with or they choose
[4:17:31] among us one or two of us for whatever
[4:17:32] reason and we're the only ones receiving
[4:17:34] it. So I I mean I guess that's more a
[4:17:37] question for Melanie. Are you already
[4:17:39] routing a lot of emails or are they
[4:17:41] already written in such a way that it's
[4:17:43] either to all five of us or to some
[4:17:45] subset of us?
[4:17:46] So we get a lot of emails to the select
[4:17:48] board email address. Um, there is an
[4:17:51] automatic response that gets sends out
[4:17:52] sent out to those emails. Kate is the
[4:17:55] one that funnels them and puts them in
[4:17:57] yourformational packet if it's something
[4:17:59] she wants you guys to take a look at.
[4:18:01] Just an FYI. Sometimes we forward it to
[4:18:05] department heads that might be able to
[4:18:06] answer it better than we can. Um, but
[4:18:11] Kate is actually the one that funnels a
[4:18:13] lot of those.
[4:18:15] I'm not sure we need to change that
[4:18:17] process.
[4:18:17] Right. To me, I'm not quite sure what
[4:18:19] the problem is we're trying to solve,
[4:18:21] unless it's people not getting a
[4:18:24] response at all.
[4:18:25] That's that's what this was initially
[4:18:27] targeting. It was there was a subset of
[4:18:29] emails that was going to select board at
[4:18:30] proclaman.gov
[4:18:32] that was not getting that we would put
[4:18:35] in your packets and then there was there
[4:18:37] was sort of a collective action problem,
[4:18:38] right? All five of you would look at it.
[4:18:40] All five of you would say, "Yep, okay,
[4:18:42] someone surely will respond to that."
[4:18:44] Um, and then nobody responded to it. Um,
[4:18:47] and so that's that's the narrow subset
[4:18:51] of emails that we were trying to
[4:18:52] address.
[4:18:53] So,
[4:18:55] but all of those people presumably got
[4:18:57] the automated response.
[4:18:59] Yes.
[4:19:01] The automated, you know, what they were
[4:19:02] what they were looking for is that
[4:19:04] second touch point, right? The that some
[4:19:06] that a person to, you know, that a
[4:19:08] person read it and is has issued a
[4:19:11] response to it.
[4:19:15] Maybe maybe we should be more clear in
[4:19:18] the automated response as to whether or
[4:19:21] not they will receive such an email.
[4:19:25] Well, I think people in the community
[4:19:27] generally are going to want to have some
[4:19:29] kind of personalized response. And as we
[4:19:32] discussed at the workshop, school
[4:19:34] committee handles this by just each
[4:19:36] member takes a turn for a week. Uh and
[4:19:39] it might be a generic response, but
[4:19:40] still it's going to have some kind of
[4:19:42] personal touch and people tend to
[4:19:44] appreciate that. So, that's something
[4:19:46] that we might adopt. But then again,
[4:19:48] we're not going to know whether someone
[4:19:50] else already responded, but if they get
[4:19:52] more than one response, I'm not sure
[4:19:54] they would necessarily be unhappy about
[4:19:56] that.
[4:19:58] Right. Well, because the the emails that
[4:20:00] go to the select or email address, they
[4:20:02] don't come to our individual email
[4:20:03] addresses. They just end up in the
[4:20:05] information packet and then you sort of
[4:20:06] like click through them oneonone. Um, so
[4:20:09] it's like not the the most
[4:20:11] straightforward to respond to either.
[4:20:13] Um, like you can, but you have to jump
[4:20:16] through some hoops,
[4:20:17] right? I mean, we could certainly set up
[4:20:18] a rule that routes them directly to your
[4:20:20] inboxes. Or we could set or we could set
[4:20:22] up a rule that if to David's point, we
[4:20:24] could have a rotation and we could set
[4:20:26] up a rule that every week it just
[4:20:28] rotates a member and says, "All right,
[4:20:29] you're on you're on duty this week. You
[4:20:31] will get everything that's sent to
[4:20:33] select board at but and we'll still put
[4:20:34] it in theformational packet so that
[4:20:36] everyone else can see it." But there's
[4:20:38] an expectation that that person will be
[4:20:39] responding to those emails for that week
[4:20:41] to the extent that a response is
[4:20:42] necessary.
[4:20:43] I think I think I would ask for two
[4:20:45] things. Number one, I would ask that
[4:20:48] they all be routed to me. You know,
[4:20:53] you guys can make your own decisions. Um
[4:20:56] that they would
[4:20:58] sure I would ask number one that they
[4:21:00] all be routed to me and number two that
[4:21:02] I be able to set up a rule for my
[4:21:05] brooklinemma.gov gov account that puts
[4:21:08] them all in a special folder so that I
[4:21:10] can identify them independently of my
[4:21:14] inbox
[4:21:16] and then
[4:21:18] I would choose to handle them or not.
[4:21:20] I agree
[4:21:21] that can be done. Um I actually think
[4:21:23] that this was set up and in in the true
[4:21:26] everything old is new again. I think
[4:21:27] this was probably set up because the
[4:21:28] board complained that we were forwarding
[4:21:30] everything to their mailboxes.
[4:21:31] That's so funny.
[4:21:31] Um
[4:21:32] but that's why you need the the second
[4:21:34] right rule.
[4:21:35] Yes. the the the the routing the filter,
[4:21:39] right?
[4:21:40] Every story has already been written.
[4:21:42] Yes. Uh
[4:21:46] okay,
[4:21:47] cool.
[4:21:47] I think that would be helpful because to
[4:21:49] Amanda's point about the additional
[4:21:50] steps in looking at the emails that go
[4:21:54] to all five of us. I think there's some
[4:21:55] that I miss and then I'll get an angry
[4:21:57] phone call and see you like three times
[4:22:00] what's going on and I look through my
[4:22:01] email and I'm not finding it. uh and
[4:22:04] then eventually I do see it and so that
[4:22:05] would avoid that problem.
[4:22:06] So we will set up an automatic rule that
[4:22:08] routes them um and we will work with it
[4:22:10] to figure out a method that works best
[4:22:13] for all of you because you may have
[4:22:14] different rules that you want to follow
[4:22:16] in terms of you know sorting them and so
[4:22:18] forth uh mail sort rules. So we will
[4:22:21] figure out a way to make that work
[4:22:22] depending on your individual
[4:22:24] preferences. But we will kick things off
[4:22:27] by by routing email that goes to select
[4:22:31] board.gov
[4:22:33] to each of you.
[4:22:34] No, no,
[4:22:35] not yet.
[4:22:36] Don't do that before you set up the
[4:22:37] other one. Otherwise, we'll get
[4:22:39] overwhelmed and then it will be worse.
[4:22:40] Okay.
[4:22:42] What? We would be overwhelmed. I mean,
[4:22:44] how many emails do we get?
[4:22:45] You get less than you used to. Um, but
[4:22:47] you do get you do you do get a fair
[4:22:49] amount. the the the the reason is
[4:22:52] because because
[4:22:56] it you know there there are times when
[4:22:59] it takes a takes a little more time to
[4:23:01] get back to people because there are
[4:23:03] other things going on and so it's
[4:23:06] important that that set of emails be
[4:23:09] segregated from the normal stream of our
[4:23:12] inbox so that we can process them
[4:23:15] separately.
[4:23:17] And if they're not, then they're just as
[4:23:20] they're almost as likely to be lost or
[4:23:23] ignored or skipped over or whatever.
[4:23:26] I agree with Michael that organizing it
[4:23:28] in that manner would be helpful. Uh when
[4:23:31] I served on school committee, we had
[4:23:32] everything forwarded to us and that
[4:23:34] creates sort of the opposite problem of
[4:23:37] you end up losing in that stream some of
[4:23:40] the really critical emails. And I don't
[4:23:41] say that to put down
[4:23:43] other categories of emails, but
[4:23:45] sometimes you get sort of those chain
[4:23:47] letter emails that are almost all the
[4:23:48] same. And and in that volume, you kind
[4:23:52] of lose what you really needed to
[4:23:53] address in that moment.
[4:23:57] Yep.
[4:23:57] I will say I I don't think we're I just
[4:23:59] want to set expectations. I don't think
[4:24:00] the system is sophisticated enough to be
[4:24:03] able to filter out
[4:24:06] without manual intervention some of
[4:24:08] that. But you get you get less of that
[4:24:10] than the school committee does. Um it
[4:24:12] really is only when big policy issues
[4:24:14] come up that we start to see chain
[4:24:15] letters. Um
[4:24:17] but we should it shouldn't be that hard
[4:24:18] to set up a filter that says everything
[4:24:20] by select board select board at
[4:24:24] Brooklynmma.gov goes to a folder.
[4:24:26] That's like
[4:24:27] Yes. Yes. Yeah. I'm just want to set
[4:24:28] right be beyond that, right? We we will
[4:24:32] try and give you permissions to be able
[4:24:33] to customize that as you see fit.
[4:24:35] Okay.
[4:24:35] Perfect.
[4:24:36] That's fine.
[4:24:38] All right. Any further discussion?
[4:24:40] I have one question. How can I go about
[4:24:42] adding something to the agenda? I've
[4:24:44] never done that before. Can I bring up a
[4:24:45] topic I want to talk about next week
[4:24:47] now?
[4:24:47] Yes. So, so yeah, and you can also
[4:24:50] always email David or Michael and
[4:24:52] Michael. Um, and you know, usually what
[4:24:56] happens is the there's never the the
[4:24:59] board almost always by consensus says,
[4:25:03] "Yeah, whatever whatever an individual
[4:25:05] member wants to put on the agenda, we'll
[4:25:06] put on the agenda." It may not be the
[4:25:08] following week because there may be a
[4:25:09] lot going on, but they'll add it to the
[4:25:11] list and it will be on at a certain
[4:25:13] time.
[4:25:13] Okay. um you um if for some reason
[4:25:17] there's some dispute, if the board is
[4:25:18] not in alignment, if the chair doesn't
[4:25:21] want to put it on, then what we do is we
[4:25:23] put on an agenda item at the end of the
[4:25:25] agenda that says future business, and
[4:25:27] that's the opportunity for the board to
[4:25:29] discuss something for the future that
[4:25:31] they want to put on. So I would say
[4:25:32] okay
[4:25:33] this under the stickler's rules if you
[4:25:36] just email David Michael Melanie and me
[4:25:39] we will we will when we talk about it in
[4:25:42] the agenda setting meeting we'll find a
[4:25:43] slot for it and if for some reason
[4:25:45] there's a problem we'll put it on as and
[4:25:47] again I've this has happened once in the
[4:25:48] three and a half years that I've been
[4:25:49] here um we'll put on a future business
[4:25:51] item and you can bring it up to the full
[4:25:53] board and say hey I want to talk about
[4:25:54] this can we please put it on an agenda.
[4:25:56] Got it. Okay.
[4:25:59] Anyone else?
[4:26:01] All right. Then with that, I will
[4:26:03] I will just note for open meeting laws,
[4:26:06] I don't think David or I would respond
[4:26:08] to you right directly in any way other
[4:26:11] than
[4:26:12] talk with Chaz and staff to put it on
[4:26:15] the agenda.
[4:26:15] Right. I won't take it personally.
[4:26:17] Yep.
[4:26:18] All right. So, I'll get another
[4:26:20] opportunity for public comment if anyone
[4:26:22] wants to be heard. Go ahead.
[4:26:30] Hi. Yes. Regina Frolley from South
[4:26:32] Brooklyn Precinct 16. Um, can you tell
[4:26:35] me,
[4:26:38] Hang on, there's a lot of feedback now.
[4:26:41] Um, I heard earlier that there's a um
[4:26:46] person who might be Erin who's in charge
[4:26:48] of something to do with surveys.
[4:26:52] Surveys. Uh when my street was done and
[4:26:55] the sidewalk was done, um a problem that
[4:26:58] a neighbor, one of my abutters had had
[4:27:02] without a permit, the town did it for
[4:27:04] them. They widened the um uh curb cut
[4:27:09] and that has unbeknownsted to us
[4:27:11] initially has created a lot of problems.
[4:27:15] So, when they did the sidewalk, um, I I
[4:27:19] paid for the survey, $2,700 in order to
[4:27:22] put a sheh shed in my backyard, and I
[4:27:25] was supervised. I had a permit, etc.,
[4:27:27] etc. And Dan Bennett came and told me I
[4:27:30] had to go down even deeper and dig. I
[4:27:32] mean, it did everything right, but it
[4:27:35] put a survey marker 22 inches into my
[4:27:39] neighbor's driveway.
[4:27:42] Since the sidewalk was redone, the
[4:27:46] markers missing and now it's more like
[4:27:48] 30 in. Um, I need three of my survey
[4:27:53] markers are still accurate, but that one
[4:27:55] isn't any longer. Who's going to be in
[4:27:57] charge of that and help me remedy that
[4:28:00] situation? and I shouldn't have to pay
[4:28:01] another $2,700 for it.
[4:28:06] It's understandable that it happened
[4:28:08] because it was a new sidewalk, but it
[4:28:10] still has created a problem for me.
[4:28:12] You know, I don't know off the top of my
[4:28:14] head who's I'm sorry. Yeah,
[4:28:16] I know. It's okay. I don't know off the
[4:28:18] top of my head who who within the
[4:28:20] department is responsible for that, but
[4:28:22] we will look into that and I'll email
[4:28:23] you later this week.
[4:28:24] Please.
[4:28:24] Yep.
[4:28:25] Thank you.
[4:28:26] You're welcome.
[4:28:29] Anyone else? Anyone online?
[4:28:32] Seeing none, that concludes our meeting
[4:28:34] for tonight.
[4:28:57] [music]