[Speaker 1] (0:45 - 3:13)
All right, welcome everyone to the Wednesday, June 6th lecture. June 6th, 2021 select board meeting. We're happy to be back in person in a quasi-in-person manner.

Oh my goodness gracious. We're not, it turns out we're not that happy because there's a big screen that shows close-ups and it turns out that that is not healthy for a person's self-esteem. In any event, I'm going to not look at the TV, but I want to welcome people for joining.

People are joining via Zoom, watching on cable access, Facebook, and really want, and there's opportunities for people to be here as well. I want to thank Joe Dulette and his team of tech wizards for being able to put this on and welcome us live post-COVID or almost post-COVID back to a meeting. This is actually our first meeting as a board since two elections ago when David Grishman and Neil Duffy were elected.

They are still so new, I actually don't think they have official nameplates. Like that's how officially new you are a year plus later, but it's great to be together and experience a live meeting together. In a minute, we're going to do public comment, public comments and opportunity for members of the public to speak before the board on matters not otherwise before the agenda.

We ask members of the public to keep comments to a short duration. Please refrain from political statements and to the extent there's any questions or comments regarding town personnel to please reach out to any select board member or to the town administrator to share your comments or questions. Before we do public comment tonight, I wanted to reflect for a minute about a really terrific event this past Sunday, the second annual pride event in Swamscott, which not only brought out hundreds of people, was probably one of the most joyful and happy events I've ever attended in Swamscott and took a lot of planning and effort to make happen and it really was a wonderful event.

Sena Khatib, who is a resident here in town, I think Sena is here as an attendee and Ali, if you don't mind promoting her, that would be great. I want to share just one example of why it was such an awesome event on Saturday. So Ali, if you don't mind playing that video and then we'll go from there.

[Speaker 9] (3:15 - 6:39)
Hi everyone. My name is Sena Khatib. My pronouns are she, her, and I'll be reading two pieces today.

This first one is called A Letter to Who I Can Be and I wrote this like a few years ago before I came out and I didn't think I was going to come out, but here we are. So here it is. A Letter.

To the piece of myself that I had locked away, a love I've never understood because I've always hidden from her. Eternity's too late, but I am sorry. Sorry that I never took the time to get to know you or to explore with you.

And I'm sorry for being so afraid to acknowledge you that I feared the taste of your label on my tongue. I'm sorry I've tucked you away in the crevices of my heart, hoping that maybe you'd disappear. And I'm sorry because I've always claimed proud and I love to celebrate that of others, but I've never been able to pull you out from from the pile of expectations I buried you under.

Never been able to wear you on display and I'd love to dance in the streets to show you off amidst the rainbows and the sea of flags, waving what our pride could be, to announce who we are to the world with no apologies or shame following. But my body crumples to the ground, a pile of drunken bones, pathetic with this grace, and my voice gets lost in my throat, falling only to a sad rasp, begging to be ignored. To this person I am not yet ready to be.

I'm sorry that I've let the loud of everyone else drown you out. To the lonely pits of my stomach where you rise with the bile at the mention of your name, I let the uproar of an unwelcoming world settle in my head to crawl inside my brain, chained up and shoved into the proverbial closet with the rest of my metaphorical monsters and demons, until I decide that I'm tired. Tired of the fear I tied you to, of the shame and embarrassment, tired of all this lying, painting you to blend in when we were born to stand out.

Covering your rainbow, your bi, your happy with the dull of the rest of the world, of the norms and the socially acceptable, even still I am holding you back. Still pushing you into the cold of the shadows, into the darkness to watch the world change without us, and for that I will never stop being sorry. And maybe one day, in a dream where I am honest with myself, and when I am honest with reality and with myself, maybe I will be able to take you by the hand and lead you out.

Thank you. Okay, so the second poem.

[Speaker 1] (6:42 - 7:27)
Thanks, Sally, for that. So, Sena, I think you're with us. If you unmute yourself, you can actually speak to us, but I wanted to, I'm glad you could join us tonight, and I'm glad that you were with everyone on Saturday.

Your remarks were just emblematic of that whole day, and the rhythm in which you speak and the passion in which you speak, it was palpable when we were all together on Saturday, and I really felt like if we had to take one two-minute snippet of a multi-hour event to share the happiness and the joy and the sense of community, your words were it. So, thank you very much for being you, and for sharing that with us.

[Speaker 15] (7:28 - 7:33)
Thank you. Thanks for sharing it here.

[Speaker 2] (7:35 - 8:36)
Sena, can I add something also? I was not able to make the event on Saturday, and that, truly not able to make it. I really, really wanted to be there, so it was unfortunate for me, and I was so happy to hear of all the people and see all the people on video who attended, and I had not heard that, your poem there, and I just, I admire your honesty and, I mean, the incredible writing also, but I, it's important for you and the Pride community to speak out and be honest with yourselves, but it also, even for those of us with less obvious, I think, challenges with accepting ourselves, I think your words and that wisdom can apply to all of us.

So, it is especially important for the purpose for which you were speaking, but also, I thank you for sharing that wisdom, because I think it applies to everybody. Thanks.

[Speaker 15] (8:38 - 8:39)
Thank you.

[Speaker 4] (8:42 - 9:05)
Yeah, I'll just let me know. Well said, Polly. I absolutely agree.

I was at the event later after the speaking program, so I had missed that speech. I had seen the video afterwards, and just thank you for sharing your words and being such an outspoken leader and showing people how to be proud of who they are.

[Speaker 6] (9:11 - 9:33)
And, Senna, I was there. Your words, you know, definitely had the hair on the back of my neck standing up as I was listening, and the same thing happened tonight. So, thank you for being inspirational to, you know, to those young and old, and certainly to our board.

So, thank you. Thanks.

[Speaker 3] (9:35 - 10:59)
Senna, I'm Sean Pastorello. I'm Swampskips Town Administrator, and I just want you to know that I brought my 12-year-old son and my two 8-year-old children to this event, and I was so proud of you speaking from your heart and reading a poem that was so artful and so inspiring. I kind of envision that we travel through time sometimes, and we think back, you know, 50 years ago or 100 years ago when it would be impossible to share some of those thoughts publicly.

But today, we're building a future where people can truly feel like they're included in a community that truly loves them and cares about them, and I'm proud of Swampskip, and I'm proud of you for being a leader and sharing your voice and inspiring others. Someone said at this event that an event like this saves lives, and I truly believe your words will save lives. I think words are important, and I want to encourage you to continue to share your voice and your leadership.

It was completely amazing.

[Speaker 15] (11:01 - 11:02)
Thank you so much.

[Speaker 1] (11:03 - 11:12)
So, Sena, we don't want to put you on the spot, but you're certainly welcome to say more if you want to say more, but really, tonight we wanted to, again, share your words and say thank you to you directly.

[Speaker 15] (11:14 - 11:56)
I mean, I just, I'm really glad that, like, it spoke to, like, all of you. I wasn't really expecting to share, like, that poem that I did, because I was like, it's a pride event, so, like, why would I share something that I wrote when I was in the closet? But I was talking to my boyfriend, and we were, like, talking about it, and I was like, well, if I speak to just, like, one young kid who feels the way that I did, or, like, anyone, not even a kid, then it'll be worth it.

So, I'm glad that you guys all liked the poem and think that it made a difference.

[Speaker 1] (11:57 - 12:25)
Thanks, Sena, for being with us and sharing. Tomorrow afternoon at one o'clock, Swansky has an opportunity to celebrate another really important event and come together as a community with a Juneteenth celebration at Town Hall at one o'clock tomorrow afternoon at Town Hall. I want to invite my colleague Neil Duffy to share a proclamation for Juneteenth.

[Speaker 4] (12:26 - 15:27)
Sure, thanks, Peter. Okay, so, whereas Swanscot is made up of people from every nation on earth who are declared equal not only in freedom but also in justice, both of which are essential for a healthy human civilization, and whereas our nation was conceived on July 4th, 1776 with the Declaration of Independence, the classic statement being, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and whereas July 4th, 1776 represents the birth of the United States of America and commemorates the United States' independence from British rule but did not offer independence and freedom to enslaved people, and whereas at 2 p.m. on New Year's Day, January 1st, 1863, using his war powers as president, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation providing that all enslaved people within any state or designated part of a state shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free, and whereas two and a half years later, on June 19th, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, announcing the end of slavery, stating, the people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor, and whereas Juneteenth celebrations began in 1866, including cookouts, prayer gatherings, and musical performances, and some communities purchased land specifically for these gatherings, and as freed families then emigrated to other parts of the United States, they brought the traditions of Juneteenth with them, and whereas Juneteenth improves upon the nation's promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and whereas Juneteenth commemorates the strength and resolve of Black and African Americans throughout our history, and serves as an opportunity to celebrate the rich and numerous contributions of Black and African Americans, and whereas Juneteenth is also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Cell Liberation, and Juneteenth Independence Day, and whereas June 19, 2021, marks the 156th commemoration Juneteenth. Now therefore, the Swampscott Select Board and Town Administrator do hereby proclaim June 19, 2021, as Juneteenth in Swampscott, Massachusetts, and we call upon all employees and residents of Swampscott to celebrate and reflect on this state's historic significance.

[Speaker 1] (15:33 - 15:59)
Thank you, Neil. So tomorrow, again, 1 p.m. at Town Hall Lawn, festivities, I think some food, some music, would be great. So if there's no discussion, or if there's discussion, by all means, on the proclamation, otherwise, is there a motion to endorse the proclamation?

So moved. Is there a second?

[Speaker 2] (16:00 - 16:01)
Second.

[Speaker 1] (16:01 - 16:11)
Oh my, guess what we get to do? We don't have to do a roll call. All those in favor?

Aye. Aye. Aye.

You don't even know how to do it, right?

[Speaker 16] (16:11 - 16:11)
All right.

[Speaker 1] (16:12 - 17:07)
I was raising my hand. Unanimous. Thanks very much for that.

We're going to move on to a really quick vote. Consistent with the Governor's end of the Declaration of Emergency, as you recall at the recent joint meeting with the Board of Health at the advice of Town Council, the Town of Swampscott kept in place its Declaration of Emergency pending further action from the state. Now that the state Declaration of Emergency has concluded, Town Council has suggested to us that we do now take a vote to end the Declaration of Emergency issued March 20th and all subsequent emergency orders pertaining to COVID-19.

The Board of Health will similarly take up such action at a later date. So if there's any questions or comments, by all means, but otherwise, is there a motion to rescind the Declaration of Emergency issued March 20th, 2020, and all subsequent emergency orders pertaining to COVID-19?

[Speaker 2] (17:08 - 17:08)
So moved.

[Speaker 1] (17:09 - 17:14)
Second. Any further questions or comments? Hearing none, all those in favor?

[Speaker 4] (17:15 - 17:15)
Aye.

[Speaker 1] (17:21 - 22:48)
All right. Thanks very much. Let me hold on one second here.

Great. I want to, I'm going to take a couple things out of order being before 6, 630. Allie Diemein, actually promoting Cynthia Tennant as a panelist, please.

The legislature recently passed and the governor signed the housing choice legislation, which made a number of changes to housing policy and other provisions relating to housing, and in particular low-income housing. One of the changes that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts made was having housing authority membership change such that this select board will now, going forward, appoint one tenant representative to a full seat on the housing authority. The housing authority is made up of five members, three of which which are elected going forward will be elected by the residents of Swampscott, one of which is a gubernatorial appointment, and one of which will be a resident of the housing authority as appointed by the select board.

I do want to take time now just to congratulate and welcome Tara Cassidy Driscoll, who was Governor Baker's appointee recently to the housing authority to replace a vacancy left with the resignation of a longtime member. Tara is a longtime resident and really committed resident who has done a lot for this community and her addition to the housing authority is exciting and we look forward to having her part of the housing authority and contribute to the future of the housing authority. Secondly, I want to take this moment to share with the board and share with residents that last night the housing authority voted unanimously to file an RFP application with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for technical assistance grants to help the seek funding to help the housing authority begin to think about the future and the future is to be filled with making sure that better housing is made available to the residents of the housing authority. As many people know, the housing authority, many residents in the housing authority are elderly or disabled, but yet our housing authority property is not ADA compliant.

Many of those residents live on the second floor without access to elevators. I appreciate, we appreciate the fact that the housing authority is so forward-thinking and thinking about the future and understanding that it's going to take some time to reinvest and reinvigorate those properties and to do it in a way that doesn't disturb the occupancy of any single tenant so every single tenant can feel secure where they live and be optimistic about what the future holds for them and the housing authority.

So I wanted to take a moment to thank the housing authority for their strong voice and leadership last night in taking that vote. As a select board, we will talk about that more in the future and I want to take a moment to thank Margie Golaska Swampscott's Community and Economic Development Director for making herself available to help complete that RFP and to support the housing authority as they seek to support all the residents of the housing authority. And last but not least on the housing authority, David Grishman and I recently had the opportunity to meet with Cynthia Tennant who joins us tonight and Cynthia is a resident at the housing authority and we're going to in a minute ask Cynthia to introduce herself, but she had applied and expressed interest in being appointed to the housing authority.

A few years ago, Cynthia stood up at a Swampscott for All Ages event and introduced herself to the entire community at that point and expressed her love and passion for the housing authority and her desire to work for it and that's actually the first place I met Cynthia. She recently met with one or more members of the housing authority and the housing authority executive director and she came to us very highly recommended. No matter how highly recommended her recommendation to us was, I think I can speak for David as well, but I'm going to let David say it too.

Cynthia, the visit we had with Cynthia was refreshing, was exciting, was exhilarating. Her passion for the residents of the housing authority and improving the quality of life for every resident of the housing authority is so admirable and tonight David and I, with the support of the town administrator, want to bring forward and introduce Cynthia, but also want to bring forward the town administrator's recommendation to appoint Cynthia Tennant to, I believe it is a five-year term, if I remember.

I have to confirm the legislation. I think it's a five-year term. We'll confirm that to the housing authority, whatever consistent with the housing authority, the legislation, but I wanted to, Cynthia, welcome you and welcome you to unmute yourself and share, introduce yourself and share about yourself and whatever you'd like to say.

The floor is yours.

[Speaker 11] (22:49 - 25:00)
Well, thank you very much. As he said, I am Cynthia Tennant. I have lived in Swarmstead my entire life.

I have lived anywhere from Atlantic Avenue to Duncan Terrace and I think that I can be a bridge between the residents of the housing authority, both Dougherty Circle, Duncan Terrace, Cherry Street, and Ryan Place. I love Swarmstead. My family has lived in Swarmstead for many, many, many years and I care about the people of Swarmstead.

One of the things that I have found is that when you get older, you tend to be a little fearful of your security. You tend to doubt that your town is going to be there when you need them and, again, you tend to be a little insecure. I think that I can bring something to the board to help the members that live here, that live in Duncan Terrace and Dougherty Circle and Cherry Street, feel a little better about themselves and I am sure that going forward, working together with the selectmen, with the town, with the senior center, and anybody else that would like to get involved, I'm sure we can make the housing authority a really nice place. Anybody can live here.

You don't have to be poor, down and out. I lived in Swarmstead most of my life. Thanks to burning that off, my time and income disappeared and I find myself living here.

Well, you know what? That's okay. This is a really nice place.

There's really nice people here that really would like to see the town get more involved and I think they can with the people that are on the board now and I thank you for considering me and I thank you for voting tonight.

[Speaker 1] (25:02 - 25:04)
Thanks, Cynthia. David, I want to give you an opportunity.

[Speaker 6] (25:06 - 26:02)
No, thank you, Cynthia. Thank you. Thank you for your interest in, you know, in the housing authority.

You know, from our conversation last week, I thought your enthusiasm was incredible. I loved your energy. I loved your passion, you know, for the town of Swampscott.

It's the same passion that I have. It's the same passion that I see in a lot of my colleagues and a lot of other volunteers and, you know, I think it's infectious and that's one of the reasons that we work so hard at what we do and it's great to see, you know, it's great when we're seeing others having that similar passion. So, you know, thank you, you know, for wanting to volunteer and I'll certainly be in touch with you as I promised last week with other opportunities.

So, as you're communicating with others, you know, around your neighbors and your friends, you know, we can get them involved with the town as well. Thank you.

[Speaker 1] (26:03 - 26:11)
Thanks. Board members have any questions or comments? Otherwise, we can move forward to a vote but I welcome.

[Speaker 2] (26:16 - 26:32)
No, I just want to say hi, Cynthia. I was at the meeting that Peter was talking about and I can't believe it was years ago but I guess it was. COVID was on nobody's minds and so I remember your enthusiasm from then.

You stood up and you were going to run for something.

[Speaker 1] (26:33 - 26:33)
Housing authority.

[Speaker 2] (26:34 - 26:45)
Right, there you go but it was it was a different occasion but anyway, I remembered your enthusiasm from then and I'm so glad that you're here tonight. So, thanks so much.

[Speaker 1] (26:47 - 27:03)
So, with that, if okay, is there a motion to happily appoint Cynthia Tennant to a term on the housing authority for a duration consistent with the applicable legislation authorizing this appointment? So moved.

[Speaker 4] (27:04 - 27:05)
Second.

[Speaker 1] (27:06 - 27:22)
Any further discussion or conversation? All right, hearing none, all those in favor? Aye.

Cynthia, thank you very much for being here tonight and for being willing to offer yourself and your time and your services and your passion and congratulations.

[Speaker 11] (27:23 - 27:25)
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

[Speaker 4] (27:25 - 27:26)
Thank you. Thank you.

[Speaker 1] (27:28 - 28:02)
We have a public hearing that's continued to 6 30. With the permission of the board, I would like to reopen it and then table it temporarily to take another item out of order. So, is there a motion to continue the public hearing notice for 6 30 p.m. on June 2, 2021 relative to the application for an earth removal permit by Aggregate Industries Northeast Region Inc. located at 30 Danvers Road, Swamps Gut Mass for continued operation of work rock quarry and associated activities for the period of July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022.

[Speaker 16] (28:05 - 28:06)
So moved.

[Speaker 1] (28:06 - 28:32)
Second. All those in favor? Aye.

Aye. All right. Can I have a motion to table the public hearing?

So moved. Second. All those in favor?

Aye. All right. Thank you.

With the indulgence of the board, I would like to now turn it over to Sean Fitzgerald to talk about a couple of announcements.

[Speaker 3] (28:33 - 31:02)
Sure. Well, can we, Ali, can we promote Chief Madigan and Chief Kurtz? So, one of the state laws that I like least is a law that requires all public safety officials in Swamps Gut to retire by the age of 65.

We seem to be living longer, and experience really is valuable, but it's hard to believe that Chief Madigan is at a point where he will be turning 65 shortly. In light of that, you know, over the last year, we've had a really complicated set of responsibilities for public safety. I could not imagine how things would have turned out without the extraordinary leadership of Chief Madigan.

And recently, you know, we've had a few discussions, and he has announced that he will be retiring effective July 15th. In light of that, over the last month, I have had a series of interviews and conversations with a number of retired chiefs, and I'm pleased to recommend tonight that Chief Dave Kurz, a 22-year veteran chief from Durham, New Hampshire, be appointed as an interim chief administrator for the town of Swamps Gut effective July 6th. This will allow us to have a few weeks of a smooth transition.

Chief Madigan has already had an opportunity to meet with Chief Kurz, and I've had a chance to really have a number of discussions with Chief Kurz, and would welcome Chief Madigan to share a few remarks, but also have the board share a few thoughts about Chief Madigan's pending retirement after 41 years of extraordinary service to a town that he loves and is loved by.

[Speaker 1] (31:05 - 34:29)
Chief Madigan, I think you are with us, and I think you're unmuted, so I want to welcome you to say a few words, but I first would ask your indulgence to let us reflect for a few more minutes about your contribution. I agree with Sean about the unfortunateness of retirement, and I hope that you're looking forward to it, and I hope that you're excited about what it's going to allow you and bring to you and your family. You are one of the kindest, gentlest, most thoughtful, open-minded individuals that I've had a chance to work with in town government.

You are always willing to listen, and when you do speak, you both show that you've listened, but you also show tremendous respect for and support for the men and women that work under you in the department in every single conversation. You do that, but you also don't hesitate to make sure that you and the entire department hold yourselves accountable and that you work to be better, and you recognize the importance of that in every conversation. The respect that you garner isn't because of a uniform or a badge or a gun.

It's because of all those intangibles that I believe, all those intangibles that you show every day, and there isn't a person that can meet you and not see those intangibles. I say with no disrespect to any other police chief, but I don't believe that you are by any means a cookie cutter of what people might think of a police chief. Your compassion, your understanding for circumstance and background, and your judgment-free approach to conversations and difficulties and errors and understanding people to be human and fallible, and your desire to make sure that not only do we make sure people are safe, but we also give them the chance to better themselves and to re-enter society and continue to contribute.

Those are not things that anybody can just go out and hire. Those are things that we are fortunate to have, for 41 years in this town, in the last many years as chief, been the direct beneficiary of. I hope that you take great pride in that, because that is something that is your indelible mark here, and I believe you've set a bar that will be very high for others to even think about overcoming.

I wish you your best. Sean, I'm sorry. You gave an official date of retirement.

I'm sorry if I missed it. Maybe share an official date, but I also look forward to making sure that we're going to send you out with a bang, especially now post-COVID, and look forward to celebrating all together and helping send you off appropriately. Thank you.

Others, please.

[Speaker 6] (34:31 - 35:26)
Chief Madigan, I can't believe you're old enough to have served 41 years in the town of Swampscott, but we're certainly thankful that you did. I met you a few years ago at the farmer's market. You put your arm around me, and you introduced yourself, and you said, how can I help?

I really think that's indicative of who you are as a person and a police chief, how you can help, how you can be of assistance. I just want to let you know that I certainly appreciate that about you, and I appreciate you as a person and just your willingness to help and be there. It certainly means a lot to me, and it certainly means a lot to the residents of Swampscott, so you'll certainly be missed, and thank you for your service to the town.

[Speaker 4] (35:31 - 36:39)
Chief, as Peter said, I think we'll hopefully send you off in person, and there'll be more time to say our goodbyes, but I congratulate you on your retirement. I've known you before my time on the board, but certainly I would say if there was a positive of all the regular protests and events of this past year and a half is that I got to know you pretty well, and getting to know you as a person and a human has been a real pleasure, and working with you and seeing your approach to the department, to your job, and to the town. It's just been, you've just been an amazing leader for an incredible amount of time in this town, all the way to seeing you last weekend at the pride celebration, and the joy in your face, and being there, and just being part of the community.

I expect you'll still be part of our community for a long time. You always have been, and you always will be, so thank you for everything.

[Speaker 2] (36:47 - 39:19)
Yeah, I agree. I can't believe that you're of an age where you can retire, but I just want to echo what Peter had shared about being one of the kindest and gentlest people he's ever met, and I couldn't agree more. I have really enjoyed getting to know you personally, professionally and personally, over the last few years.

All of our conversations, no matter where they take place, at town hall, or protests, or just wherever, it's always enjoyable. You're always friendly and kind to everyone around, and just a great person to have gotten to know, and I think as a point person, for lack of a better word right now, between the town and the police department, I think you've done a really great job of balancing your role there, and representing the officers really well, and their interests, but also being receptive to town and their concerns and feedback, and I see that you listen deeply to both sides, and put yourself last in those scenarios, and your own interests or feelings, and really trying to engage both sides in such an admirable way, and a successful way.

I know that we have talked a lot in the last year or so about the town, and just generally about the 21st century policing, and in many ways, I feel that you embody some of the most important innate qualities that 21st century policing requires. Part of that gentleness, but firmness, the respect for your officers, but also the humility with which you approach your job and your role, and again, like Peter said, you can't teach those qualities, and yeah, you can't train someone to have them, but they are natural gifts that we've all come to appreciate, and respect, and enjoy, and they will be missed, so we would definitely see you around. You have to come with your coffee to town hall, or hang around at different events, so you always have made everyone in town, no matter what the event, feel included.

Also, I think it's really important to say, and I do feel like any citizen of Swampscott, no matter what their background or identity, would feel safe and welcome coming to you for protection and guidance, so thanks for that too.

[Speaker 1] (39:22 - 39:26)
All right, Chief, we're out of board members, so I think it's your turn.

[Speaker 7] (39:28 - 39:36)
Yeah, I don't see my videos on, but can you hear me on the audio?

[Speaker 1] (39:36 - 39:52)
Yeah, we can hear you, and we'll figure out the video, and it shows that your video's off, but so maybe try it again, because we would like to see your face. Take a minute, it's okay.

[Speaker 7] (39:52 - 44:18)
Yeah, it doesn't seem to be allowing me to sign on a video. Perhaps Allie could elevate me to that status. In any case, you know, I'm really touched by all your kind words.

Was it inevitable that I'd be retiring? Hold on a second. Hey, there he is.

Here we go. Yes, it was inevitable that I was going to be retiring in the fall, and part of my thought process was that being a person that hasn't really got a lot of outside hobbies and interests, you know, unfortunately, other than getting out in nature with my family and hiking, I spent quite a bit of time, I'd like to say I'm institutionalized to some extent. I just focus on the police department and the town.

So, for me, it was a little bit, the idea of retiring in the fall and going into the wintertime, it made sense for me to try to move my retirement up a little bit, too, in order to enjoy the summertime, with the timing of my retirement in July. You know, it's been an honor of a lifetime to serve my hometown. I'd really like to thank the entire town of Swanscot for all this support and friendship.

Swanscot really is a wonderful place, and I really enjoyed being a part of it all these years, from my childhood. You know, I want to thank the men and women that I work with, the dedicated group that I really feel above and beyond every day to serve and protect this community. I'm really proud to have served alongside them all.

I think that there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. Every day, I'm amazed at the work that everyone's doing and the initiatives that they show in helping people, particularly in an age where more and more is placed on the police to serve in new and different ways to try to help the community. So, really, everyone steps up and works hard.

I want to, although I'm still, I'm going to be around for another month. I feel like I'm giving my goodbye speech, but I want to thank my wife and children for all their support over the years. They, you know, they were forced to put up with my constant preoccupation with work and my talking about work and going off to work when something was going on on weekends.

And, you know, they made a lot of sacrifices that, you know, I really appreciate in order to allow me to do this job, which has been very rewarding and resulted in a lot of satisfaction for me to be able to perform this job over the years. You know, there's a transition in place. We haven't met Chief Kurtz yet, but I just want to assure him that he'll get full cooperation and support from our department during this period of transition.

Again, I, you know, I just want to recognize the men and women of the police department. They really are unrivaled in their professionalism and dedication to serving the town of Swanscot and the community at large. Having said that, I just, it really has been an honor to work in this town.

I enjoyed it as a young boy growing up here, going to school here, and just knowing meeting all the people in town and enjoying the friendship and support. And really touched by your kind words tonight. It's been a pleasure working with you folks as well.

And the feelings mutual. I appreciate the relationships we've shared as well. So, having said that.

[Speaker 1] (44:19 - 44:32)
So, Chief, we're not going to let July 15th come without a further discussion. So, that was a good dry run of your, that was a good run, a dry run. But I'm glad that you're here tonight and I'm glad that you're sharing.

[Speaker 7] (44:32 - 44:48)
And I can assure you, I'll be around, you know, I like going to the farmer's market at a minimum. I've seen all these folks there over the years. My daughter is a musician and she plays there from time to time.

So, at a minimum, I expect I'll be bumping into these folks at the farmer's market and I'll be in town.

[Speaker 1] (44:51 - 45:22)
Thanks. And thank you for everything. And we're going to continue this conversation in the coming weeks.

So, thank you, Chief. I want to next move to the second part of Sean's announcement, which is to ask Sean to formally introduce the board to Chief David Kurz, who Sean is recommending, David, to be the Interim Police Chief Administrator effective Tuesday, July 6th.

[Speaker 3] (45:22 - 47:45)
So, I'm really pleased to recognize Kurz. Chief Kurz really, I think they're both very unique Chiefs. They don't really fit the typical mold I would say and he has an incredible ability to connect with people.

Apologize about that. So, I've had a really great opportunity to meet Chief Kurz over the last few weeks and talk a little bit about his qualifications. He has served, as I mentioned earlier, for 22 years as the Chief of Durham, New Hampshire.

Durham is the home of UNH. It shares a lot of similarities with Swanscot in the sense that it is a busy community and has a lot of policies and procedures that are really reflected in some of the best practice standards. Chief Kurz has been to the FBI National Academy in Quantico.

He has worked closely with a number of regional police standards and training councils. He has exceptional experience in accreditation. Been part of the CALEA or the National Accreditation Standards for Policing and has done a lot of work to help support policies and procedures around professionalizing law enforcement.

With that, you know, I think his most exceptional qualities are his personal skills. He's got terrific relationship skills and I can see over the next few weeks to months, you know, Chief Kurz really working well with both members of the Swanscot Police Department but with stakeholders in Swanscot. I'd like to just take an opportunity to introduce Chief Kurz and have him say a few words about that wonderful house that he has in the background there.

Chief, welcome.

[Speaker 8] (47:46 - 48:40)
Thank you very much. I really wanted to say I had an opportunity to meet, albeit briefly, with Chief Madigan and I've got to say I appreciate the Select Board's comments because they seem to articulate very nicely who he is and what was interesting, you know, we were talking about getting into police work when we were young men and, you know, we both had the same idea of that we wanted to make a difference and it's pretty clear that Chief Madigan grew out knowing that he made a positive difference to Swanscot. So, as a custodian for an interim period of time, I look forward to following in his footsteps and working with him in the next couple weeks until he retires on the 15th.

[Speaker 7] (48:43 - 48:44)
Thank you.

[Speaker 1] (48:44 - 49:32)
Thanks, Chief Kurz. Welcome. Appreciate you being here tonight.

I also want to acknowledge the Town Administrator has, over the last many days and weeks, has given, I think, Chief, you've had an opportunity to meet and have a brief conversation one-on-one with all the Select Board and I appreciate you making yourself available for that. I wonder if you can just share a little bit about your kind of underlying philosophy as a Chief, especially an interim Chief. I know that you, this is not unfamiliar to you.

We had some conversations, but just to share, you know, how you view it and what you think the responsibilities and roles are in that interim role.

[Speaker 8] (49:33 - 52:23)
Sure. I appreciate the opportunity. You know, I'm the new guy from away.

You know, I work for MRI and they're essentially contracting with the Town of Swanscot to have me there on an interim basis. I bring a philosophy of procedural justice and community engagement and recognizing that the police serve the community and that's essentially why they exist. I was part of the 21st century.

I was a contributor to the manual that came out in the aftermath of, by President Obama, in the aftermath of Ferguson and obviously since then we've had, you know, problem upon problem with poor policing. And one of the things that I was truly distressed about within the aftermath of Ferguson was essentially the inability of the police department to engage with their community to, you know, stem some of the issues. Clearly there was a problem that needed to be addressed, but there was no one to talk to.

And it's, it's my, pretty much a continuation of what Chief Mannigan has been doing the last 20 years is, you know, engaging the community, knowing who you're talking to, knowing where you can go and to help solve problems that are mutually beneficial for the community. And I can assure you I've had the good fortune to, you know, do some consulting work for a host of police departments across the country and for the Department of Justice. And, you know, you really have been pretty lucky with, you know, the quality of the person of Chief Mannigan.

And from everything I've heard, I look forward to meeting the staff of the department, but from everything I've heard, it's just a solid group of, you know, the word integrity comes to mind and how they just want to do the right thing at the right time and try to do it better every time. So I look forward to, you know, bringing some of that in the interim. I know that Sean was looking for a, you know, a level playing field so that when the, whoever is going to be applying from within the department, you know, doesn't have the burden of being the interim or whoever he or she may be.

So I hope to, you know, offer that comfort level to the community as the department moves forward and into the next chief.

[Speaker 1] (52:24 - 52:39)
Thanks, Chief. I want to give, in a minute, I would like to hear a little bit more from the town administrator about the process going forward. But before we do that, I'm hoping that other board members, if you have any questions or statements for Chief Kurz, by all means, I want to welcome those now.

[Speaker 2] (52:49 - 53:18)
We just, I think we all had an opportunity to speak with you, but I just really enjoyed our conversation. And aside from your skill set, your personality is just approachable and friendly, and I think that's always helpful. And so I'm just really excited that you're stepping into the role and to hear your feedback about sort of what your idea is of this position and, yeah, moving, helping us move forward.

Thanks.

[Speaker 1] (53:19 - 53:57)
Thank you. All right, Sean. Sean, would you mind just sharing with us some preliminary thoughts to set expectations for the community at large as to what the process is?

And going forward, I do want to note at the outset, I appreciate that Chief Kurz comes not only with a huge background, but also with the full support of MRI, which is an organization to be able to help us navigate and, as a community, find our way to the selection of the next chief of police. But perhaps you can just, in general terms anyway, share your initial thoughts on that process. Sure.

[Speaker 3] (53:58 - 57:03)
Peter, as you know, the town of Swampstead's town meeting voted to remove both the police and fire department from civil service. This was done after really a year-long conversation about the opportunities to build a more inclusive police and fire department. We have some pending legislation right now that is working its way through the legislature that we expect to finalize over the next few weeks.

Based on that timeline, you know, we would hope to, you know, outline a process that would involve community stakeholders over the course of the next few months. I would anticipate that this could take a few months as we work out a schedule. We're going to be hiring for the first time out of civil service, and so we're going to want to look at a number of strategies to really open up the recruitment and ensure that everybody has a chance to apply for this.

We had talked about ensuring that we have a number of candidates internally that can present as well, and so we want to make sure that, you know, we have a schedule that allows everybody to prepare for that process. Typically, this process includes a notice, you know, and a posting that can last anywhere from 30 days to 60 days. They'll have a profile statement.

That profile statement should be developed in advance and include some of the community expectations in order to establish those. We'll have to have meetings in the community to really get that feedback, and so when we look at, you know, stakeholders, we're going to want to really identify community groups that really have expectations for policing. These could be educational, faith-based, civic-based, and really go out and get feedback about what really should best define a 21st century police chief.

These are important positions, and I would want the town to be careful with that process and really not rush into that. I think the opportunity to have an interim gives us a chance to really structure a selection timeline that supports critical community input and helps us ensure that we have a recruitment process that really is inclusive.

[Speaker 1] (57:05 - 57:47)
Thanks. I would ask that in the coming month or so we have as an agenda item a more detailed discussion as a board and welcome community feedback as you continue to build out the process. I think the idea of a profile statement and having community contribution and discussion about what's important to the community is a really paramount interest to get buy-in to put whoever he or she is as the next chief on the best footing for success on behalf of this community.

So with that, if there's no other questions or comments, is there a if there's questions or comments, ask questions or comments.

[Speaker 2] (57:48 - 58:17)
Can I just make a comment and then I can make a motion, but just based on what you said, Sean, I just I think it's worth clarifying with the process and not rushing, and I know that you weren't being specific, but at first you had said it's going to be a few months and then you kind of discussed this process. To me, it sounds more like the process could take anywhere from, you know, six months or even a year, and I just want to clarify, I think it's worth clarifying that point, so the expectation is kind of clear up front.

[Speaker 3] (58:19 - 58:58)
Sure, I do think that that is a fair expectation. This is not going to be a process that we are racing to complete. This is an opportunity for us really to work with stakeholders and really support, you know, public engagement.

I think this is a unique time and I think there are a lot of conversations happening in a number of different circles that really speak to, you know, the type of expectations that we want to see in this type of recruiting process.

[Speaker 2] (59:00 - 59:32)
Thanks. Okay, does anyone else? So I move that the Select Board approve the recommendation of the Town Administrator to appoint David Kurz as the Interim Police Chief slash Administrator effective Tuesday, July 6, 2021, due to the impending retirement of Chief Madigan on July 15, 2021, and further that the Interim Police Administrator shall serve as an at-will employee and that the intended term of such appointment be until such time as the permanent head of the police department is appointed.

[Speaker 1] (59:33 - 59:40)
Second. Any questions or discussion? All those in favor?

[Speaker 16] (59:41 - 59:42)
Aye.

[Speaker 1] (59:43 - 1:00:02)
All right. Chief Kurz, thank you very much. Congratulations.

Chief Madigan, we look forward to continuing visiting with you in the coming weeks and thanks very much for being here and Sean, thanks very much for bringing this along and getting us to this point this evening.

[Speaker 3] (1:00:03 - 1:00:30)
Thank you, Peter. Chief Madigan and Chief Kurz, thank you both very much. I really am looking forward to working with you over the next few weeks and months as we continue to build upon a tremendous legacy.

You know, what we said earlier about the police department, you know, Swampscott's police department is known both locally and regionally as one of the best around and we'll continue to uphold that standard of excellence.

[Speaker 1] (1:00:33 - 1:06:51)
Thanks, Chiefs. Thank you. With the indulgence of the board, I'm going to continue to take another item out of order and move on to the annual consolidated evaluation of the Town Administrator.

As in prior years, the Swampscott Select Board has undertaken its annual review of the Swampscott Town Administrator. In addition to individual assessments by each Select Board member, the review also included discussions with at least one Town employee and at least one Town volunteer to hear about their experiences over the past fiscal year with the Town Administrator. Throughout the year, Select Board members also regularly hear from residents, business owners, Town employees, and others about the Town Administrator and Town Hall staff.

This feedback further informs the Select Board members' opinions on topics outside of their personal interactions with the Town Administrator. This consolidated evaluation summary completes the annual review of the Swampscott Town Administrator. The past 15 months in the COVID-19 pandemic presented some of the most difficult challenges ever seen for municipal government.

COVID-19 required unprecedented and demanded changes. Almost overnight, Swampscott Municipal Government transformed itself to provide remote services and to provide frontline public health information and resources. Thanks to the tremendous dedication and hard work of the Town Administrator and Town staff, Swampscott quickly remobilized resources to ensure the safe continuity of essential Town services and took important actions needed to protect employees and residents during the pandemic.

Additionally, the pandemic brought about unprecedented financial challenges to the Town government. Recent years of financial planning and discipline in Swampscott allowed Swampscott to nimbly and successfully navigate the financial crisis without the need of a single layoff or elimination of a key municipal service, and without any increase to the average single-family tax bill. Many other communities were not as prepared as Swampscott.

The unforeseen and unprecedented challenges of the past 15 months highlight the critical need for strong professional municipal government, excuse me, management and financial stewardship. It is with this backdrop and with this understanding that the Swampscott Select Board considers Swampscott very fortunate to have Sean Fitzgerald as our Town Administrator. The financial and budgeting discipline championed by Sean Fitzgerald has resulted in an all-time high level of financial reserves, while at the same time ensuring that the average single-family tax bill is less than it was four years ago.

I'm going to say that again. Because of the efforts of Sean Fitzgerald and the financial team, the average single-family tax bill in Swampscott is less than it was four years ago, and the Town of Swampscott has all-time record financial reserves. Moreover, Sean continues to advise the Select Board and residents on necessary policy changes required for Swampscott to address structural financial challenges that threaten Swampscott's continued financial strength.

Sean's financial focus and prudence not only benefits Swampscott's taxpayers with significantly smaller increases in real estate taxes, but it also opens up opportunities for Swampscott to invest in new programs and projects that improve the quality of life for our residents. The Select Board is pleased by Sean's commitment to Swampscott, his work ethic, and his enthusiasm. Sean's love of what he does and his commitment to his profession and his commitment to Swampscott is evident in all aspects of his work.

While this commitment and enthusiasm has provided many positive results for Swampscott, the Select Board encourages Sean to continue to identify and embrace circumstances where he can slow down and focus on some of the important details that can be overlooked in a fast-paced energetic environment. The Board also continues to note that Sean's enthusiasm and high energy can at times contribute to a sense that he's not fully listening. Listening is of paramount importance.

Most often it is enough to listen, acknowledge that you heard the speaker, and as appropriate, follow up later with a thoughtful response. The Select Board also suggests that Sean continue to seek organizational tools to ensure timely follow-up to requests from the Board and others. This most certainly would require increased delegation to many of the highly qualified town staff.

As noted in prior evaluations, progress will slow without greater organization, planning, and delegation. Sean continues to impress and lead with his compassion for people in need and the most vulnerable in our town. There has not been a single significant initiative undertaken from Sean this year where he did not thoughtfully consider the impact on all residents in Swampscott.

While the Select Board was frustrated by a lack of public engagement and communication relative to the Town's revised solid waste policy, the Board does applaud Sean's success in finding an equitable solution that did not require all residents to pay the increased costs associated with only 15 percent of households exceeding one barrel of trash per week. This past year also saw Swampscott faced with significant issues involving race, injustice, and inequality, including controversy surrounding actions of the Swampscott Police Department. The Board is impressed that Sean fully embraces difficult discussions within our community with the Board and with staff.

We are grateful that Sean led the successful effort to obtain an appropriation to hire the Town's first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director and his successful pursuit to remove the Town's Public Safety Departments from the Massachusetts Civil Service System. Sean is driven by a clear understanding of right and wrong and an unquestionable commitment to doing right and making right when it is not right. Sean expects this of himself, the Select Board, and all others.

These are unteachable and invaluable attributes and we are grateful to have a Town Leader that carries these values and who seeks to surround himself with similar high quality individuals. Overall, while there are some areas we identify the need for improvement, the Swampscott Select Board is pleased and highly satisfied with Sean's performance and continued professional growth during fiscal year 2021. The Town of Swampscott is very fortunate to have Sean working on our behalf.

With that, I want to welcome my colleagues on the Select Board to add any additional comments.

[Speaker 2] (1:07:02 - 1:09:31)
Yeah, I mean, it's frustrating that you're, Peter, you summarized this and it's very articulate so, but I will say, you know, Sean, I think your optimism, enthusiasm, and creativity combined with your, you know, highly analytical nature has just resulted in very obvious and not so obvious benefits to the Town. The obvious ones are fiscal discipline, responsibility, and all the benefits that come from that, as Peter outlined. But also, I think you have helped all of us, frankly, and other boards and committees, I'm sure, feel free to find their voice and speak their own creativity and take risks in that direction.

So, as you know, you're not just a Town Administrator, you're a Leader and you've led us with your positivity and forward-thinking qualities to really lean in ourselves in ways that we're inclined to do without pressure. Just, it's kind of a contagious type of thing. So, that's just a gift and I feel really lucky for that.

So, those things, I think, are hard to see maybe on some other, you know, more, I don't want to say public levels, but just out in the Town, but I can say that as a Board Member, that's absolutely true and it's been, it's not easy to quantify just how important that is. So, I think Peter highlighted, you know, with creativity comes, you know, everybody has a balance and, you know, I think we've discussed some of the times where we have had challenges where I feel that I haven't, you know, we weren't really hearing me, you were trying and, but I will say that I'm really direct and so I just tell you and then you're always receptive and I think that willingness, I'm not saying it's perfect, but your willingness to hear and respect the person speaking to you and to, you know, stay humble and willingness to grow and change is really important and yeah. So, thanks.

[Speaker 3] (1:09:31 - 1:09:32)
Thank you.

[Speaker 4] (1:09:33 - 1:11:28)
Yeah, I'll be brief. I mean, I agree with Polly. Peter's summary was, you know, the summary of the Board and I agree with everything that he said.

So, it wasn't just, you know, Peter's thoughts, but I think all of ours. So, you know, I just, I think back to the town meeting right prior to when David and I were elected and just being so somewhat shocked and how well positioned we were to sort of go into the storm of COVID financially and just how somewhat confident we were and just, I know that didn't just happen and there was so much work that was put into positioning us to be there and just that over this last year, I would just say I think you've been remarkably steady with everything that's been thrown at you both outside events but also by us and we've had multiple conversations where you've said, you know, this too shall pass to me to sort of to help keep me from losing it sometimes.

So, I really appreciate that steady hand that you have. I know that probably you weren't necessarily feeling that confident at times. So, it's really been helpful and it's been an extraordinary year with unbelievable challenges.

So, thanks for all your hard work and I, you know, agree with all of the other, you know, points in terms of what we can do better and look forward to doing that with you. Thank you.

[Speaker 6] (1:11:30 - 1:13:54)
Yeah, Sean, it has been a heck of a year. A heck of a year, a heck of a 16 months, 15 months, however long it's been. Feels like seven years.

Feels like dog years here but, you know, I want to thank you for helping me, you know, as I transitioned and I became a, you know, a new select citizen as you call us. You know, I think it's been helpful and I just want to let you know personally I've learned a lot from watching you, talking to you and listening to you and you always pick up your phone. You know, if I have a comment, if I have a question, you always, you know, you always make yourself available and I think that's awesome even if it's after hours or on weekends.

Sorry, but, you know, sometimes business calls but, you know, I really think you have a strong moral compass and we've talked about this, you know, at length with other board members and I really think that, you know, we could drop you blindfold and you'd find your true north and I really have, you know, the full faith that, you know, in you to lead us and lead us as the town administrator. I think, you know, I've heard you speak at a number of community events and your passion and your enthusiasm for the town and for its volunteers is there. I mean, it's evident in everything that you do and in your words and in your actions and certainly, you know, last but not least, the financial path that you've really worked on.

You know, the fact that we have lower taxes than we had in 2017 is testament to your efforts and the financial team's efforts to really hone in on these very important metrics and really set financial guidelines that are going to help Swampscot continue to evolve over the course of, you know, the next several years and the next decade. So, thank you for showing us the way there and really that's going to allow us to really take advantage of low interest rates and potentially build a new elementary school, which is something that is desperately needed as we have the fifth oldest elementary school buildings in the commonwealth. So, thank you.

[Speaker 1] (1:13:56 - 1:16:42)
That's it. So, I think it's worth noting to take off on David's point about the new elementary school because I think there is no singular example where the fruits of the financial planning over the last many years are going to show themselves and they showed themselves on Monday night at a joint meeting with the select board, with the finance committee, with the capital improvement committee, with the town financial team and with you.

In 2014, the town made a decision to not support a new elementary school and while that was painful because it challenged the school department to continue to function in obsolete and challenging facilities for a prolonged period of time, in the rear view mirror, it is clear the town was not financially ready for that expenditure. And so, since then, the town has been preparing for it and the ability for us as a town to be able to effectively use reserves on top, which is, again, preparation upon preparation upon preparation and to be able to have reserves to use because of preparation and to combine it with good fortune of an interest rate environment, which is unprecedented as an interest rate environment, we are going to be able to pay for a school that is twice as expensive as the one that we turned down in 2014 just because of inflation, just because of escalation is why it's that cost. But it's not going to cost us effectively more to the taxpayer than the school that was turned down in 2014 and that's remarkable because we have financial reserves and we have tools that we didn't even think about in 2014.

It wasn't as if there was a conversation about them. It was not even in the dialogue in 2014. And that is because of your leadership, the financial team's execution and, frankly, the breadcrumbs that you have left for the select board and for other committees to realize the merit and the importance of those items.

And you have patiently led us down that path and allowed us to help you on that path. But that singular achievement is, to me, paramount in addition to all the other things, Sean, that you've done, the intangibles that Polly speaks of, the culture. And so as we, as a community, are on the cusp of having to approve, wanting to approve a new elementary school for our kids, we're able to all be advocates financially in the community and say not only do we need the school, it's the financially responsible thing to do.

There is no other financial responsible thing to do. And it's because of the tools that you brought with you and the new thinking that you brought with us. So thank you for that.

[Speaker 3] (1:16:42 - 1:18:19)
Appreciate that. I'm really just humbled. I want folks to realize that the team that we have from, frankly, Allie Fisk to Chief Archer to Chief Madigan to Mars Eagle Alaska to, frankly, our entire town hall staff and committees, everybody is part of a team that is really working hard to move Swansea forward.

And I'm proud to play a part in that and certainly proud of the progress that we're making as a community. I do want to just share that I do think intently about, you know, my ability to really improve my communication style and my ability to really listen. It's important to take some of this criticism to heart.

And really, I will spend some time, you know, thinking more about how to be better and to be more careful about how we present information and respond to information. These are important opportunities for growth and I appreciate the board's focus on some of these issues.

[Speaker 2] (1:18:26 - 1:18:49)
You're right, Joe, about the mute button. That's convenient. I move to approve the consolidated evaluation of the town administrator for fiscal year 2021 and move to approve the discretionary performance bonus for FY 2021 as set forth in section three of the employment contract by and between the town of Swampscott and Sean Fitzgerald dated February 6th, 2019.

[Speaker 6] (1:18:51 - 1:18:51)
Second.

[Speaker 1] (1:18:53 - 1:19:03)
Any further conversation, questions or statements? All right. I would like to do a roll call on this one.

David Grishman. Aye. Neil Duffy.

Aye. Holly Titcombe.

[Speaker 2] (1:19:03 - 1:19:04)
Aye.

[Speaker 1] (1:19:04 - 1:19:34)
And I am also an aye. Don Haas is traveling tonight and couldn't be here, but he did express that he is also an aye in absentia, but feels very strongly and is very supportive. So thank you, Sean, and thank you to my colleagues for all the effort in completing this and getting this done.

All right. I now would entertain a motion to take the public hearing for aggregate industries off the table.

[Speaker 16] (1:19:35 - 1:19:36)
I move.

[Speaker 1] (1:19:36 - 1:20:46)
Is there a second? Second. All those in favor?

Aye. All right. At our last meeting, we opened a public hearing on the fiscal year 22 earth removal permit for aggregate industries that we continued the public hearing without closing the public hearing so that we could continue to get testimony from aggregate industries, from members of the public, town staff concerning the renewal of the permit.

When we last left, we invited members of the community to submit comments or questions about the earth removal permit to the select board and appreciate all those that have submitted questions to us in advance and our comments in advance of tonight. We also at the time on June 2nd asked aggregate industries to get us comments by the end of business on June 7th. Aggregate industries through council sent us a letter asking to have through January 11th to submit comments.

The town did not receive comments until yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, January, sorry, June. I'm saying January.

[Speaker 16] (1:20:46 - 1:20:46)
Yeah.

[Speaker 1] (1:20:46 - 1:23:01)
I don't mean to say January. I'm going to do that again. We met June 2nd.

We were asked for comments by Monday, June 7th. We received a letter from aggregate industries asking to have until Friday, June 11th to provide comments. The select board and staff didn't receive any comments until yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, July 15th.

We have received some comments from aggregate and it was shared directly by aggregate industries and council to the select board and so the select board members do have those comments. Tonight we're going to hear briefly from aggregate industries about specific changes or comments that they're seeking to the draft permit. Then I want to again invite members of the public to share their comments this evening.

You can do that one or two ways. If you're joining with us on zoom you are welcome to raise your virtual hand and we will call on you and give you an opportunity to share your comment or question. If you are not joining us on zoom you are welcome to send me an email at P as in Peter, last name Spellios which is the word spell with an IOS as in Sam at the end at swamscottma.gov and I will take a look at my email and do everything I can to make sure that I share your comment or your question this evening. And then ultimately for the board to have a conversation on the permit and the goal tonight to be to seek to close the public hearing and to vote on the permit in advance of the end of the current fiscal year and the start of the next fiscal year. So with that I want to welcome attorney Drukas who is before us this evening. He is one of four people in our live studio audience tonight.

Before you leave look under your chairs we've left a gift for everybody for attending this evening. But I want to welcome you to share and I guess I would ask you to specifically walk us through language changes in the permit that you are asking us to consider tonight so that we can focus on those because that's our goal tonight is to make sure that we incorporate those to the extent that we are comfortable with the changes or to not as the case may be but to make sure that we hear the ones that you're asking for this evening. So if you wouldn't mind focusing on that that'd be great.

[Speaker 5] (1:23:03 - 1:30:04)
Okay thank you. As you know I'm Chris Drukas a lawyer in an office in Salem Massachusetts and I represent aggregate industries in the northeast region as their local attorney. Appearing with another company tonight with me is via zoom our tenured tailor who's the aggregate operations manager Jarrett Temple regional manager for land and environment also on behalf of my client Damon Silkson has also joined the team.

Before I go any further I'd first like to say after listening to the evaluation on Sean just so that you know as somebody who deals with town administrators and has dealt with various ones in the town of Swampscott as well as others I think that you've got a very good one here. I always found Sean to be a straight shooter and someone who knows generally what he's talking about. So thank you Chris.

No not a problem. You gotta call him as you see him. First thing I would like to do though before I go any further is apologize to the board on behalf of my client as we were not able to provide you with the written response that you requested on June 2nd by Monday June 7th to the draft permit and I did as the chair noted notify the board of that shortcoming that we would and that we had hoped to be able to respond by June 11th but we were unable to get everything together by that date to present to the board prior to tonight's meeting as we were only able to provide our response and deliver it to you yesterday as reported by email.

I believe it's important to point out to the board that the quarry that is located in Swampscott and Salem is owned and operated by the international conglomerate Lafarge Holstein and it was necessary to engage representatives of the company in the Chicago headquarters as a result of the draft permit that was submitted. My client believes that we can create a permit that will be beneficial to all parties concerned if we continue to work together through a comprehensive process. We recognize the need to meet and mitigate the factors that the board wants addressed while allowing my client to conduct its business with regulations that are supported by science and existing state federal laws and regulations.

I certainly recognize the position that has been stated by Chairman Spillios that a permit is issued by the board and that is not a negotiated contract. However, as I and he have both served as on a select board as well as been zoning board members, where permits are issued to developers containing conditions which may cause the developer to economically suffer, we know the conditions must be based upon state federal and local laws and standards. It becomes a balancing test for the applicant as to whether or not the conditions and restrictions imposed in those instances are such the developer can absorb the cost associated with them or whether they render the project unprofitable and therefore null.

The other course available is to mount a challenge to them to seek an alternative result. It is a pleasure-pain calculus for both sides. I urge the status quo to be extended further and more time to be given to process but recognize the select board's right to proceed as you deem fit.

I think with the material that we've provided to you tonight, you can see that there are things that we would like to see continued to be fleshed out, if you will, based upon the written materials that we gave you because if they are not, then without having input, direct input from your board, while we're having these discussions, it becomes more like a ping-pong ball. I know that I asked the last time for more direct input from your board, either through the town administrator or a member from your board, to sit down with us, with Margie and the ERAC, and go through these particular items rather than for us to sit here tonight and try and go through the various items. It was a detail that is required.

I think will not result in what we all want, which is testing that is available and accurate and not overly burdensome and with a permit that provides for a better outcome for both the community and my client. So I would urge you again to continue the existing permit until such time as we can have further discussions and input in working through with the ERAC as well as yourselves, having a little bit more direct input in the process. I'm not sure that tonight we could go through and have the kind of discussion, and I'm not asking that this be done behind closed doors.

None of our meetings have ever been behind closed doors. They've always been at public hearings and with the Earth Movement Committee having regularly scheduled meetings, but I just don't think we can get through this tonight with a result that's going to make both sides happy. I think the fact that this went up to corporate should tell you something and help you to understand that we are treading on territory that the company feels would be very counterproductive in the relationship.

So that's my request.

[Speaker 1] (1:30:05 - 1:30:10)
Do you have any specific changes in the permit tonight that you want to outline, or do you want us to stay with that request?

[Speaker 5] (1:30:10 - 1:30:33)
I've been instructed to make the presentation that I've just made, and I have made it. Okay, fair enough. I think the comments that you got that were submitted identify enough of the areas that need to be worked on that I don't think we could resolve tonight.

[Speaker 1] (1:30:34 - 1:31:01)
So I want a second. I don't think we can resolve it tonight, which is why the board asked for information before tonight, before 2 p.m. yesterday. And I understand.

No, no, I'm just in fairness, right? And I understand that. So we used the last 24 hours to get versed in what was given to us in the last 24 hours, and we are volunteers and staff has other responsibilities.

I know you know all this, Chris. I'm just saying it for the broader public, which is we're going to do the best we can with what we have.

[Speaker 5] (1:31:02 - 1:31:20)
Well, again, I don't think there's any reason why we can't take more time. We have until June 30th, I mean, June 30th, number one. And number two, you have the right to extend the permit past the existing permit pass that while we try and generate the next permit.

[Speaker 2] (1:31:20 - 1:32:31)
So I think my guess on that is this has been in the works for a really long time, and it isn't so much like we can't take any more time to do this. So much as it is, I think aside from some minor, less substantial amendments, I think Iraq and the town has come to where they are with certain of the contested issues, and aggregate is where they are. So I'm not sure another extension would actually help change those because it has been an ongoing conversation and thoroughly researched on the town's end and advised.

And so I just I think that's the reason why. I mean, there could be other reasons, but I think that's the main reason why it makes sense to move forward tonight if the rest of the board is comfortable with that. I do have thoughts about your particular requests, though, when we get there, but first to the taking it up tonight or not, but I just wanted to respond to that.

[Speaker 1] (1:32:32 - 1:32:48)
Well, I think just hearing you and me, I think I'm hearing that we're going to, there's not a majority not to take it up tonight. There's only four of us, so I'm just doing some math here. If you guys want to make the argument to delay, I want to give you the space to make that argument to delay to be on tonight.

[Speaker 6] (1:32:49 - 1:33:13)
No, I'm not going to make an argument to delay. I don't think the status quo can continue. I live at 55 Samson.

I live in precinct one. My neighbors and I are, you know, we're butters, neighbors to the quarry, and I think we want to see this comprehensive change to the permit. I want to take this up tonight.

I want to move forward.

[Speaker 4] (1:33:16 - 1:33:18)
Yeah, I'm in favor of taking up tonight, too.

[Speaker 1] (1:33:18 - 1:33:57)
Okay, so Polly, I suggest we go through things that you, again, I don't know that there are specific comments as much as there are general things that they're questioning, so, but if there are things that specifically, I have a couple of revisions that I want to discuss, but if there's some things that you want to respond to, aggregates comments, but let's go through those, and if we can do it with reference to literally turning the document, because we're going to have to hand write things to the extent we're changing things. We're going to need to hand write revisions just so you know that. That'd be helpful, and I'm happy to help, as you're talking about it, I'm happy to point you or point us or try and help navigate the document.

[Speaker 2] (1:33:58 - 1:35:17)
Well, I did not print out their revisions, their proposed revisions, but I do have everyone else, oh, sorry, I didn't realize they wouldn't be, thank you, I did review it. Okay, so, yeah, what is page two? Oh, yeah, page two, the last sentence of the paragraph about particular air monitoring, and then similarly, to noise testing?

I don't, I'm just, I don't remember, I remember requests during the discussions that aggregate would be responsible for payment of those, but I just, I guess I do have a question, I, the form of payment or of reimbursement or opening an account, I just, I, I guess I'm open to feedback, but I, I, that was new in my mind, I hadn't seen that before, so, I don't think, if you can clarify, that aggregate is contesting paying for the monitoring or testing, it's more that we're asking you to put, aggregate to put money into an account that's available for that, is that correct?

[Speaker 1] (1:35:20 - 1:35:29)
Yes, the question, the question is actually what aggregate is contesting or disagreeing with, is it the place where the money is put or it's having to put the money in the first instance?

[Speaker 5] (1:35:30 - 1:35:48)
It's, it's having, it's having to put the money in in the first instance where we have no, no necessarily input into the process of how it, how it's all going to be spent, the company views it as giving you a blank check to do whatever you want and they're not comfortable with that.

[Speaker 1] (1:35:48 - 1:36:07)
So, when the town historically has allowed you to engage your own consultants and give the own scope to your own consultants, would it be fair for the town to say, kind of felt like we gave the applicant a blank check for many, many years to pick the consultant to do what testing and scope that you wanted to and present what data ultimately in a way you wanted to to us?

[Speaker 5] (1:36:07 - 1:36:14)
I think the appropriate remedy for that is peer review, which we would then be bound to pay for.

[Speaker 2] (1:36:14 - 1:36:48)
Okay, let me just, I'll just to, we can get into that, my point was I had understood that it was, and I don't know what a chapter 44, 53g and a half, too bad Ron is not here, account is, but if you wanted a different mechanism for paying for it, that's how I read that, that is something I'm not opposed to. If it's about payment in the first place because it's not someone that aggregate necessarily chooses, then I revoke my suggestion.

[Speaker 5] (1:36:48 - 1:37:51)
It's, it's, it's not us choosing it, it's, it's, it's the methodology and, and, and how, what's going to be studied and how it's going to be paid for and, and we're recognizing that we would be required to pay for it, but the way this is written is we would have no input into that and as I said to you, the company views the way that these are set up in this, in this permit as just blank checks. All right, have you suggested in your material a cap on any of these costs? No, what we were hoping to do would be to get back into further, we never got to this issue when dealing with the, with ERAC about how those, these things would be set up and how that money would be spent because with all due respect to the fact that the process took a long time, it was during the pandemic and getting together was not that easy.

Probably going on to the next one.

[Speaker 2] (1:37:52 - 1:37:52)
Yeah.

[Speaker 5] (1:37:53 - 1:37:55)
And there's probably three or four of these in here.

[Speaker 2] (1:37:55 - 1:39:10)
Yeah, okay, in terms of the, let's see, okay, I'm not, in terms of page three that you would submit the testing, you know, I just, that to ERAC and the select board, I, I can't imagine why that would be objected to, so I, I guess I don't, I wouldn't agree to that proposed change. And then the only other one, I guess, to skip to what I do think could be, I'm open to possibly amending is on page 12, section 28 about violations. You had wanted a greater time window to pay the town in the, in the event of a violation, four days does not make sense from a business standpoint, 30 days recommended.

That doesn't seem from what I'm reading, it doesn't seem overly burdensome.

[Speaker 1] (1:39:10 - 1:39:14)
And then, so that's, that's not a payment date, that's a show cause date, that's a hearing date.

[Speaker 2] (1:39:16 - 1:41:07)
Okay, 28, 28, page 12. Okay, I, you know what, fine, I, a red line version would have been just very helpful, so apparently, I don't know why bullet points, I just, so anyway, time frames, I think, if others are open to them, I can't imagine just that they're, like, categorically excluded, and then the only other thing, I, there was a, it's referring to a statute, and you'd like to copy and paste the statute, so I don't see a problem with that.

But other than that, I, I don't find any flexibility. Oh, there is one other thing, if you, let's see, so on page four, section five, with reference to noise, you had preferred that upon receipt of documented noise complaints, that after review by EROC and the Select Board, and consultation with EI, that the Select Board may, during the term of this permit, request additional noise testing, as opposed to require. I don't agree to that change, but, I mean, some of these concerns, I think, could just be handled with something like things not being unreasonably, you know, frequent, or overly, you know, something about reasonableness language in some of these, in terms of, like, the noise, noise violations and dust testing, if there's just some general protective language, I, it seems that your concerns that you've bulleted here could be addressed, but again, I, I don't know if that's really what you're looking for, because it's, it really is hard to tell on a separate document with just bullet points without quote, quoted text, text and suggested changes in the document, so, sorry that wasn't more productive.

[Speaker 5] (1:41:07 - 1:41:09)
I think you're making my point.

[Speaker 2] (1:41:10 - 1:41:12)
But that's not our fault.

[Speaker 1] (1:41:12 - 1:41:16)
No, I actually think she's making, I actually think she's making my point, Chris. I am making this point.

[Speaker 2] (1:41:17 - 1:41:17)
Yeah.

[Speaker 1] (1:41:18 - 1:42:38)
Other questions or comments from board members? Neil, are you good for now? Yep.

So, I have a couple that I just wanted to bring forward, just for discussion purposes. On page section 10, which is blasting in 10A, AI will be limited to 50 blasts per year, and not more than two in any week. I just want to clarify the language to have it read, AI will be limited to a maximum of 50 blasts per year, with not more than two in any one week.

Again, it's just a language tightening. So again, it would be, AI will be limited to a maximum of 50 blasts per year, with not more than two in any one week. That's just a language refinement.

And then in section 10, I would suggest adding a new paragraph K. Back when we did the mid-year changes, there was a provision added for the mid-year changes that limited the blast depth of charges. And that last two weeks ago, when we had the conversation, that didn't show up here.

And so I wanted to suggest including that as a new K to basically, which would state, limit the blast slash depth of charge to not more than 40 feet.

[Speaker 5] (1:42:43 - 1:43:00)
Can I suggest that you make that 50 feet? And tell me why 50 feet is close to 40. The standard depth for each feet.

So why did we have... The 80 foot was when they were opening up a new level in the floor of the quad.

[Speaker 1] (1:43:01 - 1:44:05)
So let's hold on to that. I know that Jay Perkins is here with us, and so I want to come back to that in one minute, if you don't mind, just to get Jay's feedback. And then I do want to also give credit to counsel on paragraph 12, which is a conversation that he and I had a back and forth with.

I understand his reading of paragraph 12, and I can't objectively disagree with his reading of section 12. And so therefore, I'm suggesting on section 12, subparagraph D, it says any other reasons as determined by the fire department or blasting consulting. And I'm just going to refer to that as to due to imminent public safety concerns.

To limit it, because I believe 12 is really, and the suspension is really about trying to have it be due to public safety concerns.

[Speaker 5] (1:44:09 - 1:44:13)
I'm glad I didn't have to bring that up. You did. No, I mean it again.

[Speaker 1] (1:44:14 - 1:44:39)
I know what you meant. So those are the changes that I had to suggest. And if okay with the board, I would like just to ask Jay Perkins to chime in relative to the proposed depth change from 40 feet to 50 feet.

And Jay, I think you're with us, and I think you can unmute yourself.

[Speaker 12] (1:44:39 - 1:44:53)
I just unmuted myself. Yeah, I was looking at the plot that you generated, and that's the composite plot for the past five years.

[Speaker 1] (1:44:53 - 1:45:29)
Yeah, so can we hold on one second, Jay. Can I ask Allie Fisk to screen share? And so this is a plot that I would appreciate you kind of walking us through the X and Y axis of it to just help people at home and people here fully understand what this plot is showing.

So just give one second. So it's actually going to be the next plot. There you go.

So next page. Okay, perfect. There you go.

No, there you go. Perfect. Jay, I think this is the one.

[Speaker 12] (1:45:30 - 1:47:25)
So on the X axis, we have the peak particle velocity recorded. And then on the Y axis, we've got the maximum depth of each of the holes for each blast. And what I was looking for, I was trying to see some sort of a trend, some sort of a pattern of this data that would show it curving from left to right.

And I don't see that. I see everything just going straight up, just kind of almost like in a scatter. If the depth truly was an impact, and I know it has been because you do see some of the data several points way out in the right.

But if it was truly an impact, you would see all this data kind of swaying, swinging towards the right. Because as you increase the depth, you would increase the PPV. And you kind of just see it going up and down vertically.

So I didn't see that trend at all. So I'm not truly convinced that I'm still not very convinced that the depth and then I know that there were some high recordings. But still, if you look at across the 80 foot mark, it's just kind of goes straight across.

And there's so many other variables that could influence this, that I'm not. To me, it's not a sure thing. But by increasing it to 50 feet, I have no problem with that.

No. Anyway, that's I mean, I just saw this for the first time earlier today.

[Speaker 1] (1:47:28 - 1:47:32)
Thanks, Jay. Does the board have any objection to making 40 feet 50 feet?

[Speaker 4] (1:47:33 - 1:47:33)
No.

[Speaker 1] (1:47:35 - 1:48:10)
All right. I do. Ali, do you mind stopping screen share, please?

Thank you. Appreciate that. I do now want to welcome opportunities for comment.

Again, two ways for you to comment is through email to me at P as in Peter Spellios, the word spell with IOS as in Sam at the end at swampscottma.gov or to raise your virtual hand here on Zoom. Tony Bandewits has her hand raised.

[Speaker 10] (1:48:19 - 1:48:20)
Can you hear me?

[Speaker 1] (1:48:20 - 1:48:21)
We can. How are you?

[Speaker 10] (1:48:22 - 1:50:18)
I'm doing well. Tony Bandewits. I'm a member of ERAC.

And I just wanted to comment. I'm sorry I was away and I missed the last public hearing and just had a chance to review AI's comments also today. I just want to say I would have been in favor of just giving ERAC and AI a chance to just go over AI's comments.

Maybe I'm optimistic, but they didn't look like they were that difficult and we would be able to come to some agreement. I'm a believer that it's good to work with the company and try and come up with a mutually satisfied outcome. I do feel that AI has made substantial changes and just looking at the permit and the difference.

And part of it is due to select board pushing ERAC and AI to expand the permit requirements, but the permit contains a lot more. But it is a complex and difficult, I think you can tell by listening to Jay, the town's consultant. So we just want to get this right.

And I know there was a concern raised that we should get this out so that these provisions are in, but AI has been, you know, adhering to them. So that doesn't seem to be the problem. So I would have urged the board just to give ERAC and AI a chance to just finish what has been a very long negotiation period and to give ERAC a chance to finish that.

That's all I had to add.

[Speaker 1] (1:50:18 - 1:50:24)
Thanks, Tony. Do you mind just clarifying, is that your view or did ERAC kind of take an official position?

[Speaker 10] (1:50:25 - 1:50:48)
We have not had a chance to take an official position. So I guess it would be my position. I presume John and the other members of ERAC are present.

We didn't have a chance to vote on this. So that's for now my opinion. I don't know if John is available.

[Speaker 1] (1:50:50 - 1:51:30)
All right. Thanks, Tony. I appreciate it.

Conversations, follow-up board members. I mean, I think what I would say is there is nothing to prevent the applicant in ERAC to continue conversations about coming back and asking for a modification. But this has now been two years, effectively, because we didn't do a permit for fiscal year 21.

We operated under fiscal year 20. And so there's nothing that prevents a vote tonight and putting in effect this permit and then allowing ERAC and aggregate if aggregate wants to continue conversations to come back and make a joint recommendation to us to refine things for technical reasons or substantive reasons and bring it back before the board.

[Speaker 4] (1:51:34 - 1:51:41)
What's that process, Peter? Is it just a matter of requesting to be on our agenda, another public hearing, modifications of the permit?

[Speaker 1] (1:51:41 - 1:51:58)
Yeah, I think ERAC can at any time ask to come before us and come back. We, as an advisory board, come back and say, hey, we have an update. We have things that we want you to consider.

We've worked on some language. We've, you know, however ERAC thinks, I think is all possible.

[Speaker 6] (1:52:00 - 1:52:09)
And do we have time, not to put you on the spot, Tony, but I'm kind of putting you on the spot. Do you have a sense of the timing as to when that may be?

[Speaker 1] (1:52:12 - 1:52:39)
Well, hold on. In fairness, I think the chair should speak to that. Oh, sorry.

That's all right. And I don't know if the chair, John Piccarello, you're here. If you want to respond to that, I think David's trying to, first of all, I think David's just trying to understand, I think, what time you think, well, assuming we went down this path, how much time you'd want or think it would take.

[Speaker 13] (1:52:40 - 1:54:15)
Yeah. Thank you. I have to agree with Tony.

You know, we've been very fortunate to be able to take, and I should say unfortunate, to be able to take a meeting in person. And it's been extremely long and arduous task trying to do Zoom meetings and waiting for responses from either the administration and or the lawyers and or aggregate. It's been a long process.

We've made considerable strides. And this is an example of a very long and inclusive permit. Sure, there may be some kinks in it that we should probably take in, work out the details.

There are some things in it that I don't feel in my position, I don't feel that we want to change. But at the same time, I haven't had the opportunity to take and digest all the comments from AI as I got it yesterday, as you said, at two o'clock in the afternoon. We, I haven't discussed this with the other members.

They do, they have had the opportunity to have it in front of them sent by email. But I have no problems with calling a meeting and getting something resolved. However, I don't know that we would be able to complete it by June 30th.

It may take some time, maybe middle to late July before we actually come to conclusions. I don't know if that's in the select board's agreement.

[Speaker 2] (1:54:29 - 1:57:18)
I'm not, it's actually uncomfortable, just to put it right out there, that there's possibly, I don't want to say disagreement between what the board would be inclined to do and what ERAC is suggesting we do, because I certainly don't want to operate at odds with the committee that's charged with this. So I'm thinking out loud, clearly. But it also is, it's frustrating sitting here, I think, by no one's fault, just to have the process go on more when I'm not sure, you know, I'm not sure an entire consensus can be found given the amount of time that has passed, whether it's between ERAC and Aggregate, or Aggregate and the board, or a combination of those.

So the only other thing I'll say about this, just again, thinking out loud, not necessarily conclusory, is, you know, we've operated for a number of years with a lack of oversight that would have benefited our residents to our own fault, admittedly. And so in my opinion, I don't think anything in this current version of the permit is overly restrictive. I think it was based on data and professional input and Aggregate's own numbers when they weren't regulated practically at all by the town.

So I don't see this, it's restrictive in that it's lengthy and there's a lot of, I mean, I'm not being too sarcastic, but there's a lot of words in here. But in daily practice, I actually don't find that, in terms of the ability to continue on with the practices that they've substantially been doing, that this is a restrictive in that sense at all. So I don't see a harm in moving forward with what we have.

And then maybe Aggregate, again, I think it's reasonable. I wouldn't move forward if I think it's not. But we've had less restriction than we've wanted for however long they've been in operation.

And so if it turns out this year, or the beginning of this year, that the provisions in here are more restrictive for Aggregate than they can operate under, that's another discussion that can come back at any time. And again, I wouldn't move forward with this if I thought that were the case. But at the same time, I feel like everyone lives with some terms that they might not.

Everything requires tweaking. And if there are things that become legitimate, you know, clearly legitimate concerns that previously we weren't aware of, like a blasting depth or whatever, velocity, some of these terms, then we can revisit that. And I don't think it necessarily has to go to litigation in the meantime.

But I'm just kind of thinking out loud. I certainly don't want to put boards at odds with one another either.

[Speaker 1] (1:57:23 - 1:59:24)
So I don't, I thank you for your comments. I appreciate them. And I agree with most of them.

Again, ERAC's, well, ERAC's responsibility is an advisory board to us. So it's not really, we're not in conflict with each other. As a matter of fact, I think I'm looking at the recommendation and the material that ERAC gave us.

And so I, again, I think to welcome them to continue the dialogue on things that they think deserve more time. But, so that's the only part when I said most of them. That's the only part that I just, to kind of clarify on that.

The other thing, I meant to say this earlier, is that I would also in connection with a vote tonight, assuming we do a vote, is also to have consensus of the board to require staff to come back within 45 days to us with a new online reporting system for complaints that allows us to map location and blast data and to have it be incredibly user-friendly and that we have a communication strategy that goes with it to make sure that every resident that has interest knows that this is the one place, like, even if it's Salem.

Like, we're not going to, the days of calling the fire department or calling the building department and say, well, that's Salem, co-call Salem, you know, are done and vice versa, right? We'll tell Salem this is, if you want to send people to this portal, let's, but to in 45 days have staff come back with that portal that also has geolocating functions so that we can map complaints and blast data to help someone like Jay Perkins understand what happened on that day and to see where there is a problem versus maybe there's not, there's a perception of a problem and to do that. So that would be the other thing that I just ask us to give direction to staff on tonight.

So what's the preference of the board? In zoning parlance, and Chris Drukas knows this, when there's disagreement or when we're doing something that maybe not everybody's cheerleading on, we, everybody tends to take longer and they sit and look at each other and one meeting becomes two and three. That's what we used to always do when we were having tough decisions, so.

[Speaker 2] (1:59:25 - 1:59:26)
Yeah, I think I made my.

[Speaker 1] (1:59:26 - 1:59:29)
You did? I mean, so you didn't make a motion?

[Speaker 16] (1:59:29 - 1:59:29)
Yeah.

[Speaker 1] (1:59:29 - 1:59:32)
You just, you stayed in the opinion, so I'm looking for a motion.

[Speaker 2] (1:59:32 - 1:59:34)
No, I mean, I agree, but yeah, sure, okay.

[Speaker 4] (1:59:34 - 2:00:27)
I mean, it's frustrating to hear the opinion of ERAC at this moment, you know, recommending something different, but I think our choice is to continue with a less restrictive permit that we're not happy with for an open-ended period of time until something gets modified, or to, you know, pass this permit tonight, which is what we want, essentially, and I think that puts the pressure for the modifications to happen quicker.

So I'm for moving forward still, despite some of these other considerations, and I agree, Peter, that I think we should have some sort of direction to staff on that sort of system that you described.

[Speaker 6] (2:00:30 - 2:01:14)
Yep, I'm in full support of, full support of, you know, a gathering system that is easy to use and really matches the qualitative to the quantitative data, so I think that'll be extremely helpful as we move forward, and, you know, speaking for myself, I think it's, I think we're a reasonable, rational board, and I think if there are reasonable modifications, you know, they can certainly come in front of us at a later date, but I want to, I want to proceed, and I'm prepared to make a motion to approve this earth removal permit right now.

[Speaker 1] (2:01:15 - 2:03:12)
So, David, let me maybe just reiterate the changes that I had said just, and then you can confirm that that's the motion you want to make, that way we make sure we're capturing it correctly. Sure. And so to approve the draft earth removal permit subject to the following revisions in paragraph 10a, revise the language to have it read, AI will be limited to a maximum of 50 blasts per year, comma, with not more than two in any one week, it being the intention, of course, that 50 is the maximum cap for a year, and that they want two in some weeks and none in other weeks, that is their ability to do that. To revise section 10 by adding a new paragraph k, which says limit the blast slash depth of charge to not more than 50 feet, yep, to change paragraph 12 to modify subsection d to add at the end thereof due to public safety concerns. Huh?

Oh, sorry, eminent. So those, those are the changes, and then we'll come back and just confirm the direction of staff about the report. Okay.

So moved. Second. Is there any further conversation, questions on this?

You know, once again, I'm doing this out of order. I'm going to table your motion. Is there a motion to close the public hearing?

Got it. So moved. Second.

All right. All those in favor? Aye.

All right. And take, Mr. Grishman, make your motion again.

[Speaker 6] (2:03:14 - 2:03:25)
I would like to motion to approve the earth removal permit subject to the changes recommended and suggested by Chairman Spellios. Is there a second? Second.

[Speaker 1] (2:03:26 - 2:07:15)
Any further questions or comments? All those in favor? Aye.

Any opposed? No opposed. The ayes have it.

All right. Thank you for the hard work on this. The next item up this evening is a brief discussion and follow-up discussion on last meeting's discussions about committees and boards and a communication to committees and boards relative to the last 15 months, relative to appointments and the desire to increase representation on these boards and diversity of all kinds on these boards.

And so I, with the help of staff, the board has in its folder a suggested communication to all committee and board members. I thought I would quickly read it and see if there's any further conversation about it or edits or anything. Dear Swampscott committee and board members, it's been an unprecedented 15 months requiring great flexibility, creativity, and commitment from all volunteers in Swampscott.

Despite all the challenges, Swampscott's volunteer committees and boards continued the hard work and achieved great things for Swampscott. Thank you for all your efforts and your commitment to Swampscott. Recently, the select board discussed the town's volunteer committees and boards.

We want to take this time to share with you some updates and ideas. First, in continuing with the town's efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the town's initiatives and leaderships, we are excited to work with you and your committee or board to envision how each of you and your committee and board can operate with an eye toward more diverse, equitable, and inclusive representation, goals, and outcomes. Thank you to the over 50 plus volunteers that joined the board and committee anti-racism seminar on May 26.

In response to the great feedback from this event and given the great importance of this discussion, this seminar will be repeated later this summer and we ask that committee and board members who did not attend the May 26 seminar to please attend this seminar. More information will be shared soon. Second, this year and going forward, the select board will take a more careful look at the diversity of boards and committees when making our annual appointments, perens scheduled within the next month and perens.

It is the goal of the select board to ensure the appointment of volunteers to town boards and committees to achieve the following, to appoint volunteers that offer unique and or specialized skills and or knowledge that will be helpful to the work of that board or committee, to ensure that boards and committees have a diverse membership including such considerations as gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation, to ensure that boards and committees have members residing in as many of Swanscott's voting precincts as possible, and to ensure that boards and committees are comprised of a mix of first-time, newer, and more experienced volunteers. Achieving this goal will bring about some change in the membership of committees and boards.

We ask you and your fellow volunteers to reach out to us to let us know your thoughts and ideas on how we can achieve this goal on your committee and board. Finally, please remember that at the start of each fiscal year, each committee board should discuss and elect new officers for the upcoming fiscal year. The decision who best, who is best equipped to serve as chair, vice chair, and secretary is left to each committee and board.

We know, however, that rotating officers annually, at least every few years, provides the opportunity for new and different perspectives and voices. It also provides other members a chance to lead. Thank you again for all you do for Swanscott.

Sincerely, each member of the Select Board. So I wanted to bring that forward for discussion, comments, suggested edits, and to be able to move that forward.

[Speaker 6] (2:07:17 - 2:07:37)
Just a couple comments. Right now we have a volunteer form that allows for us to intake information. It seems that we could, I couldn't find it just really quickly.

What couldn't you find? I couldn't find the volunteer form quickly.

[Speaker 1] (2:07:37 - 2:07:40)
Yeah, I just wanted you to say that out loud because that's probably it.

[Speaker 17] (2:07:41 - 2:07:41)
No, it's not.

[Speaker 1] (2:07:41 - 2:07:41)
No, no, no.

[Speaker 17] (2:07:41 - 2:07:44)
Allie Fisk, oh my god, Allie Fisk just looked at us like, wait a minute here.

[Speaker 1] (2:07:45 - 2:08:18)
No, no, no, no, no, no. I couldn't find it in the five seconds that I was looking, so. No, but I think there are those that actually think the volunteer.

But I have found it before. But David, I think there are those that think the volunteer form needs to be changed because it's not. The form itself is actually an inhibitor to volunteerism and there's probably an easier way.

So that was more my comment than you couldn't find it. Sorry, Allie. But I love that it totally, it totally got your attention, didn't it?

So now I'm going to face Allie's wrath after the meeting. Hey, Allie, just so you know, also, we're now seeing, we're seeing, we're seeing that. Thanks.

[Speaker 6] (2:08:19 - 2:08:29)
Okay, no, no. So I think, and Allie, I'm happy to, I'm happy to work, to work with you to see if we can, if we can really, you know, simplify the form to make the inputs.

[Speaker 14] (2:08:30 - 2:08:37)
I'm really quickly, it doesn't have, it's an amplicated system that no longer is really adaptable. Okay.

[Speaker 6] (2:08:39 - 2:08:47)
Yeah, yeah. And yeah, yeah. And I think, I think, I think we can make some adjustments and really make it so it's, it's, it's very easy to work.

[Speaker 14] (2:08:49 - 2:08:50)
Agreed.

[Speaker 16] (2:08:55 - 2:08:55)
Technology.

[Speaker 2] (2:09:01 - 2:10:05)
The only thought I had was, I don't know, whatever, this is being nitpicky at probably, but that the talent volunteers from the paragraph that says second this year and going forward, that the boards and committees, you know, we, the goal is to achieve the following. And I know that it is the goal, but I don't know whether it matters to put, strive to achieve the following because, I don't know. And then the next paragraph achieving this goal may bring about some change in the current membership.

I don't want to, it just says, well, like some of you are going to go, you know, and I just, I don't know. I just, I think it's hard to get volunteers. I think we all, we need to strive for this.

I think the goal is to achieve. So I guess the goal in terms of the goal being able, being to achieve, that's fine. But I just think the implication that the boards and committees and how they're made up now will look different if we're doing this right.

I just, I don't know. It's minor, but I would take, I would read it that way.

[Speaker 1] (2:10:06 - 2:10:29)
But isn't it true though? Because if we think we have that membership now in all four bullet points, then we actually don't need to be talking about this because we already have the composition that achieves these things. And let's just be, I mean, I think there was an example last time, the Harbor and Waterfront Committee has one woman, right?

And so I just, I'm just using examples, but that it is inevitable that over time, given 22, Allie, did you say committees that we appoint?

[Speaker 2] (2:10:29 - 2:10:31)
I thought we appointed to other committees that only have one.

[Speaker 1] (2:10:32 - 2:11:44)
Or the select board, but select boards, the voters, voters did that. And so, so I think it is inevitable, right? In order to actually achieve these goals.

And it's not, there's nothing implicit or threatening about it. It's just to say, look at over time, I think actually one of the problems we have, and I think Allie pointed it out with stats last meeting to us, is even the few volunteers we get, we tend not to be able to place them with a high success rate because there is oftentimes little turnover, especially on committees of high interest. And so what happens is those individuals, you know, offered other committees that may not be of interest and then go away, right?

Those, those new volunteers, I'm going to use them as an example. And so I think there's a lot of first time volunteers that, that we don't successfully find a home for because there is so few vacancies in a given year. So I think the reality is this is going to cause some change to be able to do this.

And that change is never easy, but I think this is asking the committees and boards to actually suggest to us how we might be able to do it. And also by saying this to the committee and board members, I think there are some committee and board members that are going to say, you know what, that's a really fair point. I, you know, I, I'm on three committees, right?

There's a couple of board members that are on three committees.

[Speaker 2] (2:11:44 - 2:11:52)
Yeah, that's kind of my point, I think. I mean, it might bring about change, but it might also just make people voluntarily move on. Whatever.

It's one word.

[Speaker 1] (2:11:53 - 2:11:56)
Right. Which is still change, right? So the will change.

[Speaker 6] (2:11:56 - 2:11:58)
I'm just, again, I'm just, I hear you.

[Speaker 2] (2:11:58 - 2:11:59)
It's just my suggestion.

[Speaker 6] (2:11:59 - 2:12:15)
But at the, but at the same time, I mean, if we do have volunteers who are long time volunteers within the town of Swampscott, I mean, how do you tell someone who's, who's done everything right, move along so new person can, can join this committee and, and, and give, and give good ideas.

[Speaker 1] (2:12:15 - 2:13:07)
It is a challenge. And it may be why these goals aren't currently achieved, for example, right? Because it's a challenge and it's a really hard thing to do.

And I acknowledge that. Right. And so that's like a lot of things that we've been talking about over the last year.

It, it is difficult because it actually requires us to rethink and have some potentially uncomfortable conversations because otherwise we can't just expand committees, right? That doesn't, that isn't a viable solution here to just add more to some, sometimes maybe, right? That may be for some of these committees, but, but most it's not.

You know, we have a 20 something committee for the Habitual Use Committee and, and it's on a staff perspective, it's, it's very dynamic and very interesting, but it's a juggling exercise for staff between all the subcommittees and the working groups and all the things that we do. There are, you know, it's very intensive. So.

[Speaker 2] (2:13:07 - 2:13:10)
I would suggest just taking that sentence out, then.

[Speaker 1] (2:13:12 - 2:13:27)
But now are we not acknowledging the reality? Even may, right? Then, then we're basically not just pointing out the fact, again, if you guys want it out, I'm fine getting out.

It's going to happen or, or we're just not going to achieve these goals or work.

[Speaker 2] (2:13:27 - 2:13:32)
I mean, this is like the headstrong.

[Speaker 4] (2:13:33 - 2:13:33)
No, it's not.

[Speaker 2] (2:13:33 - 2:14:00)
This is what I mean. No, this is what I mean. I'm just, I, you know, if I'm, again, arguing it logically, I just, I think it's implied.

And if it's, whatever. I just, I would read it as kind of like you have certain people in mind that are going to have to go or not be chair or not, but that's how I would read it. I'm like, oh, is this me that they're referring to?

Like, that's how I would read it. So anyway, I, other than that, and we can keep it, I don't care. It's not a major issue.

[Speaker 3] (2:14:00 - 2:14:48)
So whatever the board wants to do, I'm, I'm like. It may be a way to suggest that board members that are currently serving, have served for a number of years, step into an alternate position and open up a seat that would actually help ensure that each committee can be more inclusive. You know, it doesn't have to be a complete step away.

You know, we have alternates serve on a number of committees that are there in the event that they, you know, would want to serve, and this can, can really be at least some step in a direction that allows for an official seat to, you know, be open to somebody that would have a different background or perhaps a more inclusive representation for the town.

[Speaker 1] (2:14:54 - 2:15:08)
So it's everyone's pleasure. I, I don't support removing it, but if you guys do, I'm totally fine with it. I look at, I believe this is the awkward part of change, is things like this, and the points Polly raised, I think, are really good points, but it is the awkward point.

It's the awkward point of change, and, and this, this.

[Speaker 2] (2:15:08 - 2:15:11)
I am, I am not avoiding awkward points.

[Speaker 1] (2:15:11 - 2:15:15)
No, no, no. I'm, I'm saying the language just addresses the awkward point of change.

[Speaker 2] (2:15:15 - 2:15:15)
Oh, I see.

[Speaker 1] (2:15:15 - 2:15:28)
Change being inevitable, right? And, but if we don't want to say it explicitly, okay. I just, I care more about making sure that we then give clarity to town staff and not confusing guidance to town staff when they're making recommendations to us.

[Speaker 2] (2:15:28 - 2:15:28)
Then.

[Speaker 1] (2:15:29 - 2:15:58)
That they, that they understand that, you know, that they don't fear suggesting changes because somehow the deletion of this now implies that, well, we, you know, let's not, let's not make waves. Let's just keep things going. That's all.

I want staff to be very clear about the other stuff in here, and if they recommend changes and doing things, we expect them to handle it appropriately and have conversations, but that's all, because I think otherwise these goals really are just symbolic goals, and I'm, that's not interesting to me personally.

[Speaker 2] (2:15:58 - 2:16:01)
Because of one sense. Okay, I can't deal with it.

[Speaker 1] (2:16:01 - 2:16:16)
You're not, you're not hearing me if that's what the response is. My, my point is I don't want staff or anybody else to miss that this board seeks to meet these goals, and these goals are changed because we currently don't have it. That's all.

[Speaker 6] (2:16:16 - 2:16:40)
So if you guys want it out, just tell me you want it out, and then we're going to vote on this and move on. I just have a clarifying question. So, you know, when will these, you know, when will these other boards, I mean, when, when will this be implemented effective immediately?

I mean, is this going to be something that's going to be reported on in the next 60 days, 90 days as to the composition of these boards, the chairs of these boards, or is that up, is that simply up, we're just providing the guidance?

[Speaker 1] (2:16:40 - 2:17:22)
Yeah, I think, well, I think it's, I think it's guidance and something for us to think, so the staff is going to come to us in the next month with the annual appointments, which, you know, again, they are who they are at this point, because our volunteer pool is our volunteer pool. Let's just be clear about that, but this is a thing for them to have and say, okay, am I achieving any of these things? Can I, can I not?

Is it difficult? And understand that, and for us also, too, when they come to us, you know, in advance, so we see the recommendations and say, okay, does it, does this help achieve these or not? So I think it's flowing, David.

For this year, I think, frankly, our volunteer pool for next month is our volunteer pool, by and large, right? There are some vacancies, and you need more volunteers for some committees, I think you said last, two weeks ago, but.

[Speaker 4] (2:17:23 - 2:19:11)
So, I actually, I mean, I think it's, it's great, like, thanks for drafting this. I think, Allie, it captures most of what we need to say. I had a couple, like, sort of wordsmithy things.

I actually had deleted that sentence about achieving this goal will bring about some change, because I thought in the previous paragraph, we say, currently, it says, it is the goal of the select board to ensure the appointment of volunteers to town boards and committees to achieve the following, and then in that list, we say to appoint volunteers and to ensure that boards and committees, and to ensure that boards and committees, and to, and I thought we should remove to appoint to ensure, and just say, you know, it's the goal to achieve the following, volunteers that offer unique and specialized skills, boards and committees with a diverse membership, you know, boards and committees with members residing in as many precincts, boards and committees comprised of a mix of first-time, newer, and then whether or not we say that the change will happen, we're sort of more direct in what our, what we're doing, and that's, those are the goals. It's not, we want to achieve boards and committees that are more diverse.

We want to achieve ensuring that they're more diverse. So, I don't know, again, it's kind of a, it's sort of a style sort of thing, too, so I don't want to get too bogged down in that. You know, I wouldn't have been opposed to this going out as it is.

[Speaker 1] (2:19:11 - 2:19:17)
No problem. I have no problem doing it. So, I'm fine striking those.

I think we can go without the two words in each of those bullets.

[Speaker 4] (2:19:17 - 2:19:57)
Nope. And then, I just, the other comment I had is on that paragraph afterwards. I thought maybe including some sort of, where we say, like, let us know your thoughts and ideas on how we can achieve this goal on your committee or board.

I thought maybe we could say we hope you can include this topic on one of your upcoming agendas and perhaps offer to attend a meeting if you thought that would be helpful. Or maybe not. But certainly maybe at least including it on one of their upcoming agendas as a suggestion.

[Speaker 16] (2:19:58 - 2:19:59)
Yeah, I like that.

[Speaker 1] (2:19:59 - 2:20:06)
So, what is it that you want them to include? The appointment process? The first paragraph initiatives?

The final paragraph?

[Speaker 4] (2:20:07 - 2:20:11)
Yeah, well, I just, all I said was we hope you can include this topic on one of your upcoming agendas.

[Speaker 1] (2:20:11 - 2:20:14)
So, which, I'm asking which topic? Is it the whole memo?

[Speaker 2] (2:20:14 - 2:20:23)
Or is the topic of, yeah, I guess the topic of letting us know our thoughts, if there are thoughts and ideas on how we can achieve this goal on their committee and board.

[Speaker 1] (2:20:23 - 2:21:25)
Yeah, you know, I understand. I was, again, what I, I'm just going to tell you how I drafted it. This is going to committee and board members so that each member feels as though we're directly reaching out to them and saying we're welcoming.

It's not, I'm differentiating a little bit from a committee consensus driven. Hey, we did covote a majority. We actually love our membership.

Whatever, I'm just making something up, right? I'm actually trying to empower every single, with my drafting here, to empower every single member, whether that's a chair, the vice chair, a secretary, a first year person, a 20th year person, to say we want you to feel like you can reach out to us outside the committee structure because you, you sit in your committee. You see what can help your committee or not.

And frankly, those conversations are helpful for us to hear and may not be, frankly, as easy with the committee sometimes, especially if you have constructive criticism or feel as though a committee needs more of something that you may not want to bring to your committee because it creates awkward dialogue. So that was my goal, was just to empower the people to, individual members, as opposed to Yeah, no, that makes sense to me.

[Speaker 4] (2:21:25 - 2:21:35)
I was thinking more about, like, to the chairs of these committees as I understand what you're saying now. So that's fine, I don't have to include that.

[Speaker 6] (2:21:35 - 2:21:36)
That makes sense to me, too.

[Speaker 4] (2:21:42 - 2:21:45)
That's all I really had for thoughts.

[Speaker 1] (2:21:47 - 2:22:01)
David, anything you want? I didn't have anything additional, Peter. All right, so what would you guys like to do with that paragraph, that first sentence, achieving this goal, bring about some change in the current membership boards, include or delete it?

Does anybody have any objection to deleting it? Nope.

[Speaker 14] (2:22:02 - 2:22:03)
You do.

[Speaker 1] (2:22:03 - 2:22:06)
I know I do, but I'm just me, so we are going to delete it.

[Speaker 14] (2:22:08 - 2:22:09)
Peter, can I ask a question?

[Speaker 1] (2:22:09 - 2:22:10)
You may.

[Speaker 14] (2:22:10 - 2:22:24)
So the next step for me is reaching out to all of the board chairs and the members who are up for renewal to just see their interest in being renewed or recommending the renewal of the people who are on their board.

[Speaker 1] (2:22:25 - 2:22:27)
So that's a conversation in and of itself.

[Speaker 14] (2:22:27 - 2:22:28)
Exactly.

[Speaker 1] (2:22:28 - 2:23:00)
Because, I mean, just again, I'm kind of coming back here, which is somewhere along the lines, we got in a position where we asked chairs for recommendations of renewals of their own members. And that doesn't strike me as normal. And so I'm just saying that because it gives the chair a lot of groupthink or just authority over individuals.

And what we're trying to do is make sure we have diversity of opinion, diversity of everything, and so you may, I'm sorry, you were about to say that was your question.

[Speaker 14] (2:23:00 - 2:23:34)
But the opportunity is not to say, I spoke wrong. It's not to say, will you reappoint this person? It's really for them to highlight any concerns about appointing someone.

So we don't want to make a recommendation that they should reappoint, that we should reappoint someone if it turns out the chair has a concern they haven't shown up to meetings or they haven't participated or something like that. So the point of reaching out to the chairs is to gather that feedback. So how, which, if you think that's still a valid part of the process, I would resume doing, and so if that's the case, would that, how would that question to them interface with this letter that we're filling, that we're sending to them?

[Speaker 1] (2:23:36 - 2:23:38)
So this is to committee members, not to committee chairs.

[Speaker 14] (2:23:39 - 2:23:40)
Okay, that's all committee members.

[Speaker 1] (2:23:40 - 2:23:41)
I don't think this letter talks to that point.

[Speaker 14] (2:23:41 - 2:23:42)
It's all committees, yeah.

[Speaker 1] (2:23:42 - 2:24:23)
I would say just on the greater point that you're raising here is we have had committee chairs show up and say, we've interviewed and we've recommended and this is who we, you know what I mean, like they very affirmatively taken the list of people and decided for themselves who should get appointed, and that presents a really awkward thing because then we're saying, we're just like with ERAC tonight, we're saying to a chair of a committee, well, we hear your recommendation, but for other reasons, there's other reasons to go a different way. And so I just, I just want to be careful about overstating, and if the board feels differently, by all means, I'm saying it out loud so we can discuss it. I just want to overstate, like you aren't deferring to the chair.

[Speaker 16] (2:24:23 - 2:24:24)
No, but I'm speaking to.

[Speaker 1] (2:24:25 - 2:26:26)
That is, should be, I think you should be, I think your question is the right question, which is, are there concerns about reappointing this person? Right. And I think to things that Polly and others have talked about, that if there are skill sets that they are looking for, right, and we talked about this a couple of years ago, which is asking committees to say, look at their skill sets, like help us understand what skill sets do you think, the cross section of skill sets, right, on the zoning board, saying, well, we don't need seven attorneys, right? It'd be great to have more architecture. It'd be great to have a developer.

It'd be great to have someone who has no experience in real estate, whatever it is, right, to make sure that we're getting experience. Those are, that's really helpful feedback, less so than people, right? Because people kind of bind you.

And then publicly, we don't ever want to be in a position where a chair comes and says, I think Bob Smith is awesome. We want you to appoint Bob Smith. And we're like, we weren't thinking Bob Smith.

We were thinking James Smith. Right? And it just, for volunteers particularly, we don't want to ever put them in a position where we're not selected, right?

We're, sometimes we're going to make a choice, but we're not making it, like, we are picking Bob Smith because we want James Smith, right? That conversation is just a very difficult and unfair one for volunteers. Does that make sense?

So I think it's just threading that needle with what you're asking the chairs. And I think that feedback about, you know, has this member been attending? Do you have any concerns?

Does that sound right to you all? No. Does that help?

Okay. So this letter, this letter then deleting the first two words of each of those four bullets and deleting the first paragraph after the four, sorry, the first sentence after the four bullets are the only changes that I am going to, if you're okay with it, since the majority of the board's already, if we take a vote to put your signatures on it, I would then still ask Don if he wanted his signature, since it's not, his adding a signature doesn't change the board action. It just allows him to add a signature if he wants to add a signature. Right.

You all comfortable with that? Yep. All right.

So is there a motion on this?

[Speaker 2] (2:26:28 - 2:26:44)
I move to approve the proposed letter dated June 16th, 2021 to the SOMSCA committee and board members with the two changes identified by the chair, Peter Steller.

[Speaker 1] (2:26:47 - 2:26:48)
Second. All those in favor?

[Speaker 2] (2:26:49 - 2:26:49)
Aye.

[Speaker 1] (2:26:50 - 2:27:38)
Great. The last item in new and old businesses, fiscal year 22 board officers, we're going to get to it sometime soon. Don has asked to be here and so we're not going to do it tonight.

I will say to the point of the last paragraph of this letter, which urges committees and boards to rotate. I am pleased to say that I will not seek nor will I accept the nomination to be your chair ever again. So, but we're going to take this up at the next meeting.

And before we leave tonight, I'm going to talk about just placeholding a meeting for next week. Just for end of year things, just the placeholds. I don't know that we're going to have it.

So with that to Sean for, oh, sorry, consent agenda. So Allie, you printing out the agenda was great except for mine.

[Speaker 2] (2:27:39 - 2:27:43)
No, wait, no, mine too. Oh, thank you.

[Speaker 1] (2:27:43 - 2:28:11)
Perfectly. Since there's an opportunity for the members to vote on standard and typical business in one vote at the election of any board member, any member, any vote, any item on the consent agenda can be removed and placed on the irregular agenda for discussion. There are three items on the consent agenda tonight.

These are all three, Allie? Vote to approve meeting minutes from June 2nd, vote to approve a one day liquor license and vote to approve common victors license. Does anybody have an objection with moving forward with all three?

And hearing none, is there a motion?

[Speaker 6] (2:28:11 - 2:28:21)
Wait, wait. I just, the only thing I wanted to add was to the one day liquor license application for Bentwater. There should have been a rain date of August 1st included.

[Speaker 1] (2:28:22 - 2:28:25)
Gotcha. Okay. So for an event on July 31st, which is a Saturday.

[Speaker 6] (2:28:26 - 2:28:26)
Yep.

[Speaker 1] (2:28:27 - 2:28:42)
With a rain date of Sunday, August 1st from 3 to 10 PM at Fisherman's Beach. And again, that's the parking lot, correct? That's correct.

Okay. Fisherman's Beach parking lot. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Would that change?

[Speaker 2] (2:28:42 - 2:28:43)
Two changes, right?

[Speaker 1] (2:28:45 - 2:28:49)
Yes. Two changes to that one vote. The rain date and Fisherman's Beach parking lot.

[Speaker 2] (2:28:49 - 2:28:50)
So moved.

[Speaker 1] (2:28:50 - 2:28:52)
Second. All those in favor? Aye.

[Speaker 2] (2:28:52 - 2:28:53)
Aye.

[Speaker 1] (2:28:53 - 2:28:55)
All right. John's.

[Speaker 3] (2:29:11 - 2:34:50)
Thank you. Sorry about that. So we're working with the middle school principal and our police and fire departments and DPW to really look at pedestrian safety at the middle school.

So we've been changing a little bit of the protocols and I want to thank everybody for cooperating. Our effort is really to really ensure that we have a safer pedestrian access for that busy street. I know that we've learned quite a bit.

We are in our last week of school, so we didn't have a lot of time to evaluate that. But there are certain recommendations that I think will come from that study that will help us long term. As Peter mentioned, we had a really important conversation on Monday night with the finance committee and the CIC committee.

Lots of information really coming out about the town's financial position. I would encourage folks to review that meeting and really think critically about the opportunities that we have right now to really advance the school project. This is the most important time and we're really in a really strong position to invest in that school.

We do have some really interesting historical items at Town Hall. There is something in a box in the basement that was sent here from Canada over a year ago at no cost to the town that belonged to Elihu Thompson. So at some point we should open that up.

I'm looking forward to having an opportunity to do that and really having another celebration. We have such a historic community and Elihu Thompson was one of the nation's greatest engineers and inventors and we ought to really celebrate that legacy. Next week I will give another State of the Region update at the Greater Lynn Chamber of Commerce's event.

I'm glad that we're having a piece of it in Swampskate. I think the parking lot will be maybe the piece, but I've been urging over the last couple of years that we have an event in Swampskate and that's where we'll be. Board members like to join, just let me know and we'll ensure you have a ticket.

End-of-year activities are underway. We really are scrubbing the books. We froze expenditures back in March.

We are really just doing the end-of-year shuffle. As Peter mentioned, we do need a meeting of the board. Typically that's a meeting where we look to get three members of the board to help us just transfer end-of-year expenditures, but this vote has to be made by both the board and the finance committee and we'll be getting out a spreadsheet over the next week to really outline the to and from accounts.

The town has a lot of line items that we have to statutorily ensure are in the black. I am projecting that we will end the fiscal year in the black. We are in a good, strong fiscal position, but there are some end-of-year expenditures that I think may be prudent for the town to make.

We have had a really busy couple of weeks with our new director of aging services. I was really pleased to be down there yesterday to have our ice cream social. This was really the first event that really brought everybody together.

We want to thank Chief Archer and the Swanson Fire Department for scooping some ice cream. It was really great to engage with our senior citizens. Our seniors have done an absolutely incredible job getting vaccinated and I'm really pleased that we can begin some of those programs.

Everybody that joined the unpacking racism forum that we had on June 3rd, I really want to thank you for continuing that conversation. We're going to spend the next few years having a conversation about just how we can create a more inclusive community. Lots to learn.

As Peter mentioned, I thought we had just a wonderful community event. This is our second annual Pride flag raising. I would expect that next year we'll double, maybe triple the population and number of yard games that we can put out there.

Somebody had suggested maybe a dunk tank, so I think we could raise quite a few dollars if we have a few volunteers jump in that tank. Anyways, tomorrow we're having another Juneteenth celebration. This will be a national holiday and certainly a holiday that we can celebrate in Swanson as well.

I'm excited about that and I'm really pleased that this is a historic event. I would encourage all Swanson citizens, young and old and everybody in between, to join us at one o'clock and really think critically about this historic event and the importance of our freedoms and those that did not have them but ultimately got them. All right, thank you.

[Speaker 1] (2:34:53 - 2:38:06)
Thanks, Sean. Before we get to select board time, I just want to talk about schedule and continue our conversation from the other day. So last week, sorry, two weeks ago, we talked about July 14th and July 28th being the placeholders for July.

On the 14th is the night that, consistent with what we talked about on Monday night, would be the night that we would take up and vote on our recommendation relative to the debt exclusion for the new school, amongst some other things, just to kind of put that on the radar. That being said, so that's July and then August, the 1st and 3rd is the 4th and 18th. And even though we're going to be meeting on the 28th of July, I still think hold the 4th of August.

And my thinking is typically the last two weeks of August are the hardest to get five members at. So doing the 4th and the 18th leaves open the last 10 days of August. A special town meeting, I do anticipate, sorry, at the July 14th meeting, we'll also be voting to set the special town meeting date and the town election date relative to the new school.

The MSBA, as I mentioned on Monday night, the MSBA will be meeting on June 23rd and the Swampscott Elementary School is one of the votes that they will be taking that day and that we expect good news and we'll have greater detail about the specifics of the state grant for Swampscott. So that's the 14th and 28th of July, 8th and, sorry, the 4th and the 18th of August. I want to suggest and that like past years, we do, I guess what I'm going to say, non-traditional, even though this is our first traditional meeting, but I would actually suggest that we, with the exception of perhaps the 14th, just because we have some business that we have to do, that we look at the other meetings being non-traditional in a sense of even potentially adding other dates to go and maybe have some select board meetings in neighborhoods and or in precincts and try and make it a precinct-specific agenda. And I would say to have a discussion of the school and a Q&A about the school be included in every one of those agendas because people are going to want to be informed and it gives them an opportunity to ask questions.

And I know that members of the SBC and I'm sure other committee members would be happy to join us. So if we can, if you can think about that and maybe ping me with some ideas or things, that'd be really great. I think it's a really good opportunity to even shelve a lot of traditional business to just go out into the neighborhoods.

And especially given that the school special town meeting is so soon after Labor Day, it's not going to give much time once people are back in the fold and officially paying attention to do things. I would also like to suggest that we tentatively hold next week, the 23rd, next Wednesday, the 23rd on the calendar for a meeting at 6 p.m. We should know by Monday for sure. But are you all okay if we hold that date?

Thank you. All right, select board time.

[Speaker 6] (2:38:12 - 2:39:09)
Yeah, just quickly, at the Swampscot Farmers Market on Sunday, they're offering information about the new consolidated elementary school and also opportunities to go out and actually tour the Hadley School. I did that last weekend with my family and a number of other families and got to see the building, you know, in person. And it's eye-opening.

You know, the actual physical infrastructure, which has just reached the end of its useful life. So I encourage everyone, you know, listening, watching to stop by Hadley School. The tours are happening on the half hour.

And I think they're going to happen for the next couple of weeks. So go out and see the Hadley School for yourself. Thank you.

[Speaker 1] (2:39:15 - 2:39:16)
All right, and I'm good as well.

[Speaker 14] (2:39:17 - 2:39:26)
So with that... Peter, I just noted that the school committee is meeting in here next Wednesday, in this room next Wednesday. So we wouldn't be able to meet in here.

[Speaker 1] (2:39:27 - 2:39:36)
We may just end up going remote then. Can we do that? Yeah, the governor signed it today.

All right, so as much as I like seeing you all.

[Speaker 3] (2:39:36 - 2:39:39)
Or we could get on the beach.

[Speaker 1] (2:39:40 - 2:39:56)
Or we might do a non-conventional meeting. We might actually do an outdoor meeting somewhere. We can do that as well.

So we'll talk about that. All right. With that, is there a motion to adjourn?

So move. Second. All those in favor?

Aye. Aye. All right.

Good night, everyone. Thanks very much. Thank you for being here.

[Speaker 3] (2:39:58 - 2:39:59)
Hey, Don.