tap to load the tape · nothing plays until you doDuring the Brookline Select Board meeting on March 31, 2026, a variety of topics were discussed, including updates on local activities and facilities, the importance of public health initiatives, and community services for seniors. The board addressed ongoing projects related to Fisher Hill, environmental concerns, and outreach for a ballot question regarding local funding initiatives. They emphasized the need for better communication strategies in the town and discussed funding opportunities related to public health and community services. The board also highlighted the significance of upcoming events to honor September 11, 2001. These discussions and decisions can be referenced in the transcript, notably around [16:13], [51:32], [108:36], [150:34], and [239:19].
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4:50 Hey.
9:10 Good evening. I'm Bernard Green, chair
9:12 of the Brooklyn Select Board, and this
9:14 is the regular meeting of the select
9:16 board for March 31st,
9:19 2026.
9:21 Let's start off with some announcements
9:23 or updates from the select board. And
9:25 let me start by saying that the uh Fiser
9:29 Hill well on February 26, Marilyn
9:31 Tessle, who is a member of the Fiser
9:34 Hill advisory committee um and a
9:36 commercial banker with an MBA in finance
9:39 and marketing um had to resign because
9:42 of conflicts with her uh uh business uh
9:46 activity. So the uh committee is uh
9:49 putting out a uh a notice uh to solicit
9:54 applicants for uh this position that is
9:57 open on the Fiser Hill West uses
10:00 advisory commit committee, excuse me. Um
10:06 and uh it'll be advertised in the usual
10:08 places, but I just want to announce the
10:11 uh opening. So if anyone in the audience
10:14 would like to apply for uh this uh
10:17 committee uh they should go to our web
10:19 page and fill out the application form
10:22 there. Uh the committee does require
10:24 someone with a similar background to
10:27 Marilyn Tessle um you know commercial
10:29 banking or finance background um and um
10:35 you know we look forward to uh seeing
10:38 your applications. We have one
10:39 application already, George Cole, um who
10:42 applied last week or a couple weeks ago.
10:45 So, we're looking for others.
10:47 Can I ask a quick question about that?
10:48 Thanks for announcing that. Actually, I
10:49 think it's a great idea to um ask the
10:52 community to participate.
10:53 Um was the original application did it
10:56 have any specific requirements for
10:57 people? Yes,
10:58 they there was actually skill sets that
11:00 the committee was looking for. Okay,
11:02 great.
11:05 Okay. Any other updates, announcements?
11:10 Is that your hand or are you pointing to
11:12 my
11:12 No, no, no. That was my thumbs up.
11:16 Thank you. Um,
11:19 I want to say one of the things that uh
11:21 I think all of us enjoy the most about
11:23 Brooklyn is that there's an
11:24 extraordinary number of volunteers who
11:26 do various activities that involve, you
11:29 know, fundraising for good causes. And u
11:32 it was a pleasure to um have be invited
11:36 to take part in one of those. Uh just
11:39 this past week, uh the Brooklyn
11:40 Education Foundation, which is marking
11:42 its 45th year in Brooklyn, quite an
11:45 extraordinary record. Um they have an
11:47 event, an an annual event uh that is a
11:52 sort of a ti trivia bee, a trivia
11:54 contest. And um they bunch of teams with
11:58 um adults who um happen to be pretty
12:01 pretty darn good at at trivia. I don't
12:03 know if any of them have ever been on
12:04 Jeopardy, but um they filled the room uh
12:08 at uh 22 Tapen Street. Um good time was
12:12 had by all uh and I was um ve very uh
12:18 grateful to have been asked to sit in on
12:21 the the team of adults from the Baker
12:24 School District. And um turns out this
12:27 was a pretty darn good team. Came in
12:30 third. Um, and I'm just going to tease
12:33 people a little bit with uh two of the
12:35 outstanding trivia questions from the
12:37 evening. And I'm not going to give away
12:39 the answers. And one of them was, this
12:41 was the one that sort of stumped just
12:42 about everybody in the room. Name the
12:45 person who in 2022
12:47 had the set the record all-time record
12:51 for the number of um Instagram uh hits.
12:56 And in the same year um uh holds the
13:00 third place record for the number of
13:03 Instagram hits. And in this um third
13:07 place recognition, this particular
13:09 person happened to have been push put a
13:12 photograph on Instagram of of the person
13:15 uh in bed. So uh think think about that
13:18 for a minute. See if you think can can
13:20 come up with the answer that most of us
13:22 trivia experts couldn't come up with. Um
13:25 and uh the other one which I was a
13:27 little personally embarrassed to to not
13:29 have been helpful with uh is there's an
13:32 instrument from the 15th century called
13:34 a sackbutt. And uh what is that
13:36 instrument known as today? So I won't
13:39 tell you that answer either but think
13:40 about that one for a minute. Um and then
13:42 here's u just to mention one other
13:44 organization very very worthy very worth
13:47 worthy cause. Um here here's kind of a
13:50 third trivia question. Which member of
13:52 the select board would you guess has run
13:54 a marathon? And um if you email me, I'll
13:58 share that answer with you too. And um
14:02 the reason I bring that up is the reason
14:03 I bring that up. Oh, somebody is
14:05 smiling. I wonder why. Um, I bring it up
14:08 because it's the season of Team
14:10 Brooklyn, which is um, uh, represents
14:13 several of the, uh, nonprofits that do
14:16 very, very good work in Brooklyn, and
14:18 they combine, uh, behind what this is,
14:21 what we call Team Brookline to recruit
14:24 runners to uh, run the marathon uh, and
14:28 raise money for various of the Team
14:31 Brookline participating uh, charities,
14:34 nonprofits. Um, the one I'm most
14:37 familiar with and and the sort of
14:38 organizer of the team is the Brooklyn
14:41 Center for Community Mental Health, but
14:43 there's, I think, at least four others,
14:45 maybe five or six others, uh, that are
14:48 represented. And if you just do a search
14:51 of for team Brookline, you'll get all of
14:54 the information you need. And hopefully
14:56 you will be so inspired you will decide
14:59 to choose, you know, which of the
15:01 constituent um charities and which of
15:03 the runners you want to help meet their
15:06 goal. And they have ambitious goals. I'm
15:09 talking, you know, like $5,000 and more
15:11 of fundraising per individual. So, uh
15:15 they they should they definitely are
15:17 doing a lot of good work for Brooklyn
15:18 and they could use support. So check out
15:20 team Brooklyn because um by marathon day
15:24 all of this will culminate in team
15:27 Brooklyn members running the marathon.
15:32 also like to mention that today is
15:35 International Transgender Day of
15:37 Visibility
15:39 which uh is an annual event that
15:41 celebrates transgender people raising
15:44 awareness for discrimination that is
15:46 faced by them and also acknowledging
15:49 their contribution to society.
15:52 Thank you.
15:55 No one else. Okay, let's move on to
15:57 public comment.
15:59 Melanie, please introduce our public
16:02 comment with the rules of engagement.
16:05 Sure.
16:06 Thank you for joining us for public
16:07 comment. This is an opportunity for us
16:09 to hear your perspective on the issues
16:11 in Brooklyn that matter to you. Each
16:13 person speaking tonight is limited to
16:15 three minutes. You don't need to use the
16:18 entire time, but you may if you like.
16:20 Once 15 minutes has been met, there is
16:22 an opportunity at the conclusion of the
16:23 select board's business for additional
16:25 comments. Members of the public
16:27 sometimes raise questions during public
16:29 comment. We may be able to provide a
16:31 quick answer to a question, but are more
16:33 likely to work with staff to get a more
16:35 thorough answer and respond over email.
16:37 The onscreen timer will flash orange
16:39 when you have 30 seconds remaining and
16:41 red when your time is nearly up. Please
16:43 conclude your remarks at that time. If
16:46 you have more to say, you are welcome to
16:48 send an email to board members
16:49 expressing your thoughts in greater
16:50 detail. Any person wishing to speak must
16:53 begin their comment by identifying
16:55 themselves with their full name, either
16:57 their Brooklyn precinct number or street
16:59 address, and the specific topic on which
17:01 they wish to speak. The board encourages
17:04 does not but does not require that
17:05 remote users turn their video on when
17:07 commenting.
17:10 We have two people that signed up prior.
17:15 And Lusk is first.
18:07 Everyone should have my speaking points
18:09 and the additional two-page text. Am I
18:14 three minutes started? Yep.
18:15 Now.
18:16 Now. Okay. Now. Okay. I'm Ann Lusk, 18
18:19 Hart Street, precinct 5. I'm here to
18:21 speak about the pool RFP and including
18:25 Lars Anderson and parking in the Walled
18:27 Garden area. Not just a token mention,
18:30 but a viable location for a pool and
18:32 parking. In 1874, the town created the
18:36 stable at 235 Cypress that sat on one
18:40 and a half acres. This was Brookline's
18:42 Department of Public Works yard.
18:45 Two. In 1948, Isabella Anderson gave her
18:49 64 acres to the residents of Brooklyn
18:52 for recreation. A plaque reads,
18:55 "Bequeath to the citizens of the town of
18:58 Brooklyn for their enjoyment." This land
19:01 was not given to the town, but given to
19:03 the citizens. Three. In 1950, the
19:07 Department of Works on Cyprus started
19:09 moving operations from their small one
19:12 and a halfacre gated and walled town
19:14 garage to the 3.6 gated and walled
19:18 garden at Lars Anderson.
19:20 No evidence has been found that the
19:22 town's people voted to have the 3.6
19:25 acres of their park taken as a permanent
19:28 DPW yard.
19:30 Four, today, this DPW 3.6 6 acre yard
19:35 has no trespassing signs, locked chain
19:38 link fences, and tall concrete walls.
19:42 Out of town vans are parked there all
19:43 winter. There are 19 black fluted
19:46 ballard streets traffic signals, two
19:49 basketball hoops, 25 huge concrete
19:51 retraining blocks, seven trailer storage
19:54 containers, two tall and long metal
19:56 buildings, vehicles, trailers, and four
19:59 police cruisers. These items are not
20:02 related to maintaining Anderson Park. A
20:04 maintenance building for Lars Anderson
20:06 exists on Guard Avenue. Five. The town
20:10 of Brooklyn has hired Kyle Zik Landscape
20:13 Architecture to develop a cultural
20:15 landscape report for Lars Anderson Park.
20:18 The RFP states, "The Department of
20:21 Public Works Parks and Open Space
20:24 Division maintenance yard is also
20:26 located within the park, suggesting that
20:29 these 3.6 acres of historic land will
20:33 not be part of the study of the historic
20:35 buildings and landscapes. The RFP for
20:38 Lars Anderson specifies a minimum of
20:41 five meetings with town staff, but only
20:44 three public information gatherings.
20:46 A survey was sent to residents, but it
20:49 only asked for their stories about Lars
20:51 Anderson and not how residents want to
20:54 use what are their own 64 acres. Six,
20:59 the pool RFP should include Lars
21:01 Anderson with a pool behind the auto
21:03 museum as designed and located by the
21:06 Mstead brothers with parking inside the
21:09 walled garden. To comply with article
21:12 97, parking would be behind the historic
21:14 wall so the cars are not visible.
21:17 Your time is up.
21:18 Thank you.
21:25 Next up is G. Holy.
21:35 Can we wait a minute while I my talking
21:38 points are
21:40 while she's getting her talking points?
21:42 Can I uh mention something real quick?
21:44 Just and I'm not I don't want to speak
21:45 to the person who just uh spoke about
21:48 Lars Anderson, but um I do think it
21:51 would be helpful at a an upcoming
21:53 meeting um in April. I would hope it
21:57 would be April to put it on our agenda
21:59 to discuss um the DPW yard, why it's
22:03 there, why we're not including a more
22:07 specific uh review of that space in an
22:10 RFP. Um it'd be really helpful to
22:12 understand what the constraints are. It
22:14 does seem like that DPW yard is a
22:16 junkyard um and not in keeping with uh
22:19 what Lars Anderson is supposed to be
22:21 doing um for for the residents of the
22:24 town which is the gift. So I'm hoping we
22:26 would add that to an agenda this in in
22:28 March in April. Sorry. Thank you.
22:32 Okay, I think we can do that.
23:16 Uh, good evening members of the select
23:18 board. My name is Jih Lee and I live on
23:21 Amory Street, precinct one. I'm speaking
23:24 today because the ongoing rodent
23:26 infestation in my building has reached a
23:29 critical health threshold for me. The
23:32 stress has led to physical hair loss and
23:34 extreme exhaustion. I am currently
23:37 unable to safely clean my unit because
23:39 the standard cleaning aerosolizes rodent
23:42 waste, turning dried urine and feces
23:44 into airborne toxins. After a high fever
23:48 and suspected haunt virus illness last
23:50 year, I cannot risk the respiratory
23:52 distress that comes from disturbing
23:54 these biohazards without professional
23:56 equipment.
23:59 Um, I was given a transfer opportunity,
24:03 but I I'm deeply concerned that the
24:07 structural gaps left behind during the
24:10 2013 heating renovation will follow me
24:12 to the new unit. for over a decade.
24:16 Traditional pest control um like glue
24:19 traps and I I was just given glue traps
24:23 and mouse bait by maintenance and pest
24:27 control and uh they haven't done
24:30 anything structural to prevent the
24:33 rosent from coming into the building. Uh
24:37 I have used the UV light to document
24:39 urine trails inside my dresser and
24:41 closets. Right now they are just
24:44 urinating on everything on my clothes
24:46 had just I'm I'm afraid to open the
24:49 dresser because of the urine smell. It's
24:55 um it's gotten to the point where
24:58 I can't sleep and my hair is coming out
25:02 in clumps. Um, my request is that
25:08 the select board, uh, I don't know if
25:11 it's right to say this, but put pressure
25:13 on BHA to to, um, cover up and create a
25:20 barrier so that the rodents cannot come
25:22 into the building at all. Um, when I
25:25 complained about this back in 2013, I
25:28 was just met with uh dismissiveness and
25:33 if they had done it then, it wouldn't
25:35 have come to this point now.
25:39 Um,
25:41 I I want to live successfully there and
25:45 I don't want to be considered a problem
25:47 tenant, but this has gotten to the point
25:50 where it's untenable.
25:55 Thank you.
25:56 Thank you,
25:58 Mr. Chair.
25:59 Yes.
26:00 May I ask just that she repeat the
26:01 address? I I didn't catch it.
26:02 Yeah, I didn't catch it either.
26:06 235.
26:08 Oh, 150. Thank you very much.
26:10 She sent a letter to the board that we
26:12 all received uh detailing what she wrote
26:16 plus more. Um Chaz, it's my
26:18 understanding is the health department
26:20 going out to do an inspection.
26:22 Um
26:23 yeah, my understanding is the health the
26:24 health department is is involved and we
26:26 will follow up.
26:27 Okay.
26:27 The health commissioner is shaking
26:29 shaking his head. Yes. So
26:32 Okay.
26:35 Any other public comments?
26:40 No.
26:40 No raised hands online and I don't know
26:43 if anybody in person.
26:45 Okay. Okay. So, let's move on to the
26:47 next item which is our miscellaneous
26:50 calendar. Uh first uh our minutes from
26:54 August 24, 2026
26:57 the meeting where we voted the override.
27:00 So, any corrections
27:04 to those minutes? So I had sent some
27:08 amendments to staff which I believe
27:11 circulated
27:12 y sub substantive or or not.
27:17 No. Okay. Good. So uh I move approval of
27:20 the minutes for February uh excuse me
27:24 March 24, 2026 as amended. All in favor
27:28 please indicate by saying I. John
27:30 Vancoyak
27:31 I.
27:31 Paul Warren.
27:31 Hi.
27:32 David Pearlman.
27:33 Hi.
27:33 Michael Rubenstein.
27:34 Hi. and chair votes I. Next, I'd like to
27:37 take an omnibus fashion
27:41 items 3B through 3L, unless someone
27:45 would like to pull something out for
27:46 further discussion.
27:48 Excuse me.
27:49 Okay, Michael.
27:50 Um, I just have a comment to make with
27:52 regard to item 3H.
27:54 Okay,
27:57 go ahead.
27:57 Um, so a constituent contacted me uh
28:01 from precinct 14 regarding uh this this
28:05 item um to ask the question of whether
28:08 or not the repaving on Hammond Street
28:12 could be affected down the road um by
28:15 potential work uh that the mass DOT
28:19 might take on as part of the Chestnut
28:20 Hill commercial area project. Um we had
28:23 a conversation about this. Um, it turns
28:26 out that item 3H is strictly uh related
28:30 to repaving uh uh restriping and
28:36 meaning painting stripes and the signal
28:39 at the corner of Heath Street and
28:40 Woodard. Um, so we determined that this
28:43 was not a concern.
28:46 Thank you.
28:47 Any other items people would like to
28:50 take out and discuss? Okay. Okay. So
28:52 then I move approval of items 3B through
28:57 3 L in our miscellaneous calendar. All
29:00 in favor, please indicate by saying I.
29:02 John Voyak.
29:03 I.
29:03 Paul Warren.
29:04 Hi.
29:04 David Pearlman.
29:05 Hi.
29:05 Michael Rubenstein.
29:06 I.
29:07 And chair votes I.
29:09 I would just quickly note there are
29:10 there are two donations contained in
29:12 there and I just want to thank the folks
29:14 who made those donations. It's always a
29:16 great help to the community when folks
29:18 uh provide that assistance, particularly
29:21 with um things related to ODICR's
29:24 activities and operations. It makes the
29:26 community a more welcoming place and so
29:28 we're very grateful for the folks who
29:29 make those contributions. So, thank you
29:30 to both of those donors. Yes, it's uh
29:33 we're required to approve donations of
29:36 any amount by state law, but it's also
29:38 an opportunity for us to, as uh Chaz
29:41 just did, uh highlight and thank uh
29:44 people who make donations to help our
29:46 town in various ways. So, okay. Uh next
29:51 item, boards and commissions, annual
29:53 reports. We have a presentation from the
29:55 disability commission
29:57 um or the commission on disability.
30:15 Let me see your finger.
30:26 ready.
30:27 No, it hasn't connected. Okay, it
30:30 connected.
30:31 Presentation
30:40 right here.
30:42 Right here. Okay.
30:44 Okay.
30:57 Awesome.
31:16 What didn't show up?
31:20 Does that timer change the presentation?
31:22 We're trying to share
31:24 the
31:26 presentation station.
31:28 I'm not sure why that that screen is up
31:30 there. Um, let me see. I'm not sure why
31:34 the
31:44 I don't know why it's
31:46 I just p
31:50 It's
31:54 I could do it in 10 minutes if I talk
31:56 real fast.
32:05 We're starting it.
32:17 No problem.
32:20 I mean, I'm I'm picking up my sound.
32:22 Yeah.
32:27 You did not get it.
32:30 I didn't get it.
32:37 There you go. You should be all set.
32:38 Okay.
32:44 Okay. Can everybody hear me?
32:46 Yes.
32:47 Okay. Great. Great. Okay. Thank Thank
32:50 you. I want to thank the board for
32:52 having us in and thank everybody for
32:54 being here. Um I'm going to go ahead and
32:57 get started.
32:59 Um as most of you know, I like to start
33:03 with just a little history. In 83, the
33:06 Massachusetts legislature passed a law
33:08 saying that cities and towns could have
33:11 uh commissions on disabilities. In 1986,
33:14 Brooklyn was one of the first to create
33:17 the commission on disability. And in
33:19 2017, they reconfirmed that with a bylaw
33:22 so that the commission could continue
33:24 with its work. So for four decades now,
33:27 the town of Brooklyn and uh the
33:29 commission have been working hand in
33:31 hand to make uh Brooklyn more accessible
33:33 for its residents.
33:35 Current
33:37 uh commission members aside from myself
33:39 is Sarah Lynn Aair,
33:43 uh Joan Mahon, Lynn Meichek, Elaine
33:46 Ober. Our newest member is Liz Strier
33:50 and then also uh Henry Wkelman and our
33:54 new select board liaison is Mr. John
33:56 Vancoyak.
33:58 Um, we also had elections this year. So,
34:00 I was lucky to uh uh run for another
34:03 year as chair. And Henry Wkelman is the
34:07 deputy chair. Sarah Linair uh took the
34:10 position of treasurer. Shockingly,
34:13 nobody went for the highly coveted
34:15 position of secretary.
34:20 So,
34:23 two people that the commission could not
34:25 work without and that is Sarah Kaplan
34:27 and Nancy Moore. Sarah Kaplan uh works
34:32 uh she lets the commission know of
34:34 anything that's going on at the state
34:36 level that we should be aware of. She
34:38 also handles implementation
34:40 as well as compliance
34:43 and she works on grant coordination
34:46 which we'll talk about in a minute and
34:48 day-to-day accessibility issues. Nancy
34:51 Moore is our transportation board
34:54 liaison and she always makes sure that
34:57 accessibility is in the forefront of all
34:59 of the decisions that the transportation
35:01 board makes. I mean it when I say we
35:04 could not be as effective as we are
35:06 without these two individuals. They're
35:08 terrific.
35:10 Um sadly we lost a member this year. Rob
35:14 Heis passed away in February of 2025.
35:18 Um we always called Rob the thoughtful
35:20 advocate. He wouldn't say much at the
35:22 meetings. He'd wait till everybody else
35:23 talked and then he'd say his piece and
35:26 he would hit the sweet spot 99.9% of the
35:29 time. He was seriously a very thoughtful
35:32 advocate. I tell everybody if you come
35:35 across an accessibility feature in
35:36 Brooklyn, most likely Rob had a hand in
35:38 it. His commitment, his compassion, and
35:43 his sense of humor is sorely missed by
35:44 all of us.
35:48 Thank you.
35:50 I put this up. This is the ADA
35:52 definition uh of what a disability is.
35:55 And as you can see, it's very long. It's
35:57 very broad, but it's what we think about
36:00 when we uh make our decisions and what
36:02 we're going to do throughout the year
36:05 because we say that there's apparent
36:07 disabilities and non-apparent
36:09 disabilities. And apparent disabilities,
36:11 if you see, for instance, myself with a
36:14 white cane, you can assume that I'm
36:15 visually impaired. Somebody with a
36:17 mobility device, you know that they have
36:19 mobility issues. Okay? But there's
36:21 non-apparent disabilities as well and
36:24 those are a a concern as well. So
36:27 non-apparent disabilities if you look at
36:29 these individuals you might not know who
36:31 has a traumatic brain injury who might
36:34 be hard of hearing you know who might
36:36 have cancer or cancer in remission which
36:38 is also considered a disability. So
36:41 these are the folks that we think about
36:42 the residents that we think about in
36:44 every decision that we make.
36:50 So we try to remove barriers. We try to
36:54 uh promote inclusive participation.
36:58 We try to advise people on policy and
37:00 development uh when they come to us on
37:02 certain issues. And some of the things
37:05 that we've worked on this year are all
37:07 of these issues. And we're going to go
37:08 through just a few of them.
37:11 So we supported multiple warrant
37:14 articles last year. Warrant article 13
37:16 in the fall of 2025
37:20 was to ensure that any future planning
37:24 at Fisher Hill would consider our senior
37:26 residents. Warrant article 14 and 15
37:29 kind of went hand in hand. 14 was a
37:32 streamlined reasonable accommodation
37:34 process to ensure that uh people with
37:37 disabilities could get essential
37:39 modifications to their homes. 15 was a
37:43 uh an exception to the demolition bylaw.
37:46 Warrant article 16 uh modified the
37:51 requirements of bicycle parking and
37:54 mobility devices. Obviously very
37:56 important to people with disabilities
37:58 and we wrote letters of support on all
38:00 of these issues.
38:06 the MBTA. Um, I think everybody has
38:09 spent some time on this one this year
38:11 and and we did too. Our first uh I think
38:14 we started a meeting with the MBTA
38:16 actually in 2024, but our first meeting
38:19 in 2025 was in February and that was on
38:21 the Branden Hall Fairbanks
38:24 uh merge and uh we met with them and we
38:27 talked to them about high contrast color
38:30 platforms to ensure that that would be
38:32 part of the program and they agreed to
38:34 that and then we uh supported it. And
38:36 then also um Fenway Multi-use path. I
38:39 have to say it was um Hugh Madison who
38:42 has taken up uh the ch he's the champion
38:45 of that program. He came to us about
38:47 that and we wrote a letter of support on
38:49 that. Actually we sent that letter of
38:51 support to you folks first because that
38:53 was an outside of Brookline issue.
38:59 A school uh modifications. The
39:01 transportation board was taking some uh
39:03 making some modifications there and they
39:05 came to us. Uh we reviewed the area.
39:08 They were going to put in four
39:09 additional uh accessible spots. We found
39:12 a way to improve that up to five and I
39:14 just spoke to a member of the board who
39:16 told me that they might be putting in a
39:18 few more. So that was uh very helpful.
39:21 And then we also did send them a letter
39:23 to let them know if they need anything
39:24 else to please uh don't hesitate to ask.
39:29 We only had one variance this year which
39:31 was a little surprising but um it was an
39:34 interesting one. It was at 1026
39:36 Commonwealth Avenue and this is Bob
39:39 Street. It's a restaurant, a Korean
39:41 restaurant and they have a dining area
39:44 upstairs that was not accessible and
39:47 they wanted to uh bypass putting in a
39:52 lift. And the reason was was because if
39:54 they put in the lift, it was going to
39:56 impact their ADA accessible restroom on
39:58 the first floor. So we asked them to
40:01 make sure that the rest of the facility
40:03 was completely accessible, which they
40:05 did. They have accessible tables on the
40:08 first floor. They also uh put in high
40:10 contrast stairs to go up to that uh loft
40:13 area and then we supported that
40:15 variance. We also sent a letter of
40:18 support to the Brooklyn Housing
40:19 Authority as they were trying to install
40:21 an ADA compliant sidewalk over at the
40:24 Walnut High Apartments.
40:30 We had multiple subcommittees this year,
40:32 which is kind of unusual, but um we had
40:35 a few. We had an ADA parking
40:37 subcommittee, which I'll talk about in a
40:38 second. We had the disability pride
40:41 display, and then also we have an event
40:43 subcommittee. The events sub
40:45 subcommittee was started in uh 2025 and
40:49 we uh stumbled along, but we've really
40:51 hit our stride on the event sub uh
40:54 subcommittee and we're hoping to be
40:56 holding an event soon to promote uh
40:58 disability awareness here in Brooklyn.
41:04 The ADA parking subcommittee um we did a
41:09 lot of review, we did a lot of work on
41:11 this. Uh but before I talk about that, I
41:13 just want to say I got to thank Erin
41:16 Shute as well as Jed Faren Farenbach uh
41:19 at the IT department. They gave us
41:22 access to their GIS system. We're able
41:24 to make real-time modifications
41:26 and we're able to evaluate uh se over 70
41:30 spots here in uh on the main corridors
41:34 on Beacon Street, Washington Street,
41:37 Harvard Street, and a lot of the side
41:39 streets as well. So, we got quite a bit
41:41 done during this process. Interestingly,
41:43 a few people called looking for
41:45 accessible parking spots. Gateway Arts
41:48 down on Station Street called us for
41:50 support. Uh we sent a letter of support
41:52 to the transportation board and the DPW
41:54 on that. Uh and then a parishioner from
41:57 the St. Mary's Church called about an
41:59 additional spot over at St. Mary's. That
42:02 was also approved. So, those two
42:04 additional spots were installed.
42:10 Last year I talked a little bit about
42:11 getting grants and uh last year we
42:13 didn't get any but this year we got one
42:15 and we got a big one. It was a real uh
42:17 nice one. So here we did work with uh
42:20 the DPW as well as the ADA coordinator
42:24 and we got uh almost $50,000 $49,852.19
42:31 to be exact for 11 tactile plates to be
42:35 installed along Beacon Street. Those
42:37 tactile plates are a great example of
42:39 universal design. Everybody uses them,
42:43 but I can tell you personally being
42:44 blind, if if there's not a tactile
42:46 plate, it's easy to wander into the the
42:49 parallel street and uh be in danger. So
42:53 those tactile plates make a big
42:54 difference and we're really glad to get
42:57 this grant.
43:02 We also uh we I talked about the
43:04 display. uh the display, we used that to
43:07 promote three wheelchair bills at the
43:09 state legislature. And again, we wrote
43:11 letters of support on that. And I think
43:13 that uh the select board saw those
43:15 because those were issues outside of
43:17 Brooklyn. And then uh also uh the other
43:22 we
43:23 uh funded two scholarships again this
43:25 year at the Brooklyn High School for
43:27 students with disabilities who want to
43:30 continue on with their higher education.
43:32 We participated in Brooklyn Day this
43:35 year and we also continued our work with
43:38 the United Parish Church. Actually, a
43:40 few members went to the United Parish
43:42 Church this year as they were looking
43:43 for ways to improve accessibility at the
43:45 church.
43:50 Uh some of the outreach on from us to
43:53 other committees. Uh Lynn Meichek is our
43:57 liaison to the pedestrian advisory
43:59 committee. Henry Wkelman who is here is
44:01 our liaison to the age friendly citizens
44:04 committee. We also have seats on the
44:06 center street lots committee as well as
44:08 the bridal path.
44:14 And one more thing, you know, uh our
44:16 website, it was brought up at the
44:17 beginning of the year. Some of the links
44:19 were outdated. Some of the uh the
44:21 appearance of it was outdated. So we
44:23 took that on at the beginning of 2025.
44:26 We updated everything. I got to uh give
44:28 a shout out to James Pulat who really
44:31 helped us a lot with this. And I got to
44:33 give a shout out to Sarah Lynair who
44:35 took up the uh volunteered to maintain
44:39 the website and let James in a
44:42 collaboration between the two of them to
44:44 make sure everything's up to date and
44:45 moving forward. So that was also a big
44:48 success for us. Gentlemen, with that I
44:53 will open it up for any questions that
44:55 you may have.
44:56 Thank you.
44:58 We gave you a little extra time because
45:01 I don't think you saw the timer there.
45:05 My
45:05 and also your report was very
45:07 interesting.
45:08 Very interesting.
45:09 Yeah.
45:09 So great.
45:10 Um Paul.
45:11 Yep. Thank you. Thank you, James. Um
45:13 appreciate all the work and the work of
45:14 your committee, the advocacy. Um, I want
45:17 to touch on the intersection of your
45:21 committee and its work uh for the
45:24 disabled and what we heard tonight
45:27 during public comment about rodent
45:29 infestation
45:30 at public housing. Um, you know, I'm
45:33 going to go on a limb here and assume
45:35 that there are perhaps some folks in our
45:38 in our Brooklyn Housing Authority units
45:41 that either have an apparent or
45:43 non-apparent disability. um that we
45:46 perhaps we think this evening. Um and
45:49 while typically rodent infestation
45:52 wouldn't be in the purview of your
45:54 commission when it does intersect uh
45:56 with a disability
45:58 um and would enhance or complicate or
46:01 exacerbate a disability. Um I would
46:04 think that perhaps your commission would
46:06 get involved. Could you speak to that um
46:09 as an issue and have you done it before
46:11 and should it become uh one of your
46:14 connections and partnerships with the
46:15 Brookline Housing Authority?
46:17 Um you know with the Brookline Housing
46:19 Authority there's been a a couple of uh
46:22 items as I said that we uh did send a
46:24 letter of support for them. Um and I got
46:27 to tell you if somebody came to us uh I
46:31 was listening to to that woman talk
46:33 about that issue and I I just felt
46:36 terrible. I was standing there shaking
46:37 my head, but um anything that we could
46:40 do to help, we certainly would. Um I can
46:43 give you an example of a a group of
46:45 people, you know, at 1550 uh Beacon
46:48 Street as an example, which u disabled
46:52 people and seniors with mobility issues.
46:54 You know, we reached out to them when I
46:57 heard about the Brandon Hall Fairbanks
46:59 merger because I knew that that was
47:01 going to be important to them, you know.
47:03 So, uh, we would certainly be willing to
47:05 help in any way that we can if, uh, if
47:07 they give us more information on that.
47:10 Okay. So, she you're you're encouraging
47:12 her to reach out to your commission
47:13 either in writing or as a public comment
47:15 when you meet or whatever.
47:17 Absolutely. Our next meeting is the ETH,
47:19 and if she uh would like to make public
47:20 comment at our meeting, that'd be
47:22 terrific.
47:23 Thank you,
47:25 John. Um, thanks so much for the report
47:28 and I just want to say it's a it is a
47:30 real um privilege uh to be the sleptward
47:34 liaison to the commission and um this is
47:39 an enormously productive commission. I'm
47:42 I'm just kind of blown away at the
47:44 effectiveness of their meetings uh the
47:46 participation by uh just about every
47:49 member at every meeting. um the
47:52 delegation to subcommittee subcommittees
47:54 to you know carry on the work um and
47:57 bring that back to the commission as a
47:59 whole. Um really a model of of an
48:02 effective commission and uh I'll I'll
48:05 just do a shout out to Sarah Kaplan who
48:08 you know as Jim mentioned uh such an
48:10 essential contributor to all of this.
48:13 Um, so Brooklyn's lucky to have this
48:15 commission and and as Bernard said, as
48:17 our chair said, that that that stood out
48:20 as as one of the more interesting
48:22 reports that we've received so far. No
48:24 disrespect to some of the other
48:26 committees and commissions, but that was
48:28 a real good one.
48:29 Thank you so much.
48:30 Although we've had a lot of very
48:32 we've had a lot
48:35 yeah,
48:36 but I I I'll say this here. I I even
48:38 when I went through that history, I was
48:40 very surprised that the commission and
48:42 the town have been working together for
48:45 for 40 years. I mean, that's a long
48:48 time. And um it's it's really great. I I
48:51 I got to tell you to to live in
48:54 Brooklyn. Um
48:57 I I talk to a lot of people in other
49:00 towns and they do not get the support
49:03 from their town that that they should.
49:06 And uh the commission gets a lot of
49:08 support. If I call anybody uh they
49:12 always respond every you know and I mean
49:15 Erin Shoot, Brian Kaine, uh when I call
49:18 Sarah Kaplan, whoever it is and there's
49:21 an issue, it it's really it's fantastic
49:24 to be working here. Thank you.
49:29 Anything else?
49:31 It's also helpful to uh know some of the
49:34 things that the dis the commission on
49:36 disabilities do because many times
49:39 people have disabilities and don't
49:41 realize that they may need help or
49:44 assistance or just information that uh
49:46 the commission could supply or that
49:48 other people could supply. I'm thinking
49:50 of uh kids who go off uh on a skiing
49:53 trip
49:54 come back disabled.
49:56 We had that situation at the peier
49:58 school. Yeah.
49:59 Um, you know, kids who thought they
50:01 they're you know, perfectly able to get
50:03 around that building um ended up with
50:06 temporary disabilities that made it
50:08 impossible for them to attend school.
50:11 So, your your report to the public is
50:15 very helpful in terms of just alerting
50:17 people to the breath of disability
50:20 issues that uh people should be aware
50:22 of.
50:23 Thank you. you know, and then I I'll
50:25 just say again, uh, our events
50:28 subcommittee, uh, we met a little bit in
50:30 2025, but we've we've hit our stride,
50:33 and hopefully we're going to have an
50:35 event this year that'll promote, uh, the
50:37 commission and and promote people with
50:39 disabilities and what we do, and
50:41 hopefully more people will be reaching
50:42 out to us for for any assistance that we
50:45 can provide.
50:47 Great.
50:49 Okay. Thank you.
50:50 Thank you so much. I really appreciate
50:52 it.
50:58 Next, the select board is going to be
51:00 trained.
51:02 So, I think Jonathan Simpson is on
51:06 the internet, the Zoom.
51:09 Uh, yes, my video has been disabled. I
51:12 don't know if anyone can
51:15 hold on one second.
51:21 He was co-host earlier, but
51:30 thank you, Melanie.
51:32 And then um if I could have my slides up
51:34 too, please.
51:59 You have the slides.
52:01 I
52:03 was not told I was sharing slides.
52:05 Ah,
52:06 Jonathan, can you share your screen? Can
52:08 you share your slides?
52:09 Uh, I don't have it up on this machine.
52:10 I apologize.
52:11 I've got it.
52:12 Weren't they in the packet? Yeah,
52:13 they're in the package. You can get that
52:15 way. Hold on one second.
52:47 Okay,
52:49 go.
52:54 Thank you, Chaz.
52:59 Okay. Um, so I uh as you noted, I am I'm
53:03 here to to give everyone um on the board
53:07 as well as uh staff who may be listening
53:10 and board members um uh a a quick primer
53:14 on uh campaign finance finance law and
53:17 specifically how it relates to
53:19 situations where there is a question uh
53:22 on the ballot. Um I'm and I will be
53:25 actually spending some time in this
53:27 presentation actually distinguishing uh
53:29 how uh what an elected official can and
53:32 can't do is is uh different in some
53:34 slight but significant ways uh from what
53:37 a uh appointed or appointed official or
53:41 a staff member can do. Next slide
53:44 please.
53:48 I am so as you all hopefully know by now
53:51 I'm Jonathan Simpson. I'm first
53:52 assistant town counsel for the town of
53:54 Brooklyn. Um so as the select board
53:58 voted last week to put a question uh on
54:01 the ballot uh related to the override um
54:04 we are now uh between last week and the
54:07 election in May. uh we are in a period
54:10 where we need to be um extremely
54:13 vigilant about the political activities
54:16 uh we may choose to take uh related to
54:18 the election given the presence of that
54:21 of that ballot question. So next slide
54:24 please.
54:26 So really the the three big takeaways uh
54:29 I will just jump straight to them are
54:31 are shown here on this slide. Uh number
54:33 one is mass emails generally they are
54:36 not allowed. Um you no one should be
54:39 sending mass emails uh mass unsolicited
54:43 emails to um to uh to people related to
54:48 the election. Um,
54:51 if someone asks you for something, you
54:53 can give it to them, but you should not
54:55 be distributing um, you know, sending
54:58 out a a mass email uh, describing either
55:01 certainly not advocating for a
55:02 particular vote, but even
55:04 justformational about the election,
55:06 about uh, the uh, context of the
55:09 override, what will happen if it doesn't
55:11 pass. None of that should be sent out
55:13 via mass unsolicited email.
55:16 Could Could we stop there for a second,
55:18 Jonathan? Um just hopefully you can we
55:20 can ask questions as we go since you're
55:21 training us.
55:22 Yeah.
55:23 Um
55:24 who is covered by that recommendation
55:28 or that limitation? Is elected select
55:31 board members covered by that or elected
55:34 school committee members?
55:36 Uh so
55:38 both
55:41 the important thing is that ma when I
55:42 say mass emails
55:44 he's a lawyer.
55:45 Well well hold on a second. He he just
55:47 said that a sitting elected
55:49 dog wash is not the right.
55:51 Okay. Uh bokeu, whatever you want to
55:53 call it. Um so you're saying that
55:57 I need to clarify.
55:58 Hold on. I I'm going to let me clarify
56:00 my question because you just said
56:01 something that that I believe you are
56:04 taking away the the first amendment
56:07 rights of elected public officials. So,
56:11 you just said, and my interpretation is
56:13 is that Paul Warren cannot email
56:17 unsolicited
56:19 to an email list that I've developed
56:21 over years to advocate for the operating
56:26 override. Is that what you said?
56:28 Uh, it it it was, but I made a extremely
56:32 important omission from what I just
56:34 said, and I appreciate you jumping on me
56:36 because I left out
56:37 my pleasure.
56:39 um is is mass emails are not permitted
56:43 when the email list you are using is a
56:46 public resource. Essentially, if the
56:49 email list you are using is the town's
56:51 email list or the school's email list,
56:54 you are not allowed or a portion of it,
56:57 you are not allowed to use that to send
56:59 mass unsolicited emails.
57:01 Thank you for the clarification. I did
57:03 not I should ab I should ab did not mean
57:07 to apply even for a moment that an email
57:09 list that you have worked to put
57:10 together yourself cannot be used to
57:13 advocate how you how you as an elected
57:15 official believe someone uh should vote
57:18 in the upcoming election. So mass emails
57:20 are not allowed when they are using a
57:22 town or school email list. So I will so
57:26 let me
57:27 so our email list that we put together
57:30 cannot include the town meeting members
57:32 list
57:34 which is a public document.
57:36 The town meeting members list is a is a
57:38 public document. That is fine. But for
57:40 example the town um in compiles email
57:44 list of email addresses. The most
57:45 obvious one is the one that was at issue
57:48 in 2023 which was the list of all the
57:50 parents emails that the schools collect
57:52 when there's kids enroll. But the town
57:54 also has lists of emails for a variety
57:56 of other subjects. Um, and if it's using
57:59 getting those emails because of its uh
58:01 town responsibilities, it's those those
58:03 email lists are public resource and and
58:05 should not be used for mass emails.
58:08 But again, if it's a public document,
58:11 like if all of the the select board's
58:13 emails, for example, are publicly
58:14 available on the website, you could
58:17 you could take all five of you and put
58:19 it put those on a list and send an email
58:21 to you all unsolicited because that
58:22 email those emails are a public record.
58:25 Okay. Okay. Paul, no hogwash though.
58:29 I will I will try to control my my my
58:32 language.
58:33 Okay. Jonathan, another just quick
58:35 question. So, uh, let's take school
58:37 committee members. Uh, if a school
58:39 committee member receives emails through
58:41 the course of their duties to their, uh,
58:44 you know, school committee.gov email
58:46 account, um, are they able to use those
58:51 emails to email
58:54 um,
58:56 residents or constituents or is that
58:58 email system considered a public
59:02 resource?
59:04 We are invest that is a close question
59:06 that we are currently investigating. Um
59:08 so I do not have an answer yet but I
59:10 hope to have an answer for you both you
59:12 guys and the school committee soon.
59:14 Okay. Thank you.
59:17 Along those same lines um and I I've
59:20 wondered about this for a long time. Uh
59:22 and what about PTO groups you know with
59:26 whom the list of all of the emails of
59:28 parents in a particular school are
59:30 shared? um can they share those with um
59:34 independent groups, you know, that are
59:37 taking part in advocacy during a during
59:39 a campaign?
59:41 Um I have spoken with the superintendent
59:44 about uh Brooklyn's policy towards its
59:47 PTO's.
59:49 uh she has looked into this and all of
59:52 the PTO's so that's all of the the 8 K
59:56 through8s beep as well as the high
59:58 school um they all have some they at no
1:00:03 point and for none of those is the
1:00:05 parents email list simply handed over to
1:00:08 the PTO to do it as whatever they want
1:00:11 in all cases there is an optin at the at
1:00:15 either an optin where parents when at
1:00:18 some point are asked by the schools if
1:00:21 they if if it if the school can share
1:00:24 their email address with the relevant
1:00:26 PTO or um the PTO's generate their own
1:00:30 email list and similar into the way that
1:00:32 that Paul was describing with with his
1:00:34 email list is you work together you you
1:00:36 meet people you get you you get the
1:00:37 email list email addresses that way but
1:00:40 I believe both of those two scenarios
1:00:42 there do not um do not constit
1:00:46 in that scenarios, both of those
1:00:47 scenarios, if the PTO's then send out
1:00:50 emails about the election, um it is not
1:00:53 the use of a public resource because
1:00:55 they're using their own their own email
1:00:57 list which they have obtained in a in a
1:00:59 variety of ways. Um so that in those
1:01:02 cases, I believe PTO's in Brooklyn have
1:01:05 taken steps to make sure that their
1:01:07 their use of email is not a public
1:01:10 resource.
1:01:12 U Michael
1:01:13 under the under the campaign finance.
1:01:15 Uh thank you. Um first of all I'm also
1:01:19 interested in the answer to Paul's
1:01:21 questions with regard to email addresses
1:01:24 that come into the town from
1:01:27 constituents. Um but I have two two
1:01:30 other questions relating to mass emails
1:01:32 broadly. Um and the first question is um
1:01:38 I am assuming and could you confirm that
1:01:41 using uh our.gov email addresses um as
1:01:46 the uh sender for such mass emails would
1:01:49 not be appropriate.
1:01:52 Um it would depend well uh no it would I
1:01:56 will get to the the there there's sort
1:01:58 of a detailed reason but generally it
1:02:00 would be it would be appropriate
1:02:02 particularly if you are an elected
1:02:03 official.
1:02:04 Okay. Um and the the other question is
1:02:08 that if we ch uh we choose to advocate
1:02:12 in conjunction with some outside
1:02:15 organization
1:02:17 um is there are there any constraints on
1:02:20 the use of our titles as members of the
1:02:23 select board in those communications?
1:02:27 Uh that's a great question and there is
1:02:29 a this is one of the areas where there
1:02:31 is a distinction between elected
1:02:32 officials and appointed officials or
1:02:35 staff members. Elected officials are
1:02:38 allowed to use their titles when they
1:02:41 are advocating for a particular issue
1:02:45 including for example an override. So
1:02:47 you could ab certainly say I, Michael
1:02:51 Rubenstein,
1:02:52 um, Brooklyn select board member believe
1:02:56 you should vote yes or vote no on the
1:02:59 override.
1:03:00 Okay.
1:03:00 Uh, you should however refrain from
1:03:02 speak when you do so speaking as though
1:03:05 you are speaking for the board it as as
1:03:07 it hold that the select boards supports
1:03:10 thus and such. You should speak on your
1:03:12 own behalf but that on your own behalf
1:03:14 includes your role as a select board
1:03:16 member. So you can't you as an elected
1:03:18 official can use your title. That does
1:03:21 not extend however to um appointed or uh
1:03:26 appointed officials or uh town employees
1:03:28 who are not supposed to use uh what is
1:03:30 called the weight of their office when
1:03:33 um when speaking about about the issues
1:03:36 speaking about politics. You're not that
1:03:38 that title itself is is a public
1:03:40 resource which is should not be accessed
1:03:42 by uh people in that role. So you should
1:03:45 not for example say um if you know if
1:03:47 you were a uh police officer the common
1:03:51 one you said is the common example is
1:03:54 you should not be wearing your uniform
1:03:57 when you um tell people to vote yes on a
1:04:00 particular ballot question because it
1:04:03 gives a sort of impremature of the
1:04:04 police department which is itself a
1:04:06 public resource. Hey, Jonathan. Uh, can
1:04:08 I ask you to um fix this slide? And this
1:04:13 is a document that a lot of people may
1:04:15 be u downloading and relying on.
1:04:19 Sure. Thank you.
1:04:19 In terms of the mass emails, I mean,
1:04:21 it's
1:04:23 the way it's written now, it really, as
1:04:26 Paul as Paul showed uh is very
1:04:29 confusing. I will I will fix it and
1:04:33 we will I will see if Kate is able to
1:04:36 just repost an improved version
1:04:38 alongside.
1:04:39 Yep. Uh thank you Jonathan. So following
1:04:41 up on Michael's questions um you've
1:04:43 stated that if you're an appointed
1:04:46 official um you can't use the weight of
1:04:49 your office or your title. Um what are
1:04:52 advisory committee members?
1:04:54 Are they elected or appointed?
1:04:57 That is a very good question. My
1:04:59 understanding is they are um
1:05:02 be they they are all I believe town
1:05:06 meeting members. So they are they are
1:05:08 elected.
1:05:08 No, there's there are at large members
1:05:10 that are not
1:05:11 at large members and I apologize. Um
1:05:13 they as as I said the the the campaign
1:05:16 finance law distinguishes between
1:05:17 elected officials and public officials
1:05:20 who are not elected and as if they are
1:05:23 as they are appointed they should not be
1:05:25 using their title as advisory comm. So,
1:05:26 the advisory committees, it would be
1:05:28 really interesting to get because I
1:05:30 think and it's not just them. There's
1:05:31 other commissions that get, you know,
1:05:34 the the housing advisory board um is
1:05:36 appointed. Um there's a lot of folks
1:05:38 that will want to weigh in on the
1:05:40 operating override. Um and I think that
1:05:44 that that would have implications, but
1:05:46 particularly I know advisory is tricky,
1:05:49 right? They're they're actually
1:05:50 appointed to advisory. They're not
1:05:52 elected to advisory. So they're not um
1:05:55 so anyway it's just I think it's
1:05:56 important to get some clarification on
1:05:58 that.
1:05:58 Well and I think the advisory is
1:05:59 actually a little bit simpler because
1:06:00 the the sort of the exception to the
1:06:02 exception is that um people in a in a if
1:06:06 if you have a appointed officials or and
1:06:09 staff are allowed to take positions um
1:06:12 based uh if it's within their area of
1:06:14 professional responsibility.
1:06:16 So certainly with an override question
1:06:19 um an advisory committee member is is
1:06:21 well within their sort of area of
1:06:22 responsibility. So they they could use
1:06:25 they could not just speak on the issue
1:06:27 but they could uh utilize their title
1:06:29 when doing so.
1:06:30 Okay.
1:06:31 I was just going to say you know right
1:06:33 we I think as Jonathan moves through
1:06:35 this you'll see right this this concept
1:06:38 seems very simple in practice and then
1:06:40 the deeper you dig the more exceptions
1:06:42 you uncover and then exceptions to
1:06:44 exceptions. It's which is why it's so
1:06:46 important to have the basic principles
1:06:49 of it down and then when there are
1:06:51 specific instances that you're concerned
1:06:53 about, reach out for for for guidance.
1:06:55 Right? This is where you know in in
1:06:58 general, right, we should not be using
1:07:01 town resources, public resources for
1:07:03 advocacy purposes. That's the general
1:07:06 rule of thumb. Um there are limited
1:07:08 exceptions to that for certain groups of
1:07:10 people, but by and large that's the
1:07:12 general rule. And so when you, you know,
1:07:16 for example, the state has said the town
1:07:19 can set up a website that explains a
1:07:21 ballot question. Uh it can't be
1:07:23 advocacy, but it can explain the
1:07:25 consequences of voting yes, the
1:07:27 consequences of voting no. Um it can
1:07:29 provide information to voters. It can
1:07:31 tell voters when the vote is, and so
1:07:33 forth. They liken that to like posting
1:07:35 something on a bulletin board. Um, what
1:07:37 we can't do is take the content of that
1:07:40 website and send it out unsolicited to
1:07:42 the alert Brooklyn listerve for example.
1:07:45 Um, because that's utilizing a public
1:07:47 resource to affirmatively send something
1:07:50 out like that. Um, so people might not
1:07:52 think there's much of a distinction
1:07:54 between putting up a website and
1:07:56 affirmatively sending out that same
1:07:57 material through a different means, but
1:07:59 in the eyes of the state, there is a
1:08:01 difference. And so that's why I think
1:08:02 it's important to have a basic
1:08:04 understanding of what is the state
1:08:05 trying to prevent here. They're trying
1:08:06 to prevent use of, you know, use of
1:08:10 public resources to advocate for for
1:08:12 ballot questions one way or the other.
1:08:14 And they've said that and and that's
1:08:17 that and where that is intention with
1:08:18 this question of well, you know, for
1:08:20 example, if staff is asked a question by
1:08:22 a committee um then they have to give an
1:08:25 answer to that and that has an
1:08:26 implication on whether or not a person
1:08:28 would vote yes on a ballot question.
1:08:30 Does that mean they can't answer that
1:08:31 question? And the answer is no. They
1:08:32 can't answer that question. Um, they can
1:08:35 answer a question that's been asked of
1:08:36 them, but they can't on their own
1:08:38 initiative then go out there and say,
1:08:40 "Here, here's my position on this."
1:08:43 David,
1:08:44 so I I think I just heard you say that
1:08:46 staff can take a position. The
1:08:49 distinction is whether they utilize
1:08:51 public resources in doing so.
1:08:53 That's right.
1:08:54 So, in theory, if you I'm not saying
1:08:56 you'll do this. If you wanted to, you
1:08:57 could spend a Saturday holding up a sign
1:09:00 for one campaign or another and that
1:09:01 would be fine.
1:09:02 I wouldn't do that. Um, of course, terms
1:09:05 of an employee, an employee, I mean,
1:09:08 Jonathan, you can weigh in on this,
1:09:09 right? Um,
1:09:10 and I and I and actually this is
1:09:12 something that that Paul brought up
1:09:13 already and I appreciate him doing so
1:09:14 that the first amendment gives you a
1:09:16 right to express on your private time
1:09:18 your own personal political views. I
1:09:21 think critically though, the person, you
1:09:23 know, if you go on Saturday and you hold
1:09:25 up a sign, you should not be wearing
1:09:28 your uh your uniform. You know, your um
1:09:31 you should not be um you know, uh
1:09:36 holding up a sign inside the select
1:09:38 board's conference room because you have
1:09:40 an ID card that lets you get in there
1:09:42 and you're doing, you know, something
1:09:43 like that. you you should not be using
1:09:45 any public resources including your your
1:09:47 your title or the weight of your office,
1:09:50 but on your own time you can't. We we
1:09:53 absolutely believe that that our staff,
1:09:55 our appointed officials are are free to
1:09:58 engage in engage politically. Uh you
1:10:00 know, from voting, donating to
1:10:03 campaigns, or even like you said, you
1:10:05 know, handing out signs, knocking on
1:10:06 doors. Um they're allowed to do that on
1:10:09 their own time. So I think it's
1:10:11 important you pointed out it's Saturday.
1:10:13 you know, they couldn't do it during the
1:10:14 workday.
1:10:15 What qualifies as on your own time? So,
1:10:17 you gave the Saturday example, but what
1:10:19 about employees who are not a Monday
1:10:21 through Friday 9-to-f5 type employee
1:10:24 where it's not defined by the hour, but
1:10:26 by the responsibility?
1:10:29 I'm not aware of many. I think even
1:10:34 attorney uh employees whose
1:10:35 responsibilities are more like you said
1:10:37 sort of defined more are not clocking in
1:10:40 and clocking out necessarily, right?
1:10:41 there is still sort of conventional work
1:10:44 hours they are expected to be available
1:10:47 and you know either on-site or working
1:10:49 from home I would say that that would
1:10:50 sort of be the right
1:10:51 for example contractually I work a
1:10:53 40-hour week um in reality I work a
1:10:56 little more than 40 hours but that's
1:10:57 what I get paid for I get paid to work
1:10:59 40 hours so as long as I am not stealing
1:11:01 time from the town for example if I was
1:11:04 you know taking you know going out
1:11:06 Friday and and and hitting the streets
1:11:08 and handing out flyers when I was
1:11:09 supposed to be working and I didn't work
1:11:11 a full 40 hour week and I didn't take
1:11:13 vacation. That's problematic. You can't
1:11:15 do that. Um but as long as you know
1:11:18 someone in that position is not stealing
1:11:20 time um and is working the full
1:11:23 complement of hours they're supposed to
1:11:24 be working. Do do we have employees who
1:11:26 are not on a set hours per week? So for
1:11:30 example, president of the United States,
1:11:32 not a Brooklyn employee, but a
1:11:33 president's always on 247. So how does
1:11:35 that work for that type of position?
1:11:38 For example, firefighters. Well, I mean,
1:11:40 fire firefighters do have set schedules.
1:11:42 They do work, you know, they they serve
1:11:43 tours and their tours are very distinct.
1:11:45 And if they take off work, if they take
1:11:48 time off, then they are off. Uh if
1:11:50 they're not serving a particular tour,
1:11:52 but you know, right, like my job,
1:11:54 Melissa's job, you know, some of the
1:11:56 department heads, most of the department
1:11:58 heads, frankly, um all of us are on call
1:12:01 are expected to be doing our job when
1:12:03 necessary. And so, in that regard, you
1:12:06 really do have to consider right the
1:12:07 principles of this. Don't let the don't
1:12:10 let your advocacy interfere with your
1:12:12 work. Um, and that's why for me
1:12:14 personally, I don't I don't walk up to
1:12:16 that line, right? I'm I'm expected to be
1:12:18 always on. And so, in the context of the
1:12:21 work that I do, yes, I can explain why
1:12:24 the override is what it is, you know,
1:12:25 the pros and cons of voting for or
1:12:27 against it, but I don't think it's
1:12:28 appropriate for me to be out there
1:12:30 handing out literature. Um, but that's
1:12:33 my personal, you know,
1:12:35 Paul.
1:12:36 Yep. So um first this is really a very
1:12:39 helpful exercise. Uh thank you Jonathan
1:12:41 for and it's complicated. So I
1:12:43 appreciate uh the the subject matter. Um
1:12:47 I want to give some examples. So there's
1:12:48 going to have to be a lot of education
1:12:51 uh for this for people to understand uh
1:12:54 the the override and what it means. Um,
1:12:57 there'll be groups, uh, League of Women
1:12:58 Voters, uh, Brooklyn Neighborhood
1:13:00 Alliance that may actually use this
1:13:03 room, which is a town resource, uh, to
1:13:06 hold, uh, educational forum. There may
1:13:09 be a person speaking for and a person
1:13:11 speaking against. I don't know how
1:13:12 they're going to be structured. Um, that
1:13:14 one of those people might be from the
1:13:16 the expense and revenue study committee,
1:13:18 which was an appointed committee. Um,
1:13:20 what are the implications? Can So, I'll
1:13:23 break it out into three questions. one
1:13:25 can uh the League of Women Voters or
1:13:27 other group um use this space public
1:13:31 space to hold an event that you know may
1:13:35 be for against uh might be uh
1:13:38 nonpartisan with respect to the issue.
1:13:41 Can they do that? two, can people that
1:13:43 were appointed to the earn uh expense
1:13:46 and revenue study committee um be
1:13:48 advocates uh to the community or or at
1:13:52 that event uh or against it for that
1:13:54 matter. Um I guess those would be my two
1:13:57 questions.
1:14:00 So with respect to the public spaces,
1:14:03 the rule is public spaces may be used um
1:14:07 for events like that but equal access
1:14:09 must be provided. Um so for example um
1:14:15 you can uh you can allow the League of
1:14:17 Women Vote uh the League of Women Voters
1:14:19 to meet on site. Uh I guess I'll use a
1:14:23 more conventional example. The you could
1:14:24 allow a group in favor of the ballot
1:14:28 questions passage to meet in town hall.
1:14:31 But you would also have to ex um allow a
1:14:33 group opposed to the ballot question to
1:14:36 use town facilities in the same way. It
1:14:39 doesn't mean you have to invite them,
1:14:40 but you have to make sure those
1:14:41 facilities are available upon request
1:14:44 just as you did for the first group. I
1:14:47 would um in terms of however of actually
1:14:50 holding a public facing event in town
1:14:53 hall, I was not aware that we hold um
1:14:56 sort of campaign events in town hall.
1:15:00 Um, that is a little
1:15:03 more a little trickier a question
1:15:05 because um,
1:15:09 well, Jonathan, this wouldn't be
1:15:10 necessarily a campaign event. Typically,
1:15:12 the League of Women Voters, uh, Brooklyn
1:15:14 Neighborhood Alliance, and maybe others.
1:15:17 These are nonpartisan groups that are
1:15:20 putting on forums to educate. They're
1:15:22 candidate forums where there'll be a
1:15:23 debate. Um, there'll be warrant article
1:15:25 reviews where there's often a pro and,
1:15:27 you know, for and against for a warrant
1:15:29 article. It is meant for education of
1:15:31 the community but there could be people
1:15:33 for and against it present speaking
1:15:42 I I believe that would be fine. Um
1:15:48 but we would need to be careful that
1:15:50 that the town the sort of the the the
1:15:54 town wasn't appearing to favor one side
1:15:57 or the other in such an event. So any
1:16:00 group that did something like that would
1:16:02 need to take a lot of would we'd need to
1:16:04 take some care that they were actually
1:16:06 being impartial.
1:16:08 Um
1:16:10 and and like you said sort of
1:16:11 informational.
1:16:12 Okay. It I think it's a it is a um
1:16:18 it's a close question. I certainly I as
1:16:21 I just said I was not even aware that we
1:16:23 that was a practice. Um if it was going
1:16:25 to be done for the first time this time
1:16:28 around I would I would suggest that
1:16:30 perhaps we could help the the league or
1:16:32 whoever else find alternative spaces um
1:16:34 if that was an option. Um just because I
1:16:37 I do think the name of the game this
1:16:39 time around is is sort of being
1:16:41 conservative when it comes to
1:16:42 we've been doing this ever since I've
1:16:44 been involved in town govern.
1:16:46 Exactly. So I think that if there's some
1:16:48 confidence that these events are
1:16:50 genuinelyformational,
1:16:51 nonpartisan, if we're making the space
1:16:53 available, um I think it's probably
1:16:56 okay.
1:16:58 Did you have something like Okay.
1:16:59 No.
1:16:59 And then Oh yes, your question about um
1:17:02 ERC uh expenditures and revenue study
1:17:04 committee. Um the override I believe
1:17:06 would be very much within their area, a
1:17:08 member of that committee's area of
1:17:10 professional responsibility. Um so I
1:17:12 think that one of them could go to such
1:17:15 a meeting, speak on the override, take a
1:17:18 position publicly on the override. I
1:17:21 think that would be fine. Um they should
1:17:24 be careful though not to um allow uh
1:17:28 that to extend into endorsement of other
1:17:31 things for example particular candidates
1:17:34 um because that's outside of their area
1:17:39 has has the committee disbanded at this
1:17:40 point? Are they still in force?
1:17:42 Still infor
1:17:43 is the plan to keep it in force?
1:17:45 We're we're we're going to meet and have
1:17:47 that discussion about what the future of
1:17:49 that committee is. um they know the
1:17:51 members of the committee want to want to
1:17:53 continue on in some form to ensure that
1:17:55 their recommendations are followed up on
1:17:57 and so we're going to talk about what
1:17:58 form that would take and then bring it
1:17:59 back to you as a select board to decide
1:18:01 what to do.
1:18:02 I just from a from a to to make things
1:18:06 clean and I don't I'm not suggesting I'm
1:18:09 not say advocating for this but I'm
1:18:10 suggesting it as an idea that that
1:18:12 committee could be disbanded and
1:18:14 reformed as something else in the future
1:18:17 to free the members of that committee.
1:18:19 um to to you know be able to go into the
1:18:23 committee and do what they want without
1:18:24 being encumbered by the fact that
1:18:27 they're sitting on this committee at
1:18:29 this time.
1:18:30 Yeah. And I think you know it's and I
1:18:32 think as Jonathan said right because
1:18:33 this is squarely within their area of
1:18:35 expertise their ambit you asked them to
1:18:37 opine on this question should there be
1:18:39 an override and if so for how much? So
1:18:41 they absolutely have, you know, the uh
1:18:44 the right to use that and say, I was
1:18:46 appointed by the select board to this
1:18:48 committee to do this work. I did this
1:18:50 work. My opinion on this is X. Um and in
1:18:53 the same way you on the select board can
1:18:55 have that that conversation. So I I
1:18:57 wouldn't
1:18:58 but we are elected and not appointed. So
1:19:00 that's the difference. So I'm just
1:19:01 trying to make it clean. It's just a
1:19:02 suggestion.
1:19:03 Yeah. So I assume that that does not
1:19:05 mean that members of the uh committee um
1:19:09 are precluded from supporting candidates
1:19:12 as opposed to the override uh in their
1:19:16 personal capacity without using their
1:19:19 position on the committee. Um,
1:19:22 of course, yes, you you're abs you're
1:19:24 absolutely allowed to uh support
1:19:27 candidates. Um, like I said, knock on
1:19:29 doors, hold up signs, donate to their
1:19:32 campaigns, and ultimately vote.
1:19:38 This is only the first slide. Yes,
1:19:40 maybe.
1:19:41 Yeah, I was gonna say,
1:19:44 um, okay, actually, if we could go back
1:19:45 to the slide because I didn't get to my
1:19:46 other two things. Um, so I will fix the
1:19:49 mass emails. one. Second one is
1:19:51 fundraising. Fundraising connected to
1:19:53 the town is prohibited. Um you can't uh
1:19:57 utilize town uh town employees. Town uh
1:20:00 public officials of any kind should not
1:20:01 be fundraising for anything other than
1:20:04 their own campaign. You of course can
1:20:06 fundra for yourself, but you should not
1:20:08 be fundraising for other people or the
1:20:11 um um and certainly not using town
1:20:14 resources to do so. Town facilities,
1:20:17 town staff, things like that. And then
1:20:20 this last one is what Chaz, you know,
1:20:21 the root of everything um is what Chaz
1:20:24 already pointed out. Use of public
1:20:26 resources. Public resources can't be
1:20:27 used to influence voters. Um you can't
1:20:30 use so that includes of course staff
1:20:32 time. Um as well as resources that you
1:20:34 might not suspect like we were already
1:20:36 discussing with say an email list. Okay,
1:20:38 next slide please.
1:20:43 Um we will just we've already talked a
1:20:46 lot about this one. This is another
1:20:48 slide I need to fix because I need to
1:20:49 emphasize the public resource uh at the
1:20:53 heart of this um this guideline which is
1:20:56 that mass emails should be avoided when
1:20:58 they use a town or school's email list.
1:21:02 Um, so and this and this, but if you
1:21:06 are, you know, and this of but if you
1:21:08 are using a school or town list, it
1:21:11 doesn't matter if the unsolicited email
1:21:13 you're sending is umformational
1:21:17 or objective, nonpartisan. It doesn't
1:21:20 matter if you're using a town or school
1:21:21 email list. Uh, it is it is a violation
1:21:24 of campaign finance law to send out mass
1:21:26 unsolicited emails. All right, next
1:21:29 slide, please.
1:21:31 Again,
1:21:32 political fundraising uh by political by
1:21:35 public employees is prohibited as well
1:21:37 as in town buildings. Um this the one
1:21:40 big exception is you are allowed to
1:21:42 fundra for yourself for your own
1:21:44 campaign.
1:21:45 Could you say that again? I didn't hear
1:21:47 you.
1:21:47 Sorry. You uh you political fundraising
1:21:50 by public employees is prohibited by
1:21:52 law. The one exception is you are
1:21:55 allowed to fundra for yourself or your
1:21:57 own campaign of course but you are not
1:22:00 allowed to for fundra for anyone else.
1:22:04 All right, next one please. Next slide
1:22:05 please. Um again you cannot use uh
1:22:09 public resources to influence voters. It
1:22:12 does not in this can include staff time.
1:22:15 It also include things like the
1:22:16 letterhead, the seal, town seal, uh
1:22:20 rooms uh within town hall, for example.
1:22:23 There have been uh cases where someone
1:22:26 filmed like social media posts, but did
1:22:28 so inside a uh like a city council room,
1:22:33 something like that. That's considered a
1:22:35 public resource. You're using that to
1:22:37 kind of influence the voters who are
1:22:39 watching your social media post. Um so
1:22:42 all of use of public resources to
1:22:45 influence voters is prohibited. So um
1:22:48 basically between now and the election
1:22:50 we should be uh extra conservative when
1:22:53 it comes to asking uh town staff or
1:22:56 using town resources to do um to do
1:22:59 anything related to the override um
1:23:03 outside of something that's directly
1:23:05 within their area of professional
1:23:06 responsibility such as you know if uh
1:23:10 select men's select uh the town
1:23:12 administrator's office uh looking at
1:23:14 looking at questions of the budget uh
1:23:17 the town clerk's office actually
1:23:18 organizing the election that's within
1:23:20 the area of professional responsibility
1:23:21 but that's about as far as we should let
1:23:23 it go. Next slide please.
1:23:27 Okay so we we're on to permissible
1:23:29 actions. uh permissible actions.
1:23:33 This is where um it it can vary from
1:23:37 what uh elected officials can do and
1:23:40 what uh appointed officials and staff
1:23:43 can do. Um like I was saying, appointed
1:23:46 officials and employees can only speak
1:23:48 about areas within their area of quote
1:23:51 professional responsibility. That does
1:23:53 not apply to elected officials. Elected
1:23:55 officials can speak on whatever issue
1:23:57 you all want to. School committee
1:24:00 members do not have to comi confine
1:24:02 themselves to only speaking about quote
1:24:04 school issues unquote. They're elected.
1:24:07 They're expected to take positions on on
1:24:09 everything. So they can speak on all of
1:24:12 those issues. But being allowed to
1:24:15 communicate about them does not mean
1:24:17 does not give you the right to use
1:24:18 public resources in doing that
1:24:21 communication. So, you are allowed to
1:24:23 take a position on the override, but you
1:24:25 are not allowed to use a town email list
1:24:27 to publish that position. Um, that's the
1:24:32 uh that's the one of the big
1:24:33 distinctions between what elected
1:24:34 officials can do and what they and what
1:24:36 uh non-elected official public officials
1:24:38 can do. Elected officials can take a
1:24:40 position on anything.
1:24:42 Okay, next slide, please. Before he goes
1:24:44 on, can I ask a quick question? So, um
1:24:47 Jonathan,
1:24:48 um I'm just I'm as you're speaking, I'm
1:24:51 digging into Office of Campaign Finance,
1:24:54 um the miracle of technology. Um there's
1:24:57 there seems to be a distinction
1:25:00 between a uh paid and non-paid
1:25:05 public municipal official. So for
1:25:07 example, an appointee
1:25:10 uh or even a town meeting member may
1:25:12 consider to be although they're elected
1:25:14 even advisory member would be who's
1:25:17 who's uh appointed as a non-paid
1:25:22 atlarge member of advisory.
1:25:24 It seems they would have pride
1:25:26 discretion over uh and would not have
1:25:29 the same restrictions as say a DPW
1:25:32 worker or a police officer or town staff
1:25:35 or town council. Is this true?
1:25:39 Uh my my understanding is it's it it is
1:25:42 true in because there's there's a
1:25:43 category of town employees who do not
1:25:46 whose area of professional
1:25:47 responsibility does not extend to the
1:25:49 taking positions on questions on elected
1:25:52 matters at all. a DPW worker, uh patrol
1:25:56 officer, a teacher, um those they do not
1:25:59 their area of professional
1:26:00 responsibility does not extend to taking
1:26:03 positions on uh matters that are going
1:26:06 to go before the voters. So they should
1:26:08 not be taking any position at all. That
1:26:10 is my understanding of what that when I
1:26:12 when you read that distinction to me
1:26:14 that that's that's what my mind
1:26:15 immediately went to.
1:26:16 So So just and I and this may need
1:26:19 further investigation. I just I feel
1:26:20 like we're on thin ice with this a lot
1:26:22 of this stuff. Um, so an appointed
1:26:25 non-paid municipal official is generally
1:26:28 not treated as a public employee for
1:26:30 campaign finance restrictions. And this
1:26:32 is directly from the office of campaign
1:26:34 finance. Um I you know I worry that we
1:26:38 are providing guidance that is not um
1:26:42 comprehensive enough and perhaps is not
1:26:45 accurate and some people are going to
1:26:47 interpret
1:26:48 uh your guidance as a restriction
1:26:52 um and frankly an impediment to their
1:26:54 their uh their first amendment right.
1:26:56 I'm I'm very concerned about this.
1:26:58 Could we take that offline? I mean, we I
1:27:01 don't think we should get into a sort of
1:27:03 debate as to the um you know, what what
1:27:06 the campaign finance law is about.
1:27:08 It's all it's all about all the but you
1:27:10 know, we can we can spend all night
1:27:12 talking.
1:27:13 Okay.
1:27:14 We've had a couple things that No, I I
1:27:16 am I' I've been tasked by my by by Joe
1:27:19 by our office to be the sort of point
1:27:21 person for these issues. And I
1:27:23 appreciate, you know, I appreciate both
1:27:25 of you what both of you are saying. Paul
1:27:26 has given me some things to look into to
1:27:28 make sure this is more comprehensive,
1:27:30 but I don't need to get into it that
1:27:31 much right now.
1:27:32 So, I will my concern is you go to the
1:27:36 campaign finance website and then get
1:27:39 into a back and forth.
1:27:40 I'm not I'm not suggesting we now
1:27:42 raising an issue that that that this is
1:27:44 now public domain information. It's
1:27:46 inaccurate
1:27:48 and we have to be careful. That's that's
1:27:50 my suggestion.
1:27:51 Did you have your hand up, Chair? No.
1:27:53 Oh, okay.
1:28:00 Okay. Uh so yes, so as I mentioned
1:28:02 earlier, um personal political activity
1:28:05 um is is not prohibited by the campaign
1:28:08 finance laws. as a private citizen. Um
1:28:11 any public employee uh elected official,
1:28:14 appointed official can engage in uh as a
1:28:17 private citizen. They can vote. They can
1:28:18 attend events um outside of work outside
1:28:21 of work hours. They can they can take
1:28:23 positions um uh as a private citizen.
1:28:29 There are some things that you need to
1:28:31 refrain from. However, um
1:28:35 you cannot as a public employee uh use
1:28:38 your position to solicit donations from
1:28:41 others um for anything other than um
1:28:44 like you said if you're running
1:28:47 yourself, but you should not be used
1:28:48 political fundraising for anything else.
1:28:50 You should have never be trying to
1:28:52 solicit donations for any purpose from
1:28:54 your subordinates. Um and then this is
1:28:57 particularly gerine to what we're doing
1:28:59 right now. Um you can work on override
1:29:03 committees any elected officials,
1:29:06 appointed officials can work on override
1:29:08 committees but they cannot
1:29:12 act as their public facing agent or hold
1:29:14 any executive roles. So you can't um be
1:29:19 the you know be the person from the yes
1:29:22 on question four committee who talks to
1:29:26 addresses the town who comes to talk to
1:29:28 the select board who um does anything
1:29:31 like that. You can work serve on the
1:29:33 committee but you can't run it you can't
1:29:34 be on the executive board and you can't
1:29:37 fund raise.
1:29:38 Okay.
1:29:39 Um so so two ca two cases that that uh I
1:29:46 would like your opinion on. Um the first
1:29:48 case is uh a member of the select board
1:29:51 uh writes a letter on behalf of a
1:29:53 position for the override. uh and that
1:29:57 letter is distributed uh through the
1:30:00 mailing list of a of an organization
1:30:04 outside the town. Is the select board
1:30:08 member then acting as a public agent and
1:30:10 is that not allowed?
1:30:14 Uh they are they are not if they if
1:30:16 their that distinction is clear if they
1:30:17 if they that that group asked the select
1:30:20 board for a letter expressing their
1:30:23 political opinion and and they are
1:30:25 allowed to then go on and publish that
1:30:27 letter
1:30:28 and and would a a select board member be
1:30:32 allowed to do that also for a candidate?
1:30:36 Yes, you are. Yes, you are allowed to
1:30:38 take positions. Uh like I said, you
1:30:40 elected officials can take whatever
1:30:42 position they want with respect to the
1:30:45 election.
1:30:54 Okay. So the um we like I said, public
1:30:58 positions on ballot questions are
1:31:00 allowed. Um select board members can
1:31:03 take public positions on ballot
1:31:04 questions. They can take public
1:31:05 positions on anything that's on the
1:31:07 ballot. Um, we have, as you may have
1:31:09 seen in the memo that Chaz prepared, um,
1:31:12 we have generally stated that unless you
1:31:15 are a department head or in some
1:31:17 circumstances a division head, um, you
1:31:21 fall outside of the notion of this of
1:31:24 your your area of personal
1:31:26 responsibility does not include taking
1:31:28 positions on on the ballot question. So,
1:31:32 um, we would ask that anyone who's not
1:31:35 either a department or division head
1:31:36 refrain from doing so. Um, and then, uh,
1:31:42 if you are even, but even if you are a
1:31:43 division head, I would still recommend
1:31:46 consulting with, um, with town council's
1:31:49 office before you before you take any
1:31:50 public position.
1:31:53 Next slide. Okay. So, um, as this all
1:31:56 goes back down back to the use of public
1:31:59 resources, um, to sort of in to
1:32:02 influence voters, um, one thing that,
1:32:06 oh, the Office of Campaign and Political
1:32:08 Finance, uh, notes is that, you know,
1:32:12 some public resources are going or can
1:32:15 and should be used to help interpret the
1:32:19 ballot questions, help people understand
1:32:21 them, help understand their
1:32:22 ramifications.
1:32:24 um this this actually helps voters uh
1:32:26 influences them in a positive way simply
1:32:28 by giving them more information. So it
1:32:31 is though you though the town can has
1:32:34 used and will likely continue to use
1:32:36 some public resources in compi compiling
1:32:40 and synthesizing information related to
1:32:42 the ballot question. Um that's that use
1:32:46 of public resources is not barred by the
1:32:49 campaign finance laws. um in that work
1:32:54 that those analyses that that they
1:32:56 perform that are not a c that are not a
1:32:58 campaign finance violation can even be
1:33:00 shared. For example, they can be put on
1:33:02 the town website. They can be made
1:33:04 available as a handout uh at a public
1:33:07 meeting. Uh people that came to this
1:33:09 meeting, for example, um could pick up
1:33:11 if you had printed out a bunch of
1:33:13 handouts about the override, they people
1:33:15 could pick them up. Um
1:33:18 but the critical thing that you cannot
1:33:20 do is we cannot use public resources to
1:33:23 then distribute that information in an
1:33:26 unsolicited way. Someone some a private
1:33:30 citizen um could take that information
1:33:33 and then publish it themselves. Um but
1:33:36 the town itself can't be publishing that
1:33:39 using its own public resources in an
1:33:41 unsolicited way. Um most the the most
1:33:45 one that springs to mind for Brooklyn is
1:33:48 using uh the email list it has um it has
1:33:51 access to purely because it's the school
1:33:53 department or it's the the town. Um so
1:33:56 unsolicited distribution is the thing to
1:33:58 avoid here but generally um we are
1:34:00 allowed to prepare these types of
1:34:02 analysis.
1:34:04 So next slide please.
1:34:08 As I mentioned before, um the the gen
1:34:11 the rule that OCPF often cites with
1:34:13 respect to public buildings is that it
1:34:15 is okay to let private groups use them
1:34:18 as long as you provide equal access to
1:34:20 both sides. Um so so as to ensure
1:34:24 fairness and consistency. Um
1:34:28 this does not mean that you need to go
1:34:29 seek out a group. You know, if you know
1:34:31 a group on one side is using has asked
1:34:33 to use a town space, you don't have to
1:34:36 find another group. group you don't have
1:34:37 to do is on a sort of one on onetoone
1:34:39 basis. Um but you do have to make sure
1:34:43 that that's there's space available if a
1:34:45 group if another group from the other
1:34:47 side wanted to also use town space that
1:34:51 that was made available to them.
1:34:53 Something similar. Next slide please.
1:34:56 So, um,
1:34:59 as always, uh, particularly for this
1:35:01 override, we're counseling everyone to
1:35:03 be conservative, be cautious. Um, don't
1:35:06 do anything on the spur of the moment.
1:35:08 Take some time to think, review the town
1:35:10 administrator's memo. Uh, and always you
1:35:14 can always come and ask us. Um, I do I I
1:35:17 do want to I have been getting emails
1:35:19 about the about questions. Um, like I
1:35:23 said, we we are already investigating a
1:35:25 number of questions that have been
1:35:26 raised. Um, it is our responsibility,
1:35:30 the town council's office responsibility
1:35:31 to try to advise you all uh the best we
1:35:34 can
1:35:38 keep doing so. So, please do not
1:35:40 hesitate to reach out if you have any
1:35:42 question at all. You believe something
1:35:44 would be um permissible or a problem
1:35:46 under the campaign finance laws. Next
1:35:48 slide. Okay.
1:35:52 Thank you.
1:35:52 So yeah, and that's our contact
1:35:54 information.
1:35:54 Questions from the select board.
1:35:57 Further questions?
1:35:59 I just I want to one thank you Jonathan
1:36:01 for this. Um and thanks to the board for
1:36:03 all these questions. I think what these
1:36:04 questions demonstrate is how complex
1:36:06 this issue is and how difficult it can
1:36:08 be sometimes to reduce it to a series of
1:36:10 maxims. I mean I think Paul, you rais
1:36:12 some very good points about the outer
1:36:14 bounds of where campaign finance law
1:36:15 applies. We're not even going to get
1:36:17 into the overlap of campaign finance law
1:36:18 and conflict of interest law and all
1:36:20 that nonsense. Like it's it can get
1:36:22 complex at the margins and what we're
1:36:24 trying to do is provide guidance, but
1:36:26 town council's office is not the police,
1:36:28 right? They're trying to be helpful. And
1:36:29 so I think the most important thing
1:36:31 because there is so much interest in the
1:36:32 community about this. And so I think
1:36:34 what's really important here first and
1:36:36 foremost is that if you have questions,
1:36:38 Jonathan has very graciously said that
1:36:40 he's taking point on this and is trying
1:36:42 to get answers to those questions. You
1:36:44 know, my memo is distributed to staff.
1:36:46 It relates to what staff can and can't
1:36:47 do. It tries to be, you know, as clear
1:36:50 and plain language as possible, but it
1:36:52 is right. It's intended for paid
1:36:55 employees of the town and schools of
1:36:56 Brookline. Um, and so it doesn't apply
1:36:59 in situations for you or for the
1:37:02 advisory committee. I provide it to you
1:37:04 all so that you know that town staff is
1:37:06 being informed very clearly of what it
1:37:08 is they can and can't do and being told
1:37:10 if you have any questions. That's what
1:37:12 town council's office is here for. I
1:37:15 think it's in a very similar situation
1:37:17 here, which is if you have those
1:37:19 questions, if you have those concerns,
1:37:21 we will do the research, we will look it
1:37:22 up, we will get you an answer. Um, but
1:37:24 it is, you know, there there are the
1:37:26 simple maxims and then there's the
1:37:28 actual complexity of the law which
1:37:31 starts getting more and more granular as
1:37:33 it goes on. So, we want to be responsive
1:37:35 to the community's desire to have
1:37:38 clarity on this, but a lot of the time
1:37:40 it's going to be a case by case issue.
1:37:41 And you've got to that's where asking
1:37:43 really doesn't hurt.
1:37:45 Michael, um I'm wondering since this is
1:37:50 a number of these questions have been
1:37:52 raised in terms of what public members
1:37:55 of public bodies can or can't do. Um
1:37:58 whether uh uh I don't know if Jonathan
1:38:01 would be the right person to do this,
1:38:03 but if we should draft some addition to
1:38:06 the public body's handbook to deal with
1:38:08 this question specifically.
1:38:11 That's a good flag. We'll we'll take a
1:38:12 look at what's in there now and we'll
1:38:13 follow up on that. Thank you,
1:38:18 John.
1:38:19 Well, just a thought to offer on this.
1:38:22 Um, should should we even be trying to
1:38:26 tell people how they should interpret
1:38:29 the, you know, Office of Campaign
1:38:32 Finances,
1:38:34 uh, rules for conduct when they can go
1:38:37 to the website of the Office for
1:38:40 Campaign Finance and get the question
1:38:42 there. And, you know, by acting as a
1:38:45 sort of interpreter of it, we're running
1:38:47 the risk of we misinterpret it. Um I
1:38:50 think uh
1:38:52 not sure why it has become necessary for
1:38:55 us to intervene in this way when you
1:38:58 know anyone at any time
1:39:00 can seek guidance from the the state
1:39:03 office.
1:39:04 Yeah. If if if this training is limited
1:39:07 to what we can do, I think you know your
1:39:10 point is addressed.
1:39:11 Yeah.
1:39:12 But uh yeah, I mean we're not everyone's
1:39:15 lawyer,
1:39:16 right?
1:39:17 Yep. So,
1:39:19 yeah. So, I guess my um and I'm glad
1:39:22 John brought this up. Certainly, Chaz as
1:39:24 the as the town administrator who pretty
1:39:27 much everybody reports up into has the
1:39:29 authority to say here's the here here's
1:39:31 the guidance from me uh as you know as
1:39:35 advised by town council for employees of
1:39:38 the town. My concern is that this advice
1:39:41 is is whether it's intended or not is is
1:39:45 expanding into areas outside of direct
1:39:48 employees and and it it potentially has
1:39:52 a stifling effect. And frankly, when a
1:39:54 lawyer gives you a warning, it can
1:39:56 actually slow you down or stop you. Um,
1:39:59 and that I I think John saying us
1:40:03 interpreting campaign finance for people
1:40:05 outside of direct employees
1:40:07 um is is worrisome. And I mean, we've
1:40:10 already found a number of mistakes um in
1:40:13 this guidance that have to be corrected.
1:40:14 It's already in the public realm. And I
1:40:16 just I I I'm concerned we're we're
1:40:19 overreaching and having our town council
1:40:22 try to provide guidance to the public.
1:40:25 Um, and much of these individuals that
1:40:27 we appoint or serve in some capacity are
1:40:29 the public. Um, and I'm worried that
1:40:31 we're going to stifle or they're going
1:40:34 to be fearful that whoa, town council
1:40:36 spoke. I I'm not even going to go there.
1:40:37 It's not even worth the risk. Um, and
1:40:40 and frankly, if you broke campaign
1:40:42 finance or you said the wrong thing,
1:40:44 similar to what happened with uh with
1:40:47 the schools with the Pierce override,
1:40:49 which they did find that something
1:40:52 happened that was inappropriate, they
1:40:53 said get educated, don't do it again.
1:40:55 Yeah. So, I like I you know, I I want to
1:40:58 make sure that people understand in the
1:41:00 public that they're not going to go to
1:41:01 jail. Um if they didn't if they made a
1:41:04 mistake in interpretation of what town
1:41:06 council put out into the public realm,
1:41:09 um you're not you're not going to be put
1:41:10 into jail or be fined many thousands of
1:41:13 dollars. I don't
1:41:13 I I guess I'm trying to understand why
1:41:16 anyone not, you know, public employee or
1:41:20 official would think that this is
1:41:22 directed to them.
1:41:25 I I think I don't think I don't think
1:41:27 we've set I don't think the boundaries
1:41:28 have been set. We don't have clarity on
1:41:31 what it means to be an appointed person
1:41:34 to advisory or appointed person to um a
1:41:37 non-paid position. I think it's unclear.
1:41:41 Um,
1:41:42 so, so I I I take your point, John, and
1:41:46 your point, Paul, um, about, uh, whether
1:41:50 or not the town council should be in the
1:41:53 position of, uh, interpreting campaign
1:41:56 finance law for the for the public as a
1:41:59 whole. Um, as as you've said, we are not
1:42:02 uh we are not providing legal services
1:42:04 um, proono broadly. um given given the
1:42:09 the three categories that I think we've
1:42:12 we've narrowed down on which are elected
1:42:16 officials uh public employees of of some
1:42:21 level and uh people who have made
1:42:24 appointments. Um, I think that it is
1:42:27 helpful for town council to proactively
1:42:31 do the education step that you referred
1:42:33 to, Paul, in order to prevent the kinds
1:42:37 of things that happened, for example, at
1:42:41 the schools and the use of town
1:42:42 resources. So I I mean I just think that
1:42:46 we have to balance these two concerns
1:42:48 about on the one hand not overreaching
1:42:51 um in terms of what our legal council
1:42:54 does but also being able to provide
1:42:57 education to the relatively limited set
1:43:01 of uh individuals who would be affected
1:43:04 by these concerns. Okay,
1:43:06 good. Okay, thank you Jonathan.
1:43:10 Thank you guys. Have a good night. Bye.
1:43:14 Okay, moving on. Next item. Uh we have a
1:43:16 bunch of budget reviews. I think the
1:43:18 first one is the health department.
1:43:22 I see that uh
1:43:25 there's coming up.
1:43:35 Good evening. Thank you, Chair Green,
1:43:36 members of the select board. while we
1:43:38 while we get the slides up. Here
1:43:46 we go.
1:43:50 So, I think what I'll preface uh and I
1:43:52 said this to the advisory subcommittee
1:43:53 when I presented to them a few weeks
1:43:55 ago, um what you'll see in the slides
1:43:57 and and what I'm highlighting uh as it
1:44:00 relates to grant funding and offsets.
1:44:02 Um, I think when I started this a few
1:44:03 months ago, I was personally in a little
1:44:05 bit of a panic mode and then as I kind
1:44:07 of absorbed it and thought about it, it
1:44:09 listen, we're in a great place. Having
1:44:10 grants, having offsets to allow us to do
1:44:12 the work that we do in public health is
1:44:14 wonderful. Uh it's it's more I I bring
1:44:16 it up tonight more as part of this
1:44:18 discussion
1:44:20 to um
1:44:22 just to get us all thinking about what
1:44:24 what the future holds for public health
1:44:25 and human services because we have over
1:44:26 a half a million from one grant with
1:44:29 mass DPH another 100,000 from another
1:44:31 grant doing tobacco control and we're
1:44:33 using about a half a million dollars in
1:44:34 offsets for staffing and other supply
1:44:36 needs. So um good position for us to be
1:44:39 in. I think it's something that that uh
1:44:41 Sigal Reese brought up in in years past.
1:44:43 Um,
1:44:45 okay, here we go.
1:44:48 So, really quickly, because I know
1:44:51 we've only got a few minutes. So, this
1:44:53 is in the budget book. This is just a a
1:44:54 quick look at our FY27 budget. There's a
1:44:57 little over 113,000 reduction on the
1:45:00 operating budget. However, 72,000 is one
1:45:03 staff person, one FTE being moved from
1:45:06 the operating budget onto the opioid
1:45:08 offsets. So, we're not losing a staff
1:45:09 person there. We're just shifting where
1:45:10 that money is is being paid from. There
1:45:12 is a cut, a reduction of uh proposed
1:45:14 reduction of 50,000 uh for the Brookline
1:45:18 uh bounties food coupon program which
1:45:20 I'm happy to talk about later. This is a
1:45:22 quick look at our current staffing. We
1:45:24 have 26.5
1:45:26 26.48 FTEES in total. And you'll see as
1:45:29 you look from 25 to 26 and 27, there
1:45:33 have been more staff added uh to the um
1:45:36 non-operating budget. So that's grants
1:45:37 and and the opioid offsets that I spoke
1:45:39 about earlier.
1:45:42 But I think this is probably the more
1:45:43 interesting piece that you you all want
1:45:45 to talk about and want to hear from for
1:45:47 me which is what are our
1:45:49 accomplishments? What are our goals for
1:45:50 next year and for future years? So so I
1:45:52 tried to frame everything around the
1:45:54 chip. We've had a lot of conversations
1:45:56 I've had a lot of conversations with all
1:45:57 of you about our community health
1:45:58 improvement plan. So really focused on
1:46:00 the year one action plan this past year.
1:46:03 We launched our be well coalition which
1:46:05 is our substance use prevention
1:46:06 coalition. We have had three meetings
1:46:09 every other month for the past six
1:46:11 months with that coalition. There've
1:46:13 been about 40 or 50 members of the
1:46:14 community and staff that have been part
1:46:16 of those conversations and we're really
1:46:18 getting to the point where we are going
1:46:20 to start doing some implementation work
1:46:21 with that coalition. Really excited
1:46:23 about that work. We obviously uh this
1:46:25 year expanded human services. We hired a
1:46:27 resource navigator. We launched CARES
1:46:30 Brookline which is the uh human services
1:46:32 resource database and referral system.
1:46:35 We have our Brookline Bounty program
1:46:37 that has for the past several years
1:46:39 through ARPA uh and other grants served
1:46:41 approximately 800 families each year
1:46:43 with food coupons for the farmers
1:46:45 market. And in addition, when we've had
1:46:47 the funding and through some fundraising
1:46:48 from the friends of Brooklyn Public
1:46:50 Health, we've provided turkeys and
1:46:51 chickens and and um other other food
1:46:55 during Thanksgiving and winter holidays
1:46:56 to families in need. And then it wasn't
1:46:58 in the chip, but I think it's important
1:47:00 to mention uh among many other things
1:47:02 that our staff do, we do provide uh flu
1:47:05 clinics each year to residents and and
1:47:07 this past year it was about 700
1:47:09 residents that received flu vaccine from
1:47:11 our staff.
1:47:13 So, really quickly, Emily Williams said
1:47:15 pictures are good, so I'm including a
1:47:16 couple pictures here. I I I promise you
1:47:18 all I will not quit my day job and get
1:47:20 into graphic design. I think uh
1:47:22 Christina, if she's watching at home, is
1:47:23 probably sobbing. Uh but I just wanted
1:47:25 to share a little bit about uh the the
1:47:28 wonderful staff we have. Right. This
1:47:29 work does not happen without the uh the
1:47:31 staff we have in public health and human
1:47:32 services.
1:47:36 This is more of our staff. Brookline day
1:47:38 vaccine clinics. Uh the diaper drive
1:47:40 that community health did the the
1:47:42 Brooklyn bounty program and on.
1:47:45 So what are our goals for FY27 and
1:47:48 beyond? Uh obviously
1:47:51 for this year it'll be the action the
1:47:53 year 2 action plan with CHIP. We're I'll
1:47:55 admit we're a little bit behind
1:47:56 schedule. I'm going to blame the
1:47:57 transition and leadership there on that.
1:47:59 Um but we are uh preparing to launch the
1:48:02 priority area working groups. So there
1:48:04 are four priority areas. We will have
1:48:06 residents and staff in each of those uh
1:48:09 priority areas in working groups helping
1:48:10 to develop that year 2 action plan and
1:48:12 making sure that we're we're staying on
1:48:14 track. I expect we'll see more or an
1:48:17 expansion of the work of the human
1:48:18 services resource navigator. You'll
1:48:20 remember we have the office of housing
1:48:21 stability. Um this position is supposed
1:48:24 to be doing that work. Um this past year
1:48:27 in town meeting there was the renters's
1:48:28 handbook that was passed. This position
1:48:30 will be taking on the responsibility of
1:48:32 starting to to develop that material.
1:48:36 And I want to continue to improve the
1:48:38 operations in our environmental health
1:48:39 team. We have a wonderful staff doing
1:48:41 inspections. they they're responsible
1:48:42 for both housing and food. Uh there's a
1:48:45 tremendous workload there, but I think
1:48:46 there's opportunities for for improving
1:48:48 operations so that we can respond better
1:48:50 to the residents of Brooklyn. In the
1:48:52 midterm, uh looking more at implementing
1:48:55 a robust public health regulatory
1:48:57 framework. I think one of my past
1:48:59 predecessors was um more comfortable
1:49:01 with passing public health regulations.
1:49:03 It's not something I want to do
1:49:04 frequently, but I think what we've seen
1:49:06 from town meeting over the past, you
1:49:07 know, 5 10 years is uh a demand for
1:49:11 public health to do more. And I think we
1:49:13 can do that through the uh the authority
1:49:15 of the the commissioner of public
1:49:16 health. Um so looking to do some more of
1:49:19 that around um banning new substances.
1:49:22 There's substances like synthetic
1:49:24 cannabonoids keep coming up. They come
1:49:25 up with new configurations of
1:49:27 cannabonoids. uh we can regulate those
1:49:29 through the public health department and
1:49:31 and stop uh allowing those to be sold in
1:49:34 our community. Uh keeping of animals uh
1:49:36 I think town meeting a couple years ago
1:49:38 I had a warn article on keeping of bees.
1:49:40 So that's the type of work I'd like to
1:49:42 do through the regulatory and and uh
1:49:44 regulatory work that I'd like to do and
1:49:46 I want to continue to review our our
1:49:48 operations and make improvements in in
1:49:50 key areas. I think there's a lot of
1:49:52 great work happening. I think we can
1:49:53 always do better. uh and I want to work
1:49:55 we we just hired a assistant director
1:49:57 for operations and uh that's Tanya Hong
1:50:01 her responsibility is really to go
1:50:02 division by division and department by
1:50:05 department that we work with and talk
1:50:06 about how do we improve communications
1:50:08 how do we develop SOPs as staff leave a
1:50:12 lot of information leaves with them and
1:50:13 we want to prevent that from happening
1:50:15 in the future and then long-term uh just
1:50:18 wanted to flag as I mentioned earlier
1:50:20 that um through a combination of of town
1:50:22 funds where they're available but also
1:50:24 So we'll continue to be applying for
1:50:25 grants wanting to continue to sustain
1:50:27 our current FDA FTEEs where possible. So
1:50:30 we have staff in community health, human
1:50:32 services, substance use prevention, and
1:50:34 our regional collaboratives that are all
1:50:36 on offsets and grant money.
1:50:38 And then lastly, uh if budget
1:50:41 limitations did not exist, right, um my
1:50:43 uh our emergency preparedness
1:50:45 coordinator is currently on soft money.
1:50:47 Uh she's doing tremendous work for this
1:50:49 town. She helps run the flu clinics with
1:50:51 our medical reserve corps. uh she does
1:50:53 some work during the marathon. Um she
1:50:57 just always out there in the community
1:50:58 educating seniors on on what they can do
1:51:00 to prepare for emergencies. So would
1:51:02 love to keep that position and move that
1:51:04 to the operating budget when and if
1:51:06 possible. And I know these are difficult
1:51:07 times. Uh but this is just flagging it
1:51:10 for the future. Um improving our grant
1:51:11 writing coordination. We're doing a lot
1:51:13 of great work on grant writing to
1:51:14 continue to bring in uh grants from
1:51:16 outside. I think we could do a better
1:51:18 job as a town on on coordination and
1:51:20 support there. want to continue to
1:51:22 expand social supports where we can. I
1:51:24 think our council on aging is working on
1:51:25 transportation that was in the community
1:51:27 health improvement plan. Continue to
1:51:29 expand where we can food and essential
1:51:31 support services and developing new
1:51:34 programs for families and teens. And and
1:51:36 as I've said a couple times now, just
1:51:38 always being mindful and preparing for
1:51:40 that future transition of staff from
1:51:42 expiring grants and offsets to new
1:51:44 grants and and operating budget where it
1:51:46 makes sense.
1:51:48 And then I had to mention next week's
1:51:49 National Public Health Week. We got a
1:51:50 lot of great events and with that I will
1:51:52 uh take any questions you have.
1:51:54 Great. Thank you. Any questions John?
1:51:57 Um thanks very much and um you know if
1:52:01 if people haven't sort of figured this
1:52:02 out from your presentation we have a
1:52:04 really robust public health department
1:52:06 and it's it's really great to know and
1:52:09 tremendous depth of professionals in the
1:52:11 department. Um I am going to raise this
1:52:14 issue of uh I'm I'm going to guess based
1:52:17 on your presentation that the health
1:52:19 department might in fact be um uh when
1:52:22 you rank all the departments by the
1:52:25 amount of their budget that is soft
1:52:27 money so-called u you know grants etc.
1:52:30 Um maybe the health department will come
1:52:32 out number one. Would you would you
1:52:34 guess maybe that's true?
1:52:36 I would say we're up there. I haven't
1:52:37 looked at a lot of the other budgets but
1:52:38 it's it's over a million dollars in soft
1:52:40 money.
1:52:40 Yeah. A a and um- which leads to my
1:52:44 question because um for very good
1:52:47 reasons. You know, you have described,
1:52:49 you know, one of the goals as being to
1:52:52 be able to continue by sometimes
1:52:55 incorporating into the operating budget
1:52:57 positions that have been on soft money.
1:53:00 But, you know, we we're going through
1:53:02 this exercise right now where we're
1:53:05 facing a sizable override uh that the
1:53:08 voters will vote on uh very soon. And um
1:53:12 the general message that comes through
1:53:15 the work of the expenses and revenues
1:53:16 committee and u when you look at all of
1:53:19 the causes of our our needing this
1:53:21 override funding um the message comes
1:53:23 through that we don't really have much
1:53:26 room for additions of personnel to our
1:53:30 budgets. Just having the same number of
1:53:32 people on our budgets from one year to
1:53:34 the next is is something we're having a
1:53:36 hard time sustaining without going to
1:53:38 overrides. So, is it realistic to be
1:53:41 talking about and I I know these are
1:53:44 really important public health um
1:53:47 functions, but is it realistic to be
1:53:50 talking about maybe growth of the
1:53:52 department through additions to the
1:53:53 operating budget from transitions, you
1:53:56 know, from soft money to operating
1:53:58 budget money? We do we really have room
1:54:00 to do that?
1:54:01 I think that's a difficult conversation
1:54:03 that needs to be continued to be had,
1:54:05 right? I I don't expect that this is the
1:54:07 year that that's going to happen. Uh
1:54:08 there's right now only
1:54:11 194,000 in grant funding that we're
1:54:13 losing in in FY27. Um and there's only
1:54:16 one staff person that was on that grant
1:54:18 and we have additional funding to keep
1:54:19 that person for now.
1:54:21 Uh this is more of a longer term having
1:54:23 that conversation. I mean if you look
1:54:24 back at FY23, 20 staff were on operating
1:54:27 and now it's it's uh
1:54:29 down to 12, right? So we've lost eight
1:54:31 FTEEs off the operating budget. So I get
1:54:34 that this is challenging. I just want I
1:54:36 felt like it was my responsibility to
1:54:37 flag this for everyone that it's great.
1:54:40 I you know I wish one of the biggest
1:54:42 projects we have uh from grant funding
1:54:44 is the regional collaborative and that's
1:54:46 with Arlington Belmont and Newton in
1:54:48 Brooklyn. And so we have five staff on
1:54:50 there plus a a part-time that we
1:54:52 actually pay out through our consultant
1:54:54 line because they work for Belmont. So
1:54:56 we have a public health nurse, an
1:54:57 epidemiologist, two inspectors, a
1:54:59 regional manager, and I'm probably
1:55:01 forgetting someone. So, so they're
1:55:03 they're providing a wealth of service to
1:55:04 all four communities right now. It would
1:55:07 have been ideal for Mass DPH when they
1:55:09 offered that grant to say to all four
1:55:10 communities, you need to be prepared in
1:55:13 five years that this funding may or may
1:55:15 not be here and you you've got to decide
1:55:16 whether you want to continue.
1:55:17 Yeah.
1:55:18 So, what I can say is for FY27, that
1:55:21 grant is fully funded. For FY28, that
1:55:23 will be the first year that the federal
1:55:24 government is not contributing half of
1:55:26 those dollars. So it remains to be seen
1:55:29 what that regional collaborative and the
1:55:31 regional collaboratives across the
1:55:32 state. I think close to threequarters of
1:55:35 of cities and towns are in regional
1:55:37 collaboratives how that's what that's
1:55:39 going to look like. Um
1:55:40 and if I may just one quick followup
1:55:42 because you mentioned that uh 20 U FTEEs
1:55:46 a few years back 12 today. Is that
1:55:48 mainly like that there was the COVID
1:55:51 period when a lot of money flowed in and
1:55:53 positions were added? Is that related to
1:55:55 that or?
1:55:56 Uh, no. In fact, um, we, you know, I
1:55:59 think the town was pretty smart when
1:56:00 when the arbor dollars came in. I think
1:56:02 only one position was added. Um, the
1:56:04 rest were,
1:56:06 you know, the transition has been using
1:56:08 opioid settlement funds. We were using
1:56:09 HCA funds. I don't think that maybe is
1:56:11 perfectly documented here, but we were
1:56:12 using HCA funds for certain substance
1:56:14 use prevention positions. We've now
1:56:16 transitioned them over to opioid
1:56:18 settlement funds. They had previously
1:56:20 been on a federal grant. So, this is
1:56:21 sort of this is public health and I get
1:56:22 it, right? We're always trying to be
1:56:24 competitive and get grants. The,
1:56:26 you know, and you're all very well aware
1:56:28 of this, the support from the federal
1:56:30 government right now is not what it was
1:56:32 a few years ago, especially as it
1:56:34 relates to public health. So, that's one
1:56:35 of the challenges is it's going to get
1:56:36 harder for us to find grants to continue
1:56:39 to support these positions.
1:56:40 So, you know, I think collectively we'll
1:56:42 have to face that. I just figured it was
1:56:45 time to start having that conversation
1:56:46 with you all in in town meeting. Thanks,
1:56:50 Michael.
1:56:50 Um, thank you very much. uh for your
1:56:53 presentation.
1:56:55 Uh just three quick questions. Um
1:56:58 actually just two because John already
1:56:59 asked one. Um
1:57:02 how much uh you talked about your grant
1:57:04 writing work and uh uh how you were
1:57:08 looking to enhance it um in I think your
1:57:12 midterm. And I'm wondering how much of
1:57:14 that grant writing work uh requires
1:57:17 specific knowledge within the public
1:57:19 health field um as opposed to grant
1:57:23 writing work that could be handled more
1:57:25 generally.
1:57:26 Yeah, that's a great question. I think
1:57:28 um we've got some staff members, you
1:57:30 know, I think it varies year to year as
1:57:32 staff transition in and out. Some of
1:57:33 them are very skilled at it and come in
1:57:36 prepared and others u not as much and
1:57:38 need more support. Um, I'd probably say
1:57:41 it's 75% specific public health
1:57:43 knowledge and 25% is kind of just
1:57:46 understanding where to look for grants,
1:57:48 how to how to apply for them, the the
1:57:50 type of language you need to use. We are
1:57:52 going to be doing a training for uh a
1:57:55 number of staff in the regional
1:57:56 collaborative including Brookline staff
1:57:59 on grant writing uh as a way to try to
1:58:01 support that internally. Uh, and we do
1:58:04 sometimes use contracted services. Um,
1:58:06 for some of the bigger grants, there are
1:58:08 some successful uh, consultants out
1:58:10 there who who do these for a living and
1:58:12 so sometimes we do hire them to support
1:58:13 some of that work, but I'd say it's
1:58:15 about 7525.
1:58:16 Okay. And my second question isn't
1:58:18 specific to grant writing, but your
1:58:20 operations more generally um, though it
1:58:23 might apply to grant writing is, uh, how
1:58:25 have you thought about the use of
1:58:26 artificial intelligence to improve the
1:58:28 efficiency of your operations?
1:58:30 Uh, I've thought a lot about it. I I I
1:58:33 think um it's early days, but I think
1:58:35 it's it's something we need to be
1:58:37 considering. And and I will just say
1:58:38 that I'm a a pilot tester of some of the
1:58:40 AI software that the town is is trying
1:58:42 out right now. Um so it's too early to
1:58:45 say, but I I think there's definitely a
1:58:46 lot of opportunity for AI. You know, I
1:58:48 think a lot of the questions that come
1:58:50 in from residents are things that
1:58:51 probably exist on the website, but the
1:58:54 search engine doesn't do a sufficient
1:58:55 job of pulling up the exact response.
1:58:57 And so I think and I'm not suggesting
1:58:59 that AI would be answering our phones
1:59:01 and and I don't think residents would be
1:59:02 happy to talk to a computer. I think
1:59:03 they'd rather talk to our staff. But it
1:59:05 may be that our staff can find the
1:59:07 answers quicker with support of AI. Um
1:59:10 we've got a lot of documentation I think
1:59:11 about, you know, our community health
1:59:12 improvement plan is a long document and
1:59:14 AI can comb through that really quickly
1:59:16 and find answers. And just quickly, um,
1:59:20 I'm curious, at one point, and this
1:59:23 predates your tenure, there was a chip
1:59:25 steering committee, and I'm just
1:59:27 wondering if if that's still engaged in
1:59:29 the planning and work of the chip.
1:59:30 Yeah, that that it still exists. The
1:59:32 same members are still part of it. We
1:59:34 have not met since June of last year.
1:59:36 That will be part of this spring's work
1:59:38 uh as we get ready for year two action
1:59:40 planning is to bring the steering
1:59:41 committee back. And then we still need
1:59:43 to appoint working group members. So the
1:59:44 steering committee is kind of leadership
1:59:46 team. They meet quarterly. the working
1:59:48 group is supposed to be meeting on a
1:59:49 monthly basis. So the what I can say is
1:59:51 staff are meeting on Friday to begin
1:59:53 that planning work. Um the year one was
1:59:56 handled by an outside consultant so
1:59:58 we're taking this on uh and so this is a
2:00:00 little new for us but we I feel like
2:00:02 staff are prepared.
2:00:03 Great. Thank you.
2:00:03 Yeah.
2:00:05 Uh David have a follow-up question on
2:00:07 the AI. Okay. So, you mentioned you
2:00:08 wouldn't want AI to be replacing uh
2:00:11 people answering the phone, but that you
2:00:13 would look to utilize it in order to
2:00:17 locate certain items on the website. Uh
2:00:19 do you do you envision any other uses
2:00:22 for AI within your department? I want to
2:00:25 be careful not to speculate too much,
2:00:26 but I you know I think um I was at a a
2:00:29 training uh the DPW commissioner had had
2:00:32 shared with us uh a little over a year
2:00:34 ago and it was it was somebody who's on
2:00:37 a on a commission and you know one of
2:00:38 the things they talked about is its
2:00:40 ability to look at images really quickly
2:00:43 and identify items in there. So I you
2:00:45 know this is pie in the sky. Don't, you
2:00:47 know, don't quote me or or force us to
2:00:49 do this, but like
2:00:52 sidewalks when there's snowstorms. You
2:00:54 could put cameras on all the vehicles
2:00:56 that are driving around town. They could
2:00:57 identify sidewalks that haven't been
2:00:59 shoveled, and you wouldn't need staff to
2:01:00 go out and then those staff could focus
2:01:02 on inspections where they're supposed to
2:01:03 be instead of sidewalk enforcement. So,
2:01:06 I think that's the type of potential,
2:01:08 but there's going to be an investment.
2:01:10 And I think there's also some concerns
2:01:12 probably from residents about cameras
2:01:14 picking up their images while those
2:01:16 vehicles are driving around town. So I
2:01:17 think that's an opportunity. I think,
2:01:19 you know, getting to knowledge quicker.
2:01:21 You know, I spend a lot of time reading
2:01:22 that chip and I'm very familiar with it,
2:01:24 but I still, you know, when I look at
2:01:25 like select board goals and objectives
2:01:26 on a yearly basis and I'm trying to line
2:01:28 it up with the chip, it takes a while.
2:01:30 Uh, and so I think their AI can look at
2:01:32 both documents and say here's where you
2:01:33 need to look and here's where they align
2:01:35 and here's where they don't. Um, so I
2:01:37 think I do think there's a lot of
2:01:38 opportunity. I think it's it's early
2:01:40 days and it we need to be really
2:01:42 thoughtful about the implementation.
2:01:43 So so the broader idea would be to make
2:01:46 employee time more efficient.
2:01:48 Yes. Yeah. And then I think you know I
2:01:51 think about you know and I want to be
2:01:53 mindful of of open meeting law and if
2:01:55 I'm going down the wrong road you guys
2:01:57 correct me. We had somebody at open mic
2:01:58 talking about rodents tonight. Um, you
2:02:00 know, if if our inspectors if we can
2:02:02 take a task off of our inspector's desk
2:02:04 or make it maybe faster for them to get
2:02:06 through an inspection, then we can
2:02:08 respond to complaints faster. I mean,
2:02:10 they they are swamped between food
2:02:12 inspections, housing inspections. We
2:02:14 have to respond to housing inspections
2:02:15 by statute in a certain amount of time.
2:02:17 So, then we're putting off food
2:02:18 inspections. We always have to respond
2:02:20 to housing inspections. I think I don't
2:02:22 I'm not going to give a date, but it's
2:02:23 it's very quickly you have to get back
2:02:25 on the housing inspections. and certain
2:02:26 ones are emergencies that need to be
2:02:28 responded to within 12 to 24 hours. And
2:02:31 so where you can take certain tasks off
2:02:33 their desk and make them, you know, make
2:02:34 it more efficient, then they can focus
2:02:36 more on some of their primary
2:02:37 responsibilities.
2:02:39 Thank you.
2:02:39 Yeah.
2:02:41 Good. Thank you.
2:02:43 Thank you.
2:02:43 I think you're going to stay up there
2:02:44 for the next item.
2:02:45 I I am I will say I'll admit I uh I only
2:02:48 have one slide.
2:02:49 Okay.
2:02:50 Um and Bill sends his best. Um he's
2:02:53 still working part-time. We are in the
2:02:55 midst of of hiring for his replacement.
2:02:57 The job has been posted. Um but in the
2:02:59 meantime, he is still working for the
2:03:01 town one day a week to make sure that
2:03:02 we're providing services to veterans in
2:03:04 need.
2:03:05 So, uh he tried to log in. He said he
2:03:07 had some issues. Um his budget hasn't
2:03:09 changed much from last year.
2:03:13 Is the message here it's Christmas every
2:03:15 day in the veterans department? Is that
2:03:18 I I I think it's more that veteran
2:03:20 services is a a deeply beloved part of
2:03:23 the public health and human services
2:03:24 team.
2:03:25 Absolutely.
2:03:29 Any other questions on the Veterans
2:03:31 Affairs Department?
2:03:33 Okay.
2:03:33 Thank you.
2:03:34 Thank you all.
2:03:36 Next, Council on Aging.
2:03:40 Emily is online.
2:03:43 Thank you, John.
2:03:45 Hi everyone. Good evening. How are you?
2:03:48 Great.
2:03:48 We're good. How about you?
2:03:51 I'm fantastic. I'm sorry I'm not there
2:03:53 in person. I have a little one who was
2:03:54 very nervous about the MCCast today. So,
2:03:56 he did really well though. I'm very
2:03:58 proud of him.
2:03:59 All right.
2:04:00 Um, let me just share my screen. I have
2:04:05 a presentation.
2:04:07 Um,
2:04:12 Melanie, I I'll be sharing my screen, I
2:04:14 believe. Right.
2:04:17 Yep.
2:04:18 Yeah,
2:04:18 we can see it.
2:04:18 Looks looks good.
2:04:20 Okay.
2:04:23 Uh, hi everyone. My name is Emily
2:04:25 Williams. I am just one year in to uh my
2:04:29 tenure at the Brooklyn Council on Aging
2:04:31 and Senior Center. And every
2:04:32 presentation I give, I have to start out
2:04:34 with the mission because it's as the
2:04:36 first council on aging. Sorry, Jim.
2:04:38 We're the first council on aging. 1955
2:04:40 we were founded. Um it's a very
2:04:43 important way to be able to share the
2:04:45 history to the public. Um we're uh
2:04:48 twofold. We have a senior center which
2:04:51 is one of the uh beautiful town
2:04:52 buildings and it's the gathering place
2:04:54 specifically dedicated to enriching the
2:04:56 experience for Brooklyn older adults age
2:04:59 6 plus as well as their caregivers. I
2:05:01 will say we're seeing definitely an
2:05:03 uptick in the uh adult children giving
2:05:05 us a call, worried about mom or dad um
2:05:07 and their well-being and emotional um
2:05:10 overall health. Our mission uh at the
2:05:13 Brooklyn Senior Center is to provide
2:05:14 social services that that allow people
2:05:17 to remain independent. Our goal is
2:05:19 helping people maintain this
2:05:21 independence so that they continue to be
2:05:23 active members of their community. And
2:05:26 we believe that enhancing growth and a
2:05:28 sense of belonging is inc while
2:05:30 encouraging individual contribution and
2:05:33 the sharing of life experiences is vital
2:05:35 to remaining as a part of uh the
2:05:37 community. The senior center welcomes
2:05:41 all. We're very um culturally diverse
2:05:44 group not only uh with our participants
2:05:47 volunteers but also the staff. Everyone
2:05:50 who enters our doors, regardless of age,
2:05:52 income, disability, ethnicity, or
2:05:54 religious background, is very welcome.
2:05:56 And lastly, we recognize the efforts of
2:05:58 all of our program collab collaborate
2:06:01 collaborators,
2:06:02 and we are extremely grateful for their
2:06:04 support.
2:06:08 um our FY27 budget summary which was um
2:06:12 not a dramatic change. This is not a a a
2:06:15 change in um finances for us on the town
2:06:18 budget. It is for the federal budget. Um
2:06:21 but we do have our our salaries. You can
2:06:23 see year-over-year. Uh most recently um
2:06:27 just a small less than 1% increase in
2:06:30 our salaries. services, supplies remain
2:06:33 stable and our utilities did increase by
2:06:37 5%. Which reflects overall 1% increase
2:06:40 in our total budget
2:06:44 and that 1% increase is from our new
2:06:46 HVAC replacement. We're all electric
2:06:49 very soon will be 100% complete with the
2:06:52 the process. Um they replaced the entire
2:06:56 system and the provider that's been
2:06:58 doing the work has been very respectful
2:07:00 of the participants. I will say and not
2:07:02 disrupting any service to our
2:07:04 operations.
2:07:07 Uh this year are our three priorities.
2:07:10 You can see on the left we have a brand
2:07:11 new town logo. We also have uh which
2:07:14 we're in the process of redesating the
2:07:16 town of Brooklyn to be an age friendly
2:07:18 community. But overall our priorities
2:07:21 this year will be health and safety,
2:07:24 equity and aging
2:07:26 in the community. And then it's really I
2:07:28 should have separated the the the third
2:07:31 uh priority into two to to list it as
2:07:34 sustainable infrastructure and
2:07:36 innovation. Uh we've done quite a few uh
2:07:40 different things this year to reflect
2:07:41 innovation. That includes creating a new
2:07:44 database for folks to check in. It's
2:07:46 called my senior center. Um now you'll
2:07:48 see when you walk in the front doors a
2:07:50 little kiosk um where you can enter in
2:07:53 your information if you like. It's opt
2:07:55 in. You don't have to and you can pick
2:07:57 and choose where you're going, what
2:07:59 program you'll be in attendance to, and
2:08:01 then we'll be able to really put
2:08:03 concrete data to the usage of the senior
2:08:06 center building as well as our programs
2:08:08 and services.
2:08:17 um this year. Um it it's kind of funny
2:08:21 because we've seen an expansion in our
2:08:22 programs and um utilization of our
2:08:25 services
2:08:27 uh with a pretty stable budget. So it's
2:08:30 reflective in our infrastructure. You
2:08:33 can see here we have 31 uh staff which
2:08:36 served just over 3,000 unduplicated
2:08:39 older adult residents. There's over
2:08:40 13,000 as we know, 20% uh who live in
2:08:43 town age 60 plus. One thing that I'm
2:08:47 very proud of, more proud than you can
2:08:49 even imagine, um there's 42,000 hours,
2:08:52 which is equivalent to 20 full-time
2:08:54 employees.
2:08:55 That is 370 volunteers, which equates to
2:08:59 $1.3 million, which is the our town
2:09:03 general fund budget. And my first year,
2:09:05 what I've done is I've tried to
2:09:07 determine really what the true core
2:09:09 service need is
2:09:10 and try to reflect that into the true
2:09:13 core service budget. and we cannot do
2:09:16 what we do at all without our
2:09:18 volunteers. Um, next month we're
2:09:20 celebrating uh volunteer appreciation
2:09:23 month. Uh John, thank you for coming to
2:09:25 say a few words, but everyone is very
2:09:27 welcome to be able to see who these
2:09:29 people are, all ages, um that are, you
2:09:32 know, meeting the needs of people who
2:09:35 walk in and are looking for services and
2:09:37 supports or who just want to uh a very
2:09:40 affordable cup of coffee, but also to
2:09:43 really have that social connection
2:09:45 because we're the hub of all things
2:09:46 older adult in town. Um our senior
2:09:49 center is 20,000 square feet. It's
2:09:52 really
2:09:53 not appropriate to meet the needs right
2:09:55 now of a growing population. Every day
2:09:58 we're busting at the seams. On average,
2:09:59 we have about 15 programs to be able to
2:10:02 address food, nutrition, socialization,
2:10:05 mental, physical, and um uh in-person
2:10:08 wellness, but also what we're doing is
2:10:11 we're trying to explore more hybrid
2:10:13 programming. But one thing we're
2:10:14 noticing is that the the older adults
2:10:16 really prefer to be in person.
2:10:19 Um, other ways we've expanded. We've
2:10:21 sustained growth
2:10:24 with a huge thanks, huge shout out to
2:10:26 our Brooklyn Senior Center Foundation.
2:10:28 They fund um just 10% of our overall
2:10:32 budget. Um the the town funds 70% 20%
2:10:37 are through external sources, special
2:10:39 revenue funds, state earmarks, grants
2:10:42 that we apply to internally. Um as well
2:10:45 as uh of course we all know about the
2:10:47 ARPA cliff. Um, so those numbers will be
2:10:50 changing in the next fiscal year, but
2:10:52 the Brookline Senior Center Foundation
2:10:54 funds every single program that we offer
2:10:57 at the senior center as well as staff
2:10:59 positions. For example, one of our band
2:11:01 drivers is funded through them as well
2:11:03 as our fitness center coordinator. Um,
2:11:07 and we're hiring for that position right
2:11:08 now. Quick side note, uh, we've had 20%
2:11:11 of our staff either retire or resign due
2:11:14 to different reasons. um one individual
2:11:17 left the country unfortunately because
2:11:19 of the current federal situations that
2:11:21 we're faced with. So I've never actually
2:11:23 seen such a dramatic change in uh
2:11:26 leadership in an organ organization. But
2:11:28 knock on wood, we've filled almost all
2:11:31 those positions as well as hired um
2:11:33 internally. We promoted someone to be
2:11:35 our our new supervisor of uh clinical
2:11:38 social work services
2:11:40 to continue on programs and
2:11:42 communications. We're very proud. Um I
2:11:45 think Brookline in general is very proud
2:11:46 to to to be an aging community. Uh we've
2:11:49 seen some fantastic folks really step up
2:11:52 to the plate to advocate for the future
2:11:54 existing as well as the future needs of
2:11:57 aging in Brooklyn. Um, and that's not
2:11:59 just being a community advocate. It's
2:12:01 attending our programs to be able to
2:12:03 take care of themselves as well as as
2:12:05 well as their communities in our solo
2:12:08 and wise aging classes, our fitness
2:12:10 classes, and of course, lifelong
2:12:12 learning. Um, one thing that I'm really
2:12:15 proud of, um, John, thank you for
2:12:16 throwing in all those pictures. We have
2:12:18 a new electric vehicle that we'll be
2:12:20 piloting with the senior center, excuse
2:12:22 me, the teen center to be able to
2:12:24 provide intergenerational and interdep
2:12:26 departmental uh transportation again to
2:12:29 meet the needs of the growing community.
2:12:32 And then we're always expanding townwide
2:12:35 initiatives interdep departmentally as
2:12:37 well as with uh local nonprofits in
2:12:39 town. Our top three accomplishments,
2:12:43 we've strengthened health and safety net
2:12:44 programming. Um again, we've met an
2:12:47 increased demand in our health caregiver
2:12:49 and social service supports and we're
2:12:51 trying to advance and really trying to
2:12:54 modernize the future needs. Um
2:12:57 population growth brings technology and
2:13:00 we're slowly but surely uh embracing
2:13:02 that just to try to embrace this baby
2:13:05 boomer ch population who uses their
2:13:08 their smartphones for many different
2:13:10 purposes. Um, and it all of this is to
2:13:13 help folks remain safe and independent.
2:13:15 Um, the second uh accomplishment we've
2:13:18 done is to expand the equity and
2:13:20 community connections in town where
2:13:22 we've done really inclusive programming.
2:13:25 Um, in November, I think everyone
2:13:27 remembers the snap cuts and where
2:13:29 everybody had to remobilize and pivot on
2:13:32 how to respond um effectively and
2:13:35 creatively to meet the needs. And now we
2:13:38 have a a monthly uh group with uh other
2:13:40 town departments
2:13:42 and other nonprofits in town to be able
2:13:45 to meet that need for essential services
2:13:47 like food. Um we've also done as I
2:13:50 mentioned a lot of hybrid engagement
2:13:51 opportunities to reduce the social
2:13:53 isolation that we see on a daily basis.
2:13:56 And lastly, our top three
2:13:58 accomplishments advancing transportation
2:14:00 and an age friendly progress. So we've
2:14:03 sustained key access to limited
2:14:05 transportation services. We've had to um
2:14:08 put together some uh new restraints to
2:14:11 our current transportation model for uh
2:14:14 the medical to meet the medical needs of
2:14:16 older adults where we have uh limited
2:14:18 ride trips on a monthly basis and now
2:14:20 our model is an incomerestricted model
2:14:24 and the goal of that is to be able to
2:14:25 sustain the existing funding that we
2:14:27 have to fund that program. We've also
2:14:30 done great work on initiating the age
2:14:32 friendly redesignation with AAP which is
2:14:35 a process that's done every three years.
2:14:37 Um and as the age friendly cities
2:14:40 committee is a subcommittee of the
2:14:42 select board. We look forward to what
2:14:43 that looks like.
2:14:44 Jillian time is up.
2:14:46 It's Emily.
2:14:49 I'm sorry Emily. I'm looking at my list.
2:14:51 Emily, your time's up. Sorry.
2:14:53 Okay. Thank you.
2:14:54 So why don't you just wrap up quickly?
2:14:58 Well, um I just want to highlight this.
2:15:00 It's growth. I know this is in
2:15:02 everyone's um handouts. Every single
2:15:05 department uh division within the COA
2:15:08 has increased growth and now we have
2:15:09 data to put uh numbers behind that. I
2:15:13 already mentioned the innovation and the
2:15:14 modernization of the senior center
2:15:17 and okay, I invite everyone to our 25th
2:15:20 anniversary April 30th. It's going to be
2:15:22 a really good time.
2:15:23 Great. Thank you.
2:15:24 Thank you very much.
2:15:25 Questions from the select board.
2:15:29 John,
2:15:31 Emily, um, great to see you. Uh, I I am
2:15:35 privileged, I will say, to serve um, as
2:15:38 the select boards representative to the
2:15:39 council on aging, uh, which meets
2:15:42 monthly at the senior center. And uh for
2:15:46 those who you know may may not be aware
2:15:49 of the recent history uh some of which
2:15:51 Emily recited uh the prior director was
2:15:55 um so legendary um in her contributions
2:15:58 to uh the community of of senior
2:16:02 citizens in Brooklyn. Um Ruthanne
2:16:04 Dobeck. uh when she retired uh people
2:16:08 kind of agonized um how are we ever
2:16:10 going to find a suitable successor to
2:16:14 Ruth Anne and uh we we are blessed that
2:16:18 uh we found Emily and Emily found us. Uh
2:16:21 and I don't say that just to flatter
2:16:23 someone. I think you anyone who listened
2:16:25 to this 10-minute presentation has to
2:16:27 have been very impressed with the um
2:16:31 breath of knowledge, the energy, the
2:16:33 commitment, uh the the innovative spirit
2:16:36 that she has brought to the the the
2:16:39 department and uh uh it's it's a it's a
2:16:43 real u blessing to the town. Uh not not
2:16:47 just to the the aging population in the
2:16:51 town. um that that we have a really
2:16:54 strong basis of services for our very
2:16:57 very significant
2:16:59 uh aging population. I include myself in
2:17:01 that of course. Uh and it takes a person
2:17:05 who is extremely caring uh about uh
2:17:10 people at all stages in life to sort of
2:17:13 figure out u all of the special needs of
2:17:17 the the unique needs of people, you
2:17:20 know, in in their later years in life.
2:17:22 And Emily, thank you very much for what
2:17:24 you brought to um Brookline and I'm
2:17:27 looking forward to seeing it continue.
2:17:30 Thanks. I appreciate that.
2:17:33 Uh yes, thank you Emily for a very
2:17:35 thorough uh and uh helpful report. Um
2:17:39 I'm wondering if you could just speak
2:17:41 for one moment to any of the
2:17:43 intergenerational work um that the
2:17:46 senior center uh is championing. Um, I'm
2:17:50 familiar with the with the uh teen
2:17:52 center, senior center shuttle, but I'm
2:17:55 just wondering if there's uh if you have
2:17:58 any thoughts about uh expansion of
2:18:01 intergenerational connections.
2:18:04 Well, having just been for the first
2:18:06 time to the Brooklyn Arts Center last
2:18:08 week, what a what a gem that is. We uh
2:18:11 recently received a state earmark uh
2:18:13 from Tommy Pollo to do some
2:18:15 intergenerational arts. Um, creative
2:18:17 arts therapy reduces isolation and
2:18:20 loneliness and really addresses the
2:18:21 mental health needs that we have in our
2:18:23 community. Sometimes they're not talked
2:18:25 about enough in my opinion. But that's
2:18:27 one example of a way to bridge two
2:18:29 communities, the old and the young, and
2:18:32 to be able to almost have that ven
2:18:34 diagram to see where their needs and
2:18:36 their um hobbies and their um
2:18:39 relativities to one another um can can m
2:18:42 be matched. And then again putting data
2:18:45 to that for sustainability and future
2:18:48 programming. It's just magical when you
2:18:50 get an older adult and a younger person
2:18:51 together. Um we have the um shop grocery
2:18:55 shopping program, the shop program which
2:18:57 started uh in the late 80s with the high
2:19:00 school. Um, and on our website we have,
2:19:03 and I just watched it today, is a really
2:19:05 heartwarming video of some high school
2:19:07 students grocery shopping for a woman
2:19:09 who couldn't grocery shop any longer and
2:19:11 how it's it's not so much about the
2:19:14 food, but it's about the friendship that
2:19:16 develops. Um, those are just two
2:19:18 examples of ways to get um to bridge the
2:19:21 community really across the lifespan.
2:19:24 And there could be more.
2:19:25 Thank you, David. Regarding expansion,
2:19:29 I'm wondering if there is any thought
2:19:32 toward uh having wheelchair accessible
2:19:36 vehicles to take seniors to and from
2:19:39 appointments. Uh I know there's some
2:19:41 interest in that.
2:19:45 Absolutely. Absolutely. Our current um
2:19:48 contracted service with uh a local taxi
2:19:51 company does not have wheelchair
2:19:52 accessible vehicles as part of their
2:19:54 fleet, but we hope to use for medical
2:19:57 transportation
2:19:58 um enhanced outreach and education to
2:20:01 the ride. It's not the ride that we're
2:20:03 used to even just 10 years ago. Um but
2:20:07 what they've um been able to expand
2:20:09 their services to provide microtransit.
2:20:11 It's called the Flex program and it's
2:20:13 really a great way to for seniors who
2:20:15 use their smartphones or to call us to
2:20:18 be able to access um a a subsidized town
2:20:21 subsidized service for folks in
2:20:24 wheelchairs and if they have their
2:20:26 personal care attendant or loved one to
2:20:29 go with them. It's always a nice um
2:20:32 opportunity to get people to and from
2:20:34 their doctor's appointment. But all of
2:20:36 our vans um which are aging I will point
2:20:39 out are wheelchair accessible including
2:20:41 our new electric vehicle.
2:20:45 So one thing that um I I find
2:20:48 fascinating is the number of social
2:20:49 workers you have on staff five um plus
2:20:53 uh part-time social worker funded with
2:20:56 grants. Could you uh just give people a
2:20:59 sense of you know what what what
2:21:02 your social work um group uh does for
2:21:08 elderly people particular
2:21:11 workers but also the uh other uh
2:21:14 individuals who provide supportive help
2:21:17 to uh to people like home care workers
2:21:19 and and others.
2:21:22 Absolutely. We currently employ five
2:21:24 clinical social workers and we just
2:21:26 filled our last position with our our
2:21:29 intern from Boston College. She's
2:21:31 amazing. She'll be joining us full-time
2:21:33 soon as she graduates. Um it's been a
2:21:35 trend actually. I will say folks um in
2:21:38 the social work profession start with us
2:21:40 as interns, enjoy it so much because of
2:21:43 the plethora of ex of uh exposure to
2:21:46 services and a variety of older adults
2:21:49 needs that they can address. Um, one
2:21:52 thing I am very uh conscious of is to
2:21:54 make sure that folks don't burn out as
2:21:56 the crisis interventions increase. Um,
2:21:59 we're relaunching the inter agency
2:22:01 meetings um with our public health
2:22:04 department as well as police, fire, and
2:22:07 uh the Brooklyn um mental health uh
2:22:10 Brooklyn community for mental health.
2:22:12 There's really we need to address social
2:22:15 isolation in general, but what we're
2:22:18 seeing is um the depression increase as
2:22:21 well as pretty severe mental health um
2:22:24 concerns, hoarding
2:22:27 um infestations and public housing as
2:22:30 well as in private housing. Um, and what
2:22:33 we're doing with our our clinical team
2:22:34 is to address those needs really at the
2:22:38 at the social work intervention level,
2:22:40 which we don't go in to someone's home
2:22:43 in a uniform. We don't go looking to
2:22:45 section someone. We go to support the
2:22:48 individual based on their needs and
2:22:49 really meet them where they're at. And
2:22:51 that's one fantastic trait of a social
2:22:54 work uh uh employee. We also have a
2:22:57 great um uh volunteer team. We have the
2:23:01 tax workoff program in Brooklyn which we
2:23:03 employ uh over 30 residents age 60 plus
2:23:07 who are homeowners and what that does is
2:23:10 able to match them into a town
2:23:11 department to be able to supplement um
2:23:14 additional employee needs and that's
2:23:17 been incredibly successful not just at
2:23:19 the council on aging but the library uh
2:23:22 town hall the assessor's office and it
2:23:24 really helps the older adult be able to
2:23:26 work off their taxes. Um, we also are
2:23:29 addressing caregiver stress with our our
2:23:32 staff. So, we have a plethora of
2:23:34 resources in our toolkit. to be able to,
2:23:37 you know, have at the ready, not just
2:23:39 online, but when we have our walk-ins at
2:23:41 the senior center, to be able to address
2:23:43 those needs immediately, to have the
2:23:45 answer for somebody is is is vital to
2:23:47 their well-being because our goal is to
2:23:50 empower everyone to be able to go back
2:23:52 to their homes, to go back to their
2:23:54 family to say, "This is what I recommend
2:23:57 kind of thing." And that our case loads
2:23:59 of each social worker as as well as
2:24:03 existing staff can range between 20 to
2:24:05 40 clients per person. Um which is is
2:24:09 really um increasing and high. I was
2:24:12 looking at the history of the senior
2:24:14 center and you know we were able to grow
2:24:16 this uh division within the council on
2:24:18 aging from a halftime position up to
2:24:21 five position but it you know it took
2:24:24 over 40 years to be able to get there
2:24:26 and it's uh still with a 20% population
2:24:30 in town. Um we also have wonderful
2:24:34 transportation coordinators. We have two
2:24:37 part-time um assistants as well as a
2:24:40 full-time transportation coordinator and
2:24:44 um almost all of those positions are
2:24:46 funded by special revenues um as well as
2:24:49 the Brooklyn uh senior center
2:24:51 foundation. So, one of my goals in the
2:24:53 long term is to be able to bring the
2:24:55 coordinator to the town budget 100%
2:24:58 because of that transportation need. Um
2:25:01 and then there's Jamie who does
2:25:03 incredible programming. Her and her team
2:25:06 offer programming not just at the senior
2:25:08 center as I mentioned 15 programs daily.
2:25:11 We also have a daily lunch program. We
2:25:13 also have um bi-weekly trips and uh what
2:25:16 we've done in the most recent is to go
2:25:19 down to the Butterham Library to meet
2:25:21 the the needs of the South Brookine
2:25:23 residents who we hear on a daily that
2:25:26 they are um just not coming up to
2:25:28 Koolage Corner because they can't find
2:25:30 parking for more than two hours
2:25:32 or our van they just choose not to to
2:25:36 use our van or they're not accessible
2:25:38 via bike or Uber and Lift. So um what
2:25:42 I'll be doing this fiscal year is to
2:25:44 looking at the data that we are taking
2:25:47 in to be able to address the true need
2:25:50 um based on that data for expanding
2:25:52 services. We can't go backwards. We have
2:25:54 to go forwards.
2:26:00 Okay. Thank you Emily.
2:26:03 Very very good.
2:26:05 Thanks.
2:26:08 Okay. Next, uh, we have the library and
2:26:11 our new director, Jill Mccurio.
2:26:14 Hi. Good evening,
2:26:59 All right. Good evening. It's so nice to
2:27:01 be here in person to meet all of you. Uh
2:27:05 I started about two months ago and I
2:27:08 have to say I've learned so much about
2:27:11 how Brookline relies on their library.
2:27:14 I'm excited to walk you through our
2:27:15 budget presentation and also to share
2:27:17 the impact that we have on community
2:27:20 life. So let me just start my slideshow.
2:27:24 And these were in your packet as well.
2:27:29 So, here we go. I like to say the best
2:27:32 way to support a public library is to
2:27:34 use it. So, that is something that uh
2:27:37 Brooklyn residents do enthusiastically.
2:27:40 Uh last year we welcomed about a half a
2:27:43 million visitors to the public library.
2:27:45 That's up 4% just about from the prior
2:27:48 year. and our circulation combining our
2:27:51 physical and digital borrowing. Uh we're
2:27:54 seeing that come in around 1.1 million
2:27:57 items borrowed annually and our digital
2:28:00 borrowing just continues to grow. We
2:28:04 hosted 1,200 programs roughly last year
2:28:07 attended by 30,000 residents. And the
2:28:10 most important thing to keep in mind is
2:28:12 the library is open seven days a week um
2:28:16 and year round. and we have about 175
2:28:21 hours public service hours available
2:28:23 throughout all of our locations. This
2:28:26 level activity would not be possible
2:28:29 without our dedicated team. So they uh
2:28:33 the team of about 55.66 FTEEs to be
2:28:36 precise, they've expanded partnerships,
2:28:39 they champion access to information, and
2:28:41 they've promoted community connection
2:28:44 inclusion throughout all of their
2:28:45 activities this year.
2:28:48 So the first action item that we worked
2:28:50 on this year was an art walk through
2:28:53 college corner. So we took the library
2:28:55 outside of its library walls and brought
2:28:58 art and community together at the
2:29:00 Brooklyn Art Festival. The staff
2:29:02 organized a self-guided uh art walk
2:29:05 through Coolage creating a passport uh
2:29:07 that guided residents through galleries
2:29:09 and studios along the route. Uh it was
2:29:12 such a success that this morning the
2:29:14 staff met to figure out how they could
2:29:15 participate this year again in the
2:29:17 Brooklyn Art Festival. We also surveyed
2:29:20 residents and heard from about 200 folks
2:29:22 who were interested in coming to
2:29:24 afterhour programming. Uh we hosted four
2:29:27 different events trying to appeal to all
2:29:30 ages. So we had movie screenings, some
2:29:33 trivia, there was a Taylor Swift music
2:29:35 party and I think our most successful
2:29:38 one is the pictures on the screen. We
2:29:40 had 50 uh residents come out uh to
2:29:43 decorate boxes. The kiddos um made them
2:29:46 look like drive-in cars and they parked
2:29:48 it in Henman Hall and watched family
2:29:50 movies together. Um we also promoted our
2:29:54 digital resources. So the digital
2:29:57 resources are a huge component of our
2:30:00 collection budget. Um, and our digital
2:30:02 circulation went up 30% uh or I'm sorry,
2:30:05 it went up 8% this year through some of
2:30:07 the tactics that we did in this action
2:30:09 item. We know that um people really want
2:30:14 to take advantage of our services for
2:30:16 ebooks and e audiobooks through Canopy
2:30:19 and um through Libby, but I think that
2:30:23 there's a lot of other digital resources
2:30:25 that will be exciting to residents and
2:30:27 they just need to know about them. So,
2:30:29 this action item took um our staff and
2:30:32 made tutorials, did uh training at the
2:30:34 housing authority and the senior center
2:30:36 to try to help people understand how to
2:30:38 get better use out of these tools. So,
2:30:40 we have services like Knos that gives
2:30:43 you free access to music. Uh there's
2:30:46 learning platforms like Mango Languages
2:30:48 that you can learn a new language.
2:30:50 Creative Bug has uh tutorials on
2:30:53 different craft projects, but I think
2:30:55 one of the most special ones that we
2:30:57 have is um Press Reader, which is a tool
2:31:00 that kind of helps you get behind the
2:31:01 payw wall. So, you can read free
2:31:03 articles from the New York Times, Boston
2:31:05 Globe, USA Today, and and popular
2:31:08 magazines and newspapers from around the
2:31:11 globe. And we saw that Brooklyn borrowed
2:31:15 43% more articles in the last year by
2:31:18 using this service. The last um part on
2:31:22 this slide is our library of things
2:31:24 collection and that is a really special
2:31:26 unique collection that draws upon the
2:31:30 idea that to access knowledge it's not
2:31:32 going to fit in one book or one
2:31:34 database. uh you need to sometimes put
2:31:36 your hands on an object so you can teach
2:31:38 yourself a new skill or learn to fix
2:31:41 something in your home or maybe to bond
2:31:43 with a friend or family member. So this
2:31:45 collection we did some work to analyze
2:31:48 the usage, try to figure out how to best
2:31:50 take care of the collection and uh I'm
2:31:52 happy to say in 2025 the library things
2:31:56 collection circulated 20,000 times. So,
2:31:59 these popular items include the
2:32:01 Chromebooks, games, gadgets like in
2:32:04 induction cooktops, and we have a pretty
2:32:06 impressive library of tools at the
2:32:08 Koolage CL um corner location. The
2:32:12 library is wrapping up its five-year
2:32:14 strategic plan, which is guided by four
2:32:17 pillars that reflect our commitment to
2:32:19 education, equity, partnerships, and
2:32:22 access. So, we support lifelong
2:32:24 learning. We partner with organizations
2:32:26 to help expand the reach of the library.
2:32:29 And we believe the library is for
2:32:30 everyone. So, it's our responsibility to
2:32:33 build a collection, have programs and
2:32:35 services that reflect the diversity of
2:32:37 our community, their interests and
2:32:39 information needs. And we also want to
2:32:41 help residents continue to use the
2:32:43 library whether they're on the go or
2:32:44 from the comfort of their own home. So,
2:32:47 what's on the horizon for the library in
2:32:49 the next year? Well, we do need to
2:32:51 rebuild the team. Um, I have a learning
2:32:53 curve to get to know Brookline and to
2:32:55 find out what we're doing well and ways
2:32:57 we can expand our services, but we also
2:33:00 have uh had a lot of turnover in our
2:33:02 team. I'm happy to say that we're now at
2:33:06 a more stable part in our staffing. Uh,
2:33:08 in the last year, we hired eight
2:33:11 full-time positions and 17 part-time
2:33:13 positions.
2:33:14 Uh, but threequarters of that uh
2:33:17 full-time positions were internal
2:33:19 promotions. So retention is strong and
2:33:22 we're working together to learn how to
2:33:25 work as a a healthy team together.
2:33:27 There's a new strategic plan on the
2:33:29 horizon. I hope that you'll all
2:33:31 participate in it later this fall so we
2:33:33 can find out how we can shape the best
2:33:35 library going forward. And then sharing
2:33:38 everything that we do so all residents
2:33:40 know what they can access. I'm looking
2:33:42 forward to having a monthly newsletter
2:33:44 and finding other tools to help the
2:33:46 community know what they can access and
2:33:48 take advantage of for free through the
2:33:50 public library. Um, and then let's see,
2:33:53 we've got
2:33:55 a couple facts about library budgets
2:33:57 just before we go into our numbers. Uh,
2:34:00 the library budgets a little unique. We
2:34:02 are guided by certain uh statutory
2:34:05 regulations in Massachusetts where we
2:34:08 have to meet different funding
2:34:09 requirements and provide a set number of
2:34:12 services so we are eligible for
2:34:15 certification that allows Brooklyn
2:34:17 residents to borrow materials throughout
2:34:19 the minute network but also the
2:34:20 Commonwealth and to make sure that we're
2:34:22 eligible for state aid that further
2:34:24 expands our ability to improve library
2:34:27 services outside of the municipal
2:34:29 budget. Uh so we need to uh follow a
2:34:32 funding threshold uh formula. That's the
2:34:35 municipal appropriation requirement. We
2:34:37 need to make sure our collections are
2:34:39 funded at a certain level of our budget.
2:34:41 Uh and then we have to have a set number
2:34:44 of services. We have to be open to the
2:34:46 public for a variety of hours um and
2:34:48 have a a variety of program
2:34:50 opportunities. Um so that's important
2:34:52 for us to maintain certification for the
2:34:55 community. So, as we dive into our
2:34:57 library budget, our budget proposal this
2:34:59 year is for $4,778,400.
2:35:04 Um, we're seeing utility costs rise just
2:35:07 like all of my other departments that
2:35:09 you've heard from. Uh, our our ser our
2:35:12 capital expenses are going up for leased
2:35:15 equipment and supplies are going up. Um,
2:35:18 so our budget, while it increases by 1%
2:35:22 this year, it is offset by a decrease to
2:35:24 our part-time staffing law.
2:35:26 Um, and that's something that we're
2:35:29 going to be looking at our vacancies
2:35:31 really carefully because we want to
2:35:33 maintain our staff. We want to be able
2:35:35 to maintain our core services. Uh, in a
2:35:39 perfect world, we'd be able to have more
2:35:41 staff because they're directly tied to
2:35:43 all the programs and services that we're
2:35:44 able to offer the community. Um, but we
2:35:48 we do know that this is a difficult
2:35:50 financial time. Uh, so we'll be
2:35:52 strategic about looking at that and we
2:35:53 want to make sure that the Brooklyn
2:35:55 community still has um the library that
2:35:58 they expect and deserve. Uh, so through
2:36:01 our talented staff and through our
2:36:04 community partnerships, the public
2:36:06 library brings the community together.
2:36:08 They champion access to information and
2:36:12 this budget will allow us to continue to
2:36:14 provide the wonderful library services
2:36:16 that the community has been relying on.
2:36:19 Uh so thank you for your attention uh
2:36:22 and supporting the library. I welcome
2:36:24 any questions you have about our
2:36:26 services or our budget proposal.
2:36:29 Great. Thank you.
2:36:31 Oh.
2:36:32 All right. Thank you. Um and welcome.
2:36:35 Thank you so much.
2:36:36 We're glad to have you. I'm glad to be
2:36:38 here.
2:36:39 My family frequents the library. They
2:36:41 love it, my kids. Um,
2:36:43 so you mentioned that there was a 4% uh
2:36:46 increase in visitors last year verse, I
2:36:49 guess, year-over-year. Yeah.
2:36:50 Um, how are we doing on um hours? Are we
2:36:54 are hours the same? Are they decreasing?
2:36:56 Are they increasing?
2:36:58 Our hours have maintained the same. So
2:37:00 that 175 hours is across all the
2:37:02 locations. We're open 63 hours to the
2:37:06 public
2:37:08 uh each week. So sometimes we overlap
2:37:11 often at different locations. That's
2:37:12 more in people's neighborhood, easier to
2:37:14 get to. Um but our hours really haven't
2:37:16 changed. Um we try to make sure we have
2:37:18 a mix of evenings available, weekend
2:37:21 hours on Saturday and Sunday, so all
2:37:25 everyone in the community can help take
2:37:26 advantage of what we have going on. So,
2:37:28 while you've increased 4% yearonear,
2:37:31 your budget's gone up 1%, you're still
2:37:33 maintaining the same level of service.
2:37:34 Uh, we're very good at being thrifty in
2:37:37 the public library. We're we believe in
2:37:39 sharing. Uh, so it is a challenge with
2:37:42 so many people coming through our doors
2:37:44 all the time. Um, and you know, frankly,
2:37:47 for people looking for things to do
2:37:48 after school or in school vacation week,
2:37:51 those programs get in, you know,
2:37:52 particularly slammed. Uh, but we are
2:37:55 still working with what we have. We're
2:37:57 very fortunate to have our foundation.
2:37:59 We have a runner for team Brooklyn, just
2:38:01 to mention uh and our friends group and
2:38:04 our trusts that uh our trustees manage.
2:38:06 Those help us fill in those gaps.
2:38:08 Great. Well, thank you. And we're
2:38:09 fortunate to have you.
2:38:10 Oh, thank you so much,
2:38:13 David.
2:38:14 I know that uh several years ago you
2:38:16 started a a tools library at the Koolage
2:38:19 Corner Library. I'm wondering what other
2:38:21 types of innovative concepts have maybe
2:38:24 come up for what a library can be for
2:38:27 its community.
2:38:28 Oh, that's a huge question. Uh the
2:38:31 library things continues to be all the
2:38:33 rage. I will say across libraries and I
2:38:36 would say that the articles that we get
2:38:38 asked to do the most with local papers
2:38:40 tend to be trying to highlight this
2:38:42 collection. I believe um we just had a a
2:38:46 university come and wanted to ask what's
2:38:48 up with the tool library in Kulage
2:38:50 because they're trying to promote it to
2:38:51 their student base um who study
2:38:54 frequently at the college corner
2:38:55 library. Um in terms of things to put in
2:38:58 there, I mean we have VR headsets. I
2:39:00 mean there's lots of games. Um and when
2:39:04 you say game you you might just think
2:39:06 pure recreation, but sometimes they're
2:39:08 tools that help build conversations with
2:39:10 people. Uh, our ELLL program has kits so
2:39:14 people could check out uh a dictionary,
2:39:16 but also a cookbook and and things that
2:39:19 will help them do a real life task, but
2:39:22 lean on some resources from the library.
2:39:24 Um, there there's all sorts of things in
2:39:26 that collection that can just make
2:39:28 everything um so much richer for people
2:39:31 at home without having to invest a lot
2:39:33 of money. Uh, our databases are also
2:39:35 really interesting. that press reader
2:39:37 tool. If you haven't used it, I totally
2:39:39 recommend you pop on our website, try it
2:39:41 out because if you've ever been
2:39:43 frustrated about not getting access to
2:39:45 something, most of those major uh
2:39:47 journals are in there. Um, but I think
2:39:49 right now it it shouldn't be
2:39:51 revolutionary, but access to information
2:39:53 is getting harder and finding good
2:39:55 information is even harder. So, your
2:39:57 question about AI um rang with me a lot
2:40:01 because, uh, we want to try to help
2:40:03 people use the tools available as best
2:40:04 we can. So, I think that's an area that
2:40:06 the library can do more in to try to
2:40:08 help u make sense of the information
2:40:12 confusion that is out there right now.
2:40:14 Thank you,
2:40:16 Joey.
2:40:18 Welcome to uh Brooklyn.
2:40:19 Thank you. Um, and I'm going to say a
2:40:21 word on behalf of the databases that are
2:40:25 available through the library because I
2:40:27 think that uh a lot of people don't are
2:40:29 not aware of of just how rich uh a part
2:40:33 of the library collections that is. And
2:40:36 um two that I reference frequently
2:40:41 um are the Brooklyn annual reports
2:40:43 databases. You can search every single
2:40:46 Town of Brooklyn annual report from 1846
2:40:48 to 2017. Um the others, in case people
2:40:52 are wondering, are available through the
2:40:53 town website. And then um personal
2:40:56 favorite of mine, the Brooklyn newspaper
2:40:58 archive. Um I spent 10 years as the
2:41:01 editor of a paper called the Brooklyn
2:41:03 Chronicle Citizen. we and um don't want
2:41:06 to date myself too much, but in those
2:41:07 days the the way we archived the
2:41:10 newspaper was to save a copy every week
2:41:13 and then by the end of the year you'd
2:41:15 have a great big bound volume and I mean
2:41:17 it was huge. Um, and then we'd set aside
2:41:21 a couple more copies just sort of in a
2:41:23 pile. And when I um left after 10 years,
2:41:27 I thought I don't I can't bear the
2:41:29 thought that all of the work that went
2:41:31 into the newspaper for the 10 years I
2:41:33 was editor will be lost to me. and and I
2:41:36 hauled all these newspapers and kept
2:41:39 them in our basement for more years than
2:41:42 I wish to recite until all of a sudden
2:41:45 one day I woke up and realized I don't
2:41:47 need to do that and I can search every
2:41:50 article that was published by every
2:41:52 reporter um and every article I wrote
2:41:54 from my time at that newspaper, you
2:41:57 know, in no time at all. And if people
2:42:00 don't fully appreciate newspapers are
2:42:03 great, you know, uh, sources for for
2:42:06 local history and and you can find some
2:42:09 really fascinating local history just by
2:42:11 going through the newspaper archive. And
2:42:13 there's more than one newspaper, not
2:42:15 just the one I edited, but then there
2:42:17 were su successor newspapers. So, thank
2:42:20 you. I'm not really asking you for a
2:42:21 comment, but I'm just telling telling
2:42:23 people of Brooklyn, this is another
2:42:25 great resource at the library. I'm so
2:42:27 glad we were there to preserve that with
2:42:29 you. So, thank you.
2:42:31 Yeah. One thing that I'm really
2:42:33 fascinated by is the 3D printer,
2:42:36 although I've never gotten my act
2:42:38 together to go over and and learn um how
2:42:41 to use it and what it's used for. Can
2:42:43 you talk about that?
2:42:45 Yeah, a lot of people love the 3D
2:42:47 printer. So, if you come to the Brooklyn
2:42:49 Village location on the ground level by
2:42:51 the elevator, you could see it in action
2:42:54 printing off jobs that people have
2:42:56 requested. Uh, and people are very
2:42:58 creative. There's also a display case
2:42:59 right next to it. So, you can see some
2:43:01 of the projects that have uh people have
2:43:04 created. So, everything from, you know,
2:43:07 a a little screw that will fit in uh
2:43:10 your glasses to being able to keep
2:43:12 things going uh to cookie cutters or u
2:43:15 artistic work. It's really pretty
2:43:17 impressive. So, what you do is you're
2:43:20 learning about how to design uh a
2:43:22 three-dimensional object that will be
2:43:24 printed on a platform and the design
2:43:27 programs, many of them are free that you
2:43:29 can use and tinker with. And then you
2:43:31 see the the product of your work to see
2:43:34 if you got those dimensions correct. Um
2:43:37 I also am a novice at 3D printing, but
2:43:40 we have some staff that are absolutely
2:43:42 fantastic at it. So, if it's something
2:43:43 you want to learn, uh, we can help you,
2:43:46 uh, learn, see a tutorial to get you off
2:43:49 the ground. We do programming around it,
2:43:51 uh, but it will also be able to help you
2:43:52 print it for free in the end, too, which
2:43:55 is, uh, unusual. That's not always
2:43:57 offered in a lot of public libraries.
2:43:59 So, please come in. We'll help you out.
2:44:00 And please see the display case. When
2:44:02 you see it in action, you're like, "Wow,
2:44:04 I could be that creative, too."
2:44:10 Okay. Thank you.
2:44:11 Thank you so much. interesting and
2:44:13 welcome to Brooklyn.
2:44:14 I appreciate it. Thank you so much and
2:44:16 have a great evening.
2:44:17 You too.
2:44:20 Uh, next, Department of Public Works. I
2:44:23 think um, Commissioner Shoots on
2:44:26 the whole team is online.
2:44:28 Okay.
2:44:32 Good evening.
2:44:36 So, uh, we'll go ahead and pull up our
2:44:39 slides. Um,
2:44:42 I know you're probably taking that down.
2:44:46 Um,
2:44:48 but I guess, okay, I'll just get
2:44:50 started. So, uh, good evening, chair,
2:44:52 members of the select board. I'm pleased
2:44:53 to be here with, uh, the incredible DPW
2:44:56 leadership team to present the
2:44:58 Department of Public Works FY27 budget.
2:45:01 Public works touches nearly every part
2:45:03 of daily life in Brooklyn from streets,
2:45:06 sidewalks, parks, water and sewer,
2:45:08 sanitation, trees, sustainability, and
2:45:11 emergency response. For FY27, our focus
2:45:14 is straightforward. Maintain core
2:45:17 service delivery, improve the condition
2:45:19 of our assets, strengthen internal
2:45:21 capacity, and continue modernizing how
2:45:24 we serve the public. The DPW operating
2:45:27 budget is 21.1 million, an increase of
2:45:31 about 1.6% over FY26.
2:45:35 The water and sewer enterprise budget is
2:45:38 35.6 million, an increase of about 3.1%.
2:45:42 Across both budgets, we've worked to
2:45:44 preserve service delivery, absorb fixed
2:45:46 cost pressures where possible, and
2:45:49 continue making targeted investments in
2:45:51 core operations and infrastructure. The
2:45:54 DPW budget reflects a cut of two FTEEs
2:45:57 and some services. The increase in
2:46:00 contractual obligations includes
2:46:02 personnel steps and um other contractual
2:46:05 services uh largely grounds maintenance
2:46:07 and sanitation. Uh this includes not
2:46:10 only trash and recycling tonnage but
2:46:12 also non-CAL increases and hazardous
2:46:15 waste, white goods, mattresses, compost,
2:46:18 yard waste, etc. Uh we did receive a
2:46:20 question at advisory around how much was
2:46:22 associated specifically with trash um
2:46:26 collection and that's $69,000
2:46:29 of that in FY26. I would highlight three
2:46:32 major accomplishments. Uh first, we
2:46:35 successfully transitioned to the town's
2:46:37 new trash collection uh model, which is
2:46:40 providing strong service to residents
2:46:42 while also allowing town staff to focus
2:46:45 more capacity on other important public
2:46:47 works services. Second, we continued to
2:46:50 strengthen our asset management
2:46:51 approach, including roadway and sidewalk
2:46:53 planning, maintenance, prioritization,
2:46:55 and long range capital coordination. And
2:46:58 third, we invested in our work through
2:47:00 force through internal promotions,
2:47:02 in-house CDL training, technical and
2:47:04 safety training, and stronger interdep
2:47:06 departmental and regional coordination,
2:47:08 including water and sewer emergency
2:47:10 response training with MWR.
2:47:13 For FY27,
2:47:15 our work is organized around six cross
2:47:18 department priorities. uh communication
2:47:20 and customer service, staffing,
2:47:23 retention and capacity building, asset
2:47:25 management and maintenance,
2:47:26 environmental health and safety, digital
2:47:28 transformation, and climate resiliency
2:47:30 and environmental sustainability. These
2:47:32 priorities help us manage a broad and
2:47:35 complex department in a more coordinated
2:47:37 and accountable way for detailed goals
2:47:40 and accomplishments across each
2:47:41 division. We have about 140 in the
2:47:43 budget book that support these
2:47:45 priorities.
2:47:47 Within these six priorities, our FY27
2:47:50 focus is on practical improvements that
2:47:52 support both service and accountability.
2:47:54 On customer service, that includes
2:47:56 improved communication tools, community
2:47:58 engagement, and continued strong
2:48:01 performance in trash collection. And
2:48:03 working on improved and predictable
2:48:05 community engagement protocol on
2:48:07 staffing, it means growing internal
2:48:08 capacity through training and
2:48:10 promotions. And with asset management,
2:48:12 it means keeping roads, sidewalks,
2:48:14 parks, and utility systems in a state of
2:48:17 good repair using data and life cycle
2:48:19 planning.
2:48:21 For safety, it means stronger
2:48:23 onboarding, investigations, and updated
2:48:26 policies. For digital transformation,
2:48:28 we're looking at moving more permitting
2:48:30 and record systems to modern platforms.
2:48:33 And regarding climate and
2:48:34 sustainability, it means moving from
2:48:36 planning to implementation through the
2:48:38 climate action and resiliency plan, the
2:48:40 open space and recreation plan, and
2:48:43 vision zero plan and others. So for
2:48:46 FY27, our priorities are closely aligned
2:48:49 with the select boards. We're supporting
2:48:52 implementation of the town's major
2:48:53 plans, including the climate action
2:48:56 resiliency plan uh that you will see in
2:48:58 the coming weeks. uh as we think about
2:49:00 cost efficiencies and value uh overall I
2:49:04 want to underscore underscore that our
2:49:05 sustainability and natural resources
2:49:07 function has brought in 3.2 million to
2:49:10 the town since FY24
2:49:13 and just received notice that our
2:49:14 application met the rigorous climate
2:49:16 leader community requirements opening
2:49:18 access to over 1 million in energy
2:49:21 efficiency and renewable energy funding
2:49:23 per year to the town. This division is
2:49:25 also leading the solar expansion
2:49:28 initiative that will result in
2:49:29 significant reduced costs for the town
2:49:31 over time.
2:49:33 Another significant place of alignment
2:49:35 with the select board's road map and
2:49:37 priorities is what we're continuing um
2:49:41 is that we're continuing to improve
2:49:43 Brook Lion's roadway and sidewalks
2:49:45 through a costbenefit valuebased asset
2:49:48 management approach. Um this is one of
2:49:51 the primary uh goals for the select
2:49:53 board. Um, we've completed our analysis,
2:49:57 our conditions assessment of the roads
2:49:58 and determined the most fis fiscally
2:50:01 proactive and responsible approach for
2:50:03 maintaining the roads with the funding
2:50:06 available. Uh, this year Hammond and
2:50:08 Harvard will be rehabilitated. The
2:50:11 overall um cost uh for the roads is
2:50:15 about $100 million uh for the renovation
2:50:19 of roads. Uh the roads are mapped by
2:50:22 treatment and by year uh for the best
2:50:25 value for the town. Uh and then uh we're
2:50:29 also looking at this slide specifically
2:50:32 just to show you kind of a change over
2:50:34 time. Um it shows the change in roadway
2:50:37 maintenance work since 2016 through
2:50:41 2025.
2:50:42 And this is specifically looking at
2:50:45 square yards of paving.
2:50:48 Um and the highest year or last last
2:50:52 year 25 uh we had about four miles. So
2:50:56 that that was about four miles worth of
2:50:58 paving uh whereas in FY16 it was less
2:51:02 than half a mile. So the pavement the
2:51:05 select board's pavement maintenance and
2:51:07 management policy has enabled
2:51:08 maintenance work to go forward based on
2:51:11 this model while also asking the
2:51:13 transportation board and staff to
2:51:16 prioritize critical complete street
2:51:18 vision zero safe routes to school and
2:51:20 bicycle accommodation projects. Um so as
2:51:24 you can see as we look forward we'll
2:51:26 continue on that uh strong trend.
2:51:29 Sidewalk and ramp work is also strong.
2:51:32 You heard from Jim Lee, chair of the
2:51:33 Commission on Disabilities earlier about
2:51:35 improvements in this area. We're working
2:51:38 ahead of the roadway work and
2:51:39 incorporating not only the conditions
2:51:41 assessment, but also priorities from the
2:51:43 Commission on Disability and the
2:51:44 Pedestrian Advisory Committee. We're
2:51:46 incorporating those into the annual work
2:51:48 plan. We are thrilled to see a
2:51:51 significant increase in our staff's
2:51:54 ability to do this work inhouse as well.
2:51:56 in FY25.
2:51:58 Uh we were only able to accomplish about
2:52:00 a quarter of a mile um worth of sidewalk
2:52:03 work. Uh and this year um we'll be over
2:52:06 two miles of sidewalk work completed
2:52:08 with this crew and then we're looking to
2:52:10 grow that by another third uh in the
2:52:13 year ahead. So we're really glad that
2:52:15 we'll be able we're able to focus uh on
2:52:18 some of the um in-house talent that we
2:52:21 have uh to provide some of this work for
2:52:24 the town. And we are stretching town
2:52:26 dollars with our trip hazard removal
2:52:29 program. We're working with a contractor
2:52:31 who inspects the sidewalks, documents
2:52:33 trip hazards that fall within the range
2:52:35 that they can address, usually a/ inch
2:52:37 to 2 in, documents what the town needs
2:52:40 to replace, and then slices the sidewalk
2:52:43 with a precision blade that is far more
2:52:45 effective than um grinding. We completed
2:52:49 13 miles of sidewalk uh in 25 and to
2:52:53 date in 26 and we're looking at 20 new
2:52:57 roads for the balance of 26 and through
2:52:59 27. This is estimated to save 80% uh
2:53:04 over full sidewalk replacement. We may
2:53:07 need to go back and replace the sidewalk
2:53:09 in time, but it's improving the
2:53:11 condition and extending its useful life.
2:53:13 And uh this next slide is just a before
2:53:17 and an after picture. So if you um if
2:53:20 you see this, you'll know that this has
2:53:22 been inventoried and is part of our
2:53:25 program now to remove these trip
2:53:27 hazards. Um we also have very ex
2:53:30 exciting complete street work happening
2:53:32 in the public way such as Washington
2:53:34 Street, the bridal path, Lincoln school,
2:53:36 safe routes to school, traffic calming.
2:53:38 These are all moving forward and some
2:53:40 leveraging significant state and federal
2:53:43 dollars.
2:53:46 And I would be remiss in not recognizing
2:53:49 the 170 men and women of public works
2:53:52 that support Brooklyn every day and also
2:53:55 their incredible work. Uh this winter it
2:53:58 was a challenging season. It was also
2:54:01 incredibly um cold in addition to uh
2:54:05 some tough uh snow events.
2:54:09 So um here's our season recap. They did
2:54:11 an excellent job this winter with very
2:54:15 little sleep and a lot of snow removal.
2:54:20 Um and I don't know if you've seen this
2:54:23 image of the um DPW yard. This is our
2:54:26 facility up at the transfer station. Um,
2:54:29 this was actually not at its peak. Um,
2:54:33 but the the transfer station in this uh
2:54:36 snow dump, it's it's really invaluable
2:54:38 during the winter season to help the
2:54:40 town res resume day-to-day operations um
2:54:44 following significant snow events. Snow
2:54:47 removal is essential for public safety,
2:54:49 teacher parking, commercial area
2:54:51 parking, opening up intersections,
2:54:53 sidewalk ramps, and parking lots. So,
2:54:55 it's really important and helpful that
2:54:58 this is something that we do um with our
2:55:02 own site and facility because hauling um
2:55:05 the snow out of town would be incredibly
2:55:08 expensive.
2:55:10 So, uh in closing, the FY27
2:55:14 budget is designed to do three things.
2:55:16 uh protect essential daily services,
2:55:18 improve condition and management of the
2:55:20 town's assets, and continue modernizing
2:55:23 the way the department operates and
2:55:26 serves the public. Um the division
2:55:28 directors are here and we're glad to
2:55:32 answer any questions that you may have.
2:55:35 Thank you.
2:55:37 Questions from the select board?
2:55:42 John,
2:55:43 I'll jump in.
2:55:45 um Aaron and and the the division heads,
2:55:48 thank you so much. And I I do hope
2:55:50 people realize that uh the selectboard
2:55:53 review of this budget is going to be
2:55:55 cursory compared to the advisory
2:55:56 committee review which I happened to
2:55:58 witness the other night and it went on
2:56:02 for more than two hours, right? I'm not
2:56:04 exactly
2:56:04 four. It was four and that was our
2:56:07 fourth budget meeting.
2:56:08 Yeah. I mean it did talk about going
2:56:12 through a budget, you know, with a comb,
2:56:14 fine tooth comb, cliche, sorry. Um the
2:56:18 the advisory committee uh did did a
2:56:20 terrific job of uh checking on every
2:56:23 single aspect of your operations. And I
2:56:26 I I really recommend to people that they
2:56:28 if they've got the time, check out that
2:56:31 exchange that went on and on and on and
2:56:34 on. you will understand more about the
2:56:36 DPW operations and the incredible
2:56:38 breadth of them. Um the incred the the
2:56:41 way that they impact us in so many
2:56:43 different aspects of our lives and the
2:56:45 complexity of having to be in charge of
2:56:50 you know every single part of the town
2:56:54 every day and all these services that we
2:56:57 take for granted. you know, the trash
2:56:59 pickup, but also just the the the
2:57:02 ability to enjoy the a walk on a
2:57:04 sidewalk, the the the condition of our
2:57:06 streets that we use every day. Um, it it
2:57:09 really is impressive and I I can't say
2:57:11 enough about um the the work that the
2:57:13 department does. At the same time, I
2:57:16 have a question. Sorry for the long
2:57:18 preface. Um I I am I I I'm very pleased
2:57:22 that the select board in recent years
2:57:25 through policy emphasis has you know
2:57:28 worked with the DPW to shift more and
2:57:31 more resources into uh a stepped up
2:57:35 program of addressing the needs of our
2:57:37 streets. And you showed that in a slide.
2:57:39 It went by pretty fast. People might not
2:57:41 have fully appreciated what that slide
2:57:42 showed, but it really did show dramatic
2:57:45 increases going forward in the number of
2:57:48 streets we're going to be able to
2:57:49 address. That that is where I love to
2:57:52 see the the emphasis of the DPW. Where I
2:57:55 have doubts is on a couple of these um
2:57:58 one one in particular um the the Beacon
2:58:01 Street bridal path wi which we've
2:58:03 already appropriated a million dollars
2:58:05 for. And
2:58:08 at this point, you know, all we know
2:58:10 about it is that it consumes a lot of
2:58:13 planning and coordination uh with the
2:58:15 state. Um I don't think we really have a
2:58:19 hard date as to when you know the work
2:58:22 might be done. I don't think we have a
2:58:24 clear indication of whether this is even
2:58:28 feasible, you know, gi given the layout
2:58:31 of uh the streets as as they exist today
2:58:34 and the use of the streets for parking
2:58:36 areas uh for trees uh you name it. um
2:58:42 are at what point will we get a sense of
2:58:45 how much this is going to cost us
2:58:47 altogether
2:58:49 and at the end of the day do we have a
2:58:52 real good handle on how much it will be
2:58:55 used because I've heard people say they
2:58:58 love the sidewalks
2:59:00 and they don't really feel any need for
2:59:03 a path that is adjacent to a trolley
2:59:06 track and then I've heard other people
2:59:08 say they would love to have exclusive
2:59:10 use of the uh the the Breen Beacon
2:59:14 Street bridal path for high-speed bike
2:59:17 commuting. Well, that doesn't mix.
2:59:19 That's not something that mixes in a
2:59:21 multimodal way, you know, with people
2:59:24 walking their kids, you know, or
2:59:26 strolling or el older people walking at
2:59:29 a slow pace. So, do we even agree on
2:59:32 what this is going to be used for? I I
2:59:34 I'm puzzled by it and all I know is
2:59:37 we've already spent, you know, we've
2:59:39 already appropriated a million dollars.
2:59:41 Have we spent any of that money? That's
2:59:43 the other thing that kind of puzzles me.
2:59:44 Uh when you consider how little there is
2:59:46 to show for this, are we spending that
2:59:48 money?
2:59:50 That's a lot.
2:59:51 I know. Um sorry, I went on a
2:59:54 and you know, and as you know, this has
2:59:56 been supported by town meeting and was a
2:59:59 grassroots effort. So, um there is a um
3:00:03 a broad uh design review committee that
3:00:06 has been established. I think that we're
3:00:09 going to have to figure all of that out
3:00:11 together. There is not a we we don't
3:00:15 know what the cost is yet. We don't know
3:00:17 what the schedule is yet. That will um
3:00:21 that will evolve through the process.
3:00:25 um the design team. So tool um
3:00:30 is the consultant working on this uh has
3:00:33 been doing a lot of the sort of
3:00:35 groundwork on um sort of the the base
3:00:40 concept working on pulling together a
3:00:43 lot of safety related data over the last
3:00:45 10 years regarding um crashes,
3:00:48 incidents. And we have a roadway safety
3:00:50 audit um and meeting that's coming up
3:00:54 with mass DOT and whole police fire.
3:00:57 It's a huge group of people that really
3:01:00 look at safety associated with current
3:01:02 conditions and then ultimately that is
3:01:05 evaluated based on what the proposed
3:01:07 design. I think you put forward a lot of
3:01:11 questions that the design review
3:01:13 committee is going to have to grapple
3:01:15 with in terms of uh of the bridal path
3:01:20 itself, use of the bridal path, access
3:01:22 to it, and what the tradeoffs are. So,
3:01:26 um I think we're going to hear a lot of
3:01:29 different opinions as to um what it is,
3:01:32 how it'll be used, and the trade-offs.
3:01:34 And we're going to have to do a lot of
3:01:36 thoughtful design about um how we would
3:01:40 design that in the best way to serve the
3:01:42 most people in the community. And the
3:01:44 town will have time to to decide um
3:01:48 whether it's something that they want to
3:01:50 uh move forward with. And I would say we
3:01:52 would have a better sense of cost
3:01:55 probably around 25% design. At this
3:01:58 point, the consultant team still has
3:02:02 additional survey work to do. Um, and
3:02:06 it's been quite complex in terms of
3:02:08 getting all the cert survey information
3:02:10 around the tas uh and other utility work
3:02:14 that was going on. So, this the survey
3:02:16 itself uh is taking an extended time
3:02:19 once they have that base information.
3:02:21 We've already done a lot of information
3:02:23 gathering from the community in terms of
3:02:25 defining the project, getting
3:02:26 information from the community in terms
3:02:28 of kind of their hopes and dreams about
3:02:30 it. But once we have the survey and some
3:02:32 base concepts, then um the public
3:02:35 process will really be off and running.
3:02:37 So the public will have something to
3:02:38 respond to, which I think is is
3:02:40 important.
3:02:41 Real quick though, how much of the money
3:02:43 have we spent, the million dollars that
3:02:45 we appropriated?
3:02:47 So, it's a $3 million contract
3:02:50 um with
3:02:52 uh $2 million provided from federal
3:02:54 government and a million dollars
3:02:56 provided by the town. We've spent about
3:02:59 $500,000 to date.
3:03:02 So, and the next appropriation date, you
3:03:05 think, will be when
3:03:08 appropriation for additional funds?
3:03:10 Well, well, when are we going to sort of
3:03:11 run out of the first million and then
3:03:13 need more?
3:03:15 Uh we have an item I think a couple
3:03:18 years out in the CIP. So this gets us to
3:03:23 75%
3:03:25 um
3:03:27 into the mass DOT tip process. So the
3:03:30 intent is to submit this to mass DOT and
3:03:34 I think as we all know that's another
3:03:35 layer of um
3:03:38 just complication and reports and
3:03:41 analysis that's required um to
3:03:45 uh to move through that.
3:03:46 Yeahess quick comment by me and thank
3:03:49 you for your answers. I I can't help but
3:03:51 think about all the streets we could
3:03:53 additional streets we could be
3:03:54 addressing that need fixing. Now, you
3:03:58 know, when you're talking about a
3:03:59 million and more dollars and we still
3:04:03 don't know what we're getting with that
3:04:05 million and more dollars, but we would
3:04:07 know what we would get if we spend it to
3:04:09 fix more streets. And that's just me,
3:04:11 you know, delivering a little sermon
3:04:13 here.
3:04:16 Paul,
3:04:17 yep. Uh, thank you, Erin, and for your
3:04:20 team for all the great work uh that you
3:04:23 that you do and that you've done. Um, I
3:04:25 think this your my involvement in your
3:04:28 work is probably one of the things that
3:04:29 I'll miss most in leaving the select
3:04:32 board. Um, I'm like John, I'm pleased to
3:04:35 see that the incredible change in the
3:04:39 paved miles. Um, which was a direct
3:04:41 result of of your willingness to be open
3:04:45 to change uh when Mike Sandman and I
3:04:47 approached you a couple of years ago to
3:04:49 to address that. And I just I think
3:04:50 that's a testament to um how your your
3:04:55 willingness to continually innovate and
3:04:57 change um makes our town better. Um the
3:05:02 you know the other thing that um I'm I'm
3:05:05 really proud that you've done um and I
3:05:08 think this is a testament to who you are
3:05:10 and your team uh the work that you did
3:05:12 for the Washington Street redesign. you
3:05:15 know, there's a lot of people that threw
3:05:16 arrows at you, including some sitting at
3:05:19 this table about that. Um, and you know,
3:05:24 it it takes vision and stick tuitiveness
3:05:27 to make change like that happen. Um, I
3:05:31 can't imagine the headwinds uh of the
3:05:34 visionaries that laid out Beacon Street
3:05:36 and started to buy up land and people
3:05:38 probably thought they were crazy, John.
3:05:41 um you know that resulted in what we
3:05:43 have today including what used to be the
3:05:46 bridal path. Um I I think that uh when
3:05:50 Olmstead and the visionaries for the
3:05:52 emerald necklace imagine the questions
3:05:55 how much is this going to cost? What is
3:05:57 it going to be done? Tell us now. Um you
3:06:00 know if if those voices prevailed we
3:06:03 wouldn't have it. Um, so I as someone
3:06:07 who lives uh about 50 feet from the
3:06:10 proposed well I'll say 50 yards from the
3:06:12 proposed uh bridal path um I I strongly
3:06:16 encourage that you stick to it uh
3:06:20 despite the uh the voices of opposition
3:06:23 or uh concern or doubt um because I
3:06:27 think that's what we need uh vision and
3:06:30 stick tuitiveness in order to have
3:06:32 change that innovative change that would
3:06:34 improve improve our community for a
3:06:36 lifetime, a generation, uh needs to
3:06:39 happen. Uh I'm just uh I'm sad that by
3:06:42 the time my by the time it's done, I
3:06:44 believe my children will be in college
3:06:46 and they will be riding their bikes. But
3:06:48 John, you know, we we live right on
3:06:51 Let's not make this personal.
3:06:52 It's not personal.
3:06:54 I I I'm I'm giving a lot of kudos to to
3:06:56 what's going on.
3:06:57 I think you're really going over the
3:06:58 line in terms of
3:07:01 critique of John.
3:07:02 I'm not critiquing John. I support John
3:07:04 100% about his and I encourage his uh
3:07:07 his his opposition. But um again, I want
3:07:09 to thank you for the work that you and
3:07:12 your team has done. Um I won't get to
3:07:15 say this again because I want to be on
3:07:16 the board the next time you come for a
3:07:17 budget hearing. So I'm going to use my
3:07:20 discretion in giving you as much as I
3:07:21 can. So thank you very much.
3:07:23 Thank you,
3:07:24 Michael.
3:07:26 Um so uh my my colleagues comments uh as
3:07:32 as prelude um I'll just jump right in.
3:07:35 Um there's been a lot of talk of the
3:07:38 progress to date. Um I'm you know and I
3:07:40 have asked the question and David has
3:07:43 also asked the question specifically
3:07:45 about AI. Um, and I appreciate that DPW
3:07:50 is largely dealing with the interface of
3:07:53 the physical world, um, with all of the
3:07:56 processes and, uh, technology that we
3:08:01 that we assemble as a town. So, um, not
3:08:04 only speaking to the question of the use
3:08:06 of AI, um, I wonder if you have any
3:08:09 thoughts more broadly about sort of the
3:08:11 long-term technology trajectories that
3:08:14 you are looking at and considering, um,
3:08:17 and how those will affect the operations
3:08:20 and the services of DPI, DPW moving
3:08:24 forward.
3:08:25 It's a it's a great question. feels like
3:08:27 it's ever changing and we are we're
3:08:30 constantly getting um you know different
3:08:33 uh vendors reaching out to us with a
3:08:36 host of different technologies that uh
3:08:39 they're hoping to
3:08:40 to present to us. I I see a lot uh in
3:08:43 the way of AI certainly uh survey the
3:08:47 the conditions assessment of the roads
3:08:50 are now done fully with uh AI
3:08:54 um and
3:08:57 you know I think we'll certainly be
3:08:59 looking at services for us right now
3:09:01 it's a lot of the
3:09:03 actual technologies standard operating
3:09:07 procedures sort of writing standard
3:09:08 operating procedures um looking for
3:09:10 discrepancies between um sort of
3:09:14 multiple different procedures and being
3:09:17 able to do that very quickly and
3:09:18 optimizing uh those procedures I think
3:09:21 is a way that we'll use um AI and also
3:09:27 uh turn by turn um
3:09:31 directional optimization for example for
3:09:35 snow removal and having um you know
3:09:39 tablets in each vehicle which is giving
3:09:43 the plow drivers the exact routes. It's
3:09:46 giving us the documentation on where you
3:09:49 know what's been plowed, how many times
3:09:51 at what times, but also then when we
3:09:54 have to bring someone down for uh either
3:09:56 downtime or arrest or make adjustments,
3:09:58 we then make quick quick shifts and can
3:10:02 make sure that we are um optimizing uh
3:10:06 that work. And that'll apply also for
3:10:08 street sweeping and documenting
3:10:10 catchbasin cleaning and uh so I think
3:10:13 both the documentation and making sure
3:10:15 that uh we're we're being as thorough as
3:10:18 we need to be.
3:10:20 Thank you
3:10:24 David. So, I have a question about the
3:10:27 uh how sanitation
3:10:29 is currently working out, whether you
3:10:32 anticipate any changes moving into the
3:10:35 next fiscal year uh given some of the
3:10:38 challenges at um the the center that we
3:10:42 have by
3:10:44 Lost Pond Sanctuary and also uh just the
3:10:48 change over to Cassella.
3:10:50 Okay. So, I'll I'll start and then
3:10:53 Kevin, if you want to um jump in. So, as
3:10:56 this board knows, we um have a a sort of
3:11:01 a structural uh deficiency in the
3:11:04 transfer station floor. It's a building
3:11:06 that's 75 years old and um the floor has
3:11:11 been worn down um and to a point at
3:11:14 which uh we now need to construct a
3:11:17 temporary transfer station uh which
3:11:20 we're doing with a um temporary uh sort
3:11:23 of uh struct it's an armature type frame
3:11:28 building uh that'll enclose the
3:11:30 operation while we um work on a
3:11:33 full-time solution. So, I will say um
3:11:36 that our contractor has been incredibly
3:11:39 flexible with us. Um we had to sort of
3:11:42 stop their operation and have them haul
3:11:45 our trash out direct for several days
3:11:47 while we worked with D to um get
3:11:50 authorization to use one of our open
3:11:52 bays um to have the trash brought in
3:11:54 daily and then um resume the operation
3:11:58 in that location until we could
3:12:00 construct this um this facility. So once
3:12:03 we do this and it will be uh temporary
3:12:06 um
3:12:08 we don't see any changes uh in the short
3:12:12 term and uh nor do we see any changes at
3:12:16 this point until we're able to construct
3:12:18 that building which we hope will be done
3:12:21 uh this fall.
3:12:23 Do you anticipate needing any broader
3:12:26 changes at the transfer station? I know
3:12:28 there had been discussions prior to this
3:12:31 collapse of possibly needing a
3:12:32 significant renovation of that whole
3:12:35 facility.
3:12:36 Yes, we do believe that the transfer
3:12:39 station itself is long overdue for
3:12:42 replacement. Uh so that is something
3:12:45 that we'll be um analyzing through the
3:12:49 feasibility study. um that won't be a
3:12:52 full um design or cost estimate, but
3:12:55 just the overall um value to the town.
3:12:59 We have we actually have plans uh for a
3:13:03 new transfer station from when the
3:13:05 landfill was capped in the early 2000s.
3:13:08 So, it it was the intent to actually
3:13:10 replace the building then. um but cost
3:13:13 estimates exceeded um what had been set
3:13:16 aside for the capping and so um the
3:13:20 building wasn't uh reconstructed at that
3:13:23 time. So um
3:13:27 I think that
3:13:31 I think that's going to be a community
3:13:32 conversation, you know, around around
3:13:35 that new building and the value long
3:13:37 term to the town. We we think it's
3:13:42 a an asset and provides the town
3:13:45 flexibility that we wouldn't want you to
3:13:47 lose in the long term.
3:13:50 Thank you.
3:13:52 Cheers. And just quickly to follow up on
3:13:54 that, um, one of the things you
3:13:56 mentioned last year as an issue when we
3:13:58 were talking about moving to, uh,
3:14:00 increase Cassella's share of the, uh,
3:14:04 um, uh, sanitation services was that
3:14:07 there were folks who was whose time was
3:14:10 being taken up by other by sanitation
3:14:13 who were assigned to other activities.
3:14:15 Do you have a sense of, you know, how
3:14:17 that increase in sidewalk work for this
3:14:20 from last year to this year um or from
3:14:23 the prior year to the whatever it is two
3:14:25 years ago to this year um is related to
3:14:28 the fact that you now have a little more
3:14:30 flexibility there. Do you have a sense
3:14:32 of how much of that is is related to
3:14:33 that?
3:14:34 Yeah, Kevin.
3:14:37 Yes. Uh um we've seen some um tremendous
3:14:40 improvement on the other services that
3:14:43 we provide for the town that we weren't
3:14:45 able to do in the past due to the
3:14:47 staffing needs on sanitation. Uh for a
3:14:50 quick example, um the commissioner went
3:14:53 over uh quickly tonight, but in the past
3:14:56 two years, we might have uh poured
3:15:00 less than 100 uh cubic yards of concrete
3:15:03 uh with our in-house crews for the whole
3:15:06 year. And from July 1st to present,
3:15:09 obviously, till the winter, we're we're
3:15:12 a little over 300 yards. And our goal is
3:15:15 to maybe get up to 600 yards by July.
3:15:17 So, that's a huge improvement just on
3:15:20 the sidewalk maintenance. We were able
3:15:22 to put crew uh uh crew down in the
3:15:26 commercial areas repainting all the
3:15:28 light poles, the the street light poles,
3:15:30 and uh uh stuff that we've been trying
3:15:32 to do for years just to prevent the
3:15:35 maintenance on a lot of our assets that
3:15:36 we're able to um accomplish now. So,
3:15:40 yeah, we've seen a tremendous um
3:15:42 improvement on that. And and I'd be
3:15:46 remissed not to say that our morale at
3:15:49 the highway has improved a lot as well
3:15:52 because people
3:15:55 are coming in to do what they were hired
3:15:57 for every day.
3:16:03 Great.
3:16:03 Thanks. Good question.
3:16:04 Go ahead.
3:16:05 One more. Uh sorry. Um just to talk a
3:16:07 little bit about water and sewer and
3:16:09 sustainability
3:16:11 um storm water management and the um the
3:16:14 pipe work that we've been the the pipe
3:16:16 inventory that we've been doing not just
3:16:17 lead pipes but also the the storm water
3:16:20 system. I don't know if Jay and or
3:16:22 Alexandra want to talk about that in the
3:16:24 context of the the car
3:16:26 or if you I can I can jump in first. Um
3:16:30 thanks for the question. Yeah, we've
3:16:32 been moving right along with our, you
3:16:35 know, our utility asset programs. First
3:16:37 one, uh, the sewer. We've been
3:16:39 continuing our INI program where we go
3:16:42 in and we remove sources of clear water
3:16:44 out of the sewer system. And we do that
3:16:46 by aligning the pipe, basically putting
3:16:48 a pipe inside a pipe and sealing the
3:16:50 manhole. So, whenever we do that, it
3:16:53 basically cuts off the water's ability
3:16:55 to get into the sewer. And everything
3:16:57 that enters that pipe has to go to the
3:16:59 treatment plant. So any clear water that
3:17:01 you can keep out, you know, keeps our
3:17:03 cost down and it it saves, you know, the
3:17:06 treatment cost, treatment process, and
3:17:08 everything else. On the water side,
3:17:10 we've been continuing our sort of get
3:17:12 the lead out program. You know,
3:17:14 fortunately in Brooklyn, um when they
3:17:17 built out this town, it was mostly iron
3:17:19 pipe, so we really didn't have any
3:17:21 actual lead containing pipes. However,
3:17:23 we do have what they call lead
3:17:26 gooseeneck material, which is a flexible
3:17:28 piece of lead that connects the iron
3:17:30 pipe to the actual cast iron man.
3:17:33 And we're trying to just be proactive
3:17:35 and just get rid of those materials.
3:17:37 There approximately like 1,600, more
3:17:40 like probably 14,500 now. We've been
3:17:43 aggressively removing them and we're
3:17:45 trying to do that with um the planned
3:17:47 work that engineering and highway are
3:17:50 doing on on the roads that are coming
3:17:51 up. So the last thing we want is to have
3:17:53 an old service line pop after we've
3:17:56 paved the road and then we just look
3:17:58 foolish. So it's a great program,
3:18:01 cooperative effort and it's it's going
3:18:03 well. On the storm water front, um we've
3:18:06 been doing a lot of work there trying to
3:18:09 look at areas that are floodprone. We're
3:18:12 done with our storm water model and
3:18:14 we're working on our storm water master
3:18:15 plan to identify those floodprone areas
3:18:18 and come up with recommendations on how
3:18:20 to mitigate um you know potential
3:18:23 sources of flooding. We're also working
3:18:26 on an aggressive um elicit discharge and
3:18:29 detection program where we're trying to
3:18:31 locate and remove sources of bacteria.
3:18:33 Uh we appreciate um the previous
3:18:36 approvals for the funding there. We've
3:18:38 been actually able to contract with a
3:18:40 consultant and expedite a lot of that
3:18:43 work and make a lot of progress. So,
3:18:45 that's a real quick overview on water,
3:18:48 sewer, and drain, the three flavors
3:18:49 there. And, um, I guess I'll turn it
3:18:51 over to Alexandra if she's ready if she
3:18:53 wants to add anything on the
3:18:54 sustainability front.
3:18:58 Sure, thank you. Um, I will just say,
3:19:01 you know, Jay gave a great summary there
3:19:02 of all the work. Um but specifically
3:19:04 with the u storm water model and and
3:19:08 plan that the team has been working on,
3:19:10 we're really trying to integrate those
3:19:11 recommendations into our climate action
3:19:14 and resiliency plan. Um really helping
3:19:17 to highlight and prioritize for
3:19:19 resiliency, you know, some of our
3:19:21 greatest threats in Brookline as it
3:19:23 relates to climate hazards including
3:19:25 heat resilience um and uh storm water
3:19:28 and flood management as well as extreme
3:19:30 weather events. So, um, those are
3:19:32 incorporated into our resiliency
3:19:33 section. Um, and we're, uh, looking
3:19:36 forward to sharing that with the board
3:19:37 here in the in the next couple of weeks.
3:19:39 Thanks.
3:19:42 Great. Thank you.
3:19:44 John, did you ask one more?
3:19:46 Sure. Um
3:19:48 Chestn Hill Avenue um has gotten a lot
3:19:51 of attention uh in recent months and
3:19:54 there was a major development um
3:19:56 recently which is that there is now
3:19:59 going to be a um repaving u of of the of
3:20:04 Chesn Hill Avenue that we'll go ahead
3:20:06 based on excuse me the uh condition of
3:20:09 the street and the need to address the
3:20:12 deficiencies of the street as as soon as
3:20:15 possible or at least in timely way.
3:20:18 Whereas a plan which had been um thought
3:20:21 of for that to also include a much more
3:20:24 um extensive treatment of other
3:20:27 amenities on the street um a protected
3:20:30 bike path and and some other additional
3:20:32 amenities. That that is not something
3:20:35 that's going to be possible at the at
3:20:37 the present time because of the um you
3:20:40 know clear need for for there to be
3:20:43 something done right away. Uh and the
3:20:45 the reason given um which I totally
3:20:48 accept
3:20:50 for um not proceeding uh with with the
3:20:54 other plan, the more the more elaborate
3:20:56 plan is that the the intent was to
3:21:00 connect to uh Chestnut Hill Avenue in
3:21:03 Boston, which would then have have by
3:21:07 that time have its own protected bike
3:21:10 lane. So you'd have a continuous bike
3:21:12 lane the entire length of Chestnut Hill
3:21:15 Avenue, Brooklyn, and then Boston. Makes
3:21:17 a lot of sense. Um is that a guiding
3:21:21 principle that we can expect, you know,
3:21:23 to continue to be um applied to these
3:21:27 considerations of when and on what
3:21:30 streets does it make the most sense to
3:21:34 incorporate a um you know thoroughly
3:21:36 protected bike lane? uh are we going to
3:21:39 be guided by whether there's
3:21:40 connectivity to um lanes um at either
3:21:44 end um as it happens I guess they would
3:21:48 in most cases be in Boston.
3:21:52 Uh that's a great question. So I think a
3:21:55 few things about Chestnut Hill Avenue.
3:21:57 Chest Hill Avenue was on our list and uh
3:22:02 really kind of got ahead of itself
3:22:05 before the policy was finalized. And so,
3:22:09 um, while Chestnut Hill Avenue is due,
3:22:11 um, for just pavement maintenance, it's
3:22:14 probably, you know, as you know, it's
3:22:15 it's had a lot of public engagement. And
3:22:18 so, I believe that the transportation
3:22:21 board and staff still need to make a
3:22:25 decision on um what they want to do sort
3:22:28 of short-term, long-term at Chesh Hill
3:22:30 Avenue. And Dan, if that's not the case
3:22:32 and they've made a decision, let me
3:22:34 know. That was my latest that was my
3:22:36 understanding. Um we always try to
3:22:39 partner with um both Newton and Boston
3:22:43 where we can in terms of connectivity.
3:22:45 You know what projects they have that
3:22:47 they're working on, what we're working
3:22:49 on and how to make them uh work
3:22:51 together. So right now um you know is we
3:22:56 have our costbenefit value approach just
3:22:58 for maintenance of roads. Uh the
3:23:02 transportation board um is working on
3:23:06 prioritizing
3:23:07 all of the other really important
3:23:09 multimodal improvements, bike
3:23:11 accommodation, full complete street, uh
3:23:14 vision zero, um safe routes to school,
3:23:18 etc. And so um
3:23:22 the transportation board will work with
3:23:25 subcommittees and the public and staff
3:23:27 to prioritize. Our folks are working on
3:23:30 kind of a first cut of a rubric that
3:23:32 will help, but connectivity is going to
3:23:34 be part of that and then they'll
3:23:36 prioritize
3:23:37 um the work and the work has to be um
3:23:40 work that we can manage uh in terms of
3:23:44 uh public process and being really clear
3:23:46 about what the decision-making process
3:23:48 is, what that process will look like for
3:23:50 the public at the outset and um and then
3:23:54 moving through that. So, I think Cheset
3:23:56 Hill Avenue is still um yet to be
3:23:59 determined in terms of uh what what the
3:24:02 ultimate improvements there will be
3:24:04 because I do know there are a lot of um
3:24:06 pedestrian concerns and you know and
3:24:10 certainly the the um bike advocates have
3:24:13 have really I think come out strong in
3:24:15 terms of that being an important
3:24:17 corridor. So, I'm not sure where that'll
3:24:19 land yet.
3:24:20 Isn't it a pavement improvement project
3:24:22 for um 2026?
3:24:25 27.
3:24:27 FY27.
3:24:29 Yeah.
3:24:29 Which would maybe start in 26.
3:24:33 FY27
3:24:35 starts in 26. Yes.
3:24:36 Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
3:24:37 But I'm just saying it's also in the
3:24:38 middle of its its um community
3:24:42 engagement.
3:24:44 Yeah. Okay. Thanks.
3:24:45 Yeah.
3:24:47 Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Shu.
3:24:49 Appreciate it.
3:24:50 Thank you. Nice to see you all. Thanks
3:24:52 to the incredible public works team.
3:24:55 Yeah. Yeah.
3:24:55 Thank you.
3:24:56 We agree.
3:24:57 Thanks very much.
3:24:59 So, uh, what I'd like to do is take the
3:25:01 parking fine increases, uh, question and
3:25:04 then take a break. So, why don't we go
3:25:07 through that?
3:25:08 Yeah, I'll be very quick. Um,
3:25:10 I thought I thought this would be a
3:25:11 quick one.
3:25:12 Yeah. Um the long and the short of it is
3:25:14 as part of the way of paying for the
3:25:18 increases in costs in the following
3:25:19 years without um raising property
3:25:23 without asking to raise property taxes
3:25:24 further. We are looking wherever we can
3:25:26 at increasing fees and fines
3:25:28 appropriately. We have not touched
3:25:30 parking fines since 2007. Um we're due.
3:25:34 Um other communities are higher than we
3:25:36 are now. Cambridge recently raised many
3:25:39 of its fees to $40. Boston has its at
3:25:42 $4. Somervilles are even higher. I will
3:25:44 say that Newton, our other neighbor, is
3:25:46 lower at 25. It's closer to where we
3:25:48 are. Um, but I think there's a strong
3:25:51 case to be made that regionally it's
3:25:53 appropriate to raise fines to $40. You
3:25:56 cannot exceed a $50 fine per um local uh
3:26:01 law. Um so that's why unless there is a
3:26:05 statutory exemption for it, your fees
3:26:08 and your fines cannot exceed $50. Um,
3:26:11 and there has to be an escalating cost
3:26:13 structure. You know, if someone doesn't
3:26:14 pay within a certain amount of time, it
3:26:15 has to go up by a certain amount. And
3:26:17 then when it's reported to the state,
3:26:19 when it's reported to the RMV, it has to
3:26:21 go up again. Um, so, um, at that junk,
3:26:25 so what I've structured here is a
3:26:27 proposal that for every fine that is not
3:26:29 currently at $40, that it be increased
3:26:32 to $40. that the payment that the late
3:26:35 payment before it is reported to the
3:26:37 state be increased to $55 and then when
3:26:40 it is reported out that the fine go up
3:26:42 to $70. Both of those numbers are the
3:26:45 statutory maximum that the select board
3:26:47 is allowed to set for a parking
3:26:49 violation. So um the way that you did
3:26:52 this in 20 in sorry in 2007 was that you
3:26:55 asked the transportation board to appine
3:26:57 on it first. They provided a
3:26:58 recommendation to the select board and
3:27:00 the select board voted on the ultimate
3:27:01 increase. Technically, I think under the
3:27:03 law, the transportation board could do
3:27:05 it themselves. But I think in the
3:27:07 interest of maintaining tradition um and
3:27:09 also the you know maintaining that you
3:27:12 are the ultimate policym body and the
3:27:14 transportation board does have statutory
3:27:16 authority but it is an advis it has an
3:27:18 advisory role to play as well. Having
3:27:20 both boards concur on a fine increase I
3:27:23 think is is important. So I would take
3:27:25 it to them first um with your permission
3:27:27 and then bring it back to you with their
3:27:29 recommendation.
3:27:30 Okay. Anyone disagree?
3:27:32 I have
3:27:33 uh ju just a question. Uh you referred
3:27:37 specifically to parking violations. Are
3:27:39 they looking at moving violations also?
3:27:41 No, it's just this is just parking
3:27:43 violations.
3:27:44 Okay.
3:27:45 Yeah. So, um Chaz, this is uniform
3:27:48 across the town.
3:27:50 Yes.
3:27:50 Okay. So, my question is are we are we
3:27:53 limited to that uniformed across the
3:27:56 town? The reason why I ask is I think um
3:27:59 the abuse of parking um is different by
3:28:03 region of the town. So for example in uh
3:28:07 in Beacon Street down by St. Mary's
3:28:10 because of red the Red Sox games and
3:28:12 often concerts.
3:28:14 Um it's heavily abused the parking and
3:28:17 it's cheaper to have to pay $40 than to
3:28:20 pay $65 uh you know by the park or it
3:28:24 you know closer into the the venue. Um
3:28:27 and I see this because people park and
3:28:30 they're happy to get the ticket.
3:28:32 Um can we can we make it more uh
3:28:35 location specific?
3:28:36 I don't know the answer to that. I will
3:28:38 ask town council's office. I have not
3:28:39 seen that done but that doesn't mean
3:28:41 that it can't be done. So let me ask and
3:28:42 I will if if that is the case then we'll
3:28:44 discuss that with the T board and bring
3:28:46 that back to you.
3:28:46 Okay, that'll be helpful. Thank you.
3:28:50 Uh John,
3:28:50 do we have any estimate estimate as to
3:28:53 how much u the current revenue is versus
3:28:56 how much the revenue would be with this
3:28:57 $40?
3:28:58 We estimate that we would bring in on
3:29:00 average about an additional $1.2 million
3:29:03 um just if everything stayed consistent.
3:29:05 We want to be very conservative when we
3:29:07 look at these for the first time. So, we
3:29:09 did a rolling five-year average and we
3:29:10 also assumed that in the event that fees
3:29:14 the fines go up, you do see some
3:29:15 increased compliance. So, that kicks it
3:29:17 down a little bit. So, ultimately, we
3:29:19 are projecting in FY27, if these fines
3:29:22 are approved, an increase in roughly
3:29:24 $1.06 million in local receipts.
3:29:28 That's impressive.
3:29:29 Yeah,
3:29:29 that's the hope.
3:29:30 Real money.
3:29:31 Um, that's the hope. You know, again,
3:29:33 this is a conservative projection, but
3:29:34 we also, you know,
3:29:35 we we want to be frank with people that,
3:29:37 you know, the the rate the the fines are
3:29:41 not taking we're still not taking in
3:29:42 what we used to take in before the
3:29:44 pandemic.
3:29:44 Um, we're still not where we used to be,
3:29:46 and that was when they were at a lower
3:29:48 rate.
3:29:49 So, um, you know, it's a combination of
3:29:52 fewer people on the road, you know, the
3:29:55 um,
3:29:56 you know, some of the issues with
3:29:57 enforcement um, and and you know, in
3:29:59 some cases compliance. Um so you know
3:30:02 one of the things that we want to do
3:30:03 with this is we want to take some of
3:30:05 this money and directly reinvest it in
3:30:07 our parking infrastructure so that we
3:30:10 have better systems in place. You know
3:30:13 we we for examp you know there are
3:30:16 tickets that get thrown out because
3:30:17 meters are broken for example like we
3:30:19 want to reinvest directly in the process
3:30:21 to make sure that there are fewer broken
3:30:22 meters and there's fewer excuses when
3:30:24 those things pop up. um we want to have
3:30:27 a more functional and cohesive parking
3:30:29 enforcement infrastructure. So, we're
3:30:31 going to take some of this money and
3:30:32 reinvest it directly into that and then
3:30:35 the rest of it will be run through the
3:30:36 town school split like it usually does.
3:30:39 I I mean I just add one other factor
3:30:40 that I hope is taken into consideration
3:30:43 because this does come at a cost. Um
3:30:46 there's been discussion recently about u
3:30:49 adjusting the rates for parking
3:30:51 depending on how close you are into the
3:30:54 heart of a commercial district like
3:30:55 Brooklyn Village versus parking at
3:30:58 outlying parking meters. Yes. Um, that's
3:31:00 all well and good, but once we, you
3:31:03 know, jack up the the amount of the
3:31:06 meter rate and then we add on that and,
3:31:09 you know, God help you, if if you
3:31:11 overpark by two minutes and you get a
3:31:14 $40 fine, eventually people are going to
3:31:17 say, I'm going to go somewhere where I'm
3:31:19 less likely to, you know, have to spend
3:31:21 a lot of money just because I parked at
3:31:23 a meter that was near the store and then
3:31:25 I, you know, made the mistake of staying
3:31:27 too long and next thing you know, a
3:31:29 simple shopping trip to Brooklyn Village
3:31:31 has cost me over, you know, $50, right?
3:31:33 Um, so you got to balance all of these
3:31:36 things, right?
3:31:36 That's right. And I will say I know that
3:31:38 a town meeting member came last week and
3:31:40 had a question, a good question I
3:31:41 thought about why don't we raise the
3:31:42 parking meter rates again. And the
3:31:43 answer is we did that last override.
3:31:45 Yeah. You know, we raised it, you know,
3:31:47 well aware
3:31:48 and so, you know, it's not hasn't been
3:31:50 very long since we've been at the $2
3:31:52 mark and we've seen, you know, people
3:31:54 avoiding the meters, people people
3:31:56 trying to park elsewhere because of
3:31:58 that. So, we have seen revenue from
3:32:01 parking meters actually start to become
3:32:03 more volatile as a result of the fact
3:32:05 that our rates are higher. I worry if we
3:32:07 push them higher, especially since we
3:32:09 just pushed them higher, you know, not
3:32:10 even five years ago, um that you will
3:32:13 start to see that sort of avoidance. Um,
3:32:16 and unlike here, unlike with the fines
3:32:20 where I think you have other
3:32:22 communities, not just Boston, at that
3:32:25 $40 mark or higher, um, no one except
3:32:28 Boston, as to my knowledge, is above the
3:32:30 $2 an hour um, rate um, for street
3:32:34 parking currently. Um, although again, I
3:32:37 haven't done the survey on that, but
3:32:39 it's my understanding based on
3:32:40 conversations I've had that Boston is
3:32:42 kind of the outlier there as opposed to
3:32:45 um where we are on this. So I I do want
3:32:48 people to be assured that we have looked
3:32:50 at that. But to your point, you know,
3:32:52 you want to be careful not to create a
3:32:54 situation that actually that
3:32:55 accidentally upsets the the balance that
3:32:58 you've created here.
3:32:59 Yeah. And and one other consideration
3:33:01 too is appeals processes. people are
3:33:04 going to be a m much more likely having
3:33:06 experienced a $40 ticket in Boston when
3:33:10 I went to get a slice of pizza. Um, and
3:33:13 it was not appropriately uh done because
3:33:16 the there was just a disagreement over
3:33:18 which meter was the one that my car was
3:33:21 parked at. Um, and I went through the
3:33:23 appeals process and it was um,
3:33:25 impressive and it came out just fine for
3:33:28 me, but I probably wouldn't have
3:33:30 appealed, you know, a $15, uh, penalty,
3:33:33 right? Um, and so all of these things
3:33:36 kind of interact, right?
3:33:37 Yeah.
3:33:38 And Michael,
3:33:38 uh, I'm just curious, following up on on
3:33:41 the parking question, um, whether
3:33:42 there's any evidence of the increase in
3:33:46 parking rates pushing people to other
3:33:48 modes of transportation. I don't have an
3:33:51 answer on that. I'll talk to the
3:33:53 transportation team at DPW. Um I know we
3:33:56 do we we try and monitor those things,
3:33:58 but I'll I I'll get you an answer on
3:33:59 that. Okay.
3:34:00 Thank you.
3:34:02 Okay. Uh we need to vote.
3:34:04 You don't need to vote. I just I just
3:34:05 wanted I wanted to make sure that you
3:34:07 were okay with me taking the
3:34:08 transportation board first.
3:34:09 No objection. I take it. So
3:34:12 you're authorized to go do that. So,
3:34:14 let's take a 10-minute break
3:34:16 and we'll get back or come back to uh
3:34:18 talk about the override again.
3:34:21 Thank you.
3:36:55 Oh,
3:36:58 hey.
3:44:11 The select board is back and we're going
3:44:14 to take up item nine on the agenda
3:44:20 regarding the override. Chad, why don't
3:44:22 you lead us on this and
3:44:25 Okay,
3:44:26 tell us what we're going to be
3:44:28 voting on.
3:44:28 So, you you don't have to vote on
3:44:30 anything if you don't want to. Um, this
3:44:32 is the this is the deadline for the
3:44:35 ballot question. Today is the deadline
3:44:36 for the ballot question. So, if you had
3:44:38 any additional
3:44:39 thoughts, concerns, modifications that
3:44:42 you wanted to make to your prior
3:44:43 question. I talked with town council.
3:44:45 Town council is confident that your vote
3:44:47 last time is is in accordance
3:44:50 requirements is fine. So you have set a
3:44:53 current you've currently set a ballot
3:44:54 question one ballot question and then um
3:44:57 one of the things that um we had
3:44:59 mentioned last week um that were still
3:45:02 to follow up on is the expansion of or
3:45:05 an additional memorandum of
3:45:06 understanding between the town and the
3:45:08 schools regarding the recommendations of
3:45:09 the expenditures and revenue study
3:45:11 committee. You can see a draft of that
3:45:13 in your uh packet now. The
3:45:15 superintendent and I are working on
3:45:16 that. We will continue to iterate on
3:45:19 that a little bit. It's it's largely
3:45:20 done. Michael identified there's a typo
3:45:22 in there, but you know
3:45:24 that the structure the the bones of it
3:45:26 are where it needs to be. Um, and we
3:45:28 just want your any feedback you have on
3:45:30 that. Um, you also have an interim
3:45:32 report from Clifton Larson Allen CLA who
3:45:34 have been brought back in to do that
3:45:36 analysis. They have finished their
3:45:38 interviews and are now digging into the
3:45:40 data. I will note we got an email from a
3:45:43 school committee member who raised a
3:45:44 concern that there's something that's
3:45:46 inaccurately reported in there about how
3:45:48 special education information is trans
3:45:50 is transmitted. I think that's a result
3:45:52 of getting going through an interview
3:45:54 process and having those conversations
3:45:56 and my goal is to have them dig through
3:45:59 the data and sort that out to be sure
3:46:01 that those are, you know, the the what
3:46:03 they're finding in terms of processes is
3:46:05 an accurate reflection of what the
3:46:07 school department is actually doing. I
3:46:09 also know there's just, you know,
3:46:11 there's, as is often the case, right? I
3:46:13 think the superintendent feels, you
3:46:15 know, CLA's analysis of this was, you
3:46:20 know, based on, you know, a prior state
3:46:22 and, you know, there are all those
3:46:24 things that come with that. So, you do
3:46:26 have the superintendent's initial
3:46:28 response to this as well. um we will
3:46:30 give, you know, be sure that the schools
3:46:32 have ample opportunity to review and
3:46:34 respond to whatever the CLA ultimate
3:46:37 findings are, but given the given the
3:46:40 deadline for the ballot question, we
3:46:42 wanted to be sure that you had at least
3:46:44 the preliminary information from CLA so
3:46:46 that you can make an informed decision
3:46:48 on whatever it is you decide to do
3:46:50 moving forward here. Um, so I guess my
3:46:53 question to the board is, are there any
3:46:55 concerns, questions, changes you wish to
3:46:57 make to the ballot? And um, if so, what
3:47:01 what what would any be?
3:47:03 Whoa, you want to make changes to the
3:47:05 I I do not, but um, but I do I you know,
3:47:08 you got my attention last time when
3:47:11 there was a question about whether
3:47:13 we noticed it properly and I know town
3:47:15 council has said we're safe.
3:47:17 Yeah. But, you know, just because we
3:47:20 can,
3:47:20 you could take another
3:47:21 I I I I I don't necessarily think we
3:47:23 need to take another vote, but I would I
3:47:24 would actually make a motion to reaffirm
3:47:27 our prior vote just for posterity sake.
3:47:30 That's fine.
3:47:33 Okay. John,
3:47:34 I I had a question about the uh isn't
3:47:37 necessarily about the ballot, it's about
3:47:39 the booklet.
3:47:40 Yeah.
3:47:40 Uh that is planned. Um, and this kind of
3:47:45 touches on a discussion we had earlier
3:47:47 this evening about, you know, what is
3:47:49 appropriate versus maybe not appropriate
3:47:52 campaigning, you know, for an issue.
3:47:55 This is purely hypothetical, but I if it
3:47:58 turns out that uh no one steps up to
3:48:02 submit a an argument uh for for a no
3:48:07 vote and all we've got is, you know,
3:48:10 there's 20 people who want to do the
3:48:11 argument for the for the yes vote. Um
3:48:15 how would the town handle that? Would it
3:48:17 put out a booklet that only had one side
3:48:19 of the question or what what would we
3:48:22 do?
3:48:22 Joe, do you want to talk about that? Uh,
3:48:24 I think you did a pretty good job last
3:48:26 time when we were concerned about that.
3:48:27 Uh,
3:48:34 Joe, you're uh, we're having trouble
3:48:36 hearing you.
3:48:44 You aren't muted.
3:48:49 Yeah, I know we're not seeing
3:48:56 pick up the phone.
3:48:57 Is there a problem with our sound?
3:48:59 His microphone perhaps?
3:49:00 Maybe. I mean, he's looking at
3:49:03 uh how about now?
3:49:04 There we go. Perfect. Better.
3:49:06 All right. Sorry about that. Um so Joe
3:49:09 Callahan, town council. Um the um right
3:49:13 now we have an advocate for the
3:49:16 proponents, only one. Um we have no
3:49:19 advocate that stepped forward in
3:49:21 opposition.
3:49:22 So, as outlined in my memo, if none no
3:49:26 advocate for one side or the other
3:49:29 council to write that um
3:49:33 argument, we already have a
3:49:34 responsibility to write a summary um of
3:49:37 the question. It'll be essentially like
3:49:39 what we did uh in 2023 for the questions
3:49:42 2 A and 2B. So, there'll be slight
3:49:44 differences, but that will be 90
3:49:46 something% of what the summary will be
3:49:48 this year. Um but otherwise um if
3:49:52 there's no advocate that steps forward
3:49:53 it falls to me. Um what I'll do um is
3:49:57 use the um you know kind of as a as a
3:50:00 base the arguments in opposition last
3:50:03 last time in 2023 2A and 2B u but also
3:50:07 seek other communities who've had um
3:50:10 questions where the advocates have
3:50:12 stepped forward and see what they wrote
3:50:14 say in you know Somerville or you know
3:50:17 Quinsey and then I you know using what
3:50:20 we did in 2023 and the other communities
3:50:23 u you know arguments in opposition, I'll
3:50:26 come up with 150 words.
3:50:29 I will say, yeah, I will say, right, we
3:50:31 in 2023, we came very close to having to
3:50:34 do that. Um, and then someone graciously
3:50:36 stepped up at the last minute and
3:50:37 offered a a compelling no argument, but
3:50:39 we had a no argument drafted internally.
3:50:42 Um, that I thought was quite fair and
3:50:44 quite, you know, eloquent in making a
3:50:47 making the negative case in 150 words.
3:50:50 So, if we have to do that, we will. Um,
3:50:53 town council will. Um, but you know, I I
3:50:56 would again, this is a good opportunity
3:50:58 for us to strongly encourage folks.
3:51:00 There's a diversity of opinion out
3:51:01 there. If you are opposed to this
3:51:03 question, please reach out, contact town
3:51:06 council. Um, it's 150 words. It's not a
3:51:09 heavy lift. Um, we welcome the strongest
3:51:11 argument. We need it's it's better for
3:51:13 the better for better for local
3:51:15 government, better for democracy if you
3:51:17 have vigorous argument for and against a
3:51:18 question. So, please step forward.
3:51:20 It just feels very awkward to me. I
3:51:23 mean, we'd be making an argument. I
3:51:25 mean, the town would be making an
3:51:27 argument against its own interests,
3:51:30 having brought it this far to uh
3:51:34 One of the nice things about working as
3:51:35 an appointed official in local
3:51:36 government is I make an argument I make
3:51:37 arguments against my own interest all
3:51:38 the time.
3:51:42 Okay. Um theou is going to be finalized
3:51:48 when?
3:51:48 Probably in the next couple weeks.
3:51:50 Okay. Uh so people have um comments or
3:51:54 even questions, please provide them to
3:51:56 to Chaz. I have a few myself.
3:51:59 Okay. Anything else on this that we need
3:52:01 to discuss?
3:52:02 Do we want to follow up on Paul's
3:52:04 affirmation? Yeah.
3:52:06 Affirmative. Ratify.
3:52:07 There's nothing else to discuss. Go
3:52:08 ahead.
3:52:10 Thank you. Motion.
3:52:10 I move that we affirm uh the vote that
3:52:12 we took on placing at whatever the
3:52:14 number is.
3:52:17 23.25, right?
3:52:18 23.2. It was 23.5 but actually it's
3:52:21 23.25
3:52:22 25
3:52:23 too far.
3:52:23 Yes.
3:52:24 Okay. Uh all in favor please indicate by
3:52:27 saying I. John Vancoyak.
3:52:28 Well I was in abstain on the previous
3:52:30 vote. So
3:52:31 okay Paul
3:52:32 any want to change your mind?
3:52:35 Uh I
3:52:37 Okay. David Pearlman
3:52:38 I.
3:52:39 Michael Rubenstein
3:52:40 I.
3:52:40 And chair vot.
3:52:43 Okay. Are there
3:52:44 I was unclear of what your vote was.
3:52:47 Did you just say that you were affirming
3:52:50 your abstension?
3:52:51 Yeah.
3:52:52 And so is that an I vote for the
3:52:54 affirmation?
3:52:56 No.
3:52:57 Well, abstension is abension.
3:53:00 Yeah.
3:53:00 Joe, do you have any do you want to
3:53:02 follow up on your your memo? Um if if
3:53:04 there are any questions from the board,
3:53:06 but maybe just so the public understands
3:53:08 what's what what the next steps are here
3:53:10 in terms of the the booklet and
3:53:12 education process.
3:53:13 Yeah, if I can just have a minute or
3:53:15 two. I do have a um a slide show kind of
3:53:19 the deadlines.
3:53:21 Um
3:53:25 can you see that?
3:53:27 It's coming up. One second.
3:53:32 There we go.
3:53:38 All right. Um so
3:53:41 the uh you receive the mailer uh and
3:53:44 about uh 400 people uh 300 people did
3:53:47 also receive that. We sent out an email
3:53:50 to the select board, the school
3:53:51 committee, advisory committee, town
3:53:53 meeting members. Um so they received my
3:53:55 memo uh Friday. We also put it out um on
3:53:59 the town's website. Um we also put it
3:54:02 through um the notify me or what's the
3:54:05 new vendor um for people who signed up
3:54:07 on the town meeting list serve. So that
3:54:09 was about 700 people. They got a notice
3:54:12 with the link to the memo. So that
3:54:13 describes the process. But what I wanted
3:54:15 to share with you is just kind of the
3:54:17 bullet point deadline and and the first
3:54:21 deadline is this Friday to receive
3:54:23 arguments. Advocates step forward and
3:54:26 draft 150 words. Um, you may say, "Oh my
3:54:29 god, that's a quick turnaround." But
3:54:31 hold on, we'll get to the bottom and
3:54:32 you'll see why. Uh, but this is supposed
3:54:35 to be a public process. So, last time
3:54:37 around, I shared publicly
3:54:40 the drafts and as we evolved from the
3:54:43 initial arguments to the final arguments
3:54:45 that is put before you for approval.
3:54:48 So, Tuesday after we receive the initial
3:54:51 uh drafts, they'll be fact checked.
3:54:52 they'll be um um you know um made sure
3:54:56 that we received them and I'll circulate
3:54:58 the draft of the ballot information
3:55:01 Tuesday, April 7th. This will give not
3:55:04 only the advocates but the public a
3:55:06 chance to respond and the advocates will
3:55:08 then have till Thursday the 9th to res
3:55:10 to to um amend their initial arguments
3:55:13 to then get a final copy to you on
3:55:15 Friday the 10th. Again, this is to you
3:55:18 and the public. Um, so then you can vote
3:55:21 on it two weeks from tonight. And again,
3:55:23 you may say, "Well, that's a, you know,
3:55:26 that's pretty fast." It is, but here's
3:55:29 why.
3:55:30 It's going to take uh town clerk staff
3:55:33 uh three days, basically, three eight
3:55:36 hour days to print, fold, stuff, seal,
3:55:40 and put postage on a 30,000
3:55:43 piece mailer. Um they're going to do
3:55:45 this after they do the vote by mail
3:55:48 ballots which will be three days
3:55:49 previously. So that will be the Monday,
3:55:52 Tuesday, Wednesday, the finishing on the
3:55:54 15th and ideally start this Thursday the
3:55:56 16th, 17th and then over the weekend. So
3:55:59 the plan is to get this mailer out
3:56:02 Monday, April 20th. That is a day the
3:56:05 post office is open, but it is Patriots
3:56:08 day, which we'll have a marathon running
3:56:10 through town, so it's not the best day,
3:56:12 but it will be the first day that we'll
3:56:14 chance, you know, we'll have a chance to
3:56:15 get this out, but that's only 15 days
3:56:18 before election day. Um, and it's only 5
3:56:21 days before we start inerson voting.
3:56:24 But it would be very difficult to make
3:56:26 that
3:56:27 period even more um because again, you
3:56:30 saw these quick deadlines. we're we're
3:56:32 getting the arguments in just a couple
3:56:35 days and then basically put back before
3:56:38 you for vote the following week. So,
3:56:40 it'd be really hard to have more time
3:56:43 for people to get this and I wouldn't
3:56:45 recommend stretching it out because I do
3:56:48 feel uncomfortable with all the problems
3:56:50 that we've had with the uh mail that
3:56:52 we're only allowing 15 days to get these
3:56:54 to people's um homes before they vote.
3:56:58 So, these are the deadlines. Again, as
3:57:00 Chaz said, we're looking for an advocate
3:57:01 in opposition, but otherwise, people
3:57:03 feel free to give me a call. Um, or
3:57:06 shoot me an email.
3:57:07 Uh, we're getting them and we're
3:57:08 responding, but if people want to send
3:57:10 more, feel free.
3:57:13 Quick question.
3:57:13 Okay.
3:57:14 Can I ask Joe a question, Joe? Um,
3:57:16 thanks for the for the timeline. So, I I
3:57:19 it sounds like we're using town clerk
3:57:22 personnel to
3:57:24 print, you know, fold stuff, put
3:57:27 stickers, uh u not the sticker, you know
3:57:30 what I'm saying, postage, thank you, on
3:57:32 the envelope. Why not use a mailhouse
3:57:35 that can automate this entire process
3:57:38 for us and, you know, stick it in for
3:57:41 first class mail?
3:57:44 Uh because that would cost money that we
3:57:46 don't have.
3:57:47 So yes, you know, we could accelerate
3:57:50 this, you know, if we sent it to a
3:57:51 mailing house, but we would need money
3:57:53 for that, which we don't have.
3:57:55 Jez, can we find money to uh use a
3:57:57 mailhouse as opposed to like, you know,
3:58:00 we are
3:58:01 going bumping up against a a deadline?
3:58:03 We are out of cash. I I wish it were not
3:58:05 the case, but we're going to we're going
3:58:07 to be, you know, we just revi revised
3:58:09 our healthcare projections. We're we're
3:58:11 in a tough straight to close out this
3:58:13 fiscal year. I I think it's going to be
3:58:16 very tight. Um so I don't I don't have I
3:58:20 don't foresee money for unexpected
3:58:21 expenses like this unfortunately.
3:58:26 Okay.
3:58:28 Thank you, Joe.
3:58:30 Thank you.
3:58:32 Okay. Let's move on to the next item
3:58:34 which is the U 8mm warrant article
3:58:38 public hearing. Oh, it's 9:25. Well,
3:58:42 that's life in in Brooklyn. Um, okay.
3:58:46 First item is going to be article 20
3:58:49 resolution to establish an official
3:58:51 annual townwide commemoration of
3:58:54 September 11, 200 one. Um, typo in the
3:59:00 agenda. And and a memorial to all those
3:59:03 from Brooklyn, Massachusetts who died on
3:59:06 September 11, 2001. I see Elizabeth
3:59:10 Charles is at the microphone.
3:59:13 So,
3:59:14 say
3:59:16 thank you very much for opening up this
3:59:19 and I appreciate you for for hearing
3:59:21 about our article tonight, article uh
3:59:23 20, which is a resolution um about the
3:59:26 911 remembrance. Um I'm Elizabeth
3:59:29 Childs, town member uh precinct 4. And I
3:59:32 want to introduce our co-etitioners. We
3:59:34 have Ariel Guzman, town member precinct
3:59:37 five, and Jared Alexandro, um, who is a
3:59:40 Lawrence parent who just had to run home
3:59:42 and take his put his son to bed. Um, and
3:59:44 an 18-year, uh, Brooklyn resident who
3:59:46 was a senior at South High School in
3:59:48 Worcester when 911 happened.
3:59:51 We also have Nancy Okconor, who's not
3:59:53 able to be here tonight, who's a wife,
3:59:54 mother, and daughter in a
3:59:56 multi-generational firefighter family in
3:59:59 Brooklyn. and one of the firefighters
4:00:01 and their families who raised the money
4:00:03 for the Manny Del Valley bench at fire
4:00:05 station number five on Bcott Street.
4:00:07 These are the petitioners.
4:00:10 So, article 20 builds um on several pri
4:00:13 prior efforts to remember 911 in
4:00:16 Brooklyn and I am very grateful to many
4:00:19 of you personally, in particular to you,
4:00:20 Chair Green, for all of your support in
4:00:23 the past to create this event in
4:00:25 Brooklyn.
4:00:27 The resolution simply asks us to
4:00:29 formalize this annual remembrance
4:00:31 ceremony so that it is sustainable no
4:00:34 matter who's doing the organizing of the
4:00:37 citizen volunteers. And we modeled our
4:00:40 resolution on the resolution that the um
4:00:43 MLK committee did after they had had
4:00:45 their informal citizen group and then
4:00:47 became a formal committee so that it
4:00:49 would have sustainability in town.
4:00:53 The resolution asks the select board to
4:00:55 appoint a committee for two roles. The
4:00:58 first role is to do the leg work of
4:01:00 coordinating the logistics of the annual
4:01:03 ceremony. The second one is a time
4:01:05 related role which is to to um identify
4:01:10 and make recommendations to the select
4:01:12 board about a physical marker in
4:01:14 Brookline. And that that part of the
4:01:17 role for the committee would end once
4:01:19 they made the recommendation to the
4:01:20 select board. The article does not um
4:01:23 propose how that physical marker would
4:01:25 be, where it would be, but it actually
4:01:27 asked the committee to do that work.
4:01:32 The importance of 911 cannot be
4:01:34 overstated, particularly to our
4:01:36 community. Brookline is one of the
4:01:39 communities that lost more people on 911
4:01:42 than any other community saved New York
4:01:44 City and Boston. In fact, we may be the
4:01:47 community that lost the most out beyond
4:01:50 New York City and Boston. These are
4:01:52 citizens who are on their way to work,
4:01:55 who committed acts of valor that day. In
4:01:58 fact, the first person to die on 911 was
4:02:01 a Brooklyn resident who lived not far
4:02:03 from me, Daniel Leuen. And he um heard
4:02:07 and understood the people behind him
4:02:09 speaking Arabic. And we believe that he
4:02:11 tried to stop them from crashing the
4:02:14 first plane into the north tower.
4:02:17 We also know that some of the first
4:02:19 responders who died that day and many
4:02:20 who were ill um had Brooklyn
4:02:23 connections, at least one of them died
4:02:24 in the line of service, uh Mannyell
4:02:27 Valley. We also know that um the brother
4:02:29 of Jack Dewan, who was a longtime
4:02:31 Brooklyn firefighter, also died in the
4:02:33 line of service that day. These are
4:02:35 ordinary people, people doing their job
4:02:37 and people who had no idea that that day
4:02:40 when they went to work, they were never
4:02:41 going to come home.
4:02:44 So the committee has proposed is really
4:02:46 a way of us in Brooklyn taking a moment
4:02:49 to come together to remember what 911
4:02:53 meant to our country and what it meant
4:02:54 in particular to Brooklyn.
4:02:58 Um
4:03:00 I I think there's one note I want to
4:03:02 just make as a like a practical note.
4:03:04 There's a scrimer's error in the article
4:03:07 which states that the number of
4:03:09 casualties was 2,997.
4:03:12 It actually is 2977.
4:03:16 So that n that second nine should be a
4:03:18 seven.
4:03:19 And the reason I raise this is because
4:03:20 we can't change it in the warrant. But
4:03:23 if the select board decides to move the
4:03:25 article, I would want us to change it in
4:03:27 that motion. If the AC decides to move
4:03:30 it, I would have them change it. And if
4:03:32 neither the AC or the select board move
4:03:33 it and we have to move it on the floor,
4:03:35 we will make that amendment at that
4:03:37 time. But I didn't want there to be any
4:03:39 we didn't want any inaccuracies in our
4:03:42 article. Um,
4:03:45 that's actually all I have to add to
4:03:46 say. I can I'm certainly happy to answer
4:03:48 questions from all of you and um and I
4:03:51 just want to ask my fellow petitioners
4:03:52 if there's anything else they need to
4:03:54 add to that explanation.
4:03:57 Jared, yes, please. Jared Alexandro.
4:04:01 Thank Thank you, Elizabeth. Um some of
4:04:04 you saw that I was here tonight with my
4:04:06 10-year-old son who's a student at
4:04:07 Lawrence. And I think part of this is
4:04:10 really you're seeing the impact that
4:04:12 911's had being generation to
4:04:15 generation. And we don't want um the
4:04:17 students that are coming up in Brooklyn
4:04:18 to not have the appreciation for our
4:04:21 first responders and what that meant to
4:04:24 people of you know I was in high school
4:04:26 so very clear day in my mind but it's
4:04:29 not something that's talked about on a
4:04:31 daily basis like it once was. So we
4:04:33 think it's really important for the new
4:04:35 generation of Brooklyn students and
4:04:37 residents coming up that there be a
4:04:39 permanent remembrance um to honor the
4:04:41 the victims of that day. Thank you.
4:04:45 Ariel, anything you want to add? Okay, I
4:04:47 think that's that's all we have to say.
4:04:49 We're happy to answer questions.
4:04:51 Okay. Um, I have a couple comments. Yes.
4:04:53 Um,
4:04:54 first of all, in the sec third recital,
4:04:58 um,
4:04:59 sorry,
4:05:00 September 11 is not recognized as
4:05:03 Patriots Day, is it? Or is that
4:05:04 something I I'm not aware of?
4:05:07 No, it is nationally recognized as
4:05:09 Patriot Patriot Day.
4:05:11 Patriot Day.
4:05:12 Okay. National Day of Service and
4:05:14 Remembrance. Yes.
4:05:15 So just distinguish from our Patriots.
4:05:18 Exactly. It's ours is Patriots Day.
4:05:21 Uh secondly, I I would recommend that um
4:05:25 in the first uh now therefore clause um
4:05:30 first whereas clause. Okay.
4:05:32 No, now therefore clause.
4:05:33 Oh, in the first now therefore. Okay.
4:05:36 Um you know this is the 250th
4:05:38 anniversary of uh our revolution.
4:05:41 Yes. Uh, so to say that this is one of
4:05:43 the most important days in American
4:05:46 history, I think is probably not what
4:05:48 you want to say.
4:05:51 Okay.
4:05:52 Okay. That's just my opinion.
4:05:53 Okay.
4:05:54 Um, I mean, you know, we have Pearl
4:05:56 Harbor, we have a lot of, you know,
4:05:58 important days and maybe different
4:06:01 phrasing there. The the other thing that
4:06:04 I would like to suggest is that it looks
4:06:07 like, as I recall when I read this, it
4:06:10 looks like uh the committee will
4:06:13 recommend to the select board that we
4:06:16 commission and uh I guess fund a
4:06:19 memorial. Shouldn't that be a
4:06:21 fundraising um activity of a committee?
4:06:24 Well, I think it could be. I I think we
4:06:26 don't presuppose that that wouldn't be
4:06:28 the case. I mean, I think the committee
4:06:30 uh could make recommendations even
4:06:31 around how those funds would be raised.
4:06:33 Yes. And the committee we proposed would
4:06:36 be appointed by the select board and
4:06:38 have the committee we proposed had the
4:06:40 five members, five public members, um a
4:06:44 member designated by the fire chief, a
4:06:45 member designated by the police chief, a
4:06:48 member designated by the Brooklyn
4:06:49 Historical Society, and a select board
4:06:51 member, obviously. Yeah.
4:06:54 Yeah.
4:06:55 Any other questions?
4:06:58 Go ahead.
4:06:58 Yes.
4:06:59 So, so thank you very much um for the
4:07:02 presentation and for all the efforts um
4:07:05 you've put into this remembrance. Um
4:07:08 I I I am interested in noting the fact
4:07:12 that you brought up Pearl Harbor Day. Um
4:07:14 because when I was sort of thinking
4:07:17 about the the analogies in our history,
4:07:19 that was that was the one that came to
4:07:22 mind. And I
4:07:26 one of the reasons is that my one of my
4:07:29 uncles was actually born on December
4:07:31 7th, couple even years later. Um so that
4:07:34 day has always sort of stuck with me for
4:07:36 that reason. Um but but I'm just I'm
4:07:40 just wondering, you know, when I think
4:07:42 about sort of what our current uh
4:07:45 discussions are about that day now, you
4:07:49 know, some 80 80 some odd years later.
4:07:52 I'm trying to think about what are your
4:07:55 expectations of how this would evolve 80
4:07:58 some odd years after 2001.
4:08:01 Yeah. Well, I think we don't know what
4:08:03 what will happen, but I would hope that
4:08:05 we' we would remember it just like I
4:08:07 think this is a generational thing, too,
4:08:09 that um people of my era and my parents'
4:08:13 era always remembered and stopped on
4:08:16 Pearl Harbor Day,
4:08:18 but our younger generation in a way um
4:08:22 to 911 was really like their Pearl
4:08:24 Harbor. And actually more people were
4:08:26 killed on 911 than on Pearl Harbor. And
4:08:29 um in fact it is the single greatest
4:08:32 number of Americans killed on by a
4:08:35 foreign adversary in America on in a day
4:08:39 and it's the largest terrorist attack in
4:08:41 the history of the world. Um so it is a
4:08:43 very significant day and I think that I
4:08:45 would hope that we would just take a
4:08:46 pause to all come together and we
4:08:49 remember our humanity and um I hope that
4:08:53 they do do it 50 years from now that
4:08:54 somebody will stop and say today is 911.
4:08:57 We should remember those people and I
4:08:59 think we at least we do in our household
4:09:02 on on Pearl Harbor Day, but I don't know
4:09:05 if that happens anywhere else, you know,
4:09:07 and publicly. I don't know that we do
4:09:08 anything like that in in Brooklyn. I
4:09:10 don't know that we do. Um so I hope it I
4:09:13 hope we would keep doing this at least.
4:09:15 Yeah.
4:09:17 Um thank you for bringing this forward.
4:09:19 Can you describe what it takes today to
4:09:21 put this on? Who who's doing the work?
4:09:24 Um I know I see you there. Right. See
4:09:26 Bernard there.
4:09:27 But my sense is it it it seems to be
4:09:31 puddled together, bootstrapped.
4:09:32 It is it is it's it's actually wonderful
4:09:35 effort. It really Bernard really
4:09:37 deserves a lot of credit here because um
4:09:40 uh Susan Howard and I approached Bernard
4:09:42 about doing something on in Brooklyn on
4:09:44 911 because although there was the
4:09:46 fireman's solemn ceremony which they
4:09:48 will have and always have, it's a very
4:09:50 it's a very important day for them as
4:09:51 well. Um we felt that it was really
4:09:54 important for our community like all the
4:09:56 communities around us actually were
4:09:57 doing things and we were like not doing
4:09:59 a citizen effort but a lot of the most
4:10:02 the people who died on that day were
4:10:04 ordinary citizens like you and me who
4:10:05 just got up and went to work ended up
4:10:08 being confronted with doing something
4:10:09 incredible. Um and many of them died in
4:10:13 the line of doing that. Um, and so
4:10:16 Bernard actually really led the ar led
4:10:18 the push to make sure that we linked up
4:10:22 with the fireman's solemn ceremony
4:10:24 because we didn't want to compete with
4:10:25 it. We really wanted to just if anything
4:10:28 just augment it but remember the
4:10:30 citizens who also died that day besides
4:10:32 the firefighters and the police officers
4:10:34 who died that day. And so the most
4:10:35 important thing we do on that day is to
4:10:37 read the names of the people from
4:10:39 Brooklyn who died on 911. And when when
4:10:42 David had to pinch it and he did a great
4:10:44 job last year on 911, the most important
4:10:47 thing you have to do, I remember saying
4:10:48 to him, was to read the names. Um, and
4:10:51 so it really is trying to make
4:10:53 sustainable
4:10:55 an effort. I'm not thinking that those
4:10:56 of us who have worked on it are happy to
4:10:58 continue to work on it. We really don't
4:11:00 mind doing the work, but we'd love to
4:11:03 have it be on the town calendar. We'd
4:11:05 love to have it be something that gets
4:11:07 shared across town is like this is 911
4:11:09 and and we want you all to come by and
4:11:12 take 30 minutes out of your morning and
4:11:15 and uh share with us what happened that
4:11:17 day.
4:11:18 So just to follow up so um just two two
4:11:22 quick two quick points, one personal and
4:11:24 then another which I do to talk about
4:11:27 the impact of this. Um I actually knew
4:11:29 uh Daniel Ruin. Um and I knew another
4:11:32 individual, Ando Curry Green, who was
4:11:34 sitting either directly behind Daniel or
4:11:36 the seat the next row.
4:11:37 Yeah.
4:11:38 Um and they did not know each other, but
4:11:39 I knew both of them very well.
4:11:41 Um and um so it is a very moving time
4:11:45 for me when whenever the anniversary
4:11:47 comes that those are the folks I think
4:11:48 of as well as all the others. But if you
4:11:50 think about something that impacted us
4:11:53 um you know 911
4:11:57 uh dramatically changed our society and
4:12:01 and not only the US but globally.
4:12:05 Yes.
4:12:05 Um and to this day we take our well I
4:12:08 don't think we have to take our shoes
4:12:09 off anymore but you certainly have to
4:12:10 take our belts off and go through
4:12:11 scanners and all that. That's a direct
4:12:13 result.
4:12:13 Yes.
4:12:14 Of what occurred on 911. Yes. um you
4:12:16 know the the the government's invasion
4:12:18 of our privacy frankly and ability to
4:12:21 monitor and
4:12:22 we don't even know what they can do now
4:12:24 as a result of of 911.
4:12:27 Um and so it's its impact
4:12:30 um even if we're not having a ceremony
4:12:35 is felt today. Yeah.
4:12:37 Um in in our daily lives I think because
4:12:40 of that. So, I do think it's uh it's
4:12:42 worthy of um serious consideration to
4:12:44 formalize the ceremony and I really
4:12:46 appreciate you bringing this forward.
4:12:48 Thank you. Yeah, I actually in our
4:12:49 petitioner's explanation, I listed some
4:12:51 of those things that you're mentioning,
4:12:53 Paul, that it changed us dramatically.
4:12:55 It created the Department of Homeland
4:12:57 Security. Um it the bringing down of the
4:13:01 Twin Towers was bringing down the
4:13:02 international symbol of the United
4:13:04 States economic power. The invasion of
4:13:06 Afghanistan occurred on October 7th,
4:13:08 2001 as a direct result.
4:13:11 Um, and it it it made Americans realize
4:13:15 that we were hated in places in the
4:13:17 world and that we were vulnerable. And
4:13:19 personally, there are still people I
4:13:21 treat some who actually witnessed
4:13:23 firsthand as children the tra the
4:13:26 tragedy and the death on that day and
4:13:29 they are continually haunted by those
4:13:31 traumatic memories. So it is a very very
4:13:33 important day for many people. Yeah.
4:13:36 Thank you.
4:13:37 Yeah. I think it's particularly
4:13:39 important for us to have a memorial with
4:13:42 the names of Brooklyn connected people
4:13:44 and that that's an extremely powerful
4:13:48 um thing to do that that uh you know
4:13:52 succeeding generations can can look at
4:13:55 and think about and and try to
4:13:57 understand you what happened and why it
4:13:59 happened. uh and um our connection to
4:14:03 that.
4:14:03 Yeah.
4:14:06 Any other discussion? This is a public
4:14:09 hearing, so let's open up the public
4:14:11 hearing. I see someone raising their
4:14:13 hands.
4:14:20 Regina Frolley uh from South Brooklyn
4:14:22 and I attend as some of you know every
4:14:24 one of these uh honorable and honoring
4:14:28 occasions including the Babcock Street.
4:14:33 In 1976, I took a seminar at Harvard on
4:14:37 Vietnam War. And there was myself, a
4:14:40 Vietnam vet, and several young people
4:14:45 collecting credits, I guess, for their
4:14:47 degree.
4:14:50 In one, it was the year after the the um
4:14:55 soldiers were taken out of Vietnam,
4:14:58 evacuated. Uh, and we know, we've never
4:15:01 forgotten what that looked like. In that
4:15:03 room, the children had zero,
4:15:06 they were privileged children. They had
4:15:08 zero connection. They probably didn't
4:15:10 have anyone in their family that was
4:15:12 served in Vietnam.
4:15:15 They thought it was just a history
4:15:17 course and they were not very engaged.
4:15:20 That stuck with me one year after the
4:15:23 evacuation. And that's the indifference
4:15:26 I saw in the children. And I'm not
4:15:28 criticizing them. I'm saying that we
4:15:31 fail them when we don't educate them. I
4:15:34 feel that 911 is everything that
4:15:36 Elizabeth has said and more. We have a
4:15:40 generation of children whose families
4:15:42 have not had the the draft, have not
4:15:46 served in the military, have in fact had
4:15:49 very good lives. And we need to honor
4:15:54 these occasions. they did have all the
4:15:56 consequences that Elizabeth and and
4:15:59 others have mentioned and I think it's
4:16:01 really important as an education for the
4:16:04 children to do this. Uh I agree with the
4:16:07 father enormously about that. Um we
4:16:11 can't raise our children in bubbles as
4:16:13 if nothing happens in life. We are
4:16:16 hated. We probably more now than ever.
4:16:19 Um, we need to to have the children be
4:16:22 aware of what it is to serve.
4:16:25 And the best part about the annual event
4:16:29 at Babco Street is this is not about the
4:16:32 enemy. It has never been about the
4:16:35 enemy. It has been about the heroes and
4:16:37 the victims. And that's all they ever do
4:16:40 is just honor the memory of Americans
4:16:43 killed on their soil when they went to
4:16:45 work one day and the others who came to
4:16:48 rescue and all of so many of them have
4:16:51 still got health issues if they haven't
4:16:53 already died. So I hope this will be
4:16:56 taken seriously because I've seen that
4:16:59 one year after the evacuation that there
4:17:01 were whole number of children who had no
4:17:05 idea young people who had no idea of the
4:17:08 consequences of Vietnam and if you
4:17:10 Santiana said if you don't understand
4:17:12 history you will be condemned to repeat
4:17:15 it. Thank you
4:17:18 David.
4:17:20 So I also want to thank the petitioners
4:17:22 for bringing this forward. I I agree
4:17:24 this is uh critically important and
4:17:26 something that uh I mean I'm prepared to
4:17:29 support it now.
4:17:30 Uh I also like the idea that Paul raised
4:17:33 and of course it was it was already in
4:17:35 the language as uh you pointed out
4:17:37 Elizabeth on the penultimate page about
4:17:39 the uh significant impacts that this
4:17:42 date had. So it's I mean honoring those
4:17:46 who whose lives were lost is absolutely
4:17:49 critical. But I also like the idea of
4:17:50 coupling that with the broader cultural
4:17:54 global significance that it had uh on
4:17:57 all of our lives for those of us who are
4:17:59 alive now and those who weren't alive
4:18:02 yet at the time to understand that what
4:18:04 they are experiencing today in some
4:18:07 respects uh was born as a part of the
4:18:11 tragedy on that date. I'm curious uh to
4:18:14 what extent you and the other
4:18:16 petitioners research what other
4:18:19 communities do with this day. I I do
4:18:21 notice on the first page uh you
4:18:23 mentioned uh several Boston area
4:18:26 municipalities that have similar
4:18:28 committees and I presume that the New
4:18:30 York City area has municipalities. Uh do
4:18:33 they do anything different or were you
4:18:36 trying to model this after any community
4:18:38 in particular? We started with Newton
4:18:41 and um Newton has a ve a very elaborate
4:18:44 a big ceremony and they have a physical
4:18:46 marker. We're hoping to have some
4:18:47 physical marker. Doesn't have to be like
4:18:48 Newton's but um a physical marker and
4:18:50 they do their ceremony around that
4:18:52 physical marker. Um and yes, we know the
4:18:55 organizers in Newton and um uh got a lot
4:18:58 of information when we started our we
4:19:00 started bootstrapping coppbling our
4:19:02 little thing together. It was based on
4:19:03 what they had done. Um but and actually
4:19:07 Boston does quite a commemoration as
4:19:09 well because of how many people died
4:19:11 from Boston and New York always does
4:19:13 something at down at ground zero. Um and
4:19:17 uh some of our uh family members have
4:19:19 often have either come to Brooklyn or
4:19:21 they've gone down to New York. So um
4:19:24 we've been in touch with several of the
4:19:26 family members. Um, one of the family
4:19:28 members uh uh taped a um a a really
4:19:33 talking about her brother uh Jerry Dewan
4:19:36 who died and um we've had uh members
4:19:38 come to our ceremony here and um that's
4:19:41 probably a little something more more of
4:19:43 our of our town. It's like a little more
4:19:45 like we're a little more
4:19:47 we try to make it more about like the
4:19:49 people and the families and make it a
4:19:51 little more uh community oriented I
4:19:54 guess would be the way that that's
4:19:55 probably the one difference. But most
4:19:57 there are many communities most all the
4:19:59 communities around us have something um
4:20:02 formal for 9/11. Um we're the outlier
4:20:05 actually in that. Yeah.
4:20:09 John,
4:20:10 just a couple of things to mention. Um
4:20:12 and and uh you know, one is that uh
4:20:16 Brooklyn has a way of even in the
4:20:19 absence of the officially sanctioned um
4:20:22 uh ceremony which very appropriately
4:20:24 this warrant article uh calls for um
4:20:28 people rise up and Elizabeth was one of
4:20:32 them. Susan Howard was another of them.
4:20:34 Um our chair was another of them. um a
4:20:37 and they create, you know, out of
4:20:40 nothing an observance um that is very
4:20:44 heartfelt. You know, I've I've attend
4:20:46 I've been privileged to attend it many
4:20:48 many years
4:20:49 and um it's always a special day and I
4:20:52 always feel if anything the only thing
4:20:55 missing is more people, you know, if we
4:20:57 could just get more people. Yeah. One of
4:20:59 the things that um uh Elizabeth pointed
4:21:02 out to me um during the break uh is that
4:21:06 among other reasons to do this as an
4:21:08 official u uh committee and a function
4:21:11 of the town um the the ceremony that uh
4:21:15 has been carried on for so many years
4:21:17 now never got on the town calendar, you
4:21:20 know, which is too bad. I mean, and
4:21:22 there's reasons for that, but uh one of
4:21:25 the harder things to do to accomplish
4:21:27 was simply to let people know we had
4:21:30 this observance on September 11th.
4:21:33 Um and we had people participating who
4:21:36 had lost, you know, people in their
4:21:38 family on September 11th. Um, and I'm
4:21:41 just going to mention because I I always
4:21:43 like to sort of make people aware of a
4:21:46 wonderful poem that was written um that
4:21:48 captures the uh what is so special about
4:21:52 that day uh because there's going to be
4:21:55 a tendency on on the part of some people
4:21:57 to think of it as a political thing. It
4:21:59 isn't a political thing. It's all it's
4:22:01 all about discovering that that we had
4:22:05 within ourselves the capacity to be
4:22:07 heroic that you know the capacity to be
4:22:10 self-sacrificing and the poem is called
4:22:13 survivors found. It's by a poem poet by
4:22:16 the name of Joan Murray. It got read o
4:22:19 over the air on NPR and became sort of a
4:22:22 celebrated. Uh it expressed for a lot of
4:22:24 people what what September 11th meant to
4:22:28 them especially in the immediate
4:22:30 aftermath
4:22:31 and it sort of resonates to this day. So
4:22:33 if people want to read a poem that is
4:22:35 very effective in that regard, Survivors
4:22:38 Found by Joan Murray, it's excellent.
4:22:40 That's great. Thank you.
4:22:43 Okay. Um Paul said that we should vote.
4:22:47 I did not
4:22:47 or is it David? I'm sorry. Someone over
4:22:49 here said that.
4:22:50 I'm ready to move it
4:22:52 or everyone want to do it. Okay.
4:22:56 Um
4:22:58 any
4:22:59 suggested edits or see what did I say?
4:23:06 Well, I made I made some comments. Do
4:23:07 with them what you want. Let's more Why
4:23:10 don't you move the question?
4:23:12 So, just modifying to correct for the
4:23:13 scrier's error. Yeah. Other than that, I
4:23:17 move that the select board recommend
4:23:19 favorable action on war article 20.
4:23:22 Okay. All in favor John and Skoyak.
4:23:24 I David Paul Warren.
4:23:26 I have one comment before I I vote.
4:23:28 Bernard. Um so with with very few
4:23:31 exceptions, I'm probably going to
4:23:32 abstain on most articles because I'm
4:23:34 moving into the legislature town
4:23:37 meeting. Um uh so for this one though, I
4:23:40 I will be voting yes. But most articles
4:23:44 uh I I may abstain. Okay, just just to
4:23:47 let you know.
4:23:48 Okay. Uh, David P. I Michael Rubenstein.
4:23:52 Hi,
4:23:52 Chair V.I.
4:23:54 Thank you.
4:23:55 Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
4:23:59 Next, we have uh actually two articles
4:24:02 that we should talk about together.
4:24:04 Warrant Article 17 and Warrant Article
4:24:07 25.
4:24:09 And I assume that we have some uh
4:24:12 petitioners
4:24:14 online. I see Chi-Chi Woo
4:24:17 and someone else.
4:24:22 Uh, okay.
4:24:22 Yeah, Chi-Chi Woo. Um,
4:24:25 I have a uh we have PowerPoints for both
4:24:28 of these warrant articles and we were
4:24:30 told we would get 10 minutes for each
4:24:31 warrant article. Is that correct?
4:24:35 Were they told that?
4:24:36 I guess
4:24:37 it's seven for warrant articles.
4:24:39 That was my mistake. It is seven.
4:24:43 Okay, I will try to keep uh more in
4:24:45 article 17 and in seven uh 25 may take a
4:24:50 little bit longer.
4:24:50 Okay, what uh since we said 10, why
4:24:53 don't we give you 10 for 25 but seven
4:24:57 for
4:24:58 17.
4:24:59 I will talk fast through 17.
4:25:02 Make sure you understand.
4:25:05 Uh I do have a PowerPoint so I'm going
4:25:07 to share my screen.
4:25:18 Okay. Chi-Chi Woo, town meeting member,
4:25:20 precinct 7, uh, a petitioner on article
4:25:24 17, one of two, um, artic articles this
4:25:28 evening dealing with civil immigration
4:25:30 enforcement activities. Um, the other
4:25:32 petitioners are Alec Leoitz and Jessica
4:25:35 Kiko, who will be talking about article
4:25:37 25. uh Marissa Babot is here today and
4:25:41 then Amy Newell and Scottenian who could
4:25:43 not join us. Um
4:25:46 so um this article um uh you know I
4:25:51 don't need to belabor too much how um
4:25:54 difficult it has been uh to be both an
4:25:58 immigrant or to just watch um what's
4:26:00 been happening with uh immigrants in
4:26:02 this country. Um so just a little
4:26:04 background um onethird of Brooklyn
4:26:06 residents are immigrants. We have the
4:26:08 highest percentage of foreignb born
4:26:10 residents after Everett according to the
4:26:12 Brooklyn Community Foundation. Um I also
4:26:17 don't need to belabor that um we have
4:26:19 seen some terrible atrocities by the
4:26:21 immigration and customs enforcement um
4:26:24 across the country. We witnesses surges
4:26:27 in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Portland,
4:26:30 Maine that have terrorized the
4:26:31 populations, both immigrants, US
4:26:33 citizens. We've seen the the murders of
4:26:36 Alex Prey and Renee Good. Um, and here
4:26:39 in Massachusetts, we have not had a
4:26:42 surge, but we've seen numerous instances
4:26:44 of unfair detainment by ICE. Um, such as
4:26:48 most notably the detainment of a TUS PhD
4:26:51 student for exercising her first
4:26:52 amendment rights. Um, uh, lots of other
4:26:56 Massachusetts residents detained mo vast
4:26:59 majority without criminal records. you
4:27:01 know, a Babson student who is detained
4:27:03 um contrary to court orders. Um
4:27:05 teenagers detained um and that they've
4:27:08 been detained in terrible facilities um
4:27:11 that are overcrowded um and that have uh
4:27:14 poor food um and poor sanitary
4:27:18 conditions and also numerous children.
4:27:20 And of course, we are all worried about
4:27:22 a surge by ICE in the Boston area given
4:27:25 um that blue cities tend to be target of
4:27:29 this administration.
4:27:32 Um so um we are bringing this warrant
4:27:34 article uh modeled on several uh other
4:27:38 um pieces of uh several other things
4:27:41 that have been recently issued. Um, most
4:27:43 notably the you, the select board,
4:27:45 issued a proclamation on February 10th,
4:27:47 2026 about no immigration enforcement on
4:27:51 town property. Similarly, the governor
4:27:54 issued a an executive order um regarding
4:27:57 stateowned property and Boston, Newton,
4:27:59 Cambridge, Somerville, and Chelsea and
4:28:01 Lynn have uh issued similar executive
4:28:04 orders. So, this particular warrant
4:28:07 article um is very similar to the
4:28:10 proclamation that the select board
4:28:12 issued on February 10th and we very much
4:28:15 appreciate that proclamation um as well
4:28:18 as the other actions both the select
4:28:20 board and the police department have
4:28:22 taken with respect to not cooperating
4:28:24 with ICE. So, the right now the Warren
4:28:26 article is two paragraphs. The first
4:28:29 paragraph is very very similar to the
4:28:30 first paragraph of the proclamation. The
4:28:32 biggest difference is we explicitly
4:28:35 named the police station as a town
4:28:37 facility that should not be used as a
4:28:39 staging area or processing location um
4:28:41 for immigration activities without a
4:28:43 judicial warrant. Um that's actually not
4:28:45 a substantive change because the police
4:28:47 station is just an example. It is of
4:28:50 course by nature a town facility. So it
4:28:52 was covered under under your
4:28:53 proclamation.
4:28:56 The second um
4:28:59 uh the second paragraph um
4:29:03 sorry my PowerPoint's not um is also
4:29:06 similar to the second paragraph of the
4:29:08 proclamation. Um now this afternoon we
4:29:12 got an email from town council
4:29:14 expressing concerns about the second uh
4:29:19 second sentence of the second paragraph.
4:29:22 Um even though it's the same text as was
4:29:24 in the proclamation for some reason
4:29:26 because it is going to be a Warren
4:29:28 article um that seemed to cause some
4:29:32 concerns. Um town council did suggest
4:29:35 some options for changing it um
4:29:37 including making it closer to what
4:29:39 Cambridge or Somerville has in their exe
4:29:41 executive orders. So, um, we here we
4:29:45 have some potential language that we
4:29:46 could tweak to the second sentence to
4:29:50 try to address the concerns of town
4:29:52 council. Um,
4:29:56 and then, um, you might be thinking,
4:29:59 well, why did you bring this as a bylaw
4:30:02 when we already issued our proclamation?
4:30:04 Um and this was triggered really um
4:30:07 because we watched the discussion of the
4:30:10 proclamation which you know obviously
4:30:11 very much supportive and when it came to
4:30:14 the discussion of how it would be
4:30:15 enforced you know we noted that one of
4:30:17 the speakers said well um we would
4:30:19 enforce it by going to court to seek an
4:30:21 injunction to enforce the ordinance and
4:30:24 the thought occurred well a proclamation
4:30:26 really isn't an ordinance but what is an
4:30:29 ordinance a bylaw is an ordinance and a
4:30:31 bylaw makes um this more enforceable. It
4:30:35 gives the it the force of a town
4:30:37 ordinance. It makes it permanent within
4:30:39 our bylaws. Um also um you know one one
4:30:43 concern we got was well you know this
4:30:45 codifies it. What if we want to change
4:30:47 our minds? Well first of all I hope we
4:30:49 never do change our minds that our
4:30:51 values will stay the same in terms of
4:30:53 not cooperating with civil immigration
4:30:55 enforcement. But if it um does change,
4:30:58 you know, town meetings should have a
4:31:00 say in that as legislative body for
4:31:03 Brooklyn, both in terms of making this
4:31:04 permanent and if a reversal is sought.
4:31:08 Um finally, um we did have a
4:31:12 conversation with the police department.
4:31:15 We had it after we submitted it this as
4:31:17 a warrant article. Um so this did not
4:31:20 make it to the version that is in the
4:31:22 warrant. Um the police department
4:31:24 expressed some concerns about
4:31:25 enforcement of this bylaw and that they
4:31:27 were concerned, you know, that they
4:31:29 didn't want police officers pressured
4:31:31 into arresting ICE officers or getting
4:31:33 into conflict with ICE officers um or
4:31:36 having some sort of uh issue um um where
4:31:40 uh where a police officer was only aware
4:31:43 of the bylaw and not the proclamation.
4:31:45 um you know they pointed to paragraph
4:31:48 three of the proclamation of something
4:31:49 very important that the enforcement is
4:31:51 reporting to the time administrator and
4:31:53 seeking uh an injunction. Um and so we
4:31:57 are willing you know we are more than
4:31:58 happy to add paragraph 3 to the warrant
4:32:02 article to the bylaw. We have consulted
4:32:04 with the moderator um and the moderator
4:32:06 said that this would be considered in
4:32:08 scope. Um, so we would be willing to
4:32:11 move a motion that includes paragraph
4:32:13 three and that um that changes the
4:32:15 second sentence of the second paragraph
4:32:17 per um the text that I showed you
4:32:20 earlier and happy to answer any
4:32:21 questions at this point.
4:32:25 By the way, the uh duty to intervene and
4:32:28 report is part of the post um uh law
4:32:35 with respect to law enforcement
4:32:38 officers. So there's some ambiguity as
4:32:40 whether that covers federal officer, but
4:32:43 that that language is in the post
4:32:45 statute or regulations.
4:32:49 Paul,
4:32:49 so this may be a question for uh town
4:32:52 council if he's he's on. Um so
4:32:57 is Joe on?
4:32:58 Yes.
4:32:59 Okay.
4:33:01 I'm gonna wait to see his face
4:33:05 or hear his voice
4:33:06 or hear his voice. There he is. All
4:33:07 right. his popped up. So, uh, Joe, I I
4:33:11 have a question about um the statement
4:33:14 that the petitioner made about the the
4:33:18 town administrator's ability to seek an
4:33:20 injunction or whatever the phrasing was.
4:33:23 Um, given that uh we either a
4:33:26 proclamation, I thought we we set a
4:33:28 policy, but maybe it was a proclamation.
4:33:30 Um, are we unable to enforce
4:33:35 our policy because it's a policy or a
4:33:38 proclamation versus a bylaw?
4:33:42 No. Uh, so sorry, I was uh chewing
4:33:45 potato chips. That's what took me a
4:33:47 while to get the my video.
4:33:49 They're French onions
4:33:51 and now I'm choking on them because I
4:33:52 was trying to uh eat them. But um no uh
4:33:55 Joe Kalan and town council um you know
4:33:59 if this situation were to arise uh
4:34:01 without the bylaw as opposed to just the
4:34:04 policy you know I'd ask Chaz to send
4:34:06 something in writing to whatever you
4:34:09 know the uh officer in charge you know
4:34:12 the special agent in charge whoever you
4:34:14 know is in charge and we would enforce
4:34:16 that that would be a directive from the
4:34:18 town. So, it doesn't matter if it's a
4:34:19 letter, it's an email, it's a policy,
4:34:21 it's a, you know, something. It would be
4:34:24 the feds would be uh using town property
4:34:27 without our permission and that's what
4:34:29 we'd be seeking to uh enforce.
4:34:31 Thank you.
4:34:32 But it is true that uh proclamation
4:34:35 really is just the the opinion of the
4:34:37 select board doesn't really have much
4:34:38 power beyond that and the next select
4:34:41 board could could reverse it. So, you
4:34:44 know, having a bylaw is is a little more
4:34:46 substantive than
4:34:48 or substantial than um just a
4:34:50 proclamation.
4:34:52 Uh John,
4:34:55 uh yeah. Um thank thank you to the
4:34:57 sponsors for bringing this Warren
4:34:59 article. Um there's a lot to discuss
4:35:01 here. Um,
4:35:03 I'm just wondering uh because a a lot of
4:35:06 this is just going to um take effect in
4:35:11 in situations in which the police have
4:35:13 to make a decision uh about how to
4:35:16 behave toward, you know, um federal law
4:35:20 enforcement that are on property in in
4:35:22 the town of Brooklyn, uh whether it be
4:35:25 public or private property. Um if the
4:35:28 select board have made a policy and then
4:35:32 if town meeting makes a policy and town
4:35:35 meetings policy doesn't entirely square
4:35:38 with the select board's policy
4:35:41 um who who are the police expected to
4:35:44 answer to
4:35:45 well the town meetings policy is a law
4:35:48 bylaw an ordinance
4:35:51 all right
4:35:52 I that that would I would think that
4:35:54 would control
4:35:56 I I would also point out that you know
4:35:58 we wrote the bylaw to be very similar to
4:36:01 the proclamation so that it matches uh
4:36:04 what you issued as the select
4:36:06 right- which you know um kind of gets to
4:36:10 my point in a different way um if
4:36:13 they're the same
4:36:15 you know I'm
4:36:18 e either they're different and there's a
4:36:20 material difference and then you got to
4:36:22 get into all these questions of you know
4:36:24 that I think our town council has has
4:36:26 raised as to whether we're suggesting
4:36:30 that um uh there there can be some kind
4:36:34 of uh interference in federal law
4:36:37 enforcement that is not something that
4:36:38 the police are comfortable doing in
4:36:41 certain circumstances.
4:36:43 Um or there's no difference. Um and I
4:36:47 guess we could just go ahead and you
4:36:48 know say we'll have it in a select board
4:36:51 policy but and in a bylaw as well. Um,
4:36:56 I'm I'm a little puzzled by the
4:36:58 difference. I think there is a
4:37:00 difference others can help me out with
4:37:02 this between a a bylaw that that governs
4:37:07 um all behaviors of all people in the
4:37:10 town or a policy that is in the hands of
4:37:14 the select board in terms of their role
4:37:17 visav the police department. Um, and
4:37:21 that policy
4:37:23 speaks to interactions between our
4:37:26 police department and other police
4:37:27 departments. And and I'm I'm a little
4:37:30 bit confused about the extent to which a
4:37:33 bylaw can trump
4:37:36 a police department policy uh set by the
4:37:39 select board. Um because the, you know,
4:37:41 police department isn't just anybody.
4:37:44 They're the police department.
4:37:45 Yeah. So, so there's we have to separate
4:37:49 a couple things.
4:37:49 Yeah.
4:37:50 The proclamation is not a policy. What
4:37:53 is a policy?
4:37:55 Well, okay. So maybe someone can
4:37:58 convince me that it is the policy that
4:38:02 that's relevant is uh general order 42
4:38:06 and general order 51 which were policies
4:38:10 in uh uh executed by the select board uh
4:38:15 to govern the police department. So why
4:38:18 okay so tell me why a a proclamation is
4:38:20 is the same as as a regulation.
4:38:23 It's so it's not the same as a general
4:38:25 order. It's not the same as a
4:38:26 regulation, but it is it is a pol it's
4:38:28 policy directive from the select board
4:38:31 and when you issue a policy directive,
4:38:33 it's my job to implement that policy
4:38:34 directive regardless of the form that it
4:38:36 takes. So by structuring it as a
4:38:39 proclamation because you do you are not
4:38:41 in the habit of issuing executive orders
4:38:43 which is what other communities have
4:38:45 done. And I don't necessarily know if as
4:38:47 a executive body as a whole you want to
4:38:49 get in the habit of issuing the
4:38:50 executive orders. I tend to think of
4:38:52 that as something that's a little it's
4:38:54 it's not necessarily congruent with what
4:38:56 you as a select board tend to do. Um so
4:38:59 coming up with a way to put together a
4:39:01 public pronouncement of your policy
4:39:04 guidance that we then implement which we
4:39:07 implement through you're right that
4:39:09 there are elements of this that are
4:39:11 reflected or you know that you know some
4:39:14 elements of the policy reflect back to
4:39:16 the two general relevant general orders.
4:39:18 the orders about the reference of duty
4:39:20 to intervene which as you pointed out
4:39:22 came up after post and then um the
4:39:25 non-ooperation um with you know refusing
4:39:28 to provide um services related to civil
4:39:31 immigration enforcement. Um you know it
4:39:34 references those but those are those are
4:39:36 general orders that are that are more
4:39:39 specific and directed to the police
4:39:40 department. Your general policy
4:39:42 guidance, however, is, you know, it's my
4:39:45 job to follow that and so I implement
4:39:47 that in accordance with your directives.
4:39:49 So when you issue that and you, you
4:39:51 know, it says in the last paragraph, the
4:39:52 town administrator is directed to
4:39:54 implement this. That's what I'm doing.
4:39:59 David,
4:39:59 I think the petitioner's point is that
4:40:02 structurally a bylaw, as long as it
4:40:05 complies with state law, federal law, is
4:40:08 going to supersede a policy of a
4:40:11 subgroup within the municipality. So, I
4:40:14 think the idea is to formally codify
4:40:17 our proclamation
4:40:19 so that there is a basis for potential
4:40:23 court action to enforce it. It's less
4:40:26 clean enforcing a policy.
4:40:30 Well,
4:40:31 well, I guess I I would just say that
4:40:32 that that that subgroup within the town
4:40:35 governance is actually the police
4:40:37 commissioners
4:40:38 and you have a bylaw going to over
4:40:41 override the police comm. I mean, we're
4:40:43 the executive body for the town. Um, we
4:40:46 issued a policy um which is fully
4:40:49 enforceable and being executed by the
4:40:51 town administrator. Um, extrapolate this
4:40:54 out. Um, does this town meeting start
4:40:56 setting policy for the police with
4:40:59 respect to how they enforce the roads or
4:41:02 when they can pull people over? Uh, what
4:41:05 I guess they could do anything, but
4:41:06 right
4:41:07 I'm I'm just talking about structurally
4:41:09 a bylaws higher level.
4:41:11 Now whether we like that or not is
4:41:12 another question, but I think the the
4:41:15 point is to have something that's
4:41:18 uniform that's at the municipal level,
4:41:21 not a subcomponent below it.
4:41:24 Michael,
4:41:25 um I mean I I have comments that are not
4:41:27 related to this particular point, but to
4:41:30 this particular point, just as another
4:41:32 example, Paul, um I would raise the tree
4:41:35 protection bylaw, um which has a lot of
4:41:38 specifics in terms of how it gets
4:41:40 implemented. And because that was passed
4:41:43 as a bylaw through town meeting, the way
4:41:47 in which that bylaw is implemented by
4:41:50 DPW
4:41:52 is constrained to the specifications
4:41:56 within that bylaw. So in my in my
4:41:59 opinion, I don't think
4:42:01 we as the executive have the power to
4:42:04 say, "Oh, no, that's not really the way
4:42:06 we should implement it. We should do it
4:42:08 a different way.
4:42:12 John.
4:42:13 Um, so let me see if I can explain
4:42:17 myself a little bit better. Um if if the
4:42:21 bylaw
4:42:22 directed the select board to direct the
4:42:27 police um to do this,
4:42:31 would the bylaw have the force of you
4:42:34 know trumping the role of the select
4:42:37 board as police commissioners of the
4:42:38 police to to dictate you know what
4:42:41 policies the commissioners of police
4:42:43 should be setting for the police
4:42:44 department?
4:42:47 Uh Joe, do you have any insight on that
4:42:50 question?
4:42:52 For Joe Kalan, town council, um you
4:42:55 know, a bylaw directing the select board
4:42:57 to exercise its discretion in one way or
4:42:59 another would be problematic. It would
4:43:01 be a you'd run into a problem of
4:43:03 separation of powers. You are the
4:43:04 executive. Town meeting is the legislate
4:43:07 legislative branch. So that would be
4:43:09 more problematic than say how this bylaw
4:43:12 is u drafted.
4:43:14 Yeah. And that kind of gets to what's
4:43:17 making me a little uncomfortable about
4:43:18 this is it feels like it's doing an end
4:43:20 run around the role of the police of the
4:43:23 select board as the commissioners of the
4:43:25 police in um setting policies for the
4:43:29 police department especially in the area
4:43:31 of the ver the the cooperation of the
4:43:34 police department with other authorities
4:43:36 state authorities and federal
4:43:37 authorities. Um you know th those can't
4:43:40 be simply
4:43:41 redrawn at the local level. um when in
4:43:45 fact there's you know uh very severe
4:43:48 consequences
4:43:50 for for for crossing lines in terms of
4:43:53 cooperation between law enforcement
4:43:55 agencies. I I I am led to understand.
4:43:58 Yeah.
4:43:59 So if I I could point out what we're
4:44:01 talking about the the bylaw um which in
4:44:05 its current form without paragraph 3 is
4:44:07 simply um setting forth what's pro a
4:44:09 prohibited activity on town property. Um
4:44:13 I I I'm wondering if you're referring to
4:44:16 the resolution that we're going to talk
4:44:17 about next.
4:44:20 Yes, if I may. I was just about to make
4:44:22 that point. Thank you. So I don't see
4:44:24 anything in this language that is
4:44:26 demanding that any action be taken by
4:44:28 the police. This is just describing what
4:44:31 actions would be prohibited.
4:44:36 Good point.
4:44:37 Um uh to to a couple of other points. Um
4:44:41 the first is a is a drafting just a
4:44:44 drafting question. In the first
4:44:46 paragraph there's a reference to civil
4:44:48 immigration enforcement and subsequently
4:44:52 in the same paragraph there's a
4:44:53 reference to federal civil immigration
4:44:55 enforcement. And I'm just wondering if
4:44:57 that diff was intentional or noteworthy
4:45:01 in any way.
4:45:09 Um this is in the text of the bylaw
4:45:13 itself.
4:45:14 Yes.
4:45:16 Um so as I said we um basically tried to
4:45:20 copy paste as much of the proclamation
4:45:23 as we could. So that is probably in the
4:45:26 proclamation.
4:45:28 Okay. So, I I I would recommend that you
4:45:31 consider making those phrases consistent
4:45:33 even if they're not in the proclamation
4:45:35 because I'm I'm not sure why they're
4:45:37 different. Um that that's number one.
4:45:40 Um, number two, um, I have a concern not
4:45:46 only in the second sentence, but in the
4:45:48 first sentence of the second paragraph
4:45:51 in the sense that that, uh, that
4:45:55 sentence is an action on a group of
4:45:58 people and not an action on a set of
4:46:02 behaviors or actions by those people.
4:46:05 Um, and I'm a little concerned about the
4:46:09 precedent of saying this is a group of
4:46:13 people who aren't allowed in the
4:46:16 non-public spaces of public buildings.
4:46:19 Um you know in the extreme case for
4:46:22 example you know a civil who a person
4:46:26 might be considered a civil immigration
4:46:28 enforcement official for example if they
4:46:30 are a high up uh appointed official
4:46:35 within DHS you know not necessarily
4:46:38 related to ICE but they may have a civil
4:46:40 immigration enforcement role and by the
4:46:44 by this language would those people be
4:46:47 banned from the non on public spaces of
4:46:50 public buildings or would a civil
4:46:53 immigration enforcement official who is
4:46:56 not at that moment carrying out their
4:46:58 duties as a civil immigration
4:47:00 enforcement official be similarly banned
4:47:03 from non-public spaces of public
4:47:05 buildings. So I just as a as a matter of
4:47:09 precedence, I think if our concern is
4:47:12 about preventing particular behaviors,
4:47:14 then we should specify the behaviors as
4:47:17 opposed to the individuals.
4:47:20 The third point I I'm I'm wondering if
4:47:24 you considered is that this war this uh
4:47:28 bylaw is specifically focused on civil
4:47:31 immigration enforcement. And and I'm
4:47:33 wondering if uh over time
4:47:37 um one of two things is possible. One is
4:47:40 that civil immigration enforcement will
4:47:42 change its character in such a way that
4:47:45 this bylaw would be inappropriate. Or
4:47:49 alternatively, there may be other fu uh
4:47:52 actions by different federal agencies,
4:47:56 you know, uh impos uh what's the word?
4:48:01 enforcing a draft, for example, that we
4:48:04 may as a town object to uh or some other
4:48:07 action of federal enforcement that we
4:48:10 would want to this to uh also apply to.
4:48:15 And I'm wondering whether the language
4:48:17 is either
4:48:19 is is is too specific in that regard.
4:48:25 Does she have do
4:48:26 you have any comments?
4:48:29 Um
4:48:31 well with respect to that the the latter
4:48:34 point um uh I mean we were focused on
4:48:38 immigration issues because that's what
4:48:41 is currently
4:48:43 um the big issue in this country um and
4:48:49 you know in in Massachusetts and it and
4:48:52 again um we the idea was basically to
4:48:55 take the proclamation and turn it into a
4:48:58 bylaw. So, we did try to hue as closely
4:49:00 to the proclamation thinking that um
4:49:03 since the select board did approve it um
4:49:07 that it would be actually the least
4:49:09 controversial step to to simply codify
4:49:13 it in the bylaws.
4:49:15 John,
4:49:15 and can I just briefly add Alec Levitz,
4:49:17 Town Meeting Member Precinct 8, one of
4:49:19 the co- petitioners. Um I think to the
4:49:21 first point you in your question there
4:49:23 Michael um there is already an exception
4:49:26 and kind of a safety valve built into
4:49:28 this bylaw which is um these civil
4:49:31 immigration enforcement officials are
4:49:33 allowed in the non-public spaces if they
4:49:36 have a judicial warrant. Um, and so I
4:49:38 think that provides some flexibility
4:49:40 should the course of civil immigration
4:49:43 enforcement return um to I think a more
4:49:46 normal or more um appropriate
4:49:49 application of federal law. Um, we've
4:49:52 seen I think with some exceptions of
4:49:54 course that largely right now the
4:49:57 unlawful and I'd say rogue actions of
4:49:59 some of the enforcement agencies in the
4:50:01 federal level have been held to account
4:50:03 by the courts. So, I think we see that
4:50:05 the provision of a judicial warrant
4:50:07 granted by the courts um you know
4:50:09 provides some flexibility in the bylaw
4:50:11 and certainly should the tenor and and
4:50:13 um effectiveness and appropriateness of
4:50:16 civil immigration enforcement changes.
4:50:18 That's also something a future town
4:50:19 meeting could certainly revisit in
4:50:20 amending or repealing this bylaw.
4:50:22 Okay, John. And then
4:50:24 well a a good question was asked and I I
4:50:26 thank um uh the sponsor for that as to
4:50:30 you know am I confusing the uh article
4:50:34 uh the two articles that are in front of
4:50:36 us and um yes my comments I think apply
4:50:41 most you know uh directly to the
4:50:44 proposed article 25 but on the other
4:50:48 hand uh under article 17 the bylaw to
4:50:51 prohibit civil immigration ation
4:50:53 immigration enforcement activities on
4:50:55 town facilities.
4:50:57 Who do we think is going to enforce
4:50:59 that? I mean, it's going to be police.
4:51:02 It's going to be our our local police.
4:51:04 It's a town bylaw uh to be to be
4:51:07 enforced, I presume, by town police
4:51:10 department. Um and so the bylaw
4:51:13 effectively um puts the uh town police
4:51:16 department in the position of having to
4:51:19 take on ICE and forcibly remove them
4:51:23 from um town facilities. And that was
4:51:28 never the intent of the um select
4:51:30 board's proclamation. Um we we've dealt
4:51:34 mainly with issues of cooperation and
4:51:37 you know and you we want to very clearly
4:51:40 state th those um actions by ICE that
4:51:44 our police department will not engage in
4:51:47 jointly or cooperate with. But I don't
4:51:50 think it was ever the intention of
4:51:52 anything that we adopted that we would
4:51:54 set our police department um at odds
4:51:57 with ICE if they are, you know, um
4:52:01 if if they are present on town
4:52:04 facilities um in in ways that federal
4:52:07 law enforcement is actually u permitted
4:52:11 to to uh engage to uh be present at.
4:52:17 David,
4:52:17 so
4:52:19 just g getting back to the uh previous
4:52:22 point. So I agree with Michael. I I
4:52:24 don't think it's sufficient that because
4:52:27 an immigration enforcement official
4:52:29 could secure a warrant, therefore it's
4:52:32 okay to have this prohibition because
4:52:35 it's not that we are necessarily against
4:52:38 an entire class of people from being in
4:52:41 a non-public space of a public building.
4:52:44 it's what that person would actually do
4:52:46 while there. And I do appreciate that
4:52:49 the petitioners were basically modeling
4:52:51 this off of our proclamation. So I think
4:52:54 this is actually a deficiency that was
4:52:57 on our end that we didn't catch at the
4:52:59 time and we perhaps may want to
4:53:02 reconsider our proclamation. Uh but it's
4:53:04 still a valid point even if it's coming
4:53:06 up now as opposed to before when we
4:53:08 passed the proclamation. I do feel that
4:53:10 the second sentence in uh paragraph 2 is
4:53:14 addressing the actual concern here and
4:53:16 the second sentence going back to
4:53:19 Michael's points focuses more on the
4:53:21 behavior or the conduct that we want to
4:53:23 see occurring in these spaces. So I'm
4:53:26 not sure that we necessarily need the
4:53:29 first sentence. And again this isn't a
4:53:32 criticism of the petitioners. This was I
4:53:34 think a mistake that we made in the
4:53:36 proclamation as well.
4:53:39 May I address John's point regarding um
4:53:42 the enforcement by police? Um so during
4:53:45 the my presentation I did point out we
4:53:47 met with the police department. They
4:53:49 raised that concern and um they raised
4:53:52 that we had not adopted the third
4:53:55 paragraph of your proclamation. Um we
4:53:57 are willing to include that in in the
4:54:00 warrant article. Um and we have talked
4:54:03 to the moderator about that and he um
4:54:05 said that would be within scope. So we
4:54:07 we specifically um uh are are cognizant
4:54:11 of that concern. Also I would note that
4:54:14 the this particular bylaw would be in
4:54:16 the section of the bylaws part six that
4:54:19 deal with prohibited um activities on
4:54:22 town property. So for example, it's
4:54:24 where the bylaws talk about no alcohol
4:54:27 on town property, which the police do
4:54:29 enforce that, but it may not necessarily
4:54:31 be arresting anyone. um it might be just
4:54:34 a a a fine or it might just be a verbal
4:54:37 warning. Um so, you know, it isn't the
4:54:40 part of the bylaws that deals with what
4:54:42 is prohibited or and not allowed on town
4:54:45 property um in general. So, it it kind
4:54:47 of fits there.
4:54:48 That's good.
4:54:49 Okay, Paul.
4:54:50 Yep. Uh thanks for clarifying that,
4:54:52 Chichi. that there may be just a little
4:54:54 bit of a difference between a police
4:54:57 officer enforcing not having alcohol in
4:54:58 a at a park and them having uh a
4:55:02 confrontation with another uh you know
4:55:06 entity that a federal entity that
4:55:09 believes that they have jurisdiction. Um
4:55:11 it just you could see where it could it
4:55:13 could be problematic. Um but I do want
4:55:16 to go back to I want to make sure I
4:55:18 understand the issue that Michael
4:55:19 brought up and I think David reinforced
4:55:21 but I'm not sure. The first sentence of
4:55:23 the second paragraph, non-public spaces
4:55:25 of public buildings shall be offlimits
4:55:27 to civil immigration immigration
4:55:30 enforcement officials in the absence of
4:55:32 a judicial warrant. Um, this could be
4:55:34 read that if if there is a member of the
4:55:37 Brooklyn public, uh, maybe they're a
4:55:39 resident and they happen to be a civil
4:55:41 immigration immigration enforcement
4:55:43 official, they would be barred from
4:55:45 going into the police station by this
4:55:47 wording. uh because it's as Michael
4:55:49 said, it's identifying an individual or
4:55:51 a group versus the the actual activity
4:55:55 above. You're talking about the actions
4:55:58 um in the first paragraph. In the second
4:56:00 paragraph, you're actually identifying a
4:56:01 people group. Um and I, you know, I I
4:56:05 think that would need to be cleaned up
4:56:07 um a bit. So, it's about the action. So,
4:56:09 that if someone is a civil immigration
4:56:12 official and they live in Brooklyn and
4:56:14 they need to go pay their taxes or they
4:56:16 need to go do something to challenge a
4:56:18 ticket at at the police station, they're
4:56:20 not chased off the property because they
4:56:22 have uh
4:56:24 a particular
4:56:25 a particular role, right?
4:56:26 I will just note though that it's
4:56:28 non-public spaces, right? Like you can
4:56:30 go pay your taxes like that's that's a
4:56:32 public space of a public building. It's
4:56:34 you can't come behind the counter, which
4:56:36 is true of anybody. But, you know,
4:56:38 again, it's just
4:56:39 this this does this language when you
4:56:41 adopted it was designed for nonpublic
4:56:45 spaces. Um, and designed to make very
4:56:49 clear that you can't, you know, we don't
4:56:52 want to have situations like it when
4:56:53 it's been reported, which is people, you
4:56:55 know, walking behind the counter here in
4:56:58 the sixth floor and saying, I'm, you
4:57:00 know, I'm with the US government. you
4:57:01 have to do what I say without a warrant.
4:57:04 Um, they have they if they want to go
4:57:06 back there, they need a judicial warrant
4:57:08 to do it. That's that's what that
4:57:10 language is about.
4:57:11 But wouldn't that be true of any
4:57:13 individual regardless of their role?
4:57:15 Yes. Again, you know, we're this is why
4:57:17 we're talking about why why it's why
4:57:20 from a policy perspective, a lot of this
4:57:22 is reinforcing existing,
4:57:25 you know, reinforcing and codifying
4:57:26 restrictions that already existed
4:57:28 because a lot of this is about, you
4:57:30 know, making sure the public feels
4:57:32 confident that that we are that we have
4:57:35 the tools available to us to the extent
4:57:37 possible under given the limits that we
4:57:40 have under the supremacy clause of the
4:57:41 Constitution um to do what we can to
4:57:44 resist unlawful activity um in town
4:57:47 buildings and on town property. Um so
4:57:50 yes, a lot of this to Bernard's point
4:57:52 references back to things that are
4:57:54 already true um but recodifies them in a
4:57:56 different way so that people understand
4:57:58 clearly what can and can't happen in a
4:58:01 public building on public property.
4:58:02 So So Chz, I I think there's an easy fix
4:58:05 to this if we just listen to what the
4:58:07 issue is. I don't think it's that
4:58:08 complicated. the the activities that are
4:58:12 in the paragraph above would just need
4:58:15 to be brought down to the paragraph
4:58:18 below in the non-public spaces. So the
4:58:21 above it's any town facility, right? Um
4:58:24 can't be used and then below it's
4:58:27 essentially saying the same thing. It's
4:58:28 just saying non-public spaces, right?
4:58:31 No, because it's this is paragraph one
4:58:33 is about staging. It's about using these
4:58:36 things for a specific purpose. Um
4:58:39 whereas paragraph 2 is more broadly
4:58:41 about access generally. Um so you can't
4:58:44 just you know dragging it down and
4:58:46 saying dragging that down and saying you
4:58:48 know you can't use non-public spaces of
4:58:50 town buildings for staging. Well yes
4:58:52 that's true. That's not what this is
4:58:54 designed to counteract. It's designed to
4:58:56 counteract people saying you know people
4:58:59 flashing a badge and saying I'm allowed
4:59:00 to be back here when in fact they don't
4:59:02 have a warrant to be back there. Um
4:59:04 but that but as Michael said that's
4:59:05 anybody. I mean,
4:59:07 it's not anybody because
4:59:08 the public just can't walk behind the
4:59:10 counter at the town clerk's office and
4:59:12 say, "I'm in here."
4:59:13 That's right.
4:59:14 The second paragraph says, "Non-public
4:59:16 spaces of public buildings should be off
4:59:18 limits to civil immigration
4:59:21 enforcement."
4:59:23 Officials
4:59:23 officials.
4:59:24 Officials.
4:59:24 Well, if if you stopped at enforcement,
4:59:26 you might be okay.
4:59:28 If you when you add officials, you're
4:59:29 actually talking about a person as
4:59:31 opposed to an act an activity. So maybe
4:59:33 you just get rid of officials in that
4:59:36 solves the issue.
4:59:37 Well, I'm not sure I would want to word
4:59:39 smith this.
4:59:40 Yeah, but I agree with your feedback.
4:59:42 You you raised a good point.
4:59:44 Yeah.
4:59:45 I mean, there are other ways to solve
4:59:46 this, too, I'm sure.
4:59:50 Okay. Where are we?
4:59:53 Public hearing.
4:59:54 I Yeah. Right.
4:59:56 Okay. Let's go to the public hearing.
5:00:01 Jessica has her hand raised or had her
5:00:03 hand raised.
5:00:04 Who? Jessica.
5:00:05 Okay.
5:00:07 Yes. Good evening, Jessica Kiko co-
5:00:09 petitioner. I was actually going to
5:00:11 address that last point and see if I
5:00:12 could suggest some phrasing that might
5:00:14 address that particular issue. Uh and so
5:00:17 wanted to know whether if we rephrased
5:00:19 it to non-public spaces of public
5:00:21 buildings shall be off limits to anyone
5:00:24 carrying out civil immigration
5:00:25 enforcement in the act judicial warrant
5:00:28 or court order authorizing their
5:00:29 presence therein. I feel like that
5:00:32 language would would address what what
5:00:34 has I think been correctly identified as
5:00:36 the potential unintended um issue with
5:00:39 with the current language.
5:00:41 Sounds like you're talking about the
5:00:42 activity.
5:00:43 Pardon me.
5:00:44 She's she's limiting it to the activity
5:00:46 and not the individual.
5:00:48 Correct.
5:00:51 Okay. Um you should make that amendment
5:00:55 when this comes to us next time.
5:00:57 Yeah. Any
5:01:00 other uh public uh comments?
5:01:05 Yeah, members of the public can always
5:01:06 use the hand raise feature on Zoom if
5:01:08 they want to make a public comment.
5:01:12 Not seeing any.
5:01:13 Okay, let's close the hearing. Um,
5:01:16 and uh I don't think of course we're not
5:01:19 ready to take this up right now, but uh
5:01:22 there I think Jessica has a proposal a
5:01:26 proposed amendment u probably makes
5:01:29 sense when it comes back next time
5:01:32 to the blackboard
5:01:33 and Bernard when it when it comes back
5:01:35 if I may um it might be helpful to hear
5:01:37 from the chief.
5:01:38 Yes.
5:01:39 I would say so Paul Campbell the
5:01:41 superintendent is online. Thank you
5:01:42 Paul. The chief is unfortunately away.
5:01:44 she did ask to have the opportunity to
5:01:46 speak.
5:01:47 I know on on this one, we've we've
5:01:49 worked together on this, you know, with
5:01:51 town council's office to address those
5:01:53 concerns and we the grateful to the
5:01:55 petitioners for their involvement there.
5:01:57 Um I think really where the chief wants
5:01:59 to be heard and and have the opportunity
5:02:01 to speak is on article 25. Uh I'm sorry,
5:02:03 article um
5:02:05 no no uh sorry, article 21.
5:02:07 Oh, what's that?
5:02:08 Um the resolution involving the um Oh,
5:02:11 I'm sorry. That's that's No, I'm sorry.
5:02:13 I'm reading
5:02:14 25 is no cooperation with ICE. It's um
5:02:18 but it has a lot of things that I'm sure
5:02:20 the police are interested in
5:02:23 talking.
5:02:24 It was it was one that was actually
5:02:25 pulled. I'm sorry. It was the one about
5:02:26 uh the brick.
5:02:30 Okay.
5:02:31 Before we leave this one, I just have a
5:02:33 question.
5:02:33 Oh, yes. That is that is article 25.
5:02:35 Yes. the chief did want to have the
5:02:37 opportunity to speak on that and to
5:02:38 potentially have um someone from the
5:02:41 brick come in and have a conversation
5:02:43 about that.
5:02:44 Okay,
5:02:45 Michael.
5:02:46 Yeah, I I just wanted to ask the
5:02:48 petitioners what their current status is
5:02:50 on the second sentence in the second
5:02:53 paragraph that the uh town council
5:02:56 flagged.
5:02:58 Um
5:02:59 yes, um we uh are willing to modify that
5:03:04 sentence. Um I had put it in the
5:03:07 PowerPoint are um that we the so one of
5:03:12 the options that town council had uh had
5:03:16 suggested is to modify the language to
5:03:19 be closer to that of Cambridge and
5:03:22 Somerville.
5:03:23 So, um, the way that would be modified
5:03:26 for Brooklyn would be that the town
5:03:28 reaffirms its position that public
5:03:30 buildings are available to provide
5:03:32 specific services to members of the
5:03:35 public and to conduct town operations
5:03:37 and to and are to be accessed for those
5:03:40 purposes only. So, that's similar
5:03:44 to um the the language from Cambridge
5:03:47 and Somerville.
5:03:49 Okay.
5:03:50 And I I can I I can try to uh you can't
5:03:53 see the chat, right? I post it in the
5:03:54 chat.
5:03:56 Okay. So, we
5:03:58 The reason the reason I ask is, you
5:04:01 know,
5:04:03 I'm a little concerned that by
5:04:06 referencing specific services, it begs
5:04:09 the question, okay, so is there an
5:04:11 enumeration or what are those specific
5:04:13 services? So that so that the bylaw is
5:04:16 clear. And if something falls out of
5:04:19 that that set of services,
5:04:23 um that sentence is very restrictive and
5:04:27 and you know again could be interpreted
5:04:31 that to exclude something that we uh
5:04:37 do not want to so exclude.
5:04:41 So so the the language about access to
5:04:44 specific services was also in the
5:04:46 proclamation. So
5:04:48 um
5:04:50 I I I appreciate that that that problem.
5:04:56 Need a bylaw to improve our proclamation
5:04:58 language.
5:05:00 Well, capability
5:05:01 bylaws bylaws in my mind have have more
5:05:04 weight and deserve
5:05:07 okay
5:05:07 deserve this close scrutiny which they
5:05:09 are getting.
5:05:09 You're raising a good point, Mike.
5:05:11 Okay. So, um, here the hearing still
5:05:13 open and I understand that Marty
5:05:15 Rosenthal is trying to get in.
5:05:17 He's here. Marty, can you just unmute
5:05:20 yourself?
5:05:26 You can hit star six on your phone.
5:05:39 So,
5:05:43 Oh,
5:05:44 there he is.
5:05:44 Here.
5:05:45 Yes. Speak louder, Marty.
5:05:49 I'm sorry.
5:05:50 Speak more loudly.
5:05:53 Should I try off speaker phone? Is this
5:05:56 better?
5:05:58 Yeah, just speak up.
5:06:01 All right. Well, anyway, I've been
5:06:02 trying for an hour and with a problem.
5:06:05 So, uh, it's Marty Rosenthal. um town
5:06:09 meeting member nine, precinct nine,
5:06:11 former select board member and chair and
5:06:13 co-chair of PAX. Uh the travesties that
5:06:17 have gone on in Minneapolis have just
5:06:19 been so overwhelming to me. They've
5:06:21 brought up memories of things like the
5:06:23 Kent State murders, the Napal girl in
5:06:26 Vietnam, George Floyd, Eric Garner. So I
5:06:29 really um am appreciative of what the
5:06:32 board has done February 10th and what
5:06:34 the petitioners have done. However, I do
5:06:36 have some problems and questions
5:06:38 especially on number 17. So I I can't
5:06:42 talk much about 25 because of the time
5:06:44 limit and uh the one thing I want to say
5:06:48 I want to add some things to 25 which
5:06:50 the moderator said if I can get the
5:06:52 agreement the petitioners which I hope I
5:06:54 will uh I'll bring up later but the main
5:06:58 one on that would be to get
5:07:00 clarification that the state will either
5:07:02 requires someone under arrest to get a
5:07:05 phone call within an hour is not limited
5:07:08 to anything to state and local police.
5:07:11 So I think that ought to apply to ICE.
5:07:15 That's a whole separate set of issues
5:07:16 probably for the resolution. Okay. So,
5:07:18 Article 17 half addresses my concerns on
5:07:22 February 10th, which I sent in one of my
5:07:25 classic Magnum opuses. Uh, that it tries
5:07:29 to be binding, but I don't I I and it is
5:07:32 more binding than than the proclamation,
5:07:35 but it's complex, risky, and I think
5:07:38 dangerous. And the reason I think it's
5:07:40 dangerous is that bylaws get reviewed by
5:07:44 the attorney general. And I think this
5:07:46 one has a lot of legal issues. Some of
5:07:48 which you you've highlighted. I've been
5:07:50 watching the meeting even while I try to
5:07:52 get in. I think the attorney general
5:07:55 there's going to be qualms and that
5:07:57 could raise problems for all the
5:07:59 executive orders because the same legal
5:08:02 issues are in many of them. So let me
5:08:04 just try to go through a few of them. I
5:08:06 sent yesterday to the board the
5:08:08 wonderful Vera article from about ice
5:08:11 jones zones and I tried to reach one of
5:08:14 the petitioners today to send it to them
5:08:16 and I'll do so after after the meeting.
5:08:18 The biggest gorilla to me is that
5:08:21 nobody's mentioned that creating a bylaw
5:08:24 creates a misdemeanor. So, it's a crime
5:08:27 and it has extra hurdles to pass with
5:08:29 the AG's office like clarity,
5:08:32 constitutionality, and not being state
5:08:34 preempted. Basically, it creates pretty
5:08:38 much a trespass offense. Doesn't call it
5:08:40 that, but there is a law on trespass on
5:08:43 municipal property. It's very limited,
5:08:46 and I don't see how this could avoid
5:08:49 being preempted by that limited state
5:08:52 law. and maybe that it needs to be a
5:08:54 better state law, but that's a one of
5:08:56 the things for the resolution I think is
5:08:58 some things that that are needed at the
5:09:00 state house. So,
5:09:02 a couple of issues that I just want to
5:09:04 highlight. I don't have much time, but
5:09:06 some of these there's a void for
5:09:08 vagueness principle that governs
5:09:10 criminal offenses. I don't think there's
5:09:13 there is no definition that I see for
5:09:15 facilities
5:09:17 and the
5:09:20 the main prohibition for uh the
5:09:23 facilities paragraph talks about public
5:09:25 property but why aren't streets and
5:09:28 sidewalks considered uh banned and ISIS
5:09:32 are waited outside the police station to
5:09:34 grab people who've been arrested and
5:09:36 bailed. Can we really ban that? I wish
5:09:39 we could, but they're using public
5:09:41 property. And I don't see how this,
5:09:46 you know, basically narrows and avoids
5:09:48 that. And so basically, they're create
5:09:51 they're having they're conduct they're
5:09:53 doing a misdemeanor to do that arrest.
5:09:56 And the the issue of police intervention
5:09:58 is a very complicated issue. And I think
5:10:01 that Bernard would I think mention the
5:10:03 duty to intervene, which you know is not
5:10:06 mentioned in this. And I suppose that's
5:10:08 a separate issue. But so let me get to
5:10:11 the part two of the uh of the binding
5:10:16 u bylaw because I agree with town
5:10:20 council that part one looks okay but not
5:10:22 for the reasons they say. And I also
5:10:25 agree that part two was very risky. I
5:10:27 heard some talk tonight about amending
5:10:29 it. And Marty,
5:10:30 your time is up.
5:10:34 Well,
5:10:38 but we got we got your points.
5:10:40 Yeah.
5:10:43 Thanks, Marty.
5:10:45 Can we have maybe tell town council?
5:10:47 It's an interesting point that he makes
5:10:48 that that does this is there some issue
5:10:52 that the attorney general now we
5:10:53 wouldn't find out until we passed it and
5:10:54 then sent it to the attorney general but
5:10:57 does it is there some risk of of
5:10:59 impacting these other executive orders
5:11:01 that
5:11:02 Yes. I mean and it's I mean you know we
5:11:04 we we've been frank on this for a while
5:11:06 now which is the community has wanted us
5:11:09 to be proactive in this. We want to be
5:11:11 proactive. We want to make it stick as
5:11:12 best we can, but the reality of the
5:11:14 situation is, yeah, this is this is not
5:11:17 easy to do. Um, you're dealing with a
5:11:20 system that inherently favors the
5:11:22 federal government. They hold all the
5:11:23 cards.
5:11:25 Any anything that they argue is, you
5:11:28 know, they're going to argue all of this
5:11:30 is barred under the supremacy clause,
5:11:32 that all this is preempted under federal
5:11:34 law that we can't say anything about
5:11:36 immigration enforcement at all. um and
5:11:40 any attempt to do so is automatically is
5:11:43 automatically unlawful. Um that's going
5:11:45 to be their position. That's going to be
5:11:47 the federal government's position. And
5:11:49 the state AG may look at may may take
5:11:51 that as a jumping off point and say,
5:11:53 "Yeah, you can't do this, you can't do
5:11:54 that." Um which is why I think we it's
5:11:58 important for us to workshop this as
5:12:00 best we can to get it to a point where
5:12:04 we think it stands up to the best
5:12:05 scrutiny. But we have to be, you know,
5:12:07 too, the other thing that we talked
5:12:08 about when this proclamation first went
5:12:10 out is setting reasonable reasonable or
5:12:13 or set setting expectations accordingly
5:12:16 on what can and can't be done. You know,
5:12:18 the we can't arrest ICE agents like
5:12:21 that's just not possible. Um,
5:12:23 can I can I ask another question? So
5:12:27 the you raised the leg maybe the
5:12:30 legality of it. Are we the first to
5:12:32 propose a bylaw that would essentially
5:12:35 as Marty says be trespassing or some
5:12:38 other uh you know misdemeanor and and
5:12:41 does it does it do we become the test
5:12:43 case for the federal government to go
5:12:45 challenge this?
5:12:46 I don't know the answer to that. We'll
5:12:47 take a look. I all of these all I will
5:12:49 say all of these things passed initially
5:12:51 as executive orders, right? I don't
5:12:53 know. I don't believe, for example, that
5:12:55 the Cambridge City Council has taken
5:12:57 this up yet. Um, or any of the other
5:12:59 communities, city councils or town, you
5:13:01 know, boards have taken this up. You
5:13:03 know, we're the only we're the we're the
5:13:05 last town, you know, classic town in the
5:13:08 metro area. So, um, well, not not in the
5:13:11 metro area. We're the last classic town.
5:13:14 Take it back. That's
5:13:15 of our size.
5:13:16 That's all right. Of our size. Um, so
5:13:19 but we've got to um, so I don't I don't
5:13:23 know the answer to that. We'll take a
5:13:24 look into it. Um, but I don't believe
5:13:26 so. Um, I think
5:13:30 maybe Somerville has, but we'll we'll
5:13:32 I'll do some digging.
5:13:34 And isn't there a state law?
5:13:37 There's a state executive order which
5:13:39 some of some of this language is modeled
5:13:41 after the governor's executive.
5:13:42 But the AG doesn't review executive
5:13:43 orders of cities. Only bylaws are
5:13:46 it's some precedent.
5:13:48 the EG would look at it. I would think
5:13:50 I think in all you know in all these
5:13:52 cases it's it's
5:13:54 we're in we're in uncharted territory
5:13:56 here. Um
5:13:57 you know we have not had a situation in
5:14:00 recent memory where the federal
5:14:01 government has been so actively hostile.
5:14:04 I think you have to go back to you know
5:14:06 not to not to I was going to say not to
5:14:08 be hyperbolic about it but you got to go
5:14:09 back to the fugitive slave act. Um
5:14:11 that's really the last time
5:14:17 We gonna move to the next article.
5:14:18 Yeah, let's go on to the next article.
5:14:20 Um,
5:14:21 as uh Chad said, uh, Chief Pastor wants
5:14:25 to bring in someone from Brick to answer
5:14:28 some of the questions that were raised
5:14:29 in this article. So, we'll have the
5:14:32 hearing, but continue it into uh another
5:14:35 meeting so that we can have a hearing
5:14:37 with that uh
5:14:40 with them here.
5:14:42 So, they're not here tonight. No,
5:14:45 they're not here tonight. Okay,
5:14:46 it's Paul.
5:14:47 Yeah.
5:14:47 So, uh Gi, who's gonna talk about
5:14:50 foreign article 25?
5:14:53 That would be uh me, Bernard. And I'm
5:14:56 going to start things off and then I'm
5:14:57 going to hand them over to uh my
5:14:58 co-etitioner, Jessica Kiko.
5:15:02 Um can everyone see the slides?
5:15:07 Yes.
5:15:08 Excellent. Um so, good evening everyone.
5:15:10 Alec Levitz, town meeting member,
5:15:12 precinct date and member of the advisory
5:15:14 committee. Um speaking here on behalf of
5:15:16 myself and the other co-etitioners of
5:15:18 Warrant Article 25. Um Warren article 25
5:15:22 um is the companion article to 17 which
5:15:25 where the approach in 17 was essentially
5:15:28 identify what we can do locally we think
5:15:30 by bylaw. Uh, Warren Article 25 takes a
5:15:34 broader view of additional policy
5:15:36 changes that we believe um would
5:15:39 strengthen Brookline and the state's uh
5:15:42 commitment to no cooperation with ICE,
5:15:44 which unfortunately in the uncharted
5:15:46 territory we are in, we feel must be a
5:15:49 policy priority for the town um given
5:15:52 the rogue direction the agency has gone
5:15:54 in and the um loss of human life that
5:15:56 they've inflicted without need or cause.
5:15:59 Um, so I I'll briefly cover um some of
5:16:02 the resolutions provisions that are
5:16:04 specifically directed at state officials
5:16:07 and then I'll pass it over to Jessica
5:16:09 who's going to talk more about the local
5:16:11 facing provisions of the resolution. Um
5:16:14 on the state side um there's three main
5:16:17 requests included in the resolution um
5:16:21 or provisions I should say. One is um a
5:16:24 condemnation of the actions taken by the
5:16:26 Trump administration um and federal
5:16:29 officials in their targeting in the con
5:16:32 the conducting of federal immigration
5:16:34 enforcement um of targeted enforcement
5:16:38 based on perceived race, ethnicity,
5:16:40 language or political preferences of
5:16:43 residents in the country. Um this is
5:16:46 something that's been unfortunately very
5:16:47 well documented in legal filings from
5:16:50 the Trump administration. um and seems
5:16:52 to be a commitment of their immigration
5:16:54 program. We find that completely
5:16:56 reprehensible and unconstitutional and
5:16:59 certainly not in keeping with the values
5:17:00 of Brooklyn under the United States. Um
5:17:03 focused at the Healey administration, um
5:17:06 this resolution requests that the state
5:17:08 exit the sole remaining 287g agreement
5:17:13 held by a New England state which is
5:17:15 held by the state's Department of
5:17:17 Corrections. This is the official
5:17:19 cooperation agreement provided under by
5:17:22 by federal law by which state um
5:17:25 entities can formally cooperate with
5:17:27 ISIS activities. Um in this case,
5:17:30 Department of Corrections um officially
5:17:32 participating in federal immigration
5:17:34 enforcement. Uh again given um the fact
5:17:37 that death and injury in ICE captivity
5:17:41 has risen precipitously uh and their
5:17:44 behavior in the pursuit of the Trump
5:17:45 administration's um goals on
5:17:47 immigration. We just feel this is
5:17:48 something that the state can no longer
5:17:50 countenance um and can no longer in good
5:17:52 conscience provide transfer of anyone uh
5:17:55 to ICE custody for fear of their their
5:17:57 personal safety and violation of their
5:17:59 rights. Um and finally, we also make a
5:18:02 request of the state legislature, which
5:18:04 is we call on them uh and particularly
5:18:06 Brooklyn's delegation to advance
5:18:08 legislation um um substantively similar
5:18:13 to um your general order 43 um that
5:18:17 seeks to um prevent or prohibit any
5:18:20 cooperation and further cooperation
5:18:22 between both state and local law
5:18:24 enforcement and federal immigration. Um,
5:18:27 and with that, I'll hand it over to
5:18:28 Jessica to talk about some of the local
5:18:29 facing provisions.
5:18:31 Thank you, Alec. Thank you, everyone.
5:18:33 Um, Jessica Kiko once again. I'm the
5:18:35 chair of the immigrant advancement
5:18:36 committee of the CDICR,
5:18:39 uh, where I've served since 2018. My day
5:18:41 job is as an immigration lawyer and
5:18:44 director of training at the
5:18:45 Massachusetts Immigrant Refugee Advocacy
5:18:47 Coalition, Mera, though I'm here in my
5:18:49 personal capacity, 14-year Brooklyn
5:18:52 resident, parent of BHS um, kids. So, in
5:18:56 addition to what was just presented, the
5:18:58 resolution calls on the town to apply
5:19:00 general order 51 uh for peaceful
5:19:02 demonstrations and legal observers to
5:19:04 ICE actions and to investigate excessive
5:19:07 use of force by federal officials under
5:19:09 general uh order 50. To withdraw from
5:19:12 the Boston Regional Information Center
5:19:14 or brick. uh to stop sending
5:19:16 fingerprints to the FBI for misdemeanors
5:19:19 and for minors and to stop applying for
5:19:22 grants under the urban area security
5:19:24 initiative or boyc program. And I'm
5:19:27 going to say a little bit more about
5:19:28 each next slide. Um so when we spoke
5:19:32 with our police department just last
5:19:34 week including Chief Pastor and
5:19:36 Superintendent Campbell who's here
5:19:37 tonight, they highlighted for us the
5:19:39 value of the shared resources that
5:19:41 Brookline has access to through the
5:19:42 brick. But the brick is not just about
5:19:45 sharing resources. It's been well
5:19:47 documented that the brick includes
5:19:48 massive surveillance efforts, including
5:19:51 surveillance of lawful political
5:19:53 activity protected by the first
5:19:54 amendment. And we know that the brick,
5:19:57 which was originally created as an
5:19:58 anti-terrorism tool, has really drifted
5:20:01 from that mission and collects
5:20:02 information on everyday people who are
5:20:04 not suspected of any criminal activity
5:20:07 through all sorts of surveillance tools,
5:20:09 license plate readers, etc. We know that
5:20:11 the brick has monitored social media of
5:20:14 um Occupy Boston activists, Black Lives
5:20:17 Matter activists, Muslims. We also know
5:20:20 that the brick disproportionately
5:20:22 collects and stores information on
5:20:24 black, latina, and Muslim communities.
5:20:27 So much so that nearly 98% of the people
5:20:30 in the database uh in the gang database
5:20:33 that is maintained by the brick or
5:20:34 people of color. So to the extent that
5:20:37 the brick facilitates information
5:20:38 sharing among law enforcement agencies,
5:20:41 we are confident that Brookline has all
5:20:44 sorts of collaborative relationships uh
5:20:46 with our neighboring cities and towns
5:20:48 well beyond the handful uh of cities and
5:20:51 and towns that belong to the brick and
5:20:53 that any kind of needed information
5:20:55 sharing can and does still happen
5:20:56 outside of the program. Um, but most
5:20:59 importantly, we know that information
5:21:00 shared through the brick can and has
5:21:02 been used uh by immigration, by the
5:21:05 Department of Homeland Security, an
5:21:06 agency that I think we can all agree uh
5:21:09 right now at least is marked by lawless,
5:21:12 unconstitutional, and violent behavior.
5:21:15 Um, and in fact, there's a DHS agent
5:21:17 that is located within the brick. Um,
5:21:19 and we know that this information
5:21:21 sharing has led to deportation that's
5:21:23 been shown. Um, now town policies and
5:21:26 stated values are that we're not going
5:21:28 to use town resources to facilitate
5:21:30 civil immigration enforcement, but
5:21:32 staying in the brick does just that. The
5:21:35 second aspect of the resolution I wanted
5:21:37 to speak to calls for limiting the
5:21:39 sharing of fingerprints uh with the
5:21:41 federal government. We know that
5:21:43 immigration civil arrest can happen
5:21:45 after an individual is fingerprinted by
5:21:48 the local police and that's regardless
5:21:50 of whether that person is ultimately
5:21:52 charged or whether that person is
5:21:54 ultimately found guilty. And those
5:21:56 prints are currently automatically
5:21:57 shared
5:21:59 um with the federal government,
5:22:00 including immigration. Um in fact, most
5:22:04 if not all of immigration arrests that
5:22:06 have taken place in Brooklyn in the past
5:22:07 year have happened as a result of this
5:22:10 fingerprint sharing. So though we have
5:22:13 policies that are meant to ensure
5:22:14 Brooklyn police doesn't assist civil
5:22:17 immigration enforcement, sharing
5:22:19 fingerprints in that way does just that.
5:22:22 And so because we can't control how
5:22:24 fingerprints are shared among federal
5:22:26 agencies uh once they they're passed on
5:22:29 to federal agencies, what we can control
5:22:31 is is when we share them. And so
5:22:33 limiting the sharing of prints uh for
5:22:36 children uh and for those with lower
5:22:39 level offenses would not only ensure
5:22:41 that we're acting in accordance with
5:22:43 their values, but would also allow due
5:22:45 process in criminal proceedings.
5:22:48 If someone who's arrested on a criminal
5:22:50 charge is then whisked away by ICE, the
5:22:54 criminal case remains open. That person
5:22:56 is not given an opportunity to defend
5:22:58 themselves.
5:22:59 That victim is not given an opportunity
5:23:01 for a resolution in that case. Um and
5:23:04 finally, it would help to avoid
5:23:06 disproportionate consequences, right?
5:23:08 Someone may be arrested by the police,
5:23:12 um, may even be found guilty or, you
5:23:15 know, receive a sentence or probation,
5:23:17 but a non-citizen charged with the same
5:23:20 offense would instead find themselves in
5:23:22 the hands of ICE and facing deportation.
5:23:24 And I've seen this play out time and
5:23:26 time again in my work, including in a
5:23:28 case that I was working with today, um,
5:23:31 and countless families torn apart as a
5:23:34 result of that desperate outcome.
5:23:37 And then the last topic uh we wanted to
5:23:39 address this evening is the UAC funding
5:23:42 uh which I know that the select board
5:23:44 discussed uh not too long ago. Um among
5:23:47 other things UAC funding supports our
5:23:50 participation in the brick but it's not
5:23:51 the only thing that it does. Um, and
5:23:55 specifically I wanted to point out that
5:23:57 the federal fiscal year 2025 notice of
5:24:00 funding opportunity, the NOFO put out by
5:24:02 the federal government for these grants
5:24:04 requires uh recipients to spend 30%
5:24:09 uh of the funds that are received on
5:24:11 what they identify as national priority
5:24:13 areas. And the boxes that you see here,
5:24:16 I apologize, I'm not sure why they're
5:24:17 showing up black with white print. Hope
5:24:20 they're not too hard to read. um are
5:24:22 screenshots, screen grabs directly from
5:24:24 from the NOFO and that includes a
5:24:28 minimum spend requirement for all
5:24:30 recipients on what they call supporting
5:24:33 border crisis response and enforcement.
5:24:36 Um and the types of activities that the
5:24:38 NOFO lists as examples of this are types
5:24:41 of activities that we've already said as
5:24:43 a town we're not going to do, right?
5:24:45 participation in 287g agreements,
5:24:48 cooperation with detainers, support of
5:24:51 enforcement of immigration law. Now, in
5:24:54 the proclamation that we've been
5:24:55 discussing for some time this evening,
5:24:57 um the select board stated, and I quote,
5:24:59 "The town of Brooklyn does not aid,
5:25:02 abet, or participate in any way in civil
5:25:06 immigration enforcement." And so, it's
5:25:08 clear that we can't apply for and
5:25:10 receive funding that has these types of
5:25:12 strings attached. Um, so I will end
5:25:15 there. Thank you very much.
5:25:17 Look forward to the questions.
5:25:20 Any questions before we go to public
5:25:22 hearing?
5:25:23 I do just want to note Chief Sullivan is
5:25:25 online. Um, Chief Sullivan administers
5:25:28 our um relationship with the consortium
5:25:32 on Yuasi. Um I will let him speak to
5:25:36 some of the issues here, but I will just
5:25:38 note that there's been an injunction uh
5:25:41 that wave that uh waves that requirement
5:25:44 that immigration that we that we spend
5:25:47 some of that money on immigration
5:25:48 enforcement. Um so that's a positive
5:25:50 development for us. Um
5:25:53 um and under those circumstances, UASI
5:25:57 remains an extremely critical source of
5:26:00 funding, especially given the funding
5:26:02 crisis that we're currently in. Um I
5:26:05 think it would be, you know, it would be
5:26:08 extremely difficult for us um to
5:26:12 um operate without those funds given the
5:26:14 current economic conditions that we're
5:26:16 in. Um but I'd let Chief Sullivan speak
5:26:18 on that matter. Um,
5:26:24 Chief Sullivan,
5:26:26 where are you? There you go.
5:26:31 Good evening. Uh, John Sullivan, uh,
5:26:33 fire chief and emergency management
5:26:35 director and also the jurisdictional
5:26:37 point of contact for the UASI um
5:26:40 metropolitan um homeland security
5:26:42 region. Um, yes, to Chaz's point, um,
5:26:46 when the NOFO came out for the fiscal 25
5:26:49 grant, uh, and we, we parsed through all
5:26:53 of the, uh, conditions, uh, I was
5:26:55 actually the one that brought this issue
5:26:58 up before all the JPOX at that at that
5:27:02 meeting. Um we we reached out through
5:27:05 EOPS uh the executive office of public
5:27:08 safety uh which administers the grant
5:27:10 for the state uh and um looked for
5:27:14 clarification on how that was going to
5:27:16 affect us. uh and that it was made clear
5:27:20 that not only Brookline but many of the
5:27:23 jurisdictions within the MBHSR
5:27:27 uh have substantial conflicts with the
5:27:31 requirements uh that were just noted by
5:27:34 the petitioners. um that was um put to
5:27:38 EOPS which was then put to FEMA. Uh, and
5:27:41 as Chaz just pointed out, um, the the um
5:27:45 the injunction was put forth in when we
5:27:48 we were just uh given a uh the just last
5:27:52 week the the go-ahad from EOPS to be
5:27:55 able to then um make allocations and
5:28:00 submit our final um um our final bid, if
5:28:05 you will, for the grant. Um, I would
5:28:08 just say that it was it was made clear
5:28:12 uh the position of Brookline uh and many
5:28:15 other communities with regard to these
5:28:17 provisions and u that it would be a
5:28:21 non-starter for us. Um, I think this
5:28:24 petition at this point uh goes um goes
5:28:29 against us in terms of our ability to um
5:28:33 continue to receive those grants without
5:28:38 those provisions. Um it would it would
5:28:41 it the way that I read it, it it
5:28:43 requires us to withdraw from UASI. Uh
5:28:46 and um as Chaz just pointed out, there
5:28:49 has been hundreds of thousands of
5:28:51 dollars over the years to not only the
5:28:53 police department, um the fire
5:28:56 department, the health department, the
5:28:58 IT department, uh for uh cyber security
5:29:02 initiatives, um the pays for a number of
5:29:05 the cyber security initiatives for that.
5:29:07 uh also pays for uh some wonderful
5:29:11 programs that we've had throughout the
5:29:13 years in Brooklyn uh like the uh the uh
5:29:16 EP Buddies program and the Tech Buddies
5:29:19 program which benefited our seniors
5:29:21 during COVID uh and allowed them to get
5:29:25 access to um email addresses and um
5:29:29 technologies that they would never have
5:29:30 had otherwise and training through um
5:29:34 the grant. uh it it it it provides us
5:29:37 with a myriad of things that go
5:29:41 nowhere near any of the the petitioners
5:29:45 um problematic areas. And so I would
5:29:48 just caution that, you know, we'd be
5:29:50 throwing the baby out with the
5:29:51 bathwater. There was there's there's I
5:29:54 think a better way for us to address the
5:29:58 concerns of the petitioners and and
5:30:00 uphold what we know as the um
5:30:05 representatives of this town at at this
5:30:08 level of government. Uh what what the
5:30:12 feelings of the town are and what the
5:30:14 this community represents. Um I I'm just
5:30:18 concerned that the way this is is uh is
5:30:21 put forth that it it doesn't give us an
5:30:24 ability to move forward and try to work
5:30:26 within the system while continuing to
5:30:28 uphold uh the values and the uh wishes
5:30:32 of the the greater uh community. So um I
5:30:36 would caution that
5:30:39 it's not it's not well thought through
5:30:42 that particular piece of this. I I I
5:30:44 can't address the other things about the
5:30:46 brick. Uh Paul Campbell is here to be
5:30:47 able to do that. Uh but uh this piece
5:30:51 about the uh the UASI funding um it it
5:30:54 it does it does give me pause and I I
5:30:58 would ask that we consider um removing
5:31:01 that piece from this resolution if if it
5:31:05 was to go forward.
5:31:07 Okay. Uh, I see Alex Leo's um, excuse
5:31:11 me, he has his hand hand up.
5:31:14 Yeah, thanks so much, Bernard. I I just
5:31:15 wanted to to respond briefly to uh, to
5:31:18 Chief Sullivan and first off, thank him
5:31:19 for um, his many years representing
5:31:22 Brooklyn uh, in this consortium. Um, and
5:31:25 you know, I think from our perspective,
5:31:27 um, this is part of what is so
5:31:30 unfortunate and I'd say insidious about
5:31:33 the federal government's actions in
5:31:35 trying to attach this kind of
5:31:37 conditioning to AASI funding is they are
5:31:41 trying to compel communities like
5:31:42 Brookline whose um values hold what they
5:31:47 are doing in Athema to participate in in
5:31:50 their political program essentially. And
5:31:53 the implicit threat in that is they will
5:31:55 defund our public safety agencies if we
5:31:58 don't do that. Um, and I think, you
5:32:01 know, we've been forced into an
5:32:02 extremely difficult and unfortunate
5:32:04 position because of these actions taken
5:32:06 by DHS. Um, I think the intent here and
5:32:10 and speaking for myself, I'll need to
5:32:12 conference with my co-petitioners before
5:32:14 we make any amendments, but you know,
5:32:16 the the intent here is not to be in any
5:32:17 way fiscally punitive to the town or
5:32:20 certainly the fire department or the
5:32:21 police department. Um the intent here is
5:32:24 we want to ensure that where Brooklyn
5:32:26 has made both now we think a legal and
5:32:29 moral commitment not to supporting these
5:32:31 immigration activities that we don't
5:32:34 participate in federal funding
5:32:35 activities where that kind of
5:32:38 participation is required. So it's great
5:32:42 to hear that the injunction has been
5:32:44 issued. Um I for instance would be
5:32:46 willing to maybe entertain an amendment
5:32:48 that says we don't apply for this
5:32:50 funding should that requirement take
5:32:52 effect. Um that I I hope might address
5:32:55 this concern. Whereas if there is no
5:32:57 actual federal um requirement that we've
5:33:00 described that is in legal effect um
5:33:03 then perhaps the town should still
5:33:05 consider pursuing those funding options.
5:33:07 I see my my co-etitioner wants to add
5:33:09 something.
5:33:11 Uh first, uh John,
5:33:14 I just want to raise a question of uh
5:33:17 our procedure um going forward. My
5:33:20 understanding is we're going to continue
5:33:22 this next week, correct?
5:33:24 This article, it is now uh two minutes
5:33:27 of 11:00. Um there are several other
5:33:31 items on our agenda for tonight.
5:33:34 Uh, I I for one would very much
5:33:37 appreciate a decision by the board at
5:33:39 this point as to um moving on to another
5:33:43 item since we're going to continue this
5:33:44 one next week anyway. Um, and maybe
5:33:47 even, you know, uh, trimming down the
5:33:50 remaining items that we're about to
5:33:51 discuss.
5:33:55 That sounds like a good idea to me. The
5:33:58 continuation would be clear from
5:34:00 somebody from the
5:34:02 Yeah. Continuation or
5:34:04 Yeah.
5:34:04 Yeah. Yeah.
5:34:06 So,
5:34:08 we have not yet opened the public
5:34:09 hearing, right? And are you proposing
5:34:12 that we continue this discussion before
5:34:14 we open the public hearing or just open
5:34:17 the public hearing and then immediately
5:34:18 continue?
5:34:19 Why don't we open the public hearing,
5:34:21 close it, give it, continue it to
5:34:24 adjourn it to next week. It next week
5:34:27 and um then go on to another item on the
5:34:30 agenda.
5:34:31 Sounds good to me.
5:34:32 Um okay. Uh let's open the public
5:34:34 hearing
5:34:38 and I see a hand up. Who is that? Oh,
5:34:42 Jessica. Yes.
5:34:45 Yes. This wasn't so much as part of
5:34:47 public hearing as as following up on
5:34:48 Alex's comments, but if I can make them
5:34:50 now, I'll I'll go ahead. I just wanted
5:34:53 to point out two other things in
5:34:55 response to what was just shared. One
5:34:57 is, you know, I I am happy that there's
5:34:59 currently an injunction and that's great
5:35:01 news and we're seeing a lot of
5:35:04 injunctions being granted upon initial
5:35:06 filing of litigation and then later be
5:35:08 overturned. Uh and so though, you know,
5:35:11 the fact that there's an injunction
5:35:13 creates you know a sense of relief in
5:35:15 the moment, I don't think it necessarily
5:35:17 addresses the longer term concerns. Um,
5:35:20 and then the other thing that I just
5:35:21 wanted to point out, and maybe this is
5:35:23 something that we can continue
5:35:24 discussion of when when we discuss this
5:35:26 war article again next week and Chief
5:35:27 Sullivan can provide more information
5:35:29 perhaps around this is to the extent
5:35:31 that receiving um way grants would
5:35:36 require um uh Brookline's ongoing
5:35:40 participation in the brick then you know
5:35:42 we would raise the similar objections um
5:35:45 that we have raised in that context as
5:35:47 well.
5:35:48 Okay. Okay, thank you.
5:35:52 Um,
5:35:53 any other
5:35:56 comments from the public? I see none
5:35:58 none on the screen here.
5:36:01 Okay, so let's uh adjourn and adjourn
5:36:04 this hearing until next week and let's
5:36:08 move on to our next item. Thank you uh
5:36:11 Gi, Jessica, Alec,
5:36:14 and whoever else is on.
5:36:17 Thank you very much.
5:36:19 Okay. So, um
5:36:25 um Okay, where are we?
5:36:27 Article 21.
5:36:28 Yeah, this hopefully should be quick. Uh
5:36:31 21 is the Medicare for all resolution
5:36:35 in the board's packet. Uh there's a
5:36:37 revised version.
5:36:38 We had the public.
5:36:40 Yeah,
5:36:40 this is our second.
5:36:42 Yeah.
5:36:42 Yes. So the the update since your public
5:36:44 hearing uh is that the petitioner has
5:36:47 revised the article. That revised
5:36:48 version is in your packet. The advisory
5:36:50 committee is actually taking that up
5:36:52 tomorrow night. So I don't have any
5:36:53 other version besides the revised
5:36:56 version and that has been approved by
5:36:57 the moderator.
5:37:01 Okay. So
5:37:02 I think we should
5:37:02 Why don't we put this off until next
5:37:04 week, too?
5:37:05 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
5:37:07 Okay. Moving right along. Uh article
5:37:09 seven, establish an override
5:37:11 stabilization fund. We already had the
5:37:13 hearing. We know what this is about. We
5:37:15 we passed a uh or approved an override
5:37:19 that would make use of this with respect
5:37:22 to the town funds.
5:37:24 Uh so um I move approve I I move
5:37:28 favorable action on article 21 uh I'm
5:37:31 sorry article 7 to establish an override
5:37:35 stabilization fund. All in favor John
5:37:37 Vascoyette.
5:37:38 I Paul Warren.
5:37:39 Hi.
5:37:39 David Pearlman.
5:37:40 I Michael Rubenstein. Hi
5:37:42 chair vai. Okay, what do we have next?
5:37:46 Update on Chestnut Hill West MOA.
5:37:52 Okay, go.
5:37:55 Thank you. Um, uh, and so, uh, I asked
5:38:00 that this be put on the agenda on
5:38:02 Thursday, um, not knowing necessarily
5:38:05 where we would be at this point. Um so
5:38:09 the thing that I want to report to the
5:38:12 rest of the select board is that um uh I
5:38:15 have been engaged in negotiations
5:38:17 ongoing um since
5:38:20 since uh Janice Khan made her uh
5:38:23 proposals uh at the EDAB meeting which
5:38:26 is now 15 days ago I believe um in order
5:38:30 to bridge the differences between uh the
5:38:35 town meeting members neighbors uh in
5:38:38 precincts 14 and 15 along with neighbors
5:38:42 in precinct 15 on the one hand and city
5:38:45 realy on the other hand to come to an
5:38:47 agreement for a set of proposals uh a
5:38:50 proposed amendments that would earn the
5:38:54 support of the town meeting members in
5:38:58 precincts 14 and 15 that were on the
5:39:00 community advisory group and then by
5:39:02 extension
5:39:04 uh other town meeting members in those
5:39:05 precincts
5:39:07 So that has been my objective. Um when
5:39:10 uh at uh Janice Khan who has been uh
5:39:15 engaged in the direct conversations with
5:39:17 me on behalf of the other uh community
5:39:21 advisory group town meeting members um
5:39:23 put forth a set of five issues. Um two
5:39:27 of them related to the intersection of
5:39:30 height and uh commercial percentage. Um
5:39:35 that's two of them. Uh and the other
5:39:37 three, one was related to a proposed
5:39:40 sunset provision and two uh were related
5:39:44 to tree canopy requirements. Um of those
5:39:48 five, the two related to the tree canopy
5:39:51 requirements have been resolved. They're
5:39:53 languages that are proposed. Um the
5:39:56 sunset requirement has been uh replaced
5:39:59 by an incentive that um is proposed to
5:40:03 be added to the memorandum of agreement.
5:40:06 Um that revised memorandum of agreement
5:40:08 which was drafted by Jonathan Simpson is
5:40:11 in our packet for today um for your
5:40:14 review and consideration. Um and as far
5:40:16 as the other issues, those issues are
5:40:19 still under negotiation um between the
5:40:23 parties. Um and the parties are
5:40:26 continuing to bring ideas forward,
5:40:29 are negotiating in good faith, um and I
5:40:33 am hopeful that we can reach resolution,
5:40:36 but we are at this point not there yet.
5:40:39 Um, with regard to the issue of having
5:40:41 both 12A and 12B, um, I did reach out to
5:40:45 the moderator, um, and have reached out
5:40:48 to the moderator a couple of times about
5:40:50 the question of scope. Um all of the
5:40:54 proposals that Janice had originally
5:40:56 made um were drafted by Jonathan Simpson
5:40:59 into modification amendments to the
5:41:02 zoning which will uh which we passed to
5:41:06 the moderator for his preliminary ruling
5:41:09 on scope and he ruled for various
5:41:11 reasons which he provided explanations
5:41:13 for that they were all within scope. Um
5:41:16 so uh at this point uh given the
5:41:21 deadline that was provided I think by
5:41:24 Melissa that today would be the last day
5:41:27 that it would be uh possible for us to
5:41:30 have a
5:41:32 a second special town meeting. Um, I
5:41:36 thought it prudent to put both items on
5:41:38 the agenda so that if the select board
5:41:39 decided that we wanted to move forward
5:41:41 with a second special town meeting with
5:41:43 any subset of changes that we had the
5:41:46 opportunity to do so. But at this point,
5:41:49 I don't have a proposal for that because
5:41:52 we are continuing to work on the
5:41:54 negotiations
5:41:55 and I'm ready to take questions or
5:41:58 feedback.
5:41:59 Okay. So, you're not proposing any
5:42:01 votes?
5:42:02 I am not at this point proposing any
5:42:03 votes. This is strictly an update and
5:42:05 discussion.
5:42:06 Michael, you went fast.
5:42:08 I did. It's late.
5:42:10 So 12A and 12B was that.
5:42:12 So the difference between 12A and 12B is
5:42:15 that 12A is a proposal for amendments to
5:42:18 the existing special town meeting which
5:42:21 the moderator has ruled is would be
5:42:24 allowed for the amendments that are
5:42:26 under
5:42:26 12 references that in the agenda. Is
5:42:27 that the agenda item or
5:42:29 12A? Yes, 12A is the agenda item. 12
5:42:31 was in my head and then suddenly I was
5:42:32 looking Yes. Yes. 12 A is the agenda
5:42:35 item. 12A is amendments. Agenda item 12B
5:42:40 is the question of calling a second
5:42:42 special town meeting which we would need
5:42:44 to do if we wanted to make changes that
5:42:46 were not within scope.
5:42:47 Okay.
5:42:48 However, at this point, all of the
5:42:49 changes are that are under consideration
5:42:53 are are by the preliminary ruling of the
5:42:57 moderator within scope.
5:42:58 So the second question I have is is
5:43:00 related to the MOA. So there's language
5:43:02 in the MOA
5:43:04 um that is kind of the behavior of town
5:43:09 meeting what town meeting does what the
5:43:11 advisory committee does or what the
5:43:13 select board does and you know for
5:43:15 example the I'm going to read it real
5:43:17 quick quickly the proposed zoning
5:43:19 amendment as presented in the reports of
5:43:21 the select board and advisory committee
5:43:23 for the contemplated special town
5:43:24 meeting along with any amendments there
5:43:26 too prepared by the select board
5:43:28 planning board or advisory committee
5:43:30 submitted with the combined and reports
5:43:32 for a relevant special town meeting will
5:43:34 be considered not to be material adverse
5:43:36 to the financial feasibility of the
5:43:38 project unless city has indicated such
5:43:41 in writing within seven days. So there's
5:43:43 these restrictions about timing. Does
5:43:47 how do the how does this language and
5:43:50 also there's another sentence any other
5:43:51 amendments proposed?
5:43:53 How do those intersect with the timing
5:43:55 of a special town meeting us making
5:43:57 changes? Um this this grants a
5:44:00 tremendous amount of power uh to void
5:44:04 everything city unilaterally just based
5:44:08 on the natural course of us doing our
5:44:10 work the advisory committee doing their
5:44:13 work the planning board doing their work
5:44:15 or town meeting um my read here is that
5:44:19 city could just say we're avoiding it uh
5:44:22 and they could do that within seven days
5:44:23 of the publish so one is what's the
5:44:26 intersection and risk this add to us
5:44:28 that they're taking away the authority
5:44:30 of us the planning board and the select.
5:44:33 Okay. Okay.
5:44:35 So, so, so, um, this was a matter of,
5:44:41 uh, of intense negotiation mostly, uh,
5:44:46 between councils um to make sure that
5:44:49 that this language was was precise and
5:44:52 tight and and uh that both sides had uh
5:44:57 the uh reasonable asurances that the
5:45:02 that the project would move forward.
5:45:04 forward in a way that they expected. The
5:45:06 issue that uh the developer is trying to
5:45:10 protect themselves against is being
5:45:13 bound by an MOA that is associated with
5:45:17 the zoning that makes their project not
5:45:20 economically viable. if if if town
5:45:23 meeting passes zoning that makes their
5:45:26 project uh impossible to build but they
5:45:28 are still required to implement the MOA
5:45:31 under those conditions then they they
5:45:34 can't move forward. Um and so the
5:45:37 balance that was struck was to use the
5:45:41 combined reports as the sort of marker
5:45:45 between
5:45:46 uh changes that are presump presumed to
5:45:49 be acceptable versus changes that are
5:45:52 presumed to be not acceptable. So before
5:45:56 the combined reports you know and you
5:45:58 know while we are in this process of
5:46:00 negotiation
5:46:01 does that include supplements? Uh, no.
5:46:04 It does not include supplements. Okay.
5:46:06 I'm I'm I'm just trying to lay it out.
5:46:08 Yeah. I'm I'm just trying to say it's
5:46:10 time because all of this stuff often
5:46:13 comes up at the last minute. Supplements
5:46:15 are a way of I I understand. So
5:46:20 before combined reports,
5:46:23 all changes are presumed to be accepted
5:46:26 and with this 7-day caveat. But they
5:46:30 can't just walk away from the MOA in the
5:46:33 absence of a in the absence of a change.
5:46:35 That's why at this point as we are
5:46:39 trying to figure out changes
5:46:42 um that would bring the P14 and P4 15
5:46:46 town meeting members on board. We we
5:46:49 have to negotiate those as part of the
5:46:51 negotiation with city realy. And
5:46:54 so you do you do understand my concern?
5:46:57 I I I understand your concern that it is
5:46:59 that it is limiting the it is it is a
5:47:03 limitation of the legislative process,
5:47:06 right?
5:47:07 The entirety of the process. It's taking
5:47:09 away the ability of this board to make
5:47:11 an amendment. It's limiting the ability
5:47:13 of advisory to make an amendment landly
5:47:16 makes changes and it's limiting the
5:47:19 planning the usually taking away the
5:47:21 power to legislate from Tom
5:47:24 the the the greatest risk in in this um
5:47:30 is if we end up passing the zoning
5:47:32 without the MOA in place right that
5:47:35 every everybody sort of on the town side
5:47:37 understands that that is not a desirable
5:47:39 outcome because then that gives city
5:47:41 realy the desire to do whatever they
5:47:44 want to in the context of the zoning
5:47:46 without without an MOA in place that
5:47:49 gets the town the benefits that it
5:47:51 should expect from the from the
5:47:54 development including the the 11 million
5:47:57 um etc.
5:48:00 Um, so, so
5:48:05 I I'm not sure whether Jonathan or Joe
5:48:09 or anybody else who was involved in the
5:48:11 previous projects with Welltower or
5:48:14 Waldo Durgen, which were essentially had
5:48:17 the same result, can speak to the
5:48:20 similarity between this and those
5:48:22 processes. So, we understand the level
5:48:24 of precedent. Um but at the at the end
5:48:27 of the day if
5:48:30 if you know the advisory com committee
5:48:33 or town meeting or somebody like wants
5:48:36 to make an amendment and
5:48:39 you know we determine that the MOA is
5:48:45 or city realy determines that the MOA um
5:48:49 it the city that city realy voluntarily
5:48:53 negotiated with the town they no longer
5:48:56 want to participate in. That doesn't
5:48:58 stop us from moving forward with the
5:49:00 amendment. The thing that it prevents us
5:49:02 from and and passing the zoning or not
5:49:05 passing the zoning. The thing that it
5:49:07 that it could stop is the execution of
5:49:11 the MOA, which is the voluntary
5:49:13 agreement between the developer and the
5:49:15 town.
5:49:16 Hey, John.
5:49:18 Well, um I I had the benefit of watching
5:49:21 the video of the meeting uh that Michael
5:49:24 and others participated in, the most
5:49:26 recent meeting of the UH
5:49:29 Chestnut Hill West Advisory Group. And
5:49:32 uh I just want to say Michael has his
5:49:35 work cut out for him because uh I I I I
5:49:41 the thing the remark that caught me that
5:49:44 made the most uh uh impression on me was
5:49:48 after there had been a fair amount of
5:49:50 discussion among the various people at
5:49:52 the meeting who came to the meeting, you
5:49:54 know, with the idea in mind of hammering
5:49:57 out some sort of a of a of a path
5:50:00 towards
5:50:02 towards development that is contingent
5:50:04 on height as a reward for greater
5:50:09 commercial percentage of the property.
5:50:12 Um and when all when all was said and
5:50:15 done and people had discussed issues
5:50:17 like you know tree removal uh and other
5:50:20 issues um Cliff Kensington from city
5:50:23 realy weighed in and basically said you
5:50:26 know if you do this we walk if you do
5:50:29 this we walk if you do this we walk you
5:50:31 know I don't know that there's that much
5:50:34 common ground right now between what
5:50:36 city realy has very clearly said is
5:50:39 their minimum requirement for this to be
5:50:42 an economically feasible development.
5:50:44 And the very understandable ambitions of
5:50:47 of people in the neighborhood group or
5:50:50 on the study committee to somehow get
5:50:54 get a little bit more in return than
5:50:58 than they're getting in the form of
5:51:00 upping the commercial uh percentage um
5:51:04 in return for height bonuses. And uh the
5:51:08 message I heard delivered by city realy
5:51:10 is you know the commercial um the
5:51:13 increase in the commercial percentage of
5:51:15 the property is totally outside the the
5:51:17 bounds of what uh would be feasible for
5:51:20 them and and I'm not sure what there is
5:51:22 to discuss. Right. Um so I will say that
5:51:25 happened
5:51:26 discussing it tonight.
5:51:27 That happened that happened on a
5:51:28 Wednesday night. Um substantive
5:51:32 negotiations between the parties began
5:51:35 on Thursday morning that once those
5:51:37 positions were outlined and I believe we
5:51:40 are continuing to make progress. The
5:51:43 numbers have shifted the positions have
5:51:45 changed but they aren't at agreement yet
5:51:48 so I can't bring something for you
5:51:50 forward. All I can do is report that of
5:51:54 the of the issues that were raised,
5:51:56 we've addressed three of them and we are
5:51:58 still working and making progress on the
5:52:01 others.
5:52:01 Well, I I commend you and when you're
5:52:03 done, would you be willing to negotiate
5:52:05 the straight of Hormuz for everybody?
5:52:08 Um,
5:52:09 well, okay.
5:52:11 One one thing at a time.
5:52:13 I have one more question.
5:52:14 Quick question,
5:52:15 but it's just because I because I don't
5:52:17 have my head around the timing yet.
5:52:19 Yeah.
5:52:19 So, the language in the MOA talks about
5:52:23 combined reports.
5:52:25 If we if we're not going to do it
5:52:27 tonight,
5:52:28 right? Let's say next week or we issue
5:52:31 another special town meeting.
5:52:33 I assume we would issue combined reports
5:52:36 for that special town meeting. So, that
5:52:37 is that when the clock starts because a
5:52:40 town meeting has a combined report. A
5:52:42 special time meeting has a combined
5:52:44 report, doesn't it? Uh I believe the
5:52:47 answer to your question is yes. It is
5:52:49 the combined reports for the special
5:52:51 town meeting
5:52:53 in which the MOA and the zoning would be
5:52:57 considered.
5:53:00 Okay. Um since we don't have a question
5:53:02 before us
5:53:04 unless you have other questions or
5:53:06 comments.
5:53:06 Pardon me.
5:53:07 Unless you have other questions or
5:53:08 comments, I'm happy to take them. But
5:53:10 not that many.
5:53:12 So uh let's move uh on to our post
5:53:16 meeting public comment period. Anyone
5:53:22 public comments? Okay, seeing none, I um
5:53:26 declare that this meeting is over. Ah,
5:53:30 good.
5:53:32 Recording stopped.
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